ANTELOPE
ISLAND 100k
11/05/2011
As we drove onto the island, it was like it all hit me at
once. So overwhelming. I wanted to just start screaming, “oh my
gosh, oh my goodness, what in the world is wrong with me? I don’t know why I think little ol me is
strong enough to run around this island TWICE!!!!” The feelings and emotions were so
overwhelming that I was trying to keep myself contained with Emily and Davina
in the car but I really just wanted to yell.
Even if I would have been alone I probably wouldn’t have yelled but
since E&D were there, it was a good reason not to. I just sat in the vast massiveness of the
island and what I was staring at. It was
awe striking to say the very least!
We were spending the night in a large family size tent. We set it up in the dark and with 40 mph
winds. It was gnarly and nasty. Insane wind and seriously it seemed
impossible that the tent would actually stay up. The thought occurred to someone to sleep in
the car but I have a terrible time getting any good sleep in car, unless of
course it’s moving and then I sleep like a baby. As it was, I felt like I hardly got any sleep
in the tent so the decision to set up the tent and get organized felt like the
right thing to do. By the time the tent
was up, clothes were changed and the Nathans packed and ready for the next day,
lights out happened about 9:30. I lay in
my sleeping bag trying to keep my mind off of what I was going to be doing the
next day. I knew as soon as I got to
sleep I’d be fine but finding sleep was proving to be difficult. I finally got to sleep close to 11. It was gale force winds and snow
outside. I woke up at 2AM to silence. Apparently the wind had stopped. I woke up again at 4:38AM and never went back
to sleep. I went to the bathroom, Emily
went over and got her and I coffee because she’s a honey like that. I was trying desperately to eat a
banana.
When it was time, we all three went over to the tent, I
filled my Nathan with water and got it on.
We listened to the pre-race summary.
We walked over to the side of the tent and the RD took his foot and
dragged it across and said “this is the start line”. He counted down from about 5 and we were off. I realized as he was drawing the start/finish
line that I had forgotten to hook on my gators so I was quickly trying to take
care of that with my ice cube fingers.
Not the most productive thing to be doing as the RD is counting down
from 5 but its what I was doing.
It was snowing out, the wind was blowing and I knew I just
needed to hang in there and get through the very beginning which I assumed
would be climbing (and it was) and then wait until the sun came up and
everything would be fine. I reached the
first two AS in the dark…it was nice to reach the first one. Someone in front of me said “YES! FINALLY”
and I knew something good was around the bend.
AS #1 Elephant Head. Course
changes because of the beach being underwater added some additional elevation
gain, albeit very minimal. Also the
second AS was only 2 miles after the first one.
It was called Death Valley but it was not only NOT in a valley but also
was in the middle of an assent. The 3rd
AS was then about 7ish miles out. I was
thinking after the first two AS that I felt so amazing. I couldn’t imagine that
things could get any better…(other than actually finishing) and that’s when
things actually took a turn. My norm is
to go #2 in the morning the day of a race.
Each time I’ve camped prior to a race, I’m not able to go when I need to
prior to the race start. So frustrating!
So from about mile 8 until mile 13 when I FINALLY made myself take a pit stop,
I was in utter misery mode with running until my poop almost came out and then
walking until I knew it was not going to come out w/o my permission. When I realized there was not going to be a
“private pit stop” I stopped at the closest thing I could find. It was a rock climb that took literally added
12 min to my mile. It was so distressing
and frustrating. Once I got back on the
trail, I was so frustrated at how far behind I’d gotten. The person I suspected was Colleen Ford
(known only from ultrasignup.com) had passed me and I was super stressed about
this. I know from her prior events that
Colleen is a steady back of the pack’er but very solid in her finishes. So I knew that if I planned to finish under
the cut off times, I’d need to catch her.
I didn’t realize but I was within less than a mile from that 3rd
AS (North Sentry). They had warm broth
w/ or w/o noodles there. I had some
orange slices which were delicious and some broth w/ noodles. I drank the warm broth and it felt happy in
my belly since I was very behind in my fueling since I was so focused on my
bowels for several miles. Had the run be
nearly over, it wouldn’t have mattered but knowing I needed to make it for a
longy long more time, I decided to try and eat the noodles. I could only think of how they looked and
then tasted like I was eating brains. After two attempts (the second making me
gag) I tossed out the noodles and stuck the little cup in my pack to toss at
the next AS. There was a really nice
decent for a few miles after the Sentry AS down to a ranch. Once I reached the ranch there is a fairly
short dirt road section and then back onto some single track for a good long
way. That should have been a welcomed
change from the dirt road but it was so muddy and slippery muddy at that. It got me just annoyed that I was either
trying to run on the sides of the trail like I was straddling something or run
along the side where others had gone before me.
