Grindstone 100 - 60 day prep

Hello. This is meant to be a running log of the physical training, mental prep, gear prep, life events that leads up until the Grindstone 100 in which I will write a separate race report on how the event goes. I will update it every day or two as my training progresses and the race date counts down.

July 18th, 2022 - 60 days until race

I did it, I registered for Grindstone 100. I had been toying with the idea for a while now. There is a desire to have a race on the schedule and something to look forward to. This gives purpose and meaning to the training, a reason why I am doing everything I am doing. Short of a tangible goal such as a race I am simply running and lifting to maintain a healthy lifestyle and that is fairly vague. That can mean so many different things to do many different people. Having a 100+ mile race on the schedule gives specific purpose to the training.

        After coming off of my Old Dominion 100 finish June 4th I was sore, tired, and mentally fatigued. But within a week mental clarity and mobility started coming back and within 3 weeks I was back to hard training runs. 3 weeks is an important time because while at the Old Dominion 100 there were several runners there running the grand slam of ultras. Once they finished old Dominion 100, they were off to begin the western states 100 3 weeks later. At the time that sounded impossible, hell I hadn't even completed a single 100 yet and they were going to do two of them within a month and then another 4 across the summer. But 3 weeks post-race I felt recovered, refreshed, and ready to run another although I had nothing on my schedule.

This is also where I should mention my personal life and reasons, I toyed with doing Grindstone instead of just immediately committing to it. I am an active-duty Marine that travels a lot for my job. I am away from home a good bit with future travel plans always uncertain till a week or two before I leave. On top of that I am running out of time on my current marine corps contract and trying to join the army as a commissioned officer. The transition process has not gone as smoothly as anticipated resulting in months of delays. These delays are pushing me closer and closer to finishing my contract in the Marine Corps and having a break in service from contract completion to the point I get picked up by the Army. This break will result in loss of income, loss of house, loss of identity, loss of ability to provide for my family, etc. It is difficult at this time to look ahead and project my future as there is a ton of uncertainty in timing and where I'll be in a few months. Even if they Army does pick me up on time, I will then leave my family for months at a time to attend the officer commissioning school, infantry basic officer leadership school, ranger school, other miscellaneous required training, and then physically move my family to wherever I get stationed in the Army. The uncertainty weighs heavily on me but the challenge of a 100-mile race gives me something to work towards, prepare for, and occupy my mind in times of uncertainty. 

July 20, 2022 - 58 days until race

I am currently running an 8-week threshold development program having me do speed work and higher intensity short runs (10 miles and under). It is fun, actually a ton of fun to get back to running fast, setting new personal best on anything from a 1 mile to the 10k distance. But while running this program I am also trying to build some power and strength back that I lost preparing for my last 100-mile race. According to some of the strength metrics I use to track overall strength I am currently just a bit behind what my strength was at earlier in the year (2022). I use a 1-5 rep max on various lifts to gauge if that muscle has gotten stronger or weaker over several months. Metrics are overhead press, push press, bench press, squat, dead lift, weighted pull ups. This gives me a general idea of full body strength. Also starting earlier this week I began a 12-week ultra-marathon 100-mile prep program after committing to the Grindstone 100 race. Although I do not have 12 weeks prior to race day I will follow the program for a bit just to get more miles in and see what it's like following a 100-mile prep program as last time I just ran a lot without a program. I simply ran. How much, how fast, how long? As much, as fast, and as long as felt right without any guidelines, coaching or anything. I simply just winged it and it seemed to work pretty well in my 100 miler although that could have just been a fluke as well.

Currently life looks like this:

4am wake up

4:20 coffee and waffle

5:00 start speed work run

6:00 get Kayla ready for school

6:30 drop Kayla off

7:00 strength work in the gym

8:45-3:00 work

3:30 longer slower endurance building runs

(when it's 100+ degrees outside)

5:30 start cooking dinner

6:30 eat, clean up

7:30 showers

8:30 bedtime and repeat

July 21, 2022- 57 days until race

    I can literally feel the systemic fatigue catching up to me. I cannot maintain this for long without really dialing in my nutrition, hydration, sleep. And even then, the level I'm pushing my body to is limits. My run this morning didn't feel bad although it was only a quick 3 miler (4.2-mile total). Chest strength workout after was moderate at best. I didn't have energy or motivation to push hard and get good workout in. It felt like I was just going through the motions. I need more sleep for sure. Only 2 weeks left on threshold development program then I strictly focusing on endurance. This will lighten my training load a bit and greatly reduce the intensity of training. I came home from work early and took a much-needed nap and went to bed early to counteract the fatigue. All I must do is hold out for a few 2 more weeks.

