1)
Runners-I went down to Dallas ready to race with thoughts of 135+ miles in 24 hours. Within the first two hours I had a few bouts of stomach issues and lost roughly 10 pounds by 5 hours into the race. I was not in good shape but time heals all things and my body came back to life and finished strong.But that is only half the story....
I had e-mailed my friend David Goggins a copy months ago about coming to this race and doing the 24 hour- he responded that he was working. And even last week he told me good luck at the race. My friends Gregg Fielder, Darren Fortney, and myself arrived at the race site a little late do to running a red light :-). There was also a 48 hour event at this race and those runners were about a day into the race when we arrived. Darren said to me there's Goggins. I couldn't believe it - he was planning on coming all along. He was destroying the course covering about 132 miles in the first 24 hours! I went and found Aleeza and said what is he doing, why is he here, 48 hours!!!??! Aleeza summed it all up "David loves pain!".
After one of my trips to the bathroom, I was sitting in my chair and looked down the road and saw David sitting in his with Aleeza. He had torn a muscle in his right leg and had been getting many ice breaks and rub downs trying to get it better. He must have been very high on all that pain that he loves so much. Anyways, I waved at him to get up and come over. I said 200 miles is definitely doable- we just need to keep moving- just a steady walk will do it. So that is what we did.
There was a few times while he iced his leg I snuck away for a quick out and back loop (2 miles), but for the most part we just hung out and enjoyed the day. There were some great people out on the course - very inspirational performances. Hopefully we will hear about some more of them. Roy - you are the man!
At about 6 AM I banged on Gregg's truck and opened the door and told Darren and him to be ready for when we returned from this loop we would hit the 200 mile mark- get the camera ready! After 200, David was going to call it a day. He had a goal of 200 and that was all. (attached is a photo of David and I right after the 200 mile mark). He climbed into his car while it was still dark yesterday morning. I sat in my chair for awhile and although there was almost 2 more hours left in the race, I was thinking about packing it in.
I called Christina (my wife) and told her I was just going to shower and I was taken back by her response- "You are going to do what?" "Are you kidding me? " So I jumper out of my chair and ran a quick one around the loop. At this point it was close to one hour left in the race. For the final hour, you run around a 0.25 mile loop. I just made it out of the start/finish before the hour so I was back out on the 2 mile loop. I knew that there would not be many people on the course and thought man this would be the way to end this race. So I paced by David and Aleeza asleep in their car and turned around and (I guess I like banging on car doors waking people up) woke them up. I said David "get out here and put some gravy on it!". We walked another lap and just enjoyed the new morning.
Once we got on the 0.25 mile loop, I gunned it and even turned in a couple sub 7s. With about 3 minutes left in the race, David and I ran (yes he was running) to finish at an even mileage. I glad I did not read about this performance and that I was able to witness it first hand.
I meet David last year at the McNaughton Park 150M and truly enjoy him and Aleeza. I was glad that Gregg and Darren were able to be there also. It was a great weekend. David told me he would not have been able to do it without me. I am not sure I believe that but maybe that was why I was there.
In Christ,
Ryan Dexter
Verona, WI
Results from the Ultracentric races are available at: www.doitsports.com/results/page.tcl?id=153747
2)
Event was just awesome to be a part of.Ryan was planning on running the 24 hour race and I was going to pace him for hours 6-12 of those 24 and crew for the rest. Ryan was solid for hours 1-2, but then seemed to be having "issues" with his stomach. He had logged a good 7 miles per hour for the first few hours and it seemed like he was strong. After about 2 hours, he was developing a blister on his heel so we went right for the Badwater blister treatment that I learned this summer and addressed it right off the bat.........turns out that treatment held for the full 24 hours.
Anyhow, after about 3-6 hours into his race, we were just trying to keep Ryan moving and battling through the stomach issues. It was also about 80 plus degrees out and the wind made it somewhat deceiving. I had heard that the heat index climbed up over 90 degrees but it did not seem overly hot to me......or Ryan I think. There was not a cloud in the sky the entire day.
About hour 4, Ryan decided that this race was not going to be a record breaker for him, but found a trememdous amount of satisfaction helping out David G (see earlier) reach a monumental goal of 200 miles over 48 hours. Ryan decided to hang with David for nearly the ENTIRE rest of the race. That told me a lot about how unselfish Ryan is and how much respect he has for David G.At Ryan's 6 hour mark, my 6 hour run was about ready to fire up (original plan was for me to run/pace with him those 6 hours). We had decided that I sign up for the 6 hour event so I could "officially" be a pacer for him during the event....pacers were not legally allowed. I left it up to Ryan if he wanted me to continue to work with him (or he and David) those next 6 hours..........or get after it and race the 6 hours.
Ryan seemed to be getting back into his groove slowly but surely but he was unselfishly helping David out versus worrying about his own mileage. David was doing a lot of walking after tearing his leg muscle but he was still moving......and Ryan was right by his side. Anyhow, Ryan encouraged me to "race" the 6 hour event........which I did. I could then join back up with him for the last 1/2 fo the event (remaining 12 hours).I had looked at last years 6 hour distances and decided to hammer it and see if I could win it outright (or come close to winning it). The only problem was that I really have not been training for any distance running and my longest run after Sept Ironman was 11 miles... Not exactly in ultra running form at the moment however I have been running 40-50 miles per week in prep for the Feb marathon in Austin. I really had no idea what I could do considering my lack of training for this event.Anyhow, the race went well and I ended up logging 38.5 hours in 6 hours. I was happy with that considering my lack of any distance running in the past 3 months. I felt decent for the first 26 miles or so, then struggled a bit miles 27-39. I ended up being tied for 2nd place........missed first by a 1/4 mile! (=: Running nearly 40 miles and missing first by only a 1/4 mile was probably the funniest thing that I have experienced in a while........lol. Really, I will get over it eventually......ha!6 hour race results are at: www.doitsports.com/newresults3/client/153747_219909_2007.html
In all, it was a truly amazing day of events.......many stories within stories. I was fortunate to be with my friend Ryan for the weekend in Texas. What a cool event to be a part of. It was a time to remember.By the way, Ryan racked up over 93 miles along the way (he forgot to mention that).........mostly unselfishly helping out his friend David. That showed me a lot about Ryan............. 93 miles put him in the top 3rd overall........even though he did not have his "A" game going. That is impressive!
Darren
