Was hoping to finish strong at Mohican 100 this year for my #23 buckle. Sadly with the heat and humid conditions I dropped with symptoms of heat exhaustion at mile 70. Being Fathers Day weekend, I decided once I hydrated and recovered that I needed to finish the additional 30 miles in honor of my son Pvt James Dexter Morris, SSgt Tayor L Wilson and Sgt Jacob Mally Gray, who all left behind children when they died by suicide. Also was carrying a picture of my friend Nate, who died from similar challenges that Dexter faced. When I set out to run 100 100 milers for Dexter I knew sometimes it would suck, and be disappointing. I didn't finish this race but I finished the miles. I'll try and salvage every effort into something Dexter can be proud of.
Jason and I drove to Ohio on Friday. We met an old FB friend from way back in my tea party days in Oregon. I've only met James in person once but stayed friends through the years and he had volunteered to come out and help crew. I was a bit worried knowing its a time consuming thankless job, he came more than fully prepared for anything I might need!. We met up for dinner and had a chance to sit around with Carol, Susan and Rachel, some girls from Tuscazoar. Rachel and Susan run the wedding aid station at TZ and we've developed a great friendship! We sat for a bit in their cabin and had a great time while they answered our questions about the race.
Had a hard time falling asleep and had to be up at 3am for a 5 am start. At the bathroom before the race I saw all these extremely lean, fit, young athletic women and felt really outclassed, haha, so I stuck to the back of the crowd for the race start. I had a couple people ask me about the Marines on my back before the race start and they seemed genuinely touched. Its always a good race when I get to talk about the boys!
The first few miles in the dark had some steep climbs and I got stuck with a talkative foodie runner. He runs an aid station at another race and he spent 40 minutes telling me about all the gourmet food he cooks. The air was thick and humid and I was trying to breath and really wanted some tunes to help push up the hill. I finally excused myself to make a pit stop and let him pass me. A group of about 10 runners came up behind him and passed as well. Then I sighed in relief, I had the forest to myself. As the sun came up was greeted by a lush dark green forest & I spotted a black squirrel. I've never seen one before and it felt like a little sign from SSgt Taylor. The course was absolutely stunning. I didn't get many pics because I knew 'Id be pushing cutoffs in the heat.
My watch dropped about 1 1/3 mile distance every loop so the first 2 aid stations I was way ahead of schedule and feeling really good. The trail wasn't overly technical so I was running most everything but before the sun was up I was already sweating pretty heavily. I don't think I started off drinking quite enough but tried to pick up my fluid intake as the day got warmer. I lost quite a bit of time on a really technical section of the trail where we had to hike up a creek bed, climbing over rocks and a a bunch of large fallen trees. Had a climb up the steep side of a ravine hand over hand climbing up roots. Got through that and came out of the forest and met James at the top of a dam. He had a giant breakfast sausage for me and a big peanut butter & jelly sandwich on thick white bread. It was glorious PB&J and was able to get the whole thing down. Because of the warm temps even though I was only maybe halfway through the first loop food was already looking unappealing. Also ate a donut and drank down some Nesquick. I was regularly drinking electrolyte through the day along with water and taking a salt cap every few hrs. I got stuck going the same pace as a guy who talked for 45 minutes about what a great runner he was and all the races he'd won but because he was having a bad day and couldn't breath well, that he was quitting at mile 27 and it wasn't a big deal to quit and that he'd rather quit than go slow. It was like, bad Juju!! I finally ditched him feigning a bathroom break. I stayed put for about 10 minutes to make sure he was far ahead up the trail before I started up again. I was slow. I didn't need to be hearing it wasn't worth finishing a race if you are slow.:-P I missed Jason by a few minutes at the end of the first loop. Got in and out of the start/finish AS with delicious oranges and watermelon. The runners on the course were really friendly and the Aid Station workers were really awesome. Every Aid station was a party and everyone was so helpful, I was really impressed by the volunteers. Met a really great AS worker named Dan, a US Marine wearing an awesome kilt. Ha! He said he runs for one of his buddies who was KIA.It was a special little exchange. <3 I had quite a few on the daylight loop ask about who I was running for, so that was really great. At the aid stations I was mostly picking up water, watermelon and oranges. Already craving fluid. The weather cooled off briefly and I thought we were saved when we got a little bit of a sprinkle, but it cleared out and got even warmer. The second loop in the heat of the day went much slower. I met Jason at about the 50k mark and tried to reset. I drank a ton of water & electrolyte and juice, put on sunscreen, a hat with ice and had him fill my buff with ice. He'd made a run to the store and had more than enough of everything I might need! It was so great to see him! Here it was, Fathers Day weekend and instead of breakfast in bed, he's out serving me. He's the best.
