Anchor Down Ultra Marathon

Congratulations to Michelle Sipe for completing the Anchor Down Ultra Marathon. Here is her race report...

My race reports are few and far between, simply because I usually post more pictures and comments along the way. This trip was different. My cell phone stopped working on Thursday night. Between my last post on Thursday until the moment I got home Sunday night, a lot happened. This is a long read, but this was one heck of a trip with so many strange moments, learning lessons, laughter, regret, tears, and of course…a whole lot of determination.

The drive to Rhode Island wasn’t eventful, just a lot of traffic on 95. I arrived at Melville Campground in Portsmouth around 3:00. I don’t know why I booked a site without electric, I should have asked to move, but I didn’t. I regretted that decision later…. I set up my six person tent, with ease, comfy cot and all. I ventured back out for a few things (including yummy beer). I noticed my camping neighbors two sites over, were youngish, two couples but the girls had one tent the guys another. They were cooking dinner, drinking beer, etc. I was the very last site on that stretch, on the left side of my tent was all woods, creepy creepy woods.

At some point I realized I didn’t put my rain cover on the tent, so I spent about 45 minutes by lantern light doing that. Off to bed I went, earbuds in to block out noise. I listened to music for a while, tried to sleep, tossed and turned, stressed about not having a way to charge my phone, turned my phone off (not realizing it would not turn back on). I dozed off around midnight…I’m guessing it was around 2:00 a.m. when my eyes popped open due to sounds I didn’t like. Something, or many somethings were outside my tent. I froze, my heart was racing. Was it a bear? Was it deer, fox, raccoons, skunks, monsters? I DIDN’T KNOW. Then I heard what sounded like a bunch of coyotes off in the distance. That didn’t help.

The critters made their way two sites over, and found the trash bags full of all sorts of goodies. Over the next two hours this pack of what sounded like 150 screeching, gnawing, scratching, clanging mystery creatures had a good old time in my neighbor’s trash…all while THEY SLEPT THROUGH IT!! I heard the one guy snoring loudly. The commotion was 6 feet from their tents!!!! How they didn’t wake up is beyond me. I tried to see what is was, but the lighting wasn’t good. *sigh* So much for quality sleep.

In the morning I stepped outside, eyes blinking, feeling exhausted. Their site was COVERED with trash. Eventually they woke up, looking like they had hangovers. When I left the guys were picking up the trash.

I was standing at my van, fiddling with my phone, hoping it would work. I just so happened to peek over my shoulder and there was a skunk! Five feet from me, just staring at me. I was annoyed that I didn’t have my camera near me! It just turned away and waddled back into the woods. Wow. That could have ended smelly.

I had no phone, but I needed to get ahold of Scott to tell him I was okay, and Sara to figure out our meet up plans. I also didn’t know where the park (THE RACE!) was. I wasn’t about to ask my hungover neighbor’s if I could use their phone, I was too annoyed with them for leaving their trash out. WHO DOES THAT???

So as I was driving out, I stopped at another site and asked a young couple if I could use their phone. They were super nice, but informed me that they are from Quebec and the call would cost a lot, but I could use Facebook if that helps! YES, that would work! Their auto correct kept trying to make my words French, it was funny. I told them their phone was making me sound fancy, adding accent marks! I messaged Sara, and Lauren (to reach out to Scott). I got directions to the park from the campground owner, and headed on my way, it was just a twenty minute drive.

Arrived at the park at 12:00 on Friday, chatted with a woman and her dad. We walked part of the course together, just too see what we were up against. She let me use her phone to call Scott, but he missed my call, had to leave a message. She left, and then I had nothing to do, no way to contact people, so I set up the back of my van like a bed, and rested until 2:00 when others were arriving to set up tents at the start. I set up my little pop up tent, and waited for Sara. Sara arrived and we confirmed plans with Cherrie and Barb. We then relaxed and chatted the time away.

Cherrie and Barb arrived around 5:20, with dinner!!! It was awesome to see them, and have a picnic dinner together, in the van (it was lightly raining on and off all day). They drove 40 minutes just to hang out with us before the race, and I’m so glad they did.

