This race is one of the main reasons I love running! This was my most favorite race experience that I’ve had to date! (so hard to say this as I’ve had so many but overall, this one takes it!)
First I have to thank Maria Walton. Continue Reading →
….and My Story Runs On….
Apparently I wrote a blog post about this one last year too. I like to write race reports so if people want to find out more about an event, they can have someone else’s perspective. This is something I learned in ultra running which was one of the best pieces of advice I’ve received. Before picking an ultra (or after you’ve picked it) start googling “race reports ‘race name'” or “blogs ‘race name'” and you will get reports from runners that have done this race. Great way to get different perspectives and advice! (just have to remember it’s someone else perspective though!)
This is one of my favorites for a few reasons:
This race is no joke from an elevation profile. Their website describes it as:
“For those who prefer a course with pain and punishment, the long course is 20k of grueling single track with over 1500 feet of climbing. Starting from the group campground, runners wind their way up Ironwood to the Waddell trail. Once you reach the first aid station be prepared to go up, the next three miles are all climbing….”
I won’t do much detail on the race course as you can read it in my previous race report.
Volunteers rock! The Hansons are always out there supporting Girls On The Run events. Ricci and Joshua are Running for Brews regulars and volunteer a lot too. Thank you!
Pics don’t do the views justice!
Girls On The Run Advisory Board Member, Julie, volunteering too! Missed another photo at registration with more board members. If we are not running we are volunteering!
Still smiling after all the uphills! Was just feeling it!
I decided I wanted to try and PR (set a Personal Record) my time from last year which was 2:57:37. Last year my goal was to get in under 3 hours. I also had to remember that this is a training run and that I did 40 miles just last Saturday at Across the Years. However, I was feeling great and ready to take on the PR challenge.
ChiRunning always plays a huge role in my runs and race. I’m always looking at ways on how to approach the environment coming at me as efficiently as possible. Sometimes it almost feels like a fun game I am playing with Mother Earth.
Some specific things I focused on from a technique perspective:
Some specific things I focused on from a mental perspective:
I couldn’t believe how great I was feeling. Back to the PR story….I forgot to mention that I just got a new Garmin which I love, but I hadn’t really set up my display screens properly. I new what my average pace had to be to PR but didn’t create that option yet. So I just decided to body sense and do the absolute best I could. I was sure I was going to PR until I passed the last aid station and found out I had 1.8 miles….it was going to be really really close! I really started focusing on my form even more at this point because I was literally going to make it or not by seconds…..I crossed the finish line at 2:57 (same time as last year). At this point I forgot to check for my results because I had a sushi date with my boyfriend. As much as I stayed focused during that race to PR, I was still detached from the goal: I hoped I PRd but if I didn’t, all good. I even did this Facebook live and talked about goal detachment.
Well, 2 days after the race and after starting this blog, I finally know my results! I PRd by 8 seconds!! I finished at a 2:57:29!! What this means to me is that I am right in line with my training for my 100K in 5.5 weeks. Bring it on!!!
From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)
….and My Story Runs On….
Apparently I wrote a blog post about this one last year too. I like to write race reports so if people want to find out more about an event, they can have someone else’s perspective. This is something I learned in ultra running which was one of the best pieces of advice I’ve received. Before picking an ultra (or after you’ve picked it) start googling “race reports ‘race name'” or “blogs ‘race name'” and you will get reports from runners that have done this race. Great way to get different perspectives and advice! (just have to remember it’s someone else perspective though!)
This is one of my favorites for a few reasons:
This race is no joke from an elevation profile. Their website describes it as:
“For those who prefer a course with pain and punishment, the long course is 20k of grueling single track with over 1500 feet of climbing. Starting from the group campground, runners wind their way up Ironwood to the Waddell trail. Once you reach the first aid station be prepared to go up, the next three miles are all climbing….”
I won’t do much detail on the race course as you can read it in my previous race report.
Volunteers rock! The Hansons are always out there supporting Girls On The Run events. Ricci and Joshua are Running for Brews regulars and volunteer a lot too. Thank you!
Pics don’t do the views justice!
