Buckeye 100 #58 Wellsville, Ohio

Working towards my Expected #60 Warrior 100 race with Wear Blue when running the Marine Corps Marathon Oct 29, I found Buckeye 200 with a 100-mile option near the state line of Ohio and WV. For $65 you run a huge length of the state of Ohio, largely on st rd. 45, to end at Lake Erie. I'm not a huge fan of road races because they're killer on the feet and joints, especially in back-to-back 100's, but Buckeye offered like a 72-hour cutoff. I figured no matter what shape my body was in after Grindstone, I could still pull out a 100 miler here and a buckle.

Did a phone interview that week with Mallory from Womens Running mag and it was published as part of a story in Outside magazine. That was a pretty neat opportunity to tell some of Dexter's story. 3 Athletes on Why They’re Running the Marine Corps Marathon (outsideonline.com)

Coming off of Grindstone was really, really rough. It's been a long time since I had a race that hard on my body. I slept the good part of 3 days and my legs and feet retained so much water it hurt to walk. Also, I had toes that were throbbing from the descents, toenails falling off or huge blisters where toenails used to be. It was so painful it was waking me up at night. It was wierdly an emotional drain too, I had all kinds of feelings like maybe I didn't have what it takes and was so hungry kept eating and feeling like a porker. I was hoping my ambition and legs would feel better but as late as Thursday night I was having misgivings, my calves were still sore, and my toes were still oozing fluid. I'd managed to do 3 10-minute miles Thursday morning & I knew my legs still worked, so, we packed up the car and headed off for Buckeye.

The cost of this race is so low because there are no aid stations or anything fancy, no timing mats, start or finish set-ups etc. Very grass roots and on the cheap. You had to either run with a road crew or plan on stopping at roadside food places/gas stations/dollar generals in the middle of nowhere, for supplies. Jason decided to come out and crew me, and when he got laid off Thursday before the race, we cancelled his 2nd night in a hotel room, threw a foam mattress in the car and packed up PB& J & apples to eat on the road. The job loss came as a real surprise. I tried to just focus and believe everything would work out, somehow it always does. We did keep our Fri night motel for a good nights sleep but just ate PB& J in the hotel room to save $$. So Jasons plan was to drive and meet me every 10-ish miles, and nap in the car and hopefully not get too bored sitting out by the side of the road!

I have a FB friend, Amy, who was at Grindstone, and we struck up a long convo after the race. We have many experiences in common, though she's WAY tougher and more hard core than I am. She had served as a Marine, sooo, go figure! Anyway, she had done Buckeye 200 several years going solo, so she gave me a point-by-point list of notes for the course and some awesome tips for ultras, including wrapping feet, peeing standing up (lol) sleeping in post offices and various other impressive things! I felt well prepared and had extra self-protection, pepper spray and a knife, for some sketchy towns we'd be running through. My buddy Adam laughed when I registered for this course because he said it goes through all these meth towns. I was mentally prepared to have to fight off creepy druggies, lol. Finding this in the first rest area in Ohio, close to the start line, wasn't a good sign!

We got settled at the hotel and got all my gear together. After wearing shoes in the car all day my toes were throbbing and painful and I was really concerned what another 100 miles was going to do to them. Hard to see in pics but my big toe was especially bad. I was afraid it might be infected because I was getting shooting pains going up my foot. I randomly remembered that cutting holes in shoes was a thing some ultrarunners do. I've never had to do it and I hated the thought of cutting up expensive, albeit worn out, shoes. I was texting Amy and she sent me pics of all the shoes she's cut holes in, even brand-new ones, so I got out my race knife and took out 3 toe chunks. Tried them out running down the hall in the hotel and seemed like maybe they would help. NO turning back at that point, lol!

Jason got me to the race start in time to rub some arthritis cream into my still slightly sore fatigued legs, just before the start for maximum effect for the early hopefully faster miles. No fanfare, just a small number of random runners and their crew meeting in a high school stadium parking lot before dawn. We got a cute homemade bib with our name & #'s, #3! Still get pre-race nerves which was funny for a race with a 72 hr. cutoff lol, but my friend Karen held the women's course record for my age group, so with encouragement from Amy and my friends /pacers Susan & Adam, and Jason, I started off hoping that running on my dead legs and poor weepy toes, to still possibly beat 28:23. Wearing my knee brace and some gosleeves to protect my knees on the road. Wasn't sure if they were at 100%.

