FANS 24 Hour, Race Report.

Introduction: the good news is that the walking division winner is a math professor with liberal political views. The bad news is that the second place finisher meets the same criteria.

The quick and dirty:
Fans 24 hour race, first loop: 1.656 miles
Next loops: 2.421 miles
Last hour: lengths of 1/8'th of a mile (220 yds, or just over 200 m)

Surface: mostly asphalt sidewalk, some concrete, short stretches of grass, and some asphalt bike path.

Weather: sunny; 71 F at the start, 80's from 10 am to 8 pm, with high of 89 at 3 pm. Down to the low 70's, high 60's in the early morning. Not that humid; no dew on the grass.

Results: http://home.comcast.net/~runallnight/prelim.txt

Result: 2 out of 6 walkers, 34'th out of 86 total with 83.002 miles.
Walker results:
John Green, 93.63 (course record), 23 out of 86
me: 83.00 34'th place
Barbara Curnow 79.85 (yes, she is over 60!) 37'th
Keith Hardy: 54.63 68'th
David Abbot: 50.08 73'rd
Andy Penson: 33.13 83'rd

12 Hour walk:
Rosanne Kostelecky 36.3 miles
Monica Powers 31.16 miles

The race itself:

High Points

• Beautiful course around a sparkling lake; view of the Minneapolis skyline in the distance.
• Organization is excellent; good lap counters, aid stations, splits, medical tent, massage tent.
• Friendly competitors and excellent competition. 22 people broke 100 miles!
• Good pasta feed prior, good breakfast afterwards. Shower facilities available.
• USATF-certified course which was measured to allow for grass running along the sidewalks.
• Race packet told you everything to expect.
  

Down Points (for some)

• Some runners might be bothered by the sidewalks though there was the option of running on the grass alongside.
• Some racewalkers might be bothered by the grass stretches. By the way, I wasn't; in fact I looked forward to them.
• The park is open to the public; there is quite a bit of public pedestrian traffic and one spot where people load their boats. But, to be honest, I actually enjoyed seeing people on the beach. But there were times when the trail got moderately crowded.
  

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My Report

I went in not knowing what to expect, in terms of performance. I was weighing close to 200 pounds the week before (197) and that is too heavy going into an ultra. Also, I hadn't done much in the way of training and I was trying to revive my technique. My left piriformis muscle was worrisome as well.

I drove from Peoria the day before (about a 7 hour trip) and checked in at the packet pickup. My "with shoes, clothes, after lunch" weight was 203 and would be my "official" race weight.

I said hi to Bob Metzger and to other runners; I also met John Green (who I blogged about) and Barbara Curnow. The pasta dinner was quite tasty; I sat with John and his wife and Bill Paulson; Bill's specialty is making sure that he gets between 100 and 101 miles each time. He was to do that again this year.

At the start of the race, I was unsure as to what to expect. I started off and frankly, for the first hour, didn't feel good at all. I felt heavy and my piriformis was bothering me. So, after the first 4.1 miles (which took about 56 minutes to do) I stopped, did some yoga (pigeon and down dog) and took a couple of naproxen. That seemed to do the trick and I felt much better after that, at least for a good long while.

John Green and Keith Hardy were out of sight for the time being. But I kept to my pace and didn't worry about pace, charts and the like. I got into a rhythm and covered 16.2 miles in the first 4 hours (though I didn't know this). I noticed that I was 4'th among the walkers (on the leaderboard, though it turns out that I was really 3'rd; they had mistakenly listed a runner as a walker). At the 4 hour weigh in I was at 198.

The next 4 hours saw more of the same; I slowed slightly due to the heat. Still, I felt ok and was at 33 miles 8:14 into the race. I held my weight during this stretch.

The next few hours saw me take 4:24 to get from 33 to 50.1 miles (12:38). Certainly, 100 was out of the question, but I knew that going in. I noticed that John had built up a 2.4 mile lead on me, but I had caught Keith and had lapped Barbara (who looked very good). I was having minor trouble with my stomach and my regular food (pretzels, peanut butter crackers, grapefruit juice) was staring to taste bad.

Then came pizza; I ate a slice. It was wonderful; the fats that I was craving really got me going and I picked up the pace a bit. I had slowed from 35 to 37 minute laps and then to 38-39; I was now doing 37's again.

So, during the next lap, I decided to take another piece and take naproxen again. Big mistake!

The other piece refused to digest and the naproxen pill didn't digest either.

