The Dailey Edge Podcast
Join hosts Trent, TJ, and Todd Dailey as they explore the intersections of technology, culture, fitness, and personal growth. Through engaging discussions and personal anecdotes, the trio dives into topics ranging from childhood gaming nostalgia and cutting-edge fitness tech to the pursuit of happiness and lifestyle choices. Whether reminiscing about epic gaming marathons, sharing tips for staying on the forefront of fitness trends, or unraveling the complexities of modern life, The Dailey Edge delivers thoughtful insights, lively debates, and relatable stories for listeners of all walks of life.
The Dailey Edge Podcast
Episode 21: The Full Monon: Running a 50K Through Indiana's Historic Rail Trail
The Daily Edge team recounts their personal experiences running the Fulmo 50K, offering an intimate look at what it's like to run the entire Monon Trail from Sheridan to Indianapolis.
• Race morning jitters and pre-race preparations at Greeks Pizza in Sheridan
• The peaceful, tree-canopied first 9 miles as runners settle into their pace
• Encountering different vibes across each town: Westfield's sports culture, Carmel's business district, and Broad Ripple's energy
• Strategic fueling approaches using SIS gels, Clif Bloks, and tailwind at aid stations
• The mental boost from family support at the mile 21.6 aid station
• Hitting unexpected walls - from hamstring lockups to running out of water in the final miles
• The community feel at the Bottleworks District finish line with recovery stations and personalized attention
• Inspiring stories of fellow runners, including a 17-year-old's first ultra and a father pushing his daughter's stroller for 31 miles
Sign up for next year's race at FullMo.com, where we'll have expanded bathroom facilities at the start and an even better race experience for our growing community of ultra runners.
Welcome to the Daily Edge, where we bring you the latest insights we're going to focus. We've talked a lot about the Fulmo and running ultras, and today's going to be about the Fulmo. I know we spent some time here, but back in January I at the time reluctantly committed to running this thing and mainly to support TJ. But when you get stuff on the radar, you kind of work through it, and so we're going to talk about the race today from a runner's perspective. Me and Todd both ran it. Tj can chime in from his perspective as the race director, but wow, what an incredible experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, let's kind of start out in the morning. You know, for me from a race director's perspective we normally get up around 3, race starts at 6. I'm sure I had different nerves than both of you. You both obviously had goals, but we get up there in punches. So we get to this Greeks pizza up in Sheridan and we have the biggest field we've ever had We've talked on prior podcasts like a hundred and I think 170 signed up. We had a few deferrals for 20 deferrals and we had 130 people roughly at the start line.
Speaker 2:This was the first time we had started the race at Greeks, so they, as well as we, were not quite sure how well the facility would be able to handle the number of people.
Speaker 2:From a just hanging out perspective, I think it was phenomenal. We had way more room in there than we've ever had in venues past. What we didn't anticipate, nor did they, was the restroom situation and that threw us our first, I guess, curveball. So you know, from your guys' perspective as runners, we ended up pushing back the start, I think 13 minutes. Luckily we are, a race of our size can do that, because we had four lines at four different restrooms inside of the of the location. So we pushed it, you know, 13 minutes. What did that do? What kind of nerves did you guys both bring to the race and did that do anything to exacerbate them? Or did that give you a little bit more time to kind of lock in? How were you guys feeling that morning with everything going around going on and kind of what was the energy that you guys were feeling from that situation or in general?
Speaker 1:I really didn't notice it. In particular, I didn't think it was a big deal at all. I mean, I think you've developed these races and centered these races around the runner's experience, and the reason you did that is because people were still in lines at the bathroom. So I mean to me, I think I would have had more anxiety if you were rushing people out of there who were trying to hit the restroom before they were running and they were getting to the start line rather uncomfortable. Yeah, it didn't add any nerves for me. You know, I thought about a couple of things. Just obviously, the people at the aid stations were going to be there a little bit longer, but very, very minor relative to somebody that's starting on over a 31 mile journey. You want them to be comfortable and not being able to hit the restroom prior to that, I think it was a very small adjustment relatively. I hardly felt it, for, I think, the extent of the benefit that it gave everybody, I'm assuming you as a race director, right? You, you looked a little tense about it, sure. And you, I think that's just normal, right? You? You want everything to be perfect and and it never is.
Speaker 1:I, I was just hanging out with friends, so, like to me, I didn't even really notice it, we were just chatting, more than one. I to laugh, cause I was I had this moment where I was standing in Greek's pizza and I was looking around and, like runners are an eclectic group, like the neons, the, I mean everybody had all the gear on. You talk about laying out your stuff the night before and I was at Todd's house and was laying out everything for the race and it was like I mean it was four, four feet long, you know, the shirt, the shorts, the. I had two different packs on, one for my phone, one for the, the gels. I had the gels laid out, I had the headphones laid out, I had the, the nipple shields out, which, unfortunately, me and Todd both got to the the beginning of the race and like we forgot, and like that's a huge nono, we found some scotch tape from one of the owners there, which was nice.
Speaker 1:But you know, I think that's again it's a learning experience. I think it was a great starting place. It was a big place, it was better than what we've probably ever had in the past. I've been to, I think, one or two of the different mornings in the restroom, just getting some porta potties out there at start, because you realize you got 100 plus people there and all of them want to use the restroom before they start running, and so, again, I don't think it impacted the race at all and it was a really cool setup.
Speaker 2:Well, great news and this is a testament to just the community and the people around. After the start we were talking to the owner of Greeks. Corey had a conversation and they were like, yeah, and I had one earlier, we're going to have businesses close around, open up as well, and then, of course, one of our friends has offered to add some porta potties to the start. So we'll probably have 10 to 12 bathrooms next year versus four, which is huge. So I think you know where I want to take this is.
Speaker 2:I would love to break this down kind of the way we've broken this down from a metal series perspective. So we're going to release metals over the next couple of years that represent these different portions of the Monon. So I want to walk through each of these portions with you guys as it relates to your particular experience, and as we get down further, maybe we can talk about some other people. But so the first experience is Sheridan, and you know, take me through coming out of the, the alley and heading right on main street and kind of thoughts and and experiences. You know you're kind of experiencing the sunrise, Like. Take me through your thoughts and feelings, uh, through Sheridan and down to, let's call it, Grand Park.
Speaker 1:For me, the word that comes to mind is fresh. It was just after 6 in the morning. It's not a heavily trafficked area. Even when we got on State Road 38, I didn't see a car. You're on there for maybe a quarter mile which was coned off and and great Um. And then as you you turn left and and got on the Monon, um, obviously a lot of greenery, a lot of trees, a lot of farm area there. It wasn't. It just felt fresh, um, that clean morning feel. Um, that's the word that comes to mind. The word I would use is peaceful.
