2008 Umstead 100 Miler
Umstead State Park, near Raleigh and Cary, North Carolina
April 4th - April 5th 2008
Fast Tracks Running Club
This page was last updated on: April 17, 2008
Website Design by RIQ Design
Umstead 100 MilerEndurance Run Report
March 31-April 1st, 2007

From Meredith Murphy


It is hard to even know how to start this report. A lot of time, training, and
leaps of faith went into this race. In September I signed up for the Umstead
100M Endurance Run. This was to be my first 100M attempt and previous to the
race i had never run farther than 50 miles. It was very daunting to think of
doubling my highest mileage to date, especially when i thought about how i felt
at the end of my 50M races. Even then, I kept training and trusting in my coach
and preparing for my race. Luckily I had an awesome crew of fabulous people who
not only catered to my every need, but paced me through the second half of the
race and gave me encouragement from start to finish and beyond.

Prior to the race weekend, i was experiencing a large range of emotions from
fear to excitement to down right panic over the upcoming race. It was even hard
to think about how far 100 miles is and the unknown scared me. I had no idea how
my body would respond after the halfway point. I almost expected that at mile 65
i would collapse, turn into jello, and i would DNF the race. No matter what, I
figured that even if i only made it 65 or 80 miles, that would still be a huge
accomplishment.

Race weekend started off on a less than stellar foot. On the drive down to North
Carolina from Pennsylvania, my husband and i were involved in a car accident. We
were rear-ended right outside of Baltimore and we definitely were both feeling
some whiplash effects. I did very well to hold it together and not cry and hoped
that it was not a sign of the way the weekend would evolve.

Friday evening, my crew and I went to the prerace briefing and out to dinner
with my running group friend, Keith. Keith is a very experienced and successful
runner and has 100M race finishes in the 17-18 hour range. At the briefing I saw
a man, Bill, i recognized from my first 50 mile finish at the Old Dominion
Memorial run. I spoke briefly with him there and told him how nice he and his
friend were at Old Dominion with their encouragement, support, and running with
me at the tail end of the race.

The actual briefing was hard for me to concentrate. They were discussing the
route and how not to get lost and I really could not focus on what they were
saying. I figured i would just follow everyone in the morning and hope they knew
where they were going. I was hungry and just wanted to eat!

After a delicious dinner at an Italian Bistro, we went to WalMart for some last
minute items like Gatorade, Mountain Dew, etc. Keith thought we were very silly,
but I would rather be over-prepared than under. Back at the hotel we organized
all the supplies and packed the cars for the morning.

Sleep did not go so well Friday night and i spent a lot of time just laying in
bed with my eyes closed. Finally at 4:15 the alarm went off. My neck was
seriously stiff and i could barely turn my head. I did some self massage, got
dressed, and met up with my crew to make our way to the race start. We loaded
into two cars with our insane plethora of race supplies and headed to the park.
I grabbed a bite to eat and just hung out with the crew at the start. Notably, I
was not feeling nervous or panicked and the race started without much notice.
Before i realized it, i was out and running my first 100 mile race. My goals
were to pace myself well, eat 200-300 calories per hour, hydrate well, not be
mean to my crew if i got cranky, and try to enjoy myself.

It was dark at 6am when we started and there was a stillness in the air. About
40 minutes into the first loop i was in a good groove and running with keith. He
was coming off an injury and wanted to run a slower pace than he usually does
and decided to stick with me. On this first loop I met and chatted with many
people, and even saw Bill during that loop and almost every loop thereafter. It
was so invigorating to start running in the dark and experience the sun rise
that morning.

During my first loop, I met a man, Paul, who was running his 776th ultra or
marathon and is trying to accomplish 1000 marathons and ultras in his lifetime.
It was truly amazing to run and chat with him and hear his stories. He had
already ran three 100 mile races this year! At 60 years old, he is an amazingly
well working machine.

The course is made up of eight 12.5 mile loops with large aid stations at the
start/finish line and around the halfway point at 6.8 miles. My goal pace was
3-4 hours per loop to finish in the time limit of 30 hours. My first loop was
completed in 2:27! I was shocked, but feeling awesome. At the start/finish line
i saw my crew who switched out my Gatorade bottle and gave me an Ensure. I was
in and out really fast as i wanted to make sure that if i spent less time in the
first half of the race with my crew, that i would bank more time to have at
night if needed.

The second loop went equally well and was completed in 2:35. This was the point
where Keith started planning how i could finish a sub-24 hour 100 mile race.
That thought is really absurd based on my 50M times and my sole goal was to
finish and that was it, but he spent many hours doing the calculations on it,
keeping our minds occupied for much of the first half of the race.

