Brew to Brew

This past Sunday was the Brew to Brew run. It's touted as a 44 mile relay race for teams from Kansas City, MO to Lawrence, KS, but it also has a category for solo runners. The actual distance varies slightly from year to year due to road construction, etc - this years actual distance was 43.2 miles. Only preliminary results have been posted, but there were about 79 registered solo runners, and 49 finishers. (I don't know how many of the difference between registrants and finishers didn't start versus didn't finish - some of each I'm sure.) There were probably somewhere around 2000 relay participants as well. This is the only race I've been involved in that gives a time handicap as opposed to posting results by age group...must be related to the relay portion? I'm not sure that I like handicaps for the solo runners - considering 4 of the top 10 finishers had "handicaps" that clearly weren't needed. Anyways, my time was 7 hours 42 seconds, which gave me the 9th best time overall, but was ranked 10th with handicaps figured in. If broken down by age group, I would have been 3rd for my group.

Solo runners started at 6:00 from Boulevard Brewery in downtown KC. It was still pitch black out, and because the relay runners didn't start until later in the morning, our relatively small group got a few instructions shouted out to us by the Race Director and we were off. The first mile or so was through downtown streets before we descended a staircase at an overpass that led us under the bridge and onto the levee. We spent the next few miles running along the hard packed gravel trail on top of the levee. The weather was still warm enough this early that I wore only a thin t-shirt, arm sleeves, light gloves, a stocking cap, and shorts. Conditions were great for running and I fell in step with Scott Giddings, a runner I had met at the Psycho Wyco 50K. Scott and I talked for a while until I had to stop for a piss break and lost a little ground.
Before I knew it, we were at the first aid station and Mendy was there waiting as planned. It was too early to need refueling so I said "hi" and ran on through.

Mendy was my "crew" for the day. She was armed with a tackle box full of food (PB&J, pretzels, peanut M&Ms, Cliff bars, GU, and boiled potatoes. She also had a a backpack full of spare clothes and shoes...just in case. My friend Brad was riding with her for the first portion, he was planning on getting out and running the 2nd half (or more) with me.

As the sun started to come up, the race was still going great. I kept having to check my pace and slow myself down though. As good as I felt now, I knew there would come a point (or 2 or 3) where I would not feel so great later on, and it was important to conserve energy and stay nourished. Mendy was faithfully waiting at each station as I came through, ready with fresh water bottles and a smorgasbord of treats. I tried to keep my stops limited to just a few seconds - just long enough to grab something and move on. Too much standing around causes me to stiffen up.

At mile 18, Brad decided to join the fun. I was still feeling strong and happy to have him join me. As an avid runner, and finisher of last year's race, I knew he was probably getting very restless watching the first section rather than running it. We traded spots back and forth with Scott for the next several miles.

All went well until and through the marathon point - I hit a small low point around mile 23 or so, but nothing major - I was happy to get that milestone completed in under 4 hours. Somewhere shortly thereafter that point though, the weather, which had been slowly getting worse as the day went on, really took a turn for the worse. Temperatures dropped, winds picked up, and it started to rain, sleet, and snow. Unfortunately, this coincided with a tougher section of the course and made for a rough few miles.

Around mile 30 we came to the river crossing. At this point we had to get in a small zodiac style raft that was hooked to a tow line to get across the river. We had to wait for a few minutes for the raft captain to be ready for, and then put on wet, muddy life-jackets. Even though the raft ride only lasted about a minute, the combination of my already soaked clothes, the freezing lifejackets, having to sit on the edge of the boat for the ride, and the sleet was enough to zap all remaining energy out of me. As soon as I stood up after the ride, my hip flexor locked up and I was in some serious pain on top of dangerously cold conditions. I hobbled on as fast as I could and luckily the next aid station was less than a mile away. Mendy was there anticipating our need to change clothes. Unfortunately, my hands were literally frozen (I have circulation trouble in my hands while running) and I couldn't get them to work. Mendy had to help get my current shirt and gloves off. Both her and Brad grabbed a side of the new shirt after we got it over my head and pulled it down over my body. Getting the new gloves on was the hardest - my hands were shaking so bad and I was unable to move my fingers. Mendy had to manipulate each of my fingers into their respective slots. Finally, we got my jacket on me and I was off again.

Within a mile or so, the dry clothes really started to pay off and I was warming back up and able to move my fingers. My hip flexor started to work itself out as well and I was soon back to feeling good. As the saying goes, "It always never gets worse", at least that's what I kept reminding myself. The next several miles consisted of primarily rolling hills. For the first time in the race, I needed to walk some of the steeper uphills. The amount of energy I was using up trying to run the steep portions wasn't worth the slow pace I was doing it at. Brad did a great job through this section trying to keep my mind occupied with things other than being tired, but I realize I wasn't much of a conversationalist by this point. We did manage to pass a few other solo runners through this section which was pretty motivating.

We came into the final aid station around mile 39, had a few swigs of RedBull for a final boost of energy and took off for the final leg - a flat 4+ miles to the finish, no problem. For a short while, the wind was at our backs and I hit a high thinking, "only 4 miles to go, it's flat, and the wind it at my back...this is in the bag!" We kicked the pace up to low 8's and were feeling great - then out of nowhere, the winds shifted again and were right in our face! It was blowing so hard I was literally knocked off balance more than once. Somehow, despite having to take a few short walk breaks through this, we managed to pass a few more runners. I wanted nothing more than to be done, the ground looked extremely inviting as a nice place to take a nap. After what seemed like forever, the finish appeared out of nowhere from around a bend. I asked Brad if that was really it, and we took off in a "sprint" to the end. Exactly 7 hours later, we had arrived in Lawrence, Kansas.

Overall, aside from grueling weather for the second half, I had a fantastic time. The pain and fatigue was to be expected and well worth the sense of accomplishment that comes with completing an event like this. Mendy did a fantastic job at having things ready for me at each of the aid station and should get the award for best crew - it was a huge motivator to see her cheering every few miles. Brad was awesome, it would have been much tougher without him. Just having him running along side helped me to keep pushing through. We've spent a lot of time on the road together so he knows what I am, and am not, capable of.

It was cool to get to see Scott again and spend some time running with him. We got to meet a couple of his friends that were running the race too. One of which had won the event three times in previous years, and the other was an Olympic hopeful at the women's marathon! Hopefully we'll get to meet up again at future events.

Each time I complete a run like this I get a little more excited about pushing the limits for the next one. Next month is the Lincoln Marathon, and then the Berryman Trail 50 mile - I can't wait.