100 Mile Race Reflections

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100 Mile Race Reflections

Last weekend, I ran the 100-mile race I have been training for since May.

The race didn’t go as planned.

For me, the race ended at 88 miles and 25 hours. Around mile 55, I started having major pain in my foot. That was around 11pm Saturday.

My primary purpose for being out there was to support my friend, Dillon (middle). 

Dillon had been trying to complete a 100-miler for 5 years (!!). This was his 5th attempt. His biggest struggle had been the night hours.

It can get pretty rough out there by 2am, and Dillon’s mind would wreak havoc on him. It would tell him that he couldn’t run faster. It’d convince him he “just needed sunrise to come”, and then he’d be fine. It’d succumb to the fatigue, and he’d start sleepwalking.

I knew all of this going on in, and now closing in on my midnight, my golden opportunity had arrived. 

My personal goal became clear: “Get Dillon through the night.”

I dragged my foot along as best I could. Mile by mile, the night passed.

By mile 88, though, I thought my foot was fractured. It was hard to even walk.

I told Dillon, “You need to go ahead now. If you walk with me, you won’t finish. We got through the night. Go finish what’s been 5 years in the making for you.”

That was about 9am Sunday.

Dillon ran ahead, and he went on to finish with about 80 minutes to spare before the 30-hour cutoff. He achieved his goal, and five years of emotion came out as his wife waited for him at the finish line. 

I’m so happy for him.

As for me, it was not the finish I wanted but I’m proud of the effort.

Some good news:

I got x-rays Monday morning after the race, and there’s no break — just a deep bone bruise. About a week removed from the race, the swelling is mostly down. Now the bone just aches if I’m on it too long. It’s slowly coming along and should be fine in the next few weeks.

Here are a few other reflections on the race:

“Needs” are different than “wants”

Moving slowly in the middle of the night, Dillon kept telling me, “I just need sunrise to come.” 

We were moving so slowly that around 4am our coach, Brandon, told us that if we didn’t start running every loop at least 9 minutes faster, we would not make the cutoff time.

Nine minutes feels like an impossible amount of time to shave off a loop when you’re 20 hours and 70 miles into the battle.

After hearing about the sunrise again, I finally told Dillon: “Dawn is coming. You don’t need it to come, you want it to come. Let’s move.”

Separating what we want from what we need is important.

Don’t let your mind convince you you’re inadequate. You may not have everything you want, but you have what you need.

It takes nothing special

If there's one thing I learned running 88 miles on a nearly broken foot, it's this:

→ It takes nothing special to do something special.

What it takes is constant forward motion.

So many things are out of your control in pursuit of a goal, but no matter how rough it gets, you can choose to keep moving.

When life gets rough, help someone else

If I wasn’t out there to support Dillon, I’m not sure I would have run even 88 miles.

I knew I was in trouble with my foot long before that, and I wasn’t willing to risk a long-term injury.

Shifting my attention to helping Dillon get through the night took my focus off my injury. More importantly, it gave me a purpose for continuing to endure it.

After the race, Dillon told me how much I did for him during the night. But the truth is, he did even more for me.

He gave me the opportunity to learn the power of helping someone else when life gets rough, and that was a gift.

I’ll end this newsletter here.

I’ll be processing this race for some time, and I’ll continue to write about lessons and insights that come from it. 

I could write an entire issue on Brandon alone, who coached Dillon and I the last 5 months and then selflessly crewed us during the race, and what it means to truly pour into other people. He’s a special human being.

There’s also a ton I learned about training and preparing for an endurance challenge like this, which I can share if y’all are interested – let me know.

Thank you to everyone who’s supported me and reached out leading up to the race. Many of you here have sent emails or messages on social media. I have read every one of them, and they have meant a lot!

Time to heal up and carry on.

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