Girls On The Run Advisory Board Member, Julie, volunteering too! Missed another photo at registration with more board members. If we are not running we are volunteering!
Still smiling after all the uphills! Was just feeling it!
I decided I wanted to try and PR (set a Personal Record) my time from last year which was 2:57:37. Last year my goal was to get in under 3 hours. I also had to remember that this is a training run and that I did 40 miles just last Saturday at Across the Years. However, I was feeling great and ready to take on the PR challenge.
ChiRunning always plays a huge role in my runs and race. I’m always looking at ways on how to approach the environment coming at me as efficiently as possible. Sometimes it almost feels like a fun game I am playing with Mother Earth.
Some specific things I focused on from a technique perspective:
Some specific things I focused on from a mental perspective:
I couldn’t believe how great I was feeling. Back to the PR story….I forgot to mention that I just got a new Garmin which I love, but I hadn’t really set up my display screens properly. I new what my average pace had to be to PR but didn’t create that option yet. So I just decided to body sense and do the absolute best I could. I was sure I was going to PR until I passed the last aid station and found out I had 1.8 miles….it was going to be really really close! I really started focusing on my form even more at this point because I was literally going to make it or not by seconds…..I crossed the finish line at 2:57 (same time as last year). At this point I forgot to check for my results because I had a sushi date with my boyfriend. As much as I stayed focused during that race to PR, I was still detached from the goal: I hoped I PRd but if I didn’t, all good. I even did this Facebook live and talked about goal detachment.
Well, 2 days after the race and after starting this blog, I finally know my results! I PRd by 8 seconds!! I finished at a 2:57:29!! What this means to me is that I am right in line with my training for my 100K in 5.5 weeks. Bring it on!!!
From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)
….and My Story Runs On….
Yesterday I had the opportunity to run in the 24-hr Across The Years race. This is my 2nd year in a row and I get a free entry by filing up a 24 hour shift of volunteers from 12/31-1/1.
Before I started, I read the race report I did last year.
I was pretty excited as I knew what I was getting into. One of the days I will use the full 24 hours but my goal was to stick to my training plan and get my 40 miles in. This would be 2nd longest distance to date with the 50 miler being my first.
As a quick reminder, this is a 1-mile course and you go around it as many times as you can for the amount of time that you have. Basically it’s truly your race to do whatever you want. There are people our there setting aggressive mileage goals and trying to break records but bottom line, you do what you want. You can take as many breaks as you want, I know people that leave and come back….and the longest event here is 6 days! Not sure how people do that but there are plenty that do! Some people seek these types of races out specifically.
How I passed the time:
I’m always working on my ChiRunning technique so focused on that of course. 40 miles went by talking to old friends and new friends, listening to a few podcasts and some music. Was over before I knew it! There were times that it did get harder but overall I stayed focused on my goal.
What I like about this event:
What I don’t like:
Biggest takeaway:
It doesn’t matter if you run a 50K or 50 miler on trail or this event. Miles are miles! It’s so easy to “downplay” the mileage at this event. Maybe because trails are “harder” or because it’s a one mile course but it doesn’t matter!! This is a whole different kind of hard! I’m planning on getting more people to check this out (and/or Silverton!)
Some highlights from my run yesterday:
Thank you to everyone who has been donating to my Girls On The Run fundraiser for my first 100K! Means so much to me! I almost doubled where I was in the last few days!
I did 4 short Facebook Lives from the event and you can see them here:
Right before the start and already hanging with some friends!
More friends! Tommy is one of the most positive people I know in our running community!
More friends!
Minion on the course!
Minion and Pikachu on the course!
Cheryl Miller from Miller Coaching out on the course with this awesome shirt!
My friend Lori at this point had surpassed her longest run ever which was a marathon!
Motivation!
New friend! Frederick Davis III He will be 70 on January 2nd and does many of these timed events. He was telling me about 15 day events and he recently completed one in South Africa: 1,000 km (620 miles) in 15 days!
Friends know my Fireball history 😉 There was a Fireball station that I had been eyeing out before the race even started but waited until mile 38 to make sure I would complete my goal. Freddy joined me and told me he usually does a shot for breakfast on these events. Love this guy!