6:40 was the prerace meeting. The RD went over the basic rules, and explained the necessary things, and then talked about WHAT IF lightning was an issue. It was shortly after that when we heard a rumble off in the distance. Of course we laughed a little, it was an on cue. BUT THEN….just as the national anthem was being sung, the sky opened up and it POURED, the hardest rain of the day and it was right at 7:00 p.m, at the start of the race. We were all drenched, head to toe. The woman nailed the anthem, though, incredible voice!

It was at this time when I though how foolish it was that I wasn’t wearing compression shorts. I had a ton of glide on, but as I was about to find out, it wasn’t enough.

Off we went! Into the woods, through a section of thick mud, in the pouring rain. There were sections of the trail that were like mini rivers. Laughter, excitement, and lots of energy could be heard from runners…and then a giant crack of lightning directly overhead quieted most of us. Not cool, nature, not cool. There were maybe two more big bolts, but by the time we got out of the woods and hit the open coast, the rain simmered down and there were no more rumbles. The course started with about a mile of woods, not technical, but it was rooty and now a mud pit.

Sara and I ran together at the start, and reconnected during the race a few times. It rained on and off for HOURS. We were both a muddy mess. At one point Sara fell (I wasn’t with her for this lap), she laughed as she told me about it. During one of our laps together, I wiped out in the mud. It was slow motion, but the impact hurt! I laughed, Sara laughed, a guy asked if I was okay. I said yes…and then I yelled at Sara for laughing at me, all while we were both cracking up. My knee wasn’t amused. Immediate pain, but not enough to make me worry.

At this point I realized I had to do something about the chafing. I’ve never been one to wish for thigh gap, but on Friday night I was wishing I had it. In case you don’t know what chafing feels like, imagine someone taking a section of rough carpet to your skin, and rubbing it back and forth a thousand times. It burns, and eventually bleeds. Yes, that’s gross, I’m sorry. Well, this was going on to my thighs. I should have changed into my capri pants sooner, but I didn’t…another regret. The damage was done and it continued to get worse. All night long I had to stop and reapply Vaseline. My knee also stiffened up along the way, it was painful. I was a mess.

The rain cleared up, and the trail in the woods became manageable again. Still not 100% runnable by my standards, especially while wearing old regular running shoes and not trail shoes (another regret). The mud made every step a slide, my arms hurt a little from the flapping of near so many near falls!

One lap before sunrise I grabbed my camera, excited to get pictures of the sunrise!! Made my way through the woods and to the open coast, and my camera wouldn’t turn on!!! I was crushed!! It turned on eventually…but I missed so many pictures.

By 7 a.m. after a long slow night of crazy weather and rookie mistakes, I did 17 laps, or 41.65 miles, but I was hurting. The pain from the chafing and my knee was bad. I felt sick to my stomach, and I was freezing (clothes were soaking wet). As I approached the start/finish area after lap 17, Sara was there waiting to say goodbye. She had finished her 12 hours and was ready to head home. The lap took me a long time, I had to sit down along the way to keep from throwing up. I walked the runnable sections, I was in too much pain. Sara suggested I listen to my body and be done, claim my 26.2 and get on my way. I told her I might have to. She left, and I went to the little pop up tent to rest.

The pop up tent is not waterproof, as I found out. Everything inside was drenched. Shivering away, I cleaned up the tent as much as possible and climbed in. I tried to get warm, covered up with a jacket, changed my tops, covered up with a second jacket…but I was freezing. I felt tears forming, and I was overwhelmed. I went to the medic. Feeling feverish, I worried if I had an infection, or something. My knee kept giving out on me as I walked. The medic walked me to my van. He said he would check on me in a bit, but I needed to get warm. So I changed into comfy clothes, took Tylenol, covered my chafing spots with antibiotic cream, and curled up under blankets. I was out in seconds.

