Post Susitna 100

The morning was warm, trail packed with snow and ice. My sled was heavy from six visits to REI the days before. I didn't want to finish the race and have my sled be under weight but I could feel every pound going up and down the hills. Going down hills with a 30 pound sled on skis made it a little dicy. The sled that I created was great at finding every trench on the trail to topol over during a bad strech of trail. I lost my patience. Thinking to myself I'm only at 15 miles, I yelled out a word I'm not proud of. After that an idea hit me, I realized I need to switch modes. The only way to get out of this bad strech of trail would be to push the sled. The poles I used to pull were stiff enough to push and ster the sled out of there. After a mile I was in the clear, trail condition improved and I went back to pulling the sled.

I got lost a lot. Which is nothing new my runner friends will tell you. I assure you I wasn't the only one. The course was like a four lane highway, running on auto pilot I frequently missed my exit or took the wrong one to add an extra 6 miles to my experience. To make light of the extra miles I just figured I got more millage for my buck.

My chellenges were not nearly as difficult as others. Eric an ultra athlete, I should say an Army Vegan Ultra Athlete no less who I had just met at the safety meeting the night before who had to back pack out his gear after his sled broke. He finished Susitna 100 with a time of 32 hours! He is nothing less but inspirational.

Sweet potatoes a little messy but was a nice change up to the routine of pro bars and gues. When the station only provided what seemed like junk food, sweet potatos provided me a tasty snack. Baking them before the race provided a heat source to keep my insulated bag, clothes, and food warm. I didn't get nauseated nor loss my cookies this time. Training less with high surgars and eating more soild food helped avoid a three hour layover at an aid station like last year. I noticed I might have been slower but I rested and ate less closer to the end of the race.

I consumed a gue when I felt like I needed a pick me up but no more then two between check points. A rough guess of calories consumed was 1200 hundred calories through 10 miles and 32 oz of Poweraid every 14 miles. Two 1000mg sodium tablets, five Tylenol and five 400mg Bromalin tablets.

What did I learn from this event?
1)Run my own race.
2)I can over come a stressful moment. 3)I had a chance learn from a veteran ultra runner who kicks all the guys butts including mine. "What do you do to prevent your feet from getting slowen or injured? " I asked. "I dont get massages or do anything special she said. "I thought with age symptoms would get worse." but she explained to me her experience running ultras was the opposite. Her body improved with experience. This makes me excited for three more opportunities to improve.

These are post race photos.