I earned my first buckle!

Razorback was so much fun! It was my first 100k and I got my first buckle there! The course is a 2 mile loop and it is pretty flat. The only really bad thing about the race for my Mom and I was that the drive to get there was 7 hours long!

Right before the race started I was very nervous and excited, it felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I had a feeling that I would be fueled by Mt. Dew, soup, and anxiety,  like at Across The Years.

I was glad when the race finally started. Our good friend Ed The Jester ran with us for about 10 or 12 miles but then he left us to run his own pace. He just took off he was going super fast. At about mile 12 I had to go to the bathroom 3 times, my stomach was starting to hurt. It worried me a little bit.

After a few more miles my stomach stopped churning, and thank goodness things started getting better. My confidence was going up and I was starting to feel really good as the day went by.When I started approaching mile 30 I got really excited because I was already half way there, but that is where it starts to get harder for me. I started to ache some and get tired. My mom had me eat more and slow down our pace. After a while, I felt better.

Later, my Mom had a bad tape problem and her toe was just ripped up and looked pretty bad, but I was doing pretty good. When the sun went down my Mom and I still kept around the same pace and we found out that we had an hour to do 2 miles for a sub 12 hour 50 miles. That was a nice little morale boost that helped my mom and I feel a little better.

The next milestone for me was mile 56, that was what I ran at ATY. I was anxious to get passed that distance for the first time. The good thing was I wasn't doing the death march, I was still going pretty strong. After I hit 56 an 11 year old kid ran a lap with me, he had done a half marathon earlier but the farthest he has ever gone was a 50k. It was fun to talk to another kid runner. Along the way I was happy to share several laps with our running friends. It sure makes the time go by faster.

During the last lap anxiety for that buckle started to  kick in and I started to run faster. Ed and our friend John were running with us. All I could think was, "I am about to get my first buckle!!!" The finish line was in sight and I ran as fast as I could. When I hit the finish, my emotions started flooding in.  A phone was handed to me, and I was happy it was my dad talking and I had just gotten my first buckle!!!

After I finished I fell asleep in our car and woke up to seeing a bunch of people huddle around my Mom to see how nasty her blisters were. She finished her 100 mile race while I was sleeping. It was fun to celebrate with everyone.

Razorback was a great race and I suggest it if you are going to try to run your first ultra run Razorback, because of how easy the course is and they have great volunteers and food.