100 Mile Endurance Challenge Race Report

As this airplane took off from the LAX airport on the way back to Fort Worth with my wife, Christie sitting next to me, I felt a strong prompting that now was the time I needed to write my race report. I cannot express with adequate words the immense emotions and experiences this past weekend has afforded me. I will try to recount all the details of this past weekend, and the immense gratitude and joy I have experienced as being one of the few who toed the line to embark on the inaugural 100 Mile Endurance Challenge.
The Tasks:
• Run 100 Miles from Corona, Ca to Santa Monica, Ca
• Finish in under 30 hours
• Raise funds that will allow children who do not have the means to be a part of The 100 Mile Club, which is a program that strikes an effective blow at the heart of a MAJOR epidemic sweeping our nation… Childhood Obesity
• Give my best effort and leave NOTHING in the tank when I am done
• HAVE FUN!!!!
The weekend started off with parting kisses and tight hugs to all our children who would be staying at home in Fort Worth while Mommy & Daddy headed to California for a little run on Thursday evening. They had the awesome opportunity to spend some quality bonding time with their Grandma Grace, and everyone was set to have a wonderful weekend. Christie and I have an uneventful flight to Los Angeles, and were pleased to see my sister Shawnah, who flew in from Utah to help support me at the race, and my mother. We arrive at Christie’s Mom’s house where we settle in and sleep VERY well. Friday was uneventful, just got our last final preparations together for the race. My brother Jeff was making his first attempt at 100 miles and my wife was making her first attempt at the marathon distance. She was part of a 4 lady relay team that would be running the course as well. We had a nice evening out, enjoying some pizza and a GREAT night’s sleep.
Saturday morning, my alarm goes off at 3:30am and it is go-time! I hopped in the shower and lathered myself with a large amount of Body Glide and Vaseline (if you read my race report from the ULTRA I ran 3 weeks ago, you understand why) on every part of my leg and other various “Manly Parts” to avoid chaffing, and I was ready. Christie’s brother, Fred, his son Alex, Christie, and I made our way to McKinley Elementary at about 6am to make it to the race briefing and check-in. My breakfast was simple… Leftover Pizza from the night before! THAT WAS AWESOME! I wanted some breakfast food but the cupboards were pretty bare and we just rolled with the punches, so, PIZZA it was, and there was NO complaining!!! As we arrive at the school we begin to see runners emerging from cars and the excitement building in the air. I go get weighed in, get my goody bag, have my number drawn on my arm, and picture taken, then it was a brief wait until the race briefing.



A few moments later, we begin the race briefing, review the course layout, get the particulars on the mobile bike support provided by Jenson USA, and other key points to know for the day’s adventure that awaited us. After the briefing is complete, EVERYONE is extremely anxious and excited. I make my way back over to my family, and hook up with my brother Jeff, my sister Shawnah, my Mom, Jeff’s family, and my buddy Caue Suplicy, who is an awesome man and makes one HECK of a fast bike!!! I am so lucky to have all of these folks in my corner!!!






After exchanging warm thoughts with friends and family, Kara Lubin, the founder of the 100 Mile Club begins the announcements and the race is pretty close to getting underway. We hear the singing of the National Anthem, which was awesome, and was performed by the race director, Darren Van Soye’s, daughter. After some brief remarks, Kara then announces the amount of funds raised for the 100 Mile Club through this epic event, and I was VERY PLEASED to learn that I had raised almost 25% of all the funds that were collected for the ENTIRE race. Thank you to all my family and friends who contributed. For this effort, I was awarded the most AWESOME quilt, which was made by Kara’s mother, with love, out of 100 Mile Club T-Shirts…



I also must give a HUUUUGE shout out to the good folks at Champion Systems for hooking me up with my incredible running gear. The jersey was custom made by them, and I am absolutely honored to have them as one of my sponsors!
After all the pre-race festivities are over, we begin lining up at the start to head out to the sound of the fog horn, right at 8:30am. I give my family and friends hugs and kisses and it was go time! 100 Miles to glory was the war cry…




I make my way to my bro Jeff, tell him how proud I am of him, tell him I love him, and as we start running, that would prove to be the last I would see of him for a very long time. As we head out the pace is solid at about 10 minute miles, which was probably a little fast, but was definitely comfortable and as the group started to spread out a little, we all began to fall into our own pace. The first 8 miles or so wound through Corona with some rolling hills which would eventually lead us to run on the Santa Ana River Trail. This section was mostly flat and would end in Anaheim. The pace was solid, hydration and nutrition were well and I ended up finishing up this first 25 mile section in 4:51, which again, was probably a little too fast. I was happy to reach the aid station and see my family and friends waiting for me there.