Speaker 1:You just kind of like anytime I think you're running in the morning, it's just like there's just a calmness about it. You're mentally settling in for a long day. The first two or three miles for me is just trying to wake my body up, and so I think you're always a little uncomfortable, to make sure, because you guys know if you settle in, the difference between settling in at an 830 and an 850 is really just kind of where you get yourself out of the jump right, you can push yourself a little bit, but not trying to go too hard because you don't want to bury yourself. So I was spending the first couple of miles doing, doing that, but then just settling in the and I don't know how many miles. How many miles is it to Westfield from Sheridan?
Speaker 2:Roughly nine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the first 10 miles that's that's kind of what I was going to say was just like, did that just happen? Like are 10 miles gone? Like it's just beautiful. The trail is incredible, the trees overhanging, the, the sun rising. You know, on your left, um, the guy taking pictures in the Creek that you couldn't see, he kind of scared us like Whoa, like it was down like a ditch.
Speaker 2:That was kind of cool, um he got some great, really good, picture of you at sunrise sunrise yeah, I saw that, it's fantastic.
Speaker 1:Um, and then the people standing there already, just like you know, kind of looking for traffic on the first couple of intersections, was nice and there wasn't a lot of cars, it was just the first 10 miles were just like. This is awesome so where okay?
Speaker 1:I was gonna add it was a great offset, I think, just for the start of a race. You think about that. Um, I agree with trent, I think that's also a great word is peaceful, Because generally when you're starting a race, there's, you know, there's a little bit of anxiety. There's you know what's gonna, what's the day gonna be like. There's, you know you're trying to settle into your pace, so you're breathing a little hard. You don't do a lot of warming up for ultras, so naturally, I think from a physiological perspective it's heightened, and so to have that setting offset that it's just a really perfect place to start of the four segments.
Speaker 2:So early on, you know you, I think we're probably in a little bit more of no man's land, because you were kind of right at that seven flat little lower pace, yeah, um, and you had, we had some guys go out really hot, um, and and so for you, um, when it comes to like the social aspect of it, was there anybody that you were running with or was it just kind of again, like you said, um, settling in? You know where was your head the first 10 miles?
Speaker 1:yeah, I, I was pretty lasered in Um. I did pick up someone, um I want to say his name was Chris.
Speaker 2:I should uh yeah, it was Chris. Uh yeah, his last name is just an F, it's F O U K E. I just know how to pronounce it, yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, which was great. We spent a few miles together there before I filled up my water bottle at the water station there. Um near Chatham. Um, that was great. But yeah, for me it was mostly solo Um, in that in that particular segment I picked up, picked up someone later on in the race. Um, yeah, I would say it got um pretty isolated out there. But again, the setting for me that was a um, that was an enjoyable thing, I think, especially when you're running in a race, you're managing your cardio and when you're talking and having conversations, sometimes that can be counterproductive. I do a lot of my training runs solo so I'm used to that. I had music. I usually don't use music in training runs, but I do use music in races, so there's a little bit of company that comes with that too. So yeah, that was okay for me, but it certainly was doing a lot of solo miles.
Speaker 2:Well, really quickly shout out to me Howard for the photos. Those were phenomenal. I wanted to go back and touch on that for you. I think you picked up one of our five-time finishers, thad Blossom, pretty early on. Uh, how did that first 10 miles go for you guys?
Speaker 1:It was great. So Thad is a. He was a year older than me in school, um, known of Thad. You know we've crossed paths dozens of times but we haven't really gosh, I couldn't the last time we actually had a conversation. Um, you know when you're running together for two or three hours, so we just got to catch up the way I kind of settled in as Phil was close by, we were going to run together, he was kind of starting out with a couple of his neighbors and I just kind of settled in and Thad felt like it was a really good pace for him. And so, similar to you, I try to be careful on how much talking I'm doing, especially when I was settling in.
Speaker 1:I think Thad carried a lot of the conversation early on until I kind of started feeling good, which was probably around mile seven or eight. I'm like, ah, yeah, we can move this needle a little bit. So, yeah, it was great. We had some great conversations. We caught up on life, figuring out what each other are doing, talking about family, and I love those because that's where those conversations you look back and you're like man, we just did 10 miles or hey, we're two hours in and him having the experience. We talked about the races and we talked about gel and fuel, which I know that'll be kind of a topic of conversation, but really really good conversation, those first 10.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's talk about that in terms of gel and fuel.
Speaker 2:One of the big things we've mentioned briefly in prior podcasts is that there is a revolution going on right now in endurance sports and it always starts with cycling and then kind of you know, matriculates over towards running around fuel Something that you uncovered for yourself specifically in Boston, with different types of fuel and different cadence of taking said fuel. You've mentioned in prior podcasts that tailwind and things like that don't work for you because it sloshes around. So you've taken a different approach. Let's talk about fuel, and you can even weave in the mental fuel that you may have gotten in that like seeing those people at the first aid station or the second aid station on top of the actual physical fuel.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about, you know kind of the fueling strategy for this. It is a long time, you know, if you're doing gels every 20 minutes, like some people do, that's a lot, you know. You're looking at for a four hour. You're looking at, you know 12 or so, so. So let's talk a little bit about the early on fueling strategy and attempt not to get behind and kind of what your theories are and what products you were using.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I started the day with my fuel. I had two pieces of toast and a banana, so throughout this race you burned what? 600 to 700 calories an hour roughly. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Can you?
Speaker 1:substantiate that it's around 100 to 125 calories per mile.
Speaker 1:I feel like so you're running seven miles give or take Roughly yeah, 700 calories 750, yeah, so, like you think about that, and I probably had about 750 to start the day and then, you know, as I was talking through this with, with that, it was we. Your body uses glycogen for the first couple hours before it starts to switch over and I definitely wasn't replacing that as I went on. I think I started um with gels. I had my first one at 30 minutes and I took five gels, uh, throughout that entire time. Plus, I did end up grabbing two cups of tailwind at some of the aid stations just because I need I probably I don't know how much. I think those gels were maybe like 90 calories, so I probably only put 800 to 1,000 calories back in my body during the whole time, but I did get on it early. I did get on it early and this is the first race that I can tell you that's a marathon or greater where I felt like my fuel did was not an issue. Now, part of that could be, as I wasn't redlining either. Um, so I didn't, but I, from a fuel perspective, I never felt the fatigue of like I have nothing left in the tank. My legs hurt at certain points in times and I got into some pain caves where I still didn't want to go through it, but it wasn't a fuel problem. So I'm not sure that I probably took enough. But I did take it early.
