Berryman

On Saturday I had the opportunity to run the Berryman 50 miler, situated in the Mark Twain National Forest. The run would be two 24.8 mile loops with a short out and back at the start. Celebrity sightings pre-race: Caleb Chatfield, Greg Burger, Paul Schoenlaub, and Darin Schneidewind. The weather was perfect at the start, a change for the area that had saw rainfall every day for over a week. Remember the windstorm/tornados down in Missouri a few weeks ago? Produced about twenty downed trees on the course that required crawling over or under to get through. So...pretty weather, fun trail!



We took off at 630am, with me leading the "Masters 'whousedtobefastbeforeallthesurgeries' Division". My big hairy audacious goal for this race was under 10 hours. My primary goal, as always, was just to finish. In talking with some vets from the course, I settled into an 11 hour plan, wanting to make the first loop about 5:15 and go from there. I was using a two bottle belt for hydration, something new for me but on Rick Mayo's advice I wanted to skip every other aid station on the first loop. Worked out beautifully, by the way. The first 5 miles of the course are extremely runnable: flat or gentle downhill, mostly in creek beds that had water in them.

Question to self, mile 3: Did I put blister shield on my left heel? (answer later)

The next five miles or so provided a great mix of rolling terrain, some mud pits, and some rocky stuff in the 2 creek beds that didn't have water in them. I hit Brazil Creek, around mile 16, at 2:50 and after soaking my hat and refueling I left out with caution. Again, Mayo had warned me that there were a couple of miles of hills after Brazil so I tried to conserve energy and use this time to enjoy the scenery.
Folks, you shoulda been there. I didn't even know the forest could get that green! There was poision ivy everywhere...just another plant to me, as I'm not allergic to the stuff (thanks, Mom!) and it added to the lush appeal of the place. I was really enjoying myself here: everything about the place reminded me of my childhood home. After a couple of miles the course leveled off a bit (more rocks!) and then came the trees. I had already navigated around a few, but in the last 6 miles of that loop there were at least a dozen huge poles directly on the trail. I was glad that I was a bit ahead of schedule pace-wise, as some of these took some time to get around.

I hit the turn at the five hour mark. These "turns" scare me...they are bad. Family and friends are there. The grill is sizzling. Beer is cold. Everyone is in a lawn chair that looks like a recliner. The car that will take you home is there. I was in enough of a hurry to get the hell outta there before any bad thoughts could creep in, but Darin REALLY helped with that. He had ran the marathon and was absolutely dying to go another loop, but had stuff to do with his family that afternoon. Seeing Darin all torn up about not running the second loop made me feel pretty lucky. Darin got my bottles filled, Jenny came through with the electrolytes and gels, and I was back on the trail in under five minutes. Twenty-five to go.

Answer to previous question, mile 27: "No, there is no blister shield on that heel!"

Also, around mile 27 the tops of my feet began hurting. really. really. bad. I figure this is just lactic acid buildup, so I come up with a new plan. Slow down a bit, pound the electrolytes, freeze my paws in every creek on the course, and things would get better.

Things did not get better. Things most certainly got worse.

It turns out that the low cut socks I was wearing had fallen down into my shoe. The shoe starts chewing up my ankles and the tops of my feet. I leaned against a tree and studied some abrasions, bruising, and some significant swelling. OK, then, new plan: if walking hurts this bad, running can't hurt any worse, so I might as well run. That worked for about two miles before I started getting nauseous...my food/drink plan was so dialed in that I was peeing every thirty minutes and felt great, so I suspect that the distraction my feet had become was now messing with my stomach. I did not take my shoes off because of the swelling, kinda like not opening an envelope that you KNOW contains bad news. So, I walked. And though my feet felt terrible, my stomach felt alot better. New math: I'd rather feel good, besides the feet, and walk than to feel bad and try to run. So I basically walked it in. I would run in spots, but they were few and far between. Since I've already touched on what the course was like, let me share some random stuff from the last 18 miles or so (it's all a blur anyway):

- those flowers are pretty.
- I like the forest.
- I wish there was a toilet out here. With a magazine rack.
- I wonder where I'll eat lunch tomorrow.
- "SWEET CAROLINE...duhduhduh...GOOD TIMES NEVER FELT SO GOOD (sogood!sogood!sogood!)
- Saw Mark Koester out there, looking good. A runner in a trail nerds shirt always picks me up. I ran for 50 steps with him. Adrenaline surge!
- These trees are bulls***! We could have done without that out and back, I've ran a marathon around these trees!
- I am Spartacus!
- Ouch!
- A year ago I would have quit this.

A serious note, I need to practice downhill running and lift more. My uphill stuff is good, but the quick, light turnover I used downhill for the first 20 miles left too quickly. At the last aid station, I was offered a beer. I didn't drink it, but that offer somehow gave me the motivation to jog in slow to the finish. In fact, this still hurt worse than walking but I figured there wasn't enough course left to get sick and DNF.

So, I got there around the 12-hour mark. I could have chosen different socks, but then I wouldn't have had to face being hurt with miles to go. The course was beautiful, even when my plans had fallen apart I enjoyed the scenery and terrain. David and Victoria White put on an excellent race, and the volunteers were angels. I proposed marriage to at least two volunteers who gave me cookies and popsicles.
Overall, happy boy.
Peace.