Real Life Runners with Angie and Kevin Brown

When Things Don't Go As Planned - Long Haul 100 Part 1

• Angie Brown • Episode 394

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He did it again! Kevin completed his second 100-mile race (first on a trail) on January 18th and 19th, overcoming various challenges. The episode covers the logistical preparation, unexpected issues like missing fuel sources and equipment, and the emotional ups and downs both Kevin and us faced. It details the start of the race, Kevin's tactics, the importance of hydration and nutrition, and the initial loops of the course. Stay tuned next week for part two, where we discuss the race's latter stages and Kevin's triumphant finish.


00:57 Race Day Recap: The Long Awaited Details

01:48 Training Challenges and Real-Life Obstacles

02:58 Mantras and Mental Strategies for Ultra Running

05:35 Pre-Race Preparations and Last-Minute Hiccups

07:40 The Road Trip: Navigating Delays and Anxieties

23:03 Fueling Strategies for Ultra Marathons

23:53 Pre-Race Preparations and Last-Minute Shopping

27:44 Race Day Morning: The Start Line

28:56 The First Loop: Hydration Challenges

42:52 Loop Two: Running Solo and Navigational Doubts

46:52 Mid-Race Reflections and Fatigue 


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Angie:

On January 18th, just a few days ago, Kevin completed the Long Haul 100. Well, I guess that's a spoiler alert. I should have said you started it, right? But spoiler alert, he completed it too. And if you follow us on, follow us on social media, you'll already know that. So Kevin started and completed, technically, I guess you completed on the January 19th. Technically,

Kevin:

I finished on the 19th.

Angie:

But anyway, today we're talking all about the Long Haul 100, Kevin's second Completed 100 mile race and third attempt at a hundred miles. So if you want to hear all the fun details, stay tuned. What's up runners. Welcome to the show today. We're here with the recap, the long awaited recap of Kevin's long haul 100.

Kevin:

Long awaited. I feel like I just, I just did the race.

Angie:

Well, we, I will say like, you know, thank you to everyone that followed us on social media, um, over the weekend. It was super fun, you know, all of the messages and all of the support and all the love that just kept pouring in. Thank you. Thank you. We felt it for sure. Um, I know that the service was pretty spotty and we'll kind of get into that in today's recap. Um, but I just wanted to say thank you for everyone that was following along and really cheering Kevin on in this journey.

Kevin:

Yeah. It's always nice. Like every time I came through, I know you weren't doing a lot of. videos because of the service was so spotty, but it's, it's nice to know how, how much support was coming in, you know, through social media and stuff like that.

Angie:

Yeah. So today we're talking about the recap. So if you missed the last episode, head back one episode, you can catch like Kevin's. Preparation for the race. Um, he had surgery in March of last year. He had to have a hernia repaired. So it was really a journey of coming back from that surgery and then preparing to run a hundred miles. So we went through pretty much most or all of his race prep in that episode. So if you're curious about all of that, head back to the last episode. And today we're talking about how it all went. Because if you did listen to our last episode, you know that his training was not ideal and did not really go as he had hoped for. There were some things on the schedule that he wanted to do that he didn't end up doing because he was battling, uh, some sickness and some illness and things like that. So, this is real life. We're always going to keep it real with you guys. And so, how did that all play out in The race. And that's really what we want to talk about today.

Kevin:

Right. I mean, that's a whole, the whole idea. And obviously once, once we recorded that podcast, everything else went perfectly smooth, absolutely no hiccups. And I felt amazing for the entirety of the race.

Angie:

Absolutely. And that is clearly not the case. So. Um, let's, so I want to start with just kind of my motto of the weekend. And this is really, I think this is kind of came to me, um, the night before the race, which is just keep moving forward, just keep doing the next best thing. And the actual motto actually, now that I think about it, I actually forgot, I just said actually like five times, um, was make it work. That was really the. Theme I think of your training of that day traveling to the race and then really the race itself too was make it work and I think that that's really a good theme for ultras in general. I know that we are not super experienced when it comes to ultras and we've only done three of them so far, but there's always. There, there are always things that are going to go wrong or that are not going to go the way that you want them to or the way that you plan them to. And you have to just figure out how to make it work and keep going forward.

Kevin:

Yeah. Continuous forward progress was really like a mantra that I kept saying to myself in my last hundred at Daytona was continuous forward progress. Just keep moving. Like, if. If you're at an aid station, you know, in the last one, if I got to your car, every time I got to your car, that was time that I was not moving down the road. And so it was, I needed to stop. I needed to stop periodically, but that wasn't progress. And when I was on the road, whether I was running or walking, whatever it was, it was still progress towards the finish. And I think that that works for. Every ultra I think that works for everything actually

Angie:

everything in life. Absolutely And which is why running is such a good metaphor for life in general But I would love to question that right away of like I wasn't moving forward like you I mean technically I mean physically

Kevin:

moving forward, but

Angie:

you have to take those stops in order for you to continuously move forward Like the rest stops are absolutely necessary. Just like they are in our normal training For you to keep making that forward progress. And I know that sometimes you get a little agitated and we'll talk about that too. Um, today about like how Kevin is at these rest stops and stuff too. Um, because I wasn't able to catch as much at on film and I don't typically like to film him when he's in that. state because if you're already like annoyed and irritated and someone has a camera in your face, that's not usually going to make the situation better.

Kevin:

Probably not. Yeah. I'm sure it would have been so funny at that time. I'm sure it would have. No, that's

Angie:

not your funny time. No, your funny time comes after that, like, and so we can talk about that because now that Kevin has done three of these, I've also started to see some trends, which is kind of fun too. So. All right. So. As a little short recap, Kevin ran 100 miles. It was a 16. 7 mile loop that he did six times on a trail. So it was his first trail ultra as well. Um, so it

Kevin:

was at least 16. 8, possibly close to 17 miles. Let's be clear.

Angie:

Let's be clear. Yeah, because on his watch, so I mean, you can tell them that spoiler alert right away.