I woke up due to sweating like crazy. I through off the blankets. I thought I heard the RD announce there were only 3 hours left of the race. OMG. Did I really sleep from 8:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m.? I checked the van clock, it was 9:28 a.m…WHAT? Not sure what I heard, but it had only been about an hour and a half. Suddenly I thought about how I could go back out and get more miles! Stopping at 41.65 miles meant that I didn’t meet the minimum required to get a medal. I needed 49 miles.

I stepped out of the van, my knee felt FINE! My chafing was on fire though. I went to the medic and asked if I could get back in the race. He informed that wasn’t “out of the race”. I asked if he had gauze and wrap, I knew I had tape and Vaseline. I packed up the pop up tent, cooler, and all the went blankets. I then changed into new running clothes (including a tank since it was now HOT and HUMID). I wrapped my thighs, and got back on the course.

In all my ultras I’ve never taken an extended break, I have to admit that it bothers me that this race required me to do so. But, I made mistakes and I had deal with that.

The medic gave me a thumbs up as I passed through the start/finish after my first lap back. I felt great!! My knee didn’t hurt at all (which was odd), and my wrapping was working! I had energy! It was perfect! Another, lap, and then the heat and humidity was kind of like a slap in the face, but I was going strong. I hit 49 miles, woohoo!!! The medic cheered for me as I went by, but I said WAIT, I’m not done! I want 50. Getting to 50 means a full other lap (they were 2.45 miles). So out I went, for another. 51.45 miles, but I wasn’t sure if I was done.

I rested in the van for a bit, giving my chafing a chance cool off, but I accepted that I had to be done. At that point the wrapping wasn’t helping, and the thought of going another lap sounded awful! I borrowed a cell phone and called Scott, he was out running and MISSED MY CALL AGAIN! I thanked the RD and the medic, got my medal and called it a day.

A volunteer pointed me to the nearest Verizon store just 6 miles down the road. I went directly there from the race. From there I had to go another 5 miles down the road to a different store to get an external battery charger. Turns out that the charging port on my phone was damaged, but the phone and battery are fine.

I stopped to grab takeout on my way back to camp. Salmon burger & butternut squash! Made myself wait to eat. I wanted to shower first. I got back to the section of the campground where my site was, and it was as if an entire city block had moved in. Tents and people EVERYWHERE. *sigh* I unzipped my tent to find that it too, was not waterproof. *SIGH* Hobbling around, I cleaned up the water, piling more wet stuff in the van. I walked to the shower, plugged in the external charger there, since I had no electric. It wasn’t charging!!!! UGH. Seriously. I was tired, hungry, and in pain. I wasn’t in the mood for things to go wrong. After showering, I walked some of the blankets to the laundry, and tried to charge the battery there. NO LUCK. Fine. Whatever.

Walked (aka hobbled) to my tent, made my bed, sat down to eat dinner. They didn’t give me a fork!! I almost cried. Okay, that was it. I needed sleep. I ate, drank one beer, brushed my teeth outside my tent, and called it a night. My neighbors were all loud, till very late. I listened to comedians on my mp3 player, and then drifted off to sleep. Hours later, I woke up to the sound of a CAT outside my tent. Seriously, a CAT!!!! My eyes popped open. I refused to move, I just wanted it to go away. Why was there a cat out there? It was creepy. After ten minutes, it left, and I went back to sleep.

In the morning, I packed up my tent, cot, and everything. I plugged the charger in at the laundryroom and it worked!! Yay!! I left it there while I drove across the street to have breakfast at a local place that was recommended. That charge was enough to allow me to call Scott…and he missed the call, again!!!! I had to leave a message. I had printed directions to get the campground from home, so I just wrote them in reverse.

On my way home, with two hours to go, I stopped at small town in New Jersey and ate an Irish restaurant. Guinness stew!! It was incredible! I plugged my charger in and was able to post on FB.

I got home at 7:40 p.m. Scott said to me “If you were trying to show me what life without you would be like, it worked, and I don’t like it. You need to get a new phone!!!” We’ve not gone that long without talking/texting, it wasn’t a good feeling.

Now I can finally catch up with all my friends and family.