Meghan's Blog

Well I guess I can say I know how you feel. Suppose we will both have learned from the experience. I knew going in to WS 100 that not many of my running buddies have performed well in a two week window following a stomach virus. I was hoping that I was the exception. I will work on the mental toughness side of the equation however I'm hard headed enough to think that one should be able to prepare well enough to somehow finish a 100 miler without getting sick. In my case practice more eating and hydration on the run.

Since I was in your shoes two weeks ago when with a DNF at NODM I'm going to congratulate you on making it 25K! Nice job and good decision to leave it for another day!

I understand the concerns about mental toughness. On the one hand, you don't want to get in the habit of folding every time things get rough. On the other hand, though, don't you agree that it's important to choose your battles? You could have killed yourself to turn a sucky race into a slightly-less-sucky race, but it seems smart that you saved that effort for a day when there's more at stake. (You know, like, say, if you were to run the Western States 100 some day. That's one that you would never, ever want to drop out of....)

You know - I sometimes think it takes more mental toughness and discipline to drop from a race than to keep going - especially in your circumstance where continuing on would have been detrimental.

I know it's easier said than done - but cheer up and start looking towards the next goal where (sans stomach virus) you'll rock! I hope you feel better soon. Thinking of you Meghan!

Too bad for stomach flu. In my mind, making 25k out of 50k is pretty much ok - as I consider it a "short distance", especially if they officially had this option. Sometimes we have to adjust according to how body feels. Recover and pick another race soon!

This is one of those situations where I think it might be hard to be objective about your own actions, but the correct answer is obvious to everyone else! Of course you should have stopped at 25k, and you should not feel one ounce guilt or think that it has anything to do with a lack of mental toughness. You were sick going into the race and you knew it...pushing through could have been very detrimental to your health and recovery. If you were reading a similar race report written by someone else, I have a feeling you'd be saying something similar to what I am, it's just easy to be harder on yourself and harder to be objective about your own running. That's why you need someone like me (just kidding) to say OF COURSE you did the right thing. I have no doubt that your next time out will be better (assuming you're healthy on the starting line!), and your mental toughness will be as strong as ever.

You did good salvaging 25K! And your time in that was awesome considering both the course and your condition. I wouldn't have gone 25K as fast as you, me being healthy!
I think the primary reason we should run and race is health - mind, body, spirit. It's amazing what we can do, even when sick. It's good to try, but I'm glad you dropped when you did. I would've done the same (but MUCH slower time).

Wow, what planet did Scott Creel come from? His time is way beyond anyone else. Incredible. I guess that's his backyard, though.
The battle for 2nd & 3rd was close! Good job your "S" did.
And 1st F is very impressive, too.
Very, very beautiful course. I think I have to run that some day.

oh, no! So sorry you caught that bug. Some friends of ours here got it last week too, and it was not a fun one. The body just needs a bit more recovery time to perform up to "expectations!"

Still -- those of us out in bloggyland are wholly impressed with your 25k under those conditions! Frankly, I would think it must have been simply miserable. Ugh.

Take care of yourself and recover well!

Big Meghan, catching a virus is the sort of condition which justifies a DNS let alone a DNF which was in reality a half race nonetheless :-)

Good running for 4th place BUT take care of yourself. A virus means you are/were ill. You don't race when you are ill. You don't train when you are ill. Being ill doesn't necessarily mean you have to be passed out on a bed with an IV in your arm.... aww, you know this...!!

There'll be lots of races in your future. You can afford to miss the odd one here and there :-)

Hey Meghan the Gu popper, nausea is a gross phenomenon and to have it a priori going into a race, and still do the race, and do 25K of it, with all that elevation, shows some true grit to me. So, you mentioned this was going to mostly be a training run for races later in the year. Tag – you’re it! Which races? Are we possibly going to share the HURL Elkhorn loops in August? I’m not sure yet either actually. Thanks for mentioning that Jenny who beat me at Pengelly was a worthy adversary – she was! And congrats to your sweetie... 2nd place, I presume! ;) Awesome!

Oh how disappointing. I'm so sorry.

But you know *I* think you clearly made the right choice. I never know what to say to people who insist on finishing an endurance race when they're clearly sick. Most of the time I get the impression that they're looking for praise for their mental toughness, which I usually provide, but I'm being TOTALLY insincere and fake when I do that. Despite the words coming out of my mouth, what I'm really thinking is "you're weird."

You'll be back, of course. Feel bettah soon.