Speaker 1:And the type of fuels, those SIS fuels, were incredible. And I took a couple of cubes as well, the Cliff grape, I think they're berry cubes. So I think I did one pack of those, which was 200 calories, five of those gels and two cups of tailwind, okay, and I didn't really stop until I got to mile 21.6. I really didn't stop probably at any aid station at all. Yeah, shout out to Corey neuro who turned me on to the science and sport gels, the SIS gels. I ran those, as you mentioned, in Boston and they were a complete game changer for me in terms of fueling.
Speaker 1:So there are bigger packets. It's a lot more of a liquidy type substance. It's not the thick gel that you need to chase down. You can take it without water, no problem. It's got significantly. Certain ones I kind of alternate back and forth have significantly more carbs and calories than others. So those I'll just kind of set aside for a second. I took six over the course of the race. I made the mistake of not planning. You know you've always said respect the distance. And having such a great performance in boston and then the indie mini, I would say I let my guard down a little bit. Um, and I did not plan my breakfast for the morning and so, as trent witnessed, I ate some shrimp and pasta I was like what are you?
Speaker 1:because I thought well, you know, pasta, carbs, you, whatever. But clearly those were laced with butter and whatever else which dairy doesn't necessarily always agree with me and I paid for it. I remember, running at mile nine, I had Dakota was handing me I think she was maybe body glide. I had asked her, I had forgotten, asked her to grab. Near the first aid station. I said today is not my day, this is not going to be good.
Speaker 1:And about a mile later I happened to stumble past Quaker Park bathroom and left my mark and felt tremendously better. I didn't realize, honestly, how much of how I was feeling was related to that and I came out of there a new person and that was my first mistake from a fueling perspective. So, someone that's run 11 marathons, several ultras and as many 5 and 10Ks as I can count, you can never let your guard down. You will be humbled, and I was. So that was my first mistake from a fueling perspective. But I rebounded, kept my water up. I just had those six gels about 180 grams of carbs collectively probably a little over a thousand calories, I would guess. And for all intents and purposes, I had some issues late in the race which we can talk about and I don't know how that was, uh, if or how that was related, but um, overall, I felt like fueling was pretty solid. I'd also did not stop at any aid station or get anything besides water. Um, at the aid stations, no food. So, um, yeah, Okay, so we've.
Speaker 2:we've now gone through the first nine miles. Now we're in Westfield and hopefully most of you listening are familiar with this, but you can gather from the mile markers we're talking about. So we're about a third third of the way through, a little less. Now we do our out and back and we'll run this all the way down through Carmel right, so down to, maybe, the Monon Center.
Speaker 1:By the way, just real quick I want to jump in because we talked about physical fuel. You talked about mental fuel, that out and back. What a dose of mental fuel. When you're seeing everyone else in the race, as you're kind of making that loop, you're seeing people going out, people who are ahead of you. You're seeing them come back and then, as people going out, you know people who are ahead of you. You're seeing them come back and then as you come back, you're seeing people behind you. So clearly you see the people at the first aid station. That's a nice boost. And then when you're seeing the other participants and passing them and everybody's, you know, virtually kind of high five, encouraging each other, that's a huge boost of mental fuel.
Speaker 1:At that point I just wanted to add that it's a great turnaround. I remember working it when it wasn't like that but it was a, and I would agree, we got to see, got to see reader and got to see you as you're coming back. That that that was a nice touch. The out, the out and back, I feel like has always been kind of a perceived as a little bit of a negative thing, right Cause the full mo is not long enough and you know to be a full 50 K and so you kind of have to do this. You know quirky out and back, but I'm actually growing to really enjoy it.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about these next eight or nine miles, I think at this point, some of the things that happen. You do encounter our first full aid station. The other one prior is a water step, but there are people there right that are helping out and that are encouraging and cheering everybody on. As you come through the next one. You do hit an aid station twice. Westfield Run Club is there. Westfield Run Club really is probably working on three different aid stations. They do Chad and they do that one and they do Broad Ripple. So you see them.
Speaker 2:But I think this is probably the part of the morning where it gets a little less peaceful because as you come down you'll pass the next aid station. You get into Carmel property. You're starting to see, I think the farmer's market is going. Maybe it'd be a little bit too early for that, but you're going to see plenty of people on the Monon once you get across Main Street into that part of the city. So I obviously haven't run this myself in four or five years since the first one. How was that experience you alluded earlier to seeing your other runners kind of talk about. You know these next couple of miles until we get to, like I said um, let's call it mile 18 or mile 19, which is the Monon center. Um, how you're feeling, too sorry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so from like 10 to 18 or 10 to 20, arguably some of my best miles, like time-wise, like I just I was grooving Conversation was still good. From a visual perspective, like again, like I just kept thinking to myself like this is incredible. I mean the day. First of all, the weather was perfect. We haven't talked about that at all. The day started out at 55, so you're there on a tank top and you're not shivering with things around you. By then it was probably 62 or whatever. A couple hours in. It was still perfect.
Speaker 1:It did get a little busier around the business the Carmel Center where they're building that big building. You're a little bit more exposed, but you got some bridges going over. You got some bridges going under, which was nice. So that was fun, I will say. The aid stations were electric, there was energy there. So Westfield and I know Fishers had one a little later in the race, but they were great.
Speaker 1:I took everything I had to pass on the rise and roll donut holes. I saw a box of those and the guy I kind of looked at him, I did a double take and I'm like love those things. I filled up my water a couple of times, you know through that. But again, something about the day, and I just remember the visuals, the different landscapes. I prefer the trees kind of coming over and the more like rule, like look, but there's still a good portion of that as well, even on that segment of the trail there's enough of that as well as kind of the business center.
Speaker 1:So I was rolling into, you know, mile 18, feeling really good. My family was at mile 21.6. And so that was mentally in my head. I was talking to Thad still, but I started to play some music, just to kind of. But I really was in a zone and now I would say I've maybe over-trained or like I don't like to go on anything. So I did a couple of 20s, so I knew what this was going to feel like. Mile 13, my legs were hurting a little bit. Mile 17, my legs were bothering me a little bit. Cardio, my heart rate I spent 94% of my heart rate in zone two. Perfect, you think about that. Wow, 94% was under 153. And so, like I was in this, like I just kept bouncing around, legs hurting because I still think my stride is not correct and the way I strike it causes issues in my legs, and so I started to feel some of those hip issues and leg issues and some of those things in my legs. But I had felt those in my training run so it didn't it didn't give me pause and I rolled into um 18, or you can say mile 21.6, feeling pretty good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of the things I want to hit on, we didn't touch, touch on a ton of Westfield. What's cool about each of these is that you do, even at that time, hit like the stereotypical parts of each of these communities. So you, coming up on Grand Park, after you get through Chatham and and you heard this was about 7 am you heard the bats. You could hear the metal bats, like I mean, westfield's known for sports, grand Park right there it's known for They've done a great job maintaining a lot of green areas, carmel's more business. So even coming through Westfield, you're running right by Grand Park. You can hear kind of the sports going on. Then you come out and that out and back includes Quaker Park, as I mentioned. So you've got to get to experience the heart of Westfield in those several miles.