I guess I was the only runner to have a gpx map (Thanks to Amy!) so I started the first 5-6 miles running with another ultrarunner Dave. We started out at a run with a mission to go fast, & we did some decent 11-12 min miles through town while we talked, and I worked thru a few little pack issues. He's run 82 100 milers, and he made the miles fly by with stories from his races and also the polite listening of my stories about Dexter. It was really a neat time. We ran the first 3-ish through Wellsville which was pretty sketchy, but soon got out of town and into some steep rolling hills with beautiful autumn countryside and homes. We hiked the climbs, ran the downs. I am pretty sure I was slowing him down, but his choice was to stay with me till we reached our main course, up rt 45, 6 miles into the race, which we would take all the way up to the finish line at the shores of Lake Erie. Jason drove by and said hello which was fun, since usually at a race he's gone and off sleeping in a hotel immediately after the start lol. The supermoon was still out just above the autumn trees and pockets of fog in the hills, even though the sun was up, temps were cool and comfortable, just a perfect morning to be out for a run.

Jason met me at mile 6, where Dave went on ahead. (And boy did he, he crushed the male course record coming in around 21-ish hours!) Got down lots of calories, a couple meal drinks, apple juice x2, and half a bowl of fried potatoes with ketchup and salt leftover from the hotel buffet breakfast. So far my legs were giving me no trouble at all, heart rate a little high but not bad, but mostly my toes felt completely fine. I was so grateful! Jason gave me a blessing the night before race start, to count on the people with me to help, to remember past things I've done to get through, and to have faith and ask the Lord for help and He'd strengthen me and give me power to finish. I tried to remember those and other things as I ran. I felt great, and was enjoying music and running alone, with nobodys pace to worry about but my own. Completely up to me how I wanted to get through this race, slow as possible or pushing and I opted for pushing. Jason was going to meet me at mile 16.

I'd just drank a lot at the car and had a 16 oz bottle of electrolytes so I figured I'd be fine for 10 miles, but once the sun was up, I felt it and shriveled up like a raisin almost instantly! About mile 10 I'd already scrounged a half filled bottle of water on the side of the road and drank it. Already had a few tears listening to music, especially a song Hannah sent me. "I won't give up, no, I won't give in Till I reach the end and then I'll start again No, I won't leave, I wanna try everything I wanna try even though I could fail"

Feeling good, I took time to pray for the families of the fallen, Taylor, Jacob, Jake, Nate, and Morgan. I know out running and carrying pics really doesn't do a whole lot, but it's a way to lift where I stand and if those families know at least 1 person is remembering their loved one, it is important. I know because at the start of my race I got a video from my pal Derry in England, wearing blue and out running to support me and remember Dexter and also the other Marines I'm running for. It's a precious gift to me to have that kind of regular remembrance. It means so much! I hope we can pass it on and get others to openly support mourning families in such a way.

I was happy to meet a guy named Quatro who was from the Virginia happy trails running club and out crewing a runner. I haven't done much with them but am part of their FB group. I only saw him twice out on the course, but his help was so critical! A couple miles after drinking the scrounged water, lol, I was thinking I'd probably have to get Jason up and out to help early. He hadn't yet checked out of our hotel so figured he was still asleep. Quatro refilled my bottle with cold clean water, and I felt refreshed and able to make it to meeting Jason at our 16 mi meeting point by the side of the road. Was so happy to see him again. He grabbed a pic and refilled my fluids & gave me my charger. I drank down a whole 16 oz bottle of apple juice and a couple Nesquik's and took some candy and corn chips with me. I found honey bbq corn chips at Walmart which were the bomb. I ate those through a lot of the race.