The third loop finished in 2:45 and I was in a good rhythm with my crew. They
would switch out my bottles, bandanas, electrolyte tablets, give me homeopathic
leg cramp remedy and advil, and my trusty bottle of Ensure. This was also the
point in the race where the heat of the day really started to factor in. The
projected race temperature was 72F but in reality, temps spiked as high as 84F
according to many of the volunteers there. We just recently thawed out from our
last snow storm up north and I was so not acclimated to heat; I had only worn
shorts a couple times in the previous weeks.

When we got to the big aid station at the halfway point of the fourth loop, I
saw Derrick, who was part of my crew, but volunteering for the first part of the
race. He really was my saviour and filled my extra bandana with ice and put it
around my neck. Also at this point, after going into the super sauna-like
porta-potty, i came out with a small nose bleed, but luckily I had another extra
bandana for that purpose. As i was leaving the aid station i asked Derrick if it
would be possible to pace me on the next loop (five). He said he would do his
best to get there before i
did. Keith and I trudged on and my nose stopped bleeding a couple miles later.
It was odd as the hills started to get steeper and the miles started to get
longer! The first half of the course was nice rolling hills and the second half
was still rolling hills, but there were two bigger climbs mixed in there. At the
foot of the first one, there was a sign that said "Hills are My Friend."

Back at the start/finish line, i hit the 50 mile mark with a PR by 7 minutes at
10:49, and a loop time of 3:00 even. I was very happy with my progress and even
happier to see my husband there. I was really flying on cloud nine. My crew
helped me change my shirt and we headed back out. I was energized by the 50M PR
as well as the knowledge that the heat of the day was shortly going to be behind
us.

It was a godsend to have Derrick run with Keith and I during this loop. This was
where i entered the land of the unknown. I was very scared of how things would
unfold from the 50 mile point and beyond. Derrick kept us entertained with the
horror stories of the feet he worked on in the aid station earlier in the race.
The heat and the dust and gravel were really taking serious tolls on people's
feet. Derrick also got to witness our burping contests throughout the race!
Otherwise, the loop was relatively uneventful and we finished the 5th loop in
3:21, still on a very good pace overall. I was happy my legs were still working
62.5 miles in.

Linda paced Keith and I for the 6th loop and this is when the night began to
fall. I was doing more walking in this loop as in the previous, but still
feeling good and strong. I tried to power walk when i was not running and called
it my "Boca Raton" power walk. I worked hard to keep my spirits high throughout
the race and be positive. I had some negative inner dialogue through the night,
but having Linda there to keep me distracted really helped.

Keith did stop at aid station two on the 6th loop and found some pretty darn
nasty blisters on his feet. He stayed behind to get them worked on and met up
with us later on down the trail. This lap finished in 4:05, which was much
slower than the previous laps, but I was very happy with that. It was way past
my bedtime and i was just happy to still be awake and making forward progress!

As I entered the start/finish area, i cheered that i was at the 75 mile point!
wow. I could not even wrap my mind around that distance. My crew was great as
well and rubbed my shoulders, legs, and took care of everything i needed. I also
knew i needed some caffeine to get me through the rest of the race as my energy
started to wane.

Heather and Andrea came out on the 7th loop. Andrea was coming off a recent
injury and only stayed with us for the first three miles. This loop was
definitely the most difficult. I was tired, still in good spirits and feeling
good, but tired nevertheless. I slowly nursed a flattened coke over the course
of the loop. The caffienne did help boost my energy and continue on. My Boca
Raton power walk slowed but we just kept trudging forward and that was the most
important goal.

There were significantly less people on the course and it was the dead of night.
At one point I thought i saw a beach chair on a bridge on the course and was
thinking how it was too low to sit on, and that if i sat on it, i may not be
able to get up, ha! We spent most of the loop walking and talking and just
walking some more.There were hot and cold spots on the course and the hills got
steeper and the miles got much longer.

Every time I went to the bathroom through the night and second morning, i asked
my pacers to wait outside the door incase i could not stand up, but I was fine
every time and luckily my legs did not lock up in the stinky porta potties. At
aid station #2 keith stayed behind to have some additional work done on his
feet. As heather and i departed down the trail, we heard him scream. It was not
a good sign. We also never saw him again from that point on. This 7th loop
clocked in at 4:37.