 July 22, 2022 -56 days until race

This morning will be interesting. Scheduled a 4 miler with strides. Slow .4-mile pace of around or sub 7:30min/mile and .1 mile at or sub 5:30min/mile pace. As soon as I finish that workout, I'm running my kid to school then going to work to run with one of my new Marines. We will put our body armor on and run to the obstacle course (1.1 miles) complete the entire course twice in armor, then run back (1.1 miles). In the afternoon is scheduled a slow 4 mile run at sub 140 bpm heart rate which I have found increasingly difficult to do. Even when reducing my pace drastically to reduce effort and heart rate I have to run around a 9-10min/mile pace to get my heart rate that low. It feels like a turbo charged sports car ready to go fast as hell stuck in first gear. Talk about seriously frustrating.

July 23, 2022 -55 days until race

This morning’s run was a fast 7 miles (8.63 total with warm up and cool down) at sub 7:00min/mile. I came in at 6:44min/mile average pace. The fastest 10k I have run was in March and it was average pace of 6:38min/mile pace. That was fresh and max effort, today I was far from recovered, I had already run 49  miles this week and did strength workouts every day, Monday -Friday. I am curious how fast I could run it if I hit it fresh to set a new 10k pr. I plan to try and find out in the near future.

July 26, 2022 -52 days until race

Today was not good. I purchased some new shoes and have been running in them the last 3 days. My heels have big blisters that have popped and came off exposing sensitive skin underneath. I flew out to Arizona for work yesterday and had to run my 10 miles at around 3am to get showered, breakfast, and to the airport on time. As I ran I felt the blisters getting worse but was committed to the run so I did it anyways. Then this morning I debated resting, letting my skin harden over or getting out there and going after my scheduled run. I convinced myself to get out and run after I put some Band-Aids over the blisters to lessen the pain. After starting to run it didn't feel too bad, obviously I could feel it and it wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't bad enough to make me stop either. I decided I would just do my workout. 

Today was a higher intensity workout. Scheduled as a 1 mile warm up, then 800m above threshold, followed by 400m below threshold times 10 sets. The faster pace was supposed to be between 6:10-6:40 min/mile and the slower pace between 7:30-8:30min/mile. The first few sprints didn't feel too bad but the fatigue I've build up in my legs definitely kicked in around the 4-5th 800m interval. I became unable to hit the paces I needed to which is quite demoralizing. I normally can go sub 7 or even sub 6:30min/mile without it killing me but I was barely able to keep a 7min/mile pace.  This is due to a million factors that compounded this morning to make a bad run. I flew cross country yesterday changing 3 time zones, I have new shoes causing blisters, I have open exposed skin on heels, I ran in unfamiliar area of AZ, and the volume on my legs recently has been quite high. Hopefully things heal up quickly because I am looking forward to getting out on trails and getting some elevation into my training while here in Arizona.

       Afternoon training run was a 6 miler at a conservative pace. I just wanted to get out in the mountains of Arizona. We climbed about 1,300ft of elevation, it started raining after the first mile or so and we got drenched, we lost the trail several times, we also lost service on phones, on some fairly technical trails,  and averaged a 13:00min/mile pace (with some navigation required). This was the first "real" trail run with a coworker and I am unsure whether I got him hooked or broke his spirit and he will never do it again.

July 28, 2022 - 50 days until race

        I am not running today. First day in a good while I will not run. The blisters have gotten worse, puss leaking out, painful, and I'm not sure if it's the blister or me changing my running form to compensate for the pain of the blisters but my heel is inflamed and sensitive also. This is not the blister itself but the region around it. I've decided I'm doing more harm than good by continuing to run at this point. It is frustrating because I am in Arizona and have the ability to get some mountain training in, lots of trails and elevation around me that I don't normally have the option to train on and I can't train. I have to rest. That's very frustrating. It's a big open sore that I can push through training with but likely cause more damage than benefit from the training. I also risk infection which is concerning. The inflammation around the blister is also concerning. So rest it is. I will go to the gym and hit a heavy shoulder, triceps, bicep workout today just to be able to train in some capacity since I can't run.

