Run Pigtails

2011 Pigtails Flat Ass

2012-01-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

I had the biggest field this year! Plus the best weather and well received
arm warmers. Prior to the race, the news had reported that we were only second
to another city in the US with the least precipitation for the month of December
and that was Death Valley! This was the 6th year and I will continue this race
through the 10th. Mary Hanna and Bruce Hoff returned this year to complete 6
consecutive years and did it in fine style by running all their races in the 50K
distance. Only 4 more years and a 10 year jacket will be theirs!

As many of you know, I have a busy life outside of running. Sure, I don't
have kids and that helps, but these days, I work 14 hr days. So if I don't get
back to you right away, you know why. Some days I don't even have a chance to
check my e-mail. Other race directors know we spend a lot of time before the
race organizing everything by ourselves then get help only on race day. We are
very grateful to our volunteers who help us make it run smoothly. Please help me
in thanking: Bob Satko, Clare Nance, Ron Torrez, Gwen Scott, Jenny Hanna,
Michelle (can't remember her last name but she was the daughter of one of the
runners), John Pearch, Matt Hagen, and Jerry Thayer. All got arm warmers for
their hard work and giving up a beautiful Saturday to help you have a fun day.
Bob, Clare, and Ron expertly set up and ran the one unmanned aid station without
needing any help from me. I sent Gwen out to make sure all runners turned around
after the first 1/2 mile. She had to turn around twice and go back to make sure
they did, as 3 runners started late. Then she, Michelle, and Jenny helped me at
the finish line. Gwen kept the runners fed, Michelle did an awesome job handing
out medals, and Jenny helped me identify runners coming in as well as hand out
food. John brought me back the unmanned aid station and first turn around
supplies. That was a huge help. Matt brought a propane heater and shelter for
just in case. And Jerry brought extra tables and hauled all the trash and
recycle away.

I started working on the finisher's medals in the summer and have already
ordered supplies for next year's medals. You'll just have to come back to see
what it is. Eric Sach at The Balanced Athlete at the Renton Landing helped me
order the arm warmers. We have briefly discussed next year's apparel.

So here's what went down race day. Chris Brunnquell took off at a speedy clip
and was tackling the marathon distance. I barely made it in time to set up the
unmanned aid station and turn around before he arrived. He continued to increase
the gap between him and the 2nd runner, Kevin Douglas, by the 13.7 mile turn
around. Kevin let him go since he was running the 50K and needed to pace
himself. Kevin was followed not far behind by eventual marathon winner Steve
Geertgens, who ran a fine 2:57:10, a PR and Masters win as well as new Masters
Marathon CR. Brian Lowney came in with a PR and 2nd place in 3:05:04. Eric Sach
rounded out the top three and third Masters in 3:06:04.

Kevin improved dramatically over his 2010 winning 50K time of 4:13:24 to
break the course record by 4 minutes in a time of 3:37:08. He earned $31 for his
efforts. Cliff Richards, more than double Kevin's age, came in only 10 minutes
later in 3:47:38, taking first Masters and also setting a new Masters 50K CR.
Bradley Dutkiewicz came in 2 minutes later in 3:49:38.

The women ran strong as well on this perfect weather day. Angie Mathis, in
only her 2nd marathon, finished first in 3:39:28. Boran Kim started late but
would have given her some challenge had she started on time. Her overall gun
time and official finish was 3:55:00 but she clocked a 3:39:59 marathon. Candice
Burt was the second female finisher in 3:42:43 and Rikki Bogue was 3rd woman,
first Masters in 3:45:56, also good enough for a new Female Masters Marathon
CR.

Mary Hanna came close to breaking the overall 50K record of 4:26 but missed
it by 2 minutes. She did break the Female Masters 50K CR of 4:40 by running
4:28:07. Second female and also Masters ultrarunner was Wendy Wheeler Jacobs,
who like me prefers single track trails and mountain running. She's an
incredible uphill runner but more amazingly, she can really bomb the downhills.
In fact, she is more of a blur on the downhills. She finished in 4:43:33. Ashley
Kuhlmann finished 3rd in 5:03:08.

We had PRs, first timers, and maniac qualifyers at this race. Most amazing of
all was 73-year-old John Bandur finishing the 50K in 6:43:16, his 396th
marathon/ultra. His 400th will be at McDonald Forest 50K in Oregon next May. Max
Welker, also a fixture here in the PNW, ran his 200th marathon/ultra at this
race. Up next is a 24hr run over New Year's. Congratulations to you both and
good luck with your upcoming races!

We had three dogs sharing the trails this year. Emily helped Mary Hanna in
the 50K. Jack ran 50K with Jerry Thayer. Katy helped Dean Kayler take 5th in the
marathon. Heidi Perry did not have a canine buddy but dragged a tire from the
13.7mile turn around to the manned aid station about 8 miles away.

Thanks everyone for bringing wonderful treats for post run recovery. As
usual, Betsy's Thai butternut soup was a hit. Good thing she reserves some for
herself at the finish. Betsy was recovering with her first marathon since
finishing Javelina Jundred in November.

I was able to make some banana chocolate chip bread Friday morning, load up
the car with all the supplies, and attend my office Christmas party in the
evening. After some restless sleep, I enjoyed Saturday watching you all run,
then ran at Tiger in less ideal weather on Sunday. It was a busy weekend! This
was followed on Monday being on call and a 15 hour day. I'm finally getting some
rest this Christmas weekend!

I will be running my 300th marathon/ultra at the Tiger Fat Ass on January 7.
Hard to believe that milestone has finally arrived. I can't think of a better
run to celebrate my 300th than a Fat Ass. I hope to also see many of you at the
Lake Youngs race, now in the hands of my frequent running buddies, the Trail
Nuts. It is on the last Saturday of January. Come join me as well for Bridal
Trails 50K later that afternoon. Finally, Pigtails Challenge is Memorial Weekend
2012. There is a 200 miler as well as a half (100 miler). There is also a
'tweener of 150 milles for those of you who cannot decide. I'm recruiting volunteers and pacers. Let me know if you can do one or both!

Final results are below: (Sorry about the format, it was the only way I could figure out how to get it on the blog)

50K
1/Kevin Douglas/M23/3:37:08/1st Open Male, Open CR, PR
2/Cliff Richards/M50/3:47:38/1st Masters Male, Masters CR
3/Bradley Dutkiewicz/M32/3:49:38/2nd Open Male
4/Ather Haleem/M31/4:05:40/3rd Open Male
5/Mike Schlecht/M41/4:12:37/2nd Masters Male
6/Scott Sebelsky/M50/4:13:31/3rd Masters Male
7/Alex Swenson/M47/4:15:55/
8/Pete Nicholson/M52/4:23:47/
9/Neal Saxe/M44/4:24:34/1st ultra
10/Bruce Hoff/M49/4:25:45/
11/Mary Hanna/F50/4:28:07/1st Masters Female w/dog Emily, Masters CR
12/Michael Johnston/M21/4:33:53/
13/Daniel Kuhlmann/M28/4:34:29/PR
14/Wendy Wheeler-Jacobs/F44/4:43:33/2nd Masters Female
15/Ted Eckert/M44/4:51:04/
16/Matt Hagen/M40/4:51:12/
17/Seth Wolpin/M39/4:53:10/
18/Jerry Thayer/M57/4:54:28/With dog Jack
/Todd McCrory/M44/4:54:28/1st 50K
20/Bill Davenport/M42/4:59:58/
21/Mike Mahanay/M56/5:03:08/
22/Ashley Kuhlmann/F25/5:03:38/1st Open Female
23/Ben Semer/M38/5:06:46/
24/Kimberly Kuhlmann/F33/5:10:10/2nd Open Female
25/Andy Lin/M29/5:11:09/
26/Ben Russell/M33/5:14:55/
27/Kay Allen/F35/5:14:57/3rd Open Female
28/Monte Pelicano Pascual/M51/5:27:35/
29/John Schaphorts/M47/5:27:48/
30/Dan Bowman/M62/5:30:08/
31/Kristoffer Lindstrom/M38/5:30:30/

32/Jules Mann/M49/5:42:24/
33/William Baldyga/M40/5:44:06/
34/Irena Lambrou/F25/5:46:00/
35/Mike Kuhlmann/M51/5:57:54/
36/Becky Hunter/F43/6:17:00/3rd Masters Female, 1st 50K
37/Keli Davenport/F40/6:17:01/
38/Sonora Jordan/M21/6:33:40/
39/Seret Rafferty/F42/6:38:05/1st ultra
40/John Bandur/M73/6:43:16/396th Marathon/Ultra

Female Open CR: Sara Malcom 4:26:00 (2009)

Masters CR: Mary Hanna 4:28:07 (2011)
Male Open CR: Kevin Douglas 3:37:08 (2011)

Masters CR: Cliff Richards 3:47:38 (2011)

Marathon
1/Steve Geertgens/M43/2:57:10/1st Masters Male, Masters CR, PR
2/Brian Lowney/M40/3:05:04/2nd Masters Male, PR
3/Eric Sach/M43/3:06:04/3rd Masters Male
4/Chris Brunnquell/M22/3:12:47/1st Open Male
5/Dean Kayler/M48/3:26:27/With dog Katie
6/Rich Hieb/M38/3:27:29/2nd Open Male
7/Robert Bondurant/M39/3:27:53/3rd Open Male
8/Peter Stackpole/M43/3:28:50/
9/Samuel Scoby/M31/3:31:52/
10/Pedro Infante/M50/3:35:22/
11/Terry Sentinella/M47/3:37:22/
12/Tim Mathis/M31/3:39:28/
/Angie Mathis/F31/3:39:28/1st Open Female
14/Brian Pendleton/M57/3:41:10/
15/Candice Burt/F30/3:42:43/2nd Open Female
16/Cormac Burke/M50/3:45:45/
/Marc Frommer/M59/3:45:45/
18/Rikki Bogue/F48/3:45:56/1st Masters Female, Masters CR
19/May Cheng/F46/3:49:48/2nd Masters Female
20/BJ Farish/M38/3:54:28/
21/Boram Kim/F25/3:55:00/3rd Open Female
22/Heidi Hubler/F37/3:56:16/
/Steve Ellis/M44/3:56:16/
24/Steven Yee/M52/3:57:17/
/Diana Robinson/F45/3:57:17/3rd Masters Female
26/Roger Chou/M41/3:57:27/
27/Jodi Brautaset/F36/3:57:39/
/Steve Duncan/M43/3:57:39/
29/Chris Marabetta/M34/3:58:04/
30/Benjamin Chan/M41/4:04:30/
31/Eric Glass/M34/4:05:25/
32/Andy Fritz/M45/4:05:27/
33/Tracy Brown/F50/4:08:06/PR
34/Genia Kacey/F36/4:09:37/
/Joleen Rodgers/F35/4:09:37/
36/Phillip Kriss/M52/4:09:41/
37/Terri Gray/F43/4:10:46/
38/Roger Adams/M62/4:11:51/
39/Lorinda Hagstrom/F41/4:19:08/
/Patti Krebsbach/F49/4:19:08/
41/Suzanne Nester/F45/4:20:17/
42/Kris Damiano/M36/4:21:05/
43/William Scott/M50/4:21:45/
/Dan Whitaker/M50/4:21:45/
45/Stephanie Astell/F48/4:25:45/
/Teresa Hanson-Redrup/F49/4:25:45/
47/Ron Frederick/M44/4:27:12/
/Jayne Simmons/M49/4:27:12/
49/Susan Cheng-Looi/F51/4:29:50/
50/Lisa Wood/F38/4:31:32/
51/Mark Looi/M51/4:34:13/
52/Steve White/M58/4:34:39/
53/Luisa Lopez/F41/4:36:39/
54/Gary Marr/M60/4:37:04/
/David Stout/M57/4:37:04/
56/WILDMAN Willet/M57/4:39:17/
57/Lisa Eagle/F31/4:40:17/
58/Sam Simone/M59/4:41:10/
59/Vivian Doorn/F45/4:42:32/
60/Hideko Opperman/F43/4:44:02/
61/Whitney Waller/F45/4:46:19/
/Georgeta Gruescu/M39/4:46:19/
63/Jill Hudson/F49/4:51:12/
/Marilou Russell/F50/4:51:12/
65/Linda Walter/F60/4:51:38/
66/Lisa Reid/F46/5:01:05/
/Angie Smith/F34/5:01:05/
68/Leanne Norseth/F45/5:06:44/
69/Brian Cox/M51/5:07:39/
/Angie Tinsley/F38/5:07:39/
71/Betsy Rogers/F48/5:09:14/
72/Robert Stretz/M43/5:10:36/
73/Max Welker/M69/5:18:12/200th Marathon/Ultra
74/Christine Yamada/F51/5:20:36/
75/Cody Hill/M38/5:25:50/
/Nicole Hill/F40/5:25:50/
77/Sarah Lynch/F33/5:29:17/
/Megan Smith/F32/5:29:17/
79/Takao Suzuki/M46/5:32:07/
80/Stan Nakashima/M60/5:45:13/
/Rick Haase/M66/5:45:13/
82/Deborah Evdemon/F43/5:55:49/
83/Marie Zornes/F48/5:55:50/
84/Raymond Shaw/M53/5:58:00/
85/Heidi Perry/F40/6:00:08/
86/Morrie Bills/F43/6:00:28/
87/Jane Herzog/F48/6:18:42/
/Cyndie Merten/F55/6:18:42/
89/Ric Hart/M64/7:04:50/

Female Open CR: Annie Theissen 3:14:10 (2007)

Female Masters CR: Rikki Bogue 3:45:56 (2011)
Male Open CR: Chuck Engle 2:37: 54 (2006)

Male Masters CR: Steve Geertgens 2:57:10 (2011)

DOUBLE WA?

2011-09-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

I’ve done some crazy things. Like running 150 miles in the middle of Illinois with no sleep in over 47 hours. Or doing over 51 marathons/ultras per year for three years straight. But my latest quest had me seeing double. I wanted to finish Cascade Crest Classic 100 and Plain 100 in the same year. Only thing was, they were only two weeks apart. There have been 8 runners who have done the double, 6 guys and now two women, including myself. The year Liz McGoff did it was three weeks apart. The closest that I have done back to back 100s were 3 weeks apart. I knew I could finish CCC, as long as no major problems arose. I was going for my 5th finish, so I knew how to pace myself. But Plain scared me. I had trained on about 80 miles of it, and it was hard. What’s more, it was more like 107 unmarked miles with no aid stations and one drop location past halfway.

CCC/Plain doubler tc

My year of running up until these was limited to only races and training miles on the weekends when I was not on call. I had little or no exercise during the week due my long work days and nights. I knew my times were getting slower, but I felt my endurance was still solid. I had two good 100 milers earlier in the year with Badger Mountain and Lumberjack. I suffered through a warm San Diego 100, just making the cut offs. It had been a long time since my asthma affected my running so much. After recovering from San Diego, I needed to get back into training for Cascade and joined fellow Trail Nuts Pat Ackley and Tracey Nguyen on a Plain training run. I had no intention whatsoever to run Plain, but by the end of the run, Pat and Tracey had me nearly signed up. The trail was spectacular. I just fell in love with it. Thus started my CCC/Plain quest.

Pat-the dork who started it all

Plain consists of two large loops with Deep Creek campground in between. Our first training run did not go smoothly. After running the first 2-3 miles of the second loop, we took a wrong turn. We ended up on a 2 mile loop but did not realize that we were running in circles until ¾ through the 2nd time where I had déjà vu. I said to Pat, “We’ve been here before.” We placed some sticks down that spelled Van and found it on our 3rd time, confirming our mistake. After wasting additional time down more wrong trails, we finally found where we made the incorrect turn and got on the appropriate trail. If we had listened to Tracey, we wouldn’t have wasted all that time. We didn’t cover as many miles of the course as we would have liked but still had a nice day on the trails, except for being eaten alive by mosquitoes. There must have been a recent hatching.

The second Plain run came after I returned from crewing and pacing friend Jess Mullen at Badwater 135. She did great! But I was eager to get back on the trails. We tried again to cover more of the second loop of the Plain course (with Eric Barnes) but got turned around by snow.

Jess at Badwater

A week after that, I ran the Trail from Hell section up to No Name Ridge on the Cascade course. This was a mistake. After the two hard Plain training runs, I suffered through this and had a dismal personal worse at White River the following weekend. No matter, it was my seventh WR and I was okay with a long day. It was just so beautiful that day!

After a very busy call weekend on the first weekend of August, I joined Pat and Tracey two days later on Tuesday for our last Plain training run. We woke at 2am to drive to the trailhead and started running at 6am. We wanted to cover the first loop that started and ended at Maverick Saddle. This was to be 43 miles. It started out well. We were moving well and made all the correct turns. We practiced eating, drinking, carrying all our food, and getting water from the streams. The second half of the loop killed us. The climb up Tyee Ridge was long and hot. The run down to Mad River was overgrown and technical. It took us 16 hours exactly to finish the loop and I was back in my own bed 24hrs later at 2am. I had to be back to work at 6am.

I rested the next 2 weekends before Cascade. I was pumped for my 5th! But it was going to be a hot one. I started out slow and took it nice and easy up Goat Peak after the initial 3.8 miles. I have heard of other runners ruining their race on this climb. I think there were only a few runners behind me. My slower pace for the heat felt comfortable, but by Tacoma Pass at mile 23, I was already 24 minutes behind last year’s schedule. Still, I didn’t want to push it. I maintained the same effort. I saw Ken at Stampede at mile 34. It was nice to see him. I was now almost an hour behind schedule. In addition to the heat, there were a lot of blow downs that slowed everyone. It was like an obstacle course. We expect that with the Trail from Hell but not in the first half of the race. Darkness came sooner this year in the race for me. I reached Ollalie at 12hr22min. I was not worried. I was having a nice run. I picked up my garden gloves from Ken and headed for the rope section. I learned this from Scott McCoubrey. He said to grab the rope and run down facing forward, not backwards. Just grab and go. So I did. What a trip! Yippee! I hit the John Wayne tunnel feeling good and passed several runners before Hyak. There, Ken helped me switch to my hydration pack. I was using a waist pack with a bottle and one hand held up until that point. Next year, I will keep the waist pack.

Ken, my husband and biggest fan

Here, Dean Kayler, my pacer, joined me. He was great. Just the right amount of talking and encouraging. He filled me in on the latest news. Like Eric and Iliana Sach expecting their first baby soon. It took me over 1 ½ hours longer to finish the second half compared to last year. There was no moon, so the stars really came out. The Trail from Hell took the usual amount of time but this year for me, it seemed like it passed by without feeling endless. Ken had some pizza and butternut squash soup waiting for us on the road to No Name Ridge aid station. I got into the car so that I wouldn’t get cold while exchanging my food. My asthma hit after mile 70 on the climbs, especially on the Cardiac Needles. For the first time in any race, I could actually hear myself wheezing, when before, it was just labored breathing. Still, I was able to pass more runners than passed me (at Hyak, I was in 76th place and I finished 62nd). That’s always a plus! Seeing Glenn Tachiyama on Thorpe Mountain signified we were getting closer to the finish line. The view was breathtaking with Mount Rainer in the distance. Sunday was a scorcher. But I had to get going. Ken was waiting for me, and I had to work the next day. Dean had mentioned to me that when we got to mile 95 at Silver Creek, he might want to nap in Ken’s car while I finished. I didn’t blame him. At times I was moving so slow on those Needles that it was hard for him to stay awake I’m sure. As soon as we arrived, I dropped my pack (finally!), grabbed my hand held and a few GUs, and took off. I didn’t even give Dean any time to change his mind. I tripped pouring water on my head and nearly ruptured my Achilles! I ran for a while but looked back constantly, not wanting another girl to pass me on that last stretch. I passed a guy and his pacer. When I didn’t see any girl behind me, I let myself relax and walked on and off. I figured I needed to save as much energy as I could for Plain. With about half a mile to go, I looked back one last time and saw a girl barreling down the road. I had just taken a GU and turned on the afterburners! I really didn’t want to sprint this last section but was glad I had enough in me to get going. At least I looked strong finishing. Charlie was manning the microphone at the finish like he does every year and announced that I was arriving at the finish, “A Northwest institution,” as he put it. Thrilled, I crossed in 28:28:41, 11th woman and 62nd overall of 140 starters. Charlie handed me my 5-yr silver buckle. Yes! Five down, 5 to go. I am aiming to be the first woman to finish 10 Cascades. Each year seems harder and harder. But with Ken as my crew and pacers like Dean, I know I have a few more in me.

