The course

Now that I was out running I felt pretty good. I was feeling pretty loose and relaxed. The running felt good even though the number of people around kept me to slow jogging and even walking in some points. I'm sure the pace for the first mile or two were pretty slow. I skipped the first wine stop partly because I wanted to break out from people and partly because I hadn't noticed it. It was before the 2 mile mark and before our first water station.

Most of the rest of the course specifically is a blur. The first 1/2 of it went very well. I was averaging around 12 min miles and well below my target times. I finished the first half 15 minutues under my goal. After the first wine stop I did hit almost all of the others. I could have lingered longer at some of the chateaus, listened to the bands, and enjoyed more wine, but I wanted to keep going and make sure to finish.

Around mile 14 the problems first started. I began to get the little pre-cramping pangs in my right calf. This lasted for a while and was my first sign to start walking even more. I had already been doing some walking on hills or when I just felt I was pushing too hard. This was more annoying though because my legs did not feel dead. I felt like I could run more. I just couldn't because the calves would cramp up. I made it though the rest of the race just on the edge of cramps. I'd stop every once in a while to stretch out the calves and try to get them to let me run for more than a 1/10th of a mile at a time. No luck though. So I settled in to a fast walk. This let me keep going and based on my watch I was still good for making it in before the time limit.

At mile 24 though the wheels really fell off. I had been eating bananas, drinking tons of water, keeping up with my gels every 30 minutes, but nothing was helping. The cramps were getting worse and worse. It was around 24, maybe 25, that they finally got me. I was walking along when one of the 'floats' in the run came up behind me. They were asking people to move out of the way. I made the mistake of trying to quickly move and as soon as I did that my left calf cramped up. So I moved to the side of the road to stretch it and as soon as I leaned over my right calf also fully cramped up. I couldn't stay upright and just fell over in to the dirt off the road. I knew my time was in trouble if I stayed there, and I knew I had to get my legs working again to be able to finish. And I had to do it fast. At first I was unable to reach them because of all the pains in my legs and the inability to get to them. After a few seconds though I was able to reach down and massage my right calf. I was then able to stand up and hobble through the cramps in both legs. It did take a while but I manged to get them both cramp-free again. I just couldn't really run.

But, I knew the finish line was close. I could see the town and hear the spectators. I was not goign to allow myself to not finish. And I was not going to walk across the finish. I was hobbling, but I was running. As I came around the final corner I saw the clock counting and I could see it was already 6 hours and 29 minutes. The cut-off was 6:30. I knew I was close but pushed with all I had to keep running and to not cramp up. I crossed the line at 6:29:54, at least that's the last number I saw before crossing. (I just now checked their web site and I apparently was at 6:29:58).