still frustrated

In my last post I was planning to do the Iron Mountain Trail Run in Virginia. Turns out it would be one of the hottest days of the year there with temps in the 90's. Since even the 80's give me problems, I had to drop the race. I could have finished the 16 mile option before it got hot, but it wasn't worth a 6 hour drive.

So, I decided to try the Run Woodstock event in Michigan the following weekend. However, this would stretch my taper to 2 weeks & would waste some valuable training time, and I would miss running in record cool weather the entire week. With the LSD 100k starting at 4 pm, temps would not be an issue and I looked forward to running at night. I also liked the 100k event as you could easily drop down to 50k or 50m after the 2nd or 3rd lap.

The race started a few minutes early, a rarity. Real sticky at the start. The night time low temps did end up about 10 degrees above normal and the humidity at or near 100% (with rain off & on) -- I was dripping wet for the duration. My legs felt great but my belly did not. How frustrating it was to have to pull up after 25 miles when I was enjoying the run so much otherwise. I just could not endure the pain. It rained off & on and then later continued non-stop thru the night. I wish I could have experienced that -- maybe not so much the mud. The trails were maintained fairly well as I could see where small ditches for drainage had been cut for the entire course. Most of the swampy areas were bridged with boardwalks. Had the soil not been a sandy base, the entire trail would have been a mucky mess with the amount of rain that came down.

Start of the 50m race:


I would like to give Thanks to some kind souls who helped me during this event: Kenneth Seidl (100 mile finisher) who kept me moving on the trails; Brenda Gutmann (former LLTH race director) who was crewing for another runner & gave me much needed assistance after the 1st lap; & Rodney, also crewing for another runner, who gave me the ride to the Finish when I had to stop.

next:

The frustration with my abdominal ailment continues. The repeat CT scan of my abdomen last week & the repeat colonoscopy today have not revealed the source of the pain. While waiting for the pathology results, I also have a CT enterography scheduled for Friday. There seems to be no set pattern in the pain flareups. So, that means I will have no set race schedule as long as I have this problem. I'm still registered for several races this Fall though: next up is the Germantown 50k, if my belly is up to it then.