Previous CCC pacers Mary, Cliff, and this year Dean (far right)

Five down, 5 to go!

Getting my 5 year buckle from RD Charlie Crissman

After finishing, I was given a bucket to soak my feet. For some reason, this year, my feet ached terribly after soaking them in the cold water. I had noticed that at the first creek crossing after French Cabin. I avoided getting my feet wet after that if at all possible. Ken drove Dean to his car at Hyak and picked me up a burger at Mountain High Burgers. I freshened up as well as I could and watched other runners come in. I couldn’t stay until the end since I had to be at work by 6am the next day. I had blisters on the top of my foot where the tongue dug in on both sides. Other than that, my feet were great.

500miles at CCC

The next day, I felt okay at work other than being tired. Of course my legs swelled terribly by the end of the day, standing while assisting in surgery. I knew I just had to get through it and looked forward to my Tuesday off. My blisters were pretty sensitive and caused me to walk funny. People thought I was trashed from my 100, but I didn’t feel that bad. I had to do some housecleaning on Tuesday and this actually kept me loose. By Wednesday, I felt pretty normal. Unfortunately, I was on call the following weekend (Labor Day). Normally, we are on call Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. But since this was a holiday weekend, I was also on call Monday. Friday, I was at work until 12:30am, 18 ½ hrs from when I started. Then rounds Saturday morning, a surgical case Saturday afternoon, and then I was called in at 11:30pm for an open tibia/fibula fracture surgery until 3:30am. Back to the hospital to do rounds Sunday and Monday morning but thankfully no more cases. My pager was going off constantly with calls from the floors. Needless to say, I did not get to rest from Cascade. I managed to pack my supplies for Plain and did have Tuesday off to make up for the long weekend. I worked Wednesday and Thursday and had Friday off to attend the mandatory meeting for Plain. By now, my blisters had healed. I had not run since Cascade, so I was not sure how my legs were feeling. I just trusted my body would do what I asked it to.

I spent Thursday night frantically getting last minute things ready. Sleep was okay but not as good as it should be two nights before race day. More frantic last minute packing Friday morning. Pat was nice enough to pick me up at my place and we drove to Tracey’s house. We took her big Toyota Sequoia. I had packed a bunch of food, most of which I didn’t eat of course. On our ride over, we again debated whose idea was this anyway. Pat said it was all Tracey’s idea, but we all knew the truth. It was their fault I got sucked in. Tracey had a dedicated song for Pat, something she was planning on singing as the miles accumulated, titled, “She F’ing Hates Me!” You know the song.

Our first order of business was to drive to the dirt road section after Alder Ridge. We got a good idea of how long that road section was and also where to re-enter the trail. We had enough time to go to the Plain Hardware store to pick up our finisher’s hooded sweatshirt. Actually, it says “PLAIN Hardware, Est. 1997.” Plain is in big letters and the hardware is smaller. The race does not have a shirt. Interestingly, Plain 100 started in 1997. Pat and I got one, but Tracey could not find a size or color she liked. I got the idea from Scott Tomchick when I saw him wearing it handing over one of the ropes used for the rope section on Cascade. I knew I had to get one.

We arrived at the Lake Wenatchee Recreation Center (LWRC) 10 minutes before the mandatory briefing began. Chris Ralph greeted me warmly and handed me my Plain coffee cup and handkerchief. I donated $10 for a Plain 100 patch. I chatted with a few other runners before settling down. First, Search and Rescue spoke. The magic word for the weekend was “happy”. At each checkpoint (6 total), we were instructed to give them our number and the word happy. I suppose it’s a way to get you turned around if you are having a rough stretch. I know several times I had to force myself to say it. There were 25 starters and 19 volunteers/Search and Rescue. It felt good to know that they were out there. They also let us know that we could drop trash with them, which was a nice thing, in their efforts to keep trash off the trails. Then Tom Ripley spoke. This guy has lungs! He went over the course directions with a large map and had to correct himself a couple times! It was nice to know that I could visualize all the turns we had practiced on our training runs. There was just that one section that we had never run. He talked about locations to get water. No snow left on the course. Water crossings were a non-issue. Cut-offs. Course rules. We had to carry all our supplies at all times. No dropping our packs at out and back sections. Then Chris Ralph spoke briefly. She asked me to raise my hand. She said that I did not want to finish Plain without a Buckle. Not true! I would have run Plain even without a buckle but thought it would be a nice reward and something to work towards. So I spoke to Eric Barnes, who had access to materials. He created a very nice granite buckle with laser etching in big letters, PLAIN 100+ and an elevation profile of the course. I had to remind Chris that runners had to purchase it. Eric was able to make them for $40. It was also available to past finishers.

RD Chris Ralph

The meeting was followed by a great spaghetti feed served by the “Hotties.” There was soup, salad, bread, meatballs, and dessert. Something for everyone. I spoke with Tim Stroh, who has started 11 Plains and has finished 5, the most of any runner. He said that this was going to be the hottest Plain ever with temps predicted to be mid to high 90s. I met Bogie Dumitrescu from Colorado, who said we had an advantage being able to train on the course. True. Adam Lint talked about his Wonderland trail adventure a couple weeks ago. Michelle Maislen was running with her adventure running partner Deb McInally, who was taking on Plain as her first 100. Michelle, however, was still running a bit of a fever that she had been dealing with the week leading up to Plain. Alex Swenson and I chatted a bit. I spent the most time talking to Betsy Kalmeyer from Leadville, CO. I looked her up on Ultra Signup and it showed she has finished Leadville several times but more impressive-Hardrock something like 12 times. I remember reading about her in TrailRunner Magazine and she mentioned she was a Physician Assistant, just like me. I wanted to meet her and we chatted about our jobs.

RD Tom Ripley (left)

Trace, Pat, and me pre-race

We finally decided to head to our hotel. Most runners were camping at the LWRC (they had the choice of camping in their tent or trailer outside or could sleep in the meeting lodge). Sounds like sleeping outside was better since people were up late talking and the breakfast crew was going to start getting things ready at 2am. I had told Pat and Tracey that I wanted a hotel room. I’ve camped plenty of times before a 100 miler (been there, done that). It also got us away from other runners and allowed us to relax some. We stayed at the Leavenworth HoJo. Trace and I shared a bed and Pat had one for himself. We spent about an hour getting our gear laid out and food made. I took a quick shower. I called Ken and said I would see him Sunday. We were in bed by 9:30. Sleep was a little restless for me. Trace and Pat said they slept well. The darn fridge kept making noises. It didn’t seem to bother them. We were up at 2:30am and got to the lodge for the breakfast at 3:45. I sat in the car eating my sushi for breakfast. Didn’t want to gross anyone out but it has worked well for me. Don’t worry, it was all cooked meat and I had kept it refrigerated.

Everyone headed to the start 15 minutes away at Deep Creek Campground, also the drop bag location and finish. It was cool, but not cold. Arm warmers did the trick. No jacket was needed. We all checked in one more time. Next thing you know, we were off! The run started out with a mostly downhill dirt road run to the Thousand Lakes Lodge off of the main drag of Chiwawa Loop Road. We were instructed to run to the steps of the lodge and turn around. The out and back to Deep Creek was 3.4 miles. We let everyone else take off and let the dust settle. I started with a bandana on my face, but it was hard to breathe that way too. I took it off when we couldn’t see the runners ahead anymore. There were only 2 runners behind us on that section. Running down caused my pack to bounce too much. Going back up was much more comfortable and my pack settled into its position. We decided that we didn’t need to carry a bunch of water since we’d be stopping at most of the streams. That helped keep the weight down. I didn’t think it was a good idea to tell Trace and Pat that early on that it felt like I just picked up where I left off at CCC. My legs were feeling kind of heavy. Not much spring. It was going to be a long journey…

After going through Deep Creek, we headed up the road, initially nice packed gravel/dirt road for 3 miles to Deer Camp Campground (6.4mi). I had my tunes on and was singing to Pat. I’m sure he really appreciated that and wondered if I was going to keep that up for another 100 miles. The temp was really quite comfortable. I had a plan of eating real food alternating with a GU every half hour. It worked pretty well for about 70 miles, then I was mostly taking in GU. I took a Protein Power Bite (chocolate or peanut butter) when I didn’t want a GU. My solid food included Trader Joe’s chocolate croissant and homemade pumpkin or banana bread. I made turkey sandwiches, but they got so squished, they looked too unappetizing to eat. I brushed my teeth every 6-8 hours and used my inhaler about the same interval. When we got to Deer Camp, we took a hard left and headed up a primitive dirt road for another three miles. We arrived at Maverick Saddle (9.4mi) in 2:16 after starting. Winner Adam Lint got there in 1:32. There were only 3 runners behind us. Pat or Trace had a shoe malfunction and all but one runner (Scott Tomchick) passed us before the first water stop. About a mile in, we dipped our water bottles into the Mad River and treated it with our SteriPens (Pat and I both had one). We did just a little bit of bushwhacking to get to the river and as we were climbing out, Scott strolled by and said there was a better spot up ahead. He was already very sickingly chipper. What a great guy! In another half mile, we turned left uphill onto the Hi Yu trail (11.0mi). Please keep in mind that these mileages I post are off the Green Trails Map. I feel they are pretty accurate. Hi Yu went up for a bit. Scott passed us here. The views were already in site and spectacular. There was some down, flat, up again, and down to Lost Lake trail (14.5mi). There were some good runnable sections here. Of course, we walked any hill that in a shorter race could have been run, but we knew better. Not far from the next trail intersection at Billy Creek (17mi), we filled up one water bottle. It was starting to get warm. There is a ranger station there, and someday on one of our training runs there, I would like to take the very short detour there and take a peek.

We loaded up at another water stop about a mile before the next turn on North Tommy trail (20mi) because there would be no water for about 8 miles and we would be running some exposed areas. Right on N. Tommy Trail and more up another 1.2 miles until you reach a spur to the left that goes up to Klone Peak. Prior to that, we ran into RDs Chris Ralph and Tom Ripley. They were looking for Ryan Conway, who was going to drop because of a hip thing. I noticed him before the start. He was shirtless, had on a Nathan vest, had taped all his toes in some kind of black tape, and wore lightweight shoes. He had finished Plain twice before, coming in 2nd last year after Justin Angle (22:21) in a fine time of 26:44. Chris and Tom asked if we had seen him. We said no. They asked us to send him their way if we saw him, as they were heading down to Maverick Saddle. They thought he might have gone the other direction after Klone Peak instead of heading back. Wow, a drop already. Sounds like he had been dealing with the problem before Plain and I wondered if he should have started. A few dirt bikers were coming down as we were heading up before the spur. The half mile out and back didn’t feel so bad. Footing near the top is not so good, but it doesn’t last long. We saw 5 people heading down as we were going up. One of them was Ryan. We didn’t quite understand why we saw him. Did he head up to Klone Peak again? At any rate, we told him to head down to Maverick the way we came in. Apparently, he went off trail to get water and that was when Chris and Ralph must have passed him because it took them a long time to connect up with him when it should not have been such an ordeal. So big new rule, stay on the trail, even it is the wrong trail, so that search and rescue can find you.

We reached Klone peak (1/2 mile from the turn) and read the message at the top, which we were expected to recite at the finish. “Chickamin Chick says drink your Ovaltine.” Either that or we had to tell them what the color of the rock up there was. Green. Pat did some more shoe maintenance as Trace and I headed down. I had a chance to eat waiting for him to catch up. We had seen Mauricio Puerto on the climb up Klone Peak and would not see him again until the finish. He finished 40+ minutes ahead of us. After climbing Klone Peak we got back on the N. Tommy trail, now 22+mi. The next stretch was long before we got to Forest Service road 5605, or 7 miles. Most of it is downhill but exposed and seems to take forever. There were some rolling sections that did require some walking. We ran through areas that had been scorched by forest fires. We passed a fading Rob Lahoe, who said he was going to drop at the next checkpoint. He was not drinking enough. This was his 2nd Plain attempt. We felt bad for him. We finally reached water about a mile before the road and filled up. It was pretty hot then and we doused ourselves. Crazy, though. We dried up pretty quick. Pat had to work again on his shoes. This would be his nemesis the entire race: dirt in the shoes that would ball up and cause pressure points.

Refreshed with water, we ran to the next check point at the road. I arrived first, “Number 21. And I’m HAPPY, he’s sneezy, and she’s sleepy.” They knew we were in good spirits. This was about 29.3 miles and we arrived there in 8:53 (Adam 5:37). A short section of dirt road was followed by over three miles of asphalt. When we did this during training, we had to walk some of it. But we were able to run it all on race day. It was pretty hot at this point. There is a sharp right turn down on road #112 to a cul-de-sac where two trail heads start. The correct trail is on the left, Middle Tommy trail, which is harder to see coming from the direction of the road, and then there is Hunter’s trail to the right, but straight ahead coming in the cul-de sac from the road. It has been taken by a few runners in the past. (Michelle Maislen and Deb McInally first missed the sharp turn on #112 and ran down the road until they hit a one lane bridge. Uh oh. They turned around and made it back to the cul-de-sac but then took Hunter’s trail. Wrong trail. All in all, they lost 1hr40min.) Once again on dusty trails, we headed towards the Entiat River. Before crossing the bridge, there is a trail that heads right towards Fox Creek (mile 34) and the climb up Tyee Ridge. I started to notice my first muscle twitching here, but we stopped to fill up on water and my muscles were able to relax. Because there would be no water for 15 miles, it is suggested that you leave with 100-120oz. Quite a load to carry on the hardest climb of the race during the hottest time of day. I peed at the base and had a chocolate croissant, feeling pretty good. We passed one runner on this climb. But the relentless up with 87 switchbacks (I counted them on our training run), started to take its toll on me. It was too tiring for me to keep drinking and taking salt and by the time we reached the top (mile 39.5) about 2hr45 minutes later, my muscles were screaming. The eccentric muscle contractions on the down put me on the edge of cramping. I walked in a circle trying to shake them out. I told Tracey to head down ahead of me, but she wouldn’t leave. “Go tell Pat I’m cramping. It’ll just take me a little longer to get there.” I was able to briskly walk down and ran a few steps but could not break stride like I wanted on this downhill. I arrived at the next intersection not too long after Trace. I was forced to power walk and pushed myself to gulp as much fluids as I could and replenish my salt. There was still climbing ahead of us, so we were hiking anyway, but when we hit some downs, all I could do was shuffle along. Pat and Tracey were patient with me, and 3hrs after my last pee, I was able to go again. I was starting to feel better.

When we hit Billy Creek Trail at mile 43, I was able to run the down hills again, and there was enough in this section that I felt we were making up some time. It was getting dark by now. I saw a pair of eyes ahead of me and the deer jolted down the trail, sending dust clouds in its wake. We arrived at the next checkpoint (mile 45) at a road crossing at 15hr26min (Adam 9:50). Pat had to fix his shoes again. I had another bathroom break. We ran along for a while with some short hikes up and finally reached the section that everyone was dreading. Most of us were covering this part in the dark. The part of the race, before reaching the Mad River Trail, is very overgrown with rough footing hiding underneath. It just slows you down a lot and chews up time. For some reason, I didn’t think it was as bad as when we did it during training, but maybe because I knew what to expect. We finally reached a creek crossing and refilled. About this time, Deb McInally, who had been running with Michelle Maislen, caught up to us. Michelle was sick the week leading up to the race. She had a fever the night before the start. Still, she started but had to drop, not feeling well. We must have passed them when they got off trail. Now it was only Deb and her impressive comeback on her first 100 miler gained respect from us. She moved on while Tracey and I had a bathroom break. When we caught up with Pat, it was clear he had done some thinking. He said to me, “We need to get going if we want to make it back to Deep Creek with some cushion for the second loop.” He had been doing some math and figured we would get there at about 21hrs, only an hour ahead of the cutoff. As soon as he said the word, I took off. Now running all the downs and even some of the ups, I pulled them along that unending stretch to Mad River. We passed Wendall Doman, I believe, then Scott Tomchick on this stretch. Scott’s quads were shot, not having completely recovered from Hardrock. He was walking but amazingly still in good spirits. He was going to get back to Deep Creek and call it a day and was content with that. I asked him how long it took him last year to get from Deep Creek to Chickaman tie (the last cut-off about mile 78) and he said 7hrs. That was good to know. He wished us well.

After crossing Mad River, I saw a light ahead of us getting waved around like it was someone trying to figure out where to go. It was Deb. I showed her the way we knew. Apparently, there is a trail that you can bushwhack back up to Maverick Saddle, or take the right up a short section to the road. We chatted until we got there and I showed her what direction to head as I waited for Pat and Tracey. Even though we had covered this at night on the training run, Tracey called out my name in the dark from below and asked, “Which way?” Okay, so we were probably tired on the training run and now on race day, so I can see how it can be disorienting. Fortunately, Scott was able to catch up to them and directed them towards me.

We hiked back up the saddle to another checkpoint, now about 52+ miles in 18hr43min (Adam 12:09). We were all pretty spent by then. I was looking forward to some downhill and also not, if you know what I mean. Six miles of down, the first 3 on rough road, and another 3 that included some ups that we didn’t remember. I was feeling pretty good and felt I was flying but in reality was probably only doing 10min miles. Pat and Tracey followed me down. About a mile from the Saddle, I saw two people ahead walking. It was Ben Blessing and Lorie Alexander covered in their night gear. Ben said that overgrown section was the worse he had ever seen it. This was his 4th attempt to finish Plain. Lorie said that it trashed her. She is always the first to admit that she doesn’t do well with technical downhill. I wished them well but they ended up dropping at Deep Creek.

We hit Deer Camp and the smoother road section. At this point, we decided to run 5 minutes and walk 1. Easy hills were a challenge now. I started to notice how quiet Pat was getting. I think his mind was in a funk from this point forward. We caught up with Deb and ran the last mile with her into Deep Creek (58+ mi). We arrived at 20hrs (Adam 13:10), an hour ahead of our predicted time of 21. Karen and George Wiggins had driven their camper up and were out helping runners get through this transition. We accepted soup from them but none of us wanted a grilled cheese sandwich. George filled my hydration pack with 32oz of Gatorade and I filled my water bottles with water. I packed more GU, banana and pumpkin bread, and more chocolate croissants. I drank my soup and changed my socks and shoes. I was planning on putting on my Hokas for the rest of the run, but my feet had swelled too much and they were too tight. So I went with thinner socks but a fresh pair of the same shoes I had been wearing, Vasque Mindbenders. It still felt great to have clean feet and they worked out just fine. Only a small blister on the side of my right heel in the last 5 miles. The tight mesh on the shoe combined with my Inov-8 gaiters did not allow dirt in. Looking ahead, I commented to Pat and Tracey that I expected it would take us 15 more hours to complete the race. (By the way, I was almost dead on. We left Deep Creek about 20:15 and finished 35:10. Do I know our pace or what?) Tracey sounded shocked to hear this.

