100 Mile “Race” Report
On May 2nd and 3rd, 2020, I ran 102.9 miles in 24 hours. I’m not sure exactly why, other than to see if I could. What follows is a description of that experience, written mostly for myself because I know in a few weeks the memories and details will begin to fade away. Since you’re here reading it, I hope you enjoy it. I’ve labeled the parts if you want to skip around. The first few sections just describe how I got into ultra running and my earlier races.
My First 50K (31 Mile) Race
Kristelle and I were driving to St. Louis on May 10th, 2019 for a long weekend away, looking forward to relaxing and exploring a city we had never been to together. She asked me, “What’s on your bucket list?” After thinking for a while, I realized I didn’t have anything on my bucket list. I was comfortable and enjoying life, but didn’t really have anything specific I wanted to do, other than to enjoy spending time with Kristelle and the kids, and to be a good husband and father.
I had recently read a few books about ultra marathons and professional ultra runners. It was amazing to me that someone could run for 50 or 100 miles at a time. I had briefly thought about trying to run an ultra, but it seemed out of reach. I had already run one marathon, in 2013, and while I did finish it in 4 hours and 11 minutes it was really tough, hurt a lot, and I didn’t think I would ever run another one. But I had been running more recently, and it was the only thing that really interested me at the time that could be a bucket list item. So Kristelle and I talked about it, and I decided I wanted to try it. The only 50K (31 mile) race I could find near us was a trail race at Chester Woods on June 1st, only 3 weeks away (http://teamredgo.com/mason-run-at-chester-woods). It was definitely short notice, but I had been running more recently and thought I could do it. That next weekend I ran 26.2 miles on a treadmill at the Rochester Athletic Club (RAC), going slow and taking a break every 10 miles to prove to myself that I could run that type of distance. The next two weeks I ran on trails a few times to get a feel for that type of running, and read some articles that suggested things such as walking up all the hills, making sure to change socks when needed to avoid blisters and to keep your feet dry when possible. The race went well, and I enjoyed the laid back aspect of it. In ultra races it was normal to walk up hills and whenever you were tired (unless you were trying to win, which 95% of the participants are not). I also enjoyed running in the woods on trails for a change. It is a great 50K race for anyone interested in giving it a try!
Can I Finish a 50 Mile Race?
I was happy with my 50K race, but not completely satisfied. I felt like 31 miles wasn’t that much more than a marathon, and that finishing a 50 mile race would be a more significant accomplishment. I found a 50 mile race trail race in Iowa on July 7th near where my parents lived, and signed up for that (https://whiterockultra.com/). I found a 50 mile training plan and followed the last 5 weeks of it. I wasn’t sure exactly how the race would go since I hadn’t had a full 3 or 4 months to follow a real training plan. I figured if I started slow I could make it at least the first 30 miles or so, and then if I needed I could walk most of the last 20 miles, since the race started at midnight, and the cutoff time was 5 pm (17 hours).
The race was really well organized, and I strongly recommend it, but it was tough! It was much more hilly than I was used to, and I tripped on a root at around mile 16 (around 3am) and fell face first on the trail. Luckily I was okay, and I continued on. By mile 32 my knees and hips were so sore I had to walk the downhills, and going both uphill and downhill was painful. But I kept going, and got a second wind around mile 40, and finished in 11 hours and 33 minutes. At that point I was satisfied, and excited that I had completed a 50 mile race. I didn’t have any desire to try a longer race at the time, mostly because of the time it would take to train for it. Also, knowing how tired and sore and beat up I felt after my 50 mile race, I didn’t see how I would be able to make it another 50 miles.
100 Miles? 24 Hours?
For the rest of 2019 I continued running, but not long distances or high mileage, and not training for anything specific. In 2020 I started thinking about racing again. A 100 mile race still seemed way too long, but I was interested in doing a 24 hour race, where there is usually a 1 to 4 mile loop, and the goal is to complete as many loops as you can in 24 hours. I liked the idea of a long race, but without the pressure of finishing a specific distance. In these races you can stop at any time, take a short or long break to rest or eat, and not feel like you are just putting off all the miles you have left to run. In February I found a 24 hour race in Minneapolis, https://fansultraraces.org/ It looked perfect in that it was nearby, was run on a mostly flat two mile loop, and was scheduled for June 6–7.