Kevin:

Yeah. I hit a hundred miles and I'm still like in the middle of the woods. Like I couldn't see the finish. I couldn't see where your car used to be. Like I, I was very far from the finish line when my watch clicked over to a hundred, I finished it like 101. 8 or so.

Angie:

Yeah. So it's funny, like when people get really mad about, you know, marathons being like 26. 5 versus 26. 2, you can probably understand the level of. Annoyance and frustration possibly, but like knowing that you're going to run a hundred miles and having to do almost two extra miles that had to have been tougher mentally.

Kevin:

Well, I mean, you know, what's coming to you. Cause the race director said we wheeled it out, depending on, you know, how accurate your watches and how far you veer off of the course and, and twists and turns, cause you're, you're running through the woods. So it's constant twists and turns and stuff. He goes, most of you will probably be coming in somewhere around 101 miles when you cross the finish line. So like you knew it was coming.

Angie:

Yeah, yeah. So it was like, this is basically a hundred miles, you know, like you should, I remember him saying that at the beginning before the race started was you will get over a hundred miles. Some of you might get more than that.

Kevin:

Right. And I mean, honestly. It's, I would rather be slightly over than slightly under on something where, you know, the accuracy of measuring a trail course, don't give me 99. 7 on my watch. I am big on, I'll stop whenever I get back to my house on a run that's. eight ish miles. If I'm doing 100, I am doing 100 miles. I would have run through that little tent city there, high five some people, I would not have run. I would have walked through tent city and high five some people, but I was in triple digits.

Angie:

Yeah. So, all right. So let's go back and talk a little bit about. the day and the weekend and kind of what our experience was like. So Friday, I, yeah, I think we, we start with Friday. Do you want to start before Friday? No Friday. Okay. So Friday, Kevin went to work, the girls went to school and I had, you know, I work from home. So obviously I had things to do at, at home as well. I, however, overscheduled myself. So I will take full responsibility as, especially as crew chief. that there were things that I put on my calendar that day that should not have been on my calendar. I put like a call with our new program, which I absolutely loved, but I should have known better when I was scheduling out these calls. This should have been part of my thinking ahead of time is, you know, Ange, don't put this call at noon if you guys are trying to leave around one o'clock or 1 30 considering like, you know, you're not going to just get off the call and be ready and then be able to walk out the door. Like, I know better than that. So that was poor planning on my part and also one of, um, the, that something that highlights one of my, uh, weaknesses and my faults of like thinking that I can do everything in 15 minutes or a much shorter period of time. Yeah, yeah, I

Kevin:

mean, really for it to have timed out perfectly, you would have had to end your call and step into the car.

Angie:

Basically, no, not step into the car, but like, we would have had to have everything packed up and essentially ready to pack up the car and let go.

Kevin:

In a most ideal world, we would have actually made it there in time for their, optional but highly suggested meeting at five o'clock the night before.

Angie:

You never even told me about that to be fair until that day, I think, or possibly the night before, but I'm pretty sure it was that day.

Kevin:

I think I skipped over that part in the race packet because it's there. Like, I know it's sitting there in the race packet. And to be

Angie:

fair, I didn't read the race packet, so I probably should have done that. So that's on me.

Kevin:

So we both have a little bit of blame, but then there was also issues. There's no

Angie:

blame. There's just responsibility. And I think that Well, and I think that both of us, you know, we've talked about this in our marriage as well of taking 100 percent responsibility because that is one of my faults. One of my negative characteristics is that I am continuously trying to notice and get over is like not assigning blame to other people. That is not. Like that's something I used to do all the time, especially as a kid. Like I would always try to find someone to blame because I didn't want to be the one to blame. And so I would always blame other people. And I've been working on a lot of like, no, no, this was a hundred percent my responsibility. And there were even times during this weekend with our girls and things like that, that we'll tell you about in a couple of things coming up where I. The initial response was blame and then I'm like, no, no, that's my fault. Like, I'm going to take that on myself. So, not necessarily blame, but just like owning our own responsibility.

Kevin:

But then there was plenty of responsibility on my own of making sure that I ordered all the appropriate fuel and that it was at our house in time to put in the car and then drive. And I did not. Order in time. And so then there were some shipment delays. And so on the day of, instead of being able to pack the car, I had to go off to a specially running store and get some extra fuel to make sure that I had enough calories.

Angie:

Okay. So to explain some details on this, there was a specific kind of fuel that Kevin wanted to use called carbs fuel, right?

Kevin:

Yes.

Angie:

And it was, why did you want to use this one?

Kevin:

So it's a huge amount of calories in one little gel packet. So it's like, it's 50 grams of carbs per packet. And it's not as thick as some of the other gels, so it's supposed to go down really smooth.

Angie:

But you never practiced with this in training.

Kevin:

That is true. That is very true.

Angie:

Right. And so I think it was maybe a blessing in disguise that this order didn't come in because I was questioning, I'm like, why are you going to use something on race day? Like, that's literally what we tell people never to do is like, try things on race day that you've never practiced with before. And that was going to be one of your main sources of fuel. Now during a hundred, and this was kind of your Uh, response to me. Go ahead, you say it.

Kevin:

It was not going to be my only source of fuel.

Angie:

But it was supposed to be your main source of fuel. I

Kevin:

was going to be taking in roughly one per hour.

Angie:

Yeah.

Kevin:

And that's, I mean It is a

Angie:

main fuel source. Yes. And you didn't know how your body responded to it. Which is why, like, In 100 mile races, there's obviously aid stations and there's going to be things that you possibly consume at those aid stations that you've never practiced with before. But they're usually kind of like a one off type of thing.

Kevin:

Small cups of ginger ale continuously throughout the whole race. Did

Angie:

you?

Kevin:

Oh yeah, all the time. Hey look, it's ginger ale. That sounds delicious. Let's put one of those guys down.