July 31, 2022 - 47 days until race

        The blister has gone from well a blister to just an open sore on my heel now. The inflammation surrounding it has gone down and I can walk pain free now. Since I can walk I decided I could run which is somewhat sound logic. Yesterday I decided to give it a try and see what happens. Unfortunately, since I am traveling for work and not at home the only running shoes I have with me are the exact pair that caused the blister in the first place. I ended up lacing up and going 4 miles which was a mistake. Any fresh new growth of skin peeled off, it was oozing and bleeding when I finished. Yes I can run through the pain and force a run to happen but I am doing more damage than good so rest it is. While I say rest it is simply not in me to sit and do nothing. I found the base has a pool so I swam half a mile the other day and plan on swimming the next 3 days as well. I also am lifting in the gym which feels pretty good. I usually run first thing leaving my energy slightly depleted by the time I get to the gym making it harder to lift heavy and push hard. As I am not running I have ample energy to get some solid strength lifting sessions in. 

        I have also purchased a few new pair of running shoes. I love the Saucony brand and will continue wearing their shoes even though this specific one has messed me up pretty good. I ordered the Endorphin Speed 2 (for my speed work), the Triumph 19 (for long distance paved runs), and the Guide 15 (for general purpose running). I have never tried any of Saucony's other series of shoes outside of the Cohesion and Trail Runners but am hopeful these will work out well for me. They will arrive at my house in Virginia the same day I get back from traveling for work. I am hopeful my blister has healed up enough I will be able to lace up and go running with some new shoes when I get home. This is the point I have realized I have become a true runner. I do not know what to do if I cannot run and all I think about is being able to run again, my next run, next training block, next race. It is official. I am a runner. 

August 3, 2022 - 44 days until race

        The blister is healing good now. Not so much puss/blood and only a little tenderness. I did a body weight circuit course with the guys I work with today that included a bit of running (we used the curved treadmills for this) and I was able to do it without to much pain or damaging the sore. This is from a program intended to help someone prepare for the Navy Physical Screening Test (PST). 

 

PST Standards

Warmup 1 Mile Easy Pace    

Upper Body Spartan 

BW bench 50

20lbs pullups 50

20lbs dips 50

50%BW Push press 50

50% BW barbell Rows 50

20lbs situps 50

run 1/4 mile

Treat like a circuit keeping track of reps and repeat

circuit until completing required repetitions per exercise. 

1 Mile Easy run

     

        It took each of us 4 rotations through the exercises to hit the required number of repetitions. It was a good circuit both pushing heavier weights and keeping the heart rate elevated. 

 

August 7, 2022 - 40 days until race

 

    Training runs have gone well since I've been back home and into some decent shoes. I set a new personal lifetime best 3 mile run a day ago. In the Marine Corps we have to run a 3 mile event as part of our fitness test. Many years ago (about 10) and when being force to run almost daily as a student in military occupational school I ran a 17:58 3 mile. Running 18 minute or faster paced gives a perfect score, the maximum amount of possible points awarded. Since I ran the sub 18 minute many years ago I haven't done it since. Granted I also haven't tried real hard or had any real driving force to make me do it. I ran an 18:48 minute/ 3 mile about 2 years ago and had done minimal training for it outside of my daily 1mikle sprint on the treadmill before lifting. Now that i have become a runner i decided to give it a shot and ran it in 17:35 minute/ 3 mile. I wasn't real prepared to give it a go but decided to try anyways. This is coming off the heel blister injury that prevented me from running for about 2 weeks. When I made it back home to Virginia I ran a bit over 8 miles testing my heel out to see if it would hole. When it held fine I decided to try a fast 3 mile the next day. I am pretty proud of myself but know I could of better if I trained for it, deloaded prior, and wasn't shifting 3+ hour time zones messing up my circadian rhythm at the same time.  

