2015 FANS 24 Hour Race Report
Date of Race: 6/6/15
Weight on Race Day: 185 lbs.
Finishing Time: 24-hours (it was a timed event, not a set distance)
Distance Completed: 97.7 miles
Place: 9th in Men's 24-hour division, 12th overall out of 90 competitors in the 24-hour run
FANS 24-hour Endurance Run has played a pretty major part in my development as a runner. I first learned about FANS though a former Personal Training client, and a guy I now call one of my best friends, Tony Villano. When I first met him for his initial fitness assessment and he told me of this crazy 24-hour event he was training for. I hardly believed it could even exist. Not only did it exist, he was training for his 3rd attempt at it. He had run 85 miles the year prior, and goal for 2013 was 100 miles. Tony completed 89 miles that year, and then got his full 100 (100.9...if we want to be exact) in last years event.
FANS 2014 was my third ultramarathon, following the Chippewa 50k and Zumbro Midnight 50-mile. At my first attempt, I got 51 miles in before stopping with very bad blisters due to the wet and hot conditions on the course. Leaving the 2014 race with 51 miles was not a letdown, however. It was my longest distance to date, and I had gained some valuable experience that helped me put up a much better result at this year's FANS event.
The morning of the race I got to the course around 6:30am to set-up our tent and start sorting out supplies for the day. The FANS course is a 2.18 mile loop around Lake Snelling, so most participants have tents set-up for their crews to hang out and to keep their supplies and fuel. In my group we had my good friend, Jeremy Eckert and myself running; my fiance, Isabel, Jeremy's fiance, Savannah, Tony Villano, and his wife Tonya all crewing us. I could not have asked for a better group to help us on race day. Isabel was nice enough to take a time stamped diary of all of the details of each lap for Jeremy and I, including how we were feeling, what we ate, when we changed socks/shoes etc. This was very helpful in writing this blog and will be tremendously helpful in applying my FANS 2015 experience to next years event.
All of the divisions (6, 12, 24 hour) started at 8am. I started the race feeling a little bit sub par. It's overwhelming beginning an event of such a magnitude, no matter how prepared you are. My first couple laps I came in around 23 minutes, a little faster than what I was shooting for. My wheelhouse in order to keep a sustainable pace was between 25-27 minutes per lap. After about the first 10 miles going a little faster than I had planned, I was able to settle in for a good stretch of consistent 26 minute laps.
At lap 9 (11:47am) I started to feel the heat of the sun taking a toll on me, and at the first medical check weigh-in I was down 5 lbs. Dehydration was starting to take a toll, and I quickly started ramping up my fluid intake. From laps 9-14, I was feeling quite poor. My stomach was upset, and I was finding it difficult to eat anything. During this time I ate chocolate covered ginger (ginger is great for a sour stomach) and just kept forcing myself to take in fluid. I also put ice in my hat at the start of each lap, which felt amazing and helped me bring my core temperature back down. By the 15th lap, I was feeling much better and back to holding a consistent pace around 26 minutes per lap. From laps 15-30, I felt good and was running strong. At Lap 30 Tony laced up his running shoes and joined me for several laps, which was extremely helpful for keeping my pace consistent and keeping my mind of the fatigue. At this point it was about 10 pm and the sun had set. I found the night and the darkness to be very energizing. It had cooled off, and the focused feeling of only seeing what is in your headlamp directly in front of you was helpful in keeping me moving forward. Around midnight I made possibly my biggest mistake of the entire race. It started raining and I popped into the tent to do a sock change. The second I entered the tent, the light rain turned into a downpour, complete with thunder and lighting. The tent flooded, and we fought to keep water out and our supplies dry. The rain settled a bit after about 15 minutes, and at this point I went to change my socks. Taking off my socks revealed possibly the worst condition my feet have ever been in. I had blistered everywhere, from between and around my toes to the bottoms of my feet. This was partially due to the course conditions, but also due to some pretty major fluid retention I was experiencing which made my shoes a bit tight.
According to my second medical tent weigh-in, I had bloated up nearly 7 lbs. At this point, as much as I hate to admit it, I seriously contemplated throwing in the towel. I sat in the tent contemplating my next step until Tony came back after pacing Jeremy for a lap. He convinced me that if I just got back out there, the pain from the blisters would subside and I would be okay. I had lost about a half hour in the tent, waiting for the rain to stop and contemplating the remainder of the race. At this point I took Tony's advice and said I would do at least one more lap. After walking the majority of lap 36, my feet were starting to feel better. I got back to running, and started back to get back on 100 mile pace.
Around 4:30am, I started to become doubtful of making my 100 mile goal. I knew I had to speed up my laps slightly to make it happen, which felt near impossible at the time. My lap times had gone down to 28-31 minutes / lap, and I couldn't wrap my head around speeding up to below 27 minutes / lap. Looking back now, I could have pushed a little harder and got my lap times down, but at the time I couldn't convince myself it was do able. I still trudged on with Tony's help and encouragement. I was determined to finish out the full 24 hours, even if I didn't make my goal. During the final laps I could barely hold my head up, and found myself falling asleep while running, and eventually while walking during the short laps at the very end (during the last hour competitors can do .6/mi "short laps" that count towards total miles). When the race finished at 8am, I sat on the grass, put my head in my lap and fell asleep almost instantly. I did manage to down a few cups of coffee after that and stay awake for the post race awards breakfast. I had fallen short of my goal, but had finished the race near the top of the 24 hour division. While a bit disappointed overall, I felt satisfied and at peace with the result of my race. I was able to raise $739 for the FANS Scholarship Fund thanks to those that sponsored me for the event.
