Keys 100mi Ultra Marathon: May 2014 – Key Largo to Key West

Keys 100mi Ultra Marathon: May 2014 – Key Largo to Key West

It’s been a whirlwind and enough days have passed to be able to write about the race.

Prior to the race I’ve completed  15K, 25K, 50K, and 100K races. The Keys 100 was my first individual 100 mile (160K) race in Florida.

The following is my best recollection of the timing of things… any resemblance to things real or imagined is inevitable!

We started at 6:30am in Key Largo. I had a good nutrition, hydration, and electrolyte plan. I carried fuel for 20 mile sections and two 20oz handheld bottles to cover the 5mile water stops. One bottle was filled with tailwind product that provides calories, salt, electrolytes.

Off I went.

To start the day it was about 78 degrees and overcast with about 70% humidity, with a wind pushing from the north. This was ideal. I hit the road at my planned pace of 10-12 miles per hour. I was excited but calm about my plan and I didn’t let nerves push me too fast. I knew that would be a problem later.

The first 10 miles flew past on schedule. Then the sky cleared suddenly and the sun came out. The humidity increased and the full force of morning sun hit.

We ran on bike paths mostly and some road, crossing from time to time.

The volunteers were helpful and friendly and the aid stations were well-stocked and I stopped at each to fill up my water and have a quick snack. I didn’t want to get behind on either of these things.

Mile 15:

We ran in a residential area parallel to the road, surrounded by trees on either side that held more heat in, but provided no shade from the sun.

Mile 20:

 I was hot for the first time. I filled my bandana with ice and put it on my neck and went on.

If you haven’t been on the route to Key Largo to Key West, it’s hard to describe. Long straight sections of road and shops, then huge sections of nothing, with bridge crossing after bridge crossing.

I made a point to walk the uphill section of the bridges every time. It didn’t cost much time, but I knew it would help later.

Mentally I felt excellent. No nagging demons. Physically, legs still felt fresh and no issues at all.

I had a drop bag and changed my socks and applied more sunscreen.

Mile 25:

 Check-in I was dead on planned time of 5 hours. The heat continued to rise. More bridges and unrelenting heat. It started hitting me then and I decided to work in some short walking breaks every 3 miles or so for a tenth of a mile, hoping to cool down a bit.

I hit a long bridge and was refreshed a bit by a nice breeze. Someone standing on the side of the bridge called my name. It was a friend of one of my N-Motion workout group friends and he greeted me enthusiastically and offered water and a snack. I was fine but it was great to have the encouragement and he called my buddy from the group, Ken for a quick hello. Then I was off again.

Later on, on a long stretch, I heard a horn honking. This wasn’t unusual as crews and people did that a lot during the race. This time I saw out rental and my wife waving. I saw her turn up the road and was thrilled to know I’d see her shortly.

She parked in a little lot and greeted me with a smile. I hopped in the van and into the cool air for a few minutes. It was a real lift and one of my favorite moments of the race and such a great piece of timing. Seeing her was priceless! Shortly after, she slapped me on my ass, and off I went, back into the heat.

Mile 30:

 Now I started really grasping the heat and continued to pack my bandana in ice. I really wasn’t sweating as much as I should be. Now I was over 6 hours into the race and there was a problem: I hadn’t peed.

I forced myself to stop and try in a section of bushes. All that came out was about 1 ounce or dark urine. I knew this was a real issue and decision to hydrate even more.

Mile 35:

While I’m not sure about exactly where on the course this section was, anyone who has run the race knows it. I read about it prior, in fact. A long section measuring near 4 miles. It doesn’t sound long in theory, but it seems like an eternity. The path also runs parallel to the road on the bay side. Each side of the path is lined in large mangrove trees: big enough to stifle any air but not tall enough to create any shade at all. It was like running in a sauna in the sunshine.

I tried again to stop and pee. I was about 8 hours in I think. Nothing this time. Trouble. I had been hydrating more and keeping electrolytes up and desperately needed to see what color my pee was to see if it was helping, but no luck.

I knew I was overheated, even though my legs felt great to run. Even in this particular version of heat-hell, my mental game was still excellent. I expected the nagging negative voices, but there were none so that was encouraging. I stopped at a water chest and rested on a bench in the sun (no shade) with another runner for 5 minutes. He had run the race before but also hadn’t peed and was also worried.

Off we went.

Mile 40:

Huge straight sections with no breeze. Lines of power poles. I played the run walk game using the poles at my guideposts. Run 5, walk 1. I was trying to slow down and cool myself down. The ice bandana felt great but melted in less than 5 minutes in the heat.

I changed my socks again at the drop station. My feet were holding up beautifully. I had taped a few places prone to blisters and the tape was holding up perfectly. I felt nauseous for the first time, but choked down a half of PB&J sandwich and a stinger wafer. It was difficult.

Off I went again after a 10 minutes rest in the shade at the aid station.

It was hard to leave, but I knew that sitting wasn’t getting me anywhere. Maybe I moved on too fast here. I don’t really know.

Around mile 42 the nausea hit again. I threw up the food I ate but almost no fluid. That was really unexpected on a couple of fronts. I’ve never been sick before on a run and considering the amount of fluid I had in me, seeing nothing was troubling. It wasn’t sloshing around in my stomach and it wasn’t in my bladder either, which meant only one thing: my kidneys weren’t processing it.