Speaker 1:And then, yes, going down the Monon. I was feeling pretty good after that. That pit stop I mentioned um cost me about 90 seconds. Uh, which someone? I saw post on Strava that they had a seven minute pit stop Boy. That's uh, that's too bad. Um, but uh, you get back on the Monon and certainly it starts to pick up because I think south of 32, it's still a little early in the morning but south of 32, you start to see other people who aren't in the race. That's the first time you're really starting to see others.
Speaker 1:And then, getting down into Carmel, you know I was feeling pretty good at that point. I was kind of right on pace, in fact a little ahead of pace, because I had planned for a few more aid station stops than I did and I was able to make up my aid station stops with the pace. So I was feeling really good. And I ran with another kid soccer player who had just picked up running in the last year, and again I'm blanking on the name, but we ran together for a few miles there. It was another great mental boost. We ran right through the heart of Carmel's farmer's market, which is right in the Palladium, and again you get that business kind of hustle and bustle feel of Carmel, which was really cool. But but through there all the way down, you know, into that 96th street territory.
Speaker 2:Um was feeling pretty strong so coming through, like, I think, the rise and roll stuff. You have orange theory fitness right there, uh, great hound pass. And then you have fisher's run clubs right there at the monon center, which is probably where you saw the donuts, I would assume, um, because they have a rise and roll over there in fisher's, so they are known for their level of energy. I don't know if they had confetti cannons this year or.
Speaker 1:There was great energy at the aid stations. One of the other things when we got into Carmel was there's so many more people out there, that, and it felt like people knew kind of what was going on and there was a lot of encouragement there too. So there's people coming the other way, like keep it up. They saw the bib. There was a guy that joined us from behind. It was almost like ghostly, like he went this way and then he must have turned around. I look back and he's like breathing. I'm like what's up, man? And he's like what are you guys doing? And I'm like six back and it's like, oh, we're doing the full mo. It's like that's so cool, like when is it? And so there were some inquisitive people that we talked to, um, we met, and then there were some people that me and thad kind of ran, ran by and we met, met some girls, and we just had some really good conversations about the race and about what people were training for different stuff. So you did see some interaction pick up between just the normal everyday mode on people and and very encouraging and keep it up, you're doing great type of mentality. So I felt like the energy in general which you need the energy to pick up as you go.
Speaker 1:In segment two, you went from peaceful to energetic I'm trying to think of another word but it definitely started to pick up as things got harder, which was nice. Yeah, I think there was an excitement there and I'm glad you mentioned the aid stations. The aid stations were absolutely fantastic, so the Orange Theory was great for me. I've been a part of that community for gosh eight years now, and so it was really cool to see several of them there at the aid station at Greyhound Pass and then Fisher's Run Club is just unbelievable. As usual, that was really fun. A lot of I mean gosh maybe 12 to 15, felt like 12 to 15 people. There were all just like ready to help and cheering you on and getting applause as you're coming in and out of the aid stations. I mean that was awesome. I would say excitement and karma would be my word.
Speaker 2:It's good that you mentioned. One of the cool things about the course is that there are some really iconic areas. Grand Park is one of the largest sports complexes in the United States, so getting to run by there, one of the other unique things you pass in that next segment is Fox Hollow Farms, which recently had a documentary done on it in Hulu. This is a little macabre, but is the residence of what was one of the very prolific serial killers in the late 90s, early 2000s. So there's this Hulu documentary. So you do run by that. Don't worry you don't run too close to it, but it is visible a little bit of it from the Monon itself. So there's definitely some cool areas and, of course, carmel is known for having the most roundabouts in the United States and you can see some of those.
Speaker 2:Off to the mom and so, um, her sisters work at, uh, our aunt, our aunt Tina, has worked at every year, um, and she comes back from Arizona to do that and typically if the kids are going to join her, all the kids join her there. You know your wife's out of town, so your kids came down and they worked the aid station. As to mine, uh, I think your kids had sports all weekend, which you know, surprise. I guess mine kind of did too, but one of them was there the whole time and another one made it down briefly. So talk about just the aid station experience, not from a like excitement perspective, but you talk about stopping and filling up your water bottles and you guys alluded to it in prior podcasts too as it relates to a traditional aid station in a race versus kind of the experience here, what it's like, and then you can, you can also jump into like what that meant to you at 21, six and kind of how that, because I mean they're both your family, so how that kind of recharges, you guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would say, um, I spent the most time at, uh, that aid station, which was probably 60 seconds. I had come through a little bit hot so I beat all the family, so that was probably, of the race, probably the biggest letdown, just because I had hoped to see some people there. There was debate as to whether or not who was going to get there and my family ended up getting there about 15 minutes after I came through. They were there for a brief period of time. Yours weren't there yet, so I got to talk to Tina for maybe 30 seconds and then I, you know, barreled on down. I mean, to your point, I can't do the aid stations justice because I stopped to fill water, but the amount of food, different options, from just like little doses of sugar to something more substantial, if people are really feeling it, to the peanut butter pretzels, to you know, there's just a really good variety of options to get calories in, um, which was great. But yeah, I came through that aid station hoping to maybe see some family, did not, um, but uh, it was great to see Tina. Yeah, my kids have never been a part of this and that's one thing that I regret, as we're generally traveling to and from camp. As you know, it's landed on camp week a couple of times they really enjoyed it, like it was you forget about. Sometimes you're like, oh, I don't want them to have to get up early and you're trying to protect them from these things. But it was a neat experience.
Speaker 1:So I had packed a bag and told my daughter to bring it. I didn't know what type of shape I was going to be in. I thought maybe I'll switch to my vapor flies at that point, maybe I'll be chafed beyond belief and I'll switch my shorts. By that point I forgot glide. So I packed a bag. I was about two miles out but I in my mind, mentally, I'm like I'm coming up, um, shout out to my aunt Pam who picked up my kids and hauled them around all day. Um, and was just great to see her and aunt Tina. I haven't seen Tina in for forever.
Speaker 1:So we, I called Hadley when I was about two miles out I was like, hey, have my glide ready, get me some, you know some, some gels, some cubes, and when I come up I'm going to need water. And so, yeah, it was great. Got to see all my kids, got to see Kenny, I think Kay was there when I went through, got to see Jenna, took pictures with the kids and, to your point, I probably spent 90 seconds there and I kind of told Thad this was coming. I was like, if you want to keep going, I'll try and catch up. At that point in time I was like I'm going to spend probably 90 seconds. I hadn't stopped.
