Hennepin Hundred (Race Recap)

Sterling, IL

Saturday, October 5

100 Mile attempt #22

Weather - HOT, sunny

This was a later signup for me. After I didn't finish the 100 at Kettle Moraine, I decided to sign up for this one so I still would have a Western States qualifier. Pretty crazy that I had at least 4 qualifiers last year, and struggled to get just one this year.

Race Morning:

I had set my alarm for 4:10, with the goal of leaving between 4:30 and 4:35. I actually slept REALLY well - I think the combination of an early dinner, no beer and FREEZING air conditioning really helped. I woke up at 3:54 and decided to just get up. Immediately I heated up my breakfast so that I could take bites here and there. Took a quick shower, braided my hair and got dressed. I had pre-packed the rest of my stuff and pack, yet somehow, all of that took much longer than expected, and once again, I barely got out when I wanted to. It was only about a 15 minute drive to the start area, and I was parked with about 15 minutes before the shuttles were supposed to arrive.

There were no bathrooms that I saw nearby, but maybe there were some closer to where the finish line was (I was on the road). The buses were not on time and showed up at 5:20. Thankfully, they were not full, and I was able to have my own seat on the drive. It took about an hour to get to the start line and the first thing I did was get in the bathroom line. I headed over to the start to leave my drop bag with the hoodie and pants I had been wearing on the bus. With about 10 minutes to go, I opted to use the bathroom one  more time.

It was supposed to be a very hot and sunny day, so I planned to carry sunscreen the whole time so I didn't get sunburned. Quick selfie at the start:

The plan was to start right away with my 3 run/1 walk. I think I ran through the first walk just because it was a slight downhill and I didn't want to be in the way. This picture was taken very early in town:

We had a little bit of pavement through parks and along the water - the sunrise was absolutely gorgeous!

All those pictures were taken in the first two miles, and were probably about half of the pictures I took the entire race. After a few miles, we all began to spread out a bit. I was staying on the right side of the trail since I was doing walk breaks. The 100 and the 50 miler started at the same time, so there were a decent number of people.

Just over three miles in - I felt a sting/bit on my right earlobe. I screamed and started to swat at it and the hornet (or wasp?) didn't seem to want to get off, or maybe there was a second one, because I got stung again. I was stunned and also noticed that in the drama I had knocked the earbud out of my right ear. I turned back to see if I could find it, but of course it was a light grey bud on the ground with downed leaves and rocks. In the excitement and backtracking, I got bit/stung AGAIN - this time in my stomach the back of my arm. A few people offered to keep an eye out for the earbud, but I had no idea where exactly it had happened, and at this point, I decide I have to just keep going. One, because I'm still getting attacked, and two, I'm wasting time. So annoying, these were my favorite headphones that I have had for years.

I immediately called Ben because I was so upset. I did wake him up so it was me repeating things a bit. I didn't talk to him long, and ironically as soon as we hung up I moved my head to get a drink of water out of my flask and saw the bud in the front pocket of my vest. Crisis averted.

The bites definitely hurt and I felt my ear swelling. The bite on my stomach happened to be right where the bottom of my pack was. Annoying. At the first aid station I asked if they had anything I could use to put on them and they offered Squirrel's Nut Butter. I don't know if that helped or not, but I did apply it on my ear and had to have the volunteer put it on my stomach because I couldn't actually see it.

Ugh.

I topped off my one bottle and grabbed food (who knows what) and continued on. 

This is going to be a short recap because... nothing really happened after mile 3. It got warmer and warmer. It got windier and the clouds left. The trail didn't change much.

I did my 3/1 intervals for a long time. I got topped off my bottles with water and added LMNT when needed. Drank soda at most of the aid stations. This race had the most variety I have ever seen - including Mountain Dew Code Red and Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper! It was fun to have options other than coke. I ate something at every aid station. Most of them just had snacky type foods, but I will never make the mistake of under fueling and not taking food with me. The third aid station was fun and had little toys to take with you - I grabbed this cute little yellow guy that stayed in my vest pocket the rest of the race.