Next stopping point would be a marathon in. It felt like 80% of the course to the next big town of Lisbon was run uphill! I was already feeling trashed, and my hair was turning to a tangled mess. It was a gradual uphill but I was going pretty slow. There were some good downs where I'd get speed but with the sun out and getting late morning close to noon, I was feeling it. When I met Jason he gave me my fan but had forgotten ice. Luckily, I ran into Quatro shortly after and he had ice, so I filled my hat and felt much better as I went through the super cute historic town of Lisbon. Fun stuff to look at, cute farmers market I would have loved to walk through. Sidewalks were torn up, so I had to really watch the ground.

So, my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has a general conference which takes up 2 weekends per year. 3 2-hour sessions on Saturday and two on Sunday. You'd think that would be too much church for anyone lol, but weirdly they are my favorite weekends of the year. Usually, I'm home with my family and we watch because the church buildings are closed, it's a satellite event broadcast that goes to every country in the world. Usually we've got snacks going, hang out in our PJs, Jason and the boys build lego projects and I paint or spin yarn for the whole 10 hours, lol. It rejuvenates my spirit and my commitment to Christ so much, I always am so uplifted and have more faith and strength to face my challenges after GC. Anyway, I was sure I'd checked the dates, and I thought it was the following weekend. Nope. SO bummed. I apologized to my family. Amazingly my son Peter stayed home and watched it all alone, 17 yo. Really proud of his decision to do that. For me, it meant I was going to be trying to beat a racecourse record while listening to 6 hours of church Saturday/Saturday night, LOL If you've ever listened to conference, it's not like some southern revival, if you're sitting on the couch in fact, there's a good chance its going to possibly put you to sleep, haha. But I never will miss the chance to hear our prophet and apostles speak so, whatever, I put on my headphones and chilled running through the towns and countryside's of Ohio listening to conference. It was fun to come across one of our churches signs just as the meetings began.

The meetings were so good, I didnt want to pause it to get crewed by Jason lol. I was making really good time and it looked like I was gonna pull in a solid 50 miles under 12 hours.

Along the course was super cool, this event going on a few years now, attracted attention from some locals, so people would put up signs in their front yard for free water and snacks. I got saved a few times by a granola bar and ice water! My favorite was a pop up aid station that this family/friends with their kids set up, and legit, it was just as good as any aid station at any fancy race and honestly better than 80% of the aid stations at Grindstone! They were sooo helpful and had a bit of everything I could possibly need. They stocked me up with fancy runners lube, energy gels, some yummy flavored electrolyte pills, and best of all, ice cold coke! I chugged down two! They were just the nicest people ever. It totally made my day. Cheered and supported by total strangers. I just love, love, love, the running community. So service oriented. <3

I ran past a golf course in the afternoon and got double lucky because I found a golf ball and a perfect place to hide in the trees to do some much needed bathroom business off the road and out of sight of cars lol. An interesting struggle for daytime road running. I thought about some tactics my friend Amy taught me to be able to pee standing up and discreetly, but I wasn't quite ready to figure that out yet. Ha!

I'm not a big fan of skeletons, but I liked that these guys were running! One of my fav things on the course was running through neighborhoods and seeing cute little houses with their autumn decorations. I should have gotten a pic of the vomiting skeleton, but it was after dark.

Finished up listening to both sessions of Saturday afternoon General Conference. The afternoon got hot and Jason met me a little more frequently with fluids and ice for my hat. At one point listening to GC, I was running through this beautiful countryside with fields of purple wildflowers and just felt my mom, whose fav color is purple, with me, and felt her happiness and love. It was special!

Going through a really sketchy park of Salem, Ohio. Kept a watch on my surroundings. My text wasn't working or I would have asked Adam if I should stop at the tattoo parlor, the saloon, the massage parlor, or the psychic reading place! haha.

Just a random sign that made me think of Dexter working as a mechanic for Ford.

"Honor the dead by helping the living." <3

Conf wrapped up around 6pm...sometime after mile 40, I suddenly got this terrible pain in my left quad. I tried to ignore it but it got more and more painful. I thought somehow, maybe I'd weakened the muscle at Grindstone, and it possibly tore or had a serious strain. I called Jason because I needed him to meet me with my poles. I was seriously worried that I might not be able to finish, or at least not without at least using poles, maybe they'd act as a crutch. Worst case, I would walk it in. I wasn't gonna stop. I was close to tears when Jason found me. I got resupplied and rubbed pain cream all over my legs in hope it would take the edge off. I had been hoping to meet Jason and Susan, my friend and pacer for half the night, in 12 hours at mile 50. After the quad pain, I slowed down significantly, 17-18 minute miles. Was really bummed and I was praying a lot. Jason gave me a blessing by the car. I was praying for a miracle that my leg pain would subside and not be too injured.