I looked online for a training plan, but didn’t find any that were specific to a 24 hour race. Since I thought I could probably complete at least 80 miles, and was hoping to go 90, and possibly even 100, I found a 100 mile training plan that seemed reasonable (i.e. didn’t ask you to run 80–100 mile weeks). The training plan was designed to take 6 months, so I had to start it at week 14 (about half way through) since my race was in 3 months. I had been running around 25–35 miles a week all winter, had completed the 31 and 50 mile races last summer, and had been running fairly consistently for the last 7 years, so I felt like I had the fitness needed to start the training plan in the middle.
The next few weeks were spent following the training plan, running on the treadmill at the RAC five days a week including back to back 18 and 10 miles runs that first week. Training was going well, and then on March 16th the COVID-19 pandemic became serious enough in Minnesota that the governor closed schools and all non-essential businesses, including the RAC. I was still hopeful that the race would be able to go on as scheduled since it was a few months away, so I continued training and started running outside. I don’t like running in the cold, and had been running on a treadmill at the RAC all winter. It is always comfortable indoors, never rainy or windy, and I can watch Netflix while running! Also, being able to soak in the hot tub after a long run is great! Now I had to adjust to running outside in the cold, and planning my rest days on rainy days.
A few weeks later the race was officially postponed to August 29–30, and even that date is still tentative. Not wanting to train all summer for a race that might not happen, I decided I would continue my training plan and just find a place to run for 24 hours (and hopefully 100 miles) on June 6–7, even if it wasn’t an official “race”.
Running My Race Early?
On the weekend of May 2nd — 3rd, my training plan listed either a 50 mile race or a 50 mile training run, by far my longest run so far this year. It would give me a chance to practice things I would be doing in my 100 mile run, such as good pacing, how and what to eat and drink, handling any blisters, foot issues, chafing, etc. The weather was supposed to be beautiful, 50–65 degrees, a bit windy with a 15 MPH wind from the NW, but otherwise perfect. I was a bit nervous because on my previous two 30 mile training runs earlier in my plan, my feet were really hurting by mile 25. But, I completed my 50 mile race last summer without any major issues, so I thought it would go fairly well.
The week before I had looked at my training plan, and noticed that the taper prior to this 50 mile training run was very similar to the taper I would be doing before my 100 mile run. In each case I would steadily decrease my weekly mileage for the 2 weeks before these big runs, so my legs would be fairly fresh for these long runs. In the two weeks before my 50 mile training run I had run 34 and 20 miles. Before the 100 mile run, I was scheduled to run 31 and 8 miles. The thought crossed my mind that I could just skip the final 5 weeks of the training plan and run my 100 miles this weekend instead of my 50 mile training run. But, with how much my feet had hurt after my 30 mile runs, and having run 20 miles this week already, that didn’t seem realistic, so I didn’t think much more about it at that point.
Since it was a 50 mile run, the day before I made sure I was well hydrated, and limited my fiber, fat, and protein to limit stomach or digestion issues during the run. I also made plans to get a lot of sleep the night before. However that night I spent more time setting things out for the run than I had planned (food, drinks, chargers for my phone and running watch, extra clothes, sunscreen, etc) so I only got about 7 hours of sleep. I really tried to make this a dress rehearsal for the 100 mile run coming up in 5 weeks, so I could learn from it, and correct any problems before the real thing. It’s a good thing I did prepare and treat it seriously, because it turned into the real thing. About 35 miles into it I would decide to try for the full 24 hours and 100 miles!
24 Hours of Running
I woke up Saturday to my alarm around 6:45am, and after a piece of toast and a big glass of water, I was ready to go. At this point I was still thinking this was a 50 mile training run, so I wasn’t really nervous or excited. I started my run at 7:33am, and it was a beautiful day as advertised. I had shorts on, a T-shirt and a light windbreaker that I could easily take off and tie around my waist. I had some fig bars in my pocket, and 20oz of Gatorade in a hand-held sports bottle, with two granola bars in the pouch attached to the hand-held bottle.
I have a loop around Byron I like to run that is 8.35 miles long starting and ending at my house. It is fairly flat, and I run it often. I planned to either run that 6 times to get my 50 miles in, or to run it a few times and then switch to a different loop if I wanted something different. My nutrition plan was to eat the fig bars and granola bars, and drink gatorade (sometimes mixed with water) for the entire 50 miles, trying to get 250–300 calories each hour, since that is the max your body can digest while running. Simple sugars like that are the easiest to digest and produce the quickest energy, so while they aren’t great for you in real life, they are perfect for running long distances.
