Nocturnal Missions

I'm not getting a ton of sleep lately.

No, this picture was not taken at night.
It's a little more interesting when you see something other than dark.

Weeks ago, I'd signed on to pace with my friend Rich for a few hours on Saturday night as he ran 24hrs as his annual fundraiser for Grand River Hospital's Cancer Centre, starting at 6am on October 24th. You can still donate up until November 14th, so GO DO THAT. You know I'll still be here!

Our awesome friend Debbie was taking the final shift from 1am til 6am (or whenever he reached 100 miles, as he'd set that incredible goal for himself as well), but I was booked in from 9pm til 1am. I showed a bit of sense for once and didn't run down to the farmers' market on Saturday morning - though we did go, of course - and made sure I was at Rich's meeting point by 8:30pm in case he came in a bit early from a loop.

By the time I hooked up with him, he was down to more of a fast walk than running; the pavement had taken its toll on bones and joints, but forward motion is forward motion. I threw on an extra layer - especially as his prior pacer Kristy warned me it was colder than it seemed out - and off we went.

Meandering along

I find Rich very easy company, so the time just flew by. Between the 7km road loop he'd laid out and the 10k out-and-back on some trail (...ish. Some of it was more "rutted mud off the end of a road that hasn't really been built yet") on which we started off, there was no opportunity to get bored, especially as we had some really interesting conversations. Some of them may come up in a future blog post or two - stay tuned to find out!

Ok, I might have lied about the dark shots not being interesting - I'm quite fond of this one.

Partway through the 7k road loop, I badly needed to use a washroom; fortunately there's an Esso station with a Circle K convenience store attached, and I was wearing my vest - in which I always keep a self-sterilizing mask in a small baggie. Rich offered to do some laps around the gas station to wait for me so he could stay in motion, but I told him just to carry on (after making sure I knew which way he was going!) and I'd catch up.

Nothing truly captures my glamorous lifestyle like a gas station bathroom selfie at 25mins to midnight on a Saturday night.

Of course the only running (apart from a dozen steps to cross a road ahead of an oncoming car) I did in the course of my time with Rich had to be up a big hill. Fortunately my legs seemed to be up to it, and I hope I didn't hold him up too much. We did one more partial road loop before heading back to the rendez-vous point with Debbie, who passed us in her car just before we reached it around 12:50am. Not bad timing! All told we'd done around 21km in a bit less than the 4 hours we'd planned, which is some pretty solid walking.

A bit of the road loop, partly through a residential area.

As we traded up pacers, Debbie let us know she'd been out in the afternoon with Charlotte at Huron Natural Area - she was doing a 48hr run as a fundraiser for Impossible2Possible, an amazing charity that provides experiential learning programs (adventures, really) to students of all ages as a way to help them push beyond what they believe is possible for themselves. Knowing that Charlotte is an incredible runner, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep up with her, but I figured it would be worth stopping by for an hour or so to see if she needed another pacer or any other help.

Because we were just around the corner, we arrived bare minutes after 1am.

As Charlotte was out on her 150th lap (1 mile per lap)

All was not terribly well. She had her boyfriend Marcin (not 100% sure about the spelling on that) and Brian W. crewing, with Monica W. pacing her, so she was well taken care of...but highly uncharacteristically, Charlotte was down to a walk. It turns out there had been an incident involving some muscle strain that had messed up the attachment points of some of the prime movers for running, so she was now marching her way through the cold night air with her trekking poles.

Here's the thing: that sounds like it would be easier, but the impact and muscle engagement of walking beats your body up in a completely different way than running, and few people are well-trained to walk for dozens of miles at a time. Not to mention, the sleep deprivation was becoming an issue, as well as some stomach upset (possibly due to some fresh peppers on the wraps she'd been eating). Cold, exhausted, unable to eat or to run, Charlotte was not necessarily having an enjoyable time.

