Five years ago I was out of college, working, and sitting around not exercising the way I had most of my life.  My friend Sarah had the brilliant idea for us to train for Danskin.  I'd run before, nothing more than 4 miles so doing a triathlon seemed like a lofty goal.  I found a women's training group to meet with and my first class with them was so tough, I couldn't even run ONE lap around the track without it hurting.  I stuck with it mostly because the group was so encouraging and made me feel like I could do the impossible.  The impossible turned from the Capital 10,000 that spring (my longest run to that point), a half marathon the next winter, a road 30K the next year, then it was all downhill beginning with my first trail 50K at Sunmart in December 2004 and my first 50 miler last February.  All of these distances having seemed so impossible but I've gotten comfortable in the fact that I can do more than I think.  I joined Joe's Rogue training group in September to get ready for Bandera.  Being my first 100k I knew this wasn't something I could half train for and I would feel more prepared having a set schedule to train by and a group to run with.  I put in my miles at Bastrop, getting up early, doing 20 something miles and managing to make it to the UT games, usually before kick-off.  I did Palo Duro 50K and Warda 50 miler as my long training runs along the way.  The weather played a huge role in Bandera this year, giving us pretty much anything and everything.  I wasn't sure what to expect so I planned for everything (so glad I did because we had everything) and made a couple of trips to REI that week for another rain jacket, vests, pants, hand warmers, gloves.  I just wanted to make sure I had everything under the sun.  My pre-race week didn't go as planned with too little sleep and throwing my drop bags together last minutes and faster than I felt comfortable but I had to remember I'd been planning and thinking this through for months, there was really no more preparation I could do and getting anxious about things not in my control wasn't doing me any good.   The day before the race certainly didn't go as planned but spin class with Ramsey that morning helped calm the anxiety about things not in my control; I'd trained hard, thought everything through, now I just had to run. The morning started warm, humid and kind of foggy.  I just enjoyed being out running with my friends after the long day I'd had the day before.  It was nice to be out running.  This ended somewhere between Nachos and Chapas because the mud was so bad.  I was already slipping and sliding so I took out the iPod to get my mind off the mud.  I had great support along the way with Josh meeting me with my turkey and cold coke at Crossroads and Last Chance and Chapas on the second loop.  The first loop was tough and I knew it was only going to be tougher that second loop.  The mud was bad, the brief downpours got me drenched then left me cold, then the cold front came in about 2 pm.  I wasn't sure if it was a cold front or if something was seriously wrong and my body temp had just dropped.  I figured it was the cold front.  Despite the less than ideal conditions, I was out running and enjoying myself and I was determined to finish this race.  The mud between Nachos and Chapas had done some damage to my feet and it felt like a toenail was coming off.  It wasn't too bad and figured I could make it to the Lodge to take care of it. I got around the Lodge and was cold from the downpour that had just occurred so I went into the "changing room" to change out of my wet clothes.  I put on more clothes than seemed comfortable but that was a smart choice because I hadn't realized how much the temp was dropping and having long sleeves and two layers kept the wet rain jacket off my skin.  Dawn put some tape around my toenail, it hadn't completely come off but was on it's way so the tape helped hold it in place and feel better.  I picked up my pacer and we were off for the second loop adventure, up and down, most of the way to Nachos.  No matter how much I was cussing those hills, I always though it was worth the climb just for the view from above and that I better take the opportunity to get a good look before sunset.  I made it to Chapas where I had to tape up the second toenail that was giving me problems.  By then, because of the darkness I was getting cold and the same old food wasn't sounding good.  My pacer got me a grilled cheese while I put pants on and taped my other toenail.  The grilled cheese was great and helped me get into Crossroads.  Plus, I was really looking forward to doing another wardrobe change.  The mud and dampness propelled me to my dropbag of dry, warmer clothes.   I put on so many layers I was worried I wouldn't be able to move but at this point, I was moving so slowly it seemed, the layers weren't slowing me any.  I put on a thicker rain jacket too which kept me warm and protected me from the constant light mist.   I began to tire between the two Crossroads stations.  I had made a conscious effort to not know the time of day because I knew once it got late, just knowing the time would mentally make me tired.  I looked at my watch to measure my electrolyte time and saw it was 10:30 pm.  Id' been running a long time.  I tried to not think about how tired I was getting and instead that it was funny my pacer Jen thought the coyotes singing off in the distance was music coming from a ranch house.  I concentrated on getting back to Crossroads and that it was only 10 miles from there.  It was going to be a long, slow 10 miles but at this point, there was no way I was quitting unless I was going to the hospital.  I had training too long and hard to stop now.  At the second Crossroads stop I got some coffee/hot chocolate for the road which did help the sleepiness and picked up Darren, my second pacer for the day.  I have to give it to my pacers for being amazing.  They'd never done this before, much less run at Bandera and they really offered great support in getting me through and stories along the way to keep my mind of the uncomfortable toenails.   Crossroads was full of people on my way out so mentally it made me feel better that there were still people behind me and I was well on my way within the 24 hour cut-off.   Between Crossroads and Last Chance the toenails really became a problem.  I had no idea until I finished that not only had my two toenails come unattached at the cuticle, they also had a blister from the cuticle to about mid toe.  It made the downhills uncomfortable, shoving my toe into my shoe.  The left toe started to really hurt at one point and I figured the nail had completely come off and it would need attention at Last Chance.  It began to feel better though and once I finished, realized that blister popped so that why I felt some relief.  I didn't do anything to my feet at Last Chance, just grabbed a little mac and cheese and a grilled cheese for the road.  At this point, only warm food was appetizing but I didn't eat too much of it since I was tired of eating and nearly done so calories weren't as important as earlier in the day.  The last miles to the turn off back to the Lodge took forever and seemed like the longest few miles of my life.  It just would not end.  I  remember wanting to be done and focusing on making it to the next glow stick in the sky.  To take my mind off my uncomfortable legs and feet, I listened to my iPod and my pacer told me about the story of the worst night of his life which actually sounded worse than being out on the trail for the longest five miles of my life.  Finally, I got to the flags to turn me left back to the jeep road and the Lodge.  I managed to run from the gate to the finish where Joe was waiting with my first buckle 22 hours after I'd began.    I had no idea until the next day I was the last one in.  The conditions had made it tough on us all but I was so proud to have finished in that muddy mess.  I didn't run as much or finish as fast as I'd planned but just finishing in those conditions was a huge accomplishment.  Joe's training group really helped with all the Wednesday evening runs in the dark, I didn't even think twice about all the time I spent in the dark at Bandera since I'd grown so used to it.  Bandera was much more a mental challenge and all the time I'd spent in Bastrop and the greenbelt in the hot September sun to the damp, dark fall evenings prepared me mentally.  Also, the wealth of knowledge club members have offered along the way made me properly prepare my dropbags and everything else I needed to get through 22 hours of ever-changing conditions.  I'd definitely do it again despite the lost toenails.