The weather was definitely heating up and I just kept at it with my run/walk. Once again I am writing this too long after running and I really don't remember anything that happened in the middle of the race. I remember calling Ben and being mad (not really angry) that there was this sign:

For the record, I did not see a Dairy Queen :(

I definitely remember it getting hotter. I had one drop bag that I would be accessing around mile 32. Unfortunately I hadn't really done the math very well when I decided where I would be picking up my warmer gear and light, but with it being so warm I wasn't going to be getting that much anyway.

At this point, we had a the long out/back that Megan mentioned was probably about 40 miles round trip. It was really hot at this point, and I was just glad that every aid station had ice. I just couldn't stay cool at all.

I talked with Ben for a decent amount of time before I lost service and got to the 50 mile finish line/aid station. My socks were feeling "slippery" and I decided it would be a good time to change my shirt and socks.  Somehow, in the 10 minutes or so I was at this aid station it became dark enough that I was glad I had my headlamp already out and ready to go. We still had to go a few miles out before we would turn around and head back. This section seemed REALLY long on the way back. We did have to pass the last aid station to get to the official turn around though.

This was by FAR the best aid station. Mexican fiesta themed, upbeat volunteers, music blasting and some good, filling food. I had a chicken taco and some potatoes before heading out. Halfway done, feeling pretty good. I knew I was in a dead zone for a bit, so I moved quickly so that I would be able to talk to Ben again before it got too late. I opted not to stay on the phone for very long, but I did express  concerns that I was feeling a hot spot on my heel. Ben reminded me that I always "feel" something and it usually isn't anything to worry about. 

It did not get cold overnight, but I did of course, get tired. Some of these sections that had felt so long during the day actually weren't too bad at night. It was fun looking around at headlamps and seeing how long it would take to catch people. I wasn't feeling great at this point, but I was still doing some run/walk. Due to the heat and ice bandana, I was having some nasty chafing. I really wanted to change my shorts and reapply lube, but I couldn't find anywhere to do it. When I got back to my drop bag (now at mile 68.9. My friend Colleen was working the aid station and thankfully let me use her camper to change my shorts. So appreciated!! I dropped off some gear in my one drop bag, grabbed food and headed out, feeling a bit better.

At some point a woman approached me and asked if she could stay with me for a bit. She had just handed off her pacer and and was running her first 100 mile. We walked (very fast) together for maybe 6-7 miles. It was nice having someone to talk to, and Beth was the only person I spent any time with at all on the whole course! 

At the mile 88 aid station we separated so she could find her crew. First, I used the bathroom, then I had to figure out what was going on with the hot spot on my foot. Turns out it was a huge blood blister. I thought I had rock tape in my little medical bag, but it turned out to be leuko tape. Even after cleaning the area with alcohol, part of the tape wouldn't stick. There weren't any real medical supplies at this aid station, but I was able to use a Band-Aid to hold the tape down. They were serving breakfast, and I had some pancakes and meat (sausage, I think?) and then took an Aleve and the rest of my Advil and headed out of the aid station. I am not sure my feet have EVER been in that bad of shape. I think the problem was that my left shoe was too loose and my heel kept slipping, which cause the blister. Toped off my bottles and one of the elastic loops that holds the bottles in broke, which proved to be irritating as the full bottle kept trying to pop out.

The sun was now up but I had a slight chill from sitting around, so I put on my Patagonia Air Shed and headed out. The first mile out of the aid station was grueling and painful. Then, the drugs finally kicked in. I was pretty tired even though the sun was up. I caught up to a guy and his pacer by doing some run/walks and it actually didn't feel that bad!

Somehow, over the course of the next few hours I passed probably 20 people, maybe more. At this point in the race no one was really running anymore and everyone looked like they just wanted to be done. The drugs started to wear off when I got within a few miles of the finish line, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I ran as much as I could and (in my opinion) did a full on "sprint" when I finally saw that finish line. Not close to a PR, but pretty happy with a really hot day, LOTS of uncomfortable chafing, nasty blisters AND HORNET STINGS in just over 27 hours.