It got fairly tiring and I did not want to expel extra energy trying to
dodge the mud so I decided I should just run in it. That worked fine until I started slipping and
realized I couldn’t see the trail all that well with the very tall grass that
was up to my waist and even armpits in some spots…it was thick and kind of hung
over to make the trail nearly invisible.
I put my arms out in front of me some to make like a V to conquer and
divide the grass. Not only was I annoyed
with the grass but I was also getting bored.
This would have been a perfect section for music. I also had in the back of my mind that I may
be running in the dark in this section on the 2nd loop. For some odd reason the thoughts of a second
loop haunted me for a long time on the first loop. In many ways, the dread of needing a second
loop kept going over and over in my mind but the positive side of that is I
knew exactly what to expect the second time.
In this section I got passed by a few fast 50K’ers. All in all, I got passed by 2 women and 5 men
that were in the 50K. In this section I
was so focused on the grass, my irritability and the fact that I was trying to
drink every 5 min which I allowed myself a 30 sec walk break and then run for
4:30 and for some odd reason that meant I was starting at my garmin far more
than I wanted to be. There had been lots
of times that I lost track of what mile I was on and I like it that way. I like to have my garmin for specific reasons
(to keep a pace, to keep my motivation level up, know how far a specific place
is, etc.) but staring at the clock is definitely NOT one of those. Anyway, I was running along when all of the
sudden something caught my eye to the right.
I looked up and I wasn’t more than about 15 feet from a humungous
buffalo staring right at me! It really
did look like it was going to charge me.
They had told us that buffalo can be aggressive and to approach them
slowly and walk around them if necessary and here I was, off in la-la land
running right at it. Geez…I’m a
disaster. Luckily there was another guy
(50K’er) that was right behind me and I turned around to say “Oh my gosh, that
buffalo just scared the crap out of me”.
He kept on running right by me like I just talked to the grass and the
buffalo didn’t try to spear him so I figured I was safe…and I was. I really did spend a lot of time in this
section thinking about quitting after the first loop. I’m not sure if that was because I was
feeling down about the pit stop that I had or if I was already starting to have
problems with my caloric intake or what.
The bottom line was the first loop just mentally was a challenge for
me. The second loop was much better and
I had a lot more strength that time around.
I finally spotted the Nine mile AS and THOUGHT it had a
porta potty. This was definitely not a
deal breaker but eventually found that they didn’t have a bathroom which was a
bummer. The good part was that the next
AS was only 3.5 miles away. I did need to go potty but not so urgently I
couldn’t wait. Kind of like when we were
on road trips as little girls (my sister Amber and myself) and we’d tell my dad
we had to go potty. As my mom (Kathy)
said, he’d say he was going to stop but would drive right on past the rest
area. Mom said she couldn’t believe that
my sister and I could hold it for so long.