Speaker 1:That was where I probably think I filled up my water bottle for the first time, which is crazy. I only went through one bottle of water, the first, you know, three hours. Um, that's crazy. It may have been the second, I don't know. I didn't drink a ton, right, I, but I was feeling well. So, yeah, it was great.
Speaker 1:It was a nice energy boost. When I got to that I was like 21 in, because I was looking forward to that. I was like I still, I still felt pretty good, uh, just given the consideration of and I felt like I was starting to feel it a little bit, heart rate was rising, so taking that 90 seconds, making sure to get my fuel back right, get some water, and I think that was when I took one of my tailwinds there, um, to kind of make sure I was getting a little bit of calories. Um, but it was great it was. It was a nice boost. I got some great, some great pictures out of it. A nice memory to see the kids and they were kind of fired up.
Speaker 1:Um, I remember eating was like they're all to get a picture and she kind of stood away. She's like I don't want to be next to that nasty guy. I had, you know, the salt all down the arms and those types of things. But, um, yeah, it was really cool to see all the nieces and nephews and the aunts and uh gave me a nice, a nice little boost, realizing that like I only have 10, 10 left at this point. And what I was thinking of at that point you said this a lot it's like race, the race that's in front of you. So I'm like, okay, I thought of that at 10 miles, I thought of it at 13. I thought of it when I had a 10 K left in a five K. Like this is the pain that I should be feeling and I think for the first time, also mentally, I was dialed in and ready for the challenge. So I left that really feeling good, recharged, and like I got my fuel right and I'm ready to go.
Speaker 2:So over the next couple of miles, I think the first or second most downhill mile on the course is right after you leave that aid station. So there's one in Carmel as you come underneath the bridge, and then there's that one. So and it is canopied and you do cross the bridges as you get down to Broad Ripple. So let's run it through 38th Street, which is when things get real hard. So this is probably mile 21 through mile 27. And it's one I don't remember well but it's probably.
Speaker 2:You know, broad Ripple is the cultural center really of Indianapolis on the northern side, so it's a much different vibe there, center really of Indianapolis, you know, on the Northern side, and so there's there's it's a much different vibe there, um, and that Westfield aid station is right there in downtown Broad Ripple, but again it's, it's canopied really well coming out of of the uh aid station that the family was at. So let's talk a little bit about what's what's happening now. You've already covered a little bit of how you felt, but as we progressed towards 27, I know you started to run into some issues in and around that time frame. Let's talk about where we are now as we're passing through the marathon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of the cool things about the aid stations is they kind of get closer together towards the end, which is really nice. So 21.6, and then I think there's one around 24.6.
Speaker 2:It's almost about three, Two to three miles yeah.
Speaker 1:Three miles and then there's another one at 27.5. So I started to. I took a gel coming out of 21.6, and I started. That was the first time that I kind of started to feel the pain a little bit, but it wasn't unusual. And then I got to broader bowl. I could tell, I mean, when things start to get rough, things start to slow down. That's where it's like, you know, you go from running 10 miles, then you check your watch and then you get down here. You start to feel the pain.
Speaker 1:You look down and you've run, uh, you know, 10 tenths you've you know, maybe run a mile and um, that's where it started to slow down for me. I came out of the broad ripple aid station at 24 6 and I got to mile 20 it was just before the end of 26 and my right hamstring completely locked up. This has never happened to me in a race Never Again. All the races I've run, this has never happened Happened to. First time it ever happened to me was on a treadmill about a month ago and I thought it was going to be a big problem in the Indy Mini. I ran through it. I hadn't felt any hamstring issues since and I got to mile 26 and I stopped and I thought like, oh okay, you know, now I'm going to start running again. And I couldn't go like I couldn't even take a step. It was the weirdest thing. And I stood there for like 60 seconds and at this point I'm like am I going to finish? Like everything's in jeopardy, like I've never not finished a race. I mean everything's running to my head Like, can I hobble? I'm thinking, gosh, I'm going to walk 30 minute miles. It's going to be two and a half hours before I can get in, if I can even start to move. So I sat there and massage and I kind of like hobble on one leg for like 15 or 20 seconds and I kind of am able to put just a little bit of pressure on my right leg and I just kind of willed myself back into some sort of movement and um was able to get it going going again. Um, but it was a very, very touch and go um through the rest of the race. I'll touch more on it. But, uh, I hit some sort of wall and I don't know. I mean I mentioned earlier I don't know if it was fuel. I had taken a lot of water throughout, so I don't feel like it was water, but um, it's. It's tough to say, I'm not exactly sure what happened. So I came out of 21.6, um in a pretty good headspace, fueled up, ready to go, still having good conversation At this point in time, I decided to lock into our podcast.
Speaker 1:So one thing that I did through this entire training run is Saturdays were my long runs and I always turned on the podcast that launched Friday and I would listen to it as part of my journey. So I'm like the one that had just dropped was the full mo preparation one that we had put out, and so I just decided to lock into that for an hour. So I listened to that and it was kind of fun because we were going through talking about the prep and the journey and all the different things. So I was like going through the training runs and all the things we were talking about was kind of surreal. During that time, 24 and a, I wish I would have filled my water bottle up, because I didn't make it to 27 and a half and I was like, if they're, when I'm 24 and a half, thad started to struggle around 22 to 23. He was, you know, maybe six, seven steps behind and and we're running with another guy from the Fishers Running Club, I think his name was Chris and I just I saw that he was struggling and we kept trying to like, and then he's like I'm going to stop here. I wish I would have filled my water bottle up there, cause, again, I ran out before I got to the next one, but I was still feeling really good.
Speaker 1:My legs were hurting, there's no question about it. My, my hip was hurting. There were things that were painful, but cardiovascular still felt good. Um, and so I trekked through through that one. I didn't even stop on 24 and a half, told dad to catch up and then I just kind of locked in through that next zone listening to the podcast.
Speaker 1:And then I got to about you said that the last one was 27 and a half. So I got to about 27 and I'm like, if there's, I almost thought about calling you. I was like, if there is not another aid station, like I'm dead because I had run out of my thought about calling you. I was like, if there is not another aid station, like I'm dead Because I had run out of my water. And, as you know, it kind of heats up at that point and praise Jesus.
Speaker 1:When I saw Athletic Annex's you know tent right there, I'm like, oh my gosh, like it was like a sign from God that there was another aid station Because I had no clue where the aid stations were. And was another aid station because I had no clue where the aid stations were. And so I stopped there and filled my water bottle up, drank another tailwind and I was there for maybe 30 seconds and then at that point in time I took off again and I was going through those mental things like okay, we're down to four miles, and my part of my body was saying, okay, I'm looking good on time, I'm going to break my five hours that I was trying, like I'm, I looks like I'm going to break 445. So I'm feeling good about that. And that the mindset starts to come in. It's like, man, your legs are screaming at you and the hips hurting, and it's like, well, I could just run, walk this and you're going to still break it and do great.