If that stopped working or I wanted a change, I had a bunch of Keebler snack packs (cookies, animal crackers, cheez-its, etc) I found in the garage the night before that I could try. Kristelle had asked how she could help, and I told her later in the day I might want some real food like tortillas with refried beans, or potatoes, so she was ready to cook some of those up if I called her. She was also planning on running with me for a while to keep me company (I love running with her!). I wasn’t planning on going fast, and wanted to finish my 50 miles with energy to spare, so I would have confidence that 5 weeks from now I could make it 100 miles. So, with that as the goal, I was planning on the 50 miles taking between 12 and 13 hours, finishing up around 8pm.
Miles 1–25
The first 8 mile loop went great. The few miles of it that were out in the open against the wind wasn’t so much fun, but the rest was fine. I made sure to go slow, and walk up all the hills to conserve my energy and put less pressure on my feet. When I finished the first loop, I took a bathroom break, ditched my jacket, refilled my bottle with gatorade, grabbed some more fig bars, put sunscreen on, and headed out for another loop. That first break took about 9 minutes.
I ran the second loop the opposite direction to try to avoid the part out in the open that was against the wind. It helped a bit, but there was still a few miles that were against a pretty strong wind. I kept on schedule with my nutrition, eating two fig bars every 30 minutes and finishing my bottle filled with gatorade every 8 miles. At this point it was very routine, I’ve done many 16–26 miles runs during my training. I was listening to podcasts, and running easy. When I finished the second lap, I changed shirts, refilled my bottle, grabbed some cheez-its and a Keebler cookie pack, and headed out again. This stop was only about 5 minutes.
During the third loop everything was pretty much the same. I kept up my nutrition and a similar pace, slowing slightly which was expected. The first two loops I averaged around 11 min / mile, the third loop I averaged around 12 min / mile. It was during the third loop that I started to think seriously about just doing the 100 miles this weekend. I was feeling good so far, and I really wasn’t excited to train for another 5 weeks in order to try this again. Also, the weather was great. I still wasn’t sure it was a good idea, since I had already run 20 miles this week, and since I didn’t have any one scheduled to run with me overnight, when I might really need some support and someone to take my mind off of the pain that would be coming. But it was really tempting, and seemed like a real possibility.
Miles 26–50
When I got back after the third loop, I took a 7 minute break to grab some more snacks, refill my bottle with Gatorade, and reapplied sunscreen. I was looking forward to the next lap because Kristelle was going to run with me. It was around 12:45pm, so I had been running for a little over 5 hours, and was feeling pretty good. My feet were starting to hurt, but it wasn’t too bad yet. It was great to run and talk with Kristelle. I don’t remember exactly what we talked about, but I do remember I mentioned to her that I was thinking about running the whole 100 miles this weekend. She was supportive and said she would help me however I needed. She ran the full 8.35 mile loop with me, and the time flew by quickly. We ran this loop at around 12:45 min / mile, which was right where I wanted to be (or maybe even a bit fast).
At the end of the fourth loop, I took a quick 5 minute break to get more Gatorade and snacks, etc, and headed out again for loop five. At this point I was feeling good, other than my feet which were starting to hurt. It was during this 5th loop that I decided to try to run the full 100 miles this weekend. I really didn’t want to train for another 5 weeks just to do this all over again, especially when the weather was great this weekend and I was feeling pretty good.
When I got back to the house after loop 5 at around 4:30pm I took a longer break (17 minutes) so I could change my shirt, and also change my socks, and reapply body glide to my feet to try to prevent blisters. I also told Kristelle that I was planning on doing the full 100. She asked what I needed, and I asked if she could pick up some more cheez-its, and some Chex Mix and regular Coke, since I thought some of those might sound good tonight for a change, and to help me get through a long night of running.
I ran loop 6 at about 12:15 / mile. I must have been energized by the longer break, and by the thought of completing the 100 miles. I don’t remember much about this loop other than that I was starting to get concerned that I wasn’t drinking enough gatorade because I only needed to use the bathroom once early on during the run. I decided that for the next few loops I would run shorter 5 mile loops, and if needed refill my water bottle at one of the two Kwik Trips along my route. This also meant I could avoid the part of my longer loop that was most exposed to the wind. I continued eating fig bars and Keebler snack packs, and was hitting my goal of 250–300 calories per hour and my stomach was feeling fine. My legs were feeling good at this point too, it was just my feet that were really starting to hurt.
