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Writer's pictureRosie Nanette Gagnon

Blackbeard's Revenge 100 #47



Back for my 4th running of Blackbeard on the outer banks of North Carolina. I finished last year in 28:15, second race after my knee surgery and #30. I kinda swore I wouldn't go back. This course is easy on paper but the weather, sun, and flat asphalt really does a number on your feet and legs, plus many miles of the course is mind numbingly boring. On veterans day the race put a picture up of my running pack with my Marines on it, so I felt like, gosh dang-it, now I've gotta go support them again! Ha. Still they always have awesome buckles, shirts, and they said this year they would have improved aid stations. Coming off of Paved Pistol I was really really dreading the run itself so I tried to not think about it much, just packed drop bags and prepared for lots of sun and wind. Which is what we got!


For this race I was also participating in a Wear Blue Run to Remember event called the Piestewa Challenge. It's a week long team event tracking miles in honor of of the servicewomen killed in combat since 9-11. Named after SPC Piestewa who was the first American Indian service member to be killed on foreign soil. My good friend Derry lost his friend LCpl Brodie Gillon on March 11, 2020, so I carried her with me on this course, along with my Marines. I only put in about 15 miles or workout between this race and pistol 100. Some elliptical and hiking on the treadmill to just work all the kinks and soreness out of my muscles and stay active. If I completely rest, I feel like garbage, so I still try and do a little exercise through the week. I did take Friday off completely for traveling. I was excited that Peter, coming up on age 17 in April, wanted to drive down and help crew me. It always means so much when my kids show interest! Isaac and Jacob, two other sons, messaged me and wished me luck. That was really motivating. I was able to talk a bit to Hannah who is resting now at home after that hospital experience, trying to come to terms with a new disability and altered future, dependent on medication. That's a difficult thing and it hurts my mamma heart. I'm grateful she's never fallen to the stigma of taking medication so hopefully she will have a better life and outcome than my poor Dexter did. :(



We came down a little early, so we had time to do some walking and beach combing, before packet pickup and an early dinner out. Took Peter for a steak dinner. I tried to be in bed before 8pm. With a 5 am start, our hotel is located at mile 39 on the race course, so it's an hour drive. We had to leave by 3:40 am to get there in time, so I was up by 3. Early morning! I was hoping it'd pay off at the end, so I'd finish and have time to be showered before the hotel checkout time.

There was a pretty solid # of 100 milers running. The weather was cool and dry, light wind, perfect for running really. I hoped I'd finish under 30 hrs, I hoped for around 28 again, I didn't know if 3 weekends of races in a row, 3rd 100 on pavement in a months time, would be too taxing on my body. I just felt like I'd go with the flow, take a comfortable pace that felt good, and hopefully not go overboard or get injured with Endurance Hunter 100 coming up next weekend.








The early miles surprised me. I felt really fresh, my legs felt super great, so I kept a pretty solid 10 min mile average for the first 10 miles. High winds were forecast so I was hydrating well, really early on, to stay on top of things. I loved the quick miles in the dark.


The photographer at mile 10 recognized me and wanted to get my pic with Dexter and the back of my pack. Hes really a nice guy & its great to be remembered. I was really super disappointed at the aid station. Literally just like, tailwind, trail-mix and some tangerines. Still the tangerines were better than the cup of fruit they usually give out, I can stick them in my pocket and not have to carry trash. Had 10 miles till the next aid station and I didn't want to carry extra hydration, so I drank a full bottle of tailwind before I left.


The weather was cool and foggy for awhile. My pace dropped to 11-12 min miles getting to the 19 mile aid station. I thought a lot about Brodie those first miles dedicating them specifically to her. I took time to watch the youtube video of her funeral services and felt an understanding of what a loved, beautiful, strong and loved remarkable woman she was.





The 10 mile AS sucked as in past years. The sun came back out and my moody miles with Brodie switched to just survival and mild complaints of the sun and wind. Luckily I had drop bags at that aid station with meal drinks, juice and snacks. I was able to get rid of my mittens and top layer of black tights -homemade arm sleeves (haha) and just have my UV sleeves on. Its way easier than having to take off a jacket and run with it tied around my waist, and since its dark nobody can really notice my funny tights sleeves, and they're black so that helps.


