Day 1

Let me start by saying thanks for the early messages everyone! They are really encouraging...keep them coming. Next, let me say how F#!%ing difficult this thing is. Day 1 was ruff. I actually felt great through stages 1 and 2 (of 4), running my normal pace and in good shape. However, during both of those stages, the 1.5 liters of water they gave me were not enough. I ran out 3/4 of the way through each. Then I asked for more water at checkpoint 3, and they filled my bladder. However, by this time I was so thirsty that I started cramping like crazy in my quads. Needless to say, I had to walk all of stage 3 (of 4), about 7 miles (of the 26 on the day). I did manage to get my hydration back under control, and proceeded to run about 3/4 of stage 4. But I then ran out of water again, and I really started craming: I walked the rest, except for forcing myself to run the last 100m and then basically collapsing. All in all, I dont think I actually finished that bad (look at the standings bec I am not sure exactly where). The main point of the day: this is going to be very difficult. I talked to the medical staff and they said they would give me more water for each stage tomorrow. Hopefully, that will help eliminate the cramping. I just hope the damage wasnt already done with all the cramping today. We will see. Putting on the compression socks now and going to stretch alot tonight with the Voodoo and tennis ball. I am already starting to feel a little better, I think.

 

Other points of the day: no issues with breathing at elevation so far, terrain is crazy difficult (lots of rocks), I have already learned that I dont give a crap how dirty I am because there are way more important things to think about, I found a friendly Brit to walk with for stage 3 (which really helped pass the difficult time), because I was on the course longer than expected (about 6 hrs 40 mins) I was starving by the end of today, and I can now officially say that I will learn alot about myself during this event (I did listen to U Randys and moms messages today when it was really tough, but I am saving the others for later).

 

Alright, gotta go stretch. Shout out to Praxis community (Tyler, this is already brutal, but you should do one anyway). Vanessa is busy is hell and I hardly see her, but its all good: meeting a ton of great people. There should be some good pics of me on the website, I imagine.

 

Next message tomorrow...Im out!