For my final loop I picked up Derrick and Mandy as my team of pacers. I felt a
bit rejuvenated knowing that i was so close to the finish and that the sun was
going to come up soon. About 3 miles into the loop, i thought i saw five men
carrying a stretcher down the hill and asked them if there was a runner on the
stretcher. They said "do you need to stop to stretch?" and i said "no, is there
a runner on the stretcher??" well, there was no stretcher and there was only one
guy there on the trail. Kinda weird. I had previously had some smaller
hallucinations where stumps and signs looked like other runners or runners
looked like aid stations, but this was the most profound one. It was pretty
trippy. Who needs drugs???

The three of us picked up the pace from the previous loop and less than halfway
through the sun started to rise. It was extraordinary to watch the sun rise
twice during the race. Before the halfway point on the loop there was a nice
dawn time rain sprinkle which was very peaceful and serene to experience. You
could hear the drops landing in the woods surrounding us.

After going through aid station #2, I passed some girls that were very smug when
they had previously passed me on the big hill a couple loops before. They were
struggling and one was limping and barely moving. They saw me "fly" by them and
said "huh, you got a second wind" and i coyly said "are you going to pass me on
the hill again??" and they humbly said no. HA! That energized me a bit and I
wanted to work hard to stay ahead of them. Mandy kept a look out to make sure
they did not catch up. This was a good motivator for me that late in the race.

During the final loop, Mandy and Derrick kept me thoroughly entertained. We
chatted the entire time and Derrick even blessed us with singing a Smiths song.
We also made fun of my swollen "fat lady" hands. The pollen was getting very bad
and i was becoming very congested, but nothing that i could not handle. Mandy
also kept me from wandering off the trail as i was not always traveling in a
straight line. I was feeling tight in the calves and a bit achy, but then i
realized that running 100 miles is NOT easy and it is not going to feel "good."

The 12th mile on the last loop felt like it went on forever. With every turn and
over every hill i expected to see the gate that led to the final half mile of
the race, but i just kept seeing more trail. I started to get really tired and
punchy, but i guess after running 98 miles, that is expected.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we hit the gate at the turn. I started
to get a wee bit emotional, but held it together somehow. As i neared the finish
line, i said "i am going to run to the bottom of the hill and then hike up the
hill to the finish line" and i was off. Then, out of no where, Bill, my
ultrarunning buddy, popped up behind me and urged me to run to the finish with
him. I thought my legs were going to fall off, but i dug a little deeper and did
it!

I was so happy, shocked, overwhelmed, tired, dazed, and anything else you can
throw into the emotional soup that i was experiencing. My husband and crew were
there, as were other people who i met during the race. People were clapping and
cheering and it was a real party. The race director and race staff congratulated
me and awarded me with my belt buckle, the most coveted possession of an
ultrarunner. I got a lot of hugs and hand shakes and after a long while, finally
made my way to a bench. I finished with a final time of 27:13 and 65th place
overall.

I sat on the bench and propped my feet up on a cooler. It felt sooooooo good to
sit down. My feet felt ok despite what other people had experienced. My crew had
the great task of unveiling my feet and they were actually okay. My pinkie toe
bled on my right foot causing my sock to be a bit bloody, but did not really
hurt. I had a couple very small, minor blisters, but overall i was thoroughly
impressed by my feet. I had taped my two big toes on common hot spots, lathered
my feet in Hydropel, wore wool Injinji toe socks, a thin pair of wool Wright
socks over them and my Brooks Cascadia trail shoes. My super crew even took baby
wipes to clean off my super duty legs and feet! I felt like such a princess.

After a short time sitting on the bench, i started to feel extremely nauseated,
and thought i was going to throw up. I knew i was supposed to walk around more
after finishing the race, but i really just wanted to sit. My crew got me a
plastic bag and several ginger candies. After the ginger, i felt much better as
the nausea passed and i then was able to eat some bland food Mandy acquired for
me from the race staff. After a long while, we really started to wonder and
worry about Keith, the race staff said he was still out on the course. Mandy and
Heather went back out to hunt him down. Eventually he staggered into the finish
chute and immediately had his badly macerated feet worked on.

After a bath, a shower, and a short nap, my crew and I went out to dinner to
celebrate, and then had some yummy cake for dessert- my favorite post-ultrarun
ritual. My crew signed the cake which made it even more delicious. At the
restaurant we had a blast and running off of almost no sleep for a few days, we
were entertainment to everyone there.

It will be a long time before I can fully understand and digest the weekend's
experience. I am eternally grateful to my incredible crew who went above and
beyond my expectations. The race was so well organized and the entire staff was
incredible. I know I missed a lot of people and a lot of details, and I will try
to add them as they come to me.


Congratulations to Ethel Cook, Meredith Murphy and Keith Straw . . .
Read Meredith's story about the race . . .
See more pictures . . . .