August 9, 2022- 38 days until race

 

        I ran 10 miles this morning, the first 4 were a bit faster with some strides before settling into a good pace to finish out the 10 miles. Now I am off to the gym to get a heavy chest strength session. This Saturday I will be running the Martha Moats Baker trail race. This is a big race for me. Not because I care about my placement or have any support crew or anything. It is simply the first race I ever ran. This marks my 1 year of running relatively seriously and I'm interested to see my progress. I remember when I ran it a year ago I had several breaking points. Right off the bat there is a huge climb (about 3,000ft over 5 miles). I powered up this hill (without trekking poles) without any knowledge of the elevation or trail runs and completely blew out my quads. By the time I peaked it I was cramping badly regardless of the the amount of electrolytes I had. i remember cramping from about mile 5-7 till the completion of the race. I also distinctly remember a climb near the end of the race that broke my soul. I couldn't keep trudging up it and had to literally sit and take a break feeling defeated. From here things got worse as I peaked the mountain and  was unable to come down the backside of it. It hurt so much going downhill I literally tried walking, going backwards, sideways, etc. Any way possible to get down the mountain. I was painfully slow and defeated at this point and it started pouring rain. What was a trail down a mountainside quickly became a steam then river of water. I eventually finished in over 9 hours for about a 33 mile race. 

        Unfortunately this year's race does not follow the exact same course but very close to the original, there is some slight detouring that resulted in it being a bit longer (38.7 miles) and climbing about 8,000ft of elevation. Not only will this celebrate my 1 year of running and prove as a metric to judge progress but it also runs a portion of the course that I will run during the Grindstone 100 next month. This will give me a bit of route reconnaissance and practice on a portion of the course.  

August 12, 2022 - 35 days until race

        I have completed a short deload and packed my running bags with running gear. I did not deload much, I just cut mileage back the last few days to let my legs heal a bit more. This is not my A race or anything I am trying to run competitively but rather an extended training run. Pictured below is the course which I have downloaded to my watch to hopefully prevent any wrong turns and additional mileage and what my training looked like for the week of the race.

        I plan on having a huge breakfast really early before making the 3 hour drive to the race start. This will start my out pretty good on calories and right before the race I will have the Ucan energy bar and a packet of LMNT electrolytes. My aid bags each have a stinger energy chews, a stinger waffle, a GU, LMNT drink mix. The middle aid bag has Cliff Energy blocks (with caffeine) and a cliff bar in case I am wanting something a little most substantial. The little white pills are salt tabs to keep electrolytes up. I have no set time or methodology on taking them, rather if  its hot and/or I am sweating alot from climbing I will take some. I will likely not eat/use all of what I am bringing but I also always bring extra. Also pictured is my Nathan 2L hydration vest. I will start the run with the first stack of waffles, GU's, chews in my vest and the other 3 stacks are aid bags along the way. This course has minimal aid and you pretty much bring what you want/need during the race. I remember last year there was water, Gatorade, someone made cookies, a few bags of chips, and oranges. That was about the extent of the available supplies. This is a free event so I do not expect much and cant complain. The aid stations are also quite a ways apart. The first aide station is at mile 13.4 after some massive climbs and I will estimate slow mileage (15min/mile pace) so about 4mile/hour. This means it will take me around 3 hours to get to the first aide bag. I remember last year even with a full 2L bladder by the time I made it to the first aide station I had drank it all so I must be cautious here again. Each aid station is round about 10 miles from the previous (give or take a mile or 2) so I will have to carry what I need for about 2-3 hours between stations. I also will wear the Saucony TR15 shoes for the whole race. This year I will bring along some trekking poles. I learned last year that poles are almost required for this race and will be more prepared this year. I will have poles although I have never physically used this set of poles before so they may not work out the best, only time will tell. My last poles broke during the Old Dominion 100 and this is all I have at the moment. And lastly baby wipes. You never know when your going to need baby wipes during a 8+ hour run in the middle of nowhere. This wraps up today's log, tomorrow I will run the Martha Moats Baker race and create a separate detailed race report for the event. 

August 13, 2022 - 34 days until race

        Today I ran the Martha Motes Baker 60k mountain race. The full detailed race report is here:

https://halefitnessadventures.blogspot.com/2022/08/martha-moats-baker-60k-race-report.html

Long story short, it was 38 miles, around 8,000ft of elevation, all trails, and took me 8 hours and 27 minutes to finish.  

August 15, 2022 - 31 days until race

        I am not feeling too sore from the 60K race. Don't get me wrong I am sore but comparatively to when I completed it the previous year I was completely destroyed. I ran a bit over 2 miles this morning just as a shake out run to get the blood flowing to the legs, see what is tight and need stretched out, and see how I felt. It was not bad and I plan on ramping my mileage up pretty quickly from here. I am also going to incorporate some uphill hiking on a inclined treadmill every night. My treadmill only inclines to 10% but I will start with a mile at that incline and build from there as well. I want to make sure my hiking legs are ready for Grindstone with all the elevation I will face. 