James was waiting about 10 miles later with grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. I really appreciated the clean wet towels so that I could wipe off my face, arms & legs. I'd had enough to drink & I was actually hungry so I thought I'd better fill up on food before I couldn't eat anymore so I ate two hot dogs and a burger, which was cooked perfectly, medium rare. As I was running down the trail a hiker asked about where I got my burger because it looked really good haha. I tried to get in and out with James quickly... I debated on if I should get a refill on ice. I was literally drenched in sweat from the humidity. I had drops of sweat pouring off my hat and down my legs from my wet shirt and shorts. Stomach bloating from wierd hydration issues. My feet were sloshing a bit in my shoes also from sweat. Because I was so wet and it was just a few hrs till sunset I declined the ice, thinking if I was wet and the sun went down I would quickly get chilled. Finished the second half of the second loop in good time. There were some really steep hills in that section but also a lot of fun runable hills and as I finished the second loop before sunset I was still feeling pretty good. Made a stop in a campground bathroom for a flushing toilet and a chance to wash my face again. Met a hundred miler guy who got stung by a bee and had walked 7 miles, was backtracking for his epipen. I heard he went into anaphylactic shock. :-O
James met me at the S/F with my box of supplies, electrolytes, & bottle refill. Could only manage eating one hot dog at that point. Walking out of the AS I had a text message from Taylors' wife which was so special she told me about an experience and a little tender mercy from God from my last race and Taylor's angel-versary...just letting me know how much God is aware of us and it made me so very grateful to run for these heroes and know that if we listen to little ideas and promptings, God will use us to minister to others. I had a similar experience with Nates sister Sally just before my race and it meant so much to me, knowing what tiny little service I can offer isn't going unnoticed by the Lord, and He will use what he can of it to help others feel His great love. Its quite overwhelming and I had tears rolling down my cheeks thinking of it.
Jason met me at 58 mi I was still feeling pretty strong, though exhausted. I changed out my shoes, I had forgotten my shoe inserts at home so Jason loaned me his. They were a bit bigger than mine so I had blisters from my shoes fitting differently and I could feel toenails getting destroyed. At least painful toenails I knew were going to fall off. I told Jason right after this race on Thursday will be the perfect time to see the podiatrist about surgically removing these stupid toenails, they only cause misery!! I had to switch to mostly liquid calories, orange juice by this point. I cant remember if I ate anything else. I was peeing only about once an hour so I felt like my hydration was still pretty on track. I was hoping once the approaching storm rolled in, which was expected around 11, that it would cool off and Id be able to make up some time. I was running an hour ahead of the cutoff and was starting the shorter loops of the Mohican course. I was able to run to meet Jason at the next AS, about 62 miles in, covered the ground pretty quickly. Saw someone I'd briefly met at Daytona 100. I could tell he/she was really struggling and they were planning on dropping at the next aid station.
When I saw Jason at mile 62/100k I pulled the sleeping bag out of the car and threw it on the ground, layed down for a few minutes, then started vomiting up everything I had eaten since 5:00. It was now midnight. Hamburgers, hot dogs and the like...blegh. It was not good news, apparently because of the heat my stomach was not digesting food, so I was running low on calories. I was also burning up and complaining how hot it was. The moon was out and it was a gorgeous night but there was hardly any air movement in the trees. I was still sweating and my head was on fire. I got hydrated and started towards the next AS around 64 mi. It took me forever to reach it. I'd grabbed some ice but I couldn't cool down at all. Staggered into the Covered Bridge AS about mile 64 (?) and collapsed into a chair. I asked the guy there if he thought it was really hot. He didnt think so, but he got me a couple popsicles. I told him I thought I was running a fever. He filled a couple bags of ice for me. I balanced one on my head and stuck the other down the back of my shirt, an extra popsicle in my pocket and headed back out trying to get to the end of the 3rd loop by 5:30 am.
