or 
" How I forgot to eat and drink and paid the price"

by Brian Collins



This was my second Wakely and I was in good shape this year so I was feeling pretty confident about this year's run. I brought a water pump with me last year and stopped twice to fill my bottles.  This year the plan was to do the same. I've been reading a lot about ultras the past few months. Fascinating stuff.  I think I read to much.... too many books about Native Americans running all day on a bag of parched corn and a sip of water....

Well, the humidity broke that night and we had a great day to run.  I ran nice and steady for the first 20 or so miles, nice chats with Mark and Jeff.  I was cruising feeling great; I didn't drink a lot cuz it was so cool and I didn't eat either.  I was feeling too good to stop.  About five hours out, I ran out of water and surprisingly enough didn't come across another spot to fill by bottles for about 20 minutes. By the time I stopped at 5 hours and 30 minutes, I was nauseous, wanted to puke, felt faint, wanted to be helicoptered out. I was too nauseous to be upset with myself but I knew I had screwed myself by not drinking and eating.  Well there aren't any choices out there to make, you have to pull it together and finish, so I filled my water bottles, drank a lot, took salt tabs, started nibbling on a cliff bar and started walking towards the finish line. After about a half hour, I was able to get a passable jog together and kept that up till the finish. I never really felt good again, but was able to finish and finish in a better time than last year. 

All in all, I learned a lot (again) about proper eating and drinking on really long runs.  This is a wonderful race - its got it all, its professionally organized, has great runners and the course can't be beat. Thanks to all.  Hope to see you next year.