Speaker 1:And then something happened where it was like go for it, go faster. And I got from four miles to three miles and I turned on a pump-up soundtrack that I had. I created a full Moe 2025 soundtrack. When I got to three miles, I was like this is a 5K and I'm like go faster. And I started to kind miles like this is a 5k and I'm like go faster. And, um, I started to kind of just lean into it. Uh, so up until that point, I was running nine minute miles, because that's kind of where I started to settle in. I was running eight, thirties, eight forties and I got to back to nine on those last. But when I got to mile like 29, and then especially mile 30, um and 31, I think my last mile was a 743.
Speaker 1:So as I started to gain confidence it's like there's seven minutes left, there's 10 minutes left I was like I wasn't physically or mentally fatigued enough to where I just dropped the hammer as much as I could to kind of bring it in. So for me it was like this kind of epic culmination of it all coming together. Yes, it was painful. Yes, after the race I was hurting. Yes, I was chafed beyond belief, didn't know it during the race, found out after the race it was a lot worse than what I thought. But it all kind of came together and it was a journey and there was a lot of pain involved in it. But for me not going to that wall that I normally hit, where I lose my fuel and I basically feel like I can't move it was a neat experience to kind of go through all that and the way that it progressed. For me it was a really good race and I was happy with the way it turned out.
Speaker 2:So let's go back. So you kind of ran us through the finish. Let's go back. I've said this in prior podcasts the last four miles can be really rough because it is when you pass the indiana state fairgrounds another great landmark, um, as you're headed south on your left hand side, and then the next, really the majority of the next bit of it, is pretty heavily industrial. You have a a magnet manufacturing plant, so there's this interesting smell there and there's a bunch of other manufacturing areas, and then there's some reprieve from that when you get towards the end. You run by a park off the Monon Loop and whatever, but there is no coverage. It is absolutely exposed. So you obviously are recovering from your hamstring lockup. You hit 27 and a half. You both blew your goals out of the water. I will say 431, I think, and 344. So you wanted to break four, which you did pretty easily. You wanted to break five, which you did pretty easily. Talk to me about your last four miles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I had a very different experience than Trent because of the injury. I was managing every step, I was micromanaging every aspect and I just kept telling myself don't give up, do not quit. You don't know, you don't know, you don't know, because at that point I've never experienced that and I think a lot of times when you experience something and you bounce back from it you have the psychological confidence like, okay, I can get on the other side of this. But, having that be the first time ever that I've seized up, and the last time it happened in a training, I had to just shut it down right there, it was very, very psychologically intimidating. I had just a really, really hard time because I lost. I was running six fifties give or take and I that was a nine minute mile. I lost. I mean, I had about five minutes to spare for my goal, a goal, I guess, stretch goal of 345. And I lost two minutes of it at mile 26. And I'm thinking like there is absolutely no way. I can barely walk right now. How am I going to get back to running what I would have needed to do, which would be like seven thirties, and it was as I mentioned.
Speaker 1:I was managing every single step. To the extent that I was thinking about, you know, putting weight on my toes versus mid-strike, versus heel strike, I was fine, trying to find whatever stride and strike would like, not put pressure on the hamstring. I was running this is one thing that you don't realize and run it on Monon for that long. It's got a little bit of a pitch to it and so I had switched. I was running on the opposite side to try and see if that mixed up, because if you're having a little bit of a longer move with whatever side you're on with that leg, and so that helped a little bit. I was jumping to the middle but I was just bouncing all over the place trying to navigate it. It was probably around.
Speaker 1:It seized up again right after 38th Street, as you mentioned. At this point it's getting hot. I actually ran out of water at 29 because I was having so many cramping issues. I just thought I've got to get this water in as soon as possible. In case that was part of the culprit. I ran out of water at 29. And I was somehow kind of falling forward in like the 730 range, 715, 730. And then it would kind of tighten up and I had to slow down. I had a couple of eight minute miles in there.
Speaker 1:It was a mess and it was probably around 28 that I started the rosary, which is really interesting because there was a point there where I think I was analyzing my stride and my technique and everything too much because you're, I mean I think we all underestimate the physical implications our brain can have. But I think just even thinking about certain muscles sends signals that puts additional stress on those muscles and so when I got into the rosary that was able to quiet kind of the part of my brain that was doing a lot of that and I felt that was the first time I felt any sort of relief. But it was still extremely touch and go and I held that all the way into the finish. I remember getting passed by someone in the last half mile and it wasn't even it wasn't even usually someone passed me in the last half mile Like I'm dropping the hammer, like that's not happening, there's just an innate competitiveness that is probably toxic to a certain extent.
Speaker 1:But I was like awesome, go, keep up the good work. Like every single step was monumental. And I remember coming around and I was kind of watching the time but I wasn't sure and someone had said you've got 30 seconds. And that was when I was relatively close and that was the first time that I realized that I was actually going to hit, because at any point I knew that any step was going to completely lock it up and I wasn't going to be able to walk again. So having the rosary coming in was pretty incredible, but it was a very difficult grind.
Speaker 2:Kudos to Ricardo Borges at the very end. So at the end of this race it's not the most ideal. The finish area is gorgeous, it's perfect. Thank you to the Bottleworks District for letting us use this area every year. But it requires you to cross two roads in the last quarter mile, and they're not necessarily desolate either. So this year and every year it's somebody it's normally somebody new to the team that is helping people get across these two roads, and this year Ricardo volunteered and it was amazing when these people are coming in, especially we had the course record broken this year you had 30 seconds to break your or to get underneath your a goal. He's there kind of as a crossing guard to get people across those streets. So kudos to him.
Speaker 2:And then you get to the finish line and again I'll kind of call everybody out. Corey has immense experience with planning out areas. Uh, rob D has been down there all five years. It's kind of his area to help construct and manage. John Faust was down there. John is responsible for a lot of it, especially the food, and so we had great food down there. The Ruth's, chris Sliders, as per normal, and then you know Christy's down there, dakota's down there, you know everybody's down there helping out. I think the you know we had Timmy down there taking photos, john Coon's down there. You know everybody's down there helping out. I think the you know we had Timmy down there taking photos, john Coons down there doing video. But one of the things that's really cool. You talked about how much your kids enjoyed this and I think we're going to do this going forward if everything works out right.