I was still on track but as soon as the ice melted I vomited up all the popsicle. I wanted to lay down but there were ants everywhere so I kept staggering down the trail. There was probably 9 of us out on that stretch. We were all struggling and sorta passing each other as we'd stop to recover, then continue. Everyone was feeling like garbage. After all my ice was gone I was sweating again like crazy and my head was on fire and felt a low grade fever again. I finally stopped at a bridge where I thought there wouldn't be any ants and laid down for 10 min hoping to recover. I was hoping to get that drive that I get from my angels to not quit, to keep moving forward, that I could do it. Instead all was quiet in my head, then a clear prompting that if I didn't stop at the next aid station I was going to end up in the hospital. I still had 2 mi to go so I just walked along at a very slow pace. It took me 4 hours to go 8 miles. :( I met another girl who was also wasted and we walked together into the 70 mile AS.
The entire group of people who had all been out on the trail with me all dropped out at the same time with us. By this time we had 1.5 hrs to go 7 miles to make the cutoff. It just wasn't safe to continue or I would have at least walked it in and finished up the third loop. Was so depressed. After sitting for 30 min waiting for Jason to pick me up, finally a storm rolled in and cooled off the air. 6 hours too late for me! It was cool enough and I was sipping ice water and took some tylenol that my fever went down though I could barely crawl into my sleeping bag in the backseat of the car while Jason drove us 30 min to the hotel.
Showered and crawled into bed. When I woke up a few hrs later I rinsed the sweat out of my clothes in the sink and told Jason I was going to go back when the weather cooled off and finish the last 30 minutes on a trail overnight. He wasn't too sure about that.
We had planned to meet Sgt Grays mother, Brenda, for lunch after my race. She only lived like an hour away! We sat down and had a steak and it was just such a wonderful few hours. She told us lots of fun and heroic stories about her son. I loved that he'd always been passionate about military history and so I told her about how it was probably him that helped get me listening to history metal while I run, haha. She also told an incredible story of when Jacob stepped on an IED leading his men while clearing a building. Jacob refused treatment until all of his men were out of the building safely (theyd found 4 other IEDs!) and he would only stay off duty for about a day before he went back to work. Despite needing huge amount of surgery and physical therapy to fully recover, he stayed on active duty. That went STRAIGHT to my heart. It made me feel like I couldn't give up on my men and that I needed to go back to work after my quick recuperation. Brenda is the first Marine angel mom that I have met in person and it meant so much to me. Just to look in each others eyes and know, that she knew the unspeakable pain and understood. We didn't really need to speak of it because we just knew. It felt like an eternal bond of connection between two warrior moms who would fight for their sons till their dying day. She was so spunky and fiesty I could just imagine Jacobs smile and 'take no crap' spirit in her.
I was pretty sure after reading up on it that Id been suffering from heat exhaustion which can cause a fever. When we got the the car we realize the Air Conditioning was broken. It was going to be in the 90s the next day when we were driving home! So we decided to take a nap for a few hours and drive during the night. I knew I was at the point where I should probably just call it....but I kept thinking of the children of these men I was running for, that it was Fathers Day, and that I had started this 100 and had unfinished business to take care of, to give them the remembrance they deserved. So very reluctantly dreading the hot day approaching I had Jason stop at a gas station for ice, and then I dropped him off at home and drove to the Cool Springs battlefield. Put my wet clothes back on. I could barely fit my shoes on because my feet had started to swell and my legs had stiffened up. It was already 72 and humid when I started....30 miles to go. I hoped best case in the heat I could be finished in 8 hrs, I hoped that it wouldn't take me 12! I managed about 9 hrs 45 min to complete the last 30 miles.
In the first 2 miles I was already feeling nauseous and realized I probably hadn't had enough time to sufficiently rehydrate. My plan was to drink 3x as much, 3x as much salt/electrolytes and to drink most of my calories. Cool Springs has a nice rolling hill paved trail, with one very steep climb that goes up the side of the Blue Ridge to the Confederate position where they fired down on Union troops. Appropriately, a weeping willow growing on the battlefield.
I decided to hit that climb every loop because I wanted to get in as much elevation as I would have finishing out Mohican. Ended up with probably an extra 1000 feet. I was happy to find the battlefield leads to the River to Ridge trail up to the AT. That was a relief, that stretch into the woods, though more technical, was cooler and shaded so I planned to do more of that in the afternoon. Early on within no kidding, 10 minutes, I saw a baby blue jay, a baby rabbit, a baby turtle and a tiny little fawn. It was like a sign from heaven of each of the children of Dexter Taylor and Jacob. I just put my whole heart into those miles and thought continually of their families. Also about the men who fought on that battlefield and lost their lives there. At one point on a loop I didn't carry enough calories or water so I ended up drinking from a creek and scrounging up some mulberries off the ground lol.
