Iron Horse 100, the quit point and brick walls.........

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” - Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture


This last weekend I once again competed in one of my favorite events the Iron Horse 100. Not so sure why I keep coming back since I cuss the rocks every time and have nightmares about the eternal straight out and backs and out and backs, etc. It's probably because the RD Chris Rodatz is a great guy and good friend, it is local and easy to get to and that I always get to see so many people I know there. I have now run the 100-mile 3 times, the 100k once and served as Med director once. Erin has served as Med director twice and crewed most years. This year she served as Med director and crew for 3 people and was quite busy doing both.

Iron Horse and many "Very small Rocks"
(courtesy of Marc Taylor)

The Mighty Tresell
(courtesy of Marc Taylor)

Iron Horse 2012 was special as the race is growing and so many of my Florida peeps, my New York brother Tony Portera, as well as Canadian family members Kathy, Jeff and Nathalie all made the journey for a humid but overcast race. The field made the competition much better and the weather increased the carnage factor quite a bit including sending the winner to the hospital after smoking the course record in 15h40m. As many would learn the humidity of Florida is deceiving and salt and hydration an often tricky task.

Myself, Kathy Adams and Tony Portera at the start

I came into the race with an injury, early achilles tendinitis, not so wise I guess but oh well. I have learned, for me at least, the ability to push through these things and that they ALWAYS mend on the backside so there was no stopping. I cannot and will never speak for anyone else but do believe there are many quit points in life. The times when it would be easier to choose not to complete something in front of us so we do not. I have seen this far too often in races. Fear of having to walk, fear of putting out a "bad" time or worries about performance in the next race 3 months later. That all makes complete sense, but last time I checked most ultrarunners do not run for a living and will not be penalized for having to recover after laying it all on the line. This of course does not include anything that involves putting yourself in true harms way medically, as a Physician I can say that is just plain silly. The mind becomes very powerful when it gains the confidence of pushing through our perceived limits. As I sat at the pre-race briefing in Leadville in 2008, then RD Ken Chlouber said something that has stuck with me everyday since. He told everyone, "Before you decide to quit the race tomorrow, outside of medical necessity of course, just remember you will wake up the next 364 days and remember what you did not complete and wonder if you could have and should have. "

I have become much keener as I participate in races getting an appreciation for everyone that is out there and seeing the grit and determination in their eyes. The beauty of ultras is you almost always get a smile and "great job" from every runner you pass no matter how they are feeling, now that is awesome. I often have people thank me for looking so strong and being supportive of them as they pass by, which means more to me than I can express. I try to embrace the moment and stay as positive as I can, trust me there is a lot of pain behind that smile most the time, especially in the later stages. For me Iron Horse was a good race all in all, second fastest hundred at 18h40m and a solid 4th place with a great group of folks and solid field of runners. More importantly I watched several people push through the perceived "quit point" and based on some of the Facebook posts I have seen it will be impactful for sure. As Ray Zahab says, "It is 90% mental and the other 10% is all in your head".

Ouch but improving already

My tendinitis is a bit worse for wear now but this too in time will pass. I cannot say how proud I am of all the people I saw yesterday conquering their own races. As I have said before, I have a lot of good friends with very bad ideas. Those "bad" ideas have helped me become better and stronger mentally and physically and helped me stay out of the comfort zone instead of being protected by it.