Buckle Up!

I made it! 100 wild miles in less than 24 hours and a Golden Belt Buckle earned. Before I get to telling the rest of the stories of the run I want to point out, in my opinion, what it takes to accomplish this kind of goal is a short, Moon Shot, amount of time:

Faith, Belief, a Race Plan & The Crew……..

There were many times during training when it felt like 100 miles was impossible for me. Many times life was simply too distracting or demanding and that it makes crazy goals like a 100 miler seem just that, crazy! What really made this feel like a crazy goal is the fact that I’ve never done a 100 miler before or a 50 miler or even a 30 miler and I really didn’t know anyone less who had. There is always crazy anxiety that goes with trying something new. Ultimately you have to develop a race plan and you have to have faith and belief in your training and in your plan. Looking back at the Race Plan:

Manage Heart Rate (HR):
Maintain Heart Rate below 160bpm while running early.
Use walking breaks to bring HR back below 100bpm and begin running again.
Time Goal 30 hours = Silver Belt Buckle
Maximize early speed to get to 50 miles in 10 hrs or less.
Utilize a 4 mile per hour pace to complete the second 50 miles in 20 hrs
Feeling wild!! Go for the Gold Belt Buckle Sub 24 hour pace.
Nutrition
Eat anything and everything that sounds good at the time.
Mental Plan
Enjoy the moment - 30 hours seems like a long time but it’s a drop in a bucket across a life time. Opportunity…..Enjoy the moment!
Appreciate The Crew.

It’s hard to imagine that a plan goes perfectly but this one did. From 1 - 5 all of the points worked. Point #5 was ultimately the difference, The Crew!

The Crew, The Crew, The Crew!!!

Build a crew and have a crew for all of your big moments and goals in life. A perfect plan can go sideways without support. This is a component that when I was younger I more often than not over looked, but now it can not be understated how important it is. The Crew helped me through training runs, got me to the start line, motivated and fed me to 50 miles, and marched me out to 100 miles. Everyone on The Crew was there with me, understanding the race plan and flat out executing. Just thinking about The Crew makes me feel emotional. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You to The Crew!

Crew Chief - Emily Van Winkle
Simply Amazing
Crew Sports Psychologist - Vivienne Van Winkle
Great Listener
Very Strong with ink blots
Faster than she appears.
General Crew - Erica Gingerich, Dave and Samantha Johnson, Lisa and Bill Lewins.
Pacers -Zeke Gingerich, Cameron Nisly, Bryce Nisly, Nicholas Johnson, Ethan Van Winkle, Joel Van Winkle, Emily & Vivienne Van Winkle.