Every time you go through the start/finish line you can see where you are. Here is my last lap!
Just a few steps 😉
Lori completes her first 50K
From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)
….and My Story Runs On….
This is the 3rd year in a row that I do this 50K. It’s one of my favorites and perfect timing in my 100K Training Schedule to have a nice long training run. This has been my 2nd, 5th and 9th 50K! Still unbelievable to me that I swore I would never run more than a 5K when I started running!
McDowell Mountain Regional Park has some of my favorite trails and Aravaipa Running always puts on a great event. This was meant to be a training run but since I was doing the same race for the 3rd year in a row, I did have it in the back of my mind that PRing (personal record) would be an added bonus. I went into the race with that idea but was also detached from it since technically this was supposed to be a training run. I normally don’t have a race pace but I definitely get into a different mindset if I’m wanting to PR or “race” an event. I also had to consider that I had run 20 miles the Sunday before so I didn’t taper for this race and I did a tough marathon downhill marathon 3 weeks before. I was so close to PRing and made a “fatal” mistake which cost me the PR…but all good and that story is down below….
Miles 0-12.5
Rachel’s 2nd 50K and Joan’s first one! Waiting for the start….
The energy before a race is always exciting, especially when you realize how many friends you have out there! Several of them were doing their first 50K. It was great to start out the race after getting so many hugs from friends! I love the Escondido trail as it’s rolly polly . I knew I could easily get started too fast here so I tried to keep a nice pace, walking the uphills and running flats and downhills. The last third of the race is the hardest and I’ve struggled on this part the last few years. My goal was to not let that happen again. I immediately started focusing on my ChiRunning form. At about Mile 5, I decided to listen to some ChiSchool lessons so I could continue focusing on my form. I put this on shuffle and even though I listen to some of the same lessons, there are always some great aha moments. This time it was with the lesson “The World’s Largest Treadmill” and some cueing from Danny (the founder of ChiRunning) about feeling your leg get swept back by the trail every time it hit the ground. I’ve heard this lesson many times and it’s one of my favorites but something different clicked with me this time. I skipped the first aid station strategically so I didn’t “waste” anytime as I had plenty of water and fuel. The 2nd aid station was at mile 12.5 and I knew there would be a 10 mile gap until the 3rd one and it would be during “the hill”. Refueled and filled up water and was off again. I knew I had to keep under a 14:58 min mile to PR and I was doing great! At this point I was averaging a 13:23 min mile and I knew I would be hiking that hill. My goal during the first third of the race was to run as much as I could without using up too much energy because I had that last third of the race always in the back of my head.
Miles 12.5-22.5
I had forgotten about the part of the course before “the hill”. Pretty runnable and great scenery. I was still feeling pretty good here. Ran into my friends Jennifer and Rachel and took this quick selfie.
The hardest part of wanting to PR is that you need to stay focused as any extra minute can add up. I felt leaving them so quickly but I was on a mission. It’s also hard for me to do this as a coach as I always like to give words of encouragement and hang with people but sometimes I have to run my race and I was determined since I was on track. I had stopped listening to ChiSchool from the aid station and at mile 18 decided to listen to a few motivational TED talks I had downloaded. Sometimes I like to listen to stuff on long runs but I only listened to a few as I was truly enjoying being out there and present on the trail. The weather up to mile 15 was perfect. There was cloud coverage and we even had a few sprinkles. After my last Black Canyon experience (my character builder run) I was no longer worried about running in the rain but it didn’t happen. At about mile 15, the clouds were gone and the sun came out…I immediately stripped off my sleeves and the weather got hot really fast. I think many of us were impacted by that change during this race. I hiked the entire hill and ran the downhill more than last year…I remember it was rocky so I was careful but was still tracking to PR. Even though I completely filled my hydration pack, I went through my water and couldn’t wait to get to the aid station. I was out of the water for the last 1.5 miles and it kept getting warmer.
Bottom of the hill…it’s not steep but a long hill…you can see runners on the other side of the trail
Beautiful chollas and Rockknob in the background
I think this is Rocknob..its the name of the trail but beautiful rock formations!
