MT Madness: This Run!

By Stephen Faron

"THIS run!" That is what I called the MT 100 over the last few years. I knew it could happen in 2015 if I stayed healthy for three months prior and if my work cooperated. Well, I had surgery on my left knee in April to clean up a frayed meniscus. After recover some recovery, I was feeling physically stronger. Unfortunately, then work didn't cooperate. May to August was pretty hot, as we all know. The building I was working in as a Union Drywall Taper was ten degrees hotter due to poor air circulation. It was miserable and I was having doubts.

I didn't really know I was going to train for this with a passion until DRC had a run this summer on Green Rock Trail, totaling about 13 miles. I ran 11 pretty steady, but had to hike the last two. We got a late start, around 8ish if I’m not mistaken, with the temperature in the mid-90s. Surprisingly, the next day, I felt good! I looked at a hundred-miler training schedule and the following week I put in 20 miles, plus added miles the day after. So I was able to do 20 on the Katy and bike 20 the next day on the Katy. I knew now "MY run," was on!

From there, I trained pretty hard. I ran and hiked big loops around Lost Valley and Lewis & Clark, eating and drinking at my truck in the lot; I cross-trained by biking at Lost Valley, Quail Ridge Park, and the Katy Trail. This continued until the Sunday the week before MT, then I worked Monday-Wednesday and took off Thursday and Friday to rest my legs. No workouts, just rest! This was “MY run”! I believed I could make it a long way; an exact mileage really made no difference. I was healthy for a change, and extremely happy and content with whatever result I got: a number didn’t make a difference.

As long as didn't fall down a ravine or get eaten by a cougar, I could run!  All day!  My running companions and the the volunteers at the aid stations made that day easier—they’re all Warriors to me.

At the DRC aid station.

Race day did go differently than I thought it would. I ran in three different pairs of old shoes because I thought they still had some life left in them. They had none. The terrain just shredded the bottom of my shoes, but I loved the course with its marginal ascents and descents. I took off and didn’t really stop running until mile 22 or so. Double hamstring cramps! It got a bit hotter than I thought it would. I kept going, though.

Start/Finish area, getting ready to head back out!

After my second 25-mile loop, the rolling hills buried me. I didn’t go out for the next loop as easily as I did the first two times. My lower half seized up on me and I couldn’t loosen back up. I stopped taking pain meds because I didn’t want to mask any injury to my knee: if it was going to shoot craps on me, I didn’t want to ruin it. Unbelievably to me, my right knee is the one that quit! I dropped out at the second aid station five miles away after starting my third loop.

I have no regrets. After a couple days off work to heal, I went back to ten-hour days. I was a bit sore and “creaky”, but I liked it!  That ache is my “buckle” for “MY run”! I’m so thankful to all my running groups and all the people who encouraged me to go for it. It really was the best experience! This run, to me, is a lesson. Things hardly ever fall into place the way we like; sometimes, the best thing to do is take the leap of faith and run with it. Happy trails!