August 21, 2022 - 26 days until race

        Training has been going good. I have fully recovered from the 60k effort a week ago and have built my mileage back up. I started with 2 laps around my neighborhood, then next day did 4, then 6, then 8, then 10. Each lap is about 1.15 miles. I also went out on a faster half marathon this morning and set a new personal best at that distance. I know I was capable of a sub 1:30 half marathon but I had never actually done it. Prior to doing it this morning my half marathon best was 1:42 and today I came in at 1:27:50. It feels good to set some personal best as I finish my prep and am about to have a big 100 mile effort. It lets me know I am at the top of my game physically which builds confidence in the face of a massive obstacle like Grindstone 100. 

        Additionally I have been hiking on the treadmill every night just to get some climbing training for my legs. I do 1 mile at 4mph and 10% grade. It is crazy how hot and sweaty I get doing this. In just 15 minutes of walking I am drenched in sweat like I just ran 5+ miles. It does not feel physically hard to do it but my body is obviously working hard to accomplish it and getting hot.I think I will increase the mileage a bit as I go into next week. With only 26 days till race day that gives me about 20 solid days of training left till I deload and recover fully before the race. I have to make every day of training count towards the goal. 

 

August 25, 2022 - 22 days until race

 

     Training continues to go smoothly. There are little strains and aches here and there but that is expected when building higher mileage. My feet are a bit tender but if I took a day or two of rest I would be good to go. I am just finishing the prep up strong before going into a deload in the near future. My incline hiking on the treadmill every night seems to be getting easier. I still work up a good sweat but the level of exertion seems lower. I have been going 1.5-2 miles every night at the 10% incline and 4mph. I also bought some new trekking poles. They are the Black Diamond Distance Carbon FLZ Trekking Poles. I have high hopes for them but only time will tell. I will pack both them and my cheap amazon pair of poles for Grindstone in case I start using the Black Diamond poles and realize I do not like them or they break. They are definitely lighter weight than my other poles though which is nice.

 

August 28, 2022- 19 days until race

        Well I have officially lost 2 toenails. One on Friday and another on Saturday. Nothing painful or really even noticeable but was concerning as I had never lost one and was not sure how it would affect my running. 

Friday August 26th I had a good training session. The picture shows that the pace was way slower than usual but there is a reason behind this. I had put on a kit (15lbs) and a ruck (45lbs) for a total of 60lbs of weight. I was running with a guy from work and we ran about 4 miles with the 60lbs on (and by ran I mean slowly jogged and power walked to keep a decent pace). Of that 4 miles about 1-1.5 of it was soft sand at the beach as we caught high tide and were stuck between a mixture of sinking into soft sand with 60lbs of weight on or getting hit with the waves as they came in. We both were soaked. After about 4 miles with the 60lbs on we dropped the ruck and continued to run with the kit on to the obstacle course, complete it, and ran back. When we finished I took my sand covered shoes and socks off and realized I was missing a toenail. It had been blacked since Old Dominion 100 and I guess it was just time to let it go. The next day I was casually walking up my stairs in the house and just lightly caught my foot on the stairs and broke another toenail off the other foot off. Luckily only having 8 toenails left has not stopped me from running. The past 2 days have just been longer steady state runs. I was sore from the weighted runs but still wanted to get some distance in. I think next week I will go for a longer run as my last long run prior to the race. 

September 1, 2022 - 15 days until race

        The prep continues. I compared my mileage and base fitness level on my watch from back when I was prepping for Old Dominion 100 and realized I was running quite a bit more then than I am now which is a bit worrisome. Between February - April my average monthly mileage was 274.66 miles and recently months I have been around 200-230 miles per month. Not a severe drop and the ankle injury did prevent quite a few miles last month but something I am cognizant of. I would like to get a longer run (15+ miles) in this weekend as my last long run hopefully on some trails but I will be out of town and have to see if I can find a trail in the area to support this.

