Running For The Copper

From the Kettle Moraine Website:

15th Annual Kettle Moraine 100 Endurance Runs
June 5th and 6th, 2010

It started, it RAINED, it ended. For those of us at the 2008 Kettle we never thought the rain could get worse. In 2009 we were fortunate enough to have only minimal rain and ideal conditions.

2010 arrived with a record number of entrants and an expectation for a record number of finishers. The cool morning saw a blistering pace which would forebode trouble.

The meadows heat built and caused many problems for people. Then the saving grace of rain occurred, but we soon learned we must be careful what you ask for. It rained cats and dogs for more than 6 hours....never letting up to allow the trail to drain. Those individuals who persevered are truly worthy of their awards.

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Smiling at 99.9 cause I'm still having fun
You really can not go into events like this with the anticipation that you know what the outcome is going to be. When there is 100 miles of ground to cover and 24+ hours of weather, there are just way too many factors that come into play. I guess that is part of the attraction to an ultra. The question is always out there. Will I finish? Will I even make the cut offs? How much more of this "fun" can I take?







Last Saturday's event was truly one of perseverance. In other words, you just had to put your head down and keep plowing away. The conditions were awful as the humidity started to climb as fast as the heat did after the 64 degree, 6 a.m. start. The heat and humidity of the afternoon, most of which was spent running across open meadows, sucked the life out of me. The grass was cut but had grown to about 6-8 inches and latched onto your shoes. I slowed down to a pace at which I thought I would be OK, but I was still overheating as it reached a temp of 80 degrees and 87% humidity. I knew rain was going to come and at about 4 o'clock it did, which was nice. The problem was it just didn't stop. Just when you thought it couldn't rain any harder, it did. And then when you thought again it couldn't rain any harder, it did. And it didn't stop until 10 o'clock. At one point I was going up a fairly steep uphill, where I was now back in the woods, and the water running down the trail was deep enough that I couldn't see my shoes. I didn't mind as now I was not overheating and I was out of the open meadow where I would have been a lightning rod. I had mentioned to my wife, Kristy, at one of the aid stations that I was hoping for some "normal" food. She met me at the 55 mile aid station with a sub from Subway. As I sat under a canopy eating my sub, I was a little disheartened to see people quitting or at least talking about quitting. They were just 7 miles away from the 100k mark. Why would they quit now? I guess we all have our own battles to fight. That Subway sub made me feel like Superman, so off I went with renewed vigor.



Reaching the 100k mark is a critical time. You are actually back at the start/finish line as the 100 mile event consists of 2 out and backs - one of 62 miles and one of 38. If you stop at that point, you get credit for finishing the 100k event. The temptation to quit at that point is great. I knew this going into the event so I heaped it on to Kristy about not listening to any of my whining about how bad I was feeling and that maybe it would be a good idea to quit. She had strict instructions to say, "You've got no broken bones. Your not barfing or bleeding so get going." Once I got to the 100k mark, I had many,many excuses I could have used to stop. But not 1 reason. So I ate the other half of the glorious sub that Kristy had got for me, changed my socks and off I went for the last 38 miles. It was just before 11 p.m. and though the rain had stopped, the low spots on the train were soaked from the 7 inches of rain we had received earlier. I mentioned to Kristy about the futility in changing my socks since they were certain to become soaked again. Heading back out, I soon found myself in water over my ankles. I looked at my watch and found that my fresh socks had lasted just 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Oh well. My feet where hamburger already anyway.



Things went pretty slow the next 20 miles as fatigue and dark of night really starts to remind you that you are human. Odd sounds that spook you at first become comforting after awhile even though you don't know what they are. A loss of concentration put me stumbling through the woods way off the trail where I came to rest up against a tree. That woke me up for a while, but I soon fell back into a late night funk. But after the 81.5 mile mark and a turn around point of the out and back, I felt energized. The sun was up enough that I didn't need my lights anymore and with only 18.5 miles to go, the end was near. I could feel the energy building in me with each mile and with each mile my pace got faster and easier. I felt bad for the people I passed that were really struggling and tried to offer encouragement. Many of them didn't make the finish.









I crossed the finish line completing the 100 miles in 28 hours 21 minutes and into the arms of my much supportive wife. I hugged her and said, "We did it" as I know for certain that I would not have completed it if it were not for her assistance. Out of 168 entrants, only 49 were able to finish. I feel lucky to be one of them. No, not lucky, but blessed.

It was a special day. I got my copper kettle. What more could you want for running 100 miles?




Rick