Angie:

You did that during this race? All

Kevin:

the time. You

Angie:

didn't mention that when I was All

Kevin:

the time. When I

Angie:

was asking you, like, what did you take in at the aid stations.

Kevin:

Because you were, you were writing down things that were like You know, substantial calorie. Like you were trying to make sure that I was getting enough calories and it was not, it was like the smallest little, like it's

Angie:

still important for us to write it down so that we know how your stomach reacts.

Kevin:

Yes. But like picture, like the, the little tiny plastic cup of mouthwash

Angie:

that you get

Kevin:

at like the dentist office, that's the size and they weren't like filled to the brim.

Angie:

And were they all flat too?

Kevin:

No, no, no. They kept, they were freshly pouring them continuously for hours and hours. So

Angie:

there was carbonation in it. Yes. Interesting. But yeah, you know, in our, in your last hundred in Daytona, you had like a cup of ramen, you'd obviously had never practiced on a cup of ramen, but that's exactly what you needed at that time. Yes. Slurpee was great for you too, but we also, you never. specifically practiced with a Slurpee, but we know in theory, Slurpee was like a really great idea for you at that point in time.

Kevin:

In theory, it's like, it's a giant cup of ice and sugar.

Angie:

I mean, it wasn't going to go worse than how you were already feeling. Also true. Right? Like when you start to weigh out the risk versus the reward of that.

Kevin:

Well, see, that gets to one of my mantras for the race, which was, um, okay, how did I keep trying to phrase it? I kept changing it in my head, but it was like, uh, internal organs on the inside was what I kept, kept going through my head because I'm like, I feel so much better in this race than the last one. I wonder what the major difference is. Uh, yes. Internal organs on the inside.

Angie:

That would be it. That would definitely make a difference. And, you know, thank goodness for hernia surgery. There you go. Okay. So, um, the plan was to leave around 1 30, which obviously did not happen considering I finished my call at one o'clock and Kevin didn't have his fuel source. And so originally what I, when we were realizing earlier that week, cause he had ordered this fuel source from a website that said it was going to be two to four days shipping. And I said, I don't know if, I think that's. I think we're, we're playing it too close here and he's like, no, no, no, it's going to be fine. It says two to four days, two to four business days. And I said, he ordered this like Saturday or Sunday, the weekend before he's like, no, no, it should be here by like Thursday. And I'm like, okay, I still think you should just order it on Amazon. He's like, Amazon, Amazon doesn't sell it, but you ordered like several things on that website. Yes. Um, most of which you could order on Amazon, and there's this one thing you couldn't get. But, so anyway, long story short, the shipment never arrived, not that surprising. And so then we were looking on the website to try to find, because they do sell this in stores, and there was a store. Like there was a couple stores in Miami, but we didn't really want to drive that. But there was a store in Lakeland, which is where the race was. And I'm like, okay, great. Then we should call them and make sure that they have it in stock. We can go and pick it up there. No problem. But it was by the time that was Thursday night, they were already closed. So we had to wait to call them on Friday, which is what you did, right?

Kevin:

Yeah, but I mean, calling him on Friday or Thursday or really any point would not have mattered because they did not have it. Neither did the stores in Miami.

Angie:

They didn't have it.

Kevin:

Um, they did not have it. Nobody had it. Yeah.

Angie:

So Kevin was freaking out, um, on Friday.

Kevin:

I was super calm and definitely not just, like, shaking.

Angie:

Mm hmm. Very, very agitated. Not, like, just very, like, Like, anxious, right? Like, like a ton of anxiety on top of you. Anxious is

Kevin:

the best word. Like, I was, I, literally, I couldn't hold my hands still. Like, you weren't mad, but

Angie:

you were very anxious.

Kevin:

I was trying my best to not be mad.

Angie:

At yourself or at me or what?

Kevin:

Yep. Every direction. Yeah. I was just trying to not shoot madness out into the world and so it was then just coming out as anxiety.

Angie:

agitation, right? Like you were very like frustrated, agitated, anxious. And so I said, okay, look, you just go to our local running store and get whatever fuel you need, like get the gels, get whatever. And he kind of was pushing back and I said, just go, I'll have everything packed up and we'll be ready to go as soon as you get back. And that trip took a little bit longer than expected because that shop is a little, it's not close to our house and there's just not really a good way to get there.

Kevin:

There is no No direct way. As the crow flies, I should be able to get there in 10 minutes and 10 minutes back. But as the cars drive, it takes almost an hour and I got caught behind a train.

Angie:

Yeah, and

Kevin:

everybody on the road were literally driving past speed limit signs. The speed limit said 45 and every car on the road thought, yep, 25 is the appropriate choice. I was screaming as I'm driving along. I mean, this probably isn't the safest thing, but I was venting a lot of my anger and frustration In a car to people that couldn't hear me. So by the time I got back, I wasn't like screaming at our children, which, which is good, I think was a, a healthier way to go. That was a, that was

Angie:

a win. So essentially when Kevin got back, everything was ready. The girls were like, literally in the car. We were waiting for you to basically just get in the car and let's go.

Kevin:

Right. Which was perfect because then all he had to do was just dump the thing into the back of the car and sit down and, and then you started driving. Mm-hmm Which was good'cause I was, I was on the verge of hitting people at that point.

Angie:

Yeah. Yeah, so we got on the road at that, like, around 2. 45, 2, it was almost 3 o'clock. It was

Kevin:

almost 3 o'clock.

Angie:

Yeah, it was like 50, and it's about a four hour drive. Now keep in mind, we, so there's clearly no way we're making the 5 o'clock meeting, but we wanted, we really needed, quote unquote, needed to be there by 7 o'clock to pick up Kevin's bib and race packet. That was really the goal.