There was also no heated shelter tent like Clay had, though there was a propane stove to heat water.
(Tank leans over with Brian and Monica behind - Marcin at right)

Throwing on an insulated jacket (always bring an extra layer. ALWAYS.) and joining in the fun, Monica and I tried to keep Charlotte drinking and chatting as much as possible, but Char actually told us as we set out for another lap "You two just talk and I'll follow the sound" - not a great indication of her mental state. She battled drowsiness and cold, as we kept trying to find things she could tolerate to get calories in: I remembered I'd made a thermos of vegan hot chocolate that was in the car, and the three of us split it between us when we came in from a particularly difficult lap. Charlotte had to change out her headlamp as the battery died on her Black Diamond one, and hated the way the Petzl one sat on her head over the toque she'd donned to keep warm.

I ran ahead to get her BD headlamp on charge, and she changed to a warmer jacket in between laps. She tried to get her head down for a 10min nap, but was unable to sleep as the cold crept inside her clothes and kept her shivering. She wasn't the only one, either: I had to change from the gloves I'd worn comfortably while pacing with Rich into a pair of mittens, and then finally put on a pair of stretchy "magic" gloves under the mittens to keep my fingers from freezing. 

By 3am the cold had claimed another victim: Brian was in really bad shape, and Monica had now gone two hours beyond the 4 hours she'd originally intended to pace. Monica asked if I was good to hang out, and honestly I felt fine - ok, I'd had a small blister on the back of my left heel since before I finished up with Rich, but I was still wide awake and my legs were just fine. She said she'd try to come back after getting Brian home, but it would be awhile as they lived in north Waterloo. No big deal.

Poor chilly Tanker is learning that "oh, we'll just go to Huron for an hour" is a lie.
There is no single hour at Huron.

Marcin joined us for a couple of laps, which gave me someone new to chat with to try to keep Charlotte awake and engaged - it turns out he's from Mississauga, which is where I grew up, so we were familiar with a lot of the same places. What wasn't as helpful was that he'd walk on ahead at his own pace while Char and I fell behind, then sit down on one of the big landscaping rocks at the side of the trail to wait for us to catch up. That got Charlotte thinking about how nice it would be to sit, or even lay down on the trail. I told her nope - the rocks and trail had teeth, and they'd bite her if she tried to sit or lie down. I was ok with her getting a nap in if she needed to, but at the pavilion under as many blankets as I could muster; not out in the dark woods. She'd stop and lean on her poles from time to time, trying to fight off the drowsiness that threatened to overtake her.

Coming in from another lap, Char decided she wanted a cup of flavoured instant coffee, and would wait for it to be ready; there was always a pot of water on the stove, so I could fill her water bottle with warm water and keep it in the pocket of my insulated jacket to keep it from going cold. She sat down on the bench of a picnic table and asked for a blanket; laying back and covering herself from feet to the top of her head. I threw my extra down jacket (where possible, bring TWO extra layers, folks!) on top of the blanket, and suddenly she was out like a light. Marcin asked if she'd said she wanted a nap, and I said she hadn't but she was getting one anyway. We'd wake her in 15mins.

Seven minutes later she suddenly sat up and asked about the cup of coffee, which had gone cold by then - Marcin re-heated water, she poured the cup of coffee into her and changed into a warmer jacket, and then she was up and we were on our way again.

I deeply regret that this is the only photo I got of Charlotte herself all night.
In my defense, it's the only time she sat still!

We walked through the night as frost sparkled in my headlamp, the bright moon having fallen below the treeline. We finally managed to get Charlotte eating again by pulling out Tanker's ubiquitous big bag of popcorn and filling a zipper baggie with it for her to take with her. The best part was that she'd put her poles under her left arm when she pulled the bag out of her pocket, and clutch it against her chest with her mittened left hand while she ate with her right hand. I had opened a pair of chemical hand warmer packets and stuffed them into the map pocket of Char's puffy jacket (she wouldn't take my advice to stuff them in her bra; trust me IT WORKS) - when she hugged the popcorn to her, the hand warmers would flood her core with a pool of warmth. 