Christie was running the 2nd leg of her relay and I was hoping to run with her, but Michelle, who ran the 1st section was a little back, so I headed out, and about 5 minutes out there, I see Michelle, and decide to slow down to let Christie catch up…



This section was “Interesting”. It pretty much stayed on The Santa Ana River Trail, which is somewhat of a River Bed… Long, boring, nothingness. There were countless homeless “Villages” that consisted of makeshift tents constructed of trash bags and blankets under each overpass, and we saw numerous groups of people and individuals smoking pot as we ran by. I am so glad Christie ran with me here, because I would not have felt safe if I was a woman running there. We ran past Anaheim Angel Stadium and continued on southward towards the ocean. This section proved tough because we saw NO mobile aid station support until about 16 miles into the section. I placed a call to Jared, the man in charge of the mobile aid stations, and he tried to coral help before we both were completely out of water. To top things off, the printed instructions we were given for the route, were wrong, and we were forced to stay put until we could be given clarity. After about 45 minutes of waiting around for proper directions and support to show up, we head out on our way. As the support gal rides up to us, she asks if we need anything… She had no back pack. A half empty water bottle in her cage, and one small bottle of water she gave us. I was dehydrated by this point, and I put a “Mayday” call out to my buddy Aric to meet us up ahead and bring me some fluids and grub. It was around this time that I learned that my brother Jeff had dropped from the race at the first aid station due to a tendon injury suffered at mile 18. I was really bummed for him, but when he told me he was going to help be part of my crew and help get me through the race, I was EXTATIC! After we got our fluids replaced, and took in some food, we hit a pretty good clip that would land us onto PCH, and we would run down Huntington Beach and Bolsa Chica Beach shorelines en route to aid station #2 at mile 50. This section, with all the delays and waiting took us 7:36:00 to complete, and I was so thankful Christie and I were able to spend this time running, walking, and suffering a bit together. After reaching the end of Bolsa Chica, I asked Christie’s brother to have a chicken sandwich and burger waiting for me from Jack in The Box. I pounded it on the way back to Aid Station #2, and was feeling pretty tired…



After taking some time to change in to dry clothes and eating a little bit, I began to get real light-headed. So, I sat down, got some encouragement from my family. Jeff and my sister Shawnah were rubbing my legs and shoulders, and I was beginning to feel better…



As I get up to head out, Christie tells me she wants to run a little bit with me. So we head out and I begin my slow “Crippled-Old man” walk down the road.



It takes me a while to loosen up but I eventually start to warm up again and I begin to jog. About 2 miles into it Christie tells me she is beginning to get a little tired and in a little discomfort, so I tell her to go home with her brother Fred, who was following closely in his Suburban. I give her a big hug & kiss and tell her how proud of her I was and thanked her, and sent her on her way to get cleaned up and some rest. After she left, I seriously got a HUGE burst of energy and started to hit it. I was running at a real good clip, around 10 minute miles for probably 15 miles straight. I started off this section in about 14th to 15th place. Within 2 hours I had worked my way up to 5th. I was feeling really good! I stopped at a Carl’s Jr and got a Western Bacon Cheeseburger in Long Beach, just past The Traffic Circle, and that helped a ton. I hit it again and ran all the way down to Wilmington on PCH. I started to fade a bit here but was still holding strong…




A few minutes before this, as I was running through LBC, I had a dude come slowly driving by me on his bike. After passing me, he dismounts his bike, starts walking it up the hill, and I begin to see wet splatters on the ground! (It was around 1am). I quickly realize this guy is “Piss-Drunk” literally and was pissing all over himself, his bike and the ground while he walked. AWESOME! A few minutes before that, when I was running through the ghetto, I had some sketchy looking hoodlums cross the street right in my path! Thanks to my brother and Aric who were following closely who promptly rushed those fools and they went on about their business. A few minutes afterwards, I was prompted to throw up my “Gangsta” Style!!!



