by Johnny Spriggs (11/21/2006)
Saturday night I had the honor of pacing Ken Childress from mile 78 , the now famous TATUR aid station, to the finish at mile 100. This blog, or whatever you want to call it, is not about the run. I’ll let the runners tell that story. This is about the runner and his wife (Dana Childress), who stayed out there all night to make sure Ken had everything he needed.
We started off with Mike Snyder keeping us company. Not long after, Ken developed a problem down under, so Mike was nice enough to go back to the aid station to get the proper medication (Vaseline). All was well until Ken got hot. This was a major deal because he had to remove his reflective vest, hat, gloves and then the item making him too hot and put the rest back on. We were off again and met Dana for a snack and a drink.
Ken did very well through the next stretch and met Dana again, who had some hot broth that seemed to perk Ken up. He was planning on making the Kellyville aid station the next stop, get hot coffee, hot soup, not fire – hot ANYTHING!. It was 24 degrees and Ken needed warmed up. He ran like a man on a mission to Kellyville when the lady came to greet him saying an unbelievable, “We do not have ANYTHING hot.” That was a hard blow.
Ken withered after that, became very sleepy, and had slurred speech. He actually fell asleep on his feet several times and got very cold. This was bad – Ken had warned me this would happen, but it was much worse than I expected. Ken was no doubt going through hell, hardly lifting his legs or arms, not talking, cold and tired, but he was determined.
It hurt me to see Ken in such bad shape and I’m sure it hurt Dana even more. Anyone thinking about running a 100 should offer Dana whatever it takes to crew for them. She always found a way to get Ken whatever he needed and constantly encouraged him. At daybreak, Dana showed up with COFFEE – just what the doctor ordered – bringing Ken back to life. The sun finally dawned and Ken was back, there was no stopping him now.
Ken ran through the finish line at 27 hours and something. He is the 300 mile man. At one low point, not finishing as fast as he had hoped, I told him this story.
“Ken, if you could poll all the men in the world your age who looked in the mirror one day and decided they needed to lose some weight, started running, got really crazy and decided to run THREE one hundred milers, I am fairly certain less than 1% would finish all three. You are truly in a league of your own.”
Ken, thank you for allowing me to pace you. It was an HONOR for me to be able to be a part of history. You and Dana are a first-class couple. Keep supporting each other and you can do anything.
Thank you – Johnny Spriggs