Jason came out to see me around 20 miles and helped me refill ice. I was carrying ice in a baggie in my sun hat and in a baggie stuffed down the back of my shirt. It really helped moderate my body temperature. The last 11 miles the temperature had risen above 90 degrees and the sun was blazing hot. I tried to pass some time on the blacktop portion of the trail talking to my daughter and little grandbaby Ellie on video chat. Made me so happy!
I planned 2 -5 mile out and back loops up the river to ridge trail. Felt pretty good going up but started to overheat on my way back and all the ice had melted. I stopped and dunked my head in a creek and refilled my bottle. Was texting a running friend who told me his next hot race he was planning to bring a kiddie pool of ice to jump into to help bring his core temperature back down. That was just inspiration! As I passed the little waterfall that I'm assuming is cold spring (??) I took off my pack and climbed a boulder down into the creek and sat down under the little waterfall , put my head back in the water and let it wash all the sweat away. It was so cold and refreshing! I sat there for a few minutes until I felt my body had cooled down. Saw a heart rock sitting right there by the waterfall to paint. <3
Jason said the temp in his car was reading 96 degrees. I had 4 miles left. Scraped what little ice I had left in the cooler into my hat and ran out 2 miles to out and back. Only 4 miles but still, an hour and a half moving in the hot temp. I had both a green and gold dragonfly flying along with me for about a mile. As I was climbing the last big climb to the Confederate position, 3 miles to go, I just thought...I cant take another step in this heat. After a solid 9 hrs of blue skies, a big gust of wind came through the trees from the west and I looked out over the valley and there was a huge thunderhead off in the distance, directly west of me.
I prayed hard like...God I'm probably the only person in Clarke County right now asking you for rain, please let that storm roll in so that I can finish for these boys! Literally 10 min later the temp had dropped at least 5 degrees but more importantly the sky clouded over and blocked the sun, and a stiff breeze started blowing. I felt like I could breath and run so I “quickly” covered the last 3 miles.
The last mile 2 songs came onto my playlist that were just perfect and I just felt the lyrics with all my heart! “We remember, no surrender Heroes of our century
Three men stood strong, and they held out for long Going into the fight, to their death that awaits Crazy or brave, will it end in the grave? As they're giving their lives as their honor dictates” “Sometimes war is saving Sometimes it's taking lives Thanks to one single man,
A dozen more survives”
That second song I had tears running down my face thinking of Sgt Gray going head to head with a Lieutenant by refusing orders to take an action that he knew would get his men killed. I just felt so grateful to be able to honor him.
The parking lot was mostly empty when I rounded the corner and finished off the 100. I took off my vest and laid on a picnic table. A few seconds after, Jason and Peter pulled up and then the skies opened up and rain came pouring. It felt like a victory celebration! Peter dumped all the cold water in the cooler over my face, down my throat :P and over my head. Cooled me off and I was just grateful to have finished the miles.
We drove home and less than 5 min later we were practically caught in a tornado-like rainstorm. Had to pull over to the side of the road because we couldn't see a thing!. Caused power outages and trees were down, and I was feeling very thankful that I finished with the breeze and clouds but wasn't caught out in the crazy storm!! Peter and I grabbed a slurpee and pizza after it blew over and I finally went home.
I found out after the fact that my friend Susan in the 50 miler at Mohican ended up having to get an IV, and her friend spent 2 days in the hospital because of dehydration and low salt. Though I was wishing for the drive to finish I'm grateful for the clear message that I needed to stop. I'm also so so so grateful I got to spend time with my sweet angel mom friend Brenda ,who now feels like my sister and I have a whole new love and appreciation for her son. I'm grateful that I can remember Sgt Wilson, and Nate, too. Throughout the miles I get little signs and moments of beauty where I feel their love for their families and know that somehow we are all connected.
Happy Fathers Day in heaven Dexter. I know you watch over Aurora every day. One day I will give her all of the buckles from 100 miles finished for you and I hope she will know how deeply her father was loved.
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