Road trip to NY and a 12 hour run

This by far was one of the most fun weekends I have ever had. My husband and I signed up for Mind the Ducks 12 hour race. This race was organized by Shelley Viggiano, who is a wonderful race director. The race could not have gone any smoother.

My goal for the year was to jump in feet first into something that I feared. What sounded like a good idea in January, scared the living daylights out of me the week before. I was having such a hard time wrapping my head around 12 hours. Doing anything for 12 hours is a long time. Even if I stood up for 12 hours, that’s a long time to do something.


I’m not a very good planner and organizer so getting myself ready for the race and making sure I had everything for the kids that would be spending time with their grandma (the older two) and my sister (the baby) was difficult. As an indicator, we had planned on putting our dog in the kennel and finally called them on Monday (4 days before we had to leave) and didn’t think about the fact that he didn’t have his latest shots and needed a kennel cough vaccine. We got it all done though, I think I work best under pressure and it all worked out.

Friday morning I took the day off of work and we dropped the kids off at 6:30 that morning. We had two other friends running with us (we conned them into going) so we met up with them and were on the road by 7:15ish. Three of us were barefoot/minimalist shoe runners and our goal of the trip was to convince Mark that he should join us…..but more on that later.

The road trip itself was so much fun. I’ve never laughed so much in one weekend. We all have very similar senses of humors so we found the most stupid and corny things humorous. Going through customs, it was hard to keep a straight face because we are all pretty juvenile and pointed out silly things to make each other laugh. I knew it was horribly inappropriate and we were supposed to be serious but those guys just make me giggle.



We did get stopped at Customs both times, coming into the U.S. for reasons I can’t totally divulge because that’s not my story to tell. It wasn’t too bad other than someone was told to get out of the car and it was while we were at the booth so following instructions, he got out of the car. What they really meant was, get out of the car *after* driving to the Customs building. He was sternly told to get back into the car. I was sure we were going to see him get tazed for non-compliance but things went smoothly after that. That was the stop going into NY. We were stopped again coming back into Michigan.

On our way through Canada, we stopped at Niagara Falls. Three out of the four of us had never been there before. It was a beautiful sight to see. To see the pure strength and rush of water was gorgeous. I love that it was spring time and everything was so green. I even got to see a double rainbow!



On par with our lack of planning, we didn’t have the proper maps after entering New York. We tried using the GPS on the phone but were having problems with the connection. Jason finally broke down and bought a map. After getting the map, I drove while Jason navigated the way. That’s a system that’s worked for us in the past. I say he can’t make quick turns and he says I can’t read maps and both are accurate : )

We finally got to our hotel. It was an Extended stay so it was great to have a little kitchen and coffee maker right in the room. We did a quick freshen up and stretch and we were off to Shelley’s house to meet fellow racers and aid station workers. I’ve talked to Shelley over the Internet and it was so nice to be able to meet her in person. She was so generous to invite us to her home for pizza and drinks. She truly went out of her way to make us all feel right at home and I can’t express my appreciation enough.

About 15 minutes before 9 (that night), Jason asked where he could purchase some wine for a wine-based iskiate. He had talked to others online about this. It’s basically mixing chia seed with wine to drink during the race. Again, we didn’t plan so well and should have purchased something before we got there because as it turns out wine can only be purchased at a liquor store in NY which closes at 9 p.m. We got directions from Shelley’s husband, Jim and made a mad dash for the store. I thought for sure we would make it but as Jason was walking up to the door the lights went off and he was waved away.

It turned out to be a very useful mistake as it turned out. We went to the gas station instead (where you can purchase beer and other drinks) and purchased Mike’s Hard Lemonade. It turned out to be a really good combination on race day for my husband Jason. I only took a sip at around hour 7 when I was really hurting. It seemed to help but I was afraid of getting too sleepy to try any more than what I did.

On the day of the race I woke up early. I don’t sleep very well if I’m not in my own bed and combined with race day nerves I was up at 4:30. I like not feeling rushed the morning of, so it was nice to have time to linger and get ready. The day was supposed to be fairly warm, some wind but overall a really good race day. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to wear shorts or a racing skirt. I hadn’t actually tested out the skirt for a long run but it felt so comfortable and light weight that I decided to wear it and had no problems at all with it during the run.

Pre-race I took my usual chia/flax combination drink and we stopped for coffee, I got a mocha and a bagel with cream cheese. The great thing about running/walking for 12 hours….you don’t care what you eat because you’re burning so many calories. The food alone makes the running worthwhile.

Heading into the race I was still in denial that it was a 12 hour event. I felt really good that morning. We all lined up at the start and we were off! My legs felt really good. I was glad I was having a good morning because the last two weekends, the run was really difficult. I don’t know if it was the weather or the event or fellow runners but everything was feeling like you want it to feel at the beginning of a race.

At the start I was racking my brain on what my strategy was going to be since this was my first time running or moving for so long. I couldn’t decide when I should start walking because I knew I wouldn’t be able to run the entire way. I was also trying to think of when and how to take breaks to eat and rehydrate. I basically had no plan and was going with it and would make decisions along the way.