Now my sister and I joke about how we have bladders of steel. I remember this AS being very friendly with
the guy running out to the trail to meet me and cheer me in, asking me long
before I even got there what I needed and how he could help me. I decided to take my coat off at this station
since it looked like the snow was going to be done for the day. It was windy but not so bad and depending on
what side of the island you were on, and what mountain was where, the wind was
calm or strong. Nonetheless, he helped
me get my coat off and he rolled it up and put it in my pack…looked like a mess
and I never did get it back out…so that’s what it looked like in my finish
pics, a big mess. Honestly it didn’t
really matter but I just don’t like things usually hanging off of my pack like
that. I like them organized. It was at this AS that I also realized my
pink bandana was gone. It had been lost
at some point between the last AS (the ramen noodle one) and this one. There were lots of dried and dead sunflowers
and the dead blossoms were a lot like Velcro…the rough side of Velcro and
grabbed onto my pack several times. I
was convinced that on my second loop, I’d find my beloved pink bandana hooked
onto a dead sunflower near the trail…that never did come to fruition
though. Bummer deal. It seems as though I’ve lost a LOT on the
trails in the last few weeks!!! Three
weeks ago I lost my wedding band, two weeks ago I lost an arm sleeve at the
foothills frenzy and now a bandana. Is
this normal? I think NOT! Once out of the AS I was happy to know it was
only 3.5 to the next AS. I ran into lots
of people b/w these AS. Boy scouts, old
guys hiking, just random people. This
part of the trail crossed over the main road a couple of times and there must
have been some pull outs where people could pull over and then walk on the
trail. Honestly, no hiking. I began to wonder why I wanted to do this
race since once again, there was NO change in the terrain. The good news however was the ground had gone
from the disgusting mud to a more sandy texture and so the water from the
earlier snow had just melted away and did not leave the trail in such muddy
conditions. I was really happy to see
the next AS however and I could see the porta potty from a ways off. I was happy to use it once I got there. I didn’t need water so I just grabbed a few
handfuls of food and was off. I remember
there being two guys there and one of them said to me “see you in 6-7 hours”
and my reply was “yeah, that would be amazing” and in my mind I thought to
myself that he must be crazy to think I’d be back in 6-7 hours. This loop was taking me more than 7
hours…there was no way I’d get the next loop done quicker. I also thought about the amazing sacrifice it
was to run an AS and not only just man the AS but be the last AS in line which
meant you may be there until the bitter end (or close to it) and also would be
the scene of some people getting pulled from the race as to not meeting cut off
times. Just felt very appreciative of
the AS workers in that moment. About 4-5
miles after this AS, the trail turns across the road again and then the trail
heads up the side of the hill. At this
point, my garmin was saying about 28 miles and it felt like I was climbing Mt
Everest! I got a little nauseated in
this section of maybe a qtr mile uphill hike and that should have been a sign
to me that I needed to get some serious cals into my body. There was the post race buffalo chili cooking
and it smelled like barf. There were PBJ
sandwiches I took a few of those which was beginning to sound like vomit. I felt really good since Jan (the lady I’d
lost after my million hour pit stop at mile 12-13) was sitting there changing
her shoes and socks. I checked out as
everything was pretty chaotic as some were done racing the 50K etc, and set out
for the second loop. There was something
refreshing and rewarding knowing that this was my final lap and I had already
stepped on every portion of this trail and I knew there was no part of it that
would be insurmountable. I felt a bit
elated and this lasted for a great portion of the second loop. I spotted about 3 buffalo up ahead of me all
mingling around the trail. I turned
around hoping there was some person who knew what to do behind me. Luckily there was Jan behind me a ways but
close enough for me to stop and wait since it was either A: get some
advice from a local trail runner about
these massive beasts or B: charge ahead or something and try to not freak out. I ended up doing both. I waited for Jan and she had the same
concerns I did. She had wanted to stop
after the first 50K. She said she just
felt like she had no energy. Her husband
had made her sit down and eat, she changed shows and the RD, Jim Skaggs told
her that she could either call it quits and he’d give her a 50K time or she
could carry on and try to make it to the next AS. She told me that if he would have said if she
quit he’d give her a DNF she was going to quit right there but knowing that she
could carry on risk free (still have the 50K time if she quit during the second
loop) she felt free to try and carry on.
That baffles my mind in many ways.
It seems that I would be spurred the opposite. Anyway, Jan said when we saw the buffalo that
this must be a sign and she needed to turn around. In my desperation to have a buddy of some
kind on the trail, I said firmly and loudly, “no way! This is not a sign…we just need to figure out
how to get around these buffalo, get you to the next AS and then see how you
feel. I’m finishing this and I know you
can do the same!” We went off the trail
and went way around the buffalo. We talked
the entire 3ish miles up the first assent.
It was a nice climb with a super pace of 16-17 min/mi…a nice steady walk
pace uphill. Felt perfect! We got to the top and as we had on the first
lap, I’d get ahead during the downhill portions since she was very fearful of
falling and probably because I haven’t fallen downhill yet, I have little fear
that way. She was faster than me on the
uphills which isn’t hard to accomplish.
We made it to the first AS together and she was already perking up and I
was feeling better and better knowing I’d gotten to the first AS of the second
loop, found another person to at least be in the vicinity of while running and
as a bonus, at that first AS (first of the second lap) we met up with another
guy who was running the 100K. He was a
super nice guy who was friendly, asked me where I was from but quickly proved
to be a much faster and stronger racer.
