Rob Hester's Bonus Epic Story

Hello,

I have had a full day and then some to recover mentally from running 62
miles in a 24 hour time span without sleeping. I know to some of you maniacs
who may read this this is nothing new to you, but for me it was my first
double, and it was especially difficult since I did not get to sleep in
between them.

The day started at the Chuckanut 50K which was an exciting race right from
the start. Lot's of big name runners and just all around friendly faces
everywhere I turned. I wanted to do well in the race, for me anyways, and I
started out fast like I normally do. I was running with people I normally
would not run with, like Carol O'hear who runs for the Vasque running team,
and I was a little worried I was going to fast from the beginning, and I
probably was. The scenery was beautiful and the aid stations were well
stocked and well staffed with people filling my bottles and handing me
everything I needed.

At about mile 16 I got a vicious cramp in my left hamstring and had to walk
it off for a few minutes before I started running again. Another runner was
nice enough to give me a salt tablet and before I knew it I caught up to the
group I was running with. The miles between aid stations 3 and 4 had
wonderful variety and little chinscraper was a nice little hill right around
mile 20, I think. After the long up hill it was a quick steep downhill to
the next aidstation. After I bounded down in between the rocks, and made it
without falling flat on my face back out to the dirt road, I got another
cramp in my right hamstring. I stumbled down to the aid station and they
kindly gave me two more salt tablets and I was on my way again.

The next three miles were downhill and I felt really good. When I got to the
final aid station before the last 6 mile stretch to the finish the usual
people started to catch me and then pass me (Tony and Annie). I felt pretty
good for the next two miles, but the last four I slowed down to about a 10
minute mile. People kept going by me, but I had nothing to answer with like
usual. It did not really bother me that much because it was just a wonderful
course and a great race that I came to enjoy and not worry about who is
finishing in front of me. About a half mile from the finish I heard another
set of familiar footsteps coming up behind me. I made a vow that I was going
to beat her at Chuckanut, but luckily I did not wager anything on the deal,
and sure enough it was her, Olga Varlamova. She did not rub it in though and
we ran to the finish together in 5:22:33.

After some food, I drove three hours home, took a shower, got something to
eat, and went to starbucks for a venti vanilla latte and was on my way to
Longview, WA for another 50K at the Pacific Rim 24 hour. After three hours
of driving, due to an accident on the freeway, I finally got there at 9:45
P.M. to start running. Luckily Tony and Annie had another 10 miles to go so
I was able to run with some company for the first 10 miles, which went by
rather quickly in about 1:40 or so.

By the time the first 10 was finished it started to rain pretty good and was
getting windy as well. I changed my shirt and got some dry clothes on to get
me through the next 21 miles. The next 5 or 6 went by in about an hour and I
was starting to get very wet and cold. The rain was a driving rain due to
the wind and I would get pushed along down one side of the lake and then
have the wind blowing in my face on the other side. The run was on a nice
one-mile loop that was packed dirt and a little section of sidewalk. It was
mostly dry when I got there, but was steadily getting filled with puddles
that seemed to get larger and larger.

After 16 miles it was around 12 P.M. and I was starting to wonder why the
hell I was two hours from my nice warm bed on a Saturday night. I had
borrowed my parents traveling van and kept thinking about sleeping for a
couple hours and then starting back up. Then I realized I would have to take
off my wet clothes and then get back into them later on and that did not
sound good either. Each mile went by slower and slower. When I got to mile
20 I figured I could get done in two more hours. When I got to mile 21 I
still thought I could get done in two more hours. When I got to mile 22 the
same thing, over and over. I just could not get by feeling like I had two
hours left no matter how far I went.

I was frickin cold, wet, and more miserable than I had ever been while I was
running. I almost took amusement in it thinking that this is self-inflicted
misery. There is no really good reason that I should be out here running in
the middle of the night around a one mile loop with my nice warm van sitting
there waiting for me to come to bed. But you know what they say, misery
loves company and there was 4 or 5 other people running around the same loop
and having run farther than I had so far, so I sucked it up and kept on
going no matter how slowly. At mile 24 I decided to put on the last dry
shirt and slightly wet sweatshirt that I had and maybe find a little bit of
comfort to get through the last 7 miles, it was 2:47 A.M.

By this time I had broken through the 2 hour curse and was feeling more like
about an hour forty five now. I was drier and warmer and although each mile
went by slowly I knew I was getting closer to being able to sleep. I was
tired of eating by this point and was in a zombie like state going around a
big circle, I felt fortunate however that I did not have to worry about
falling off any cliffs or getting lost in the woods. I was thinking about
how when I was in high school I would be wandering around in the middle of
the night in a drug induced state and this was somehow similar to that.

The only rational reason that I could come up with to make sense out of this
whole ordeal is that it somehow added meaning to my life. At some point
after mile 16 it was no longer about running. It became about finishing what
I had said I was going to do so that I could look at myself in the mirror
when I woke up each morning. But that was just it, I wanted to sleep. I had
4 miles to go and I thought I could finish in about an hour. I ran mile 28
without stopping and then walked for a few minutes. When I started running
again I decided that I felt like throwing up when I was running, and walking
the last two and a half miles did not sound so bad. The last two miles,
although miserable, felt very victorious. I finished the last loop and made
my way to the first cone past the start line so that I could get in my 50K.
By that time it was about 4:30 in the morning.

6 hours and 45 minutes after I started I could now lay claim to running (I
use the term running loosely) 2 ultra's in one day, or atleast in a 24 hour
time frame. I went straight to the van and slept for 2 and half hours. When
I woke up, I picked up my sweatshirt and went to have breakfast with my
running group, the Y-run club. The name seemed somewhat fitting now. Y-run?
A question that you will have to answer on your own.

Happy Running,

Rob
Maniac #97