The first couple of hours felt great. My name was at the top of the leader board and I knew it wouldn’t be staying there for long. It kind of freaked me out that it was there at all. I began to worry that I was running too fast and started second guessing myself. I didn’t have to worry for long because my name dropped quickly.

Around hour 3 or 4 I started to think about the fact that I had 8 or 9 hours left. Sure I felt good now but how in the world was I going to keep going for that long? I had a lot of conversations in my head about this. Should I make it a goal to reach a marathon and see how I feel? Should I make 30 miles and then stop? I thought about a lot of options but I am stubborn and determined and didn’t want to stop. Plus, I had 3 other racers there. What was I going to do if I did stop?

Around this point (things get fuzzy) I decided I should conserve some energy and walk for a bit. I didn’t know how this was going to work out for me and I still struggle with my decision to walk before I felt like I absolutely had to. Rethinking it I think I should have kept running until I felt I couldn’t run and then walk but then I think well, if I walked early I would have more energy to run later on. As it turned out the transition from running to walking and back to running was really flipping tough for me.

I don’t remember how many laps I walked but I did transition back to running but like I said it was really tough. I ran for as long as I could and went back to walking. I think this was around the halfway mark (6 hours). I couldn’t fathom running and I physically couldn’t do it but I also didn’t think I could walk for 6 more hours. Talking with fellow runners was a huge help when I was getting fatigued because it gave me a nice distraction. I talked to many fellow runners at different points along the race. I am really grateful to them.

At some point after much walking I talked myself into running. It was so hard! It took every ounce of mental toughness and lots of talking myself up to get them going again. It was strange but I was getting my second wind. I decided to run with it as far as I could and managed to run a few more miles. I ran a few other times in between as much as I could, which wasn’t as much as I would have liked. I kept setting small goals for myself and once I would reach those I would set another. For example, I wanted to make it to 26.2 miles, then 30miles and so forth.

Somewhere in the middle, Mark , who was also running his first ultra was hurting. He took off his shoes and ran in his injinji socks. Our plan was working! He ended up running for about 18 miles in his socks and said he doesn’t think he would have made it to 50 miles if he hadn’t taken his shoes off. I think we have a convert!

It was a really strange feeling for me towards the middle. My mind mentally was feeling great but my body was really hurting. I knew if I was strong enough mentally I could push my body to continue forward. I almost felt disconnected with my body but in a good way if that makes any sense at all.

The people at the aid stations are the most friendly people I think I have ever met. They were such a good cheering section to have coming around the laps. I love the atmosphere that surrounds ultras. I noticed this first when my husband starting running them and am still amazed and inspired by how truly encouraging people are. Maybe it’s the combined pain and toughness everyone is experiencing whether you are fast or slow you are all in it together.

I also loved watching the elite runners. WOW! Can they run and run fast. I cannot fathom running as fast as they do for 1 hour much less for 12. They are so humble and truly inspirational!

Towards the end I saw my husband. I asked him if he was going to walk or run to the end and lucky me he was walking so we got to walk the last hour and a half together. People commented on us walking together and I told them this was our date night since we didn’t have the kids with us. I still think we’re a bit crazy. Most people hire babysitters to go out or to sightsee. We got babysitters so we could run a 12 hour race together.


I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend! It was so great walking in at the end with my husband. It was a great feeling. I was getting really close to 40 miles so I made it my goal to make it to 40 and made it a little extra by getting to 40.196 miles (I thought it was 41 but I have poor math skills).

I have things I would do differently and learned a ton. I am hoping to continue to improve and enjoy myself. I know now that I can push myself and probably push even harder if I believe in myself enough.

Our ride back to Michigan wasn’t as painful as I worried it would be. We did get a night’s rest at the hotel before heading back the next day. I was worried about cramping up and other than getting in and out of the car, it wasn’t too bad. I can’t believe how much better my recovery is since I transitioned to Vibram’s.

We did get stopped at Customs again on our way back into Michigan. I bought my two older kids hollow chocolate eggs with a toy inside. They have a similar thing in our grocery store but the egg isn’t edible so I thought they would really like this. After getting stopped I noticed they walked back in carrying the eggs. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why they would take those. It turns out they had to inspect them because of their hollow center. Sadly, they made us open them up in front of them and leave them there. I remembered to get my kids something during the trip and it was the one thing they confiscated. Odd thing I noted afterwards: I had 4 or 5 pacifiers in the back that were my for my youngest son and they lined them all up. They were tidy searchers I guess : )

I know I wasn’t as prepared as I would like to be. I knew it would be tough for me during the school year to train. Some people are much more disciplined and I know that’s not me, at least during the school year.

I’m not sure if you ever really feel like you’re totally prepared or not but my hope is to train more and see where it takes me. I’ll have all summer and hopefully I’ll be ready to tackle my next challenge which is the North Country Trail Marathon in August (hopefully barefoot!) and a 50k trail race in September.

Even with the shared pain we as a group were able to laugh and continue to enjoy ourselves. This was an experience I will never forget!