This race starts to get tough after 20 miles. Not so much the course, though long stretches of scrubby trees and beach houses get tiring after awhile. Its mainly because the sun as soon as it's up is glaring straight into your face. Even if its not hot you still feel like you're baking. Luckily (??) around this point a steady 20mph headwind with gusts up to 30&40mph kicked in. It helped keep me cooler but I also knew they were going to be extra dehydrating.




There was an aid station this year at mile 25 thankfully, that was new. I was disappointed that they only had watered down tailwind, bananas, some trail mix, probably a few things I missed but it was pretty meager. Luckily one of the volunteers was super nice. She let me have her own personal bottle of tailwind which I drank about 16 oz of, and a personal packet I was able to get mixed into my bottle. I felt sorry for other runners who maybe were behind me and wouldn't get any tailwind because this time of day is kind-of critical for keeping hydrated to avoid nausea and vomiting later on.




I was planning to meet Jason and Peter at the road in front of the hotel at mile 39 but the road shoes I picked to wear were threatening to give me heel blisters. Luckily I packed an older pair of my speed goat trail shoes which seem to do the best job on the road as well as the trails, so they came out and met me around mile 30ish with shoes and some drinks, I took a bottle of water too, to get my sleeves, hat and down my back wet to keep cool. Luckily the 30 mi aid station started giving out ice so I was able to get it in my sleeves and hat and into my neck buff. Between ice and dumping water I managed to keep a decent temperature. It was hot enough though that by mile 30 I was down to a trudging ultra pace of 14 min miles. When I met Jason and Peter in front of the hotel, Peter had made me some hot macaroni and cheese, my favorite! I took time to use some pain cream on my legs and knees which were already hurting, and refuel. I drink some electrolytes and a meal drink, take a couple capri suns with me. Its such a mood lifter to see them!





The late afternoon part of the course is tough, getting out of town and just an endless sidewalk of beach houses. At least there were porta potties and plenty of bushes along the way. I met my friend Fernando before the race and on the course. He's a strong runner and is going for 100-100s as well. I think he's up into the 20's range? Anyway, he is a hilarious person, makes me laugh, he cusses like crazy and we both like loud music, so I had a lot of fun and distraction keeping with him for awhile. He was just a bit slower than me though, so we eventually parted ways and I pulled ahead. After about mile 45 the course starts to feel remote. There is a water aid station along that stretch and there were a couple snickers bars and gels on the table so I refilled and took the snickers, I was def in need of both. There's a bridge we cross that has beautiful views of the ocean and its several miles long. That is usually my favorite part of the course but this year was probably one of the toughest. With the high winds, once you were up on the bridge the wind was whipping you from all directions. I almost lost my hat a few times and really had to push hard to move forward through it.







It was such a relief to finally cross it and hit the aid station. The wind was so strong it was hard to close the door at the porta potty lol. My knee was swelling up pretty hard, Id forgotten to bring a compression sleeve. I took every opportunity to slather on some pain cream. Lube is also a huge must in this race. The salty humid air and blowing sand can make you feel gritty all over, so that's a must have on this route. The aid station at 50 was also nearly non existent, but they did have some turkey and cheese so I had them make me a sandwich and that boosted my spirits heading into the sand dunes. Here we encountered the most difficult conditions on the course. Both sides of the road have many miles of tall sand dunes. The 20-40 mph winds were whipping sand into our faces. Luckily I was smart and had pants and long sleeves where most of the other runners were in shorts and t shirts or tanks. It was quite cold and the sand stung my face. I put on sunglasses and had to run with a washcloth to cover my face so I could keep sand out of my mouth and not have it pelting my face. I called Jason and asked him to bring me out a jacket and a mask...it wasn't too far from the hotel yet so he & Peter met me like mile 55 or so. A rainstorm came in and we had a pretty solid downpour, but gratefully it only lasted for about 30 minutes, and even better, it made the sand heavy so it stopped blowing around so much. I'm so glad because just an hour of that was really friggin miserable! Felt so windswept. Sadly lost my fav purple hat at one of my endless pit stops.


