Peak training weekend - Mohican 100 primer - What the heck was I thinking?!??!!?

There have been many times I've asked myself, "what the hell were you thinking!?!" as I'm out on a long run.  This past weekend was no exception, but I must say the overwhelming feeling of doom is fading fast as I've discovered new and surprising capacity for endurance.  By no means am I an elite athlete or anywhere near exceptional, but for me, this journey has been amazing and elightening.

Saturday May 17 - 50 mile training run
Biggest run in the plan and biggest run EVER for me.  Farthest distance I've covered to date is Indian Run 60k (37 miles) at Hocking Hills.  I'm a "flatlander" as one friend likes to put it, the biggest incline I run is my 20ft driveway (which is 1" slope for every 10 feet)...pretty big deal in Marysville, OH.  So, to get a handle on what I have ahead of me and learn more about what's in store, I decided that I had to run the race course at Mohican park for my 50 mile run.

To set the stage, I arrived at Mohican Adventures Campground at 7:30am, drove around for 15 minutes trying to decide where the start/finish was going to be and spent another 30 minutes getting all my stuff together.  Conditions were 40 degrees temp and rainy, full overcast, so one is damp right off and only gets wetter.  So overcast the sun position is not visible...this will be important later. 

At 8:15am I step off for the longest run of my life...no starting gun, no applause, no anything; just me in the parking lot of the local gas station, hoping my car doesn't get towed and trying to convince myself that, "Yes, you did put the car key in your backpack and did NOT lock it in the trunk!".  I checked the car key location at least 6 times...

The goal is to run two of the "long" loops for MO100.  This means a total of 54 miles (27 miles/loop), IF you follow the course.  All things start out with good intentions...  First mile is good, on the road, entering the campground; spent 20 minutes talking to ranger lady at campground for directions and a long dissertation about how if runners come through "her" campground again whooping and hollering at 5am, NO ONE will run through there again...Nice lady, very helpful.  Wish I could help her with the loud runners, but I can't...I'm just thinking that I need to get on my way if I'm ever going to finish this run.

First part of the run looks like this:

So I'm thinking..."no sweat, this is gonna be easy."  Flat road, just like home, I got this.  Then reality starts setting in...

About three miles in there is a hill climb.  Like the picture suggests it is steep, with a fallen tree in the middle.  Realization sets in that I will have to do this 4 times.  Climbing the hill 4 times is not the problem, lifting my legs over the fallen tree the 4th time is something I can't get my head around just yet. 

Continuing on, more challenges appear...

This is the descent into Lyons Falls.  Beautiful scenery, but a hard descent if you've already run over 12 miles.  But it gets better...

Entering the "Enchanted Valley" as some call it.  I won't tell you what I called in on my third trip through.  Missed this one on my first pass so I ran it backward to find out where I missed the turn.  Slowest part of the entire track, there is no real "running" of this portion.

The "root climb" is the only way out of "Enchanted Valley".  Looks easy, but believe me, the third time is torturous. 

After the root climb my phone/camera died so no more pics to share...too bad because Mohican is beautiful, no matter when or for what reason you are there.  Remaining miles were hard but rewarding and educational.

I finally finished my run at 9pm, when cold rain & wind hit right after I had guzzled a quart of ice cold water.  The shakes started and I couldn't stop them.  Nearing hypothermia, I decided it was best to call it a day and finish tomorrow.

Pleased to say that I was able to get up at 4:40am and run another 16 miles with friends and finished the day with a 5.3 mile run with my buddies on Sunday afternoon.  Total for the week 103.5 miles.  At Mohican park 48.9 miles. 

Needless to say, I'm glad I have my family and a superb bunch of friends to help me complete the upcoming race.  I couldn't do it without them.

Stay tuned for next update...