His name was Jeremy Ebel. I
didn’t see him very much until the very end of the race but this was where I
met him for the first time. The three of
us took off from the AS after maybe a 2-3 min stop and it was obvious that Jan
was going to be slower since we were descending and Jeremy was going way out in
front. I was in the middle. This section was serene and beautiful. You can see some pretty scenery in this
section and it didn’t look like you were going to be running flat for the next
9 million miles so that’s always an encouragement to me. This was one of the very few sections where I
actually felt warm. It was WONDERFUL!!! We got down close to the beach-ish portion
that was full of gravel and then sand.
What was weird about the gravel was you would just sink down into it as
though the small rocks were on some odd surface that made them sink lower and
lower with every step. I tried running
on the edge of the path since sometimes that helps but it seemed to really only
make it worse, certainly not better. It
was nearly impossible to run though this part, at least not without doing some
sort of massive cardiac and leg workout which is not what I needed at mile 40. After getting through that section, there was
a large rock formation that jetted out and once around this section, you could
see the trail going up the side of the small mountain. I could see the tree that I recalled being
about half way up. I turned at this
point and saw 3 men behind me. I was
baffled since I knew Jeremy was back there but who were these other men? Well, whoever they were, I didn’t want them
to pass me up too quickly. They all
eventually did but hey, I gave it a shot.
I started my assent up the last climb of the day. It went well…easily so. I know I was going at a slower pace than the
last time but this was the exact area where I had to take the million hour pit
stop last time so I was looking forward to just carrying on through that. Before I got to the tree (half way point) I
heard from behind me, what sounded like a large group of very loud, partying
teenagers. I turned and saw
nothing. I carried on and soon the sound
returned only louder and carried on. I
turned again to see exactly where the sound was coming from and over near the
rock formation that jetted out (I was now eye level with the top so mostly
looking down now) I saw a pack of coyotes all wrestling around one
another. They were most likely playing
and just jostling with one another but the sound was just kind of creepy. I saw the three men below too. One was emerging from the beach-ish section
and the two others were behind him but not by far. I knew I needed to get a move on and my 30
second stop had proved long enough of a recovery to jet up the rest of the
mountain. I tried something different
since I’m not really sure what my best form of hill/hike/power walk is
yet. I tried taking quicker, smaller
steps up the hill but that felt more tiring than just the slower, lengthier
speed but seemed to be relatively the same pace overall. As I crested the summit I saw Jan leave the
AS. I looked at my watch and the minute
hand said 36. I wanted to see just how
many minutes I was behind her. When I
entered the AS I told them I would take some broth but no noodles and they
offered me a potato which I refused.
Looking back I think this probably would have been a key decision for me
to eat the potato but I turned it down.
I took the broth, a handful of m&m’s, cheez-its and a PB&J. I looked at my watch and the minute hand said
39 so I was only 3ish min behind Jan which made me feel good since it seemed
like she was light years ahead of me.
I left there walking since I was sipping the broth and not
wanting to spill it but wanting to be moving forward. Last time I did this I had noodles in this
broth and was able to kind of run a little w/o spilling it. This time, any running made this spill. So I was doing a fast walk while I waited for
the broth to cool some but taking sips at the same time. I wanted it to warm my belly since I had
gotten cold again being on the top of the mountain. I finished my broth finally and threw the
handful of M&M’s and crackers in the my mouth all at the same time so I
could get going. Once I got that huge
mouthful swallowed, I was back into my running steps. At this point, it was a nice flatish section
that weaved in and out of some rocks. The trail was kind of rocky but not too
awful, more just pretty and a nice change of scenery. I don’t know if I was only a mile but it just
didn’t seem too long that this part of the trail lasted before it turned into a
very wide kind of a road almost that headed down into the ranch. It was a weavy kind of a down and some parts
of it seemed like it would weave on forever.
I had a good time through here and one of the men behind me passed me
through here. He seemed like a grumpy
old man and I tried to talk to him but he acted like he was running a 5K and to
not bug him. Geez…I wondered if my
running community is the only place where trail runners are so warm and
welcoming. Oh well…move on old man! :) I
saw him catch up to Jan and pass her eventually.