Kevin:

Right. Because in order to get into the park the next morning, we needed a parking pass. And when you pick up the bib, it comes with the parking pass. So then you don't have to stop the next morning. You just smoothly drive into the park and you go to your parking location and you're good to go. And you know, in the, all the materials you get beforehand, it says there may be a long line on the morning of. And so that's just like a big gray area. And when you're heading to a race, the fewer. Question marks you can have the better it is so we're really trying to hit the the seven o'clock and you put it into the GPS which popped up on the big screen in the car and it said arrival time of like 708 and I'm like, that's not good

Angie:

and that's without bathroom stops, right? Yeah

Kevin:

You're like, I don't know, we'll make up some time. I'm like, yeah. I

Angie:

go, oh, I can get that. Then that's not a problem. I can make that.

Kevin:

Not with the amount of times we need to stop for a bathroom.

Angie:

Challenge accepted. That's how I drive.

Kevin:

Yeah, if it was just you in the car, you would have made it there at 6, and it would have been fine. But that's not what was happening.

Angie:

Well, and it's not a good idea either, because Then you started not drinking water because like you wanted to restrict liquid so that we didn't have to stop for the bathroom. And it was just not a good idea. You were super anxious. You were like not drinking, not eating because you wanted to just hold everything in until we got there including possibly your breath.

Kevin:

And certainly all of my emotions. I was trying to just hold everything in and shove it down.

Angie:

Not a good idea.

Kevin:

As soon as we hit the first bathroom break maybe?

Angie:

Yeah. Was that when I did it? I think it was the first bathroom break that, yeah, one of our daughters kind of piped up from the back seat and said that she needed a bathroom. And once we kind of decided that, that was when you kind of said, okay, we need to let this go.

Kevin:

Yeah, because we came back from the bathroom break and If we were efficient to like, we were not screwing around in and out, back in the car, hit the GPS. And it was like arrival time, seven 20, because we'd also hit seven 15. We'd also hit some construction along the way. There was so much traffic. So you couldn't, you can't like move because it's two lanes, there's construction off to the side. So nothing's, you're not even driving the speed limit again, the theme of, of driving for those first. few hours there of my going to the store and getting on the turnpike was just don't drive the speed limit. Speed limit minus 20. That's what we had going on. Um, so it was It was fine when we got back in the car and it was clear that we were we were losing time to the GPS I was like, all right, we're just we're gonna go we're gonna get the packet tomorrow morning and that's going to work

Angie:

Yeah And as soon as he made that decision and like was he said to me and communicated it to me and there was just this sense of calm around it I I just said, okay, like, are you sure? And he said, yes. And he said it very calmly. And I said, okay, I already feel like you feel better. And you're like, I do like, we just need to release it. It's going to be fine. And so once he came to that, it was just like, okay. And then we looked up at the sign on the turnpike, you know, how they have those signs that are crossing over the turnpike that tell you about silver alerts and different notifications that you need. And do you remember what the sign said?

Kevin:

Uh, Don't worry, don't hurry. No,

Angie:

don't hurry. Be happy.

Kevin:

Don't hurry. Be happy. That was it.

Angie:

Don't hurry. Be happy. Like as soon as we made that choice,

Kevin:

literally, I said, we're, we're just going to relax and we'll get the thing tomorrow. It was maybe 30 seconds maximum. And then this sign showed up

Angie:

wild. And I said, I looked at him and we both were just like, Oh my gosh. And I said, that's a sign from your angels that, that from God, that we just made the right decision.

Kevin:

And if we miss that one, the same sign showed up again, like five minutes down the road. Right. It was just like, in case you missed it. In case

Angie:

you missed it. Yes.

Kevin:

Here you go.

Angie:

Don't hurry. Be happy. And then he like pulled out his water bottle and started chugging water, which was great. Which was so much

Kevin:

better. And then we had a couple of more rest stops along the way because I was hydrated, which was a drastic improvement over, you know, the alternative. Yeah.

Angie:

Because if you weren't drinking water for four hours on the way, that would have just been a disaster the next day. Yeah.

Kevin:

No, that would have been awful.

Angie:

Yeah. Yeah. So, the trip took, um, a little bit longer than expected. We hit terrible traffic along the way, but we made it there, and we decided, okay, we are going to go to dinner before the hotel. Um, because, you know, okay, now we can get dinner at a better time, and this and that, which again, Didn't end up working out dinner took a little bit longer dinner was late We got to the hotel kind of late at like I don't think we checked in to like nine o'clock

Kevin:

It was fine. Everything just was taking a little bit longer than ideal And that was the thing is once I had released it. It was like well This is what's happening and everything then that was taking a little bit longer Wasn't as annoying like people were hungry That was kind of annoying is people literally were just hungry. We, when we sat down, it was like, all right, we need some food now, but I wasn't annoyed at it as much as I was just like, I could really use something to eat rather than I could use something to eat and I want to strangle somebody. Like, I think the first option is so much nicer.

Angie:

so much nicer. So this time we went to Outback Steakhouse, um, because Kevin felt like he wanted a burger. We were kind of talking about what he wanted to eat, um, the night before the race. And last time we went to Carrabba's and he had a big bowl of pasta, he had Italian. This time we've been kind of talking about getting more protein into him, um, for his muscles and those kinds of things. And so we, uh, so you want to talk about what you ate before?

Kevin:

So I had a half pound burger and a giant baked potato covered in salt. I mean, It's not necessarily what you might consider carb loading, but at a hundred miles It's debatable how helpful carb loading is because you're out there for so long that even if you've maximized your your like glycogen storage You're you burn through that still gonna

Angie:

run out

Kevin:

you're running out and you've got hours To go like many many hours and so the idea of just make sure you get as much Fuel into you as you can, not just like in the day leading up in the days leading up, make sure you have a big pasta dinner, but it's like the constant making sure that you are fully fueling your body. And then, yeah, if you want to have like a nice big meal the night before, like that was a lot of food I put in and. I felt fine. I mean, I felt really good at the start of the race, so that was good.

