#15 Ultramarathon is written in the books! I finished in 7:38:35 over a very tough course filled with lots and lots of knarly downhill! We had great weather until the last 3 miles of the course where it began the hail and rain that soaked me to the bone. It was alright though because my wife Lori and Shady came to greet me, and ran along side me for a while! It was great inspiration to be with them while I finished the long 5 mile stretch of gravel road back to the finish. Thank you so much Lori Lyle! You are a huge supporter of my quest! I couldn't do this without you! Lori and Shady both got equally as soaked as I of course, but at the finish, the weather cleared and the warm sun came out for the rest of the day. We celebrated with a couple cold beers and a great picnic the race directors put on! All the aid station personnel were very nice - one even coated my back and neck with sunscreen while I was getting my water!
I also had the pleasure of running with Pam Reed, who is a very well known ultra-runner who has won the Badwater 135 outright two times in a row! We talked about everything under the sun for around 5 miles or so. It was fun and it got my mind off the long 7 mile uphill we were running up.
After the picnic I still had to wait for our drop bags to come back from the course so it took an extra 2 hours or so to leave. We helped out unloading the trailers filled with the drop bags when they came in and put them in their respective places. Mine, of course, was one of the last ones. On the way home I got hungry again and had to have a Wendy burger so I chowed that down on the way back home. After a shower and quick soak, I was in bed by 9:30 and asleep by 9:45. It was a long day.
Another $100.00 donated to Alzheimer's 6/23/14.
