The Whole Journey in Photos
Every photograph from the road to the Vermont 100, in the order it was taken.
One of my last long runs ... I had NOTHING left. You know the feeling.
One of only a few massages that I got throughout the duration of my training and post race time. I should've gotten more, but this one felt good.
All packed up and ready to drive to Brownsville, Vermont
We borrowed a friend's tent and it became home for our night before the race in the morning's rest after. My boys are getting ready to cheer me on for a day and a long night!
The Race organizers do an incredible job and have found a beautiful setting for this incredible race.
Our view from our "front door."
Here is my support crew getting dialed up for the big day.
This is me trying to be normal/calm. It was almost surreal. I wasn't in denial – it's hard to be when you're surrounded with hundreds of runners, hundreds of staff and many hundreds of family and friends coming to take part in this big day. I just found myself not wanting to think about the start of the race but just focusing on doing what I needed to to be ready for 4 o'clock in the morning.
Apparently, there's a horse race of some sort that goes concurrent to the hundred mile run. I could not make any distinction between the riders for their race and the support staff that had horses to support us on a certain part of the course – that might be me just making it up. But I'm pretty sure they did have people on horses for us.
Merch!
Devin: nonchalant, confident and ready for Dad to run – this is the afternoon before.
And then there's Emilio!
I wrote the numbers of the major aid stations on my arm, so no matter how punchy I got, I would know where I was relative to the next.
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Me and Michael Wagenseil. He was my coach, Ally, therapist, friend, trainer, and rock for the last 30 miles. "Thank you" was not enough for this man who helped me make my dream, reality.
I thought this bumper sticker was pretty clever.
This is the view out of my tent at 3:20 in the morning. Some folks were stirring, but it was still dark and quiet.
This is me going into the back of the truck to get my bottles and all of the stuff I wanted to carry with me. When I ran my first 50 mile run, I practically lived off of peanut M&Ms. They just struck me right and I felt the right amount of energy and a sufficiently settled stomach. I bought pounds of them for this race. I couldn't eat one. People having stomach issues during endurance events is the quickest way to end your day. My body did not want peanut M&Ms so it did not get any.
35 minutes until go-time.
Me and my crew – eight minutes before the gun.
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One minute ago… A final stretch. I can't believe I'm about to do this.
Almost…
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In 10, 9, 8 …
3, 2 …
9:11 in the morning – so I've been running for five hours. My crew is looking strong. It was an absolutely beautiful morning and honestly, I was a little surprised at how easy the miles were clicking by.
I don't really know what this picture was for precisely where it was.
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Here is Emilio running me in for the last few yards before the next aid station. 4:45 in the afternoon.
Now we have Devin helping me get my water and anything else I needed dialed up.
A couple last-minute adjustments.
Me and Michael. This is me just telling him about the run and how it's going. He met me at one of the aid stations prior to mile 70. If I were to guess this would probably be mile 62. It was nice to have him there, to reconnect and to know that he would be waiting for me.
3:14 in the morning – 46 minutes to spare in order to buckle. I did it! This picture is so great. I'm glad Michael is in it. It turns out I was the 100th finisher. It's kind of poetic, isn't it?
To breathe without having to move…
A final smile…
Check this smile out. You can see it's starting to hit me.
I just couldn't stand anymore. I laid there for several minutes before I slowly got up and stood, hobbled over to a pond about 30 yards away and stood waist deep for five minutes. It was so soothing, but I knew I was in trouble!
This is me getting in the passenger side, driving from near where our camp was to the tent to get my buckle and a bite to eat. It took me quite a while to even be able to stand up after I woke up from sleeping for a couple hours.
I laid down a little after eating for a couple minutes and again, didn't want to move
If I recall, these are other people who ran the race – they're looking far better than I do
I'm not a fan of looking at photographs of people's food that they post everywhere but – you'll bear with me because this was the first solid meal that I had after the race and it was packed full of turkey/protein with spinach and who knows what else is going on but it was so deeply satisfying to my body. I was convinced that I was going to go to Ben & Jerry's and get a Vermonster afterwards, but I had no desire to do anything but take good care of my body after this very punishing event.
The metal is great – the buckle was the goal. It's a tradition in 100 mile ultra marathon events: if you can run the race – 100 miles, in less than 24 hours you "buckled." I wanted to buckle so badly. I did it.
My feet – three days later.
Same deal – my feet
And my view. I literally dragged myself around on my belly, as if I had no use of my legs whatsoever, for two days. After that, I had to use a cane for a couple days. ... no shortage of ice baths. Wow.