VT 100 mile endurance race - july 18-19

slogging through the mud at mile 43!

before the start with yuki and hiro --trying to be calm...

Yuki attempting her first 100 miler -she finished in 27 hours


Frank on top of the mountain at mile 21


looking down at Bill's at mile 88

looking up at Bill's at mile 88!

Frank and I at finish with pacers Nick and Grant


I have so many photos to post!!! The day has gotton ahead of me so here is a quick report that I wrote to my friends Grant and John...will post all my photos later!
John, Grant et all -- I did finish the VT 100 in 26:15 --crossed the
finish line with Frank!! We ended up having perfect weather, but
unfortunately it had rained all Friday night making the course muddy
--it rained for the 4 a.m. start and was miserably humid (heard that
the Westport race was humid also) til about 9 a.m.... then the sun
came out and although it was hot, it was prob a high of 80, which was
much better than 90. The night was mild and clear --beautiful to be
out!! Since I am a night person to begin with and don't have too many
sleep issues, it was just wonderful being out on a star-lit night. I
just loaded up on coke and expresso gels.
Frank and Rob (his pacer) and me and Nick pretty much leap frogged
each other for the last 30 miles, and decided we would finish
together! Frank couldn't run the uphills, and couldn't run the downhills -
what a pair we made --but our pacers stuck with us at own pace:)

On Friday, my friend Hugo Mujica from Greenwich drove me up and back --we were
staying nearby each other so it worked well. (hugo dropped at mile 70
but felt good about making it that far with his minimal training) .
The first person I saw when got to registration on Friday was Nick!!
who said he wanted to pace me --I was thrilled as Nick,
a 15 time finisher, knows the course back and forwards..my foot had
been bothering me and wasn't sure I would even make it to mile 70.
Speaking of feet, saw Zeke and his girlfriend Yuen --her foot was in a
cast as she has a tendon tear (Zeke was joking that she had a foot
cast from kicking him)- she took bib numbers at mile 76!!! Zeke did a wonderful course talk as usual....ate dinner with Admas, Lydia and Bob --Grant, we missed
you!!!!! Saw so many ultra friends -Tammy, Christine R, her husband Joe, John Holt, Yuki and Hiro --fun to see everyone, and to catch up--everyone nervous!!!
Admas said this was the first time in 10 years she had not seen you at VT 100...
plus, got to meet 'Trail Pixie', a blog friend, who was pacing.

The first 50 miles, aside from the mountain climbs at mile 21 and 30,
and the mile-long steep climbs at 35 and 40, had plenty of mud--we had
to go through a new portion of single track up a hill that was really
slow going as had to step around huge puddles.! I ran behind or with
Frank and stayed with him at mile 20 and mile 30 aid stations --he is
such a good downhill runner and would be out of sight,but then i would
catch up with him as I jogged up the hills ..ha. He, at aid stations,
changed his shoes and socks and sweaty clothes (I did not --wore injinjis which were great --didn't change socks til mile 70) --we got into camp 10 bear at 2:30, and
unfortunately spent 25 minutes there...however, we both needed the break to change socks, get something to eat, and Frank wanted to spend a few minutes with his wife and daughter who had waited around for him!! Off we wet at 3 p.m.
Grant, they put in 2 horrible uphill muddy single -track miles (called
agony hill ) at mile 49-50!!! It was never-ending!!
Then we hit the hills at mile 57-60 --I must say I was trashed at that
point, and wanted to quit at mile 70 --but Frank and I RAN miles 60-70
pretty well --we stopped at Margaritiaville station only for 1 minute
for a cheeseburger and cookies to take while we walked!! and ran on.
A 8:40 p.m. we hooked up with Nick and Rob --I had to clean my feet, put
body glide and bandaids on, get some coffee and food in me so sat in a
chair for 10 minutes barking out orders:) --also had to go to the bathroom --
finally we were off...Nick led in the dark trails from miles 70-77 and I felt
good!! Nick knows these trails well, and Rob is a good trail runner so we followed them...My feet were hurting but physically i felt good --Frank and Rob hung
back as he was tired --then we hit aid station 76 and saw Yuen and
Zeke! Zeke got me and Frank chicken noodle soup, coffee (Frank),cookies
and some coke --then Frank and Rob took off and Nick and I didn't see them til mile 82 - it was so peaceful out on the dirt roads --Nick kept saying ''I don't
hear a thing' and he entertained me with all of his war stories
--anytime i complained about the hills or single track trails he'd say ''you want easy?? do a loop in the park --VT 100 is not supposed to be easy'.
We all plugged along -pretty much jogging the flats and uphills til 88,
where we rested for a few minutes at Bill's garage and then tackled the meadow trails and long climb at mile 90!!!!!!!!!!! ran/walked pretty much the rest of the roads til mile 95 when Frank needed food and drink (he wasn't eating and i got mad at him for not eating). I quickly downed a power bar; Frank had iced tea and a gel, and off we went --Nick and I pretty much ran miles 95-97,and then walked up the bloody hill
at mile 98, went into the trails and caught up with Frank and Rob....finally the last mile and finish!!! 26:15..and over. In a nutshell, I didn't care about my time but had we been more Grant-like about getting in and out of aid stations we would have finished in close to 25 hours, easy ---I still think that going under 24 is
difficult for me as I am not a good downhill runner -but Frank is..he
could go under 24 with no problem. we both said never again!!!! I felt very lucky to get thru the race when I couldn't run without pain last weekend. and Frank ran on
painful blisters for the last 5 miles.
Nick wants me to pace him for the whole race next year -ha. and Rob
may do the whole thing and we could pace him...we shall see what next
year brings!