As I realize I am only a few miles away from “Big Kong” (A hill that ascends about 2000” and lasts 5.5 miles) I realize I am REALLY fading and I needed some serious energy. I tell Jeff & Aric to grab me some tacos from Del Taco. I pound those, chug a ton of Cytomax, a few Enduralytes, and was gearing up for the huge climb. As I approach Crenshaw Blvd, Aric hopped out of the car and was going to make the trek with me. We turn on to Crenshaw, and my calves immediately scream at me. They were DONE! I keep pushing forward and I was literally fading fast. I had nothing left. My quads, hamstrings, and calves were locking up with every step, my core temperature was dropping fast, I begin to have my teeth chatter, my lips were turning purple, and I could feel myself slipping away. I kept trying to push forward, but less than a mile in to Big Kong, I had to stop. I sat down on the curb and tried to chug fluids. I ate some snacks, in an attempt to try to get the strength I needed to make it up this BRUTAL climb. There was nothing else I could have done, I was completely on empty and realized my day was done. I told my brother and Aric that I was dropping out. I really appreciated their encouragement and support, but there was nothing that they could have said that would have kept me out there. I was shaking and trembling a little from the cold, I was completed depleted of energy, and I was ready to go sit in a hot bath and lick my wounds. After standing up from the curb, I get into the car, they crank up the heater, which was like a bit of heaven, and I begin to get the unpleasant aroma of myself!!! The distinct aroma that only a person who had been running for 19 hours can have, and it wasn’t pretty! We make the 3 mile drive up the road to the aid station at mile 75 and we inform the race crew that I was done. I really appreciated the positivity and warm words expressed by the volunteers who came to the car and shared some time with me. They presented me with a letter that was written by one of the children who runs in the 100 Mile Club, and it was awesome!



All-in-all, I had a GREAT race. I learned some VERY valuable lessons. I believe, in retrospect, I started out too fast, and paid for it later. However, I felt surprisingly ok when I quite, I just think it was a lack of calories and fluids in my system. I don’t think I did a good enough job keeping up on that. If I am going to increase my pace, I need to increase intake, NOT keep it the same or less. I also learned that running on pavement for 19 hours is BRUTAL on your body. My body felt like it got ran over by a truck!!! More of an exclamation point rather than something I learned is that Ultra Runners as a whole, are the salt of the Earth! There really are no better people than those who push the limits of normalcy and dare to dream big, but do NOT let their egos go before them. Humble is the word that comes to mind when you rub elbows with an Ultra Marathoner. We all know someone who has ran a marathon and probably talks about it a lot. Very few of us probably know an Ultra Runner, and if we do, you probably found out they run Ultras by accident or in passing conversation. I want to try to become more of an Ultra Runner on the road / trails, and in life.
In closing, while I have now attempted the 100 mile distance twice, and got about as far on both attempts, the main difference is that on my first attempt earlier this year, it took me 23.5 hours to do, and in this one, 19 hours. Improvement!!! Now, with the extra experience under my belt, added confidence in my ability, and the valuable lessons learned regarding hydration and nutrition, I believe I have an EXCELLENT chance of completing my third attempt at “The Distance of Truth” at The Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile Endurance Run in early February 2011 in Huntsville, TX. There is absolutely NO WAY I will hang my head in shame or regret over this DNF. I truly left it all out on the course, and when I stopped, I literally had nothing left to give. 73+ miles is a long way to run, on pavement or any other surface, and at the end of the day, this journey was a success. Perhaps this distance is a bit bigger than me right now, but it is my Mount Everest, and that is precisely the mountain I WILL conquer. In life, it is NOT about how many times we fell down, it is about how many times we got back up, dusted ourselves off, and dared to look insurmountable odds in the face again and not let our shortfalls keep us from pushing forward to our goal. Life can be summed up in an allegory comparable to every distance of running. 5K, 10k, 13.1, 26.2, and then the race beyond all that…THE ULTRA DISTANCE. This is a race and distance that challenges each person to believe in something bigger than themselves, pushing boundaries beyond what is considered normal, that teaches everyone to believe that anything is possible, to discover what you are truly made of, and to recognize that life is not about the fast fleeting moments of pleasure that come and go with the wind, it is about living every day to the fullest, taking time to enjoy those things that are of lasting happiness and joy, and can be remembered and pondered upon for a lifetime, and most importantly, to have a legacy to leave behind where your family can walk with pride and sometime after we are long gone from this Earth, say with pride… “One day, my Dad did something that nobody else has ever done…”
Thank you for reading this VERY long account of my experiences. May we all be abundantly blessed in our journey to discover why we are here and how we can best find true happiness in every breathe we take…

Your Friend,
Dan Benintendi