Angie:

Yeah, I think it was a good choice for you. Um, so we got back to the hotel. Oh, I realized, Oh, actually after dinner, we went to the grocery store to pick up some, um, last minute things that we needed for, for breakfast and some other things. Um, the girls, we'd eaten through the grapes, um, in the car, I think, um, like on the way there. So we needed to get more grapes. Oh no, I think we. Throughout the week. Through school lunches, we finished off grapes. Yeah. So we needed to pick up, cause grapes were on the fueling plan. And thank goodness, because spoiler alert again, grapes were Kevin's pretty much favorite fuel source this race, right?

Kevin:

Certainly for the second half of the race. Like the last two laps, I basically. In terms of like normal food, I fueled on grapes and that was good.

Angie:

And those were, those were great. Cause I was like looking up the nutrition info is like how much cow, how many calories, how many carbs? I'm like, okay, these are actually a really good source of both calories and carbs for him.

Kevin:

Right. And if I tried to do something similar in terms of like. Raisins, that's just upping your fiber content much and there's no water in there. So just flipping it over to grapes I don't know if that'd be great at shorter distances, but in something where I'm out there for this many hours grapes were fantastic

Angie:

Yeah, they were a very good choice. I mean, I think it's gonna be harder In races of shorter distances, you don't see like your crew as much either. So it's to, to carry, you know, like grapes are just bigger than raisins. Yeah.

Kevin:

I think you and one of our daughters kept asking if I wanted to take potato chips with me out on the thing. And I'm like, I'm not, I don't have my backpack, so I don't have a place to put potato chips. Like where am I, what am I doing with that?

Angie:

Yeah. So, um, we ended up going to bed later than. We wanted to, which was probably, what, ten, a little after ten we ended up going to bed?

Kevin:

That sounds about right.

Angie:

So I ended up getting like some, oh, I also forgot the boiled potatoes because boiled salted potatoes were going to be on our list of things for him to consume throughout the race. So I got like a baked potato and a sweet potato at the grocery store, and I just microwaved them at the hotel. to cook them so that we could have those options as well.

Kevin:

I have no idea what mile mark I was at that you came to me with a peeled, boiled sweet potato in a ziplock bag and you were like, here, take a bite of this and see if it seems like something you want to bring with you. And I took a bite and I'm like, what is this? This is the worst food ever created in the history of mankind. And you look at me so calmly and you're like Does it just need a little extra salt? I'm like, no, no, it needs to be anything besides what I am currently eating is what it needs to be. Because

Angie:

I was going to give it to you to take with you, but I said, just, I said, just take a bite first to see if the answer is like, absolutely not. I'm not going to consume that. And that was very clearly what the answer ended up being.

Kevin:

I am surprised that I chewed and swallowed it because as soon as the, you

Angie:

walked away, I thought you were going to go spit it out.

Kevin:

I did not. I did. I took a first step to go spit it out and then I continued chewing and I'm like, I mean. They made the worst food ever created, but I'm definitely not eating this whole thing. That's not, that's not going to happen.

Angie:

You were just like, he was just shaking his head. He was chewing it with this disgusted look on his face and just shaking his head. No. Yeah. That could have been like around the 50 mile mark when you were already annoyed. I think that was also coincided with your like angry, annoyed time. I

Kevin:

feel like that was 50.

Angie:

Yeah. So, um, okay. So bed that night. How'd you sleep?

Kevin:

Um, I slept fine. I had to get up and go to the bathroom because I was like ridiculously hydrated, but I only had to get up once. And I feel like before the last time I was getting up constantly, like between the combination of nerves and hydration, I was getting up like crazy. This time, I think the ridiculously salted baked potato was helping me retain water rather than let it just pass through.

Angie:

Yeah, so that was really good. I actually slept really well, which was surprising, um, because the bed was not super comfortable, but thank goodness I brought my own pillow. That is a must for me for sure. So, race time was 7 a. m. Wake up time, 5 a. m. So that he could start fueling, um, because the goal was to leave the hotel at 5 30. Because we wanted to be there no later than six o'clock because now we had to pick up the parking pass. We had to pick up his race packet. So there was more things that just got added to race morning. So we wanted to make sure that we were there with plenty of time to do all that.

Kevin:

But race morning itself went really smooth. I thought.

Angie:

Yeah, until I found, realized that I didn't have the cap to your water bottle.

Kevin:

Up until that, like, from the hotel, getting into the car, leaving, getting to our parking spot.

Angie:

I mean, the goal was 530, we left the parking lot at 535, so that was pretty good.

Kevin:

I must have not even been looking at my watch, because in my head we were nailing it, we were fine.

Angie:

Which, I mean, we left the room around like 532 maybe, you know, so by the time we were in the car and pulling out, it was like 535.

Kevin:

There was also another person that I saw who was heading to the race and he was leaving at the same time. So whether he had his bib already or not, I'm like, ah, this is another person heading to the same place we are. So this, I feel like we're on time. So that was. That was good. Yeah,

Angie:

so we got there, like got to the place, got the parking pass without a problem. Kevin walked out to get, um, to get his bib while I started to kind of unpack the car and realize that we had his handheld water bottle. Now those of you that have been following us for a little while, you remember, Probably that in Daytona at his last hundred mile. We forgot his handheld water bottle like it just somehow didn't get packed And so we were running around the night before to Dick's sporting goods and to various places trying to find him a handheld water bottle and We ended up buying like the last handheld at Dick's and it was terrible Blah, blah, blah. So, this time, this handheld water bottle has like become my nemesis. So, I pull everything out. The handheld is there, but I can't find the cap. And so Luckily, there was a very nice man that was directing traffic. He wasn't ended up being like the head of the race station. And he came over and he's like, what do you guys need? He's like, I think I have an extra one. I think I might be able to fit. So he kind of gave you another option to kind of help to ease your mind that morning, which was nice.

