There are many moments during the New River 100K in Fries Virginia my stomach had the loudest voice. If my stomach was the author of this post it would be all together different!
The 100K runners started at 4AM in the dark, a small group of about 15-17 runners. The course was flat and simple, simple enough that even I didn't get lost, or math wrong!
My plan was clear: run the first 20 miles at a sub-11-minute pace. Faster than I wanted, but with the heat coming in full force by 11AM, I needed to bank miles before the sun had its way....and it would. 
For most of those early miles, I tucked in behind one runner, stopped only a couple of times for quick bathroom breaks off the trail. At the first turnaround, I counted nine runners ahead of me and between 5-7 behind me.
It was in those early miles, under a sky lit only of headlamps, that I first felt the nausea creep in. It was mostly from my handheld dancing across the blackened sky my stomach turned. I made the decision to run with my light off, hoping the guy in front of me would have enough light I could follow.
I did manage to trip 2 times even on a rail to trail.
After the first 15 miles you take a turn on a leg of the course I would run 4 times, accumulating about 40 miles. It would be here on this stretch I would meet Patrick and his daughter manning an aid station. Without a cloud in the sky, I was heating up and kindly asked if I could dump my hydration pack off in a chair and pick it back up on my fourth leg out of the section, and he enthusiastically said "YEAH"!
I swapped out my tee-shirt for a tank top I had stashed in the back of my Salomon pack and headed down that stretch.
It was also at one of those aid stations that I made a critical MISTAKE, I filled my handheld bottle with Tailwind. My bellies sworn enemy!
I had already been struggling with the taste of the water on the course, but the Tailwind immediately flipped my stomach inside out and brought back vivid memories of Sulphur Springs, where I was sick for hours because of it. I tried to convince myself the calories would help me in the heat, but my body wasn't interested in that logic.
Still, I kept moving.
Coming through those aid stations, I made a point to bring smiles, even if they only came from my tank and hat! Seeing my friends running the 50K along the out-and-back sections reminded me I wasn't alone in the struggle. The heat was getting to all of us. 
The plan was to gradually slow: sub-11's for the first 20 miles, then adding 30seconds per mile to every 20 miles. I felt completely married to my watch, but it was my only running buddy I had out there.
Somewhere in all this I decided to investigate an irritated spot on my belly, only to discover my skirt was on backwards! I had been running with my running skirt on backwards for over 40 miles! Not the first time I have done this. At that point, fixing it felt pointless, that would be a problem for later.
By my final visit to Patrick's station, my skin felt like it was on fire, and I was dry heaving at the sight of food. I had already taken a five-minute break at a previous aid station, sitting in the grass just trying to regroup. At this point, another runner and I were leapfrogging each other, both of us looking equally green.
I asked Patrick if he was going back to the finish line and when he said "YES", I asked if he would be willing to take my pack and tee-shirt back with him. The thought of another layer on my already roasted body seemed unbearable.
Then came the low point. 
I only had about 15 miles to go. The runner I had been trading places with was sipping Coke while I was dry heaving. I tried to leave but my body shut down. I collapsed in the grass retching and vomiting bile. He looked my way and said, "Hope you feel better." and slowly disappeared down the trail.
Patrick stepped in again, ice in my hat, a cold rag around my neck, doing everything he could to cool me down. I just leaned into the grass wanting it to swallow me and closed my eyes. I laid there for about 5 minutes, fell asleep with prayers and a calmness. When I got back up, he handed me a half a banana, and somehow, I got moving again, catching up to the runner and even passing him one final time.
I felt terrible because I knew he was struggling the same as me. The sun was scorching, and our wheels were coming off.
I wouldn't throw up again until the finish line.
From there, my pace slowed, my body temperature climbed, but somehow...I kept passing people. I knew the distance was over, 63.5 miles, and I knew I still had work to do.
With about 4 miles to go, 2 bikers passed me shouting, "Hey, there's a bunch of girls waiting for you at the finish!"
That changed everything!
Knowing that my 13 girls were there gave me just enough push! There were no runners around me anymore and hadn't been for miles. Just me, the heat, a hefty breeze now, and a very unhappy stomach, but I still managed to run just with a lot more walking.
And then I heard them.
Cowbells. Cheers. My clan! Lake Effect Legends, that's what we called ourselves.
I was able to run it in, smiling for the photos, holding it together just long enough until I crossed the finish line.
12 hours and 34 minutes.
And then PROMPTLY laid back in the grass while my body reminded me what it had just been through, sharing its final protest.
I managed to finish 2nd place female. It was a small field, yes, but that didn't take away from what it meant to me. 
I didn't quit; I didn't give up.
I am learning that I can run through nausea, through discomfort, through the things that don't go according to plan.
Between the morning nausea from my handheld, the tailwind, wardrobe issues, the heat and cloudless sky, and the hours of running green it was a perfect storm.
IN Closing, I am so proud of all 13 women who showed up and ran. EACH one has her own story, her own grit, and each one gave me something I carried with me through those 63.5 miles.
The race was a front-row seat to the FAITHFULNESS of God.
He carried me when my body couldn't.
He sustained me when I had nothing left.
And crossing the finish line wasn't the END....
It was the BEGINNING of what's ahead for Western States!
He's Not finished with ME Yet!!
In Peace, Not Pieces,
Anita