Another angle of Rocknob
Miles 22.5 to 31
I knew I had to stay focused on the aid station. A friend of mine, Suzanne was there and she hooked me up right away. Helped fill my pack, put some ice in my buff and hat, I grabbed some munchies and I was off again. At this point, due to the hiking, I was averaging a 13:58 mile so I knew the PR was closing in on me. I did something I don’t advise people to do but decided to take two ibuprofen. I figured even though my legs weren’t too bad, they were a bit achy and I knew this would help me run more. Unfortunately my TomTom died at mile 24 so now I had no idea how I was doing. There is an uphill after the aid station but then a nice steady downhill, although a bit rocky. My goal at this point was to keep running as much I could. I was doing a lot of body sensing since I didn’t have a watch to tell me how I was doing (this is truly a better way as the GPS watch can be a distraction and play into the ego more than listening to your body) I listened to music for a bit but my MP3 player died. I just keep running as much as I could until I reached the last aid station. My first question was how much longer do I have to go. They said 3.4 miles, I looked at my phone and it was 3pm. I had to be done by 3:44 to PR and this was cutting it pretty close but doable. I usually don’t do much sugar until the last aid station (thanks to my nutritionist) I drank some Coke, had a piece of potato with salt, and handful of peanut M + M’s. I left and took my phone out to text a few friends that were waiting at the finish line for me. Here is where I made my mistake. I wasn’t paying attention as I was texting and walking…Before you know it, a guy yelled out “What distance are you doing?” I said the 50K and he said, “You’re on the wrong trail”. So grateful for this guy as I would’ve kept on that wrong trail for who knows how long! I was 4-5 min in so I turned around right away but I knew this set me back and I would’ve been cutting it even closer. Even though I ran as much as I could towards the end, I knew it wasn’t happening. I could start hearing the finish line (they have a DJ!) and knew I was almost there.
One of the several hills on the last 3.4 miles on the technical trail..
It’s a great feeling when people could say they recognized my running form from far away. As I finished through the last section on the technical trail, I was getting excited to be done. Always great to finish and see friends cheering you on at the finish line…even though it was my 9th 50K, finish lines never get old!
Biggest Learning Moment
So how do you define a successful race? Everyone has their own definition. I think it depends on the race too. Although I didn’t make my PR on this race, it was a great success for me. First of all, it was the first time doing this race that I felt strong on the last third even though I ran into some challenges. I crossed the finish line feeling really good! And considering I didn’t taper last weekend and have been building mileage, I was very happy with how I felt at the end! I attribute this to my race strategy and more importantly my ChiRunning technique. As I was by myself for this whole race so it was easier for me to focus on my form and adjusting it as needed to the environment coming at me. I may have conserved to much energy since I finished strong but I’ll take that over being miserable and injured any day! As mentioned, I follow my fueling plan that I learned from my nutritionist and that makes a big difference too!
The After Party
Much like the beginning of the race, at the end of the race there were so many friends around. There is always a beer garden for people to hang out and it’s right by the finish line so you get to watch people coming in. I for wanted to wait for Joan as I had been training her for the last 3 months for her first 50K. She finished strong as well and we shared a celebratory beer (ha, she drank the koolaid and is already talking about her next 50K! She done 20 marathons but moving on to the ultra/trail world 😉 )
This year, Aravaipa added night races and I love the fact that several women from my recent Ladies Training Program, had decided to either do the day or night race! I missed the morning ladies but had a chance to see those at night time as they got ready. Is it bad when your running coaching is encouraging you to do a Fireball shot before you go? Even worse that they listened to you?! Ultimately this is about enjoying the experience! I/we (my peeps) are never going to win the race because that’s not our goal…the goal is making friends and having fun, while staying in shape and doing some crazy things along the way! This is how we roll…….
Gorgeous sunset!
Joan finishes her first 50K! So proud of her!
Oh no….here comes the Fireball 😉 LOL
And encouraging others? Bad coach, bad coach!
It didn’t take them long to succumb to the peer pressure…although this was pre race!