Shortly after this I was doing a good job of drinking water
every 5 min still but my water bladder was acting very weird. I would try to take a drink and it would seem
like all I got was air. And it was like
I was holding my breath while trying to suck up water into the tube. It was exhausting and all I was getting was
air. So I ended up sucking in but still
breathing out of my nose and just trying to be careful should any water come
out because I needed to keep moving but I needed to get a dang drink. Eventually a burst of water came through my
tube and caught me off guard. I started
coughing to get the water out of my breathing airway and down the correct
“pipe”. I coughed very hard and my entire
core, the front, back and sides went into total spasms!!! It was excrutiating yet I was still trying to
not drown in the gulp of water. This was
the one and only actual pain that I felt along the way. As I got
down to the ranch there was a lengthy straightaway that had massively huge
puddles. The porta potties were tempting and I really did need to use the
bathroom but they were much further off the trail than I remembered from the
first lap and I didn’t feel like taking the time to go over to them, nor did I
feel like expending the energy to make it over to them. They were probably 100’ off the trail. So, after the ranch, you cross over a gate
and turn onto a single track trail. At
that point, I snuck in with the thick annoying grass and had a quick pit
stop. I was scared to squat down since I
wasn’t sure I’d make it back up. It was
nice to have a change of position in my legs but it was not an issue getting
down or up. Thankfully! The other notable thing about getting down to
the ranch was that it was only about 5:20 and I had estimated on my first that
that this is where I would be at 6:45 when I needed to put my headlamp on. I was far ahead of schedule and that was
comforting. I didn’t think I could let
up but just happy I didn’t have to worry about my headlamp yet.
It was in this next section that I knew I would need to
spend some time mentally processing what was about to come. I’d been dreading the night fall and as the
sun had been setting on the west side of the mountain, I’d try to hurry down to
the ranch just to catch one more little inch of running IN the sunlight. It was so warm and comforting but I never
made it. By the time I turned right onto
the trail after the ranch road, while it was still plenty day light, the direct
sunlight was gone. With that it seemed
that I was constantly pushing down some anxiety about the night coming on. I have been honest with myself from day one
about running in the dark. It’s
completely fine with me if it’s before the sun comes up and I know that the sun
is on it’s way. When the sun is in the
process of leaving, it feels much more empty and lonely. It begins to get cold and I was starting to
get worried. So I worked hard during
this section to keep my mental state in a good place, to keep my pace at a sub
14 min/mi and eventually a sub 15 min/mi.
When I would creep up toward the 15 min/mi pace I’d spend some time
running to get it down to the 14 min/mi range and then let myself walk again,
all the while making sure I was trying to drink from my now very annoying
Nathan. I ran along this way for about
another 50 min when I knew I was getting somewhat close to the next AS. I felt good about that and was mentally
deciding what tasks I was going to take care of while there, i.e. someone get
my headlamp out of my pack, I needed to fill my Nathan and get a large handful
of food, regardless of how disgusting the thoughts were of food. I also was getting very solid in the fact
that Emily said she would try to meet me at the mile 55 AS to run with me the
rest of the way. I was trying to stay
very flexy about that in my mind as to not have an utter shutdown should she
not be there. I was trying to deny the
fact that I wished with all my being that I would see her and Davina at mile
55. The thought flashed through my mind
that what if they figured out where I was and met me at one of the points where
this trail crosses over the road?! Or
what if they were at this next AS (mile 51)?
As soon as I thought those things, I refused to let them stay since I
knew that was never in the plan and I would only be setting myself up for
failure to hope on those things. So, I
pictured myself running through (in the dark) the last AS alone and going up
that b-word of a climb at the end by myself.
I pictured myself getting through the longy long hours I would have in
the dark and being successful through all of that. I was in the midst of finding my successful
night running self when I looked up ahead to see the little bridge (the only
one like it) where I remembered there was some running water underneath. The first lap I stopped just for about 10
seconds to listen to the rushing water since I love that sound. This time was a race against the amount of
daylight that was left so I decided I would not stop and listen to the
beautiful sound. No more did I make that decision as I approached the bridge
than I looked up to see a non-runner person standing there. This person was in a white hat, blue short
sleeved shirt with a white long sleeved shirt underneath with black pants on. I looked at them since I’d seen quite a few
non-running people on the first lap but none on this lap. The more I looked the more this person looked
familiar and all of the sudden, like the sky split into a million pieces of the
most beautiful sunshine, the person standing in front of me was DAVINA!!!! She was clapping and yelling and telling me
how strong I looked and what an amazing job I was doing and just about every
other positive statement you can think of.