Kevin:

Right. Because for the first lap, it was, I mean, at that point it's, it's race morning. There's. I'm past anxiety because I have completely accepted that anxiety is not helping. The night, the day before, there's, there's a lot of nerves and agitation and it feels like it's useful to have. It's not. It's clearly just a waste of all my energy. But on race morning Everything's going smoothly. We're leaving on time. We're arriving on time. We're finding a great parking spot. Everything is going smoothly It's just it's laying out exactly how it's supposed to go Even if it's not that I'm just flipping everything in my head to be like actually We got behind that car because now we're gonna get a better parking spot and we had a great parking spot and it was We actually had a perfect parking spot because then when you couldn't find the cap and you were talking about it, the guy who was directing traffic heard us. If we were further into the parking lot, he never would have heard us. That's

Angie:

true. And I, I wouldn't have thought to ask him, you know, like, so that was fantastic. It was, you know, again, I think it was our angels guiding us of like, this is exactly what's supposed to be happening right now.

Kevin:

Yeah. You never would've thought to ask him. I'm surprised that it didn't occur to you to just start asking at other cars if anybody had a spare cap, because in all likelihood someone probably did and would share. Like, as I'm running my first thing, I started chatting with the person that I was running with and he goes, wait, what brand is it? Cause I know I have like. Two extra caps in my gear and

Angie:

we're going to invest in some more equipment. Like, well, it's not only spare caps, but I think another handheld as well. That's just going to like live in my car from now. So. Um, anyway, so Kevin, we, we basically got him to the starting line. Anything else you want to say, like, before the starting line of, like, how you were feeling? Like, how were you feeling before the race started, I guess?

Kevin:

I was pretty neutral, honestly. Like, you were trying to do, like, a pre race interview to put up on social media and, like, get my thoughts and everything, and I was doing my best to stay neutral. Neutral to not be overly excited to not be down It's kind of funny like you go to the starting line of a 5k and they get a DJ there They got like the bass going and stuff the start of an ultra. Everybody is getting ready to run for like 20 to 30 hours and You know, there's some people who are making some like awkward jokes people who are like, I haven't seen you in a year But there's not like music bumping and stuff like that. It's it's a very different feeling

Angie:

Yeah, because you can't sustain that kind of energy for that amount of time time.

Kevin:

No, everybody realizes there's no reason to get hyped right now. There's

Angie:

no reason, like, so I think that a neutral mindset is actually a really good place to be. And

Kevin:

that is what I was doing. I was trying to stay as neutral as I could at the starting line. Which means I probably gave a remarkably boring interview before the race.

Angie:

It wasn't that great. So um, Oh, if you guys didn't follow along live, you can still catch all of that. All of these, I actually made a, a highlight on our Instagram profile. So if you go to our profile at real life runners, and that is two L's real life runners, um, there is a highlight on the, um, profile that is the long haul 100. So you can kind of see all of the. Stories along the way.

Kevin:

It's a fun one because I'm blonde in the picture that you have for the like little thumbnail for that. Oh yeah. Yeah. Cause

Angie:

that was from Daytona when you were blonde. Um, so, okay. So the race started, so Kevin takes off, you know, the, the race starts. And so the girls and I walk back to the car at that point. I'm like, well, I'm like. So, I, I'm looking, okay, I'll give you a little, my perspective. Yeah, you gotta

Kevin:

do the crew perspective. So,

Angie:

I'm looking around at these people and they've got, like, all sorts of things set up. They've got, like, a table set up and they've got all these chairs and they've got, like, bins of stuff. And I'm looking at what I've got and I'm like, well, we don't have any. I mean, we had a couple chairs, but I didn't have, like, a table or bins or any of this stuff and I'm like feeling woefully unprepared and Kind of asking and questioning like what did I get myself into like I literally have to leave right now to go get coffee Like I didn't even have coffee for myself. And so So that is definitely something I need to pre plan next time because we did have the perfect parking spot right when we pulled in and I had to leave and so I ended up losing that parking spot, which was fine, like we were just maybe 50 feet away from where I originally was.

Kevin:

But as we've already covered, it was 101 miles and then that made it like 101 and a half.

Angie:

I did add, it did add a little bit more to your race, like where the second part was. So the girls and I decided it was going to be at least two hours, probably, you know, two and a half, two to two and a half hours, um, until we saw you again. So we went to go get Starbucks in the town that was nearby, which was basically a 45 to minute to an hour trip there and back. I'm also like, well, what else are we going to do? You know, we're just going to sit around. So we went to Starbucks and. The service which was much better in town because I also realized that the service at the park was terrible. It's in the middle of a Florida State Park. That's to be expected. So we went and got Starbucks. We came back, found our new parking spot. And so then when I started to unload the car, I started to feel a lot better. Like I had all of our bags, all of our supplies, and I put out a yoga mat to kind of lay everything out on. Um, so it wasn't a table that was elevated like the other fancy campers there, but it was fine. And I got, kind of got. As I was unloading, the cap for the handheld water bottle magically appeared. Like literally out of nowhere. I don't even know where it came from. It's not like I like reached into a bag and find it. It was literally as I was pulling bags out of the car, the cap flew out at me. Like it jumped out and I was like, Oh my God, it's the cap. Like it was, it was magic. appeared.

Kevin:

Yeah. It was beautiful. Which you then called to let me know.

Angie:

Yeah. It was so good. Um, so yes. So, because Kevin does carry his phone with him. So, I was able to like call him. So, even though we only saw him six times throughout the race, um, we, I did call multiple times. We never did walk to that other point where I was supposed to, where See you I kind of forgot about that.

Kevin:

Yeah. No, there was a spot that you could have walked Well, okay, you would have had to walk a mile there and a mile back to the car Yeah, so it's like a sixteen point seven ish loop. And if you would walk that thing you could have seen me it was about a mile from your car and From that point because there were there Like it's this weird spot. I honestly I could not draw a map of what the course is that I ran Yeah, but you pass these outhouses going two different directions and you pass them once and then you pass them again about Four ish miles later. And so you could have seen me there and then walked a mile back to the car Well, I did this four mile loop and then ran a mile back to the car. So you probably could have seen me at that point

Angie:

Yeah, but then we going back to how woefully unprepared we were and how Well, clearly we are not campers, um, the girls both were wearing Uggs and so I wanted to like go take walks in nature during the hours that we weren't hanging out with you and one of them had Ugg boots and one of them had Ugg slippers on, um, so she was like, well I don't want to go walking, I don't have the right shoes for that, I'm like, why didn't you bring sneakers? Like, what in the world is happening right now? last

Kevin:

two times I've run a ridiculously long distance, you guys basically lived in a car and grocery stores

Angie:

and that's it. You know, like we really didn't know what we were getting ourselves in for. I'm like, okay, now we know like if he does one of these trail ultras again, it's essentially like camping. Like that's what we have to prepare for. Like we are going somewhere and camping and can't leave and need to have all of the supplies with us.