Side Note / Technicality -
At 2:40am, Isabel recorded lap 39, which according to the other records (all time stamped) was correct, however, after completing my next lap at 3:18am, the official told me that was lap 39. I could have sworn I ran lap 39 twice, and Isabel's records agree with this. I may never know the complete truth, but this lap would have put me at 99.8 miles, which would have meant I was half of a short lap from making my 100 mile goal (which I easily had time for at the end, but instead opted to use the restroom). I have clear recollection of one lap where, dispite yelling out my number to my lap counter twice, and I could not get a clear acknowledgement. This is likely the lap that got missed, if one indeed did.
Huge Thanks To The Following People For Helping Make This Experience Awesome:
- Tony Villano
- My Fiance, Isabel
- Tonya Villano
- Savannah Koehnen
- Jeremy Eckert
- Kurt Decker (his motivating sense of humor kept me going on my final few laps)
- Everyone who sponsored my run!
Gear:
- New Balance Fresh Foam Zante (wore for over half of the race)
- New Balance Fresh Foam Boracay (wore for a couple of laps...did not like the stiffness of these shoes and I quickly switched to the N1's)
- Pearl Izumi Trail N1 (wore 2nd half of the race) - North Face Shorts - Injinji Toe Socks
Nutrition:
- Tailwind Sports Drink (this was my go to nutrition for the whole race, I consumed 1 - 2 servings per hour)
- M&M's (consumed these at the air stations throughout the run)
- Old Chicago Pizza (they delivered this around 9pm. Tony convinced me to eat some, and it worked wonders..possibly just psychologically)
- Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans
- Chocolate Covered Ginger
Weight on Race Day: 185 lbs.
Finishing Time: 24-hours (it was a timed event, not a set distance)
Distance Completed: 97.7 miles
Place: 9th in Men's 24-hour division, 12th overall out of 90 competitors in the 24-hour run
 |
| Jeremy and I at the start line |
The morning of the race I got to the course around 6:30am to set-up our tent and start sorting out supplies for the day. The FANS course is a 2.18 mile loop around Lake Snelling, so most participants have tents set-up for their crews to hang out and to keep their supplies and fuel. In my group we had my good friend, Jeremy Eckert and myself running; my fiance, Isabel, Jeremy's fiance, Savannah, Tony Villano, and his wife Tonya all crewing us. I could not have asked for a better group to help us on race day. Isabel was nice enough to take a time stamped diary of all of the details of each lap for Jeremy and I, including how we were feeling, what we ate, when we changed socks/shoes etc. This was very helpful in writing this blog and will be tremendously helpful in applying my FANS 2015 experience to next years event.
At lap 9 (11:47am) I started to feel the heat of the sun taking a toll on me, and at the first medical check weigh-in I was down 5 lbs. Dehydration was starting to take a toll, and I quickly started ramping up my fluid intake. From laps 9-14, I was feeling quite poor. My stomach was upset, and I was finding it difficult to eat anything. During this time I ate chocolate covered ginger (ginger is great for a sour stomach) and just kept forcing myself to take in fluid. I also put ice in my hat at the start of each lap, which felt amazing and helped me bring my core temperature back down. By the 15th lap, I was feeling much better and back to holding a consistent pace around 26 minutes per lap. From laps 15-30, I felt good and was running strong. At Lap 30 Tony laced up his running shoes and joined me for several laps, which was extremely helpful for keeping my pace consistent and keeping my mind of the fatigue. At this point it was about 10 pm and the sun had set. I found the night and the darkness to be very energizing. It had cooled off, and the focused feeling of only seeing what is in your headlamp directly in front of you was helpful in keeping me moving forward. Around midnight I made possibly my biggest mistake of the entire race. It started raining and I popped into the tent to do a sock change. The second I entered the tent, the light rain turned into a downpour, complete with thunder and lighting. The tent flooded, and we fought to keep water out and our supplies dry. The rain settled a bit after about 15 minutes, and at this point I went to change my socks. Taking off my socks revealed possibly the worst condition my feet have ever been in. I had blistered everywhere, from between and around my toes to the bottoms of my feet. This was partially due to the course conditions, but also due to some pretty major fluid retention I was experiencing which made my shoes a bit tight.
According to my second medical tent weigh-in, I had bloated up nearly 7 lbs. At this point, as much as I hate to admit it, I seriously contemplated throwing in the towel. I sat in the tent contemplating my next step until Tony came back after pacing Jeremy for a lap. He convinced me that if I just got back out there, the pain from the blisters would subside and I would be okay. I had lost about a half hour in the tent, waiting for the rain to stop and contemplating the remainder of the race. At this point I took Tony's advice and said I would do at least one more lap. After walking the majority of lap 36, my feet were starting to feel better. I got back to running, and started back to get back on 100 mile pace.
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| Crewing a 24-hour race is hard work! Tony yawning..haha |
 |
| struggling to stay awake during short laps |
Huge Thanks To The Following People For Helping Make This Experience Awesome:
- Tony Villano
- My Fiance, Isabel
- Tonya Villano
- Savannah Koehnen
- Jeremy Eckert
- Kurt Decker (his motivating sense of humor kept me going on my final few laps)
- Everyone who sponsored my run!
Gear:
- New Balance Fresh Foam Zante (wore for over half of the race)
- New Balance Fresh Foam Boracay (wore for a couple of laps...did not like the stiffness of these shoes and I quickly switched to the N1's)
- Pearl Izumi Trail N1 (wore 2nd half of the race) - North Face Shorts - Injinji Toe Socks
Nutrition:
- Tailwind Sports Drink (this was my go to nutrition for the whole race, I consumed 1 - 2 servings per hour)
- M&M's (consumed these at the air stations throughout the run)
- Old Chicago Pizza (they delivered this around 9pm. Tony convinced me to eat some, and it worked wonders..possibly just psychologically)
- Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans
- Chocolate Covered Ginger
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