**taken from my other blog http://musingsofamisfit75.blogspot.com/
The husband and I ran a race last year that we swore we
wouldn't do again. It is an 8 hour ultra
called Howl at the Moon, The Howl for short.
It is an 8 hour race where you run/walk a 3.29 mile loop as many times
as you can.
Last year it was so painful once I was done. By the definition of an Ultra Marathoner
(anything over a marathon distance), I succeeded....barely. Matt, however, did not get his. Even though he did great and was proud of
him, he was determined to get that medal.
So, he decided to do it again this year.
Of course, I couldn't pass and let him do it without doing it
myself. It is like childbirth. You forget the pain.....
It has the option of camping the night before but I could
not imagine camping then trying to run 8 hours.
Therefore, we opted for a hotel.
We arrived early the next morning and it was dang cold. It was August, right? We got ready and checked in with our lap
counters. We are assigned a person to
count our laps for us. At each loop, we
have to make sure they see us and mark our laps down or it doesn't count.
We set up our cooler and our bag of nutrition. We had some salt pills and aspirin, extra socks,
etc. I was just ready to get it over
with. So, it began. I knew what to expect. I knew the terrain and the stupid hill we had
to conquer each loop and the fantastic volunteers along the way.
This race had plenty of awesome volunteers and aid stations
with various drinks and nutrition options.
I made a point to stop each time I came up to one to get a drink and
something in my stomach. I ran a pretty
good pace the first 3 hours. My goal was
15 miles halfway through (4 hours) so I would have hopes of 30 miles. Therefore, at 3 hours I was already at 15
miles. So, I had a cushion and felt
pretty good. Didn't feel any pain and my
legs were tired but not so much that I felt I couldn't go on.
I stopped at our tent every other lap to take salt tablets
and aspirin. On lap 7 I slowed down a
bit but kept pace on my watch to keep on track.
I ran a quarter mile, walked a quarter, ran a quarter, walked a quarter,
etc. Lap 8 - last year this was my final
lap. I got about 2 miles in and the
running was no longer happening. I tried
to just keep a 17 min mile pace. Once I
got to my final lap it was strictly will power that pushed me forward.
Let me just add - I didn't train for this race at all. I wanted to quit at mile 10. I wanted to quit at mile 17. I cried at mile 20 and just wanted to see
Matt's face at mile 25. I thought if I
could just see his face, I knew I could make it. It was probably a good thing I didn't because
sometimes I can be such a girl. If I saw
him, I would have had a melt down, I have no doubt.
But, I did it. I
didn't get my 10 laps or my 30 miles but I did run 29.61 miles. Our bodies can
do far more than we think they can do. I
was diagnosed with Lupus a couple years ago and keep it to myself except when I
complain way to much to Matt (God bless him).
And yet I pushed my untrained body to run almost 30 miles. I think we too often give up. When we are face with pain and struggle, we
just stop. It would have been easy for
me to sit down and quit. I would have
even had an excuse due to my disease. I had gotten my medal the year before, I
didn't need this year's medal. But I
knew that I needed to do better than the year before or else it was all for
nothing.
Matt quit. I am
unsure what mile he stopped but I did see him sitting down and I knew he didn't
get his ultra distance. But I kept going
without even looking his way. When I
came back around he was gone. He had sat
down and given up, but he said he saw a pregnant woman jog by and knew if she
can do it, he had to try. So he finished
with his medal!
As I was running, an older lady was jogging next to me. She would stop and walk a bit, then jog a
bit. She told the gentlemen behind her
at one point - "You are going to get irritated with me because I stop and
walk and stop and run." They
laughed and assured her they wouldn't.
She then proceeded to say she was 60-something and back in her younger years the young men would have their
eye on her to try to keep up with her.
She said but not so much any more.
I turned to her and said "You never know who is watching you and
who you are inspiring." She said -
"So true".
That is such a life lesson to walk away in this. When we think we are weak and broken, someone
is watching us and gleaning from our struggle.
They are being inspired and thinking "if he/she can do it, so can I". We tend to beat ourselves up over our
shortcomings when our shortcomings are someone else's destination. That lady could have complained. Had she complained, I probably wouldn't have
been so inspired by her. That pregnant
lady Matt saw could have been complaining, with justifiable reason, but she
wasn't. I could have complained about
how my body was fighting against me since mile 10 but I didn't. I am unsure if I inspired anyone. Although, I hope I did. I hope someone saw me
and said "if she can go one more mile, then so can I".
Often times we look at our struggles and obstacles in our
lives as something to beat us down, something that chews us up and spits us
out. However, struggle makes us
stronger. A butterfly struggling to get
out of the cocoon has to struggle. If we
decide to help it and open its cocoon for it, it will die. The struggle it is faced with is
necessary. It strengthens it's wings so
it can survive and if we help it then the strengthening is not there. We, too, must struggle. Sometimes alone. It is served with a purpose. It makes us stronger and able to withstand so
much more.
So, the question - will we do the Howl again?
Nope.
However, we do have a plan to do a 3 day run in the Grand Canyon area equally about 50 miles. We plan to train for it - famous last
words. Maybe I will try to be more
diligent since it took me 4 days to even walk right after this race!
Be adventurous. Stop
existing and live.
So the review of the event Howl at the Moon
Terrain - grass, mostly flat, one significant hill
Organization - nicely organized, fantastic volunteers and fantastic event
Cost - not sure
Time of the race - 8:30am
Overall - A great race, if you are looking to do an ultra we highly recommend it
Swag - tee shirt and medal if you got over 26.2 miles, special medal for placing in age group (which I did!)
My Time - 29.61 miles in 8 hours
Race #15(75 total to date)
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