One of my proudest coach moments?!
Part of the Ladies Training Program reunited! Thanks for volunteering Kisha! I better have good finish line pics 😉
From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)
….and My Story Runs On….
I have learned that I have to write these within a few days of the event or I lose the event mojo 😉 Like my normal race reports, I’ll break this down into a few sections so you can skip through the parts you need to know about depending on why you are reading this. Continue Reading →
….and My Story Runs On….
I still can’t believe this was my 5th 50K! Last year this was my 2nd one and I blogged about that one too.
This was a training run for my first 100K. My training plan called for 20 miles on Saturday and 10 on Sunday so I combined them in one day (although these were “Aravaipa” miles so it was actually 32.2 on my TomTom).
Since I had some trouble with this one last year (you can’t really try to PR (personal record) different trail races due to the variety in the terrain) and I was redoing the same one, I decided I really wanted to do better than last year. As I set this goal in my head, I was also detached from it. If I did PR, great but if I didn’t, I knew there would be lessons to learn (always!) so that took some of the pressure off.
One of the hardest things for me to do is run my own race. I tell people to do this all the time but as a coach and someone who knows a lot of runners, it’s hard not to get caught up in hanging with friends and helping them out. So I had to make a decision that this was going to be MY RACE.
This is what I have on the back of my The Running University shirts 😉
Leading up to the race, I did a lot of mental preparation. Since I knew the course, I reviewed it again, reread my blog from last year and started making a strategy. Thankfully I didn’t have the “girlie” issues from last year so that would shave some time off for sure. I also looked at the aid station locations and I remember running out of water on the toughest part of the course. I decided I wasn’t going to stop at the first aid station and I would run as much as possible on the easier part of the course so I could hike the big hill. I took the day off before the race and relaxed and got mentally psyched up (McDowell Mountains are one of my favorite places to trail run).
I started the race with my friends Katie and Mitzi (it was their first 50K!) and Will. We had nice pace going and it was fun to start out relaxed with friends! I told them that I had a plan though and that I wouldn’t be stopping at the first aid station. We split off at mile 7.
They finished their first 50K! They are now ultra runners!
I remember staying very focused on my ChiRunning form a lot (as always!) so I could be as efficient as possible. I made sure to refill my water so I wouldn’t make the same mistake as last year since there was an 11 mile gap between aid stations and it was the hardest part of the course.
The one thing I don’t like about trying to PR, is that I tend to be much more tied to my watch. I’ve had some of my best runs when I’m not paying attention to it as it can be mental stress added on that keeps you from relaxing. Knowing this, I tried not to be too focused on it but I had an average mile that I wanted to keep to reach my goal so I was more engaged with it than usual. I knew I had to stay ahead of the game because the hill was coming. The trail started getting rockier and I remember this from last year. Not my favorite terrain to be running on as it’s harder but I know I need to keep practicing this for my 100K race. I ChiWalked the entire hill with a few spurts of running when there was a little flat area or a little downhill. I used my arms so much to help me up the hill that my biceps were sore the next day! I’ve never had this from a race before but this is part of the ChiRunning strategy. Use the arms more and legs less. The downhill was rocky so I wasn’t able to go as fast as I normally like to.
Hills…
More hills…
I got to the aid station at mile 24 where I got so see my friends. I love our local running community and there are always so many familiar faces either running or volunteering! I was still pacing to PR but I was definitely getting tired at this point. More rocky uphill and then some good downhill that was rocky on and off. My pace was slowing down between the rocks and being tired. I always go back to my ChiRunning form as soon as I start feeling tired. Outside of always checking in on my postural alignment (first thing to go when you are doing long distance running is your posture), my cadence is what really helped me out. Every time I felt my legs get heavy, I would increase my cadence (strides per minute or foot turnover) and I immediately felt a relief. There is a magic number of 170-180 (not unique to ChiRunning but recommended by just about every running form) and harder to maintain on trail. Most people run at lower cadence and this wastes a lot of energy because you are holding your body weight on each leg for longer periods of time which is inefficient.