Peter and Jason brought me my favorite, tacos! I scarfed down two and a meal drink and took a chance to pee behind the car and refuel and re hydrate. Even though I was over-hydrating all day and taking in lots of salt, I was still a bit dehydrated by 50 miles and started having to pee like every single mile. There was literally no place to go. Id have to cross the road and try and tuck behind a sand dune for some privacy but I'm sure it gave more than a few vehicles a show. Irritatingly that persisted from mile 50 to the end of the course. I just couldn't get my hydration right. I had a buff my friend gave me years ago in my stuff, I randomly grabbed tho never used it before. Turned out to be perfect to keep my hair from whipping in the wind.



The sun was going down as we approached 100k on the opposite side of a beautiful little island beach town called Rodanthe. I always remember this lame lame movie called Nights in Rodanthe with Richard Gere when I run through there. It doesn't look as romantic a place as the movies make it out to bed, but I guess its because we run down main street with all the gas stations and tourist traps, lol. Treated to a spectacular sunset, and then a few more torturous miles on the new bridge going out to the Island, with heavy whipping high winds. I had to take a look afterwards, Its a 2.4 mile bridge and bypasses the beautiful beach homes that were at least somewhat enjoyable to see in the past.








There was a confusing and not well marked circle intersection after the bridge, luckily there were some runners off to the right, I could see their red blinking lights (A requirement for this race after dark) so I was able to go the right direction. There may have been a sign but I didn't see one. Otherwise the course is pretty well marked & straightforward. I was just really disappointed in the 100k aid station. There were runners there sitting in chairs looking beat up and trashed. There was really not much of anything available food-wise that I noticed only bags of trail mix. I was looking for hot food. Luckily they did have powdered chicken broth so I was able to get a hot cup of broth. Hit my drop bags to refuel and decided I probably had enough to get me through to mile 80 so I called Jason to tell him to not worry about coming out...but he and Peter were already almost to me so I got a nice solid crewing at 66-67 miles. I gave him back my jacket and just decided to run without one because my arms were sweating and it really wasn't cold if I kept moving, just incredibly windy. It was great to see them, get my juice and meal drinks, have some privacy behind the car for voltarin pain cream and using the bathroom. So many of the stretches are long with nowhere to go because there is a ditch full of water on both sides of the road that you can't quite hop across. I had to wait until I had enough space between me and other runners and before crew cars passed in either direction, to go by the side of the road. When you start having to pee every mile or two all night, that becomes problematic and exhausting lol.



There was an absolutely insane sky full of starts, with a crescent moon and Jupiter low on the horizon. It couldn't have been a more beautiful night (minus the wind.) I was testing out a new waist lamp so without a headlamp on my view of the starts was never obstructed. I was trying to m ove forward, now 16 min miles, without weaving into the road or off the road while looking at the stars. It was a very long night but being out in the dark in a remote place with a sky full of stars, you can just feel heaven so close. I had some good prayers through the night for the families of the fallen I had with me. Wee hours of Sunday morning, I played some church music for a while since I was missing out on church again. It's kind of rough but 100s almost always spill over to Sunday morning. :(


Sometime in the night I met a Marine, whose son is in the Marines and who lost a best friend 8 years ago to suicide. We talked for awhile and it was really meaningful, one of those times when you feel like what you are doing matters, to someone. I heard this sone sometime after that when the road seemed to lengthen for endless miles under the stars and my whole body was aching. I just had that feeling that I was not alone, that Dexter and my angel Marines were walking with me and strengthening me in our hope to raise awareness about suicide. Definitely a cry moment.

"Death is at your doorstep

And it will steal your innocence

But it will not steal your substance

But you are not alone in this

You are not alone in this

As brothers we will stand and we will hold your hand

Hold your hand" -Mumford & Sons


70 miles, AS was pretty scant, but the guy was super nice and when I asked for something salty he did have Sloppy Joe's on hot dog buns. They were actually really good and hit the spot, ate them on the run. There wasn't much going on at any of the aid stations. At that one a guy who'd been a fast runner early on was sitting icing his ankle. Others sitting around with a defeated look. I was determined not to sit, and keep moving. I was really happy to see Jason again around mile 80, I think there was an aid station involved, or I met him right after but he gave me his jacket as I was about to go through a bit of windy, dark barren dunes again and the wind is typically pretty cold on that stretch. He came out for the remainder of the race and planned to meet me every few miles.