Kevin:

Yeah. It's, it's funny. Cause I, you know, there were several Stations throughout and like places where people could have parked And so when I got to you guys, obviously you guys were all up and going and ready for me But I went past some other places Car after car of people in their like, they've got a chair and then they've got like a, a footstool in front of them and they're just napping for, you know, the next four hours until their runner comes back because depending on how fast your runner is, you might see them once every four to five hours and so they're like, yep, it's, it's my, uh, 11 o'clock nap time and they were like, people were just out cold. Who's funny.

Angie:

I know. I know. So yeah, we, um. aren't really campers in general. I shouldn't say by nature, but by choice. Um, we, like, don't really, haven't really gone camping ever.

Kevin:

Where would we camp? We live in South Florida.

Angie:

Right up in that area. There's tons of campsites. Like, if we go up there. Yes, we'd have to drive up to Central Florida. That's what we'd have to do. Yeah, there's tons of camping up there. There's a

Kevin:

big Boy Scout camp across the street.

Angie:

Yeah. So, anywho, um, All right, that's where, so where were we? So Starbucks, we got back, unloaded the car. I started to feel much better about my life and my choices as crew chief. Still questioning why my husband is trying to run 100 miles, but you know, it's all good. So I kept coming back to you. So at

Kevin:

least I wasn't running away. I kept coming back. to you

Angie:

coming back. Um, so after loop one, I mean, you felt good. I did a little interview there. Um, he was feeling good on loop one. He was very happy that he could take off his backpack. So he had, you, you did loop one with the hydration vest because you didn't have your hand. It was the only way

Kevin:

to carry enough liquid,

Angie:

right? And so you were kind of annoying. You're like, okay, this is just what we're going to have. You know, it's just, it's fine. It's good. It's what we're, it's going to happen. So he took off his hydration vest and was very happy to go into the handheld. Um, So we got the handheld refilled, everything loaded up, and then Kevin took off on Loop 2.

Kevin:

Right, my issue with the vest is not the weight. I've practiced plenty with the weight. I couldn't, and that's why I flipped my mind. I'm like, alright, if I just have to have the vest the entire time, then that's what I'm going to have to do. I have practiced so many times with it. I don't drink as much with the backpack as I do with a handheld because I can't tell how much liquid is still in there. I'm like, I feel like I've, I've drank at least a full handheld and I haven't, you know, cause by the time I got back and took it off after doing like 16 plus miles. There was way too much liquid in there based off of like when I cleaned it out later There was way too much liquid to still be in there

Angie:

Well to be fair when you did clean it out We had added ice to it in case you wanted to like come back and switch the handheld and take the vest back Okay, so we did add ice to it, but you had drank like When we filled it up, it was at about 1, 100 ish milliliters, and you drank it down to about 750. So you had only drank about 350 milliliters during

Kevin:

that time. Right, whereas over that entire loop, I should have drank the entire thing.

Angie:

Right. So, so, I mean, that's, and that's good to know, right? Like it's good to know that you Drink less because in when you do use the vest, you know in future races You you have to like force yourself to remind yourself that you're not drinking enough,

Kevin:

right? I mean on the first loop though. I was chatting with this guy like for the first nine miles because you hit aid station one at about Four ish and then you loop and you hit aid station one again at about nine ish And I was with this guy and so we're chatting and he seems to never be taking in fuel I kept sucking off my thing like everybody's got you know, their drink spouts wherever they are on their backpacks But no one else seemed to be eating anything. I'm like We all need to be eating fuel. What is going on? And I'm not great. Even with like gels and goos and stuff, I prefer to take a little walking break and just get that down and make sure I get it down with enough fluid. And so, at one point, I stopped to go to the bathroom in the middle of the woods and took some fuel and then I went and caught back up with them. But I'm like, are they not fueling at all? This seems like a really dangerous plan for them, but I think their plan was basically when they got to aid stations, they were fueling at those spots or I don't, I don't know. I have no idea.

Angie:

Well, I mean, and that's kind of what you did when you got to us that one time is you're like, I'm just going to eat everything here. Like I don't really want to take any food with me because food sounds terrible right now. So I'm going to take a couple extra minutes. I'm going to eat things here so that I can make sure to get in more calories and then I'm just going to take the grapes and the. The liquid with me.

Kevin:

Yeah. Because I took in an entire banana and I forget what else I took in at that stop. But like going out and running with a banana on the run, besides the fact that it would crack me up because that's the main fuel source of one of the guys that I coach is he runs his long runs while carrying a banana so he can eat it halfway through. Really? Yeah. Way to go, Peter. Um, and who was, who was following us despite living in the UK and I have no idea what time he was checking in on us. Um, but. Outside of that, carrying and eating a banana throughout the thing seemed like a poor idea. And they had bananas at the aid stations, but they were all green. And I'm like, that is way too much fiber. Where is your, like, spotted banana that's just basically sugar? It seemed, I don't know. So, yeah. Spotted

Angie:

bananas are gross, though.

Kevin:

I know, but they're all sugary. So, if you can, if you can get it down, it's better. Sugar content wise,

Angie:

for sure. Spotted, browner bananas are definitely better for you. Right. Um, okay, so Loop 2, do you remember any details on Loop 2?

Kevin:

I ran the entire thing solo.

Angie:

Okay.