Mile 45:

I rested here again, but there was no real shade and an unmanned cooler I think. Now I was over 10 hours in with no urination. It all started to hit me then. I wasn’t tired. My legs felt good- just a bit stiff, but I knew with real certainty then that internally I was in a bad state. I didn’t think it was dehydration. It wasn’t over hydration either. It was the heat and my insides had shut down.

I had a very rational (maybe aloud) conversation with myself then: one I wasn’t prepared for. It was essentially this:

Ok. You need to figure out what’s going on for sure. If you don’t pee, you can’t know. You know for sure that you NEED to pee. The fluid isn’t going anywhere and you can’t tell what’s happening. You’ll stop at mile 50. Reesa will be there. You’ll sit in the car and cool down. You will NOT continue the race until you pee. The next 10 miles have practically no support and include the 7 mile bridge. No pee. No go.

It was a very rational talk. I’m thankful I wasn’t heroic, but scientific about it. That was hard for me as I pride myself on being able to grind through difficult situations. It’s my best strength in running. It makes me a good hill runner, trail runner, obstacle racer.

Near Mile 50:

Still no pee. A long stretch in the sun without shade in town approaching Marathon: the half-way point.

As I neared the check-in and my wife, I was suddenly overcome by emotion. Such a thing has never happened to me before in a run or race. My eyes welled. The enormity of that checkpoint hit me all at once, knowing it would end one of two ways, and I was afraid in my heart that it wouldn’t be the one I wanted. I knew that it had to turn around then. All the miles that offered hope of peeing had passed. Just this one place now.

I was truly unprepared for this rush of emotion. I was rattled, shaken, in unfamiliar territory. As I approached the chip scanner I saw my wife and was greeted by her and a volunteer asking what I needed. I couldn’t really respond. I had my head down, struggling to keep my shit together badly. I choked out a request for water and told my wife I needed to sit down. She was concerned but cool-headed and amazing. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without her there.

I sat down in the van and blasted the cool air, sipped some water, and told her what was going on as best as I could understand it. She quickly figured out it wasn’t hydration: that I was badly overheated.

We decided to wait at least an hour to start and see if I could pee. Nothing.

Another half hour and I managed to pee another ounce at most.

I sat again. We talked to the staff, solicited advice. They agreed that the hospital was the only real option. My wife was my rock and coordinated everything in this time. I wasn’t really able to process everything well enough.

Finally, I made the decision to tap out. I took of my ankle timer chip. My race in the Keys was over at mile 51.

We went to the hospital nearby. I had a fever and hadn’t cooled down so they gave me two bags of IV fluids. I took them and lay there shaking as my core began to cool down.

After a couple of hours and tests, they discharged me. No damage had been done to my kidneys at least and my temp was still higher than normal, but down enough to leave safely.

My wife amazingly got us to Key West and checked into our hotel. Because of a traumatic brain injury, she had driven very little in the last year, but somehow she managed to get from Key Largo to Marathon, meet me, be there for me half-way, manage my medical situation, handle logistics, then drive us to Key West in the dark. It was an incredible mix of courage and strength and I can’t thank her enough for that and being there for me and supporting me.

My fever finally broke about 10 hours after I left the race, near morning. It was Sunday morning and my thoughts drifted to the ghost version of me crossing the finish line that I didn’t get to see in real life.

We made the right decisions and that was without a doubt, the best outcome possible. Had I continued I would have put my life in jeopardy as well as risking others. I imagine my wife getting a call at 2am advising her of something much worse.

I am truly sad that I didn’t get the chance to complete my first 100mile race that day, but I don’t regret any decision at mile 50. I’m happy I’m healthy now and will have a chance to do it again, better prepared.

Upon reflection, medically what happened was this: my core was overheated. It sent a signal to my hypothalamus to stop processing fluids because I needed to sweat them out to cool me down. The heat and humidity simple didn’t allow the sweat to do this and evaporate, so my temp continued to climb ad my kidneys stopped processing liquid and there was nothing in my bladder to pee.

So what mistakes did I make? I think I know the answers:

1-     I didn’t train in the heat and humidity to find out what apparel would be best to promote sweating and evaporation.

2-     This is the big one: I simply got behind on heat management. By the time I was hot, it was too late. The ice bandanas needed to start immediately, not after 20 miles. Once I got too far, there was simply nothing I could possibly do to reverse the situation. It took 10 hours of rest before my temp came back to normal.

I’m glad I did the race. Afterward, Reesa and I enjoyed Key West after taking it easy Sunday, we enjoyed the food, accommodations and ocean and it was wonderful. We ate some amazing meals and reveled in being near the water and relaxing.

Without her, I would have been lost, and that too was a lesson of such a grueling event and I’m just thankful she was there and so strong.

I plan to return to the Keys and complete this race. While my physical conditioning was absolutely enough for 100 miles, I will be better prepared to manage the heat and humidity, and I will succeed. I’m sure about that. I’m a grinder and I don’t give up.

Special thanks to all the volunteers and race personnel, my friends and family for the support and love, and my pals at N-Motion Fitness and Guthier Family Fitness for all of the same, and to my #1, Reesa for everything she did and is.