To All-
What a day. Never in my mind did I ever think it would take me nearly 30 hours to finish that course. I really did not know what to expect having never run over 50 miles and having never run at that elevation. I totally hit the wall around 50 miles- it was brutal. The course was brutal- I knew there had to be something out there that just sucked time. It was the canyons. There is one section of the course right around the 45-50 mark up to a checkpoint called Devil's Thumb. I died on that part of the course. It contained 37 switchbacks all the way to the top. I would take about 5 steps and stop- lean against the side- rest for about a minute- take another 5 steps. I ran out of water. By the time I hit the top checkpoint I had started to shiver and I was well beyond dehydrated. My plan was to drink a mixture of hammer gel and sustained energy all day. That lasted about 30 miles- I just could not drink it. I stopped peeing about 7 hours into the race. I had the urgency but could not go- so I stopped using the Succeed! tablets. That caused my muscles to ache. I reached Michigan Bluff where my crew was- I think it was mile 52 or something. I was so ready to pack it in. My friend Demah was my first pacer and I would never had finished it without him. He is an African runner with a 1/2 marathon PR of around 1:06. Someone that knew pain and knew how to get me through. Demah probably logged at least 50 miles during this race running around. He just said let us get to Foresthill and we will take care of you and get you ready to finish this. At that point I was behind the 30-hour pace cut-off. I thought how in the hell can I finish this when I have almost half yet to do. My crew (Mike, Erin, Ryan, and Demah) took care of me at Foresthill. They helped massage my legs and get me mentally ready for the journey to come.
This was the slowest 50-miler I have ever done and I felt the worst after it. I always thought that at some point I would zone out and mentally remove myself from the situation, but it never happened. I laid down on a dirt road right after Michigan Bluff and told Demah- "I'm Done". I was not peeing, I was extremely dehydrated and my muscles were burning. This was about 9:30ish at night. I could not even think about continuing. Demah said "What do you want to do?". "I just want to go to bed." Everything said no- stop. We arrived at Foresthill and they started loading me up with fruits- melons, bananas, watermelons. That is what got me through. The Dr. at Foresthill was concerned that I have not peed in so long. He wanted me to pee before I left- which somehow I was able to do. Typically they do not allow pacers to mule for the runners, but the Dr. let Demah bring a bag full of fruits for me which he feed to me throughout the night. This is where we turned to race around- I have no idea how, but we slowly chipped away at the aid station cutoffs. Somehow between the hours of 2 AM and 4 AM we were able to gain an hour. When we reached Rucky Chucky River crossing around 4:30 AM and saw that we were 1 hour over the 30-hour pace mentally I knew we could do it. Up until that point I had determined that I would just keep moving and if I got pulled that was how it was going to be. I was meant to finish this race- the temperatures felt hot to me, but they were very mild compared to most years. I do not think it ever raised above 90.
What a day. Never in my mind did I ever think it would take me nearly 30 hours to finish that course. I really did not know what to expect having never run over 50 miles and having never run at that elevation. I totally hit the wall around 50 miles- it was brutal. The course was brutal- I knew there had to be something out there that just sucked time. It was the canyons. There is one section of the course right around the 45-50 mark up to a checkpoint called Devil's Thumb. I died on that part of the course. It contained 37 switchbacks all the way to the top. I would take about 5 steps and stop- lean against the side- rest for about a minute- take another 5 steps. I ran out of water. By the time I hit the top checkpoint I had started to shiver and I was well beyond dehydrated. My plan was to drink a mixture of hammer gel and sustained energy all day. That lasted about 30 miles- I just could not drink it. I stopped peeing about 7 hours into the race. I had the urgency but could not go- so I stopped using the Succeed! tablets. That caused my muscles to ache. I reached Michigan Bluff where my crew was- I think it was mile 52 or something. I was so ready to pack it in. My friend Demah was my first pacer and I would never had finished it without him. He is an African runner with a 1/2 marathon PR of around 1:06. Someone that knew pain and knew how to get me through. Demah probably logged at least 50 miles during this race running around. He just said let us get to Foresthill and we will take care of you and get you ready to finish this. At that point I was behind the 30-hour pace cut-off. I thought how in the hell can I finish this when I have almost half yet to do. My crew (Mike, Erin, Ryan, and Demah) took care of me at Foresthill. They helped massage my legs and get me mentally ready for the journey to come.
This was the slowest 50-miler I have ever done and I felt the worst after it. I always thought that at some point I would zone out and mentally remove myself from the situation, but it never happened. I laid down on a dirt road right after Michigan Bluff and told Demah- "I'm Done". I was not peeing, I was extremely dehydrated and my muscles were burning. This was about 9:30ish at night. I could not even think about continuing. Demah said "What do you want to do?". "I just want to go to bed." Everything said no- stop. We arrived at Foresthill and they started loading me up with fruits- melons, bananas, watermelons. That is what got me through. The Dr. at Foresthill was concerned that I have not peed in so long. He wanted me to pee before I left- which somehow I was able to do. Typically they do not allow pacers to mule for the runners, but the Dr. let Demah bring a bag full of fruits for me which he feed to me throughout the night. This is where we turned to race around- I have no idea how, but we slowly chipped away at the aid station cutoffs. Somehow between the hours of 2 AM and 4 AM we were able to gain an hour. When we reached Rucky Chucky River crossing around 4:30 AM and saw that we were 1 hour over the 30-hour pace mentally I knew we could do it. Up until that point I had determined that I would just keep moving and if I got pulled that was how it was going to be. I was meant to finish this race- the temperatures felt hot to me, but they were very mild compared to most years. I do not think it ever raised above 90.
Around mile 80 we switched pacers and Ryan and I just hiked at a consistent pacer for about 13 miles. The bottoms of my feet were raw from the constant pounding- the terrain was difficult. Rocks everywhere. We had 1-1/2 hours to finish 3 miles in the end. Gordy the guy that started it all let me know that while we were climbing up to the finish at Auburn. My crew was still trying to push me up those hills. It seemed like there were hills everywhere. You went up and over every mountain- it seemed to never end. Gordy says forget those guys and come back here with me- we can cross the line together. While we were walking up the hill into the town Gordy passes me and says you should have taken me up on the offer- to that I responded something like you will still need to beat me. And we went into what seemed like an all-out sprint. Even at mile 99.5 you can shit-talk! That lasted about 10 seconds and Gordy continued on his way. I knew I was going to finish.
Everything said stop don't keep going you are not going to make it. Somehow I got a second wind. I came from death and was reborn during the night. I feel honored to have experienced that- it was hands down much harder than I ever imagined. I always said if I was going to do a hundred I want to do WS. I am now done with 100's- it is just way to far :)
Thanks for the positive thought during the race- I know that helped get me through it. There were a lot of people watching. My wife and mother were up most of the night monitoring the race. I sure did cut it close.
In Christ,
Ryan Dexter