Speaker 2:About an hour, hour and a half in to start the finish line opening, your kids showed up, as did as did Kalen, and so we had Eden, hadley and Kalen. They were after runners were finished. They'd come up to them. What do you want? Water or Gatorade? And they were.
Speaker 2:You know most adults like there's maybe a little bit of hesitation, they don't want to ask those type of questions, or you know they're concerned because maybe the person's not ready to be asked that question, and the kids had no fear. Eden especially. The person's not ready to be asked that question and the kids had no fear even especially. Just go up and ask them. And so you know we want to make sure that people feel like they're taken care of.
Speaker 2:You just ran 30 miles. You cross this finish line and I put a medal on you and then you just like wander off into the ether. So you know, we want to make sure that you have a place to sit, that you know you get whatever you need to kind of bring yourself back to life. What I'd love to hear from you guys is, as it relates to that finish line and again I hope I didn't miss anybody that was there, I'm sure if I will, I'll call them out later but talk about the experience at the Fulmo finish line versus the experience you'd get when crossing the line at a major marathon or a major half marathon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's very community feel half marathon. Yeah, it's very community feel, um, and it was a really well done experience, a kind of an intimate experience with people who were there. The only person you didn't mention was yourself, who I, I, you know you handed. I think you were very intentional to make sure everybody got. You were there to give everyone their medal, uh, uh, which was awesome, um, and I think people appreciate that and uh, it was a um, yeah, I would say a very um, comfortable uh, experience. I will tell you the one thing that you didn't mention that was a game changer for me was stretch lab um, was absolutely enormous.
Speaker 1:Uh, for me and my situation they were fantastic 15, 20 minute, just excellent stretch. Cj shout out to CJ is, I think, who helped me out there. But yeah, food, water, drink and it wasn't like just when you cross the finish line either, like you're sitting there. There are chairs you can sit down and people who didn't run all those volunteers and others that were just there spectating were asking you what can I get you, what can I do? It was just a real communal feel, a lot of celebration, great energy, relaxing maybe is a word.
Speaker 1:Aunt Pam was down there. It was great to talk with her for quite a while and then the Bottleworks was right there. You could hit the restrooms. That was real convenient. So, yeah, I mean it was the first year to have the finish line up. We had an arch finish line arch, which was really neat to kind of run through. You know, before it's just kind of like a, you know, you're kind of there, but this year that that kind of leveled the experience up a little bit too. So it was awesome. I know it's a lot of work to put that stuff up. Those guys are down there. I want to say they got down there at 7.30 in the morning, rob and John maybe.
Speaker 2:And I shut it down at 3 pm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we don't have the first finisher until 9.30, I guess almost.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it would have been 9.30.
Speaker 1:9.30 am, so for them to be down there two hours, or six tents set up, and it was just awesome. Yeah, I would. I would equate it to like a, like a family gathering, right, it's just that's the kind of the feel. Um, I was coming in so fast I didn't realize I ran past john, like where's john? And I guess he's like. I yelled your name as you were going by, cause I saw that the stoplight was like five, four, so I did one of those diagonal kind of getting through to to make sure that I didn't have to wait and I I completely miss Faust cause I was looking for him after it.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, coming in, tons of people cheering, arguably as much as any race that you know I've I've been at. There was, um, so a lot of good, good energy, nice having you at the finish line, um, and just, yeah, I noticed that the kids and seeing eden was is one of my dot, eden and hadley, and then k and them getting you drinks and water and then talking. I talked to angela and lindsey and people just hang around, they, they hang around, they congratulate, they talk about their experience. The people are there. It's not like you go through, you get your medal, you get your banana and you're thrown out of the chute. Stretch Lab was huge. He was bending in ways that was super painful but super necessary, kind of helped me out for the long term. And there's this thing about wanting to stick around and cheer other people on, and so I felt like people, because there is such a wide variance of people that are coming in at 9.30 and all the way to three o'clock there's a six hour window.
Speaker 1:It felt like when I came in at four and a half hours and I was there for, I think, almost a six, so I was there for another hour and a half that people hung and they cheered each other on. There was plenty of food and drink, there was plenty of shade, um, and it's just a good community feel. So I I think it's one of the better finishes that I've ever been at, honestly, and I think that's what you need at that point. Um, it's a nice. You're so emotionally and physically exhausted at that point. I mean you asked for the comparison next to some of the other mega races, which no fault of the mega races, just when you have 10,000 people or whatever, you have no choice. But you're going through, shoots, they're pushing you through, they're moving, keep going. Take your metal, take your banana, take your cookie, take your water, get it. You know, keep going through. And cattle is a great um, and it's just a very, very different vibe.
Speaker 2:It was. We had a lot of crazy stories this year. I mean I can talk, I could talk for another hour and a half on just the stories you know, and getting the chance to experience some of them personally. And you know, seeing the kids down there I forgot to mention Kennedy was down there as well, helping out, especially towards the end of the race as your kids went back up north and my daughter had to go up back to a race herself. So you know, isaiah was there at one point we had our arch almost fall down and he stood up and held it for a little while. So every kid was helping out in every way possible. But you know, I think, seeing some of these different stories, you know I can probably condense it into two that I thought were really impactful. You know the, the soulmates coaching. So you know soulmates. Christy wrote your plan, so this Vaughn run, so Christy helps a lot of people running this race. Well, another one of the coaches that has a lot of people running this race is Sarah Farney and her partner and their soulmates, and so Angela Kumar runs for them, rick Kane runs for them, uh, carly Quinn. So there, there were a lot of different people that ran underneath that banner and you know it was. It was really cool to see those, those groups finish. I think it was Angela's fourth finish. I know Carly PR'd in a major way.
Speaker 2:Rick was a big story. Rick's wife, sarah, ran this the year prior and he was, you know, admittedly from himself in not a great place, and once he saw his wife accomplish something like that, he's like I need to start doing hard things. He was not a runner at all and he ran his first 5K and then he ran a half marathon and then, you know, rick, I'm gonna poke a little fun at you. I don't know why you picked the Pittsburgh marathon as your first marathon, because, boy, that's a tough one Went up and DNF Pittsburgh and decided you know what, I'm going to finish the full mo. And he did, and it was I mean, you look at his feet and he had posted a picture on Instagram and there were just three huge blisters that he was on for probably the last 10 miles and not able to move well, and Rick finishes. That was a huge thing to see him at the finish line and to know that the community was there to support him through it. To see him at the finish line and to know that the community was there to support him through it.
Speaker 2:The other one is Logan Turner and his daughter, nora. And Nora is in a situation where she just started walking a couple of months ago. She's older. Sorry, logan, I can't remember specifically what she has but that was really great. He ran 31 miles with her in her stroller and then took her out and let her cross the finish line with him. So that was cool to give both of them medals. We'll be doing more with those two as Prairie on Fire comes up here in September. So those were some cool stories.
