#030: Thoughts From My 100 Mile Race

By: Fran Walsh

Read Time: 10 Minutes

For the entirety of 2024 thus far, I’ve been training for my “Misogi.”  A Misogi is one year defining event that challenges you physically, mentally, and pushes forward the boundaries to which you feel your limitations are.

I listened to a podcast from Jesse Itzler & Joe Rogan years ago, where Jesse talked about running 100 miles. I remember immediately thinking how crazy he must have been. Then he goes on to talk about how when he started running his goal was to run 2 miles. Within a few years he ran 100. He was under indexing his potential by 50x!!! 

He then goes on to talk about how he began to ask himself where else was he under indexing his potential? This podcast hit me like a ton of bricks. I still go back to listen to it once a year. Here is a great clip I always recommend everyone take a minute to listen to from it. (In my opinion it is a life changing 5 minutes): 

So anyway - flash forward to 2024. I decided to make my Misogi a 100 mile run. I signed up on January 1st for the C&O 100 miler located in Knoxville, Maryland with my best friend Chris.

Training over the last few months was a bit of a pain, but nothing overwhelming because fortunately we had just done Ironman Maryland in September & were used to two hours a day of training. My days were pretty much on a very routine schedule of wake up, run, go to work, come home, run, make dinner, go to bed, rinse & repeat. Not exactly the most fun days Monday-Friday, however it was what was required in order to achieve the goal. All in all on a weekly basis we were usually running somewhere around 60-70 miles a week to give an idea of what's needed in order to prepare for a 100.

I wouldn’t say I was ever nervous leading up to the race. People would always ask if I was ready or whatnot, and I’d just say yeah I feel fine we'll see how it goes! I only got nervous when either Taylor (my fiance), my mother, or someone else close to me would tell me they were nervous for me. I get stressed when other people are stressed - and to be honest, it's very hard to comfort someone and tell them everything is going to be fine when you truthfully don’t KNOW if it's all going to be fine. Disclaimer: Definitely not my brightest move - my wedding is in 5 weeks; so Taylor was not happy with me about that, but she’s an angel for letting me do it anyway.

Everyone would always ask me: WHY are you doing that? Who would sign up for that?!

I recently wrote a whole thing HERE about my belief system and why I think the way I do, and what I’m trying to accomplish through challenging myself like this:

The long & short of it is this: My father made me promise him before his death when I was 13 years old that I’d do everything in my power to maximize my potential as an individual, and he told me he’d never ask me to do something he hasn’t done himself. So as I look forward to building my own future family I ask myself this question daily: “How can I one day ask my kids to do their best, if I haven’t done that myself” God willing - if I’m going to have children one day - and i'm going to look them in the eyes and ask them to do their best, how could I do that if I haven’t done that myself? My goal is to show myself & others that the only limitations we have in life are those that we put on ourselves. This is why I’m always preaching to try to be the best version of you in all aspects of our lives.

So Eventually we get to race week. Showing up in Knoxville, Maryland was an all around hysterical experience. Anyone who has ever participated in a big event like this will be the first to tell you, they are ALWAYS in the middle of nowhere. Knoxville was no exception. You are always due for a few unbelievable experiences. We went to dinner the night before the race at Texas Roadhouse right next to our hotel. There were about 20 high school prom dates there in their tuxedos & dresses eating before their dance. Definitely something we were not expecting. Nothing like a giant Texas barbecue meal all over your nice clothes before heading out to dance all evening.

We get back home, get to bed at 9:00pm - knowing that we'll be up at 5:00am & ready to rock & roll starting right at 7:00. The hardest preparation for a race like this is nutrition. Knowing that you are going to be running & walking for 24 hours straight, naturally your body is going to need lots & lots of fuel to keep going. This is a blessing & a curse as you can essentially eat whatever you want all day - but naturally you run into some stomach issues with all of that junk in your body. We had prepared all kinds of snacks, meals, electrolytes, and anything else that we could think of that we would be able to get down at aid stations when we were able to see our crew. Shout out to our Crew (Taylor, Michelle, Alyssa & Mariah) 4 of the greatest people in the world who stayed up with us for 24 hours making sure we were good to go at every single point of the race. Cannot thank them enough & emphasize how imperative they were to our success.

Showing up at the check in/start line is a bit of a crazy experience. You see all kinds of people; varying from different ages, fitness levels, you name it. You begin wondering looking at certain people “how the heck are they going to be able to do this?!” Eventually you calm the nerves and just try to focus on your race. 

We say our goodbyes to the crew and head for the starting like with the 200 other participants. The other key part of preparation for this race was our crew having an understanding of when we would be showing up to the checkpoints. We were running in the middle of the woods and rarely had service, hence they needed to know when we would be arriving so they could be prepared with whatever we needed for food, clothing, medical, etc. We had basically calculated out estimated time arrivals for the entire 100 miles (and i'll give myself a pat on the back as they were more or less spot on for most of the day)

The first 40 miles went extremely smoothly. We were moving at a great pace, had basically no injuries, it was an overcast 60 degree day. I had felt before the race as long as we got to mile 50 within 10 hours with no injuries I knew we were going to be okay because we’d be able to walk the rest of the way with the allotted time. Fortunately we made it there in 9 hours, but not without some battles. 

From mile 40-50 it was absolutely downpouring. As one could imagine - that was not ideal for a trail run. Every step in the mud felt like you were going to either slip or lose your footing & injure yourself. At the time I felt that HAD to have been the hardest 10 miles we’d encounter all day - we were so happy when we got to mile 50 and were able to change clothes & shoes.