The end of loop 6 was exciting because it meant I was half way there! I finished the first 50 miles much faster than I thought I would, in 10 hours 45 minutes, at around 6:15pm. Last summer I had run a 50 mile trail race (actually 51ish miles) in Iowa in 11 hours 31 minutes, and had pushed hard during the last 10 miles of that race to get the best time I could. To be 30 to 40 minutes faster this year was surprising, but they were very different runs. The trail race last year was on more technical trails with a LOT more hills (5,000 feet of elevation gain in 50 miles vs. my Byron route which had ~1,500 feet in 50 miles). That really limited how fast I could go. Also, the last few hours of that race were also close to 80 degrees and humid. This run was relatively flat with perfect weather. So, although my feet hurt, the rest of me was feeling good, and with my fast start I could average slower miles the rest of the way and still meet my goal of 100 miles in 24 hours.
Miles 50–70
After 7 minutes refilling my bottle and getting more snacks, I headed back out to start the final 50 miles. It was around 6:20pm and I had been running for almost 11 hours so far. I decided to start doing 5 mile loops at this point, which kept me mostly on sidewalks or running paths and away from the parts of the 8.3 mile loops that involved running on the side of the rode. With it getting dark in a few hours I didn’t want to take a chance on an unfortunate encounter with a car (even though I would be wearing a reflective yellow vest and head lamp). I also thought it would make the second 50 miles more flat as well, but looking back at the stats it didn’t. It removed a few of the bigger hills but also some of the longer flat stretches so it evened out.
Kristelle had let the kids know that I was doing the full 100, so when I got back to the house after mile 55 Tyler was waiting to bike with me for a few miles. It was probably the slowest he’s ever biked, and it was fun to chat with him for a few miles. He’s not the most talkative guy, but I look for times where we can be together where there isn’t much to do but talk, and this was a perfect opportunity. We talked about his own workout routine, and how he has had to improvise due to the school and RAC closing and the stay at home order. He gets up at 6am many mornings to do a 3–4 mile run and some kind of workout. I knew he was doing some working out, but I hadn’t realized how serious he was about it. We also talked about what I had in front of me that night, but not in much detail. He’s a lot like me (probably too much like me) in that he doesn’t feel the need to talk a lot, but does put a lot of thought and planning into what he does. After about two miles he turned back and headed home.
I continued doing 5 mile loops for miles 50–70. I don’t remember a lot of details for those miles, other than my feet really hurt, and the progress seemed really slow, but there are a few things that stick out.
At some point maybe around 10pm Kristelle made some tortillas with refried beans, and they were delicious!!! I wasn’t sure how my body would react to something that wasn’t just easy to digest simple carbs, but they really hit the spot. She even put a bunch of them in small ziplock bags for me to eat throughout the night. Through all my running the last few years, and the inconveniences it has meant for her, Kristelle has never once questioned it or asked me to do anything differently. She has been so supportive of me, and this was another example of that. She offered again to help however I needed, including running with me overnight!
The smaller loops, and drinking much more (a full bottle of gatorade plus a refill of water at one of the Kwik Trips most loops) solved my problem of not drinking enough. I ended up stopping to use the bathroom once every 5 mile loop for a while there, which meant I was drinking plenty, probably even a bit too much. So I backed off the liquids and eventually found a happy medium around mile 80. At somewhere around mile 60, I spent 2 minutes in the house rummaging around my racing stuff to find the energy gels I had left (I found 4 of them). I was starting to feel a bit nauseous , so I figured I would start on energy gels since they are easier to digest (but worse tasting) than the other food I had. I also grabbed spare batteries for my headlamp since I knew the ones I had in were getting low.
The smaller loops also meant that I was running by the same houses every 75 minutes or so. A few families were out enjoying the nice night, sitting by a fire pit or on their front porch for the entire night, and saw me go by over and over again. I’m curious if they noticed, and what they thought I was doing. I’m also curious what the overnight Kwik Trip workers thought, who got to see me come in every hour or two throughout the night with a handheld water bottle, yellow reflective vest, and headlamp, and head back to the bathroom.