Official time - 27:06:43

Official pace - 16:15

Overall place - 117/173

Gender place - 32/54

Garmin time - 27:07:27

Garmin distance - 100.96 miles

Miles 1-10 - 12:31, 12:26, 14:16, 12:52, 12:16, 13:48, 12:26, 12:26, 12:30, 12:26

Miles 11-20 - 14:47, 12:29, 12:28, 12:41, 14:44, 13:06, 13:28, 13:38, 13:38, 18:55

Miles 21-30 - 13:33, 14:06, 14:24, 17:54, 14:13, 14:42, 14:42, 19:20, 14:17, 15:24

Miles 31-40 - 14:18, 14:34, 21:10, 14:44, 14:05, 14:28, 14:52, 14:30, 21:04, 15:05

Miles 41-50 - 16:16, 15:59, 14:56, 16:59, 17:24, 15:46, 15:32, 28:06, 14:49, 14:39

Miles 51-60 - 23:28, 15:13, 15:17, 16:45, 18:44, 15:28, 14:59, 18:44, 16:22, 16:58

Miles 61-70 - 16:12, 16:45, 16:34, 21:21, 16:10, 16:12, 15:24, 15:05, 15:00, 28:07

Miles 71-80 - 15:33, 15:27, 15:31, 14:47, 15:25, 18:41, 15:26, 17:19, 15:40, 15:51

Miles 81-90 - 22:52, 16:13, 17:20, 17:15, 22:15, 17:24, 17:35, 17:14, 36:12, 17:45

Miles 91-100ish - 18:18, 14:54, 15:12, 14:52, 15:30, 17:44, 15:02, 14:23, 14:22, 14:49, 13:07

(PS - I looked at my final pace and it was a 7:50!!)

Thoughts:

• I did not use any sort of pace chart this time and it seems like that may have worked out better for me. I always just asked when I left the aid station how far it was to the next one. The aid stations were spaced out very well, I think the longest we ever went was about 6 miles, most were in the 4.5 to 5ish mile range. Every single aid station had ice. Towards the end, there were some that were out of things like potatoes, but there was always food.
• This is all run on a canal trail that is wide enough for multiple people. Because of that, I think I listened to music for 80% or more of the race. After the first 10 or so miles, I was often alone.
• I love the Rabbit finisher flannel and it is also a really nice buckle.
• Good post race party with burritos and TONS of deserts baked by the locals.
• Showers and cots were available at the fire station across the street.
• This was a good race to run once, but I would not run again since I had to travel.
• Of note - I wore my normal 5" CVG shorts and wondering if these may not be the best to wear if it's humid or hot, I got really bad chafing again - even WITH using anti-chafe multiple times. Not fun. 

Week in Review (October 8 - October 14)

Tuesday (11,311 steps) - Walk with Olive before going to work. Went to the gym at lunch. I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything amazing on the StairMaster since my feet are still messed up, but I still climbed the Taj Mahal. 

Did a 20 minute ride on the Peloton and read my book and a stretching video. Took Olive for a walk when I got home. "Only Murders in the Building."

Wednesday (11,166 steps) - Walked Olive before going to work and again when I got home. We finally decided to check out the new to Arvada brewery "Stay Tuned" - located by the former "Elvis" cheap movie theater. A cute spot and we were able to score the couch. Beer wasn't great, but they allow dogs inside, so it might be a good back up place in cold/bad weather.

Dinner on the patio at Parry's since we had Olive with us.

I imagine we were still watching Halloween movies, but not sure which one we watched since we didn't do this in order at all.

Thursday (12,193 steps) - Work from home. Did a quick Peloton ride before taking Ariel to coffee.

Dutch did a great job of decorating their lobby!

Took Olive for a walk at lunch.

And because I haven't been 100%  great about getting in my weights and cross training, I decided I was going to do a program on Peloton. The first one I tried the instructor spoke German so it wasn't going to be sustainable going forward (yes, I know I took German in college for years, but when I'm trying to do core exercises it is tough to translate and/or read subtitles). I then picked another program that will last four weeks and is full body, so I did the first day of videos for that also. Took Olive for a walk and had to get a picture of the neighbor's house down the street - he has really upped the Halloween decor this year!

Did some driving while Ben was at the mall getting a new phone, and then we met up at Torchy's for dinner. Disappointing evening because a). they didn't have any CO2, so no on tap beer, AND we weren't able to see the Northern Lights :(

closest I got, but lots of light pollution

We walked to the lake when we got home to see if we could see anything without all the lights, but no go.

