A long story in short quotes

Or the story of my first 100 miler.. at Rocky Raccoon on February 9, 2008. This highly overdue post has been a long time in coming, baking in the "drafts " oven over the last 9 months (totally unintentional to publish this post at this point of time..and the time interval is also coincidental ). But looking at the sorry state of my blog over the past few weeks, and also because it has come up a few times in some recent conversations, decided that it was a good time for it to see the light of the day.

Since I was too brain-dead to write up each and every memory of the race (4 loops of 25 miles each is a loooong distance and takes a loooong time...take my word for this), I decided to capture what I felt at every stage of the race from the moment I signed up after a first not-so-successful attempt at a 100 to the moment I finally crossed the finish, using quotes from famous people obviously more intelligent than me. Reading it now really made me relive all those moments although it may not make much sense to someone reading this. So here it goes...as they say....better late than never....the story as it unfolded

While signing up for the race
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
- Douglas Adams

At the start of the race looking at the other runners
"These nuts got guts."
- Jeff Stegeman, writing for Durango paper 7/10/98 about Hardrock

"Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon."
- Alan Cabelly

Loops 1 and 2 when I was blasting through the course for the first 50 miles and feeling really good:

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads."
- Thoreau

"If I can see it, I can run it."
- Randi Bromka Young

"I never met a carbohydrate I didn't like."
- David Lygre

"If Klingons were runners, they would be Ultrarunners."
- Bryan Hacker

"If I can't go faster I'll go longer."
- Doug Barber

"Drink, drink, drink! Pee, pee, pee!"
- Ed Hart

Loop 3 after the sunset and the cold dark night crept upon us:

This was the point where I was beginning to feel a bit irritable to say the least. I was tired, hungry, sleepy, my feet were beat up and I knew all the time I had built up in beating the cut-offs in the first two loops will be lost on this one.

"The first 50 miles are run with the legs, the second 50 miles with the mind."
- Unknown

"Why am I doing this?"
- Don Herres

"Well, there *used* to be a trail here somewhere ... "
- Kent Street

"You'll be wistful for the "wall" of the marathon, when you hit the "death grip" of the ultra."
- Bob Glover

"Why would anyone want to do this a second time?"
- Sue Haupt

"ARRRGH -- what in God's name ever possessed me to think this would be a good thing to do?"
- Charles N. Steele

Loop 4 after barely making it past cutoffs and setting off on the final 25 miles:

"Yay! Only 25 miles to go"
-Never in my wildest dreams thought that I would say that out loud

"At some point it doesn't get any worse."
- Unknown

"Beware of the chair!"
- Unknown

"My doctor told me that jogging could add years to my life. I think he was right. I feel ten years older already."
- Milton Berle

"Nobody should ever run a race where they are lapped by the sun."
- friend of Alex Swenson, referring to 100 mile races

"... slowed my pace to the point that I could have been rear-ended by a sleepy snail."
- Dave Olney

"I have to find another port-a-tree."
- Ellie Thayer

"Running is a four weather sport."
- Unknown

"90% of ultrarunning is 100% mental."
- Unknown

"Nobody is going to finish this damn thing for me, but me."
- Unknown

Crossing the finish line:

"It just doesn't get any better than this."
- Chris Nymann

"I have met my hero, and he is me."
- George Sheehan

(source)

And finally....finito....the shiny buckle is all mine...muahahaha