So after our little detour we showed up at the start/finish barn posted up a tent preped for the next days race and passed out!
woke up got ready and made it to the start I met Farrah and saw Kai from RUT. As we took off it got interesting very fast, with thick mud puddles logs across the up hill and everywhere ou step there are thorned plants cutting everyones legs up! after the first hour or so Eric and I continued running together as he thought he would provoke me in terms of beating me in the race so I agreed to it knowing if i didnt win I wasnt worried because it was supposed to be a relaxed run overall anyways for me. He plowed up the uphills faster then he would go the straight aways or down hills as i hiked up at fast pace and ran the straight and downhills between our two strategies we would be near eachother back and forth for along time untill we got about 20 miles he had made a pit stop and i havent seen him till 2 hrs after i finished.
Through out the race the ancle deep mud continued with no way around it. The rivers we crossed kept us from having dry feet at all and the thorns continued through out the while race. Speaking with a few people one guy was the creator of JustFinish.com whom is making a "fat ass 50M" run june 23rd or so. As we continued I realized Indiana had ALOT of hills! we were running up and down retired ski slopes .. no jsut slopes but he Black Diamonds of them con siddering we had one climb that was nearly a mile up we crawled up at nearly a 75 degree angle or so using trees to help you up without sliding due to all the mud with a savoring aid station at the top! unfortunatly the rule for me was, I cannot stay at an aid station long at all I had to be in and out! so I made a ritual of grabbing a few potatoes some M&Ms maybe a pb&j and some GU I ate 1 GU after every aid station and snacked on salted peanuts that I brought between ait stations.(I stressed eatting and drinking as much as possible when I wasnt thirsty or hungry) I then ran with a guy my age in the militarty as a Medic he was doing his first 50 Mile race but had been running for 5 years needless to say his experience overcame mine and we didnt last running together too long till he push off from me. A little after that maybe mile 25 or so Farrah had caught up we ran together only for a mile or so talking untill she flew passed me ready for more beatting, later on the trails I came upon a female stuck in a situation she could go left for 50M (which she was registered for) or straight for 50K. I guess some people just ran passed her so I asked if she was okay she then told me her situation. So I explained put one foot infront of the other and keep going stay positive and you can make it, so her and I ran maybe 5 miles or so untill i had taken off ahead of her so after a few river crossings, staggering through ancle deep mud, going on trails maybe 1-2ft width angled down as slipper mud with a straight drop into some trees the ONLY way to cross this is to grab onto a tree and hold yourself as you cross (Note the waiver stressed multiple situations where you CAN Die) passing that over time maybe around mile 40 or so I caughtup with some relay people for some reason I got a HUGE second wind and took off running the next 7 miles within an hour of time pushing passed nearly all the relay runners I saw and somehwat racing with a kid whom considdered himself a wimp because I was running with him for a while, as I explined idk why or how I have this energy dont feel down, We then came upon a few of the toughest obsticles of he course.. a NEARLY straight up hill estimated similarity to the incline of the Millenium force Roller coaster raining with mud pulling yourselt up by the branches and trees you can reach headding up but on a right angle, as a few relay people were saying how the cant believe they put the ultra runners though the obsticles that were on the course. Making it up that hill after a long climb we came upon the worst Muck of Mud EVER! IT was SO thick that numerous people lost their shoes as I faught to keep mine on. One girl go stuck and couldent move she just fell over as i helped her up and got her a stick to use so she didnt hole me back as I had issues myself this lasted nearly a mile as a few steps would LITERALLY take all my strength to get out, this explaining how Thick the mud was as it suctioncupped around your feet and ancle every step of the way for nearly a miles length by then we were 47 miles in and i ran out of water and gatoraid luckly a aid station pops up from nowhere this was unexpected and I was greatful filling up and hiking off due to the previous 7 mile strige within an hour along with the obsticles after that. i nearly hiked the last 2 miles as i jogged out amile up it to the finish line down a Muddy Slippers Black Diamond sloap to a straight away gravel path to the finish making it in 11hr 34mins taking i believe 29th/71 and 3rd in m age group winning a headlamp. I then saw the people I had talked with through the run catch up such as the lady I modivated finished only 30 mins after me, Kevin (Just finished guy) maybe an hour after me and an hour laster Eric shows up with the biggest blister on his pinkey toe the size of his toe. We feasted as I ate 3 full plats of food and being i felt great after the run, I drove 6 hours back home. It was a great experince I feel I grew stronger and learned more from it and look forward to any more obsticles in my path.
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