I was running 30 min late by the time I met Jason and Susan. They actually drove out to meet me at mile 48 because I was going pretty slow. Remembering what Jason had said about doing things I'd done in the past, I remembered I had k-tape in my bag, so I taped up my quad in hopes it would help. was really glad to have company as it started getting dark and just being with Susan lifted my mood! We got a chance to talk for a little while before the 8pm session of General Conference, lol. I gotta say I'm sooo grateful to have an ultrarunner friend like Susan who is also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Anyone else, I might have to apologize to...hey, come help me run all night, and oh, by the way, you're gonna have to listen to 2 hrs. of my church, ha-ha. With Susan it was no question, she even suggested it! I had my Nox gear speaker, a gift from my friend Rhonda, so we cranked up the volume as it got dark and caught the evening session. About this time we'd hit the very sketchy town of Warren. Traffic was pretty heavy, and the sidewalks were a mess. All broken up and rough, I was definitely using my poles and trying to take things carefully. It was hard for Susan to hear GC because of the traffic but with the speaker in my pocket I happily heard all the talks, and we finished up the session as we neared the end of the town. We laughed because we said, if we get hit by a car in Warren while listening to General Conference during this 100 miler, we are going straight to heaven!

Traffic stayed fairly steady but the road opened back up for the most part after Warren so we could run on better ground. Jason met us on the opposite side with some food, french fries for Susan and the best freshest McDonalds chicken sandwich ever for me. It was sooo tasty and put me in a good mood! Susan can walk 14-minute miles, so she kept me pushing forward for a good while. We slowed down a little later while we talked but it was a beautiful foggy night under the moon and it was nice to catch up and talk about heavy stuff, sometimes you just gotta get out into the miles to really work through things and I hope it was beneficial to us both! <3 At some point out in the dark countryside we came across another volunteer aid station, and I guzzled down a 20-(?) oz blue Gatorade. Gross but I needed the fluid and electrolytes and was grateful!

Susan did a marathon + with me, and then we met my buddy Adam from Froggy mountain and 5 Lakes and various other races, who volunteered to come out and pace me to the finish! Susans husband came to pick her up so we got to say a quick hi, refuel and then I hugged Susan goodbye and headed off with Adam.

Adam is such a meanie though, he brought gummy snacks and wanted to get a picture of me picking them up off the ground. He was with me during the “pot gummy” incident. Haha so funny.

But actually, I was fueling on that bag of BBQ Fritos in my hand. :P

Adam is a machine, super fit strong guy and fast, and so upbeat. I don't know if he ever stops smiling! We started talking and at this point, I was doubting I could make the age group record, but he was rearing to go and got me moving at a good pace. Adams also incredibly good at crunching pace numbers, while I was thinking I was gonna miss the age group record, after 5 miles he was like... hey, you've got that in the bag. If we can do 15-minute miles for the next 20 miles, I think you could break the overall female course record. What the heck! Usually, there's no way I can sustain that pace late super late ultra, but Adam was ready to go strong and steady, and he believed I could do it! So, I decided I believed I could do it too, and we headed off into this very foggy moonlit night. The fog was thick but the sky was clear and the nearly full harvest moon and the planet jupiter were our companions for the night, otherwise there were few cars and out in the countryside, few lights or homes. It was actually really nice. I cranked on some Sabaton to keep my feet moving and other than the times we met Jason for refueling, we were keeping steady 15 minute miles.

