It is not our usual form here at Team Pirana to post things written in first person. An exception is being made in order to get Samsonite’s race report from the North Coast 24 Hour up before the Team heads to Kentucky.

Brothers –

So, about North Coast 24 Hour Endurance Run, oh where to begin…?

Well, the start line is usually a good place to begin any race story.  So there I was, standing mid-pack next to my best friend, Josh Bowen, lined up with some of the best ultrarunners in US history, at the start line of the US 24 Hour National Championship race.  Mark Godale, Scott Jurek, John Geesler, Connie Gardner…  Chisholm Duepree!  Western States champs, Badwater winners, US record holders, US National Team members… And me.  It was a special field to be a part of.

The long-short of it all is that the first 8 hours were great, the next 4 were rougher, the 2 after that were weakening, and the 3 after that were just pity miles.  I was through mile 52 at 8 hours, 74 at 12, and 84 at 14:45. 84 is where I really consider my run to have ended.  I recorded my last lap, mile 88, at 17:39, but those last 4 were just pity miles.

I feel like 135 miles was there for me, just waiting for me to reach out and grab it.  But…stuff happens.  What did me in was my stomach.  I vomited black death – a thick, turpentine-like, bile/scum from the depths of my being – 3 different times.  When I finally went to the medical tent, I had a brief episode of loss of consciousness and deep, cold/clammy sweats. That is when I made the decision to stop.  T3 was right – I have already convinced myself that it wasn’t that bad and that I should have stuck it out.  And he continues to be right – this is all natural, and yet all wrong.

I am proud of the journey.  Right now I’m just a semi-tough rookie with little racing discipline and even littler racing smarts.  I’ll get there.  The average age of the top 15 finishers was something like 43 years old.  I’m 21.  Running in this field was exactly what I needed to experience.  Being with Jurek for 12 miles (not consecutively).  Seeing Jurek have a human moment and eventually drop out of the race.  Seeing John Geesler bide his time and pace ever so perfectly, and run the last 3 hours at a Boston-qualification pace, en route to a 2nd place finish.  Being reminded just how long the back half of a 24 hour run actually is.  These are the golden tickets that I came to Cleveland hoping to find.  Yes, 135+ miles and a spot on the US National team would have been cool.  But…  I’ll take my golden tickets, re-cock, and race another day.

Thanks to Iron Mike Beck for crewing, and big congratulations to Sapper Josh Bowen for running 101 miles, his first foray into triple digits.

Here’s to taking all that you can, and giving nothing back.

Samsonite

Friends at the beginning:

Here is a pic of the mighty Samsonite:

And his home away from home:

This is a pic of Samsonite eating a piece of pizza (said pizza which may have caused all his troubles…)

Well, you could argue that the perception of how long 24 Hours is to the person trying to run the whole time is longer than a picture will last, but you can’t argue that a picture is worth a bunch of words (or a sailing ship or something…)

You can view all the pics of the NorthCoast 24 here. 24 Hour NorthCoast Run

When you step to the starting line of an ultra distance event, or get out of the house early in the morning for your long run, you have no idea how the day will unfold. Not much can go wrong running 3 miles three time a week, but at distances over 40 or 50 miles anything can happen and usually does. That is what makes endurance running so intriguing. You can train and prepare and do everything right and it can still go very wrong.

Samsonite ended his 24 hour race after 17 hours and 40 minutes. He covered over 88 miles during that time and probably learned somethings about himself, his crew and other runners on the course. The last info received was that he had stomach issues and was not able to get food and fluid in. Under the best circumstances it is VERY hard to stay on your feet for 24 hours, if you can’t eat and drink effectively it becomes impossible.

Samsonite is most likely disappointed in himself. He will struggle with thoughts that he was not mentally tough enough. He will replay what he did and what he could have done, and wonder if he should have kept going. Eventually, he will think that it was not that bad and he should have stuck it out. This is all natural but it is all wrong.

Running for 24 hours doesn’t make you any more of a man than you were when you started. Continuing, stopping, winning, losing…these are all just components of the dance of life. We each do them all at some point. The components, the pieces if you will, are not the point, the whole dance is. The journey is what matters. Samsonite says he is out living the dream and this weekend was part of that dream. Win or lose, hold or fold, he played. That is what counts. Good job Samsonite!!

Samsonite continues to run. No detailed update for a while, but he is currently in 16th place with 84 miles in 14:45:00. The last 10 miles his pace fell off a lot and we are waiting to hear why. His goal is 135 miles and he will need to get back up to 10:35 pace to hit that.

Well, the night has come and Samsonite remains strong and in good spirits. Maintaining his 15th place, he has now beat Scott Jurek (dropped at 67 miles and 10 hours) and defending champion Mark Godale (dropped after 58 miles at around 8:15.) In fact, out of 84 men who started, only 50 are left in the hunt. Samsonite has completed 73.8 miles in 12:03 (about 9:45 pace).

Here is a pic from the web cam:

It is 57° with a slight 10 mph breeze.

Well, our boy has slid a little in the standings. Down to 15th with 63 miles in about 10 hours (about 9:38 pace). He called a little after 5 and sounded good and was not concerned about his place in the race, but was focused on pace and final mileage. Trying to get a pic or two from his crew.