Kevin:

Like, I was just by myself the entire time. Mm hmm. And towards the very end of it, and this was weird off of Yeah, no, no. Loop 1 I was with people until mile nine and a half, and then I ran the back half solo, found you guys, headed off on loop two. Because you

Angie:

had to tell the aid station guy that we found the water bottle.

Kevin:

Well, on loop one I stopped for four minutes. Oh, so that

Angie:

he could find it. Right, because he

Kevin:

wasn't there. He said, I'll be at aid station one. So I get to aid station one, there's a nice man there dressed as a dinosaur. I asked him, where was Cory? This is complete normal things at aid stations, so I asked the guy dressed as the dinosaur, who seemed like he was in charge.

Angie:

Well, meanwhile, okay, I have to interrupt you because Kevin was telling us on the way home yesterday that, like, at one aid station there was a lady dressed as a Care Bear that was also with sparkles, and there was a unicorn, and there's, and the girls are in the back listening to him, and like, Dad, are you sure you weren't just hallucinating? No,

Kevin:

100%. That was the unicorn aid station, and There was a guy dressed as a dinosaur, and once it hit nightfall, then the woman who had, like, spots of glitter all over her cheeks and stuff, she was dressed as the pink Care Bear. I don't know how that fit into the Unicorn Aid Station, but that's, that's who greeted you as you got to the aid station. Someone coming in should be like, Woo! Runner! And just so excited, whoever it was, that was the, that was the excitement. So, I get to the aid station and I'm like, is Corey here? And they kind of look at me like, how do you even know his name specifically? Because he was in charge of that aid station and they're like, um, he's supposed to be here, but Amy just took him that direction and she's one of the two race directors and I'm like, Alright, so now I've got to explain to these guys. I'm like, I have a handheld water bottle, but it doesn't have a cap. And Cory said that he might have a cap that goes on it. And they're like, well, he's somewhere that direction. I'm like, somewhere that direction? And then they pointed to, like, the woods. I'm like, okay, can you give me a little bit more guidance? And so Then thankfully he like popped out from around the side of a van and they're like there he is in the hat so I go over that direction to find Cory and He sees me and gets this look of shock on his face. Like oh, I did not realize he was gonna be here already Yeah, like oh wait,

Angie:

he's fast

Kevin:

Okay, and so he goes over and I'm thinking maybe he's gonna move with urgency none He just calmly walks over to his tent and goes into his tent and starts opening up bins and stuff and comes back out Awesome, but I am now like, all right, I was with this group of people and now I'm not with this group of people. So if you could find me something quickly, I could go back out and try and get to them. So I was at that aid station for like four to five minutes and he comes out and he goes, all right, I've got two water bottles. I think the cap on this one might fit yours. Nope, that doesn't fit. All right. What I can do. is give you this water bottle and you can just have this water bottle so it was fantastic he was just gonna give me a water bottle for the rest of the race yeah which was awesome

Angie:

so awesome and so generous and so but anyway we were talking about back to loop two you were by yourself

Kevin:

i was completely by myself until Way late in it and now runners are coming at me on the same trail. Okay, and remember the trail doesn't really like it's kind of like a figure eight of what you're doing, but there's a few stretches that I didn't quite notice exactly on the map where you're doing the same path, but going in opposite directions. And so I'm running along completely by myself. I can't see anybody in front of me or behind me. And now runners are coming straight at me. And I am not convinced that I'm not lost because. I'm in the middle of the woods. Yeah. And everybody that I see is going the other direction than I am. And I'm like, did you guys see anybody else going the direction I'm going? And they're like, no, we haven't seen anybody. I'm like. All right, well, I keep, I still see flags, so I'm just going to keep following the flag. So that was a little nerve inducing on lap two, but physically I still felt fine. I was still putting fuel down and still moving along.

Angie:

Yeah. And so you got back to us at like, after the second loop and you were at about 33 miles and you're like, I'm tired. And I was like, well, yeah, that makes sense. Like, you're like my legs, they're just. I'm just tired. I'm like, stomach? He's like, good. Head? Good. Like, we do like kind of a body check and he's just like, I'm just tired. I'm like, okay. Well, that makes sense. You've run over 50k. Like you're, you should feel tired. That's a normal thing right now. So time to keep moving. Like let's refuel you and keep going.

Kevin:

Yeah. I mean, I think every time you hit something that seems like a recognizable distance, your brain is, it starts counting. Yeah. And the challenge of an ultra is to. Recognize where you currently are and not start counting too far ahead of I finished lap two, but I have to do six laps I finished 50k, but this is a hundred miles Like you can't get too caught up in any of the the specific numbers where you currently are

Angie:

Yeah, I think it's much more helpful to Look back at what you've already accomplished versus looking ahead at what you have left to go It seems like that would be a way more helpful tactic. So We are going to take a pause right here in the story since we are kind of coming up on our normal Podcast time here and we're gonna say that this is the end of part one. So thanks for joining us for part one Full transparency. We weren't really sure how long this episode would be and so We kind of got to this point and had other things to do in real life, like make dinner and be parents and watch, watch the national championship. And the rest of the week is just super busy. So we wouldn't have time to get this out. In time for our regular Thursday release, so part one is now completed. Please stay tuned next week for part two where we kind of go through the second half. We haven't even made it to the halfway mark yet, because you will enjoy some of the fun stories about kind of how Kevin is at different points in the race because this is his third race now and so I've noticed Uh, trend in kind of his mood and what happens to him mentally throughout the races. So I will be sharing that next week as well. And you'll get to hear all about the middle of the race as, as we're nearing the end of the race, what, you know, loops three, four, five, and six were like for him. And then of course, the finish line of how he felt when crossing the finish line of his third 100 mile race attempt, second completion. So anywho, thanks for joining us. If this episode was helpful or you enjoyed it, please leave us a review on iTunes or Apple podcasts and share it on social media so that more people can find it. And as always, this has been the Real Life Runners podcast, episode number 394. Now get out there and run your life.