When Adam pulled up his google map, it showed we actually had to run to 102 miles! That felt discouraging, that could be an extra 30 minutes! Instead of letting it get me down we just shaved off 15-30 seconds here or there on downhills. Dowhills we were hitting 24's and occastionally some 13's. Enough that slowly and steadily we started to build a time buffer. I was so grateful for adams logistics mind because I knew every single mile how fast I needed to go, what pace I'd just done, and how many more miles I needed to keep this up. Something that shows just what kind of guy Adam is, early this year he was hit by a car out running, and was almost killed, broken bones and serious concussion and other disabilities that accident stuck him with. He couldn't run for months, but he's gone on to run 3 HARD 100 milers since! Well, here we are alongside the road in the wee hours of the morning, and he's stepping out in front of me to flag down cars who are driving too fast or too close to us, I mean literally risking his life, if any of them were mean or drunk or not paying attention. I was so touched he was doing that to keep me safe. He's a talker and we moved pretty quickly and had a lot of fun. Adam grabbed this pic for me, in memory of one of my Marines, Morgan!

Hair a ratty nest.

Susan and Adam were such great distractions that it didnt really occur to me that my quad had completely stopped hurting, my toes weren't hurting at all, and aside from feet feeling sore from the pavement I felt pretty great. I gave Jason back my running poles so I could do better time. Hard to find meaningful moments of prayer and reflection with pacers because it's fun and distracting to socialize but I did take some time under the moon to just thank my Heavenly Father for hearing my prayers, just a random person out running a dumb distance on an obscure road in Ohio, but still my prayers were answered and literally miraculously that strain was completely gone. I'd be able to finish this 100 in memory of these boys & for military & veteran suicide awareness. It was just a moment where I deeply felt the gratitude to the Lord, and I also and said each of their names and tried to feel a bond and friendship with each one.

Beautiful sunrise!

My 24 hr stats. Sadly my watch didn't save the complete run because Garmin was down for some reason.

Can I stop and sit??

As the sun came up and we got closer to the last half marathon, my stomach wasn't feeling great, and my legs were definitely done. I apologized to Adam and put on my headphones to tune out all sound except the music so I could concentrate on keeping my legs moving in time. I felt rude because I wasn't being social and if Adam wanted to talk to me, he'd have to repeat himself while I paused my playlist, but I was able to keep the pace we had set for ourselves and actually getting in some solid 13-14 min miles. The morning turned a bit cold as fog rolled in off the lake, but I was grateful because I knew the sun would drain me and instantly be sick. In fact, it did come out near the lake the last 3 miles, and I got a few waves of nausea. My friend & pacer Jenn from Grindstone had given me a big bag of wintergreen mints and I ate them all, they really helped, easy to eat without offending the palate, and was a steady drip drop of sugar. I'd given up food and the honey BBQ corn chips quite a while back, now I was running on wintergreen mints, applesauce and coke. Mostly coke. Drinking 8 oz every 3 miles. Adam got some great pics, funny when you're on the road for hours what you find interesting!

Smoking corpse.

Adam wants to go shopping.

Taxi or horse, I'll take either at this point!

Dilapidated barn, if an ultrarunner at 90 miles was a building, lol

Lotsa geese!

Fuel for our last miles! Been through the wringer, wet with sweat and morning fog.

Jason was super awesome, we had a few turns to do before the finish line, so I didn't have to pull out my gpx map, he parked on the critical corners and gave Adam what I needed as I ran through, so I didn't have to stop, random stuff like my soft hat, applesauce, mints, phone charger etc. Adam would grab the stuff then catch up to meet me. The fact we had some great solid downhill miles towards the lake helped so much! I thought I was gonna lose my coke the last 2 miles and wanted to slow down. I was thinking of Dexter and hoping he was with me, concentrating hard on pace and listening to music. I wasn't really reaching far beyond what was going on in my body, but listening to Sabatons Devil Dogs song, then looking down and seeing a shiny, almost heart shaped, piece of blue glass sparkling in the sun, just felt his warm smile and hug on my heart and knew he knew what 'd been doing and was there for me.