Friday (10,881 steps) - Took Olive for a bit of a longer walk before going to work.  Went to the gym at lunch. Went to Noses and then dinner at home. Ariel was coming home for the weekend and she showed up (briefly) while we were watching a movie.

Saturday (14,422 steps) - Didn't get up early. Got "distracted" and did a lot of cleaning and organizing that we had been putting off for ages. We had plans to go for a run at South Table. We stopped to have a quick beer (but mostly so I could use the bathroom since there are none at the parking lot). 

The run was fine, but a little warm. We definitely should have started earlier. 

We went to 4 Noses and came home relatively early to spend some time with Ariel. Another Halloween movie, probably the last one we hadn't seen?

Sunday (16,982 steps) - Got up early to go for our run since we needed to get Ariel back to school. We took my car to Boulder and shockingly got a spot in a lot. The run was actually much better than expected and there weren't "too" many bikes. Cooler temps were lovely!

Stopped at Bluegrass on the way home to have a breakfast sandwich. Quick shower and then we stopped at Dutch Bros. on the way back to Golden.

Olive still needed a walk, so we parked downtown and walked along the river. 

Took Olive home and then went to Alamo to use our rainchecks for "Joker Folie a Deux" - which sadly, was terrible. At least we didn't pay for the movie? We did spend a lot of money on food and beer, though. Since we had gone to a matinee we still had time to watch a movie. Started the Friday the 13th series, which we will watch in order this time.

Monday (17,392 steps) - Work from home. Went for my run relatively early since I had lawn people scheduled and my time window was basically my entire lunch hour.

Most of the run was fine. When I got back I grabbed Olive and we went for a short walk. Got back home just in time for the lawn people to show up and do the aeration. In the afternoon I got my strength video done. Had home to do some driving after work but I didn't get any good offers. Met Ben at Parry's for Outer Range "tap takeover," but the beer options were junk. We still had dinner and then went home. Got done with Friday the 13th II and III. Hard to believe these cheesy 80's horror movies ever scared anyone. 

Stats:

• 94,347 steps
• 14.57 miles run
• 13.67 miles walked
• 40 minutes of cardio
• 110 minutes of strength

Week in Review (October 1 - October 7)

Tuesday (11,218 steps) - Random work from home day! Did a Peloton ride in the morning before getting coffee with Ariel. 

Took Olive for a walk and did an upper body video (bodyweight, yet it definitely seemed like it was effective) and did another dumb thing for next year...

Went to 4 Noses for a beer and started trivia, but once again, we just aren't that good at it, so we left and had dinner at home and watched "Only Murders in the Building."

Wednesday (16,079 steps) - Took Olive for a walk before going to work. Drove home after work to grab Olive and headed to Louisville run club. Apparently the run was offsite at a tap & garden and we barely got there before it started. We didn't know where to run and started to follow a trail but Olive did not like the gravel, so we moved onto the roads. That was better until Olive almost got attacked by a loose dog!

Somehow I've managed to get Ben to watch scary movies! We watched the 2018 version of Halloween.

Thursday (11,068 steps) - Work from home. Finished my packing for the weekend. Yes, all this fits in a personal item size bag for Frontier.

Took Olive for a walk at lunch, used the rower (and finally finished the stupid movie I only watch when I'm rowing) and did a Peloton ride. I discovered that if I do a "just ride" I can actually link my Kindle directly to the screen. That was fun to discover. Went to Torchy's for dinner, like usual.

Watched another Halloween movie, "Halloween Kills." 

Friday (14,909 steps) - Walked Olive before driving to Denver to leave my car at my office and take the train to the airport. I didn't especially want to spend the money on food at the airport, so I stopped at a little shop on the way and got a breakfast sandwich. It was ok, but somehow cost $1 more than on the menu, which was irritating. Train ride was fine. I got almost all my steps in by the time I got to my gate, which was about as far away from security as possible. It's always exciting to do an outside boarding in Denver!

It was a much larger plane than I expected and initially there were three of us in the row, but the flight attendant told us that the flight was not full and people could move around if they wanted to. The guy in the middle moved, so I had plenty of room. Flight was pretty quick, and I spent the time reading my book. As expected, Cedar Rapids is NOT a large airport.