Deep Creek is where most people drop. You just have to get in and get out. Don’t get too comfortable. Karen said most of the runners before us were taking 30 minutes at this checkpoint. I think we took 15 minutes and Deb took even less, something like 10. We headed up Lower Chiwawa Trail knowing it was going to be a long time before we would see Deep Creek again. There is a lot of downhill running on the first 2 miles of this trail, which we knew would mean a lot of up at the end. This second loop is like a lollipop. Seven miles out, then a big loop, and finally that same 7 miles back. I was pressing along just as Pat had instructed me earlier, but I kept losing them. I ran into Deb coming towards me. She had hit a road and was not sure which way to go. I told her that there was a sign for the trail to the right of the road. She told me later she ended up finding it and thanked me for the help. Tracey and Pat caught up. I feared doubt had started to creep into Tracey’s head when I mentioned the 15hrs. She started to say she probably should turn back but Pat would not have anything to do with it. After about three miles, I found myself waiting for them to catch up again and Tracey finally said that she was not able to eat enough to keep her energy up and her tendonitis was bothering her. Pat tried to get her to continue but said that we needed to get going or we were going to keep losing more time. She said she didn’t want to jeopardize our chances of finishing and urged us to continue on without her. Reluctantly, we left her to run back on her own. Pat and I took off. We wore ourselves out trying to put in some good miles as quickly as possible. I finally said to Pat that we’d better pace ourselves. It was very hard to run over the dirt bike loop-de-loops. I kept coming down hard on the lows and running into the highs. I learned that having a handheld light would have been better to see the shadows on the trail. But it was in the bottom of my pack and one hand was already holding a bottle. I wanted one hand free to eat food. So I wasted a lot of energy tripping around. Pat continued to be very quiet, which is unusual for him. I don’t know if it was because we didn’t have Tracey anymore or if the miles were getting to him. I kept pushing ahead of him as best I as could.

We reached road 62 at mile 65, the start of the big loop. Although there was some flat and downhill here, we were looking at many climbs. As we approached 24hrs, we were looking forward to the sun coming up in an hour. Just about then, I was struggling to stay awake, something I had never experienced before in a 100 miler. I guess I could blame it on Cascade, work, and the heat. I think I was sleep walking for about 5 minutes. The constant climbing was hypnotizing. The sun came out and we were thrilled to take off our headlamps. Finally, we reached a change in the terrain. It was rolling for the next 3-4 miles with several crossings with water. Of course this took way longer than we remembered on the training run. We turned right up the Pond Camp Trail for 2 miles of more up. It took us 7 hrs to reach the Chickamin Tie check point (same time it took Scott Tomchick last year) from Deep Creek, and 27hrs total, one hr ahead of cutoff (Adam 18:30). Our split was pretty good compared to others. Chris and Tom, along with a couple of other S & R volunteers, were there to greet us. They told us that Deb was only 10 minutes ahead and Eric 20. They also said that what we just did up until that point was the “real Plain.” What lay ahead was much easier. Just 4 miles of nice trail up, then a run in the meadows, then the climb to Alder Ridge, then down the other side to the last 7 miles we already knew. All I can say is that it was still very hard!

Pat and I hiked up, stopping occasionally to fill water or dump out dirt from his shoes. This was really frustrating him. It didn’t take long for enough dirt to accumulate in his shoe before he had to do it again. Still we moved up the trail well enough that we were able to complete that climb in less than 1 1/2hrs. At one point, I let out a “whoop!” and heard Eric above us say, “Hey, Van.” But when we rounded the corner, he was gone. There were these boulder field crossings that were very hot from the heat retained in the rocks. We were now entering territory that we had never seen before because we were turned around by snow on the training runs. We finally came to a new intersection for us. We followed the directions and started climbing again. I was a little wary because Chris and Tom had talked about running in a meadow on this section. I was not expecting more climbing so thought we made a wrong turn. But we rechecked the map and didn’t see any other trail to get on. We did encounter some meadows, so thought we were probably okay. But in my Plain brain state, I kept thinking I had seen that turn before, or that rock, or that funky looking tree. I said to Pat, “I’m having déjà vu. Are we running in circles? He placed a marker on the ground. I had us both freaked out. In about another 5 minutes, Eric was running towards us! “#@%!” He said he wasn’t sure if he was on the right trail either and turned around. We looked at the map again and decided we would just keep moving in the direction Pat and I were going. Fortunately in about 1.5 miles, we reached an intersection and confirmed we were where we needed to be. But we hadn’t run into any water for a long time and Pat and Eric were dry. I let Pat have some of my water. In about half a mile, we came to a creek. It wasn’t a very fast flowing creek. But Pat said, “Oh screw it.” He was tired of treating his water and was so thirsty. I still treated mine. Many runners just scoop and go and never have any problems. I wasn’t going to take my chances.

We headed to Alder Ridge trail but didn’t realize it was further away. So we again questioned if we were still on the right trail. This feeling of uncertainty sapped our energy. We kept moving in the direction that we thought we should be in and ran into some dirt bikers. They pointed us in the direction of Alder Ridge trail, saying it was 1.5 miles away. We were pleasantly surprised to find it in half a mile. It took us about 40 minutes to climb up to the top of the ridge. The heat was stifling. The run down the ridge was on the sun exposed side and there was little water on this trail. Plus, we were passed by a couple groups of bikers. The clouds of dust and fumes made this part of the run even more unpleasant. I could see how on a random day, this run would be enjoyable, but not after 89 miles. After all, it was mostly downhill. The concrete pads that the bikers laid down on the trail at steep switchbacks were starting to hurt our tender feet. About ¾ ways down this 5 mile stretch, we did encounter some water and tried to cool ourselves. Pat fixed his feet and we made our way down to the road. We were now 95 miles through with Plain. We saw Deb ahead trying to figure out which way to go. Eric directed her in the correct direction. This part he knew. She joined us then. I led our new group in from this point on because they were all kind enough to avoid aggravating my asthma. About a mile on this trail before we hit another road. Now, Pat and I knew where we were. This is the part we drove to Friday. Eric said that it was just a mile before we got back on the trail on our way to finishing the loop. Pat and I knew better. We had just driven this and it was much farther than that. In fact, it was a little over 2 miles. Now this seems mild but not at this point in the race. We employed the run 5 walk 1 rule, but I was having a difficult time with even this ratio. Finally, we got to the trail and had about a mile to the final check point. We stopped at the creek there to cool down again. Our time here was 33:23 (Adam 24:15).

Two and a half hours to finish 7 miles. No problem, right? With 3 runners following in my footsteps, I got us to the finish in 1:47. Only the top 3 finishers, Adam, Tim, and Joe ran faster. About halfway home, we stopped one last time at a creek. Our screams of ecstasy when we poured water on ourselves were almost orgasmic. We spent a good 5 minutes there. Just about then, my heel blister was really starting to hurt. But so what? We were going to finish Plain! The last two miles, there were a series of short but steep ups. All I can say is that I wouldn’t have expected less from this course. After the last climb, there is ¼ mile down. I thanked Eric and Deb for joining us and Pat for sticking with me. We let out hoots and hollers to let the finish line crowd know that we were coming. Cheers came from below. As I came out of the trailhead, I stopped and gave Pat my hand, he gave his to Deb, and she gave hers to Eric. We finished hand in hand. The only thing that was missing was Tracey. But she was there all smiles to give us a finisher’s hug, so proud of us. Hugs all around but into chairs as soon as possible. It was nice to finally sit. I said, “Take this pack off me!” Chris helped me out of it and I told her to just throw it on the ground. Ah! Freedom!

Me and Pat post Plain-thumbs up!

Unfortunately, Ken arrived 5 minutes after we finished. He had to take a detour because they closed Hwy 2 for an accident. He fed me and forced me to drink. I gladly handed over $40 to Michelle, Eric’s wife, for my Plain buckle. Pat was in a daze for about 15 minutes but soon came around. I’m not sure if he even remembered the last 15 hours. We took off our shoes finally. My feet looked fabulous! The blister on my heel was tiny but it jabbed me like a knife. I changed into a fresh shirt and Pat and I donned our new sweatshirts. Everyone at the finish was so helpful. Tracey took care of Pat. She said she tried to sleep in her car when she got back to Deep Creek but it smelled too bad in there. She only got about an hour.

Plain Veterans

I made a new friend, Deb. Mauricio Puerto had finished 43 minutes ahead (34:37) and was still there when we came in. It was his second Plain finish and a PR by 29 minutes. Betsy Kalmeyer finished her first Plain a minute ahead of him but was already gone. Christi Masi won the women’s race in 31:55. There were 9 women who started and 4 who finished. Of the 16 men who started, Adam Lint finished first in 25:44 of the 7 who finished. Tim Stroh came in second in 27:25, his 6th Plain. It was neither a PR nor PW. His PR is 26:59. Joe Lee finished for the second time in 29:31. In 2007, he finished in 31:52. Miles Olrich ran the entire time with Christi and also finished his first Plain. This was Christi’s first Plain as well. It might have even been her first 100. Our split (Pat and I) from Deep Creek to the end was very respectable (15:10 compared to the fastest where Adam ran 12:34).

Finally, I had to go. It would have been nice to stay longer and celebrate. But I had to work the next day. We loaded everything into Ken’s car and headed to the LWRC to claim my Plain finisher’s rock. Although I couldn’t smell myself or my gear, Ken said the smell in the car was unbearable. He said it smelled like sweaty socks. Even though I had forgotten my deodorant, I don’t think it would have made a difference. He had to drive most of the ride home with the window down and his head halfway out. I went into the LWRC to pick up my rock. I gave it to Ken and said I would meet him outside since I had to use the bathroom. Apparently, Tracey and Pat had pulled in while I was in the bathroom. I came out and got into the car. Ken said, “What are you doing? That’s not our car!” I didn’t realize that I was getting into Tracey’s car. Ken said I must have Plain brain. Come on, give me a break! Both their vehicles are gray SUVs, and I had spent the weekend in Tracey’s car. He thought I forgot something in her car and was just getting it out. But when he realized I was going to close the door, he stopped me.

Plain Schwag!

We stopped for Mexican food on the way home. I made it to bed by 7:30 to 8pm after a thorough shower. I managed to get some sleep. Most times, even if I’m exhausted from my effort, adrenaline keeps me awake. I was up at 5am and at work by 6:15. After patient rounds, I was in surgery until almost 5pm. I wore compression socks, but my calves and feet ballooned by the end of the day and really ached. My calves were so tight. My doctor said I was probably experiencing a mild form of compartment syndrome. Fortunately, I had Tuesday off. My breathing after Cascade was much worse than Plain, and Plain was by far the dustier course. I think because there were fewer runners kicking up the dust, this made a huge difference. Plus, running in front was key for me. I can’t thank Pat enough for letting me do this.

I was signed up for Cle Elum 50K the following weekend but decided to be smart and volunteered instead. Although nothing hurt, my energy level was not quite restored to take on a challenging 50K. It was fun seeing runners come through at mile 7 and I had a fun crew to work with.

Two weeks after Plain, I did run the Middle Fork 50K put on by Eric Bone’s NW Trail Runs. This was an extremely fun course, but the heat and humidity and my stupid desire to not have a pathetic finishing time resulted in me redlining it for all but the first 5 miles. I over hydrated when it was still cool and didn’t hydrate enough when it was hot. I ran most of the race on the verge of cramping. I couldn’t seem to catch up fast enough on my drinking and salt and still pushed myself. Gwen Scott, who I carpooled with me, finished first in 5:14 and I sprinted as fast as I could in the last 6.6 miles to finish just under 6 hours (5:59:54). Gwen was surprised to see me sprinting to the finish line just after finishing Plain. Waddling fast was more like it. As soon as I finished, I just needed to keep walking to prevent the inevitable cramps from happening. Gwen brought me chips, soup, and chocolate milk. The milk took the ache out of my legs but the cramps were still looming. More salt tabs and gentle walking. When I thought things had calmed down enough, I sat to take off my shoes. My inner thigh cramped when I did this and it jolted me up. I had to keep it stretched. Once I had it calmed down, I walked around a little more. Finally, things seemed good enough for the drive home. I didn’t cramp again, but my muscles were not happy with me. They wanted to know why I had to push it so hard.

Two weeks later after Plain, as I am writing this, I still feel the glow from finishing. I believe the harder the struggle, the more meaningful the finish. I know I will be back to Plain and I hope she will let me tame her again. Thanks Chris and Tom for providing the ride!

2011 Plain 100 Finishers

25:44 Adam Lint M 28 WA
27:25 Tim Stroh M 49 WA
29:31 Joe Lee M 50 OR
31:55 Christi Masi F 50 WA
31:55 Miles Ohlrich M 42 WA
34:26 Betsy Kalmeyer F 50 CO
34:27 Mauricio Puerto M 38 CA
35:10 Deb McInally F 30 WA
35:10 Van Phan F 40 WA
35:10 Patrick Ackley M 41 WA
35:10 Eric Barnes M 55 WA

Plain Quotes

"DON'T WORRY, IT'S NOT PERMANENT"
“Well, at least I finished Hardrock this year.”
“Running down to the Entiat River felt like running into a hair dryer.”
“The Signal Peak climb is possibly the hardest single climb in ultra running that nobody knows about.”
“I could have built a big log cabin from all the blowdowns that were across the trail.”
“Some of the trail is going back to nature. A nice wildfire to burn out some of the brush in the trail would be helpful.”
“You don’t just roll out of bed one day and decide to do Plain.”
“Search and Rescue did a great job this year. They can’t help you unless you’re dying, but they smiled, laughed and waved all the same.”
“Learn to love your own company because you’re not going find much out there.”
“It was so hot that it completely melted the chocolate on my Snickers bars and I had to drink them for nourishment.”
“If you drop at some of the checkpoints you will suffer more pain in the vehicle ride than if you just continue on.”
“I typically leave my map and GPS at home. However, I usually find several lost runners out there carrying them.”
“The water’s pretty clean, except for that one mud puddle that I drank out of….”
“There’s plenty of wildlife on the course, some of it not even human.”
“Yes, next year I’ll try something different. Running barefoot on a belt sander in a sauna
for 20 hours comes to mind.”
“Plain brain is getting into the wrong car after finishing.”
“Plain brain is not knowing what day of the week it is.”
“Plain brain is saying that you won't do that again and a week later strategizing for the next year.”
“I don't know why Plain100 is so hard”
"You can do anything that's time limited, even child birth concludes with a prize!
along with the baby or in this case finish, additional rewards; a shower & rest!"
"THAT'S JUST STUPID!"
1. Nothing is promised to you except a damn tough course.
2. There are no nurseries on the trail.
3. This is a no WHINE zone.
4. Independence exerted here.
5. This is a DO-IT-YOURSELF race.
6. The exultation of Plain is knowing that you have competed in one of the toughest, unsupported 100’s in the U.S.
7. Run it! Tuck it in! Shut up! Get moving! This is PLAIN.!!!!!!!!!!!!

For a race with no aid, Christi and I had one of the best aid station experiences in any trail race.
We relaxed in camp chairs at Deep Creek while the volunteers knocked the dust out of our shoes and then gave us each a foot bath while we were waiting for our soup and grilled cheese sandwiches to be ready. They even held my toes apart for me while I wrapped new layers of tape onto my dust-streaked toes in preparation for the second loop. That was the best aid
station I've ever been at, even though I was promised "no aid".

Lake Youngs 2011

2011-02-02T20:39:00.000-08:00

Me and tp!

Sara Malcom gets too close to the propane heater!

Prior to race day, I sent out an e-mail to all entrants that this would be the last time I was going to direct this race but keep my December run. Thanks to all who said that they will miss me at the helm. I am planning on picking a successor who will keep the run low key and grassroots-miminal aid, minimal costs, minimal whining. I will make this decision soon (hopefully in the next month). Whoever takes over will have roughly 10 months to grow pigtails.

Just a few glitches as usual before race day. The night before the race, I was driving home on Petrovitsky, the main drag around the lake, when I was turned around by firefighters, who had their truck blocking the road. I had noticed that two stoplights were out as well as the homes along a 3 mile stretch. I didn't know what was going on but had to take a long detour, which added 30 minutes to my commute home and shortened the time I needed to do last minute stuff for the race. I later found out that due to all the rain that we had been getting and quite a bit that Friday before the race, the ground was very soft and trees fell on some power lines and into the road. After making a couple chocolate chip pumpkin bread loaves for post race (which were a big hit), Ken and I headed out to the part of the road that was closed (it had re-opened), and scoped out the trail in that area in the dark. The trail was clear, but the ground was quite soft and wet, making me think that slower times were to be expected for the race.

We awoke the next morning, after a fitful sleep, at least for me, and headed to the start/finish area by 5:30am. I expected a handful of early startes at 6:30 with a regular start at 7:30. Ken and I were able to set up in dry conditions, something I have not done in many years since putting on this race. In fact, we almost did not need our headlamps since there was decent moonlight. I sent off the early starters in the dark and continued checking runners in. I said on my website that there would be no day of race sign up, but there are always a half a dozen and I just can't turn them away. Sara Malcom came to help with check in and stayed until her friend finished the 50K. She was a huge help, just like last year. Pablo Cabrera helped out after running one loop. And Delores Sentinella helped out until her hubby Terry finished as well. I could not have been able to record the loops splits or finishing times without their help, especially when runners came through in packs. They kept the aid station food re-stocked while I handed out cups of soup. My husband got all the donated food organized in boxes and delivered them to the food bank that morning. I also was able to give them a check for $400. That's $800 from my two races. Thanks for your generosity, especially this time of the year, which is the hardest for those in need!

We really lucked out with the weather! It didn't rain all day and the sun even peeked through. This is the best weather I've had for both of my races ever. It might have contributed to all the PRs and a few course records, despite my comment that I expected low times. Or was it my comment that motivated people to prove me wrong? I pointed out Cormac Burke, who was celebrating his 50th birthday with a 50K. Jill Hudson was also celebrating her birthday, but kept this to herself until the end.

At the end of the first loop, it looked like a tight race between Michael Lynes (50K course record holder) and John Collins (2 loop course record holder). They came in at the same time at 1:04. John headed out immediately while Michael made a pit stop. A minute later, 15-year-old 2 looper Brennan Wallin arrived. He didn't stay long. The first 3 women through were Kathleen Egan, Mary Hanna, and Kelly French. Kathleen and Mary were in the 50K race and Kelly was in it for 2 loops. Mary had her dog Emily, too. SuperMasters runners Scott Serpa (54) and Ronda Boyd (50) came in first for the 1 loopers in times of 1:12:20 and 1:23:08, respectively. In fact, Masters Runners dominated most of the top spots for all distances. No course records in that distance.

Once again, John and Michael arrived first at the end of the second loop, Michael a minute ahead with a time of 2:10. That pit stop at the end of the first loop added a couple minutes, so his splits were pretty identical. They were on record pace. Brennan Wallin finished first in the 2 loop race with a time of 2:20:19, an improvement of 12 minutes from his last year time. This kid has a future. Kelly French set a new female masters record with her time of 2:45:38. Way to go!

The one and two loopers were enjoying post race soup (chicken noodle or butternut squash) when Michael completed his 3rd loop in 3:13. That was a 1:03 third loop! His fastest loop! There was no question now that he was going to break the course record, but by how much? His previous record was 3:32:13. He came sprinting in at 3:28:27! Don't you just hate those speedsters? Except he's so nice, it's hard to do. Once again, he donated back the course record prize money of $31 to the food bank. John arrived in a very respectable 2nd place and a new open CR of 3:42:35. First woman was Kathleen Egan, who never relinquished her lead from the start. She finished 4:25:55, just over 7 minutes off the course record. Mary Hanna and her dog Emily took first female masters (Mary, not Emily) in 4:39:29, a PR for her and only 10 minutes off the masters CR. Kathleen "chicked" all but 5 male runners and Emily "bitched" two other male dogs. The 50K runners won a beanie from my December race, which has been a coveted item. It was nice seeing a good number of people wearing them on race day.