We chatted about all sorts of things, including the mentality of hard days (and nights) on the trail. I made her laugh hard enough she had to stop and lean on her poles at one point when she spoke of how it's not always a walk in the park - to which I responded "even when it IS a walk in the park". I felt kind of bad because it halted all progress for a moment, but it was wonderful to have her laughing. Charlotte has always been a relentlessly upbeat person, which I'm certain is one of the reasons she's had so much success running distances that most people shudder to even contemplate. 

The miles ticked by, as did the dark hours until the sun would rise again. Char had started at 7:45am Friday morning, and was really struggling to stay awake in spite of having perked up enough to run a bit of one lap after the nap and coffee. As I approached the pavilion at a run (to get something or other ready for Charlotte when she arrived), I saw someone standing beside Tank, outside the pool of light cast by the shelter - skinny legs in tights, baggy shorts overtop, gaiters, and a brightly multicoloured hat that noone could ever mistake. Just as the last of the popcorn had run out, Ron Gehl had showed up! 

Now around 5am, I was still feeling ok, but poor Tank was frozen. I'd told him to go try to nap in the car, but he was too chilly to sleep (despite pulling our fleece emergency blanket out of the trunk and wrapping himself up in it) and Ron had peered in the car with his headlamp when he arrived, eliminating any chance he'd be able to snooze. I went out for another lap with Ron and Charlotte to make sure that she would be ok if I left her with him, and it was fantastic to see her perk up in Ron's company; I know the two of them have run together for years, through some pretty tough days, and Ron's dirty old man energy can be the absolute best thing to get you moving when the midden has hit the windmill. 

Charlotte was feeling hungry now; she'd had nothing but popcorn for hours, which helped settle her stomach but didn't really fill her up. So, I offered what I could think of; there were some mini muffins at the aid station, and she said that sounded good. I ran ahead to get the paper peeled off one (by Marcin; I couldn't manage it in my mittens) for when she arrived, gave that one to her as she passed and was delighted to hear she'd take another one. I got Marcin to peel the other one, then ran to catch up and was so happy to see she'd eaten all of the first one. The second went down the hatch just as quickly, and I knew that Char would be just fine. I ran the last minute or so of one final lap (I did 9 in total - around 15km) so I could get a bottle filled and warm water, just as the clock ticked past 6am. A friend of Char's that had been out the previous afternoon had showed up in the meantime, so I made sure she had the bottle as she got set to start pacing for the next lap. I bade Charlotte farewell, patting her chest and telling her to remember that she had warmth there if she needed it, gathered up my kit and headed for home.

Along with my incredible, patient, and long-suffering husband.

To be honest, I didn't actually feel that bad - I was still awake and moving just fine, even when I'd run in the end of a lap to prepare things. I could likely have finished off the night, but Tanker needed to go; there were now other people to take care of pacing and crewing, but there was only me to ensure my sweetheart got the hot food and warm bed he so desperately needed.

I heard later from Charlotte that the last couple of hours went great; as she perked up with more calories in her, she was even able to run again! She finished off the 48hrs with a total of 262km, while Rich was able to blow away his fundraising goal of $8,000 by raising more than thirteen and a half thousand dollars for Grand River Hospital's Cancer Centre and completing his 100miles just after 7am!

Photo credit to Agnes J.

Me? Well, I went home for a snooze in a nice, comfy bed (for a smidge over 4 hours, as we had some plans for the afternoon). I'm so proud of my incredible friends for their accomplishments, and so happy I could make my own tiny contribution to their success.

Oh, that photo at the top? That was snapped on the little trot I went for just before sunset on Sunday evening. I hadn't really run much over the weekend, so why not? Tank was even sweet enough to drop me off at a trailhead, then pick me up at the other end so I could do a point-to-point.

I mean, I hadn't run since I got out of bed that day.

I just better not ask if he wants to stop by Huron for an hour any time soon..