Silver Moon 100
May 29, 2021
Paso Robles, CA
40th hundred in 28:35
Calories burned 11,981 (usually I burn 8-9000 calories in a 100)
Dirty course, dirt road and rock surface, soft on the body, but change socks often as the dirt messes with your feet, blister territory
We all make some poor choices in life and this was one of my finest, thinking I could run a 100 only two weeks after completing a six day race. I usually am able to walk without leaning on things and happy after completing a hundred and want to go site seeing at wherever the destination is. Amy and I planned to go see a beach after the race. Sorry Amy I couldn’t even get up to hug her when she left as I was hugging the horizontal plane. I knew I was in trouble when leaving the breakfast restaurant as I was still hungry. I slept a bit more then was ravenous so took myself out for more food and nap afterwards in the car only to drive to buy more food, this time a whole pint of ice cream. Even Jess and I couldn’t finish a pint after the six day. I had no problem polishing off a pint of Jamoca Almond Fudge after three full meals.
A weird thing happens after a six day, you eat all the food and still lose weight. I think my food intake is what I missed before this next race. My legs recovered well. I had two Epsom salt baths, borrowed Jess’s new leg sleeves and completed six treatments, walked and ran very little for two weeks and did a lot of stretching and rolling . So the legs were okay. Not that they were great but they could run. I just couldn’t eat enough calories either during the hundred miler or after. So I felt icky.
Silver Moon 100 was supposed to be in April 2020 and due to Covid it was cancelled, then moved, then rescheduled and finally merged with the Paso Robles race. A lot of my carefully planned races, with adequate recovery time in between, were messed up due to Covid. So I can’t take all the credit for the best poor choice. Nah that’s a lie. It is totally my own fault for thinking one night of running is no problem compared to six nights of running. Easy peasy ... right. Ha.
A hundred is a hundred, it is a long way on foot. Respect the distance and the amount of preparation and recovery it requires. Most people don’t like to drive that far. You get butterflies in your stomach and are nervous before a hundo as you should be. (This is me talking to myself and trying to learn from my mistakes.)
The Silver Moon course is in Fresno near Reedley College and it is flat. The Paso Robles course is at a winery and you run through the vineyards on dirt roads with some gravel. Now when I think of vineyards, I think of eastern Washington and I think flat. Not so in Paso. When Amy and I got to the course we scored a choice parking spot for my aid station car and then drove the course in her car. We laughed at each other as it seemed like the course only went up or down, sucks to be us. Also it was supposed to reach 92 degrees on Sunday, well it hit 94. This was not going be a PR course or not even a sub 24 hour 100. It was just going be a 100 to be finished. I was just hoping that 30 hours would be enough time for me.
Amy did great, sub 24 and winner winner chicken dinner. I’m two for two traveling with two different winners to my last two races. So who wants to travel with me next?
The best part of the trip was visiting friends Rolynn and Steve. They welcomed me to stay with them the night before the race and gave me tours of their home, garden, and the area around San Luis Obispo. Rolynn is a great friend and mentor. She is afterall the one who gave me the impetus to go after leadership in education. I don’t know what she saw in me that I hadn’t recognized but I am so thankful she believed in me and pushed me to pursue leadership. I blame her and thank her for my years as a principal.
Amy and I ran the first 16 miles together which was a great start for me. Then Amy took off and did what Amy does, run well. My right hamstring started talking to me at the start and for the first few miles, then it shut up and went along for the ride. Then my left calf started talking and said oh this again, after a few miles it gave up. I was feelin good and running with an occasional walk well until 70 miles (channeling my inner Betsy stride). Then the heat hit me like a ton of bricks. I struggled to walk just one more two mile lap at a time. Sometimes you need to take a long race and break it up into manageable chunks. Ten miles at a time, then a treat or break, or five miles, at a time, or just two miles at a time. I iced up each time I hit the aid station. And took it one loop, two miles at a time. I would not sit or stop for fear my race would be over so I got in and out if that aid station as efficiently and as fast as I could. It was rough in the heat.
This race started in the evening so runners could run during the cool night. I don’t like waiting all day to start as I’m a morning person and want to get going. My goal was to get in as many miles before the heat hit the next day. I wanted 70 by noon and I got that. From noon to about 6 pm it was super hot, then it cooled a bit so the last three to four hours I could walk a bit faster but it was still quite warm. After Amy lapped me several times during the race we connected and I got to walk with her for her final two laps. Took a picture of her finishing and got myself back out on that course as I still had 7 laps to go.
During the race I was slower than I normally am and I expected that because my legs were not great, okay but not my usual rested self. So I was doing the math in my head trying to calculate when I might finish to see if I would make it under 30 hours. For some reason I only did bad math. I usually like to do math in my head and it is a nice distraction to calculate current pace, deteriorating race, distance left and time left to see when I might finish the race. This time my calculating was not going well as I didn’t think I was going finish. So I told myself out loud, Hudson stop doing math and just run and it worked. When I got to 80 miles I knew I was going finish in time because I’m stubborn.
Talking out loud to yourself and calling yourself by name is a good strategy. Sometimes you just need to yell at yourself to get going or change your attitude or convince yourself to do this. Linda used to say just get er done and so I told myself, Jill, just get her done.
The race was really well supported. Great aid station and wonderful food. They effectively nailed having enough ice, cold drinks and otter pops. I survived in the heat as best as I could due to the great support. If a 100 mile entrant doesn’t get to 85 miles by 24 hours then the race director moves them to the 24 hour race. I guess that means no DNFs in the hundred. And the buckles are sweet. Because they changed the Silver Moon race date around so much they gave me both the Silver Moon buckle and the Paso Robles blingy buckle, sweet. I guess I was either the last finisher or at least the last woman. At the end when I finished they kept giving me things, medals, buckles, food, candle, stickers, water. And a bag to carry it all in. I was in no mood to drive so this was a nice distraction. All the talking about running really woke me up. Eventually I had to get on my way to the hotel. Scariest drive ever. I do not recommend driving after being up all night running a hundred. Let’s just say someone should have recorded the conversation I was having with myself as I was driving trying to convince myself that I was okay and driving well and not seeing weird things in the dark. I was my own co pilot, again talking out loud to myself to get er done.
Thank you Amy for joining me at this race. Running is always fun with friends.
Never again will I sign up for anything within a month of a six day. Yes, Bob you were right, best poor choice ever. Live and learn.