Slowly, slowed to 40 minute laps and started to feel sick again. I was 15:16 at mile 59.7

I made a pit stop to try to empty my digestive system and to work out the nausea; I was 16:17 at 100 km. No avail; I tried to sip some diet ginger ale and ended up throwing up all of it. My weight had gone UP to 201; my food was just sitting there and not digesting.

I sat down for an hour and tried to calm the stomach down. After an hour, I got back up, tried to walk and promptly threw up again. This time I said "bleep it" and kept going; and I walked a couple of 50 minute laps (21 minute pace).

I threw up a couple of more times during those laps.

But, right around 19 hours, my stomach suddenly felt better and "empty". I had finally digested some of my food, as well as the naproxen pill; my hip felt good again. I knocked off a 41 minute lap and then started to slow; the next lap was 48 minutes.

Catching John was out of the question, and Barbara, who was in third place, was gaining fast.

I was thinking that I might have time to finish 33 laps and end up with close to 80 miles with the little laps at the end.

The next two laps were ugly indeed (52 and 57 minutes); I wasn't sick anymore but I had zero energy. I was bonking; and Barbara closed to 2.4 miles of me on the latter lap.

But, since I was feeling better (I had taken in nothing over the last 4 hours; I couldn't hold anything down, not even water), I tried to eat two small crossiants.

That did the trick! I recovered my bonk very quickly, and was able to drink water and to repass Barbara. The last lap took 37:38; I was feeling much better!

During the last lap I kept pace with a fitness walker who was doing his laps; it turns out that he likes triathlons and swimming but had to hold back for a few weeks. I wish I would have gotten his name.

Finally, it was time for the little laps. Bob Metzger teased me mercilesly!

I was able to crank out 3.875 (3 and 7/8'ths of a mile) during this stretch and had a small "kick" left at the end.

Though it was crowded, I liked it as it enabled me to see everyone who I had seen at one time or another on the course. I was able to congratulate Julie Berg for an outstanding 116.8 miles; I am sure that she will post a race report on her blog.

Afterwards, we had a good breakfast at the awards ceremony, which featured many awards and some good fun.

I sat with John and his wife and his parents. They were all (justifiably) proud of him.

For the geeks/stat lovers among us

distance	lap	actual-lap-m	a-lap-sec	pace-lap	cum-hr	cum-min	cum pace
1.656	1	24	7	14.5632	0	24.1	14.55314
4.077	2	35	50	14.80105	0	59.95	14.70444
6.498	3	36	6	14.91119	1	36	14.77378
8.919	4	34	7	14.09197	2	10	14.57563
11.34	5	36	24	15.03511	2	46	14.63845
13.761	6	34	54	14.41553	3	21	14.6065
16.182	7	35	36	14.70467	3	57	14.6459
18.603	8	36	46	15.18656	4	34	14.72881
21.024	9	34	44	14.34669	5	9	14.69749
23.445	10	36	45	15.17968	5	45	14.71529
25.866	11	37	6	15.32425	6	22	14.76842
28.287	12	36	47	15.19345	6	59	14.81246
30.708	13	38	7	15.74418	7	37	14.88212
33.129	14	37	0	15.28294	8	14	14.91141
35.55	15	36	0	14.86989	8	51	14.93671
37.971	16	35	54	14.82858	9	27	14.93245
40.392	17	38	13	15.78549	10	5	14.97821
42.813	18	38	58	16.09528	10	44	15.04216
45.234	19	37	38	15.54454	11	22	15.07715
47.655	20	36	35	15.11084	11	59	15.08761
50.076	21	39	17	16.22608	12	38	15.13699
52.497	22	37	43	15.57896	13	16	15.16277
54.918	23	39	45	16.41884	13	55	15.20449
57.339	24	40	30	16.72862	14	36	15.27756
59.76	25	40	4	16.54964	15	16	15.32798
62.181	26	61	30	25.40273	16	17	15.7122
64.602	27	110	54	45.80752	18	8	16.84158
67.023	28	51	32	21.28597	19	0	17.00909
69.444	29	41	30	17.14168	19	41	17.00651
71.865	30	48	25	19.99862	20	30	17.11542
74.286	31	52	21	21.6233	21	22	17.25763
76.707	32	57	48	23.87443	22	20	17.46907
79.128	33	37	38	15.54454	22	58	17.41482
83.003	34	62		16	24	0	17.34877