I was so happy to see her I completely started crying…not hysterical
crying but definitely choked up to the point that I couldn’t speak. I tried to tell her thank you and nothing
came out. I tried to tell her how much I
appreciated but again nothing came out.
She was talking to me during this time anyway and was running behind
me. I was so happy that when she found
me, I was running and not walking. I
wanted her to see that I was doing this strong and I am not a wimp. Not that she thinks I’m a wimp but in my
mind, most people are wimps until proven otherwise. Anyway, she started telling me that I had
about a mile to the next AS and we needed to be there by 7pm. I told her I didn’t think that was right
since the cut off was given for the following AS and the cut off was 8pm. She said that was correct but she just didn’t
want me to dilly dally. J No worries, no dilly dally-ing here!!! I ran that entire mile back to the AS. I was scared to ask if she was just here for
encouragement or if Emily was actually going to start running with me at mile
51 rather than mile 55. I was scared
because I felt like the 3.5 miles between AS would probably be a nightmare by
myself but again, I’d already prepared for it so I should have been mentally
strong but seeing Davina somehow seemed to put a crack in my steel frame. Nonetheless, I asked Davina if they were just
going to say hi and then meet me at the next AS or if Emily was going to run
with me now. She said that it was
totally up to me but Emily was all suited up and ready to run when I was ready
for her. I nearly lost all my mental
power in one full sweep! I was so happy
and elated and relieved and exhausted and loved and supported. It was amazing. At this point we got to the AS and Davina was
yelling as we were coming so they would know we were almost there. She started yelling and saying, “She’s running!
We’re here! She’s still running!” I felt proud of myself in that moment. I felt proud that Davina found me in a
running state and that I ran that last mile and showed her that I had lots of
run left. I saw Emily and she had the
biggest smile on her face. I knew in my
soul that she was excited for me, excited to run and happy to pace me to the
finish. I got my Nathan filled with
water and grabbed a disgusting handful of food and we were off. Emily got out my headlamp while we were
running and I eventually put that back on.
I know I got really annoying during this part. I felt like I had so much to say since I’d
not talked to hardly anyone for the last 12+ hrs. Emily said my pace had been really good and
had finished the first 51 miles in 12ish hours, maybe 12.5 hrs? Can’t remember for sure. I thanked her incessantly for coming to the
earlier AS. I told her how I was
dreading running in the dark alone and she said she couldn’t stand the thoughts
of me doing that knowing that she was fully capable of running with me
now. I never let it sink in that she
cared about me finishing at that point.
Probably I would have fallen apart.
There is something about pacing/supporting/crewing (I’ve never crewed or
had a crew but I assume it would fit into this category) that is like going
through a traumatic event or a childbirth experience together…it binds you
together for a moment in time. This is
how I feel about Emily and Davina, as though we’ve been bound together for just
this moment…bound together for the purpose of success and achievement. The level of gratitude that I felt toward
Emily and Davina is beyond what I’ve felt in a very long time. We ran along and that section of 3.5 seemed
to go by very quickly. I don’t remember
exactly what we talked about but I remember telling her that nothing was
broken, nothing was hurting really bad and I thought I was probably fine. We reached the last AS relatively quickly in
my mind and things started to happen quickly after this. I did use the bathroom (the only porta potty
on the course) at this AS and something about taking all the weight off of my
feet seemed to make my arches believe that they were done. I had news for them.
Once we left the last AS (7:20pm…cutoff was 8:00PM) my right
arch started to feel very unpleasant with most running and I was also now
experiencing nausea with every run. When
I was walking Emily was commenting on how fast my walk pace was and that if I
was going to walk that fast she wasn’t going to tell me to run but that I needed
to still run as much as possible so as to not lose my ability to “have some
left in the incinerator”. The two men
that I’d kept off of my heels were now getting somewhat closer and I told Emily
that I really wanted to beat them. Well
after we left the last AS (6.5 miles to the finish) we found out that the two
men that were behind us showed up and the AS worker pulled out a cooler FULL of
hard liquor. The two guys took some
shots and apparently the one guy (Michael) ended up passing us and finishing 9
min before us. At the end of the race he
talked about how he drank a 5 hr energy and took some shots and was running
like a mad dog to the end. He said he felt great. Anyway, it was obvious when he went by that I
was not going be able to keep up with him.