It was also nice to see some great veteran ultrarunners out there. Jim Kerby, who finished in 4:10:54, 4th overall, showed that he still has some speed, despite having to back off from his previous elite years because of knee issues. He said that he has run this loop in 58 minutes. Michael also commented that he had run the loop minus the out and back in 55 minutes. Wrap your head around those times. My course record holder for one loop is 1:02. Other notables that I felt privileged to have come to my race were Mark Hartinger, Glenn Tachiyama, Scott Krell, Tim Stroh, Bill Greaves, Dave Dutton, Jamshid Khajavi, Steve Peterson, John Bandur, and Kendall Kreft. These guys were running ultras well before it became fashionable. Sorry, guys, don't mean to date you or if I missed anyone. You know who you are.

Here are some special performances in addition to the course records:

There were many PRs in the 50K! Congrats to Jenny Appel, Julia Conway, Jennie Eyring, Andy Fritz, Reed Glesne, Susan Glesne, Matt Hagen, Mary Hanna, Ron Horton, Ashley Kuhlmann, Daniel Kuhlmann, Micheal Lynes, Leslie Miller, Kristin Ohm-Pedersen, Susie Ro, Bob Satko (despite rolling ankle at mile 11 and PRing by 30 minutes), Terry Sentinella, Steve Walters, and Cheryl Carrier. There might have been more but these are the runners who informed me.

First 50kers were Mark Casey, Steve White, Eric Wildt, and Darol Tuttle.

Daniel Kuhlmann reached Three Stars Gold Level in the Marathon Maniacs.

Many finished the 2 loops for a hard earned half marathon credit. I had quite a few people say that three loops were good enough but I made them all go back out and finish the out and back to get credit for the 50K. No credit for 3 loops.

Everyone returned back safe. It was still clear when I left. I was able to clean out my car at home before it got dark and rested up for a nice jaunt at Tiger Mt. the next day with Eric Barnes and Steve Stoyles. We also had a beautiful day scampering around for 3:30+ hours.

I've been going non-stop since the race with home renovations, medical conference, and work, making long 16 hour days. I'll be able to relax when the home stuff is done and focus on running again. I had better if I want to actually enjoy the busy running schedule I have planned for the year with hopefully 30 ultras, including about five 100 milers. By the way, several of you asked what I meant by my comment of having run farther than any of you. If you've run 150 miles in one go, then I stand corrected.

Results can be found on https://databarevents.com/tails50k.asp

See you in December!

Pigtails

5TH ANNUAL PIGTAILS RUN

2010-12-19T16:02:00.000-08:00

RD Pigtails and Hubby Ken

Cedar River Trail Marathon and 50K
December 18, 2010
Ravensdale, WA

The 5th annual race was a great success despite ominous weather forecasts for strong winds and 70% chance of some type of precipitation. I had 137 runners entering up until the day before the race and 103 showed up. The weather was blustery at times, the sun even came out briefly, and the snow/rain/hail/sleet held off until about 5 hours into the event. Everyone returned safe and my stress level dropped a notch. I had decided to offer beanies to race participants and they were a big hit. Seemed appropriate to give something that helped keep runners warm. Nice alternative to a T-shirt I was told.

Matt Hagen 40th B-day doing I don't know what and Terri Thomas

Each year, it gets harder and harder to put on my two races. For one thing, they are only a month apart. Updating race info is a drag. Seems like a simple thing to do, but I really don't spend that much time on the computer, and when I do, I consider it a waste of precious time that I could be doing something else. I changed jobs halfway through the year and my schedule became more hectic. I got a job closer to home but the patient load is heavier and my days (which went from 4 to 5 days a week) are longer. So trying to keep up my race and training schedule while putting on 2 races in the winter has been very challenging. Seeing people come to my race, I have to to say, is rewarding. I hope to be able to offer them for 10 years before handing them off to someone else.

Candice Burt and Genia Kacey (2nd and 1st females in 50K)

There were some glitches before race day, including one involving my beanies. I really liked the pig on the front but thought I had also asked for them to embroider "Pigtails Run 2010" on the back. Somewhere along the line, this was miscommunicated. I had considered just leaving it alone and accepting it but really wanted to have my logo. Unfortunately, I received my beanies a week before the race and did not have time to send them back to be fixed. My friend Mary Hanna contacted her friend for me in Maple Valley who did embroidery. She could not take on the job but did give me three places that might. I called them all the Monday of race week between my surgical cases and chose the least expensive one. They were all very busy with holiday orders but agreed to fit me in. My husband Ken was able to drop the beanies off while I was at work. They said they could have them done by Friday but actually finished them Wednesday and he picked them up for me while I was at work again. That was very helpful! I was pleased with they way they turned out and glad I decided to have it done despite the extra cost.

Christel Elliott 1st female marathon

The other thing that was challenging were my medals. I have had to come up with a different design each year for my homemade medals and it is getting harder. This year, I was able to find pink poker chips and thought it would be easy to make them in a short period of time. The first part was kinda easy. I just had to find a stamp on-line of a pig that was small enough to fit on the poker chip. That was a little challenging but I did find a cute flying pig that just barely fit. I got some permanent ink and wrote on the back "Pigtails 2010." The next part was harder than I thought it would be. I needed to drill a hole for a string. Ken did the first one to find the appropriate drill bit to use. Turned out it was not plastice all the way through. There was metal in the middle to give weight to the chips. So a 30 minute job to drill 130 holes in what I thought were plastic chips all the way through turned into 2-3 hours of drilling the holes and cleaning the metal shavings off. Ken did set a jig to make it easier to drill the whole in the same spot for each medal. Finally, I tied the strings on, at times with a headlamp since our power went out twice in the last 2 weeks. Brought back memories of my first year making medals under candlelight when a severe windstorm left us without power for 4-5 days.

Trailhead at Landsburg of beautiful Cedar River Trail

The last thing that made this race stressful was the high wind watch that was issued for the Cascade Foothills, which includes this race, where 30-40mph winds with gusts up to 65mph were expected to peak Friday night into Saturday morning. I sent out a frantic e-mail asking runners what they think I should do. Most runners wanted the race to happen since my reschedule dates were not appealing and they had other plans for the rest of the weekend. I decided to proceed with the race and hope for the best. I had taken Friday off to prepare for the race. Unfortunately, my office party was to start in the afternoon. I still had so much to do! I finished making medals, loaded the car, returned e-mails (sorry to those whose messages went to my junk mail), marked the first turn around, and marked the aid stations.

Great volunteers Bret Bellevue and Sharon Hendricks

I got to the office party over 2 hours late but arrived in time to still eat and socialize. After getting home, I did some last minute loading of the car. I went to bed at a decent hour but the winds picked up and were howling all night, sending large branches crashing down on our house, truck, and property. No damage was noted on our buildings but Ken's Ford truck got a dent on the top of the cab. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep, worrying about possible damage and also about race day. Our power went out overnight and I did not get to send out one final message that my race was still on.

Bill Barmore and Rikki Bogue

We awoke at 4am. Ken made some coffee on the camp stove and we had oatmeal for breakfast. We headed out but had to stop 3 times to get out of our cars and pick up large branches in our driveway and the short gravel road that got us out to the main paved road. Then we just weaved back and forth avoiding branches without having to get out again. About half a mile from the start, a large tree spanned the road and there was no getting around it without breaking branches off the end so that we could squeeze by on the side. As we pulled into the parking lot, we were amazed to see that two of my wonderful volunteers had already arrived and pretty much set up. Jerry arrived at 4:30am and had set up his two tents. He had brought his camper, which served as a dry and very warm area for any cold bodies. It also acted as a buffer for the wind as well, which was still gusting strong enough that we grabbed onto the poles to keep it from shaking so much. Jerry had already pounded in some stakes to keep them from blowing away. Between Jerry and Bret, the tables were all set up, propane heaters were running, and propane lamps lit up the dark parking lot, making it look like a city. Ken and I were very impressed!

Always cheerful volunteer Jess Mullen (and amazing Cross-Fit coach!)

The rest of my volunteers arrived and after unloading my stuff, we ran out of things to do. So Jess Mullen, Gwen Scott, Sharon Hendricks, and I went to make sure the cone that I had left the day before at the turnaround on the powerline trail was still there. We picked up branches off the trail on our way. The cone and my flour line were still there. Gwen placed a bunch of big branches across the road as one last assurance that runners would not run past this point. When we got back, runners were just arriving. We checked runners in and handed out beanies. It was nice to have extra hands there to give out race bibs, receive food donations, and check off runners. Before I knew it, it was 10 til 8am. Anthony, who works for King County Parks arrived to check in on us. He had spent the previous day clearing the trail for the race (before the windstorm hit). Now there was another big mess. So he took off 10 minutes before the runners in attempts to clear the trail again. He did a great job according the runners. Trees that they had to hurdle or go around on the way out were cleared for the trip back. Thanks Anthony!

Jill Hudson and Linda Walter

We walked over to the power line trail and I gave my race briefing with my squeaky voice. I told them that it was 1/2 a mile on this trail before turning around and going back to the main trail for the rest of the race. Unfortunately, Paul Huynh didn't register this. He took off like a gazelle and ran past the cone, flour line, and around the branches over the road according to reports from other runners. He was apparently too far gone for anyone to call him back or chase after him. When the runners ran past the start, one of them told me that someone kept going and my stress meter went up. WHAT?! How can that be? If he was moving that fast, it would be hard to catch him now. More than 10 minutes had gone by. Gwen, who is very speedy herself, had running shoes on. She stripped off her down coat and went after him. But he was already long gone. We were hoping that he would turn around at some point and Gwen could run back with him. John Pearch, who is a phenomenal biker now (had been a phenomenal runner until his knee pulled him out of the elite level), was able to get his bike gear on quickly, now gave chase after both Paul and Gwen. Dave Murray and I got in my beamer and drove to the two spots where the power line trail crossed paths with residential roads. We got to the first intersection and saw Gwen heading back to the start alone and John continuing on. We kept driving to the next intersection and saw John coming towards us. Just about the same time, we saw Paul running towards us as well. He appeared to know where he was headed and we surmised that he had run into someone walking out on the powerline trail who told him how to get back on the Cedar River Trail. He didn't seem to want to stop to talk and kept going but took the wrong road. We all yelled out STOP! Dave and I ran back to the car and directed him to the hidden trail that leads back onto the Cedar River Trail. I am so glad that Dave was with me because I didn't know exactly where that was. A few of the lead runners had just gone by when we deposited Paul back onto the correct course. That was a crazy start! In actuality, the trail that Paul ran was hilly compared to the flat Cedar River trail and according to Dave, who runs this trail with his cross country kids, Paul had run at least an extra 1.5 miles before getting back on the Cedar River Trail. If he had won the race, I would have had a dilemma on my hands about who to name the winner since he went off course. I'm glad I didn't have to go there.

Robert Lopez #52 for the year

Dave and I continued on to the main aid station and put up signs. Bret and Sharon were just receiving the front runners. Paul had caught and passed all the runners and kept moving along. He did not carry a water bottle or any food that we could see. They had a nice set up at this aid station. The tent had two walls. I brought the drop bags. Sharon apparently had spent quite a bit of time clearing the trail where a big tree had fallen on the trail heading up towards Lake Wilderness where the 50K runners were going to do their final out and back. Bret and Sharon were doing a fine job so Dave and I moved along. We next set up the unmanned aid station at about 11 and 16 miles. We carried two 5 gallon jugs in and set them on crates. The water was nearly all gone so that tells me I need more next time. Of course, next time, there will probably be more than enough. That's how things go. I also left a bag of Snickers and Pay Day for anyone feeling particuarly hungry or bonked. Next we marked the turnaround with a cone, flour, and a sign that said "Pigtails Run." (Apparently, there was another race/run going on and there was a turnaround that was 12.9 miles for our race that some people took. For my race, you would have had to follow the trail under a road just before the turnaround).

Cliff Richards, Tony Myrie, Emily, and Mary Hanna

Dave and I knew that Paul would be coming so as we were driving on HWY 169, we kept an eye out for him. When we saw him, John was riding along. He said he was there to make sure he saw the turnaround. We told John what to look for. Finally, we marked the 50k turnaround. We stopped by Starbucks to get some coffee and sandwiches and headed back to the finish. Jess, Gwen, Ray, and Bryan retreated to Jerry's camper and told me that it was a luxury to have that there. While cozying up inside, they could hear the wind howling outside. I'm glad they had a place to get out of the wind other than their cars. We had our coffee and lunch and started getting the soups and apple cider warmed up for the runners coming. Gwen had made vegan butternut squash soup and it was delicious! The weather continued to be ideal runner's weather. But I guess there was a decent headwind after the turnaround.

A bunch of happy runners

Finally, we saw a runner approaching and I knew right away it was Eric Sach, owner of The Balanced Athlete at the Renton Landing (nice plug). He had brought Clif Shot gels for the aid station. Thanks Eric! He looked totally unphased after running faster than his goal with a finishing time of 3:14:17. He was also first masters. Next in was Paul, who ran a speedy 3:20:10 for a 19-year-old! This kid has potential. Third male was Pedro Infante in 3:23:24. First woman was Christel Elliott in 3:49:10, her 1st win! She was followed by Sara Malcom in second with a time of 3:59:37. Sara had won the 50K last year. Third female was Heidi Perry in at 4:05:20. First female masters was Jill Langis in 4:25:00. In the 50K, Kevin Douglas and Hunter Maclean tied for first with a time of 4:13:24. Third overall and first male masters was Terry Sentinella, RD for the Skagit Valley Marathon, in 4:17:41. Genia Kacey took first for women in 4:28:32. She missed the course record of 4:26:00 by just over 2 minutes. Second female was Candice Burt with 4:39:41 and Ashley Kuhlmann was third in 5:03:05. First female masters was Mary Hanna in 5:08:05.

Terry Sentinella first masters 50k and 3rd overall

Ken went and got pizza for post race and the soups were very popular as well. Warm apple cider was consumed rapidly. Note to self-need more of that next year. The rain finally came which prompted tired legs to run for cover. Many hung around and socialized before leaving. That was nice. Jess and Gwen were lifesavers and recorded finisher's times and I kept the kitchen going. Ray handed out medals because I kept forgetting to. Thanks Ray! Bryan made the trek over to the main aid station and helped Bret until it closed down after the last runner came through for the last time. Bret had been there all day. They cleaned up and came back to the finish and continued to help there. Nearly all my volunteers stayed until just before the end. A few runners remained and Jerry and Bret stuck around until the last runner came through. Mary Hanna had gone home and showered but returned to help and see Bob Dolphin finish. She drove me out to the last 2 mile mark to make sure he had come through. We didn't see him coming so figured he was already on his way to the finish. We served him hot soup and cider at the end. His muscles were cramping but he was happy. To me, he was the toughest runner out there all day. I can't imagine running like he does at the age of 60 let alone 81! We finished packing everything into the cars. I finally said goodbye to everyone and breathed a big sigh of relief that it was over. But it doesn't end after the last runner comes through. I had to drive to the unmanned aid station and clear that as well as the turn around points. Not much to clean up but time consuming to drive to those locations. Mary was kind enough to pick up the cone and sign at the 50K turnaround since it is very near to where she lives. I took care of the rest. Came home and had to clean up the car and unload everything. Jerry had taken all the trash so I didn't have to deal with that. (He is a very handy guy to have!) I spent a lot of time cleaning the water and Gatorade jugs and washing pots with dried out soup. I dropped off the food donations during work the following week and wrote them a check for the amount that was donated on-line and on race day. They were again very appreciative since this time of year is sometimes lean for them. I was able to donate $400 in addition to the food. This was double the amount of the Lake Youngs race this year. You guys rock!

Tony Myrie and Val Beyer (all the way from St. Louis!)

Thanks again for coming out to play! Below are the final results. I can still make corrections if needed.

Ray Shaw, my medals man

50K

1. Kevin Douglas, 22 .............................................................4:13:24

1. Hunter Maclean, 28 .........................................................4:13:24

3. Terry Sentinella, 46 .........................................................4:17:41

4. Bruce Hoff, 48 ..................................................................4:22:53

5. Mike Schlecht, 40 .............................................................4:26:17

6. Genia Kacey, 35 .............................................................4:28:32

7. Steve Duncan, 42 ..............................................................4:33:09

8. Jeff Rankin, 37 ..................................................................4:34:35

9. Pete Nicholson, 51 .............................................................4:35:32

10. Candice Burt, 29 ..........................................................4:39:41

11. Matt Glew, 31 ...................................................................4:42:03

12. Jae-Byung Jung, 40 .........................................................4:48:27

13. Robert Bondurant, 38 ......................................................4:50:58

14. Ron Horton, 42 ................................................................4:52:44, PR

15. Ted Eckert, 43 ..................................................................4:53:45

16. Jerry Thayer, 56 ..............................................................4:55:40, PR

17. Cliff Richards, 49 .............................................................4:56:11

18. Ashley Kuhlmann, 24 .................................................5:03:05, PR

19. Tony Covarrubias, 50 .......................................................5:07:59

20. Mary Hanna, 49 ............................................................5:08:05

21. Dean Kayler, 47 ...............................................................5:08:40

22. Andy Lin, 28 .....................................................................5:10:40

23. Trev Dakan, 41 .................................................................5:10:59, 1st 50K

24. Mike Mahanay, 55 ............................................................5:12:14

24. Guy Yogi, 56 .....................................................................5:12:14

26. Anders Martinson, 51 ........................................................5:18:36, 1st 50K, MMQ

27. Lorie Alexander, 51 .....................................................5:23:02

28. Kimberly Kuhlmann, 32 ............................................5:24:32

29. Everett Billingslea, 49 ......................................................5:25:16

30. Andy Fritz, 44 ..................................................................5:25:25

31. Daniel Kuhlmann, 27 ........................................................5:31:00

32. Betsy Rogers, 47 .............................................................5:32:31

33. Mona Lisa Huerta, 35 ...................................................5:34:13

34. Vivian Doorn, 44 ...........................................................5:39:06

35. Susie Ro, 39 ....................................................................5:39:22

36. Lenny Strobl, 45 ...............................................................5:46:27, PR

37. James Orbistondo, 39 ......................................................5:50:30

38. Jill Hudson, 48 .............................................................5:57:49

39. Joseph Kennedy, 41 ..........................................................6:12:34

40. Steve Janny, 24 ................................................................6:34:20

40. Ashley Wiren, 28 ..........................................................6:34:20

Marathon

1. Eric Sach, 42 ........................................................................3:14:17

2. Paul Huynh, 19 ....................................................................3:20:10

3. Pedro Infante, 49 ................................................................3:23:24

4. Rich Hieb, 37 .......................................................................3:33:26

5. Ray Ensign, 30 .....................................................................3:34:30

6. Steve Walters, 30 .................................................................3:47:21

7. Christel Elliott, 32 ...........................................................3:49:10

8. Brian Pendelton, 56 .............................................................3:59:13

9. Sara Malcom, 27 ..............................................................3:59:37

10. Mark Stadum, 50 ..............................................................4:04:10

11. Heidi Perry, 39 ...............................................................4:05:20

12. Nicole Niemann-Carr, 35 ............................................4:05:40

13. Julie Conway, 25 ...........................................................4:07:20

14. Ben Semer, 37 ...................................................................4:10:26

15. Ronald Frederick, 43 .........................................................4:10:54

16. Erin Stone, 27 .................................................................4:12:36

17. Steven Yee, 51 .....................................................................4:12:40

18. Dan Whitaker, 49 ...............................................................4:16:37

19. Mark Looi, 50 .....................................................................4:22:45

20. Jill Langis, 45 ..................................................................4:25:00, MMQ

21. BJ Farish, 37 .......................................................................4:27:06

22. Stephanie Astell, 47 .......................................................4:27:34

22. Teresa Hanson-Redrup, 48 .........................................4:27:34

24. Lisa Wood, 37 ..................................................................4:28:59

25. Robert Lopez, 44 ................................................................4:29:50

26. Denise Lynn Turk, 42 ...................................................4:30:52, MMQ

27. Bill Barmore, 50 ..................................................................4:31:38

27. Rikki Bogue, 47 ................................................................4:31:38

29. Deb O'Connell, 47 ...........................................................4:35:14

30. Linda Walter, 59 .............................................................4:43:50

31. Matt Hagen, 40 ...................................................................4:48:13, B-day

31. Marilou Russell, 49 ........................................................4:48:13

31. Terri Thomas, 49 ............................................................4:48:13, 1st 26.2

34. Emily Weiler, 37 ..............................................................4:48:35

35. Sandra Sendelbach-Hasse, 43 ....................................4:49:52

36. Josh Owen, 32 .....................................................................4:54:06

36. Carla Owen, 28 .................................................................4:54:06

38. Ron Beyersdorf, 40 ..............................................................4:57:00

38. Kristin Anderson, 39 ......................................................4:57:00

40. Karen Wiggins, 51 ...........................................................4:59:08

41. Nichole Hill, 39 .................................................................5:01:35, MMQ

42. Gary Otheim, 68 ..................................................................5:05:10

42. Steve White, 57 ....................................................................5:05:10

44. Susan Sansing, 44 ...........................................................5:06:00

44. Debbie Wilson, 49 ...........................................................5:06:00

46. Barry Hopkins, 57 ...............................................................5:09:57

47. Patti Krebsbach, 48 .......................................................5:15:12

47. Takao Suzuki, 45 .................................................................5:15:12

49. Monte Pascual, 50 ...............................................................5:15:24

49. Robert Stretz, 42 .................................................................5:15:24

51. Mike Kuhlmann, 60 .............................................................6:00:40

52. Rick Haase, 65 .....................................................................6:12:39

52. Stanley Nakashima, 59 ........................................................6:12:39

54. Jane Herzog, 47 ................................................................6:16:49

54. Rich Menzel, 67 ....................................................................6:16:49

56. Jim Boyd, 68 .........................................................................6:43:20

57. Bob Dolphin, 81 ....................................................................7:37:29

MMQ=Marathon Maniac Qualifier.

