Morrie said it (according to Mitch Album in Tuesday's with Morrie anyway, which means Morrie might have said it) "What's so wrong with being number two?" Nothing is wrong with it at all! I am fresh off finishing number 2 at the Ancient Oaks 100. And I did all I could to finish #1, but it wasn't just up to me, turns out there was a dude there that was faster than me. I ran very well, I beat the guy that won the race last year. I feel great about being #2 (of course 20 laps into the 29 laps course I felt exactly like #2, but let's not go there!) As for today, My legs don't actually feel too bad. I may try to run a smidge tomorrow.
Ancient Oaks. Sandy Oaks. Hot Oaks. Ronald Regan was right, once you've seen one ancient oak, you've seen them all (29 times no less!)
It was repetitive, it was redundant, it was a ditto, it wasn't that much fun.
There was fun stuff about it:
My main man Dante. Dante, worked the race, because he's a good guy. I was glad to meet him, and I looked forward to ending each loop, yes, because I was 1/29th closer to being finished, but also because I looked forward to updating him on the latest I-Pod tune to which I was listening. Can you believe he'd never heard of the Gourds or the Meat Puppets?
Sandy Melton (of course when the sun came out, I knew I was Sandy, and I felt like I was Melton, er, melting or something.) Mike Melton's much better 1/2 Sandy was out there all day and all night helping us out. She brought me a Starbucks peppermint latte at like 2 AM, and I needed it! Sandy, I owe you $5 bucks, don't let me forget, K? K!
Mark, I think he was related to Stu, but doesn't matter, I came by the start/finish tent 29 times, and he was there EVERY TIME. I told him, "Mark, thanks for being here, I'd much rather be doing what I'm doing than what you're doing!" To which Mark gracefully replied, "The difference is, you could do what I'm doing, and I could never do what you're doing." How'd he think of that? I mean poetry. You have to know that that is EXACTLY what an ultra runner wants to hear. Thank you Mark!
Stu: What a great guy. Puts on the race, feeds us, wouldn't even take a donation. Yeah, he's going to heaven!
Little Lisa: Wow, what a great time I had running three loops with you. Lisa ran well and were great company. Dave is a lucky guy, of course you're pretty lucky to have a guy that will get up at 2 AM and drive across the state with you!
And my two fantastic Pacers!!!!! Adam and Tracy. I was not kidding, without you two I WAS AT LEAST ONE HOUR SLOWER! You guys kept it light, knew when to talk knew when to hush up. Those last 7 loops were great. Just when I couldn't see the point and would have walked or crawled, or napped, you two kept me running. Hey Tracy, did we take down that last lap or what? Thank you so much! I meant what I said, re: Croom, send those suckers to me!
Ok, last little bit: Last loop if you will.
The race was hard, but it was a pure ultra. No frills, it's all up to you. Do you want to run, do you want to nap, do you want to finish. More than 1/2 the field didn't want to finish enough to finish. I don't know what the secret is to finishing, you just have to make that your only option. Unless you are hurt, you have to know you will finish, they you keep going until you do. For me, I want to finish as quickly as I can, so I keep running.
In this race I came in 2nd place; however, I feel like I ran as well as anyone. I ran most of the night in third place, but I knew I was going to come in second, I kept picking at the second place guy's lead. Just chipping away at it. I told Dante at the aid station, man I'd hate to be that son of a gun, he's got to know that I'm going to catch him, and he's not going to be happy when I do. I wasn't trying to be cocky, but I knew how well I was running, and couldn't imagine that he was running as well. Turns out that I caught him at 2:29 AM. Only four loops to go. Poor fella, it broke his spirit and he ended up dropping out with 3 laps to go. Dropping out with 10 miles to go? That's an option?
As for the Joe in 1st place. Had the race been 20 more miles........
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11 comments:
Andy, 'grats on a great race, well done. Yep, I think many runners may scoff at the AO, like it's not a "real" ultra ... but they've never tried it. Low finishing rate attests to the temptation of running past your car 29 times. Some are "mountain ultras," some are "heat ultras" and some are "mind ultras." This one is a mind ultra.
Great race, glad to hear you did so well.
Chase,
That is well said. This was the ultimate "mind ultra." Running by the car once is tough, running by 29 times is near impossible! Also, Jim Sullivan had a GPS on it, he swears that there was 10,800 feet of elevation gain/loss in the 29 loops. I believe it.
...and if the "hot" light's on, ya gotta stop in for a donut.
Andyman,
Remember when we ran the Columbus Marathon together? I hated that course. The sadist that designed that course had us run within 1 block of the finish line at about the 23 mile mark. Then we did a little out and back for the last 3 miles. That finish line looked so good when I saw it the first time. We passed it that day and finished but I don't know if I could have passed it 28 more times.
Nice job, bro.
Steve,
You know, I didn't realize that we had come within a whisper of the finish at Columbus. I told Tracy and Adam at Ancient Oaks that they had to run the last loop with me, they said, no you go alone. I said, if I go alone, so help me God I'm cutting the course! (I don't know if I meant it or not, not to fear Tracy went with me.)
Oh, you mean at that little stick that marks the place where just by stepping over one tiny line when no one's looking you can lop about 1.5 miles off the loop??? Yeah, that looked REEEEAAALLL tempting, didn't it??
We just wanted you to run the last lap on your own becasue we were both tired!!!! I guess we really shouldn't complain though..."I cried becasue I ran 15 miles until I met a man who ran 100"
I hope you were able to recover well...it looks like your typing fingers and wit didn't suffer too much permanent damage.
We had an absolute BLAST out there this weekend!!!!!
Adam
Great job Andyman! Had I known Lisa was going to run with you, I'd have volunteered too. I just never thought I could keep up with you, you're awesome, I'm just a plodding marathoner! Course, I'd have had to run in the daylight, heck I can't even stay on my feet on a road marathon! Trip, fall, slide, and resume running forward, all in one motion and pretend it didn't happen, that's me!
You didn't need me there either. My knees look like road maps of Hillsborough County from all of the falls that I've taken on pavement. I can't get through the Par Course at USF without becoming horizontal on the course.
Chase is right on about the "mind". I had a hard enough time passing the finish line twice at Marathon of the Palm Beaches BEFORE I finished! So I can't imagine doing it 29 times!
Admit it....how many times did you look at your bracelet? 29 times?
Good job AndyMan! When the going gets tough, the tough PASS the finish line 29 times!
Farris, you're my hero!
Ok, I have three questions:
1. What the heck do you think about loop after monotonous loop?
2. Did you see Cas there, you know, the guy with the great legs?
3. Ever Puke up a peppermint latte?
CONGRATS on your #2! Well, you know what I mean...
Adam, Thanks again to you and Tracy, I hope you learned a little something about running 100. The guys that stopped at the cars and napped, well, they didn't finish. I was never fast, but I was always going!
Arlene & Lan, if slipping and falling is really your thing, well, maybe you should try this course. There are about 2 miles of hidden roots (X 29 Times) that can trip you up. Course I didn't need the roots, my last fall was in the sugar sand (I guess I tripped, on some er, a sand!) And Arlene, I looked at the Bracelet 29 times, per loop!
Star, I never puked up the Latte, that stuff was good and plenty! Mike Melton ate 2 cheeseburgers (fast food no less) Large Fries and a chocolate shake all at once during the run. If he didn't throw up, well, I guess a latte wasn't going to do it for me.
As for what I thought about, er, nothing, er everything, er does Star's sister like roses or daisies, why do the Gators suck, you know if I went back to school, I bet I could be an astronaught. YOu know that old chestnut!
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