VT100 - Part Two

So, we were at Ten Bear.  It was a bustling place.  Not only was it an aid station, it was one with a medical check and, now, where runners could pick up their pacers.  It was light when we got there, but not for long.  Standing got old.  I had one chair in the car, but we worried that our runners would come and we wouldn't be ready.  Nope, we needed to sit.  I fetched the chair (yeah, the car wasn't right handy, part of our concern).  We took turns sitting in it for a short time, but we both were too worried about timing.  So put it back in the trunk.  Then I got chilly.  Hmmmm....go back for a sweatshirt?  But what about when the runners come through?  OK, too cold, plus the sleeves would help ward off bugs.  As the night wore on, I began to think my shorts, short sleeves, and compression sleeves might not be enough.  I knew there was likely to be good stretches of walking.  My dress was based on running.  OK, I'd keep the hoodie (It was Badass!).  I had to pee a couple of times, but ducked into the bushes to avoid the well-used port-a-potties.

We saw 9pm come and go.  Hmmmm.  We saw 9:30 come and go.  Now both our runners were past their estimates.  We worried a bit, but we also hoped that we'd see them come in together and could go off as a group.  Every headlamp heading at us, might be them.  10pm.  Next thing I knew, Xar recognized her runner and was off to tend to her.  I thought they were long gone, when I saw them at the food table.  I went to give a few words of encouragement.  They already seemed to be working together.  I remembered that Ann had commented that M looked like she had a weird bend that Ann had seen when someone was really dehydrated.  Looking at M, I believed she must have some structural deformity.  I couldn't imagine that a sideways bend like that could be explained otherwise.  I also noted how fit M looked otherwise.  I would never have guess her age as late 50s.  I cheered as they headed out and turned back to watch for George.  With every headlamp that came and wasn't him, my heart sank a bit.  What if something had happened?  I wandered over to the food table to grab some M&Ms.  The pacer coordinator had made it clear that we were to eat and drink.  The aid stations would tend to us, too, since we were to be concentrating on our runners.

Back to stare at the blackness.  Then!  I saw George.  I yelled.  I went to greet him.  "Val, were dealing with some issues.  Can you fill this (his water bottle)?  I'll get weighed, then I'll fill you in."  Fill his water bottle.  Done.  He was ready almost as fast.  We started off at a walk as he filled me in on the "issues".  He'd hurt his neck at work a couple of weeks ago at work, then re-tweaked it after the Scuffle.  Unfortunately, just after 50-someodd miles his neck chose to spasm.  Judging from what I saw, that seems like such an understatement.  He told me how he stood in the middle of the road unable to move.  I think he feared he was stuck there.  He  told me he'd taken like 5 advils.  His stomach was shot because of that.  He was choking down caffeinated GUs to keep him going, but they weren't helping the stomach. 

Then I saw a spasm.  He stopped dead.  I could tell from his face that he was in extreme pain.  I just waited it out with him.  It seemed forever.  His face relaxed a bit and he started walking again.  He put his straight, left arm slightly behind his back so he could put down on it with his right.  The tension helped relieve his neck a bit.  That was to happen pretty frequently in our first miles.  Then it seemed George had more time between spasms.  He even offered hope that maybe, maybe it would subside.
Shit.  I think he felt like he'd jinxed himself just voicing hope.  A couple of times, we'd both have hope that he'd turned a corner, but, I we knew he was probably dealing with it for the rest of the miles.

I didn't start my Garmin right when we headed out.  It's not like anyone says go.  It's not like I really knew we were starting when we started.  I know I'm making excuses.  I started it when I realized.  I had to check my distance versus where an aid station said we were to figure that I was about 1.5 miles off.  It gave me one more thing to add in with all the calculations George and I would be doing.  And we did some calculating!  How much time was left?  How many miles?  If we continued at this pace could he make the cut off? 

When he felt good, he would overtake people on the hills.  His power walk is fast.  I had to work to keep up with him.  But, when he wanted to run, when he should be rewarded by gravity, he could not. The downs, even nice gentle ones caused to much jostling.  It would cause my chatty champion to go silent.  More spasms.  Ugh!

When he wasn't seized, George was pretty talkative.  I learned a lot about his love of running, rekindled by the joy his puppies had running.  I learned about his interesting approach to 100s training. I loved it when he'd tell me some plan he had to do something for "my Annie". 

I told him what we knew about the other TMs.  Mostly it was good, but we were a little worried that Ann hadn't seen Zac at all.  That worried George more than a little.  We'd bring him up every now and again.