Other special accomplishments:

This was Robert Lopez's 52nd Marathon or longer race of the year for 10 stars, the third time he has achieved 10 star status!

This was Bob Dolphin's 478th Marathon or longer race.

This was Andy Fritz's 220th race of any distance and the first time he has received a beanie. Come to think of it, I've done 270+ marathon or over races and have never gotten a beanie!

We had racers from these clubs: Marathon Maniacs, Skagit Runners, PSNS Fast Attacks, Seattle Running Club, Pat's Trail Nuts, Raise the Bar, Highline Community College, Eastside Runners, KBA Racing, and The Balanced Athlete.

Mary Hanna and Bruce Hoff are the only runners to have completed all 5 Cedar River Runs. I'm hoping that they continue every year for 10 years to receive a 10 year jacket!

JAVELINA JUNDRED

2010-10-25T13:19:00.000-07:00

Javelina Jundred Mile Endurance Run
October 23, 2010
McDowell Park, Pemberton Trail
Fountain Hills, AZ

My time: 25:15:46
64th overall/137 finishers (52%)/263 starters
17th female/48 finishers (53%)/91 starters (men had 52% finishers or 89 of 172 starters)
5th F30-39/10 finishers (48%)/21 starters

First Male Guillermo Medina (36) from CA with a time of 16:37:53 (CR 14:20:54 in 2009)
First Female Jamie Donaldson (36) from CO with a time of 17:11:32, new CR by 27 minutes

Okay, so this was my 19th 100 mile race. Well, to be a butt about it, 5 of those race were actually more than 100 miles:

McNaughton 150 mile in 2009
Pac Rim 24hr with 108 miles in 2009
Pac Rim 24hr with 103 miles in 2010
Pine to Palm 106 miles in 2010
Javelina Jundred 101.5 miles this past weekend

I did six 100 or plus races last year and figured I could match my accomplishment with 6 more this year, which is what I did, finishing with Javelina. Now let's get one thing straight. Monica Scholz I heard is trying to get the Guiness record with 24 100 mile races this year and I think she is somewhere around her 20th race and she ran Javelina over 3 hours faster than I did, so don't go thinking I'm all that.

I decided to sign up for Javelina when my husband and I were getting constant reminders from his parents that we had not visited them for 10 years while his two younger brothers have almost annually. They have a place in Apache Junction near Phoenix, where they live for most of the year. They summer in WA from about late May to September when the AZ heat becomes unbearable and return when we have more than five days straight of rain in WA (or something like that). I would run the race over the weekend, then we would make the trip fun for Ken too with rock climbing the next three days. Our good friends Karen and George Wiggins would come down for the climbing. Karen had done Javelina a few years ago when the temps hit the mid-90s. We were lucky this year with temps topping out in the mid-80s with a couple of days of rain before the race to pack the trail down. I didn't feel the dust was an issue at all and had little trouble with my asthma.

We flew in Friday morning, had a late breakfast at a cafe, got groceries, and settled in at their place. They live in a gated park home community and we stayed in their plush 5th wheel. After a short rest, we headed to packet pick up, but not until stopping to get me an In-and-Out burger. His parents had scouted out a location for me. It was a staple during my Western States trip earlier in the year and I was delighted to find out that they had set up shop in the Phoenix area. Packet pick up was quick with no medical check required, although, with the infamous heat at this race, I was surprised. I got a nice tech shirt, duffle bag, and an ankle transponder to track my progress by webcast during the race. I said hi to many of the WA runners who made the trek as well as many other familiar faces. I bought some more Gu and dropped off my one drop bag but then we headed out. The race had PF Chang's food for the pre-race dinner and Caballo Blanco was coming for the talk. But I had already seen him in a Seattle event before, and my pre-race dinner of choice is sushi. Ken's parents had also scouted out a restaurant, which was very good.

After laying out all my pre-race clothing, Ken and I retired at about 8:30. My sleep before leaving for AZ was fitful because we had to catch a 7:30am flight. My sleep the night before the race was also choppy, as expected in an unfamiliar place. So I was kinda tired going into the race. Because the race had grown to about 300 runners, parking was off-site at the start and racers that had crew had to be dropped off. After the race started, crew could come to park on a first-come-first-serve basis. If crew wanted to see their runner start, they needed to park off-site and take a shuttle in just for the start. Ken and I decided that he didn't really need to see me head off onto the trail, so he waited for 6am and headed for the start/finish area and had no trouble finding a parking spot. I kissed him goodbye when he dropped me off and milled around nervously for about 45 minutes. I saw Jill Hudson, Linda Walter, and Marilou Russell, all gunning for their first 100 miler. Gunhild Swanson was back, after having set a female 60-69 CR in 2004 with an amazing time of 22:37:46. All these ladies are from WA. My first goal as always is to finish. My next goal was sub-24. Sub-24 would also mean not having to run in the heat again on the second day. Lord knows I don't get any heat training in the Pacific NW. In fact, the weekend before the race, we had temps in the low 30s. That combined with virtually no running during the week because of my job and having done five 100 milers already this year (3 in the summer) made me feel less than optimal for this race. That's a scary prospect for any 100 miler. Experience was my only comfort.

We started at 6am sharp before sunrise on a full moon weekend. The website said not to forget a light, but I didn't need it at all and wished I had not brought it. I didn't want to wear it on my head because it made me feel even hotter in addition to my cap so I wrapped the band around my wrist. A few miles later, I noticed that all the batteries had fallen out. I tried to look for them on the return trip, but someone must have picked them up or they rolled under a bush. I started with arm warmers from Western, gloves, and a tank top that good friend Gwen Scott had given me-a playful bright red and orange Go-Go girl energy drink top. The sunrise was spectacular and the trail too runnable. It was wide enough for two people to run side by side, few areas single file, and many areas 4-wide. I ran in the beginning with Melissa Williams, a gal I met at her first ultra at the Doppler 50K in Bremerton. She had just moved to Portland from Phoenix back then and was freezing cold. It had snowed the night before, so her clothing was understandable. But quickly, most of us PNW runners were shedding layers and she kept all her clothes on. She did finally get acclimated to the cooler weather but had just spent 2 weeks in Vietnam. This acclimated her well for Javelina, but she was experiencing a bit of travel fatigue and jet lag. Being 28 probably allowed her to overcome this short period of fatigue, as she went on to finish in an excellent time of 22:36:32, the only 20-29 female finisher of 8 starters. This was Melissa's 3rd 100, with her first one at Hundred in the Hood last year and her 2nd just 5 weeks ago at Pine to Palm.

I also had the chance to meet up with another gal whom I met a the 2006 Tahoe Triple, Deborah Hamberlin. That year, she won the female overall Tahoe Triple and I came in second in the first year I ran 51 races or more. She won the first 2 races and I won the 3rd race of the triplers. She lives in Phoenix and trains on this Pemberton trail a lot. She had recently won the 12 hour run here in February but this was to be her first 100. She looked very fit. My goal for the first loop (each loop is 15.4 miles and reversed each time) was 3:10ish. I came in around 2:47. Uh-oh. Waaaaay too fast. I got caught up talking to Melissa and Deborah and failed to pace myself. But in truth, I didn't think we were running all that fast. I was hydrating with Nuun and taking salt tablets, but again, as in my last three 100 milers, my legs felt tight and crampy after the first 10 miles. I had tried taking magnesium supplements on a daily basis, but they gave me diarrhea and I stopped that. The best thing I could figure is that I need more salt than the average runner and that I tend to overhydrate too early. Still, I figured that I was in heat country and my body was going to suffer if I didn't stay on top of drinking.

Each loop is 15.4 miles and alternates directions with the first one clockwise. They can be broken up in 3 sections, with about 5 miles in between the aid stations. The first 5 miles starts with a short section of rolling before crossing a road. It continues to be rolling for the first 2 miles with a few "washes," which apparently is usually a pain to run across because they get sandy, but the rain had packed them down and were easier to get through. Then there is about 1.5 miles of up climbing on more technical trail, at some spots with large rocks that are energy sapping if you try to run them. The trail after this rocky section is more runnable but continuously slightly uphill and became harder to run in the later loops in the heat. There were a few more washes before the first aid station at Coyote Camp (about 5.2 miles). The aid stations were great, well stocked, had very helpful volunteers who were mostly ultrarunners and some having run this race before, and liberal with the ice! The next section dipped in and out of sandy washes at a steeper pitch for about 3 miles before leveling out through more gentle washes for another 2 miles. The next aid station at Jackass Junction was about 10.4 miles and had a port-a-potty (very important later!). Finally, the last 5 miles of the loop were generally downhill. The first part of this section was a wider trail/forest road for 3 miles before becoming trail through more washes. There was a road crossing 1.5 miles until the end of the loop, important mental checks.

Ken was there at the end of the first loop and he helped me transition into the 2nd loop. I ditched my cap because it was making me claustrophobic and hotter. I like the wind blowing over my forehead. I put on sunglasses and kept them on until the sun went down. I noticed that many other runners did the same and stuck with just sunglasses. There is absolutely no shade on the course except for the aid stations. I dropped my arm warmers, gloves, and my tank top and now was down to just shorts and sports bra. I was running in compression calf sleeves, but they were white and didn't make me feel too hot. My non-mesh Montrail Vitesse and Dirty Girl Gaiters kept out the sand and dirt. I carried one water bottle and stuffed Gu into it's pockets and into my Race Ready shorts along with TP and salt tabs. I had my music also. I had applied sunscreen before the start. I fiiled my bottle with more Nuun and was good to go. I thanked Ken and gave him a peck on the cheek and used the bathroom before taking off.

I am a huge hydration pack runner because I feel more secure carrying a lot of stuff, but for this race, I didn't want anything on my back making me hotter. It was very liberating. Because I was thinking that I was a little hyponatremic, I backed off on gulping down even the Nuun (I still took sips) and kept taking salt capsules. I did start to feel better, but it was getting hotter and hotter for my comfort. I backed off on my pace and my second loop was over 3 1/2 hrs. The climb back up the 5 miles we had just run down at the end of the first loop was painful and seemed to take forever. It was nice, however, to use different muscles throughout the loop, but let me tell you, it's been a long time since I've run a 100 miler where my legs hurt the entire time. Okay, maybe they felt fine for the first 10 miles before the sun started shining above us, but the rest of the time, my muscles just hurt. It was that lactic acid feeling of heaviness, burning, and on the edge of cramping. Each pounding step I took whether it was running, power hiking, or walking felt like rhabdo was occuring in my legs. I could almost feel at the microscopic level my muscles cells tearing and breaking down and muscle enzymes leaking out into the interspaces of my soft tissues. I've had a similar feeling before, but it is intensified by the direct suntlight and heat. Although Western was hotter, at least most of the trail was in the shade and that made a world of difference for me.

And so the terrain kept repeating itself. It was reassuring that it is a beautiful course. Very enjoyable I'm sure to run in for 2 loops. Multi-loop courses are tough. I'm not talking about running around a track. That's a totally different animal. I'm talking about longer loops, where it will be a while before you get back to your crew. Like at McNaughton 10 mile loops, Lumberjack 12.5 mile loops, this race, Umstead (which I have never run) 12.5 mile loops, etc. It's hard not to quit. It's hard heading back out knowing what is in store for you, how long it took you that last time, and knowing that you have 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 more loops to go. When you think in those terms, it is very overwhelming. So I just tried to focus on one aid station at a time, which is still hard because you start focuisng on other things. Like, oh, this section has that 5 mile uphill, or this section has that really rocky section. No wonder we're all headcases. Ken had called his parents after the 2nd loop and told them about how long it was taking me and they showed up to see me come in at the end of my 3rd loop. I waved to them as I was heading out, and to them I probably was looking good but I felt like crap. I gave them a nice show by running up and down the little hills but as soon as they were out of site, I walked.

Before I forget, there was a costume contest going on. Last year, the race actually was held on Jalloween. There were still plenty of people dressed up this year. There was full on Spiderman suit, of course Elvis, Pippi Longstocking (2), devils, angels, Bavarian costumes, cowboys, a guy wearing an all black body suit with his face painted white, and so much more! I can't imagine wearing a costume for 100 miles in the heat! Also, there was a lot of prickly things next to the trail. One of them, the choya, apparently requires pliers to remove since the thorns have barbs on them. That sounds painful! Luckily, I didn't impale myself onto anything.

I switched to ice-water so that I could douse myself and wrapped a bandana around my neck with ice in it. I continued to sip the water to wet my mouth and also because it tasted to good! I increased my salt intake, which was about 6 Succeeds an hour. Is that too much??? I don't know. I didn't die, so I think it was okay. I was urinating and it was not bloody. In fact, it was clear and about every 1/2 hour, telling me, I think, that I was still overhyrated and hyponatremic. At the aid stations I was asking for Coke with ice in it and was it yummy! I don't think I have ever drank so much Coke! I must have drank over two liters! But it was the one thing that I didn't get sick of. In fact, I would have put it in my water bottle, but I wanted water instead to pour on me. And I didn't want to carry another bottle. I ate gels, and found I really liked the Grape-Pomegranate flavored Carb Boom. I ate bananas at some aid stations, when I thought about it. When sub sandwiches became available, I wound just eat some of the meat and gave Ken the rest. Watermelons and oranges were tasting good. I had hot cocoa and chicken ramen at night in addition to my ice cold Coke. I had a hard time eating solid foods, probably due to the heat and feeling totally baked. I never was able to cool down. While everyone was putting all their clothes on at night, I was still running with just my sports bra or tank top, although I did bring along my shell, gloves, and a headband in case I really slowed down and would freeze. But I never used them and they were heavy to carry. Somehow I lost one of my Western arm sleeves. I did put on a waist pack at night so thatI could carry all this stuff and have my hands free for eating and carrying my flashlight, which I prefer to a headlamp.

My loop splits were getting longer and longer. I had completed almost four loops before I needed to use a flashlight. It was getting hard to tell who was who. I had seen Jill, Linda, and Marilou in the first 3 loops together, but couldn't see them again until it got light. For all I knew, they had decided to drop down to the 100K. Plus they split up, and I was looking for a group of three ladies. But Linda and Marilou did go the distance, and I think Jill finished the 100K. I was a little worried about them all since I was surprised to see them not long after I completed a loop. I was moving a little slower than I would have like, but I was worried that we still had over 50 miles to go after the 3rd loop and this was their first 100 miler. Just goes to show you how tough they are. Maybe they tolerated the heat better than me. I should have gone out conservatively with Gunhild because she caught me by the end of the 3rd loop. Not surprising. Impressive. I just can't tell you how phenomenal she is to be able to do this at the age of 66 and not looking like she is suffering at all. I tried to keep up with her but I couldn't and decided I needed to run my own pace.

So I finished 100K in the dark. I had hoped my pace would quicken as I cooled down, but darkness kept that at bay. Many runners picked up their pacers. I didn't have one and didn't want one. After treating my last pacer at Pine to Palm like crap, I decided I didn't want to be that person and didn't even bother looking for one. It was pretty scary though in certain sections of the loop where packs of coyotes were howling and I found myself totally alone on one occasion, which is crazy considering the number of runners who started and the back and forth format of the course. It could have been that many had dropped out by then. The next few times there were runners around and I felt safer. But I did pick up my pace that one time, and that always comes to bite you later.

Gunhild's son joined her. I ran with her a little in the 5th loop but I think she was getting cold and I passed her. I kept going back and forth with the same people. My fifth loop was one of my faster loops for that far into the race and running at night. Apparently, I had moved up 35 spots at the end of that loop. However, the wheels started coming off during that loop. I was running along pretty strong after passing Gunhild and not hurting anymore than what I had become accustomed to. I was approaching Jackass aid station and could hear music. So I thought I was getting closer but in reality still had almost almost 2 miles to go. It gets harder and harder to judge your pace as the race goes on and you are always moving slower than what you think is slow. So sometimes as I am approaching an aid station, I pick up my pace. I did this and the aid station was not coming. I kept pushing it until my left quad started to scream and I had to slow to a walk coming into the aid station. The music was coming from a house, which in this section of the trail gets near a residential area. So this pick me up and the one I did when I heard the coyotes probably set me back quite a bit. And the next section was downhill, which only added to injury my sore left quad. I ran on this for the next 30 miles, at times hobbling and having to adjust my gait, taxing my other quad. As bad as I felt, I saw some sorrier faces at the aid stations all bundled up and glued to a chair. I knew I was just traumtizing my quad, not permanently injuring it, so I kept going. I actually came into the aid station at the end of loop 5 telling Ken that I needed to get moving if I had any chance of breaking 24 hours. It would be skin tight if I did. I had 5 hours and 50 minutes. If I could somehow manage to match my 6th loop time to my 5th loop, I would have a chance. It became very clear after starting the 6th loop that it wasn't going to happen. I felt bad for telling Ken about this lofty goal, since I knew he would worry about me when I didn't show up long after expected.

My last full loop, #6, was very slow. Something like 4 1/2 hrs. The climb up that 5 mile hill was demoralizing and endless. Although I passed some people, it wasn't because I was moving great, it was because they were done too. I decided that I needed to just keep moving and not push myself. My 24-hr goal was out the window, so I told myself to get over it. At the same time, I was not about to walk the rest of the race (20 miles) or else I would be out there forever and at risk for running/waddling in the sun. So I ran the downhills and some of the flats and walked the ups. I finally made it back to Ken and headed out for the final 9 miles. We were given a glow necklace to signify that we were on that last 9 mile section so that the aid station volunteers at Coyote Camp knew which way to direct the runners. Clever idea. It was not uncomfortable and I liked being lit up. Plus everyone knew that you were on the homestretch. I grabbed Gu for food but nothing else and soon learned this was a mistake. I had not been able to tolerate solid food all day and this was catching up with me. But for the first time ever, I could not tolerate the Gu. I gagged on it and almost threw up. I immediately took two Tums. I had no Ginger candy with me. I had to slow down. I had run into Amy Lynes earlier and she had 3 miles to go for her 100K finish. But she was vomiting and trying to run and I told her she needed to slow down. She had plenty of time to finish so there was no reason for her to push it and make her nausea worse. Now it was happening to me. So I took my own advice and walked when I thought I should be running. The hills were coming anyway and I was planning on walking those. I tried putting Gu into my water and shaking it up. I drank a little but was not enjyoing it and certainly didn't drink it all. I did ask everyone that I ran into if they had any food besides Gu. I got a no answer from 5 people until one of the pacers of a runner that was passing me gave me his peanut M & Ms. That saved me until I got to the aid station.

I got to experience another beautiful sunrise, the only good thing about not making the 24-hr cut off. I saw lots of little lizards during the race and saw a coyote run across the trail on the second sunrise. Apparently, Marilou saw tarantulas, rattlesnakes, coyotes, mice, and even a Javelina. I can't believe that! Were we in the same race? Finally I got to the aid station, the last one before the finish and less than 5 miles to go. I decided I wanted Coke in my water bottle. Unfortunately, it had not been de-fizzed yet and when I went to drink it the first time, it blew up in my mouth and I choked on it. Still, it helped to sip on it and keep my nausea at bay. I had an oreo cookie, but that was all I had before finishing. Although my quads were trashed and the bottoms of my feet felt severely bruised, I ran that last 4+ miles. It was a gentle down hill for 3+ miles before meeting up with the same trail we had been running all day to the end of the loop for 1.1 miles. This last bit was rolling and I knew what to expect. I passed that last guy that passed me. He had blisters on his feet. As I made the turn onto the last 1.1 miles, I passed two girls with their pacers-walking. I knew that they would not challenge me, but it didn't matter, I was going to run anyway. I ran all the hills, only briefly walking since I was not able to see if the hill I was on kept going around the corner. People said I looked strong and to keep going. I said that I was probably going to puke when I finished. I didn't care. One should always finish strong unless something is seriously wrong. Finally, I crossed the road and ran the last of the undulating trail to the sounds of the finsh. I saw Ken and his parents and handed him my waist pack. I pulled my pigtails to the front and sprinted across the finish line with a roar. I was so, so happy to be done! And then I completely stopped. A volunteer took off my transponder. I sat for the first time in 25+ hours.

Ken and his parents came over and congratulated me. I asked Ken who are these people. They were very supportive and finally had a chance to experience a 100 mile race. We enjoyed my belt buckle. I devoured some watermelon and took salt. We slowly removed my shoes and except for swelling, they looked marvelous. I had some whiteness on the bottom of my big left toe but no blisters. What was really bothering me was my left quad. It tightened up immediately and I had trouble putting weight on it. I couldn't bend that knee without aggravating it. It was clearly swollen and very tender to the touch. His parents left and I changed into some clean clothes and flip flops somehow. I congratulated others and saw Gunhild finish. I was ready to go. I didn't bother to stick around and wait for my drop bag. They could donate my stuff. I grabbed some more watermelon and a burger. It was hard to believe it was only 7:30am. It felt like 5pm. Ken was able to get some sleep in the back of his parent's truck in between my loops, so he was doing okay. We headed home, which was only about 40 minutes to his parent's place. We stopped at Starbucks for coffee and sandwiches and lo and behold, there were his parents. When we got back, I iced my quad and took some ibuprofen. I dont' like to take it during a race. I showered and rested Ken got me 2 In-and-Out burgers and fries for lunch. My quad was slowly getting better with more icing. Karen and George arrived in Phoenix and came over for margaritas before we went out for Mexican food. I was fading fast and my nausea was preventing me from finishing my dinner. We came back and I finally went to sleep.

Ken got up early to go fly model airplanes with his dad. I slept in. He met up with Karen and George at 10am to go climbing and invited me along. I was still feeling nauseated and tired so I passed. This apparently was a smart choice because the approach to the climbing area was difficult. I slept some more and ate little meals throughout the morning. I did go with Ken, Karen, George, and Ken's dad for the trip on Tuesday. We hiked in 3+ miles to get to the climbing area and scrambled to the bases of the climbs. My feet were still swollen and I was still having a difficult time controlling my body temperature, so I did not climb. Ken's dad took lots of pictures of them climbing and of the surroundings. Photography is one of his hobbies. They were able to get in 4 solid and long climbs and had a great time. That night, Ken's mom fixed us a feast with spaghetti, salad, bread, fruit, and desert. Ken and I really appreciated their hospitality, taking us to and from the airport, driving us all around, and letting us use their trailer and truck.
Ken, Karen, and George climb one more day on Wednesday before we headed back to Maple Valley Wed night. They headed to Sedona that night and were planning on three days of running at the Grand Canyon. Sounds like fun!

Here are some more notable results:
Jamie Donaldson, in addition to setting a new female CR, finished 2nd overall and only 34 minutes behind 1st male. Second female was 2 hrs 45 minutes later.

F20-29, 8 starters, 1 finisher, the gal I ran with in the first loop Melissa Williams in 22:36:32. She finished as I was finishing my 6th loop.

F30-39, 21 starters, 10 finishers.

F40-49, 41 starters, 24 finishers. Friends:
Ronda Sundermeier, 43, 20:07:14, 3rd female, 1st AG
Stephanie Astell, 47, 24:32:16, 5th AG
Deborah Hamberlin, 42, 24:47:17, 8th AG, 1st 100
Catra Corbett, 45, 25:39:07, 12th AG, winner of costume contest (Was she Pippi Longstocking? I don't know, I was distracted by all her tattoos.)
Marilou Russell, 49, 28:46:43, 18th AG, 1st 100

F50-59, 15 starters, 11 finishers (in my opinion, the toughest group). Friends:
Linda Walter, 59, 27:50:42, 4th AG, 1st 100

F60-69, 6 starters, 2 finishers. Friends:
Gunhild Swanson, 66, 25:44:53, 1st AG

There might have been more 1st 100 milers above. I just knew of those ones. I'm so proud of everyone. I never felt competitive at this race. It was just great seeing all these tough gals. I didn't worry about, oh, I don't want so and so to finish before me because they are older or this is their first 100. We all suffered together and celebrated together.

No more 100 milers for me for a while. I do have a quad Thanksgiving weekend. That should be okay since I can run in the morning and rest in the afternoon, sleep in my own bed. What really wears me out these days is staying up all night running and most likely not being able to fuel enough. I know that I was running on fumes for a long time at Javelina.

Thanks for reading!
Pigtails

CCC 100 MILE ENDURANCE RUN

2010-08-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

August 28, 2010

Easton, WA

25:59:04, 6th female, 30th overall, PR

This was my 4th finish at the Cascade Crest Classic 100. I'll be shooting for my 5th finish next year, which gets you a silver buckle! I decided I didn't want to stress myself out too much with trying to place or finish in a certain time. Besides, I went into this race feeling the least trained for any 100 miler I had ever signed up for. I actually felt in great shape for Western, but there were some aspects of it that I had no control over that I thought affected my finishing time, such as no heat training due to our late summer start here in WA state, lots of snow on the course, and no altitude training. Then I started a new job where I went from working 4 days a week to 5. That combined with longer days, a busier call schedule, and simply the stress of it all brought my training down to the bare minimum. Many assume that I must run 60+ miles a week to be able to do these 100 milers. But the truth is that some weeks I don't even have time to run on the weekdays and my average weekly mileage if I don't have a race that week is more like 30 miles. Somehow, though, I've been running ultras so long that I think it would take months for my fitness to leave. What I have notice over the past 2 years, however, is that my finishing times have declined. This was punctuated by my recent dismal performance at White River 50 mile where I ran a personal worst of 11:39. I didn't think I could run slower than my 2009 White River of 11:07 but apparently anything is possible. So I started CCC feeling the least fit I have ever felt for a 100 miler. I decided to change my attitude to just have fun since I know how amazing the course is. Little did I know that it was this attitude that helped me run a PR for this course by 22 minutes! My previous CCC times were 26:22, 26:48, and 26:40. I really did not think that I would ever be able to break the 26 hour barrier.

I have learned that taking the day off from work before a 100 mile race is critical for me to have a decent run. However, since I was the newest orthopedic physician assistant at Valley, I was also lowest on the totem pole. Two other PAs had already requested that Friday off, and no more were allowed. So I worked a full day before the race and as expected, felt poorly rested. Also, in my job, it's not as easy to stay well hydrated. I'm often in surgery and I don't want to worry about needing to use the bathroom constantly. The week before CCC and White River (where I had severe muscle cramps at mile 18), I noticed my calf muscles were twitching. I would try to hydrate as much as I could the night before with balancing having to get up all night to pee. Then I would hydrate a lot the morning of the race. Well, I did have cramping issues at CCC. More on that later.

The weather forecast for the weekend was looking very good. Mid-60s and no rain forecasted. Ken (my hubby and the best guy in the world) has crewed me at all my CCC races and nearly all my 100 or 150 mile races (17 total now). But this year, we did something different. Instead of having the weekend all about me, we decided that he needed to have fun too. So he dropped me off at the start at Easton at 8am (race started at 10) and headed out to meet his climbing buddies. They went climbing in an area off one of the forest roads we were going to run up later near Keechelus Ridge. He would be back to crew me from Stampede Pass aid station (mile 33) until the end. He said it worked out great since there was less waiting around in the beginning, and in truth, I really didn't need him at the earlier aid stations.

We had the usual race pancake breakfast together before he left and then I just hung out talking to all the other runners and crew. My race number was 100. I didn't request this number and it didn't have any special meaning. It just happened to fall on my slot in the alphabet. But OMG! It was an omen or something. I knew I had to live up to it-at least finish. Jess Mullen (my pacer) showed up to watch everyone start and wish me luck before heading home to rest so that she would be ready for her pacing duties starting at Hyak, about 53 miles (I expected to get there around 10:30 to 11pm). She said she even got back in her pajamas to pretend she was resting. She had just raced Where's Waldo 100K the weekend before but felt she was recovered enough to pace me. She ran a fine race there in just over 14 hours. The briefing was at 9am and Charlie Crissman, the RD, went over a few last minute details. Charlie runs 100 milers as well, so you know that he has your best interest in mind. First, we acknowlegded the assistance of the Easton Fire Department and Search and Rescue. He also gave thanks to all the volunteers. Then he warned us to be careful in the stretch after Ollalie (mile 47) since the tunnel was still closed and we would have to run down the Snoqualmie ski slope. Apparently, last year, he sent us down the double black diamond route, and a few runners then had some harsh words about the dangerous nature of the re-route. This year, since the tunnel was still closed, we'd be running down a "blue" slope. He said that although we had more climbing added for this section, the views from the top were spectacular. He also admitted that most of us would be running this in the dark. That got a few laughs. All the runners know that we voluntarily sign up for these races, so we should know that these events are very challenging and not complain. He also warned us that it would be cold at night so we should leave extra clothing in our drop bags if we had not already done so.

The Canadian anthem was played on some speakers but Ben Blessing brought his tuba (?) and played the American anthem. A minute later, we lined up under the amazing banner that Daniel Probst built (it had the symbol of CCC of three large trees at the top of a wooden structure with super large feet at the bases to keep it from blowing over from the ever present wind that goes through Easton). Daniel was going for his 5th finish. I think someone said go. Next thing I know, I'm running. I had lined up in the back, determined not to start out too fast. I ran along with Tony Covarrubias in the first stretch. We were going at a comfortable pace, but even then I found myself running someone else's pace. I let him go when we hit a small hill. I slowed to a power hike. There was an area that had been bulldozed over in that first 3.8 miles that slowed everyone down. I arrived at the first aid station in 45 minutes, 5 minutes slower than in the last 3 years. But I was okay with that. The splits listed on the webcast at this point were all wrong. I was way in the back, more like the 90th person, but it showed me mid-pack. I let several runners go ahead of me before turning up the trail to Goat Peak, since I wanted to take my time. This climb in my experience and listening to other's experience is what makes or breaks the rest of your race. It is a persistent climb with plenty of switchbacks, and done in the heat of the day only saps your energy earlier, even on a cooler day like this year. My muscle twitches the night before were a warning that my legss would not be able to move fast, but I didn't expect it to be a problem so early in the race. By 6 miles, my legs were very tight and on the verge of cramping even though I was drinking plenty, had taken 3 salt tablets already, and had 3 GUs. (Shawna Wilskey said I should take magnesium pills for the cramping, which I have started.) Thus I slowed even further and was in 96th position of 115 starters by the time I reached the Cole Butte aid station at 10.8 miles. I was already 16 minutes behind my slowest previous arrival there. At least I didn't feel as crappy as last year when I had lots of back pain. I continued to eat, drink, and take my time. My patience would eventually pay off.

I started to catch other runners that I let pass me on the climb up to Goat Peak. I still kept my pace comfortable, so we went back and forth. I decided to push my pace after reaching Blowout aid station at 15 miles since I knew that some downhill on the PCT was coming (after a one mile climb). This would allow me to stretch out my legs. The climb up to Blowout and after it are not to be trifled with as well. I was drinking Nuun, eating GUs, taking Succeed tablets, and eating tator tots and beef jerky. The tator tots were great since by the time I got to eating them, they had broken up into smaller pieces that I just shoved in my mouth. I didn't even have to chew! And it didn't upset my stomach.

I was able to run when I wanted to (on the downhills, flats, and rolling), and power hiked strongly on the uphills. However, I still expected to finish well in the 26 hour range or even 27 hours since I had lost a lot of time at the start and if nothing else went wrong. Still, I had another problem arise. I had been dealing with pain and numbness going down my right arm for a couple weeks. It was accentuated on the run down to Tacoma Pass (mile 23), so much so that I had to place the shoulder strap of my hydration pack under my right armpit before attaching the clasps around my chest. I think the strap was pressing on my brachial plexus. Whatever the problem, my arm improved but the hydration pack was uncomfortable hanging mostly off my left side. I decided I needed to switch to a waist pack and hand held as soon as possible, but I wouldn't see Ken until Stampede Pass (mile 33). I had told him that I had a drop bag at Stampede Pass so he didn't need to bring my back pack with all the other supplies. I didn't get to switch until Ollalie. Also, on my way down to Tacoma Pass, one of my hair bands for my pigtails came off. I asked for a piece of duct tape there and braided the undone side on the climb out of Tacoma Pass and secured it with the tape. It held until the end and when I took it off at the finish, I didn't sever too many ends! My position improved dramatically by the time I got to Tacoma pass to 69th and I arrived in 5hr20min, 9 minutes slower than my previous worst. Four runners would have stopped at this point (one had dropped at Blowout). Oh, by the way, the section after the one mile climb out of Blowout to Tacoma Pass is some heavenly running. A lot of perfect downhill on the PCT! There is some climbing out of Tacoma Pass aid station with some runnable terrain to Snowshoe.

I blew by the Snowshoe aid station at mile 29 since I didn't need any supplies. More good running after this to Stampede pass, a mere 3-4 miles. I made there to greet Ken for the first time at 7hr44min, 14 minutes faster than last year but still 43 minutes slower than my PR in 2007 of 26hr22min. At any rate, I was slowly making up lost time without taxing myself. It's always nice to see Ken, even though my words and body language don't appear so. But for this race, I promised myself and silently to Ken that I would not be a nasty runner. I was there to have fun! Still, I needed to focus and get everything required for my journey to Ollalie, the next time I would see him, including a flashlight and back up head lamp. I also took an extra long sleeve shirt, thin shell, hat, and gloves in preparation for a cold night once the sun went down. I left Ken feeling good, and that is always reassuring for him. There is quite a bit of climbing in this next section but interrupted by runnable sections that allow you to make up some time.

I continued to pass people on the way to Meadow Mt (42mi). This stretch simply lasts forever and can be demoralizing if you are already starting to fade this early on. I felt good except I was starting to have the same problem I had at Western, which was my pinkie toes were jamming against the sides of my Montrail Vitesse shoes and starting to hurt from all the steep downhill running. At Western, I had to cut out holes for my pinkie toes to breathe and knew I needed to do the same thing here if I wanted to run pain-free downhill. I would ask Ken to locate a knife when I saw him at Ollalie with plans to cut holes in the shoes at Hyak. I arrived at Meadow Mt at 7:25pm and knew I had an hour left of light. Unfortunately, a lot of the first part of the trail after Meadow is uphill and I didn't burn up much mileage before I had to whip out my hand held flashlight. This is a very technical trek and my toes kept getting worse. Tripping over rocks in the dark didn't help. Five more runners would eventually drop here at Meadow Mt at 42 miles.

I finally made it to Ollalie (47.7) and Ken by 9:21pm. Only one person dropped here, but probably because it would be wiser to drop at Hyak, race central. The only problem is that the next section after Ollalie is one of the hardest. I remembered to put on my shell, hat, and gloves before getting to the aid station since I knew I was going to get cold from stopping. I ditched my hydration pack and put on a waist pack, which was bouncy at first but became more comfortable over time. I had it until mile 95. I told Ken about my shoes and he would have his pocket knife ready for me at Hyak. Scott McCoubrey and crew were there-always every year. They filled my empty Ensure bottle with chicken soup and I took two freshly cooked perogies to go. These were really good! The first two times I ran this race, I was allowed a pacer from this point on but these last two years, you could only have a pacer if you left after 10pm. So alone in the dark I trotted to Hyak. Also, in my first 2 years, I ran in the Snoqualmie tunnel, but it has been closed with no repair in sight. It 's such a wonderful and unique trademark of CCC, having to descend down a roped section and then running on a slight upgrade in the tunnel for 2.4 miles before hitting the road section to Hyak. Last year, we ran a new route due to the closure and it was not well received by any runner. Most runners would do this part in the dark. It is much harder and more treacherous. Basically, you descend for a short while to a gravel road that takes you to the top of the ski pass. This year, there was a little more single track before road. Then you climb and climb to the top on poor footing road, seemingly endlessly. At least this year I knew what to expect. Next, you are sent down a ski slope. Charlie said that this year we would go down a tamer hill, but I thought it was just as scary. Just had to take it slow and pick your way down. Lots of yelps heard above me from tripping and maybe falling. Don't know for sure. Had to keep focused. So after that short but steep descent, the trail does what? Goes up again. Not steep long climbs, but energy sapping rolling hills. Totally runnable on fresh legs in the light but otherwise very tiring after 52 miles. I knew a stretch of paved road was coming and was totally looking forward to it (for once). It allowed me to not think so hard about where to put my feet and I came flying into Hyak at mile 53.

Ken, Jess, and Robert Lopez were there to help me. It took me 2 minutes less time to run that section than last year. I arrived at 11:07, so not much off my predicted time that I told Ken and Jess. I changed into some lightweight capris and a long sleeved shirt, concerned that I would get cold at night. Meanwhile, Ken puts a hole in each of my shoes. I put them on and yeah! My pinkie toes were free. I had one bottle with water in my waist pack and had them fill my hand held with soup. Grabbed some more beef jerky and tator tots. Jess and I left running on some more paved road. Every year, my goal is to run the 2 mile stretch of paved road before it turns into gravel, even with 2 hills. We passed a couple of runners with their pacers. I was feeling very strong and not cold at all. Soon, Jess and I shed our shells, hats, and gloves. In previous years, I had consumed Frappicinos throughout the race but the caffeine made me pee all the time and actually was time consuming and dehydrating. It took me a while to figure out that I needed to stop that. I still get caffeine, but only in my gels and I pee about once every 45 minutes-perfect. After the 2 miles of paved road, it is nearly 5 for miles up.