I finally texted my friends that were at the finish line and told them I had 3 miles to go and someone please make sure I had a beer at the finish line 😉 I get to the last aid station and the guy said I had 3.2 more to go! What?! That was one more mile than a 50K. I forgot to put this in my blog last year so I forgot about this…I was a bit irritated and it made that last few miles harder mentally. I don’t normally listen to music but I put my playlist on my phone on speaker so I would be a bit distracted. At about mile 30 you can hear the finish line and it’s a mind f%$k because you just want to be done at this point. This part of the trail was up and down and it finished with a nasty steep hill. My friend Bill was at the top yelling “hammer it” which really helped me push through it!
I could hear my friends cheering me on and I crossed the finish line (Chris, thanks for the Koffee Kolsch!) with a huge smile on my face. I didn’t have the official results but I knew I had PR’d. It was about a 34 minute PR which translates to a minute a mile for 32 miles of improvement! Pretty proud of that! I will say that I was hoping to do better but I will take it!
One of the coolest things is that my friend Jenni even made me a medal! She was making one for Katie and Mitzi. Some people run for bling and I normally don’t but I knew she was making a few for them and I wanted in on it too. At Aravaipa races you get a pint glass when you finish (I have a bunch of them) but getting a homemade medal from Jenni was the icing on the cake! (and she isn’t crafty either!)
Love my medal! The only one I’ve received for a 50K 😉
Running never ceases to amaze me! So much to keep learning about myself and the sport. Having a plan doesn’t always pay off but I feel the mental preparation ahead of time was crucial to my success. As always, ChiRunning and the advice my nutritionist gave me for my 50 miler were two key components to my success.
What is your strategy when you want to try and PR a race?
These are the results from my TomTom.
3rd aid station with more friends!
Terry and Raul at the 2nd aid station!
Ila! She is 70 years old and I’ve blogged about her before. After this 50K she was driving to Santa Monica to do a half marathon the next day!
From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)
….and My Story Runs On….
On Saturday, I completed my hardest race to date…The choice words for the day were FUCKING BRUTAL (there are a few more swear words in this blog)…..it was also the most humbling race experience I had and one of the most gorgeous courses I’ve been on. It was Ultra Adventures’ Capitol Reef 50K. Now I get why they are called “Adventures”. You may remember that I did my first 50 miler with them at Antelope Canyon. This was the highest elevation I’ve ever ran in with the steepest uphills and downhills I’ve ever done in my life. Based on my standards, mostly an unrunnable course as you’ll read and see my pics below. Before I break this down, I found this photo online yesterday as I was googling “mental toughness” and dang it, it pretty much summarizes my event!
I was invited by a friend to do this race awhile back and I read some blogs and some info about it so I knew it was not going to be an easy one. Click here to see the map and elevation profile. Looked like a great opportunity to visit a new place I’ve never been to (one of the main reasons I love ultra/trail running is that it brings me to places I would not visit otherwise). I was ready for the day to finally be here as you may remember my last blog post on Burning Out.
Our road trip up to Capitol Reef included a quick stop at Monument Valley which I had never seen before. It was absolutely stunning and I am sure I’ll be doing that race at some point as well.
We went and grabbed our packets on Friday and had the honor of meeting Arnulfo Quimare, the famous Tarahumara Indian from the Born To Run book. I already had Caballo Blanco’s autograph in my book so I added his as well.
On race day, we arrived at the finish line where we would be bused up to the start line for this point to point race. This is the 2nd time that my friend/trail wife, Elaine and I ended up wearing the same shirt…which fit well with this race #RunSteepGetHigh. Matt Gunn, the race director, gave a briefing at the beginning and I tried not to worry about some of the words he was using like “bushwacking” and “boulder mountain”.
Run Steep Get High 😉
Obligatory selfie with Elaine and Lori (this was her idea in the first place)
Matt Gunn, race director giving the briefing.
The three of us agreed ahead of time that it was each woman for herself and if we ended up together that would be fine but we were “running” our own race. My goal was to finish and not got lost (this is their 2nd annual and blog reports from last year mentioned people getting lost. Matt does a great job in taking feedback from his post race surveys as the course was marked very well in my opinion. Actually looking for those pink flags helped keep me focus and made it “funner” by seeming like a bit of a scavenger hunt.) The 50K course had an 11 hour cutoff (my average has been a little over 8 hours) and Ultrasignup forecasted that I would end at 11:45 (not sure what their algorithms are based on) and I was determined to prove them wrong.
I knew the first 8 miles were going to be an uphill climb so my plan was to hike this entire part to save energy so I could “run” later. These pictures don’t do it justice. I will say that I could feel the elevation change but it didn’t effect as much as I thought (giving some credit to some exercises I’ve been working on from The Oxygen Advantage book).
The scenery was breathtaking and such a different experience from running in the desert which is my usual trail running play ground. The first half of the course was a combination of beautiful meadows (mainly single track but fairly runnable although you couldn’t see the terrain under the grass sometimes so you had to be careful for rocks); rocky trails; and boulders: 
Cow bones?? Dead trail runners??
more nonrunnable terrain…for me anyways!
Caught Arnulfo with some amazing running form in his sandals!
Seriously??
Channeling my Spiderman skills again..
Boulder Mountain…this seemed like at least a mile of this type of terrain.
Lori and I “ran” together up to about Mile 14. We were bumming a bit as we had done some good training and really just wanted to run. We would find a good runnable trail but then 50 feet later it became unrunnable again (although clearly runnable for the many other experienced runners that are used to this type of terrain). She got ahead of me and at this point I was comfortable being alone as I knew the course was marked well and I was not worried about getting lost.
More beautiful water scenery on this course with lakes and creeks…I used to be “afraid” of crossing creeks and we had several of those. When it worked out, I would use rocks or logs to cross but I got over that fear after some of our Black Canyon trail runs so when it didn’t work out, I would just walk right through them. The cold water felt good on my feet and I knew I wouldn’t get blisters as I’ve done this several times in my shoes before.
I finally got to the Donkey Reservoir Mile 19 Aid Station. A lady said that my friend Lori was about 2 minutes ahead of me but I was ready to take a little break here. There was a 4pm time cutoff at this aid station and I got there around 2:30pm so all was good at this point. I had been following my nutrition plan and was feeling great (outside of being bummed that I wasn’t running as much as I wanted to). The volunteers were great. I ate some quesadillas and had a little Coke (I only drink Coke on trail aid stations and it always hits the spot!). Got my water pack filled up and off I went. The next aid station was going to be 10 miles away so I was prepared for that…or so I thought…
I noticed the battery in my Tom Tom was close to dying. I wasn’t too worried about it at this point as I was comfortable finding the course markers. It died at about mile 21 and I was fine for a bit. This is when my mind started playing tricks on me. It was really hard to gauge how long it would take me to get to the next aid station. I wasn’t doing my normal pace for sure and it’s so hard to do math at this point on the trail. I started doing one of my favorite ChiRunning meditations on the 5 senses to keep me present and distracted. I focused on all my senses:
Eyes: I had to keep my eyes on the trail a lot since it was pretty technical but I loved to see the pretty flowers, the views, the pink markers that were guiding my way…
Ears: I could hear the birds chirping, the wind in the trees, the water flowing through creeks..my heart rate going up on the uphills (at points it sounded like it would jump out of my chest!)..at one point I played music on my Iphone via the speaker so I could still be part of nature..I kept it low but needed some more distraction to get through it…I could hear footsteps behind me once in awhile as runners were passing me (this messed with my head a bit too as 50 mile people who started an hour before me and had completed more mileage were actually running this course…I knew they had more experience running in this terrain but still!!…)…I could hear my breath as I was focusing on my cadence and breathing together..
Smell: I could smell cow patties but never saw any cows which was weird (I heard some too) and my favorite was going through a few patches of pink flowers (which could be easily mistaken as the pink course markers) and the smell of them was overwhelming yet soothing.
Touch: sometimes the wind would pick up and I could feel it on my skin…the sun on my skin…being brushed by the bushes on the side (wait for the bushwhacking part in a few)
Not much to do with Taste outside of the ginger candy I picked up at the last aid station.