I was still doing a 15 min mile but Adam was running up ahead and waving me forward with his arm, so I tried to drive it home. We saw the lake behind some lake houses and when we finally turned the corner to the beach, the fog cleared, the sun came out to a brilliant blue sky and we ran down one last big hill across the plank sidewalk to the beach, watching hundreds of seagulls take off from the sand against the bright blue sky was so beautiful! We crossed the sand and ran into the lake, and that was the finish line. I hit the water at 26:27. The first place overall female finish record was 26:49. So with my amazing pacers we not only beat the age group womens record but did an overall course finish record, and beat it by 22 minutes! As my good friend and support Ed, 84 & retired Navy noted, a #22 to symbolize the 22 veterans we lose per day to suicide. Amazing!!

The water was crystal clear, not especially cold, I was going to tip over, but I held on to Adam as I tried to get my thighs down in the water for my injured/not injured? left quad. So.much.fun. The whole course except through a few sketchy places, was really beautiful. The community support and support from other runners' crews was awesome and the finish line, well, running into a beautiful clear lake, that looks as big as an ocean is pretty hard to beat! I will definitely be back to run this race!

Really such huge kudos to Susan for getting me moving at a solid pace forward despite my quad pain, and Adam for believing me and then pushing me to perform, and Jason, for staying up all night and getting me everything I needed, including cold cokes, clean washcloths, ice, BBQ corn chips and the best chicken sandwich! Also, to Amy who got me mentally prepared and who first encouraged me to chase down the age group record!

All wasn't completely well, Jason held on to me and helped me limp to the car, I was able to change out of my filthy race clothes and put on something dry, halfway through that process got hit with nausea and threw up for 5 minutes, splashing vomit all over my bare feet, BLEGH. He helped me get cleaned up my feet washed off with water and we headed to a Dennys to take Adam out to breakfast. I felt pretty good because Adam was a little sore from the miles too, meant we were making some good time, lol. I laid down on the bench while they ate breakfast and I managed to safely and slowly eat some hash browns with ketchup. Sad to say goodbye to Adam but we will def be running again in the future! Such a great guy!

We listened to the Sunday sessions of General Conference driving home. I snacked on more corn chips to try to stay awake and was mostly successful. We had a 5 hr. drive so in between the 2 hr. sessions I climbed in back of the SUV and slept deeply on Jason's makeshift foam mattress bed. It was sooo comfortable, prob the best road sleep I've ever had! Got home in time to hear President Nelsons talk at the closing of conference, and in time to celebrate for Adams 19th birthday.

Wow, just so happy. I know I wouldn't take this first place female and course record on a bigger course, but it sure feels good to be a local champion lol! Also, waking up today, my toes are 100% better, no sign of any pain in my left leg. Feet and calves hurt a little, but I felt well enough to be out mowing the lawn and cleaning up the garden! I feel so grateful for the Lords answers to prayers including his healing hand, for the gift it is to have the endurance and drive to do these races for those who can't be here to run, and for such a supportive husband and amazing friends I've made the last few years. I'd never choose to lose Dexter, but I truly feel the lyrics to the Lord is my Shepherd song.

“In the midst of affliction, my table is spread, with blessings unmeasured, my cup runneth over”

2 1/2 weeks to rest and recover with a little training thrown in for No Business 100.

Today this picture popped up on facebook, from this date 2019, my first time wearing blue. Artwork in the background, precious work from the daughter of a dear friend and gifted to us when we lost Dexter. I'm so grateful this month to be participating with Wear Blue in the Warrior 100 effort to help bring an end to military and veteran suicide awareness. You can find out how to participate at the following link. Warrior 100 — wear blue: run to remember (wearblueruntoremember.org)

As I was wrapping up this race report, I got interrupted with a call from Irene, from Marine Corps Times, for a phone interview about my running and Dexter and doing the Marine Corps Marathon / 100. As I tripped over words and got through the interview, Jason told me afterwards that when I talk about my mission, he's always reminded of a scene from a family favorite movie, speed racer. Why running 100 100s? .... "It's the only thing I know how to do and I gotta do something."

Today this picture popped up on my facebook page, from this date 2019, my first time wearing blue. Artwork in the background, precious work from the daughter of a dear friend and gifted to us when we lost Dexter. I'm so grateful this month to be participating with Wear Blue in the Warrior 100 effort to help bring an end to military and veteran suicide awareness. You can find out how to participate at the following link. Warrior 100 — wear blue: run to remember (wearblueruntoremember.org)