we did it!

Who would put a staircase and a 2 mile hill climb at the end of a 100K? The Sierra Club. I thought the hill was gonna kill me. But it didn't. And we finished.

We left DC at 8 am for the trip to Whites Ferry, Maryland—the start of the 50K portion of the race. It was cold and damp. Rain looked like a certainty. We checked in, bid our ride adieu, and waited in the cold. At 9:55 they gathered us for instructions. At 10, on the dot, we were off.

We went to the canal path and turned right. At that point we kept a good 4 mph pace. We finished the first 5 miles in about 1:15. The crappy part was, at about 2.5 miles in, we turned around and came back. WTF? Apparently Whites Ferry is not 50K away, and we had to make up the difference.

We only spent five minutes there. They had real GORP, cookies, and fruit.

After the break we headed to the next stop. There was about 6-7 miles between stops. That leg wasn't to bad. After another quick 5 minutes stop, we headed out again. Lines for the port-o-potty were long, so we used one of the nasty ones we saw on the trail. We had found our stride. Or so I thought. At this point we were still pretty much together. And the group, though now spread out, was visible in front and in back.

Third stop. Again 5 minutes and I filled my water bottle with diluted Gatorade. And drank some. We were out about a mile, when my belly started making horrible noises. I got to the 4th stop and ran to the comfort station. All was again well.  We stayed about 15 minutes here. It was the lunch stop. Serious stretching was needed. We thought we'd finish by 8 but were slowing down.

After getting back on the trail my belly and colon started acting up again. I was praying for one of those nasty trail-side port-o-potties and there was none. There's never one when you need it! By the time we reached the next stop I was in full colon distress and barely made it to the green plastic promised land. I came out and dumped out the Gatorade. This was the last stop and the flamingo themed one.

At this stop, M called our ride and said come about 8:30. We arrived about 9:15. That's how slow the last leg went. Actually we did slow down considerably, but ultimately it was the hill that got me. For this leg M was always ahead of me. When we finally go to the stairs I stretched and made it up them okay. It was actually nice to use different muscles. The one that runs behind your knees felt like a rubber band stretched too tight. And my left heel hurt.

We crossed the bridge, then the parking lot and then saw The Hill. It was the Manayunk Wall for two miles. I bet it took me 45 minutes to get up the hill. Every muscle was screaming. My legs didn't want to move. My heel hurt. I was done.I was too close to the finish to quit. I would have crawled up that hill if I had to.

We finally arrived. The neighbor and his family picked us up, and he took a picture. Of course it was dark and it's just a big black square.

We checked in at the community center, and I found the first aid booth to check my heal. My sock was bloody but it was just cracked open. Then Dale, the first-aid guy, checked my feet for blisters. I had one blister that wrapped around my toe. I had 5 other major blisters. I think I was in first aid for a half-hour. My feet are covered with new-skin.

After gathering everyone up  we headed back to DC. It took everything in my power not to fall asleep in the car. Getting out of the car, and up the stairs to M's flat was also interesting.

Now off to those crazy stairs. Hope I can do them. We'll see.