The next 10 miles things began to get a bit tougher physically. Your body starts to break down a bit, some aches & pains begin to arise - but what kept us going was knowing at mile 60 we were allowed to have pacers join us. We had Chris’s brother Matt & our good friend Tony Doc coming in for a 30 mile stretch from miles 60-90 that we knew would not only keep the energy high - but also keep us on pace to break the 24 hour mark.

Miles 60-80 went better than we could have ever imagined. Naturally we were going much slower than we had nearly all day - but the energy was high & having their camaraderie made that 20 miles feel like we had some much needed fresh juice. At this point though, but the time we hit mile 80 - it was midnight. We had been running for 18 hours straight. The wheels were bound to begin to fall off… and they sure did.

Miles 80-90 you just felt pure exhaustion. Completely drained - beginning to feel delusional. We were at the point where we could barely run. Our pace at that point had dropped to one minute running, followed by 5 minutes walking. I was so tired that nearly every branch or tree started to look like an animal or person, so naturally I was bugging out constantly (which is relatively normal for what you hear during these types of endurance races.) Our only form of light was our phone flashlights & a few headlamps to see directly in front of us. 

I just kept telling myself I needed to get to 90. Once I got to 90 I’d be able to sit in a chair for 10-15 minutes before having to get up and finish the last 10 miles. It’s funny how an experience like this will make you appreciate just how peaceful sitting is.

We finally made it to 90. Saw our crew one last time. At this point it was 3:15 am. 21 hours+ in. Taylor fed me as much caffeine & food as she thought I needed in order to push through the last 10 miles. We said our final goodbyes & embarked out for the final 10 miles. It was a bittersweet feeling knowing we were so close, yet still so far. Usually - on a normal day, 10 miles takes me about an hour and 15 to run. 90 miles into a race? I knew we were going to be really struggling to get there in 3 hours - which was what we NEEDED to do in order to hit our goal.

At this point, Chris’s achilles was completely shot, and his big toe was so blistered and broken that he wasn’t going to be able to run. After taking a few steps and feeling my right knee lock up, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to run. Which meant our only option was to power walk at a 14:30 pace  (which for non-powerwalkers is a very fast pace) for the next 3 hours straight. Not exactly ideal when you are really fighting the clock on your goal time. Nonetheless - we got to trucking along.

Those 3 hours were the longest of my entire life. Every step was a battle. Your mind was so exhausted you didn’t even want to listen to anything to pass the time because noise was just annoying at this point. Just 3 hours, in the pitch dark, with nothing but your thoughts and the mindset to keep going. 91…92…93… I’d be texting Taylor every mile as we would pass the mark. At times it would feel like I’d been walking for 30 minutes - and I’d look down to see my watch had moved maybe .03 miles. It was nothing short of brutal. At one point I was just fighting back tears from how angry I was with how much pain I was in.

96…97…98…99 - finally we are approaching the last mile. There was a pink flag that marked a little trail that we need to make a right turn at in order to get back to this MASSIVE hill that we’d need to climb in order to finish. It felt like it was never coming. The sun was starting to rise, and then finally - we see it off in the distance. We look down at the clock. 6:36 - we have 23 minutes to scale this mountain & finish the 100th mile. 

We muster up the strength to run for one final minute - in hindsight if anyone saw this attempt at running they would probably be giggling. Probably looked more like a couple of zombies from an episode of the walking dead. 

We make the right turn at the pink flag, and begin our trek up the mountain. It didn’t matter how bad things hurt at this point - we were not going to fail after fighting for 24 hours. I think we got up that mountain faster than the first 2 times we had to do it  (entire course was 3 big loops). We just kept talking to ourselves “Come on keep going.” We finally get to the top of the hill. 6:49. 

There is about 0.25 miles to go. We carry on, get to the final hill, where we can see our friends & family at the finish line. We tell ourselves that we need to finish running through that finish line. We sprint up that final 100 feet just like we started - together. It was an incredible moment. We finished at 6:53, meaning our total time finished at 23 hours, and 53 minutes - beating our goal by 7 minutes. Unbelievable.

Crossing the finish line was the greatest feeling in the world. Better than Ironman, or anything else that I’ve ever done. It was the hardest thing I've ever done not only physically, but also mentally, and emotionally. I can't even remember what I was saying at that point because my brain was mush from pure exhaustion - I just remember smiling knowing being handed that 100 mile belt buckle was something nobody will ever be able to take away.

A Couple Key Takeaways I had from this experience:

• You can accomplish things alone, but a great team makes you infinitely better. Having Chris by my side all day, Taylor Michelle, Alyssa & Mariah as our crew taking care of us all day & night, and Tony & Matt running with us when we needed it most. We would not have accomplished our goal without all of these people there to support us. I’m eternally grateful to each and every one of them - as they all made sacrifices in their own lives to support us on this journey. 
• The only limitations in your life are the ones you put on yourself. 7 years ago I finished playing football and decided to get in shape. I got on a treadmill for the first time, and quit at 0.75 miles because I was so upset with myself at how out of shape I was. The next day I came back and tried again, and again, and again, and here we are 7 years later - writing a blog about how we hit the 100 mile mark.
• There are no excuses. We met a gentleman during the run named Eric - from Quebec. Eric was 60+ years old, had a big belly, and was one of the nicest people we’ve ever met. He told us this 100 miler was a TRAINING run for him, and over the next month he's running 3 200 milers and a 320 miler! Additionally, I was looking through the finishing results. A 67 year old woman finished in 29 hours, and 59 minutes, one minute before the 30 hour cutoff. Talk about inspiring.
  
  

Thank you for reading - I hope you enjoyed. Have a wonderful week & take some steps to become the BEST YOU