Miles 70–80
When I got back to the house at 11:30pm after mile 70, Claire was waiting for me with her roller blades on! I was looking forward to her joining me for a few miles, not only to take my mind off of how much my feet hurt, but because when she is in a good mood she is really fun to talk to. She was in a good mood, and really excited to rollerblade in the middle of the night with her crazy Dad. The plan was that she would go a few miles with me, and then call home so Kristelle could drive out to pick her up, but we were having fun so she ended up doing the full 5 mile loop with me! I left my own phone in the garage charging since I wouldn’t need my podcasts or music for at least some of this loop, and so it would have enough charge to make it the rest of the way.
The first few miles went well, she was asking me questions and telling me her thoughts about all sorts of things. After about 2 miles we decided to take a different route than I had been taking, to avoid going on the frontage road which had occasional vehicle traffic. I had just been running on the shoulder, but Claire would have had to rollerblade directly on the road, which seemed like a bad idea at midnight. The route we took was through a residential neighborhood, which was fine for a while, until the sidewalks disappeared and we found ourselves on a street that was basically sand (it must have been in the middle of being repaved). So for a few blocks Claire tried to walk through the sand in her rollerblades, holding on to my arm for support. We must have looked pretty funny out there in the dark with just my headlamp, stumbling around trying not to fall. After a few blocks the road was normal again, and soon after that we found our way back to the main path.
All was good for the next mile or two, and then we hit a slow and steady downhill section for about a half mile. I didn’t think this would be a problem, but it was steep enough that Claire couldn’t do it herself, so I ended up walking the whole downhill with Claire holding my arm to keep herself from going too fast. Through the entire 5 mile adventure she more than kept up her end of the conversation, giving me her thoughts on all sorts of things, and occasionally asking me a question about my run. I was really glad that I was able to share this experience with Kristelle, Tyler, and Claire. My only regret is that by deciding to do this at the last minute, I wasn’t able to share it with Whitney as well.
When we got back and Claire went inside, Kristelle checked in to see how I was doing. At the time I was doing okay, and told her I thought I could make it through the night without needing anyone to run with me. I asked her to keep her phone nearby in case I needed to call and wake her up to ask her to join me for some of the night running. It was around 1am, I was 75 miles in, and I had been running for 17.5 hours. I felt like I was thinking clearly, but looking back I realize I was not completely with it. My focus was on continuing to move forward progress, and anything not directly related to that was not getting any mental attention from me. It didn’t occur to me at all that Kristelle was probably wondering what in the heck Claire was doing when she didn’t call to be picked up after a half hour or so of being out with me. And of course Kristelle didn’t say anything about it either, she just asked how I was doing and what I needed.
As I headed out for mile 76 my attention turned to math. What pace did I have to keep per mile in order to get 101 miles completed in 24 hours? Why 101 miles? Well, GPS watches aren’t perfect (although my Garmin Forerunner 245 is really good), and two watches will give you slightly different distances for the same run. Also since I didn’t have a set race course I was measuring distance entirely by my watch. So my watch was including things like my walk from my garage “aid station” to my bathroom inside, my rummaging around my house looking for my gels, and even my trips to the Kwik Trip bathroom. In a “real race”, those short detours wouldn’t be counted, and I wanted to leave no question in my mind that I had completed the equivalent of a 100 mile race.
In case you’re wondering, after 75 miles and 17.5 hours of running, and at 1am, math is hard. I eventually came to the conclusion that I would need to keep a roughly 15 min / mile pace to get 101 miles in 24 hours. At the time that seemed doable, but tough, since I would have to go slightly faster than that to make up for any time I spend at home refilling my bottle, changing socks, etc. I was also trying to calculate exactly what a 14 to 15 min / mile pace meant for me. I was walking up all the hills, and on the flat sections I was trying to run for 0.2 of a mile, then walk for 0.1. Doing that I could average 12 to 13 minute miles, so if I could keep that up and keep my breaks short, I could make it.
For miles 75–80 I averaged 12:30 / mile, and at mile 80 I took a longer break (12 minutes) so I could change my socks and reapply body glide to my feet to try to prevent blisters. I was really happy I had remained blister free so far, and it was worth the longer break to try to continue that. At the same time I tried to do it quickly, because the longer I was off my feet the more my plantar fasciitis tightened up and the more it hurt in my heel when I started running again. As I headed back out, my heel pain was much worse due to the time off of it, and I started to wonder if I could keep going for another 21+ miles like this. Luckily after a few miles it loosened up a bit and the pain was more bearable.