Speaker 2:Christmas McMahon is another guy who's a four-time finisher. So we have him and Angela. And then, as we alluded to, thad is five-time, anai is five-time and then Lindsey's five-time and this was kind of a bittersweet thing Lindsey's moving away. I mentioned that in a prior podcast to Colorado. She has sworn. She's going to come back and keep her streak alive, so she'll be back next year for number six. But she's one of the greatest, one of the goats, when it comes to the full mow.
Speaker 2:The very first year that we ran it I remember I was running with the second place finisher, so there's a guy who had gone way ahead and I had picked up this guy at about mile 15 and he really started to struggle where you did at 27. And so I kind of stayed with him and I remember, as we were coming down this makeshift finish that you and Rob had set up, last minute Lindsey passed me and then this guy kind of passed her back and that was the first real exposure to Lindsay and we've become good friends and she's run it so many times. So a ton of great stories and again PRs, crazy PRs probably 10 to 20, which is cool for me because that means they've run it before. Max Glenn there was, there was. There were so many people there that I had met the night before Ryan and and I think his wife, gretchen. There they they had been part of the group that didn't get to run the Carmel marathon.
Speaker 2:This was a big thing.
Speaker 2:So we had a local marathon that got canceled because of really extreme weather and a lot of people used this as kind of a replacement for that.
Speaker 2:One of the runners I mentioned, max earlier, had me give him his Carmel Marathon and his Fulmo Medal at the same time. That was pretty epic. So to see some of these people that didn't get to experience that marathon back in April to get to accomplish something, and a lot of people a couple people PR'd their marathon inside of their 50K. One guy and a lot of people a couple people PR their marathon inside of their 50 K. Some one guy by I think it was Sam here by an hour and 20 minutes. He PR his marathon inside of a 50 K. So it really is spectacular to see all of these people accomplishing these things and getting to hang out with them. Pedro ran on his birthday and I mean again, I don't want to leave anybody out, and I'm sure I have, but I was super inspired and I can't wait till next year I think that you know we'll increase the field size to 200 and see where it goes.
Speaker 1:I just want to talk about a couple of those. You know I've always been one to say, we've always said this after three hours everything hurts and we've always talked about in marathons. It's like I should I slow down and walk? And it's always like, uh, well, no, because it hurts just as bad and if you can run, run because it's not going to hurt any worse and you're going to cross the finish line sooner.
Speaker 1:Um, for some of these people who are out there for six, seven, eight plus hours like that is way harder, in my opinion, than you know. A lot of people like gosh, I don't know how you, you know you run it in three hours and 45 minutes. I don't know how people grind through seven hours. I mean, it's unbelievable. You think about Rick and I know one of the things you didn't mention but I think Rick appreciated, and just reading his lips as he finished is we hung around, everybody hung around and supported him, even though it was a decent amount past the typical threshold that we draw, and so I think he really appreciated that For him to be out there and grinding for that long is just unbelievable, knowing the pain he was in, just with the blisters, the acute pains in addition to the legs and things. I mean the soreness it had to be incomprehensible. That was awesome, henry Winkleman. I passed him around 20, somewhere in the mid-20s.
Speaker 2:He had trouble right around 24.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I passed him and he's like dude, I'm broken. And he had talked about he was throwing up and it was like jog for a few steps walk. I mean, just a real display of grit of someone who had nothing left. He had nothing left in the tank and I'm sure again there's dozens of stories that we're on.
Speaker 2:Youngest finisher ever, by the way. He's 17, 17 and he'd never run farther than 20 miles. I forgot about henry. Huge call out there. Yeah, yeah, it was really neat.
Speaker 1:I, as I was coming in, there were several people that um were on the pain cave I didn't talk about that were at that point walking just to your point. Like for some people, um, depending on how hard you went, the grind is real and I wasn't they. They weren't quitting to your point, they were, they were finishing. I think a lot of them were doing a run walk kind of you know variance. But, um, people that sign up and they go through that stuff, they're willing to endure the pain. Whether they can run the whole thing or not, they definitely want to finish.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean we had, I think out of 130 people, we had four DNFs, something to that effect, so not a lot of DNFs at all and a couple people kind of knew going in. I had already talked to one who was like, you know, things have gotten in the way and I really haven't trained, but outside of that, I mean almost everybody finished the race, which was, uh, super inspiring. So, you know, I'm excited to see what happens next year. I mean, we have some ideas in the in the mix already, um, you know, to improve the experience and to continue to build it. So, you know it's I'm glad you both were able to join us this year and to everybody who not only helped at all of the aid stations that we've already talked about and helped at the finish line, but the people that stuck around and kept that community kind of going, and you know you were there, you finished at I don't know 10 ish and you were there until two. And so, like you know, those people that stuck around and, and you know, made everybody feel like part of the team, because at the end of the day they are, and and you know, one of the things for me that's a little tough is that, as this gets bigger and there are people that are crossing the finish line really every couple of minutes for the better part of seven hours. I don't get a chance to talk to anybody, you know I don't get a chance to say a few words crossing the finish line, but everybody there, you know, not only are they creating their own story, but they're also creating a story that they can take back. And you said that, like, this is a race that you know, if you're running something that's a little bit more appealing to the masses or is a little bit more adopted by the masses, people can look at it through different lenses.
Speaker 2:It's a. If you say I ran a 5k, a lot of people immediately go to how fast, you know. Or I ran a marathon, well, how fast. And in this instance the accomplishment is running the entire Monon trail. Start to finish. It's, it is.
Speaker 2:It's more impressive, those that are out there, seven, eight, nine hours, um, for for me as well, you know, um, mark Wakehorse, winning the race after not training faster than eight minute pace for two months is pretty impressive as well. But you know Andy Cohen coming out and getting third after being injured over the last month. So you know. And then, of course, I think this was Corey's third or fourth finish and he had the course record prior and him coming out and finishing second in a phenomenal time. So there were those things there too. But you know, now they go and they talk to their friends and they say, oh, I just completed this, there's a point of reference, it's like around the distance as opposed to this level of performance with inside of that. So I think that's cool and I look forward to the coming years.
Speaker 1:Well, that's number one of two promises that I committed to in our first episode. Still got the prairie on fire. You know I haven't run a lot of 50Ks, but I could see how this could easily become one of the largest 50K in the country. I'd put it up against any of them, even though, again, I haven't done any of them. But I can tell you, epic experience. Epic just the scenery, the whole nine yards. So for those of you that are wanting to dive into the ultra world, this is an incredible race. For those of you already in the ultra world, this is an incredible race and I had one heck of an experience. So, thanks for putting on such an awesome race. Awesome, We'll see you guys next time.