TJ's Wood's Ferry 24 Hr Run

I am happy to report that TJ surpassed his goal of 40 miles to log a total of 53 miles. He had an amazing race despite blisters on both feet and a few coordination issues with his mother/crew (she takes full responsibility for these :-)). Below is an e-mail that I sent as as a preliminary race report. A more fleshed out report will be posted as soon as I finish it as well as his own race report.

PMDUC - Proud Momma Delivered Ultra Content

I sent out an e-mail last week announcing that my son was going to run a 24hr race with a stated goal of 40 miles. I am happy to say he logged 53. But, where the proud momma content comes in is how he achieved this goal. Not only am I very proud for him...I am very impressed and possibly a little in awe...

The way he delivered the announcement that "I may have outgrown my trail shoes" only a few hours before the start set his tone for the weekend. He was not complaining or whining, he was just stating a fact. I informed him there was literally nothing I could do about this at this time. He now had only a few choices, run in them, run in his daily school shoes, or don't run. The choice had to be his. He said they were not exactly "too small" but that they "weren't exactly the right size either". He chose to run. I warned him that if they turned out to be too little he would have to pull from the race. They weren't binding his feet, but I do believe they were the biggest factor in his developing blisters on both feet.

I had told him that my only goal for him was that he have fun. This was his 16th birthday celebration after all. And it was his choice to celebrate it this way.

He had decided to start slow, to walk the first part of the loop in order to warm up slowly so he wouldn't crash later. He fully intended to use the full 24 hours provided. A few miles into the race I ran back to see how he was doing and he stated with a look of pure bliss that he loved the course. Seems, like his mother, he prefers single track.

I am going to post both my full crew report and his race report on my blog in the next few days if anyone is interested. Here I just want to give a quick (I know, already a little late for that) report about why I am so amazed at his performance.

By mile 25 he had blisters. I did not know this and had no way of knowing he was waiting at the far aid station for me to come along and tape his feet. I was waiting at the start line for him to come through. By the time he arrived he was hobbling. I told him to let me see his feet. He had a blister on the ball of each foot and also a ring of blisters at the base of each heel. I have had the same manifestation of blisters when my sock/shoe combo resulted in half a size less than I needed. I told him I would tape them and he could give another loop a try or he could call it a day as he had already logged 30 miles. He chose to go on.

I taped his feet and we set out on loop four. I could tell he was in a lot of pain, but not once did he whine or complain. He never uttered a negative word and when I would ask how he was doing he would smile and simply say "good". And he looked good, like he was truly having fun.

He kept this attitude throughout the rest of the race. He never complained, not even a whine, and continued to have a smile on his face whenever asked how he was doing. Being his mother I know how to read him and he remained honestly happy to be out there. And while he did take a couple of breaks in which he napped or sat a few minutes with his feet elevated while he took in calories at the aid stations he did not ever accept the offer to leave the course and take a real rest in the car or tent.

The most amazing moments for me were after we left the aid station at 6:00 am to head for the finish line. He was determined to not go over the 7:30 cut-off, and he was hobbling. He knew that he had been averaging nearly 2 hours on the back section due to his blisters and he was determined to beat this. He was in pain. The tape was helping, but the blisters were getting deeper and new ones were forming. Despite this he ran. He ran beautifully. I was finding it difficult to get far enough ahead of him to get in place to take pictures and shoot video. I was awestruck. I had to keep reminding myself that this amazing young man was my son.

He finished with time to spare and we quickly left to get him food and new shoes. While at Fleet Feet I noticed window decals. I searched through the basket until I came up with one that said "ultra" and one that said "run". I held them up and said they would look great on the car he is getting from his Granny. He smiled and said "that's cool".

Abi (Ultra Runner's Mom)