Here is a RECAP of my NORTHCOAST 24 Hour Endurance run – Saturday, September 21-22.
The weather at 9am was 54 degrees with cloudy skies. I went out a little fast, trying to bank as many miles as I could before my body would begin to recognize that what I was doing was not exactly normal. I completed the first 26.2 miles in 4:34:48. I changed clothes in our tent and was given a pep talk by one of my crew members (*note – when doing these ultra runs it is common to have crew members, or support crew, who monitor your food and supplement intake, help with clothing, supplies and most importantly motivation.) My crew for the past 3 years has been made up of husband and wife team, Kristy and Mike Niegowski. Kristy is my wife’s sister.
Around 4pm the skies grew darker and a huge storm rolled in off Lake Erie. The rain began to fall heavily and the wind picked up. Other runner’s tents and aid stations began to be uprooted and blow around the park. Then it got worse, lightning, thunder and then HAIL. The race director took out his bull horn and advised everyone to seek shelter. Any runner on the course was advised that he was running at his own risk. There was no way I was going to stop, if anything, I was thinking this was the perfect opportunity to move up in the standings if any of the faster runners were going to take shelter. I forged ahead. Aside from a lot of water, the storm brought a sudden change in temperature, dropping into the low to mid 40’s. So now I was completely soaked, wearing a waterproof windbreaker, and shorts. I completed my 2nd marathon by 7:24PM. I had been running for a total of 10:24:56. (My 2nd marathon time roughly 5:51:00)
Miles 50-70 were really tough. Darkness came. We had a few breaks without rain, but for most of the night we had a constant rain. I had rain gear, but after a few hours running in the rain, I would be drenched and cold. I would change my outer wear and head back out on the course. Around 11:30pm, I hit my first low point of the race and began to question whether or not I would be able to finish. I was shivering cold and the warmth from the propane heater in our tent was so inviting. My body was shutting down, shivering uncontrollably. I was worried that I could be getting hypothermia. My wife (Sandy) and her sister Kristy were with me. (Mike was taking a nap in the van). Sandy could see I was fading, I was covered up shivering and slumped over the propane heater. Sandy began telling me that I didn’t have to finish, I had done great going this far, I could quit whenever I wanted. I LOVE MY WIFE, but this was not the motivation I needed to hear. Where was MIKE!!!!! Sandy gave me a bag of Snickers bars, (I probably ate 4 or 5) and a warm can of coke. That’s what I needed. Suddenly after 5 minutes of sitting, the sugar kicked in and I was back in the race. I stood up, left the tent and continued on my quest for 100 miles.
Miles 70-84 – I don’t remember much. I had not been running with music all day. Random thoughts and the constant pace calculations filled my head. I anticipated running with music late at night to pass the time and maybe for some motivation. But by late night my head was in bad shape, there was a constant battle of stop or go and screams of pain that filled my head.
(I think I now know what it must be like to be a crazy person). When I tried to listen to music, there was too much noise already in my head and the music only made things worse!
By 4am – I had covered 84 miles – with 5 hours remaining in the race, I needed to cover 16 miles to hit the century mark. But I had reached a new low, shivering and wet again, the rain had continued to fall and it had destroyed me. I had enough of being wet and cold. I pulled into our tent, fell into a chair. Mike was putting layer after layer on me to try and warm me up. I had a ski mask, several layers of long sleeve shirts, rain jacket, hooded sweatshirt and Mike’s Carhart jacket on. I was done, I thought to myself, “hey, it wasn’t my worst attempt, nor was it my best, but I could quit and not be ashamed of my attempt.” but Mike wasn’t going to let me stop. He continued to pepper me with “pick me ups.” I could see him out of the corner of my monitoring his watch as each minute I sat there passed. He knew if I was going to make it to 100 miles, I didn’t have much time to waste. It wasn’t until he told he was proud of me, that something clicked and I started to turn the corner. Mike got me to my feet and out of the tent, we walked 50 yards, and then he asked me to try and run, I shuffled slowly for about ¼ mile and stopped, we walked again a few steps and then I tried to run again. This time the legs felt a little better and the movement was warming me up again. I began to shed layers again and I was on a roll. I don’t know how he did it, but Mike got me up and out of that tent. I could not have completed that race without Mike, Kristy and Sandy. (and also Chris and Colleen who drove up from Cincinnati to cheer me on!!!)
The clock continued to move and I was getting closer and closer to my goal. Every so often Mike would join me on a lap to make sure I wasn’t dogging it.
FINALLY 23:10:00 into the race, I completed my 100th mile (111 laps around that park course)!!!! Mission accomplished.
Thank you to everyone for your support and your donations! If you haven’t made a donation, and would like to, there is still time. I will keep the donation page open for 1 more week.
FINISH LINE VIDEO:
