Okay, here is the long version, so read on if you dare. Drove up the night before, was a little worried about the weather, the rain and snow was supposed to start coming down by noon. I had talked strategy with my friend Fernando, and we decided we would start aggressively around 8:00 pace with the tailwind and good conditions before turning around and dealing with the headwind and impending snow, sleet, and rain. I had a cup of coffee and a muffin and next thing you know we where all lined up. It was about 30 degrees but pretty still at this point. The trail is basically a rails to trails, mostly flat, like running on dirt road, so pretty easy for a first timer.
Miles 1-9 were pretty relaxed. two guys shot ahead, me and Fernando stayed together as numbers 3 and 4, stayed right on pace. I carried my bottle the whole way, switching hands and started with water. Took a gel at mile 5, hit the first manned station at mile 9 and took down an s-cap and 1/4 of pb and j.
miles 9-25 still fairly relaxed, hit another aid station at about 16.5, took another gel, another 1/4 pb and j, bathroom, refilled my water. halfway point and turnaround was right at 3:31, (longer than 25 miles though grrr!!). miles 16.5 to the turnaround have a slight incline so it was a mild climb into Garnett. I had been wearing Nike frees but one of my ankles was barking so I changed shoes here into something more substantial, very glad I did! took another s-cap, salted potato, 1/4 pb and j, and a gel
miles 25-34 we started to get tired in here. marathon at 3:41, 50k at 4/22, and then things started to hurt. my legs were starting to bark. there was a slow down starting, Fernando felt the same, was pretty relieved to see the aid station. a few warning flakes started to fall. Jason filled my bottle with Gatorade, a good thing he did, I took a gel, and we were off.
miles 34-41. In uncharted mileage territory now, and my legs are barking. We took off at a plod, I couldn't seem to muster up more because my legs just flat HURT. My hip flexors, my hamstrings, my back, my shoulders from the water bottle, I was just flat out in pain. Fernando and I forced ourselves to talk about anything, anything at all to get our minds off the pain. These were definitely the worst miles for me, I felt like I was completely falling apart and had doubts about finishing because I was in pain like I have never been in before, the flakes and sleet were starting to swirl and come down as we hit the final manned station at 41, such a good sight it was. I immediately went to the bathroom, downed a cup of chicken ramen broth, s-cap, gel, potato chips, had my Gatorade bottle filled again. I was still first female at this point and didn't know how far back number two was. I told Fernando I felt like I was being chased, and told him I was going out now. He waved me off, he was having some cramping issues, and I took out into the storm on my own.
miles 41-50. at this point it was all out blizzard, sleet and snow pelting down, but something had recharged me, and I took off at a strong pace. I felt 100 times better. The bad patch was over, thank goodness! My legs still hurt, but it had become much more tolerable and I felt so much better I was pretty happy at this point! I downed another gel in mile 45 and pushed on to the finish. I was third out of the entire field, first female. next female came in an hour later, next finisher 19 minutes later. My friends the Prefontaine family stopped in on their way back from KC and were at the finish! What an awesome surprise!
Post race was rough, weather conditions rough. Got a shower at the local fire station, and headed for home in the storm, eventually was able to drive out of it as I headed south. Wish I wasn't driving a stick shift, had to use my left hand to help my left leg off and on the clutch. getting out of the car was a sick joke.
Today I am so, so sore. new soreness territory! took some Tylenol. I learned a lot from this experience, have a lot of respect for ultra running. Gotta thank Fernando's wife Karlee and friend Jason for helping at the stations, they really kept me going and filled my bottle and handed me s-caps when my brain and hands quit functioning. Feel very sorry for the 100 milers who were out there all night in the blizzard, there is a 30 hour time limit and at my last check, as we approach the cutoff, only 6 had managed to finish. :( heard they can't see the trail anymore and continue.
update: just got word from my friend with a Garmin: lenght for the 100 mile as actually about 103 and 51.5 for the 50. I'm just gonna count it as 51. | 