I was feeling pretty good after the 80ish mile stop, some good energy and my stomach was pretty solid, so I channeled my inner Paul (my favorite pacer man!) and got a little competitive and slowly passed 4 or 5 runners heading to the lighthouse aid station and turnaround. I was singing top of my lungs and looking at the stars. I was hurting from the quads down but just remembering I was closing in on the finish and would soon be at the lighthouse. I tried to focus on the beauty of the night and the music.


One thing this race really did right was having crew cars with Christmas lights in the dash (so as not to spook runners) driving along the course through the night to make sure runners were okay. Honestly, they were probably the best aid station, being mobile. It was comforting to have them checking on you. I got salt tabs and a bottle of water for electrolytes from one of the ladies.


Jason met me at the 86-mile aid station. They had a cup of noodles waiting for me but for a second time the noodles were lukewarm and uncooked. I just drank up the broth and got my usual out of the car. We have a 2 mile out and back to see Hatteras lighthouse, where we have to pick up a pirate eye patch, then turn around and come back to the same aid station. Seeing the bold light of the lighthouse shining in darkness for miles around is always a moving sight to me. So symbolic, especially after paying such a physical and emotional price to reach it after 87 miles on foot. I always play this church song from my childhood, a tradition for 4 yrs now. <3

LIKE A LIGHTHOUSE - MICHAEL WEBB - YouTube "Feeling alone, feeling afraid, losing my hope, losing my way

tossed about like a ship on a stormy sea, waiting for someone to rescue me,

and then I see Him, like a lighthouse... "

Heading back onto the main road, the AS wasn't particularly helpful AS but the volunteers were all very nice, and they got me a handful of salt pills which I really needed.

I was in a decent mood because I was down to the final stretch. I knew it was going to be some hard miles though...those straight miles through town feel like they go on forever. The last 12 are run through the coastal town of Hatteras. It's pretty dead to the world at 3-5 am so it was easy to find places to make pit stops and Jason met me pretty frequently. I passed 1 or 2 runners but mostly was on this stretch all alone

At the 90 mile aid station I asked for something salty and all they had was pretzels. I tried to eat them and had to choke spit them out of my mouth, so dry they soaked up every tiny bit of spit and I was already dehydrated. Pretty much worthless as a fuel in a late ultra IMO. I wondered if anyone organizing aid stations had ever actually run 100 miles. I was very sad that the UFO house I've seen the last 3 yrs someplace in the last 8 miles had burnt down. That was always fun. I was still moving forward at a better pace than most everyone else around me at that time, so I passed a few more runners going through the final stretch. It was nice when the sun finally came up. The ultraspire waist lamp I was testing out lasted 11 hours. I was excited for that because I'm hoping it'll give me good supplemental light for trail races. I was tempted multiple times to just shut it off and run in the dark under the stars but I knew that battery life test was going to be important knowledge for Endurance Hunter and Cruel Jewel coming up.


My knee was really hurting a lot the last 8 miles. I'd tried to wear Jasons jacket but it was too hot. I tried my poles to ease knee pain, but they slowed me down. I was glad Jason was out there so I could make the swaps and not carry extra gear. I stopped once at the car and took a few minutes to sit in a chair and dump sand out of my shoes. Even with gaiters the blowing sand still got inside and was annoying. No damage though, I did make it through this race with no blisters and no additional lost toenails, lol.


Jason met me again at the last aid station with 4 miles to go. Literally was just a waste of time to have that stop. They had nice bathrooms but I didn't have time or inclination to climb stairs to get into them so just peed by the car haha. They had pretzels, trail mix and mandarin oranges, basically. The first 2 are completely inedible by this point but I took a couple of the oranges and chewed them up for the juice, then spit out the pulp. I needed something salty so Jason got me a baggie of Fritos corn-chips from the car and they were weirdly the perfect fuel. They tasted good, ate them in little slow bites, didn't suck the moisture out of my mouth and they stayed down and gave me just a bit of energy and salt.

I was going prob 16-18 minute miles dragging myself somewhat limping for 3 miles. Just felt endless. I was mostly on my own, everyone too far ahead or behind me at this point. Coming down to the last mile I saw 2 guys up ahead with their pacer so being the last mile I kicked it up a notch to 14 minute miles and ran it in. I had a couple awesome Sabaton songs come on the playlist for that last mile, Devil Dogs, The Unkillable Soldier and Soldier of Heaven, right in a row. It was the angel sign I needed to really push to the finish and get well over 30 minutes under my hoped for time. Finish was 27:26. I was so happy to finally get across the finish and the buckle was way more awesome than I was expecting. Gorgeous with the red enamel! That was well earned and worth running for!