We make good time up to Keechelus Ridge (60.5mi) and had a chance to chat with Tony Covarrubias and Shawn McTaggart on the way. tc proposed to Shawn last year at the end of the race. They are married now. Shawn was pacing this year. They were also signed up for Plain 100 2 weeks after CCC. Plain is an unmarked 100 miler in WA with only one aid station about halfway. They seemed in good spirits except one of them had an upset stomach cause they asked for some Tums. Again, each section seemed to last forever, but we finally arrived at the aid station. We spent about a minute there getting more soup in my water bottle and moved on. I think it really helped that I didn't linger at the aid stations. My longer stops were with Ken, mostly for clothing change. I never sit unless I have to change shoes or something. You can really burn up some time sitting. Jess and I continued to stay warm-more like hot actually. Many people got really cold at night. I think because we were able to keep moving, we were able to stay warm. And I was able to keep moving because I was eating and drinking frequently. We were having a great time catching up on gossip, talking about other races, and our jobs. Jess has started a successful career as a Crossfit trainer and nutritionist.

Next was the 7 miles down to Kachess Lake aid station at 67.9mi. In my first year, I ran it in 1:12 and ended up having knee pain for the Trail from Hell section. So the next 2 years, I backed off on the pace quite a bit. This year, I ran comfortably. I didn't bomb down it but we moved along well. I completed this year in 1:16. Not bad. Jess' headlamp was pretty powerful and that combined with the moonlight allowed me to run these gravel road sections without a light. This was nice since I didn't have to hold my handheld. We passed a few more runners along this stretch, including some walking on the downhill and very bundled up. We arrived at Kachess. I wasn't expecting Ken to be there but he came thinking that Jess and I were getting really cold. On the contrary, we were looking to drop some clothes. Tracey Nguyen, a running buddy of mine and also Damien Murphy (who will be pacing me at Pine to Palm three weeks after Cascade) were there helping out. I got more broth and both Jess and I grabbed freshly grilled cheese sandwiches. It was really quite good. Kissed Ken goodbye and said I'd seem in about 3 hours.

I pulled out my handheld light for this next section-the Trail from Hell. This 6-mile section always takes over 2 hours. Last year someone counted 91 trees we had to hump over. But it seemed to be in better shape than in previous years. Big logs had foot placements carved into them. The creek crossings were easier to get over. A trail that had washed away had been restored. But Jess and I were really heating up in this section. We let a group of 5 guys pass after the first creek crossing to take off hats and gloves. We pretty much ran the entire trail alone-never passed anyone, and no one passed us. We arrived at Mineral Creek and found a pleasant surprise that there was a rock path across. Again, I didn't spend any time at the aid station other than to get rid of trash. It took 2:22 just to do this 6 mile Trail from Hell section. My fastest split was 2:21.

Ken was waiting for me up the road in 2.5 miles. Last year, it was light well before we got to Ken. This year, we arrived a little past 5:30am, and it was just starting to get light. That was a nice surprise. Ken had hot butternut squash soup for us. He also was FREEZING! What a guy! We ditched our lights and any extra clothing that we didn't need. Ken was relieved to see I was still feeling strong. I kissed him bye again and told him to get some rest. It would be a while before I got to Silver Creek. No splits were available from this point on. All I know is that I was in 38th place at Mineral Creek and finished in 30th.

Jess and I power hiked up to No Name Ridge aid station where James Varner, Laura Houston, Francesca Carmichael, Roger, and Maylon were dishing out cheese quesadillas and chocoloate chip pancake. At the time, nothing sounded appetizing but they do now! Again, little time spent there. The next section has some very runnable spots and some very steep climbs. But we made good time to Thorpe Mt. where the same dedicated volunteers return each year, hiking in supplies. Jess and I dropped our packs for the 1/2 mile hike up to retrieve a card showing we made it to the top. No views this year. The valley below was clouded in. Runners were bundled up but Jess and I ascended and descended in our short sleeve shirts. As usual, we saw Glen Tachiyama near the top totally frozen taking pictures of all the runners. It's always nice to see him. I'd almost feel lost if he was not there. He usually is up at Goat Peak at the beginning too but not this year. He had back surgery in April and had to back off on a few checkpoints. I usually try to look like I'm running well when Glen takes my picture, but he seems to always situate himself at tough parts of the course, so all I can do is smile.

As we get to the bottom of Thorpe, we see a girl heading up. She looks so fresh. I fear that she will catch us. So I pick it up as much as I can in the next section, which is not easy since this is the Cardiac Needles, a series of 3 very steep climbs 86 miles into the race. Plus, I am not able to run the downhills fast, braking too much but legs too tired to let it all go. I slip on a rock in this section and land good on my butt. I figure that if the girl behind is a good downhill runner, she'd catch me for sure. We still make it in good time to French Cabin but sure enough, just as we are leaving, the other girl comes into the aid station. I gave Jess a look that said, "I knew it!" But then we find out that she is just out on a training run. I don't know if I was happy or angry to hear that. People have every right to use the trails, but I was thinking I could've bonked trying to stay in front of her. I chose to think about it positively in that she pushed me to a stronger finish. I found out at this aid station that I was 6th woman, which is what I came in last year. I couldn't believe it. I was sure I was not going to crack the top ten with the stellar field this year. But I did know of three girls who had dropped: Devon Crosby-Helms, Alison Moore, and Kirsten Ramage.

We ran down then back up for our last big climb of the race. It felt great to top out. The next 6-7 miles are mostly downhill, flat, or rolling. There are shallow creek crossings. Last year I started to have trouble with my asthma and had to walk some of the flats. This year I felt okay because I took 2 puffs of my inhaler after No Name Ridge aid station and did this section better. We caught up and passed a couple guys. Brian Morrison was pacing Dan Paquette in his first 100. They tagged along with us with me in the lead. I usually don't like to have others behind me. It gives me a sense of urgency and I waste energy that way. But they reassured me that they were happy with the pace. Brian became a father 2 weeks prior to a new baby boy named Jack! Jess and Brian did all the talking as Dan and I just struggled to keep our breathing under control. We pulled ahead of them but they passed us when I had to make a pit stop. Jess and I were trying to calculate our timing to the last aid station. Was it possible that we would make it there by 11am? We soon realized that we had quite a ways to go. The last technical downhill to the Silver Creek aid station lasted longer than I remember (of course!). We arrived at 11:19. Jess said I only had a minute and we needed to get going. I left with only a hand held and gels. I had taken a GU right before the aid station since I knew I needed to run hard. In previous years, I had run this section in 53, 46, and 43 minutes. There was no way I was going to make it to the finish before 12pm or 26 hours. But I still knew I was going to PR.

The trail in this last section was hideous to begin with. There were these short dips and rises where every time my feet came down on the low spots, it was very jarring. But, I was determined to run this entire last section (except for the steep short hills). We passed Dan again. Then we caught up with a couple of guys that we had leap-frogged most of the 2nd half with. There was a third guy-a pacer. When they realized we were running and catching them, they started to run too. It was really dusty here, so this was unpleasant, but I pressed on. I wasn't trying to beat them. I didnt' care since they were guys, but I wanted to PR as much as possible. Eventually, they slowed to a walk again and we passed them. "Good jobs" were exchanged and we moved on. We then passed Grant Larsen, a younger guy age 20. He was really stiff and struggling. More encouragement as we passed. As soon as we hit the paved road and had about 2 more miles to go, I started to pick up the pace. But Jess said I needed to calm down and not drain myself. I had another GU and got back into a comfortable but strong pace. But boy was it hot on that road. I'm glad I had my hat. We looked back and saw those three guys running again. At this point, I didn't want to get passed back.

Finally, we saw the turn onto the train tracks and I started to run faster. I was really starting to feel my effort. I looked down at my watch, but Jess told me not to bother. It didn't matter anymore anyway. I was running as fast as I could. She was right. Besides, I had accidently stopped my watch earlier in the race so didn't know exactly how much time had elapsed. I had to go just on the time of day, but did we start before or after 10? I stumbled along the rough footing and large rocks along the train tracks. I could see the finish but it was not getting closer. Jess told me not to look up. Okay, pay attention to feet. We made the right turn over the train tracks and saw the clock. I was going to break 26 hours! NO WAY! I was estactic! Jess and I crossed the finish line together and I gave her a big hug. 25:59:04. I thought I would never break 26 hours.

Here is the shakedown:

Goat Peak 3.7mi in 45 min, 4 minutes slower than slowest split 2009. 90th of 115 starters.

Cole Butte 10.8mi 2:37, 16 minutes slower than 2009. 96th place.

Blowout 15.2mi 3:40, 19 minutes slower than 2009. 92nd place. One runner dropped here.

Tacoma Pass 23.3mi 5:20, 9 minutes slower than 2009, but making up time. 69th place.3 drops.

Snowshoe Butte 29mi 6:57, 6 minutes slower than 2009. 59th place.

Stampeded Pass 34.5mi 7:44, 14 minutes FASTER than 2009 but 43 minutes slower than PR year in 2007. 57th place. 10 drops.

Meadow Mt 42mi 9:25, 41 minutes slower than 2007. 50th place. 5 drops.

Ollalie Meadow 47.7mi 11:21, 51 minutes slower than 2007. 49th place. One drop.

Hyak/Gold Creek 52.7mi 13:07, 50 minutes slower than 2007. 51st place. 7 drops.

Keechelus Ridge 60.5mi 15:11, 1:01 slower than 2007 for shoe stop at Hyak. 47th place. 4 drops.

Lake Kachess 67.9mi 16:28, 1:04 slower than 2007. 40th place. 2 drops.

Mineral Creek 73.9mi 18:50, 58 minutes slower than 2007. 38th place.

Finish 100mi 25:59:04, 22 minutes FASTER than 2007. 30th place. Somewhere between Ken at mile 76.4 and the finish, I made up a chunk of time!

I have kept my splits from Hyak to the finish in the last 3 years. In 2007, my fastest overall time, it took me 14:05. In 2008, it took me 13:54. Last year, I improved the second half dramatically to 13:10. This year it was 12:52!

Charlie, RD, was there to welcome us in. I didn't hear anything that he was announcing but Ken said that he said something like, "Here comes Van, a fixture here in the NW ultras!" A fixture? Am I getting that old? Actually, he said the same thing about Tony Covarrubias. I guess we just keep coming back for more. The next two guys came in a minute after me and Grant 5 minutes. Dan finished 6 minutes behind me. I was finally able to sit. Ken took good care of me. I got rid of my shoes and washed off my feet. Usually, I'm nauseated, short of breath, and cramping. I had none of that. I took care of myself during the race for once so I could enjoy the finish. I was so glad to see everyone who stuck around to see me finish. Gwen Scott, a regular running partner of mine was 4th female in 24:36. Alison Moore was there to see her guy Owen Connell PR in 25:24. Unfortunately Alison had a rough time on the climb to Kecheelus ridge. I think her hip flexor was the problem. All I know is that she's one tough gal.

Ken was a sweetheart and went to get Jess and I hamburgers and fries. Jess requested a diet coke (c'mon, diet?) and he brought me back a vanilla shake. Actually, Jess treated and Ken went and got it. It's me who should be treating Jess. I got into some dry clean clothes and watched as other runners came in. I got to see four key people I was waiting for. First Sara Malcom finished her debut 100 miler in 27:26. She looked very strong coming in with the help of her pacer and super nice guy Steve Stoyles. Eric Barnes was there to take pictures of it all, including when I had come in. Sara gave her hubby a great big hug. Spouses are so key in these races, particularly totally supporting us. Next, tc came in after toughing it out in 28:38. Shawn was there to share his joy. He has run this race sub 24 I believe. Heidi Perry came hopping in estatically into the arms of beau John Pearch at 28:57. She had the biggest smile of all the runners that day. Her trusty pacer Kris Rydig will be at the Pine to Palm 100, another veteran 100 miler. Finally, Phil "Ransom" Sustar, came through in 29:04. He looked happy if not a little out of it. He traveled all the way from Atlanta to run this and had good local WA friends to support him all the way.

It was time to leave. Ken was good enough to let me stay and see most all my friends come in. I still had not felt the need to sleep. We got home, I had some ramen noodles then showered. Then we had leftover pizza, which was great heated up. Then we went to bed at 6:30pm. I had taken some ibuprofen and was able to sleep 12 hours. I didn't have asthma problems during the race but coughed up dust balls before falling asleep. My throat was raw. I had that Monday off and stayed loose by cleaning house all day. I was most stiff by Tuesday and had trouble with breathing Tues and Wed night. I felt I had a reactive airway problem, but it resolved by Thursday. I felt that I could run on Wed but had no time because of work. I felt pretty back to normal Thursday and felt great for a short run at Cougar Mt. on Sat. Unfortunately, it was raining hard and one of our runners had a calf cramp that cut our run short. It was just as well. I was not lacking miles for the week. Then I did a 21 mile run on Rattlesnake Ridge on Labor Day. I definitely was not fully recovered, but still ran strong and no harm done.

Next up-Pine to Palm 100. It is supposed to be just as tough or tougher than CCC. Oh dear!

WESTERN STATES 100 MILE ENDURANCE RUN

2010-07-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

6/26/10 Squaw Valley, CA to Auburn, CA

27:39:26 423 starters, 94 drops, 329 finishers, 77.7% finisher rate

201st overall, 28/59 females, 11/22 F30-39

To be frank, I have to say that I'm not very happy with this result. The people who finished after me or didn't finish at all would probably want to shoot me. Snobby beeeoch! But you know how it is. You set goals for yourself and when they don't happen, it's not hard to get disappointed. Of course, my first goal was to finish. I really never doubted that, but that's kind of bold considering I hadn't gotten any heat training. Maybe when I get my buckle in the mail, the world will be right again.

Ken, Mary Hanna (my pacer), Cliff (Ken's brother), and I left 5 o'dark in the morning Thursday (actually it was already a little light out). We drove all the way to Squaw Valley with bathroom and food stops. Cliff and Mary were sitting in the back each with their I-phones, which drove me nuts. But oh well, I'm old fashioned and not into gadgets. I just wanted to take them away from them like a mother would take away annoying toys.

The last stop we made was at In-N-Out burgers and Ken and Cliff had their first experience. Yum! We arrived at our condo at about 8:30pm, still a little light out. Everyone was stiff from being in the car, and Ken and I went for a little walk before retiring for the night. The condo is only a 1/4 mile walk to the check in and start of the race at the Olympic Village. The check in was from 9am-1pm Friday. I got there at 9:30 and there was a long line with a bunch of people already checked in. I guess most ultrarunners have OCD. The process was pretty involved. We were moved through like an assembly line. We got a bright yellow Mountain Hardware backpack, a fleece jacket, a tech shirt, Moeben arm sleeves, and a bunch other goodies. Next was the medical check. My blood pressure was good, but my pulse was 97. Okay, so I'm a little hummingbird. Maybe it was the altitude or nervousness as the lady who took it said. My weight was down, so I was dehydrated. I started downing the Nuun.

After check in and taking a few pictures, we went back to the condo. Mary, Cliff, and I went for an easy run. Friday was a pleasantly cool day, but we heard the hot temps were coming for the weekend, with Sunday being hotter. There was actually a paved path along the road and we ran that until it hit the main drag then turned around. We took a wrong turn back and ended up at the golf course. We started down the golf path and immediately heard, "Hey! You kids can't run there!" Yes we did ignore the sign that said golfers only. We told him that we were lost and just trying to get back to our condo, which we could see across the course. He directed us to a walking trail above the course and he was pretty nice about it. He must get runners going through all the time. It was a nice path and we ended up running a total of 4.5 miles. It felt good. We got back and toweled off before heading to the Olympic Village for lunch before the briefing. It looked like everyone else had the same idea.

The briefing was at 1:30 in the lawn area behind the village. It actually started to sprinkle and we were all looking at the skies. But it never got worse than spitting. The briefing was okay. It seemed to be geared more to those who are already have run the race. For newbies like me, I didn't learn anymore than what was already in the participant guide.

We headed back to the condo and I prepared my food-dim sum and perogies. We went out to sushi for dinner. I do well in races with sushi in me. Some ice cream for dessert and off to bed.

I slept pretty well. Got up and peed a couple to times-hydrated! Checked in-weight was back to normal. With clothes and shoes on and everything, my weight was 120. I kissed Ken goodbye, waved to Mary and Cliff and the clock counted down.

The temps were perfect at the start. We immediately started climbing out of Squaw Valley, starting at 6200' and heading up to Emigrant Pass at 8700'. And it was up and up and up for 3.5 miles. There was an aid station at 3 miles. The next aid station would be 10 more miles. I loaded up on fluids and headed up onto the snow. There was quite a bit of snow, even on this year where we were on the "snow route," which was supposed to be lower than the usual route. But I talked to Catra Corbett after the race. She's run the race before and said there was a lot more snow than usual, making the first part of the race before Robinson Flat a lot harder. I couldn't have agreed more.

I caught up with Francis Agboton, another WA runner. We slipped and slided all over the snow. Everyone was passing us. Next thing we know, Gordy Ansleigh (the first person to run the course and now 63) passes us romping down the snow. We did hit some no snow trails and were able to catch up with the others, but I was also getting better at running in the snow. There was plenty of getting our feet wet on trails that were basically a small creek. Everytime we thought we were done with snow, there was more. We got to mile 13 aid station at Talbot Creek. I saw Ed Cacciapaglia there. Super nice guy. I met him the day before and he raved about how he was DFL at Bighorn. He wanted to give me a hug at the aid station but after seeing how sweaty he was, I told him he was not allowed anywhere near me! Think Dick Decker :) We actually ended up hop-scotching throughout the race until Michigan Bluff, where I last saw him until the end.

Next was Poppy Trailhead aid station at 19 miles with about a mile of road before. This and Talbot creek aid station were not the usual. I had a drop bag here. I drank an Ensure. I moved on.

Next we were headed to Duncan Canyon. I couldn't remember much about this part of the race until Robinson Flat except that it was very exposed, very hot and quite a bit of climbing before getting to Robinson flat. I was getting quite tired by now and realizing it was going to take me nearly 7 hours to finish just under 30 miles. There was more snow to deal with on the way up to Robinson. The air was thin for me as well. I couldn't run the slight inclines that I normally could. I was worried that my crew had been waiting a long time. I'm glad they had each other to keep company.

I finally made it to Robinson at 6:52 and it was a zoo. Even though I could hear my name called out, I had a hard time picking out my crew. It was pretty overwhelming. I was weighed in first before my crew could help me and was at 118. Doing good on fluids. I had another Ensure and Ken put ice in a special bandana that could hold it. But I didn't end up liking it too much over the course of the day because it was thick and bulky and hard to tie around my neck. I was actually glad to rid of it by 62 miles. I tried to move through the aid station fast and gave Ken a quick kiss goodbye. This was not to be one of my better races in dealing with crew. I was not as perky as the my last CCC. I had run into more problems this race, which made me smile less.

I was irked to find that there was quite a bit of snow leaving Robinson. This added to my already longer time than desired and took me further away from the 24hr target I was dreaming about still. We did finally break out of the snow and ran down for a while on some switchbacks. It felt good to be running but I had to be careful not to push it too hard. It was still early. This downhill got us to Miller's defeat aid station at 34.4mi and 8:21. I ran into another WA runner there, Erik Swordmaker. He had ice on his quads. My quads were feeling pretty sore as well, but still worked.

More downhill running to Dusty Corners 38mi and 9:02. My weigh-ins were still good. 117 to 119. Before the race, I was dreading all the med checks, but actually found myself looking forward to my weigh-ins. It really helped me decide how much to keep hydrating. I was peeing about once an hour, which was perfect. Not too much, not too little. I didn't experience any stomach problems. Had gas from protein but no nausea. My breathing was fine, although, still I couldn't run the slight uphills, even if we had come down in altitude.

