run willow run

here should be link for live results for the salt creek 24 hour race tomorrow (saturday 25 october): https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/143963/IndividualResult/2025#U32885705

my bib# is 22. because the course is a 1.4 mile loop, you should get updates frequently. my goal is a new 24 hour pr of 122 miles, which is i think 88 loops (my polar watch does not count the loops as long as the official map does, but my watch may be losing signal going through the trees or ww2 bunkers).

i am in prime shape, my digestion is good (i think i figured out to avoid having so much pasta and bread before a race; having smoothies and thai food instead), and all is well for me to break my 24 hour record of 120 miles. EXCEPT it could be a drenching rain and i could be chilled to the bones.

i’ve never worn running tights for a 100 mile race, but this seems cold enough that i need to wear something; after my last race fiasco, i am all about good digestion, and i am heeding the medical advice to avoid tight things around the waist to avoid compressing all the organs in there, BUT i am so lean that tights and leggings do not stay up unless i wear xxs or 0 or 00, depending on brand. but that is pretty darn tight around the digestive organs. so at the last moment i am trying out what cyclists use, leg sleeves, and i’ve found a couple of pairs that are designed for lean people that actually stay up around my thighs.

i am also prepared with 4 thermoses: 2 to carry luke warm water (it will start as boiling water in my room, but by the time i try them 12 to 20 hours later, they will not be that hot) and 2 to carry my olive oil c8 oil coffee—which will also be lukewarm by the time i try them.

i’ve had 4 runs on course since thursday, all of them 4 loops each (5.6 miles), so i’ve gotten to practice the steps 16 times. the steps are not as rough as the boy and dog park steps i’ve been practicing on in langley. and here the steps have railings which i can use to help me—i’ve been reading blogs from people who race up the empire state building, and their advice is use a railing at every chance you can. it has been fun to practice. and it also makes me want to stick with those burly gloves you saw in the photos above, not just for warmth, but also to avoid splinters.

since my last race, i have become more and more reenchanted with practicing the violin; and i’ve listened to a few books on pedagogy and practice techniques; it has been fun to apply some music practice techniques to running and some running practice techniques to music. i envisioned my 4 practice runs on course as rehearsals; planning where to avoid puddles; figuring out the best way to use my arms to help me get up the steps.

for six of the past seven years (the pandemic forced me to run solo efforts on whidbey rather than traveling to races in 2020), i’ve been in fountain hills, arizona for the javelina jundred this weekend before halloween. last year it was 99, my sandals were too thin, and my high sugar/high salt fueling plan made my stomach a mess. so even though i risk stopping for hypothermia, i am sorta choosing to die by ice rather than fire (and in truth i am avoiding fountain hills more because some locals—not involved in the race—were less than kind in the things they yelled at me out of car windows, and with some of the rhetoric coming out of centers of power, i feel less safe far from home). on the bright side (?), i will probably need to drink a fourth to a tenth as much water as i needed to in arizona; every thing you put through your digestive system is a stress that takes away from the running, so maybe this hydration through osmosis will set me up for a super record—my very good run in june was a rainy day (though that was a pleasant drizzle; this atmospheric river is somewhat beyond pleasant drizzle).

without losing any body fat or muscle, i am starting this race about 7 pounds lighter than my last race (for which i was inflamed and bloated either because of a stomach bug or because i really didn’t need 10 times the rda of salt i thought i did because of blood tests or because i am actually sensitive to wheat or gluten and had had a lot of vegan pizza, pasta, bread, and pretzels in the days leading up to the last race with the idea of cutting down on fiber before running 100 miles—standard advice, but maybe not so great for a plant based runner with a clean diet?). how? i’ve been eating very clean, cut my salt 10x (i was having a ridiculous amount because my blood tests always show low sodium; but now i wonder if i am meant to be low sodium and part of my digestive woes were my body trying to get rid of salt it didn’t want), cut my protein from 200g+ a day (which nobody recommends, but because i eat 5000-6000 calories a day, it seemed like i should also eat the corresponding amount of protein; michael phelps had 400g of protein a day on his 10000 calorie diet) to 75-100g a day, and i’ve added back in mct oil (c8, the expensive kind that doesn’t cause stomach issues) and olive or walnut oil coffees to make up the calorie deficit from fewer protein shakes (i have probably 1000 calories in high fat coffees, which would be anathema to almost anyone else but is a boon to a high calorie burner like me). my gi system has been feeling great until i tried a lot of pasta a few days ago as i was transitioning to less fiber; and i felt crummy; but enough time before the race i could say “aha!” or at least “maybe?” and cut all the wheat and such out before race day. i don’t tend to crave foods, so it is no great loss for me; smoothies with every possible plant based health thing you can think of for lunch, and a port angeles that dinner. i will have a vegan dessert of new zealand fruit ice cream tonight (welly’s in port angeles is the race sponsor).