So relieved to be done that it's painful, lol





At the finish I met one of the race staff with two sons going into the military, Army and Marines. She asked about my pictures and I told her about running for veteran suicide awareness. She's so worried about her sons, she choked up a few times and hugged me like 3 different times and thanked me for what I was doing. We chatted to the nice photographer who tends to talk too much and it's hard to break away when we're ready to go. They had hot food at the finish so I got a pile of bacon and some fried potatoes and actually ate them with no nausea, so that was a victory with such a hugely dehydrating race!


Happily, we were back to the hotel by 10 am. I took a hot bath, ate a donut and spaghetti dinner saved from the prerace meal and climbed into my gloriously soft & clean hotel bed and dozed for an hour and a half before we drove home. It's probably good I'm nauseous after races because I was starving afterwards. Got a heath blizzard from Dairy Queen for the ride home, a favorite of mine & Dexter's. He and I used to go to DQ together after he went to every LDS General Conference priesthood session and get those together. I slept the 5.5 hr drive home, crawled into bed at 6:30 pm and slept until 8 the next morning, total of 18 hrs of sleep recovery time, hah! But, I woke up feeling pretty good, just a little sore and slow. That was surprising with all the miles the last month in my legs. I started to unpack from the race by going through all my race stuff and re-packing for upcoming Endurance Hunter this Saturday morning. 100 miles, 19k approx elevation gain, multiple river crossings, remote location, downed trees, infrequent aid stations, 40 hrs to complete...strangely I feel less worried about this race than having put down a 3rd 100 miler on pavement within a month! The climbs and descents are so much easier on my knee than just pounding the ground with little muscle change, I'm looking forward to it. After my post race carb binge I'm back to eating low carb. I feel like its been really helping with endurance fueling, inflammation and recovery. I take in about 150-300 calories per hour during a race, maybe 40 g of carbs every 4 miles or so. .


Cruel Jewel is starting to scare me, a month and a half away, so I'm just gonna focus on getting through this next race and getting more experience under my belt.


Losing LCpls mom Jennifer to suicide really threw me for a loop this month. I'm super grateful leading up to this race for all the encouragement and kind words I received. They say suicide is 100% preventable but the truth is you can do everything you can for someone, and they will still die. :( That being said, we still need to learn early warning signs and watch for signs of depression or mental illness in our loved ones and hopefully reduce the increasing numbers. :(
















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4件のコメント


Jason G
Jason G
2023年3月28日

You're amazing, sweetheart! I know *I* didn't want to go out in that wind just to meet you; I can't even imagine running into it for 27 hours! What you're doing matters! It's helping people.

いいね!
Rosie Nanette Gagnon
Rosie Nanette Gagnon
2023年3月31日
返信先

Thank you so much, this effort wouldn't be possible without your dedicated support and crewing and I'm so happy we are chasing this 100-100s goal for Dexter together. We've come a long way. 💙

いいね!

scrisp
2023年3月28日

Wow Rosie, I cannot believe you are cranking out the 100s so "effortlessly". That's really amazing. And I can see how your race experience makes all the difference in knowing what's needed, and most importantly, bring, drop, or have crew'd what you think may be missing at Aid Stations. Glad your body is stronger and your times keep improving, despite tough conditions. You are definitely on a roll. Congrats on #47 and wishing you good luck/skill on your path to 50 ... and beyond!

いいね!
Rosie Nanette Gagnon
Rosie Nanette Gagnon
2023年3月31日
返信先

Thank you Steven. I guess I was a little rough on the aid stations, the RD I guess read this and contacted me to ask about my complaints and what they could do better. I was a little embarrassed haha but I appreciate their caring about the runners. Hopefully will create a better event in the future for other runners who might not have as good a crew as I have in Jason! Oddly I had my best recovery after this run so I feel prepared for Endurance Hunter this weekend, fingers crossed! Definitely looking forward to a breather. Thanks for all your support. Who knew when I had surgery I'd be pushing towards 50. A long way to g…

いいね!
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