2014 in Review and 2015 Thoughts

In March I did the GTR Northern Kettle 50K again. This is always a fun event and a great way to start the season. It's also really great to see my fellow Greenbush Trail Runners. Finished in 6:24.

GTR NK50K

In June I did the Kettle 100K. This was rough and I talked about it already but it was overall a good experience and prepped me for finishing a 100K a couple months later. DNF'd at mile 55 after 14:58.

In July I did the Dances with Dirt Devil's Lake 50M. I felt really strong all day and ran hard to the end. This course offers some pretty challenging climbs so I was really happy to finish in 10:36. It was a great comeback after the Kettle 100K DNF.

DWD

In August I did the Northern Kettle 100K. This wasn't an actual race but just Tony and I out there all night. We started in the early evening on Monday and finished mid-morning Tuesday in 14:16. Those miles after 50 were difficult but I felt I could still keep going as long as I kept eating. Which made me think I could do a 100 miler someday. Someday.

NK100K

In September I did a 100 Mile Week Challenge. Again not an actual event, just me trying to challenge myself since I had never run 100 miles in a single week before. It was a neat experience seeing what my body could do even when really tired. But while I was very tired the most challenging aspect was finding the time to get all the runs in. Total time for the week was 17:15.

In September I did the "Southern Kettle Marathons." Again not an actual event. (In 2014 half of my big runs were not actual events but instead just me or me and another guy challenging ourselves. I think I'll continue doing these challenges in 2015 because they are really fun and much easier to fit into my schedule.) So this was just Jeff and I running and camping in the Southern Kettles. We setup camp at Ottawa Lake then drove down the trail and ran a marathon Saturday night back to camp, slept, then ran a second marathon back to the car early Sunday morning. The total time was 10:55. This was a great experience but we were really doubting ourselves when we woke up tired and sore Sunday morning. At the time we really wished we had not parked the car 25 miles away! Looking back on it now I'm glad we did it the way we did because it was a great accomplishment pushing myself on tired legs all morning to get back to the car. I did have to leave Jeff behind in town though because his stomach went bad. After a short nap and some chocolate milk from a gas station he was good to go though and I found him a few hours later running along the side of the road. Great memories.

In October I did the Glacial Trail 50M. This was my 3rd GT50. Although my "training" this season wasn't exactly specific or to any particular plan - I basically just put in the miles -  I still hoped that I would finish quicker than last year (10:07) and really thought I could break 10 hours. That didn't happen, I finished in 10:15. But I had a good day. I know these trails so well they don't really inspire me a whole lot anymore so I think that was a big part of the problem. If you don't have the inspiration to push through the pain it's really easy just to kind of take it easy and have a "I'll finish when I finish" attitude.

GT50

For 2015, I'm sure I'll do the GTR NK50K in March, then the Ice Age 50 in May if I can get in. Then in June Jeff and I talked about doing a 50 miler we're going to call the "East to West Bender" starting on the Old Plank Road bike trail in Sheboygan and ending at the Highway H IAT trailhead near West Bend. I was also thinking of doing back to back 50 milers on Saturday and Sunday some weekend. Don't know if I'll try that in July or later. And I'm always pondering when to do a 100 miler but that might just wait another year. I'm sure I'll do Glacial Trail 50 again too. I look forward to the new experiences and challenges!

The Kettle 100k

DNF

Did not finish this one. Pretty disappointing. Started out pretty good and was feeling strong through the turnaround at mile 31 (50k) but then I really slowed down after that, feeling worse and worse with every mile, not being able to eat anymore and just not wanting to be out there anymore. So I dropped at mile 55 where Kelly and Leah had come to meet up with Jeff and I. Had we felt better they were going to pace us to the finish but we were done.

Jeff had been feeling bad most of the day. Here's a picture of him at mile 31:

How he made it another 24 miles after that I do not know. The guy is TOUGH.

What went wrong? I think it was a combination of a few things. Some little things like that I was just having a bad day, my stomach wasn't quite right, the sun took a toll. But mainly I think I was just unprepared for how tough a 100k is. This was my first and so I had to make some assumptions. One of those was that it would not be much tougher than a 50 miler but it really is - much tougher. So that incorrect assumption resulted in me not taking my training before the race seriously enough and also in not being prepared mentally to suffer for so many miles.

I enjoy running long distances because of the highs and the lows, which get higher and lower the longer you go. The highs are great for obvious reasons. The lows are terrible while you are struggling through them but the reward for having made it to the other side is greater than the highest high.

So Kettle was overall a bad experience because I was unable to make it through that really bad low point. But, it's just running. And there's always the next one. I have Dances With Dirt Devil's Lake this weekend. Prior to Kettle I had signed up for just the 50k but after DNFing at Kettle I feel I have something to prove so I moved up to the 50 mile. It will be hot and the course will be difficult but I'm going to finish - and the reward for finishing will make all the suffering well worth it.