At this point Emily asked me about Ben’s WIHMER race and what my
thoughts were about it then. I had
actually already been thinking about it earlier in the day. I thought about how this was similar to
asking a woman who was in the middle of labor about her next child. However it really didn’t feel like that. I said that I knew I had lots of hard work in
training ahead of me if I wanted to truly be successful. I told her my plan was to lose at least 10#,
probably 15#. Then I need to spend a
very good portion of the winter in strength training. I want to keep my miles around 20 miles a
week and then hit it hard in the spring once bball and dance are about
done. We counted down some cool trail
mile markers from 4 down to 1 and at the 1 marker. Around the 3ish mile marker Jeremy caught
back up with us and while I was a bit defeated I knew that my pace had slowed
significantly since I was only running about 10% of each mile, at least that’s
how much of it was running in my memory.
I think I had about a 16-17 min/mi pace through here which is really
defeating (in hind sight) but that’s ok.
I was struggling with nausea and dull pain in my arches when I would
run. Walking caused no problems which is
why I was highly motivated to walk at a very fast pace. When Jeremy caught up with us Emily said, he
could go by but he said he was happy to just hang back. We asked if he was sure since he clearly was
much stronger than me at this point, but he was totally happy to just stick
with us and little did I know that he would remain with us to the end. He started talking and telling us about his
training and his work. Said he ran
Leadville 100 last year and his longest race prior to that was a TEN MILER!
Yes, 10 miles! He trained specifically
for 8 months for Leadville and killed it under the cut offs! WOW…that’s amazing. I can’t remember all the details of this area
except that Jeremy’s presence some how seemed to once again, lift the mood and
even the uphill climb at the end was completely tolerable. We continued walking down the road. I had decided that as soon as I saw the tent
lights I would get whatever run I had left in me and give it up. As soon as I saw the lights I took off in a
mad ultra shuffle that would make a 100 year old lady look fast. I heard Emily say as she faded off to run to
the door of the tent. I couldn’t figure
out what that was which is so funny to me.
As we approached the finish, Jeremy said to me “You go, I’ll be
last.” I nearly burst out crying
AGAIN!!! As soon as I was done I did the
umpire deal for a person being out and said in my loudest most happy voice
“BAM!” Davina hugged me and that felt
like I might just fall on her. I was so
happy I finished. I was so happy I think
I still haven’t let the magnitude of what I did last weekend sink in. It’s 5 full days later and I’m finally
finishing this race report. Somehow I
hoped I’d have some better stories but as I tell stories to others, they seem to
lose their potency in my heart so I’m going to stop telling and just let this
report be my story. That way, my pearls
remain mine and are not tossed to swine.
Finishing times of racers I mentioned:
·
Jan – 14:45:59
·
Michael -
15:03:14
·
Jeremy – 15:11:40
·
Amy – 15:11:47
Food I ate while racing:
·
Honey from a bottle to total maybe about .25-.3
cups
·
At least 6-7 PB&J sandwiches
·
¾ of a peanut butter and honey sand
·
A couple handfuls of Cheez-it crackers
·
A handful or maybe two of M&M’s
·
2 cups of ckn broth
·
3 chomps – didn’t even eat a whole package
·
A few orange slices
Bottom line: NOT ENOUGH!!!
Things that were good:
·
I had relatively no aches and pains until the
very end
·
Having Emily to run with at the end
·
I feel very inspired by my own self to run a
100M’er. Is that allowed? To inspire myself? J
·
My text from Dad when he said he would be with
me the whole way. I didn’t get to read that until the race was over but I cried
about it and have continued to cherish that text message for the last 5 days
·
I FINISHED!!!
Things to work on:
·
Fueling and caloric intake
·
Xtraining and strength training
·
Lose 15# (goal wt of 120)
Before the start of the race I felt like such an
imposter. I can’t get over that and
seriously maybe I shouldn’t yet. It’s
only been 3 months almost to the day since I ran my first ultra trail marathon
and I was just barely… and only in certain road running situations, barely starting
to feel like a real runner but in the ultra world, its like starting over
again. I am just a newbie, I don’t even
know how to fuel properly. I don’t look
like I have fit legs and especially if you look at my core, you’d see how UNfit
I really am. I don’t have long legs or
good climbing skills. I feel like I have
good trail wear as far as clothes, shoes, etc. but that I don’t deserve to wear
it. It just doesn’t make sense but its
how I feel! I hope with 2012 I can spend
so much time on the trail that all of this will go away!!!
THE END
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