Miles 80–90
My feet were really hurting now, especially when I would transition from walking back to running. Even walking was hard on my feet. When you’ve already run 80 miles, and have “only” 21 left, it’s hard to decide how to feel about that. On one hand, you’re 80% done. And on the other hand, you’re tired, in a lot of pain, and still have 20 miles to go, which at this point for me was going to be around 5 more hours of running. I don’t remember much about miles 81–90 or how I got through it. I do remember as I went out for mile 81 I decided that I would do the next 10 miles without coming back to the house. This would eliminate a few small hills (the section near my house is the most hilly), and would also eliminate the 5–10 minute break that I had been taking every 5 miles, giving me a better chance of hitting my goal. Other than that, I just shut off my brain and focused on running for 0.2 of a mile, walking for 0.1, then doing it again. I completed miles 81–90 averaging 12:45 / mile, and only took a 5 minute break at my house at mile 90, which put me in good shape time-wise.
Miles 90–102
It was now around 4:15am and I had a little over 3.25 hours left to complete the final 11 miles (so I could average ~18 minute miles, a reasonable walking pace). That was the good news. The bad news was that my feet were really hurting, and I had 3 hours left to go. Overall though I was feeling really positive. I’ve been on a ton of 10+ mile runs, and I could walk most of this and make it in time. I remember thinking that if I could just make it another 90 minutes to 6am the sun would be out, which should give me a mental boost after running through the night. I planned to run another 10 miles before coming back to the house, and I think at this point I also switched from listening to music back to podcasts, to try to give my mind something else to focus on besides the pain. As I got to 95 or so miles and was confident I could hit my time goal, I started thinking how terrible it would be if I got this close to 100 miles and then twisted my ankle, or got leg cramps so bad that I couldn’t get to 100 miles. I quickly pushed those thoughts out of my mind.
Other than those few thoughts, miles 91–100 are a blur. I average 14:45 / mile for these miles, doing more walking than I had in the previous 10, but still keeping a pretty steady pace. I hit just over 100 miles at about 6:45am as I arrived back home. I refilled my bottle, and headed back out to get a few more miles in just around our neighborhood. At around 7am I got a text from Kristelle asking where I was. I told her and she soon met me to run/walk the last 20 minutes. It was great to see her face and to get to finish the run with her. I so appreciate her being there for me, even though I sprung this plan on her at the last minute. I enjoyed my time running with her, as well as with Tyler and Claire during parts of the run. She is the foundation that holds our family together, always seeming to know intuitively what each of us need, and finding creative ways to bring us closer together. It didn’t surprise me at all that she got up early and came to find me and see how I was doing. I don’t remember what we talked about, and I probably wasn’t entirely with it, having been up all night running. I didn’t feel sleepy, but definitely fatigued, both physically and mentally. Many ultra runners will tell you that ultra running is 90% mental, and that the other 10% is mental as well :-) I tend to agree. You need to be in good running shape of course, but most of the training you do to get ready for a big race is meant to practice being tired, and to practice how you handle it, and to give you confidence that when you get tired during your race, you can continue on.
When my watch hit the 24 hour mark (at 102.85 miles), I hit stop, and Kristelle took a picture of me “finishing” my race. I felt very grateful for Kristelle and all her love and support. I also felt a deep satisfaction in completing my run and meeting my goals. And I was really looking forward to getting off of my feet. I took my shoes off, and found my toes a bit swollen and red, but still attached. I did notice numbness in the inside part of both of my big toes that I hadn’t noticed during the run, and they stayed partially numb for most of the next week. I took a while to just sit there and enjoy the moment, and then hobbled to a much needed shower. After that I got something more to eat, and then went to sleep for a few hours. I set my alarm for around noon, and got up then without too much trouble. I wasn’t very tired, and also didn’t want to sleep all day and then be up all night.
As expected I was sore for a few days. A few times a night I woke up to leg cramps or extreme leg stiffness/soreness, but was able to stretch out and get back to sleep quickly. I hobbled around during the day, as my legs would tighten up after sitting for a while, and it was pretty funny watching me try to go down stairs. As I sit here a week later I feel fine, the numbness in my toes is almost gone, and I’ve enjoyed my week away from running. After some tough training weeks and a really long and tough 100 miles, it has been great to relax and enjoy the accomplishment.
Here is a link to my Strava data for anyone that wants even more details and a few pictures: https://www.strava.com/activities/3390753182