Another 50 miler come and gone. Grand Teton Races 2008

I did Grand Teton Races 50 again. I did the first 20 miles with my friend Lora from Chicago. We had a great time! The next 15 I leapfrogged with a local guy named Trevor and the last 15 I did on my own with my iPod. The weather was beautiful! I've done the GTR 3 of the last 4 years and it's a great race, well marked, well supported, fantastic aid stations, great raffle prizes and lots of enthusiasm. I would encourage anyone and everyone who likes a challenge to do this race.

Here was my med/salt plan and it worked great for me, better than ever before:
Hydrocortisone: 5 am 10 mg HC & 5 mg HC every hour from 7 am - 8pm
Florinef: .1 at 5 am, .1 at 2 pm and .05 at 4 pm
Salt: about 400 - 1,000 mg/hour through supplements or food (I felt better at the higher amounts of salt)

I ate about 200 calories/hour and that worked for me until the last hour, my stomach shut down during the last hour. I'm thinking it might have shut down because I stopped taking the HC too soon. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep - Duhhh. Next time I won't stop taking the hydrocortisone so early.

The race in pictures

Signs at the main aid station

Allison attends the pre-race party

Bob at the 100 mile check in. Bob's got a great blog if you want to check it out.

Here's my Teletubbie bag. During a 50 mile race, there is sometimes a place to put a "drop bag" with fresh sneekers, socks, food, etc. The easier it is to find your bag, the quicker you can get out of there. My bag was easy to point out!!

Sister Mary Beth Lloyd. An amazing woman! She ran 50 miles wearing her habit. She helps feed children all over the world. She gave a slide show that really moved me about child headed families of AIDS orphans. As I was running, I thought about the children and how it must be to be orphaned and in charge of holding a family together in poverty. I donated a dollar per mile to the Religious Sisters of Philipini. Sister Mary Beth told me that I purchased 2,000 rolls for the kids. Sister Mary Beth also crewed and paced for Lisa Smith-Batchen's 810 mile challenge.



Lora and I at 2.7 miles on top of Fred's mountain. 9,800 feet high.

The spectacular view of the Grand Tetons off the back of Fred's mountain. I'm fortunate to see this.

Mile 3.5 Lora running down Fred's Mountain.

Mile 13 Lora coming up Ski Hill Road. This is the view I have in my blog all the time but this time I've got Lora in the picture! Lora made it to 27 miles and loved it!

Mile 28 me later in the day. I loved the day and I felt good.

Mile 40 This is what an aid station (right) and timing booth (left) looks like at night, it's a bee hive of activity and there's lots of food and many helpful people.

Mile 50 Me finishing. I was glad to be done with the night running. I've never done it before. I stayed upright the whole time but there was a lot of potential for disaster and animal encounters. The poor people in Rick's Basin had to hear me sing to keep the animals away. I was listening to Queen and singing for an hour and 20 minutes!

A cartwheel to celebrate 50 miles!

Lisa "encourages" George to quit at 50 miles. Actually, she's massaging his hamstrings and back.

This is what your feet and socks look like after 50 miles of trail running, ick.

I need shoes that don't blister me like this.

Sunday Paul ran his first marathon. Allison, Dave and I spectated and cheered for everyone. We chalked up the road too. Allison practiced her rhythmic gymnastics for the 2012 Olympics.

Paul at 26.2. Way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mile 20 Steve, 73, and his daughter. A look of ecstacy! See the video of Stevie finishing below.

Recovery has been goodish. I was expectedly sore with bad blisters and a pulled calf muscle. I got a stupid migraine in the middle of the night last night. I hit it differently than I usually do and I hope that keeps me out of the hospital. Overall, I feel tired and have upped my HC from 25 mg/day to 30 - 35/day. I don't feel as sore as I had expected considering I didn't train specifically for this.