OK, some details.  It amazed me how much George gained by not stopping at aid stations.  He'd tell me what he needed - mostly nothing, maybe a water refill.  Then I noticed the bottle didn't need refilling.  George, are you drinking enough?    He had grabbed a Mountain Dew.  When we came up to an aid station that had drop bags.  He prepped me for my duties.  He described his bag, that he had another Nathan vest just like the one he was wearing.  I'd get that and help him change it out.  Everything worked like clockwork at aid stations.  He might not be running, but he was not wasting any time. 

Calculations, always calculations. 

When George was asked how he was doing (other runners, pacers, volunteers), he always say something like, "Gettin' it done".  He never complained.  I think the closest he ever came was when he said to me, "I knew I was going to war, but I never expected this."

I think I set a record for the number of times peeing over a 30 mile run.  I'm not sure if it's cause I had the time to drink or what, but I really needed to pee.  When I discovered how good it felt to squat (my legs/body is not conditioned for power walking), I decided there was no reason to try to stretch out the time between.  It was pitch black, so, turn off your headlamp and you pretty much could pee wherever.  I also loved that I could then run to catch up with George.  Ah, running felt very, very good.

We wondered about Xar and M.  We started having runners that we'd leap frog with.  Not like leap-frogging in a short race.  We'd pass them, they might pass us an hour later and so on.  Scott, who had DNF last year (not really, he DNFIT - did not finish in time.  he'd done it in 30:15:XX) and who had an, hmmm, energetic(?) pacer.  Mary Lou and her pacer (at first I couldn't tell who was the runner and who was the pacer; coming up behind them, both looked equally gimpy) who I knew I'd be friends with was the ones we talked with the most.

I'm not sure if it was at Cow Shed or Bill's (aid stations) that we heard that someone had been asking if George had been through and that they had just headed out.  Xar???  It's amazing how something can lift someone's spirit.  The thought of catching up with Xar certainly gave George new zip.  Man, that guy is strong! 

We were talking up a storm.  Did Xar recognize our voices and yell back to us?  Did we see two people that we thought might be them and yell ahead?  I have no idea.  It's amazing to me how much it all runs together.  Is it caring for someone else?  I have lots and lots of memories (obviously) of it all, but not with the usual detail.  At any rate, we came upon Xar and M.  M was having a lot of back pain.  Evidently, she does not have any deformity.  The run was somehow distorting her, which was aggravating her back.  George whipped out his bottle of Biofreeze (his own packaging) and offered it to M.  He'd been applying it periodically.  He told her it doesn't last long, but gives some relief.  Xar was left to the application (teehee!). 

We kept moving.  Again, I learned a lot from this experience.  Next ultra, I'm not taking my usual time at the aid stations.  Keep. moving.

Calculations.  Calculations.  We were OK.  You've got this George.  Yup.

Somewhere in there, I asked George about peeing.  I knew I was doing my part.  I wanted to make sure he really was getting enough fluids.  I worried about his kidneys with the ibuprofen.  Well, on my watch (no, not literally), he peed twice.  I figured that was enough?

OK.  I have confessions.  As beautiful as this course is, I hate it.  I would never have told George, but my feet hurt worse than they had in any of my own events.  My big toe joints were on fire.  My hip flexors were pretty sure they hated me.  I had to remind myself not to comment on the state of me.  I had enough inspiration to know that the pain was irrelevant.  Have I mentioned that George was inspirational? 

Oh, Xar made mention of telling her runner to look up to see how beautiful the stars were.  M said something to the effect that she didn't need to look up, she was seeing plenty of stars looking down.  George asked me if the stars were out.  He couldn't look up.  He couldn't straighten up.  Yes, there were still stars; it hadn't clouded up.

Pretty soon, though the sky showed signs of dawn.  We had heard roosters earlier.  Dawn.  George felt that he'd get the boost that dawn brings.  Unfortunately, I think there were more spasms around dawn, but our calculations gave us hope.

Then there was someone coming from behind. I could tell female voices.  Xar?  George and I hoped.  Then, I wondered if I was hearing someone counting.  It was very rhythmic.  As it got louder, I looked back.  Here came a young (30ish) runner and her pacer.  The runner looked great in a pretty pink running skort.  She wasn't counting, but chanting a mantra, "Time to shine, time to shine, time to shine..."  And she was!

I'll try to finish in the next installment.