Saturday April 28, 2007
by Chris Corbin
I feel like a "real" ultrarunner now. I threw up several times, fell over at an aid station because I got too light headed, hit the wall and kept right on going and got a belt buckle. To say the least, it was one heck of an adventure. The 100K had 16 people originally sign up, 14 starters and 11 finishers. It was 3 loops on the beautiful Clinton Lake trails in Lawrence, Kansas.
The trails were the hardest that I have run on yet (that isn't saying much since I've only run 3 different ultras). Some of the books I have read had people that complained about down hills and I always thought "Cry me river. How hard can going down a hill be?" Well, come to find out doing it over and over again for 62 miles is actually not that easy. I actually had doubts my first loop when I wasn't doing too well and my GPS showed I still had 4 miles to finish loop one. Then I came to a clearing and this lady said I had to go up this ginormous hill and check in. I thought it was real cruel to make us go up a hill just to check in, but come to find out it was the start/finish.
Thank God my GPS was wrong. I was 1/3 done and my mind was telling to to drop next loop since we had the option and I could still get a 40 mile race finishers medal. On the second loop, the sun really started to come out. There was a section that went right by the shore of the lake and I couldn't resist jumping in. I didn't care about blisters at the time(luckily I never got any the whole race). All I could think about was cooling off and possibly icing my calves in the water. This filled me with a new zest for the course. It had rained quite a bit the day before, so the course was pretty muddy in sections like LMTR had been a few weeks before. This only added to the difficulties I was having on the course. It was a lot of up and down in my mind, rocks, roots and mud. I know...I know...that is what a trails are like, but like I said I had never run on something this technical. My legs seemed to have new life in them most of loop 2 and finishing the 100K didn't seem to be so out of reach now. I wasn't feeling great by any means, but I had mentally overcome the fatigue.
My wife, son and family from Kansas were at the start/finish on the second loop, as they were at at the end of each loop, and this really motivated to get out and get the 3rd loop done with. It was about 3 miles into loop 3 that I really started to hit the wall. By then I was yo-yo running with an older runner we'll call "Gary". Actually that was his real name. I would run and talk with him for a while and then he would go ahead. At each manned aid station I would meet up and leave with him. Thank God for "Gary". At the aid stations when the runners would be complaining about this or that, Gary would come running up singing a different tune (literally, most of the time I think it was Rocky). I tried to soak in his positive vibe. I got in the lake again on the 3rd loop and didn't want to get out. The only thing that got me out was the fact that I was now racing the sun. It was going to be close whether I had to use my flashlight or not. I had never run in the dark and didn't want to start tonight. After the lake, I got to an unmanned aid station (water cooler) and bent down to fill up my bottle. When I stood up I could hear the squirrels all yell "TIMBER!". "And down goes Corbin" I heard Cosell say.
I sat there for a moment and realized that I was okay, but maybe I should just walk for a moment. In a few minutes I was feeling fine and shuffled along. By now, my stomach had been hurting for some time. It just felt like I was flexing at the beach, but I wasn't trying to. I reached the halfway mark of the 3rd loop where the Kansas Ultrarunners' Society was and sat for a little bit. They had some cold watermelon that was calling my name, but I knew it would probably be trouble later. I couldn't resist. I grabbed 3 pieces and took off with my new friend "Gary". I got about 10 minutes away and started throwing up things my mom ate when I was in the womb. "Gary" gave me a pity throw up, asked if I was okay and got the heck out of dodge. I knew if I wasn't dehydrated before that I definitely was now. I took off at an actual jog for about 15 minutes to get as far away from the aid station I had just been at. I figured if I got far enough away, my only choice would be to finish and not turn back.
This is when I think God, being the funny man he is, played a little joke on me. I had seen some critters here and there all day and spotted a couple deer, but an actual buzzard of some sorts landed near the trail about 20 or 30 yards to my left and looked right at me. I thought "Do I really look that bad?" I was hoping I would start hallucinating and he would start talking to me, but I guess you have to run a 100 miler for that to happen. Anyway, with the buzzard and vomit behind me I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. The sun was really starting to get low now and I wondered if I was going to beat it. I got to the aid station that is about 2.5345 miles away from the finish and knew I had done it. One of the workers at the station was the guy that had won the 100K 3 hours earlier. What a stud! To finish like that and then go help on the course!
I walked most of the way to the finish, but actually ran up the hell, I mean hill, to the finish line. 13 hours and 10 minutes after I had started this excursion, I was done. I beat the sun by about 10 or 15 minutes. I swore of running 10 different times that day, but as I sit here and write this I am trying to figure out which run is going to be my first 100 miler. It sounds sick, but I love being humbled by nature, connecting with God and pushing my body to see how far it can go. I know if you are reading this I'm preaching to the choir. I'll send some pictures to go with this soon. Thanks for reading. Corbin