Dreaded DNF

Did Not Finish

I always thought those words would be hard to swallow.

El Scorcho marked my first DNF of my running life, however, I'm not finding it hard to accept.  My DNF was due to a choice to drop after stopping to help someone else.  I physically could have continued, but decided to call it a night to make sure Katie was OK and to ensure she was going to be ok.  We'll come back to the decision.

Katie and I arrived at the race site and quickly ran into Ben, who guided us to an area near the start/finish they had carved out to set up camp.  Katie and I organized our things, used the restroom, and nervously awaited the start of the 50K.  There was an excitement in the air as midnight neared.  When the horn sounded, I took off a little quicker than I should have, but wasn't pushing too hard.  It was hot and the sweat instantly began running out of my pores.  Although dark, most of the course was visible without a headlamp due to street lamps and ambient light from the full moon.

On the second loop I started running/chatting with another runner who was from Ft. Worth.  As we talked, the miles clicked off easily and we continued speeding up until we were clocking 7:58s.  I wanted to slow down to 8:15-8:30 for the first half, but the miles kept coming at around 8 no matter how much we tried to slow down.  After the 4th lap, I made sure I slowed down to 8:20-8:30 for my next couple miles.  As I neared the end of my 5th lap, I started to feel my legs getting heavy.  In addition to that, my hip was hurting a decent amount and I was beginning to feel some GI issues coming on.

I started weighing my options.  I knew I was in the top 10, but I wasn't sure exactly where.  I could continue my pace and most likely blow up around mile 25 or so.  I could back off the pace a little, suffer a lot, and hopefully hold on to a top 10 finish.  I clocked about a 2:07 for the first half and knew that even a 4:30 would likely get me into the top 10.  Lastly, I could back way off my pace and just cruise through the finish with minimal discomfort.  Or I could take the third option, but wait on Katie.  That option would make the second half of the run more enjoyable and I'd make sure I could get Katie through the finish line for her first ultra.  As an added bonus, it would allow me some time to get fluids back in my system, as I could tell I was pretty low.

(We know a lot of the same people, so my apologies to Katie if she didn't want people to know the details of her night)

When I arrived at where we had our things stationed, I stopped and waited.  Time went by.  I waited longer.  And longer.  I started worrying that I somehow missed Katie go by already.  Finally a little over 20 minutes later, she came in.  I asked her how she was feeling and she said "not good."  I told her what my plan was and she seemed happy that we'd be running together.  She mentioned that her stomach was upset and then almost immediately started vomiting.  We talked through how she felt and agreed that we could walk and run until her stomach settled and she was able to get fluids in her system.  I was worried about the amount of calories and water she lost from vomiting, but figured that if we took it easy enough, she could catch up enough to get through the race.  We jogged  slowly with a couple walking breaks for the first mile as Katie took in fluids and some salt tablets.

Shortly after the first mile, she vomited again.  I was really starting to worry about dehydration.  At the next aid station, she tried to stomach a single bite of a banana and some NUUN.  I thought that maybe the NUUN would help since it didn't contain sugar, however, that came up fairly quickly.  Around the 2.5 mile mark Katie had already vomited about 6 times.  I looked at her and said, "you are done."  She said, "I know," but i could hear the reluctance and disappointment in her voice.  The last six tenths of a mile was really tough for her.  She couldn't walk more than about 30 yards without having to sit down.  She was dizzy and continued vomiting.

Katie told me repeatedly that I could go on running, but I'd already made the decision that in her condition, if she had to drop, I was dropping.  It really wasn't even a decision.  There was no way I was going to leave her on her own in the condition she was in.  Even if I left her with the medical staff, I wasn't going to make her wait another 2+ hours for me to finish the race.  And in addition to that, I was mentally already out of race mode and my muscles had cooled down.  We found one of the race directors and let him know we were dropping out.

Even after the race, Katie continued to vomit.  There was nothing we could find that she could keep down.  She was so dehydrated that I could tell by looking at her.  She had lost that much weight from fluid loss.

In the end, a DNF is a DNF regardless of circumstances.  I was physically able to finish had I made the decision to continue on, however, the most important thing that night was not finishing and getting a shiny medal.  I'm completely comfortable with my decision to take my first DNF, even in retrospect.  It was the right thing to do.

DNF...I have unfinished business to take care of at El Scorcho 2012.