September 6, 2022 - 10 days until race

        I was feeling good last week about my building mileage. My confidence level was rising and then things went downhill quick. While out of town for a last long weekend before the kids start back to school my training suffered. I was unable to put in the miles I would have like to and my diet was bad as well. Then my youngest kid got sick and started throwing up everywhere. For about 2 days she did not eat and threw up multiple times, had a low grade fever, and diarrhea. Well here we are 10 days from race start and I got what she had. I was throwing up yesterday, fever, felt like I was burning up, no appetite at all and stomach is all messed up. This is not how I would like to end my race prep but all I can hope for now is that whatever stomach bug this is runs its course and I am back to normal by race day. I'll probably be a few pounds lighter, and under trained but there is nothing I can do about it at this point. I am about to attempt to go run even though I do not feel the best. Maybe it will cause me to throw up the rest of the junk in my stomach or even just get my back to my baseline normal schedule of waking up early, running in the morning, etc. I hope it will help get me back on track and re-normalize my body and schedule. 

 

September 10, 2022 - 6 days until race

        The stomach bug has come and passed and training has resumed as planned.....until I got sick.....again. This time it is some sort of head cold, congestion, runny nose, cough. This is literally probably the worst ending to a race prep I could have imagined. I keep telling myself that I have already put in the work through the year and as long as I can get to like 85% healthy by race day I will be fine. My kids started school 6 days ago and both of them interacted with tons of kids in the germ melting pot that is schools and everyone in my household has been under the weather for the last week or two. 

        On the bright side I have packed my drop bags which is always exciting and difficult. Getting the right amount of supplies without over/under doing it is a challenge. Also I remember in Old Dominion 100 I lost my appetite for a lot of stuff. My stomach held up decently but I had no desire to eat certain foods so I pack a bit on the heavy side and just have a variety of stuff in the bags so depending how I am feeling I should have something I can eat. This is also all just supplementing the Aid station food I will be taking advantage of as well. I have my calories, electrolytes, headlamps, trekking poles, shoes, baby wipes, a light jacket, and vasoline /body glide. I may end up throwing a hoodie in my bags as well. I am a bit concerned about getting too cold. As of now the temperature is projected to be a high of 77 and low of 56. That does not sound cold but if the race takes longer than expected and I start having to go into the second night I know my pace will be slowed drastically so I will not be generating as much body heat. Additionally, I will be calorie low and running for over 24 hours at that point and I have a feeling I will get quite cold. 

September 13, 2022 - 3 days until race

         The most recent sickness has been confirmed as COVID-19. I was down hard for about a day with no energy, fever, headaches, etc. That has passed but I am stuck with a linger cough, congestion, mucus but am getting better daily. My first symptoms showed up Friday (the 9th) afternoon and with current guidelines I am supposed to isolate for 5 days from when I had an onset of symptoms. This puts me getting out of isolation and able to interact with people again on the 14th. This lines up perfectly for me because I am driving out on the Thursday to a hotel closer to the start line. I will officially be out of my quarantine/isolation period at that point and should not pose a risk to my fellow runners during the race. That is the bright side......on the downside I have COVID right before the beginning of the hardest race of my entire life. And COVID is no the only thing I have had recently. There have been many sickness, stomach bugs, injuries, etc. that all seemed to pile up about 30 days prior to the race. Its been a frustrating prep but I am quickly closing in on race day and getting excited. 

September 15, 2022 - 1 DAY UNTIL RACE!!

     I have packed the cars with all the supplies I think I will need for they race and adventure to come. This race offers a campground at the start/finish line that sounds like it turns into a tent city for the race. I have packed my tent, sleeping bags, hammock, etc. to make myself at home at this campsite. I depart my house shortly to head to Swoope, VA. It is not a far drive, just a bit over 3.5 hours to get there. I will check into my hotel for tonight and sleep as much as physically possible in a nice bed (trying to bank sleep time now since there wont be much over the next 48 hours). As far as timeline goes for tomorrow, I believe the first mandatory event is a 2PM race brief. I will leave my hotel around 1PM to get there at 1:30PM. Drop my drop bags, grab some race swag, catch the mandatory brief then head to set up my campsite. The goal is to have everything laid out perfectly for post race. I want my towel, change of clothes, and hygiene kit ready so as soon as I finish I can hobble over to the showers and clean up. Snacks and hydration will be the next priority. Having something readily available in my tent for refueling before passing out and getting some well deserved sleep. I know I will be out of it when I finish the race so I want to get all this prep work done early so things go smoothly post race. The goal is to clean up, eat, hydrate, and sleep (in that order).