Even though this worked for periods of time, the non runnable parts seemed to never end…and the steep uphills and downhills continued…THEN we got into the bushwhacking part Matt had mentioned in the briefing…
Can you see the pink marker in the top left hand side of the photo? You can barely see the trail but we were literally going through shrubs..so hard to see the ground and run this part too..
Do you see the pink marker in the top left hand side of the photo again? Yes, I crawled over logs and this was not the only place..
I kept wandering when the heck I would get to the aid station at Mile 29. There were several times that I could feel a lump in my throat and I just wanted to cry. Mentally I can usually get through races by working on the meditation above or just enjoying nature and knowing that I am doing what I love to do most: run around in nature….but by this point, I was so freaking ready for it to be over…a few times I just wanted to sit down and have a helicopter come and get me..I’m not a religious person but I prayed to God, Jesus, and Mother Mary several times..and then there was Rikki (bottom line, my friend Lori M bought these for our adventure..there is more to that story but I’ll save that for another blog post)
A few times (and yes, I realized I was talking out loud) I said “I just want my Mommy”..or I would think about my boyfriend and how bad I just wanted to be in his arms…I’ve never felt like I wanted something to be over so bad before…Every time I turned a corner, I kept hoping for that dang aid station…I had to be close….
Finally I reached it….it was 6pm and I had been on my feet for 10 hours. The volunteer said that there was only 3.8 more miles to go…yeah! but were they runnable miles? He said yes but again, I couldn’t rely on his idea of runnable as clearly my definition is a bit different. I had Coke and M+Ms and took off. If it were truly runnable, no matter how tired I was, I could do this! I know I can run 4 miles in an hour! And thankfully it was mostly runnable! Heck, all of the sudden there was sand and I was so happy to run in it!
These were some of the views from the last part of the race:
Since my Tom Tom died, I was using my phone for time…I kept pulling it out to check and see how I was doing..I am sure if I had the info, my last 4 miles were the fastest in this race…I still had to walk a few times and at this point, my goal was to finish within the 11 hour cutoff…that’s all I kept thinking about…I finally saw the road that we would be crossing before the finish line..my phone time was 7pm so I’m thinking it’s too late…I wasn’t going to have the same epic finish as my 50 miler…but I kept running as fast as my legs could take me as I was SOOOOOO ready for this to be done! I couldn’t wait to see my friends at the end…I finally see the finish line and the clock…the clock is at 10:59:55 and I’m running as fast as I could…the seconds were counting down…I crossed the finish line at 11:00:01 (unofficial time)…and then there I was standing there, finally done with this darn race and no one was there to greet me! Where the heck were my friends? Lori M came up right after and was so bummed she missed my finish..apparently Lori C had told them I was about an hour behind her so they figured they had time (it was a long day for all of us so I think we were all confused by this point!)…..it didn’t matter…I WAS FINALLY DONE WITH IT!
I realize this is a long blog post but here are my Thorns, Roses and Learning Lessons (in addition to what was already mentioned)
Thorns:
Roses:
Learning lessons:
Would I ever do this one again? HELL NO! As a matter of fact, if someone told me I had to redo the Antelope Canyon 50 miler in sand or Capitol Reef 50K, hands down I would be doing Antelope! But this race had a huge impact on my character..sounds cheesy but I’ve been feeling like my soul was shaken up a bit …I know that during those 11 hours, my mind/body/spirit grew a little bit more…isn’t that why we do these things? To reach out of our comfort zone and stretch ourselves? To see how far we can push our body, mind and spirit and conquer things we never thought possible?
I absolutely love the Grand Circle Trail series. Matt and his crew do an amazing job. My goal is to do all of them at some point since they are all strategically placed in amazing locations…who knows which one will be next?
I tweaked this quote: “A mind, body and spirit that are stretched by new experiences, can never go back to their old dimensions.”
Finishers! 3 of us did the 50K and the other 2 did the half marathon (which was brutal too!)
seriously gorgeous views!
Yes! Not only did I inspire myself but love to hear that I can inspire other people to do epic shit too!
From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)