There was no line at Hertz to get my rental car. I was given a Camry(?) or maybe a Corolla, don't even remember at this point. I mapped to the hotel first and it was going to be a little over an hour to get there. With the time change and travel, I knew I would need to eat something even though I figured I was going to be eating an early dinner. I stopped at a Casey's and had a random chicken sandwich. Wasn't too exciting, but better than being hungry! Normally I can go right to my room, but when I booked the reservation it was under a credit card that expired before I arrived and although I updated my account, it did NOT update the reservation. I quickly unpacked and got my one drop bag ready. It wasn't going to be a long drive to packet pickup, but I wanted to stop at the store to get all my things for morning so I wouldn't have to do it later. Stopped at Hy-Vee and got breakfast, coffee, water, and a dessert. Then I remembered I was going to be out and about for a few hours and also bought some ice so nothing would spoil in the heat.

Arrived with minor complications to the start/finish area where I picked up my bib and swag bag. I had purposely arrived shortly before the mandatory meeting and walked over. I am not entirely sure why it was mandatory, as I feel everything that was discussed could have been sent in an email. I met up with Megan and we walked over to Maria's down the street for dinner. I wish we would have been warned about the gigantic portion sizes. I hate wasting food and I had to trash more than half of this!

Properly stuffed, we parted ways and I went back to my hotel. I really wanted to just sit and relax in the amazing air conditioning and go to bed early. I had hoped the "Halloween" marathon was still happening, but by the time I got back they were showing "Nightmare on Elm Street." I briefly talked to Ben and had a little bit of my dessert. I thought I had picked up a salted caramel brownie, but it turned out to be cake, which wasn't as appetizing for me :( Probably for the best because I was so full from dinner anyway.

I managed to get lights out just before 9 and probably fell asleep within 20 minutes.

Saturday (138,701 steps) - Hennepin 100.

Sunday (80,482 steps) - Hennepin 100.

Decided it was finally time to start the drive back to Cedar Rapids. I should have taken a nap before leaving, as I only made it maybe 10 miles down the road before I had to pull over and take a quick power nap. I was craving Dairy Queen again and stopped at the "world's biggest truck stop" off I-80 and got a blizzard there. The lot was confusing and big and I got lost inside and finding my car again (made harder by not really remembering what my car looked like).

Remembered that I still had to get my bag packed to get through the airport (or at least out of the car without having to loosely carry a bunch of stuff), so I spent some time in the high winds in the parking lot getting things sorted. Headed back out, although I had to pull over one additional time to nap before getting to Cedar Rapids. I arrived pretty early for my flight, but 1). I was tired and 2). I didn't want to be paying extra money for my rental. Not too long after arriving I got a text that my already late flight was going to be delayed at least an hour. WAH.

I sat outside security for at least an hour re-organizing my bag and charging my phone and watch before deciding I wanted to get a beer. There was only one restaurant/bar and thankfully they had a decent beer on tap. 

Initially I didn't think I was going to get something to eat, but when the bartender let me know that they were going to be closing up before our flight was scheduled to leave, I panicked and got a grilled cheese and fries.

Our flight was even later than expected, and I don't think we left until almost 10 pm. I read my book until takeoff and closed my eyes for a minute - and apparently for the 12th time in my life I actually slept on the plane, not waking up until they were announcing the descent into Denver. Ben was picking me up and even with my super slow, crippled walk, I was in the truck probably less than a half hour after landing. I still had to drive my car home from the office and discovered the way I normally go home is closed and we had to detour around. Not fun at midnight. Still hungry when I got home, so ate a piece of pizza and then finally crashed.

Monday (10,566 steps) - So tired. Work from home, thankfully. Work ended up being pretty busy, which I guess was nice. Did laundry and cleaned up a bit and took Olive for a walk at lunch.

I think she REALLY missed me...

Met Ben at Parry's after work from a celebratory dinner.

Continued our Halloween evening with "Halloween Ends." Supposedly this could be the last one. If they managed to make a sequel, I'd be pretty impressed.

Stats:

• 283,023 steps
• 103.96 miles run
• 12.41 miles walked
• 50 minutes of cardio
• 10 minutes of strength