I was told by the race director that each runner would hit a wall and feel tremendous pain and want to quit. At this point it would be comfortable to just stop. He made it clear to remember the commitment you made to people and just to put one foot in front of another and just keep moving forward.

I had started to experience chaffing and some blistering in my big toes. I had to just grit it out with only 44 miles or so to go. My knees then started to swell and hurt which made it hard to bend them and lift them over the roots and rocks. I fell down 6 times but I kept getting back up. Going down the steep hills with the mud I had to take it slow because of the pain in my knees. I pushed on with my pacers. One of my pacers gave me some walking sticks and they helped me get up the hills with less leg pain and strain. They also helped me get through the slick mud as I attempted to turn on my headlamp for a long night in the muddy trails of Mohican. When I was a mile out from finishing the third loop my knees continued to stiffen up and I was unable to run without severe pain but I was able to still walk.

As I thought about the final loop of 24 miles I realized that it was now or never. Other racers had taken a 20 minute nap to rest and could not get back up and quit. I had to get up and get moving before I stiffened up. I slowly pushed up from the bench to stand up and felt tremendous pain and stiffness on my knees like never before. It was like sharp nails in my knees. It would have been easy to have stopped at this point. I had done a lot of damage at this point but I was determined to finish what I started. I started walking and remembered what the race director said “one foot in front of another and just keep moving.” As I got going the legs loosened up and after 10 minutes I felt a surge of energy and reduction in pain in my knees.

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