This is my longest run to date. 152 miles in 50 hours. 21,000 feet of elevation ascent and 21,000 feet of descent. The biggest difficulty became sleep deprivation on the second night. But overall it was so incredible! Everything I hoped it would be. Hard. Painful. Moments of total peace and simple joy. So much love and support vertically and horizontally, from God and from family and friends.
I would say one of the highlight moments was around mile 90 where the blisters on my left foot started sending excruciating pain with every step. I got in a really low mental spot, thinking that I might have to finish the entire run limping and walking. I took a six minute power nap, right there in the leaves next to the trail, which helped reset my mind and body. I got up and started hobbling, then walking, then a very slow jog, then more walking, then a slightly faster jog, and then not more than five minutes after waking up from that power nap I ran for about 4-5 minutes in total freedom. Zero pain. Zero fatigue. I ran with easy, free-flowing strides that felt effortless! It was absolutely incredible.
Got lost many, MANY times, especially in the dark on the second night, even with my pacers. Several times I not only lost significant time but also accrued extra distance (obviously). I followed the official KHT at all times, including the Tecumseh reroute around the railroad closure (which no one actually takes). I took 2 total power naps of six minutes each. I filtered water several times along the original Knobstone and did a few long stretches solo early on.
I again learned that just because I feel terrible in a given moment doesn't mean that I will always feel that way. Just because my right foot hurts (which it did early on, very weird, I'd never experienced that pain before) does not mean it will plague me throughout (sure enough, it went away after a few sharp pains and then never came back). I learned I can keep going even when I feel like I'm going to fall over with sleep. I learned pacers and support friends are HUGELY helpful and I never could have done this without them. One commented that it felt like I was a racecar and they were the pit crew. It was so neat to run with my teenage son for the last 10 miles, and have more and more of my family join me for the end. My primary mantras were: "I don't stop when I'm tired. I stop when I’m done." (David Goggins) And, "I make tired tired." (Iron Wolf)