Yesterday I ran my first 100K.

I knew it was going to be hard, but there was no way I could have anticipated the challenges of the day. After training for more than 3 months, I found myself completely helpless 35 miles in. Both my watch and my phone were unusable, and my right MCL left me with no other choice but to walk.

It was very emotional at first, but then I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started problem solving. Diagnosing and understanding exactly what movements caused the pain. Creating mini-goals for recovery and testing light jogs every 15 minutes. Rehearsing what I would do once I rolled into the next aid station.

And right when I fully accepted that I would walk the rest of the race, things started to miraculously turn around.*

I went from being able to jog again for minutes at a time to a crazy second wind that carried me all the way to finish line. In the last 20 miles, I moved up over 100 spots and finished in 15:40:06.

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better race.

Biggest takeaways

Run for yourself

I ran the first half of the race with a hunter mentality. Everytime someone from our group pulled away, my goal became to reel them in. But once I realized I couldn't run that way anymore, I completely reframed what I wanted from the race.

"Run a race you can be proud of"

That's what I kept telling myself when I had nothing else to hold onto, and I discovered immense strength in those words that pushed me up even the final climbs when every muscle took its turn in cramping up. It's common to say "run your own race" to not compare yourself to others, and I think the intrinsic motivation helped me push myself harder than I could have otherwise.

Clarity leads to actual problem solving

When the knee initially gave out, all the emotions hit me at once. Anger. Sadness. Grief. And in those emotionally charged moments, all I wanted was to push through the pain and deal with the consequences later. But before doing that I managed to ask myself a simple question. "Would I rather not run for a day (today) or for the next 3 months?"

The answer was clear, and the clarity from that switched me into problem solving mode. I started experimenting with all the permutations of a light jog to see how my body would react. Can I sustain 20 seconds? Nope. What about 10? How does a slight incline feel vs. a decline? I realize now it was kind of insane because I didn't expect to recover in the middle of a race, but I had no other option.

And because I was calm, I wasn't frustrated when things didn't work. It was just a science - a collection of a bunch of different experiments on my body that led to more data and better decision making.

The funny thing? After all this experimenting, my conclusion was that I couldn't jog at all. To just walk the rest of the 9 miles to the next aid station and most likely...for the rest of the race. Little did I know that things would turn around so quickly and allow me to jog the last 2 miles into the aid station feeling like I had been resurrected.

Listen to your body

It sounds easy, but it's harder than you think.

If you just stopped when your body told you to, you probably wouldn't finish an ultra. But it's knowing when pain comes from discomfort or an actual injury. I spent so much time wondering to myself - "can I actually push through this or should I stop?"

In this case what helped is that I've been here before. In 2024, I returned from a backpacking trip with these exact symptoms and ended up racing my first half Ironman anyway. I pushed through it, but I was out after that for 5 months.

So I knew how bad it could get, and I'm really glad I trusted my gut despite everything us in my head telling me things like "your body is going to be wrecked anyway."

Ask for help

I figured this out halfway through, but I noticed in my first crewed aid stop that I was terrible at accepting help. Friends offered to help, but I had figured that it would be easier just for me to do everything rather than explain it.

But that definitely became less true the more tired I got. And I started to need more help beyond just replenishing fuel.

So I started doing this more. Asking people to fill up my flasks and pour drink mix. Asking people to untie my shoes so I could switch out my socks.

A long race like this really breaks you down and humbles you. And I'm so glad that when I asked for help, my crew and the race volunteers always responded.

Gratitudes

My training group - Max, Anna, Eliza, Cyrus and Jonathan. We trained over the last 3 months together, and we all dealt with different injuries to get to the start line. This was everyone's first 100K, and I'm so proud of everyone for getting it done.

Our coach Brandon - For pushing all of us in the group - both as a coach but also as a model athlete in his own pro triathlete journey. After one of our regular Sunday calls, I told Brandon that I think I might be developing IT band syndrome. He immediately turned around a new training plan in time for Monday morning. On my 3rd week of not running, I was pretty worried that I wasn't going to make it to the start line. But Brandon encouraged me to stay patient, and I'm so glad I did.

The amazing crew - Mathilde, Nick, Caroline, Ash, Betsy, Ellen, Gabby, Ahmed. Everyone seemed like they had a dedicated crew member coming to the race, and I was honestly a little nervous that I didn't have one. But on the day of the race, I felt the opposite and the crew made me feel so supported the entire time.

Other runners - Cara, Luke, Christine, Richie. Shared some great miles with you all. Thank you for simulatenously pushing me and making me feel at ease on the trail.

Race volunteers - No race like this is possible without amazing volunteers and people who are just bringing the best vibes. Thank you guys for making this day happen.

Final thoughts

I honestly thought I was done at mile 35.

The MCL thing had haunted for me for years, and I had no real answers to making it better. But I realize now that when I had let go of my original plan, I was starting to flip the script.

Repeatedly asking myself "what's the worst that can happen" allowed me to realize that I would still come in under the cutoff if I walked the rest of it. Accepting that outcome allowed me to regain composure and think more clearly about the situation.

After the race I was chatting with Brandon and he said that the longer the race goes, the more likely something will go wrong. At that point it's less about speed or power, and more about your ability to problem solve.

And boy do I love problem solving.

Footnotes

*I did some research afterwards and I think walking gave me enough time to (1) have some fatigued stabilizer muscles recover and (2) settle the inflammation in my right MCL. The inflammation most likely came the knee ligaments absorbing more load than they can handle. And that was caused by other muscles like the glute med, VMO and adductors getting really tired.