Some flat and downhill to Last Chance aid station at 43.8mi and 10:03. I had an Ensure there in my drop bag. A little boy came to help me. I asked him to dump out about a quarter and put ice in it for me. He came back looking scared. He accidentally dumped most of it out. He stuck a few pieces of ice in the bottle. I told him it was okay but inside I was thinking, "I have the big climb up Devil's thumb coming up!" I drank what little was left and took off. Just about this time, my feet were swelling and the sock combination that I started with was getting tight. I had a liner sock and a pair of Smartwool socks. My pinkie toes were jamming into my shoes. I had to start to adjust my foot plant because of the pain. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. There is a steep downhill to Deadwood canyon before the climb to Devil's thumb. My feet were hurting. I was still running down though. I heard a rattling in the bushes. I gave out a YELP! This was followed by 5-6 high knee hikes down the trail, painful on my feet but I didn't care. I slowed myself down after that adrenaline rush. Ed caught and passed me but he didn't hear any snakes when I asked him. He was out of sight soon.

I got down to Deadwood canyon and crossed the swinging bridge and sat down at the other side of the bridge (where I could see any snakes coming) and took off my liner socks. I heard the temps in the canyons got to 104. At least it was shaded. My feet felt better and the little rest helped me chug up Devil's thumb strong. I passed a lot of guys but no gals. I got to the Devil's thumb aid station at 47.8mi and 11:48 with good weight 118. I was feeling good. Got a popsicle and was on my way.

Unfortunately, my feet started hurting again on the 4 miles switchbacky down to El Dorado Canyon at 52.9mi and 13:04. Every slight misstep gave me sharp stabbing pain in one or both my pinkie toes. I knew I could not continue like this but also knew my other shoes had an even narrower toe box. I knew I was going to probably lose my pinkie nails. I had figured out a solution before I got to the the aid station.

"Does anyone have a sharp knife? I need to cut holes into my shoes." One aid station volunteer had a knife, but it was not so sharp. Fortunately, another had a sharper knife and a nice doctor cut the holes. I was going to put duct tape over the holes to keep dirt out, but it pushed on my toes too much so I went without. I noticed improvement right away and thanked all the volunteers. I figured I was going to blast up that hill like I had up Devil's thumb after the last foot adjustment rest. But crazy thing, I rested too long and my asthma kicked in. Ever notice, if you have asthma, that breathing is harder after stopping? So my first few strides up the hill and I was sucking air. And my breathing never got better. I took two puffs of albuterol, which helped a little. It took me forever to get up 2.5 miles. I was passed by several people. Just as the climb up Devil's thumb, the pace was so slow that mosquitos started feasting on my arms. Even after killing almost every insect that landed on me, the blood and carnage left on my arms did not deter their buddies. I was miserable when I got to Michigan Bluff 55.7mi and 14:22, which was the next time I saw my crew. So again, I was not in a great mood. My weight was unchanged. I grabbed more food and fluids but needed to get going. I saw a bunch of people that I had been running with all day still at the aid station when I left, like Ed and Rena Lantz, who was attempting her 10th finish or 1000 miles on this day.

My feet felt much better though and on the downhills, I could run. The ups I had to power hike, limited by my breathing. There was a creek crossing after the down and then a mile hike up to the Bath Road. I caught a few runners. It was starting to get dark when I hit the road, which was a climb up to the Foresthill road to the aid station at 62mi and 16:09-over 2 hrs over the 24hr finish pace. I knew my chances were definitely gone. If my breathing had been better, I might have been able to blast through that last 38 miles since it's my kind of running. There was about half a mile of running to the aid station after the climbon Bath road, which I did in the dark but the footing was fine.

My weight again was good. I needed to use the bathroom, but there were no porta-potties at the aid station. So I had to go all the way around the back of the school to go. Very out of the way. If I run it again, I would save it for the woods or go back at Michigan Bluff. Mary joined me at this point. I ditched my heavy bandana, changed my shirt, got my hand held light, back up headlamp in my pack, more food and Gu and headed out. I kissed Ken again and said I'd see him in a few hours. I knew I would finish, but when?

We headed down to California street and hit the trails down to the river. It was steep and technical to start before it became rolling. It was much easier when I did it on the training runs for sure. I passed quite a few people on the way to Rucky Chucky. I was able to run the down and hike the ups but the ups did wind me quite a bit. I tried to continue to eat solids, but Gu went down much easier and I would have just stuck with Gu but the calories didn't last very long and my teeth were getting sensitive. I brushed them back after Michigan Bluff and again after Mary joined me. I tried to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and my perogies. I was not into my dim sum anymore. Mary got her fall out of the way early and then was fine after that. She updated me on other runners. I kinda had wished I didn't run the training runs because I kept thinking that the aid station was just around the corner, but we were far away. I kept psyching myself out. It just became demoralizing. Somehow we got from one aid station to the next. Dardenelles (Cal 1) at 65.7 and Peachstone (Cal 2) at 70.7.

We were inching towards Rucky Chucky 78mi and 20:47. Weight still 117-119. I was so hot all day and did not cool off at night. I was so uncomfortably warm and there was only an occasional breeze. I was putting ice in my bandana and was constantly wet, causing severe chafing from my sports bra on one side. In the training run, it took me 3 hours to get from Foresthill to Rucky Chucky. It took me 4.5 hours during the race. I did get cold for the raft ride over the river and was the only time I put on my shell. It was quite fun. We put on life vests and enjoyed a couple minute ride courtesy of a very buff gal.

Next was the hike up the road to Green Gate 79.8mi and 21:33 and the last time I would see Ken and Cliff before the finish. The hike up didn't take as long as I expected. It was nice to see Ken but I was focused to keep moving and we didn't stay too long to chat. My feet were hurting too. I had developed more blisters. The holes in my shoes helped but they did still hurt. My quads were tight. My lungs burned. But we were making progress. I think I passed more people than people passing me. I was getting tired of the dark and although I wanted daylight to come, I knew that it meant I was taking longer to finish.

It seemed to take forever to get to Auburn Lakes aid station 85.2mi and 23:18 and more hill than I remembered. All I remembered were roller coaster super runnable trails. Finally we got to the aid station. My weight was 116.5. She cautioned me to drink, but I had just peed and I felt fine. I didn't trust that scale. Maybe my shoes had dried out some. We saw Francis sitting there. He had been sitting for 5 minutes but said that he had basically been walking from Foresthill to there-that's 23 miles! It seemed like every aid station that we came upon since Foresthill had a bunch of runners sitting or looking spent. I knew that I just had to avoid sitting. Francis joined us out of the aid station but he was really shuffling. Surprisingly, he shuffled fast and kept up with my so-called running. He eventually passed us. We did catch up to him again and he was shuffling slower.

We could hear the next aid station a mile before we got to it. Brown's Bar at 89.9mi and 24:43 was seen in daylight. They were very upbeat and had great potatoe soup. We each had a cup and I filled an Ensure bottle with more. Okay, 10 more miles. This included downhill then up before we got to Hwy 49 at 93.5 and 25:57. My weight was back to 118. I loaded up on fluids with no plans on stopping at No Hands bridge. A bunch of people came in around the same time, including Francis. I also saw a girl come in as I was leaving and booked it out there to keep a gap between us.

There was some more up before we ran down, down, down to No Hands. At about 95 miles, I had a nosebleed. I thought my nose was just running, but I wiped it and wiped it again before I realized it was blood. I shoved tissue up that nostril and ran with it for the next mile. I took it out before No Hands because I didn't want them to see it and hold me back. I just sniffed up what was still bleeding and swallowed it. It eventually stopped. But I must have been a pretty site for that mile.

We got to No Hands 96.8mi. I asked if there was a weigh in. They said no so I said to Mary, need anything? Let's just go. I chugged the last of my potatoe soup. The next 3.4 miles were not easy. It had a lot of up and there was only one creek crossing to keep us cool. I was getting really hot. I walked and ran as much as I could. There was one final climb up that I couldn't run. We passed more people. One of them was Amy Palmiero-Winters, who was attempting to be the first Amputee to finish the race. I passed her with a little over 2 miles to go. I was thinking and told Mary, "I don't want to be the girl who passed Amy in the end. I also don't want to be the girl after Amy." But I just wanted to be done. So I kept going. (She was passed by another girl, the one I saw coming into Hwy 49 as I was leaving.) We finally got to Robie Point and 1.3 more road miles to go at 98.9mi and 27:21. It was a long uphill before the down and still a hill after that! I got a cup of ice water and dumped it on me and took a swig. I pushed that last bit as much as I could.

Finally, I saw the turn into the high school stadium and ran as fast as I could that last 3/4 track. No one passed me, I didn't pass anyone. I thanked Mary and crossed the finish line in 27:39:26. Ken was yelling my name but I couldn't hear him. My final weight was 119, started at 120. I participated in a study and they took my blood pressure, pulse, and blood. My BP was 117/91 and pulse was 124. My sodium was 139, smack in the middle of normal. No signs of hyponatremia. I will be getting my CK or muscle enzyme result later. Curious to know what that is.

A bunch of WA runners finished within an hour of me before and after. I changed, drank, ate a little, and just basically wilted in the heat. I was so uncomfortable even in the shade as were my crew. We hung around watching others finish, including Rena Lantz for her 1000 miles and Ed. Ed gave me a big hug-he said not getting away now! The Awards ceremony was not to start until 12:30 or 1pm and when I heard that it lasted 3 hrs last year, I said we were outta there and my crew did not object. We packed up with everyone watching us leave but I didn't care. Remember, we only had one day of 75 before this so we were miserable. Everyone had something to eat but I needed more fuel. We stopped at the In-N-Out burger. It was packed! With non-runners! I got two, yes TWO burgers and fries and we hit the road.

Some other notes about the race. My back, which has been bothering me for over a year, did not hurt at all! I forgot to put sunscreen at the split of my hair on the top of my head for my pigtails and I ended up blistering there and getting a bad case of dandruff later in the week when it peeled off. I ended up passing 40 people from Foresthill (62mi), 5-6 of them were girls, and that did not include the drops. It did not appear I was passed by anyone from there from my compilation of the results.

It felt good being in an air conditioned car. Turns out it was 100 degrees at the high school and as we were driving north towards Ashland, OR, we hit temps of 110. It was much more pleasant by the time be got to Ashland in the early evening. We checked into a hotel, had mexican food and Margaritas, and then crashed. I actually slept fine.

We drove the rest of the way home Monday, stopping for breakfast in Roseburg. We got home about 5pm. Sleep was more restless for my work day the next day, where I struggled to stay awake. I recovered well enough to have a good run the following Saturday at Cougar but I have to say my quads have never taken so long to recover. The downhill at Cougar set my quad recovery back a day. As they say about Western, it's a downhill course except for the uphills! As I was running Western, I said to myself, I just need to do this once. But after two days, I was saying, "I could do that better." We all know how that is but all know too that that is not always the case. I returned to Bighorn thinking I couldn't do it any slower than the first time. It took me two more hours!

As I write this, today's temps reached 90 and tomorrow is expected to be over 95. Where was all this heat I needed for training?

GETTING READY FOR WESTERN

2010-07-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

I really tried to get myself psyched up for Western. Even bought my crew and pacer shirts from the Western States store. I bought iron on letters. For Ken, "Hubby Ken," for Mary Hanna, "Pacer Mary,", and for Ken's brother Cliff, "Bro-in-Law Cliff." On the back I had "Go Pigtails!" for all their shirts. We also watched a couple Western States documentaries. Here are the highlights of my training after my birthday run:

3/7/10 I ran the Lord Hill 50K 6:27 after my 39 mile B-daythe day before with Jess Mullen and Alison Moore.

3/20/10 Pac Rim One Day-102 miles. Felt achy the whole time. Worked a lot the week before on my feet-probably had something to do with it (I hope). I think I stopped too many times on the one mile loop. Should have run with a hydration pack. Doesn't matter, don't think I'll run it again. Jess rocked with a win with 116 miles!

3/28/10 Redmond Watershed Marathon 4:22. Not quite recovered from the one day but great to get back on the trails.

4/4/10 Soaring Eagle 50K 6:06. Nice to try new trails. Enjoyed it! Ran easy cause of 100 miler coming up.

4/10/10 Lumberjack 100 mile 23:47. 1st woman. Happy to get under 24hrs. Had to push it. Jess paced me last 50 miles. Thanks! Tough course. Winding, technical, very muddy in places.

4/17/10 Ten mile training run on Tiger. Had to walk the last 2 miles. Severe back pain. had been dealing with back pain for over a year now but never this severe. Very worrisome for me. But ran the next day at Cougar and did okay. Still, pain coming on that suddenly is not good.

4/25/10 Rucky Chucky 30K with a few friends. Good times! Thanks Gwen for organizing!

5/1/10 Miwok 100K 12:35. Great weekend! Stayed with my brother. Had fun the entire race. My finishing time was not that much more than three years ago.

5/6/10 Started new job at Valley Orthopedic Associates. So the last 2 months had been quite stressful waiting to get the job. So great to go from a 45 mile commute to 9 mile commute!

5/15/10 Redmond Watershed 12hr run. 100K. Was overall happy with result. Had muscle cramps the last half. Alison won with 66 miles but happy to report that my 71 mile course record still stands!

5/22/10 Snake to Lake training run 46 miles. Ran this with a group I have been training with for a while. A couple of them, Pat Ackley and Tracey Nguyen were training for San Diego 100 mile, Tracey's first. The other runners in our group were either pacers or carpool buddies for other runs. This run started with us dipping our feet in Rattlesnake Lake at the start and then into Lake Washington at the finish 13.5 hrs later after running over Rattlesnake ridge, Tiger Mt, Squawk Mt, and Cougar Mt. All weather conditions: rain, snow, sleet, hail , sun, thunder and lightning. Our friend from the Georgia (?) Ransom, said we had just about everything except hurricane and tornados. He's coming back to run CCC later this summer. Needed hill training.

5/29-5/31/10 Western States Training runs: 28mi, 19mi, and 22mi. Drove down with Val Beyer and stayed with her parents. Great weekend! Would recommend to anyone training for 100 miler, even if not in Western. Price was right and there were aid stations and well marked trails. In-N-Out burger every day after runs-yeah baby! Back did hurt day one but had sat in a cramped car for 14 hrs the day before. Loved the trails but as you will read later, doing them at night during the race in warmer temps made them much harder.

Had planned on one more race on 6/5/10 but it was cancelled, so had 3 week taper before Western. Did some heat training by sitting in a steam room, but nothing mimics running in hot weather other than running in hot weather. We've had a cool summer. Only one day of 75 degrees. Otherwise, rain and cold.

39 miles on my 39th birthday

2010-03-06T19:47:00.000-08:00

Saturday, March 6, 2010

This was my best birthday ever! It was great to celebrate my health doing what I love best with great friends. Last year I ran 38 miles at Kendall Kreft's 6 hr run, which is a flat, paved out and back bike path up north. This year I wanted more variety and decided that running on trails sounded fun. I had 3 gals stupid, ...er, I mean willing enough to join me: Jess Mullen, Allison Moore, and Gwen Scott. All were super excited like me. Unfortunately, the weekend before my B-day run, Gwen did a serious number on her ankle at Tiger, sustaining a painful avulsion fracture of her fibula. She couldn't bear weight on it for 2 days and the swelling was intense, as I'm sure was the pain. She was supremely bummed to miss our outing, but being the true friend that she is, Gwen hooked up with Allison Friday to have her pass on her present to me. Allison said she was limping in pain. Gwen knows me so well and got me post-run recovery foods: Kettle Salt and Pepper chips, bananas, and organic chocolate milk. Jess got me Bialy-a special ciabatta bread/bagel with onion in the center, Succeed caps (perfect timing since I just ran out), and some Nuun. Allison baked me yummy pumpkin-chocolate bread and brought candles for post run lighting, a scone from Starbucks, and Expletive band-aids (also perfect timing since I ran out of band-aids too). The band-aids said "F-ck," "Sh-t," "Crap," and "Balls." Fun!

The weather forecast looked really good and it was actually accurate. We met at 7am in the parking area off the top of Hwy 18. Temp at the start was 31 and would more than double by the time we finished to 63. Not a cloud in the sky. Perfect! I must have done something good lately. Allison brought her camera and she took a pre-start picture. Several more pictures during the run and a post run pic as well. The run was split into 3 parts (see description at the end if you are ever interested in a good training run for a 50 miler or beyond). I told the gals it should take us about 8 hours. We finished in 8:03. Do I know my pace or what? The first leg was all on service road. I didn't want to be out there forever, and I thought this would keep the total time reasonable. Jess had introduced me to this road when she needed to avoid single track for awhile to let her foot heal. It is a 16 mile round trip to Poo Poo point that is rolling (so not straight up and straight down) with general direction up of course to get to the point. We did it in 2:50 and came back to the cars to replenish. It was good to get a significant distance out of the way in a relatively short period of time. At the point, someone took our picture.

The next leg included a lot of single trail. After a short section of road, we turned onto the Iverson Railroad trail and pretty soon ran into to Jamie Gifford, Jim Kerby, and another guy I didn't know (or maybe I have met him somewhere but couldn't tell you his name). Jamie amd Jim gave me a hug. I told them it was my brithday, and Jim said, "29 already?" We enjoyed the Iverson trail and hit the road for a short section before hitting the TMT, which we stayed on for a while. Jess and Allison had not run on some of the parts of the TMT that we ran and enjoyed those trails as well. Finally, we hit a familiar section when we got on the Paw Print trail and a short section on the East Tiger Trail. Instead of continuing on that trail, we turned down on the Preston RR Trail for 2.6 miles of downhill, with quite a bit of technical. Allison fell here onto one of her sides. Although a little slow to get up, we were running again soon. I had tripped twice already but didn't fall (just a couple of pulled muscles that relaxed back quickly). We then hit 2 miles of road, mostly downhill before getting onto NW Timber Trail, which had a net descent but there seemed to be a lot of up with each down. Allison fell again, on the other side, a little quicker to get up this time. We finally arrived back to the cars with this leg being 14.7 miles that took us 3:20.

Replenished again and headed out for the last and shortest leg of 8.4 miles. After 2 miles on road, we turned towards the South Tiger loop and ran a nice downhill on the TMT before turning back up on the South Tiger Traverse and finishing off on the road back. With all our stops, be finished strong in 8:03, even running the last hill. Hugs all around at the end. Sunshine, T-shirts, and shorts were the order for the day. After a quick change of clothes, we put candles on the birthday bread and Allison and Jess sang me a birthday song! I made my wish and blew out the non-blowable candles. Jess said my wish should still come true. For the last half of the run, all Allison could talk about was how she was going to get Jamba Juice afterwards and Jess was going to get some chips and a soda. They also said they were going to have an ice bath tonight. Damn! That means I should ice too, and I didn't really want to!

I called Gwen and left her a message saying thank you for the card and gift. I headed to The Rock Pizza place and got my birthday dinner (Ken was still out climbing). It's nice that he did something fun as well. I hate to be out all day having fun when he is working. I came home and had an ice bath then a nice long shower. Ken came home not too long after and we heated up the pizzas in the oven. It was just as good as if it had just come out of their wood-fire ovens. I got roses, a fun-loving card, and tickets for both of us to a ballet/dance show in April. Some stretching and then to bed for a 50K the next day. Jess ran it too and even did 17 miles on Friday. That makes 87 miles in 3 days. That out did my 70 miles, but then again, she is younger....

Here is my B-day route:

B-day run-39 miles
Park outside gates. Up road thru left gate 0.4 mi
Through gate to West side road 1.5mi (1.8 total)
Onto Road 1000 3.7mi (5.5)
Right onto West side road 2.3 (7.8)
Run to the paraglider take off point 0.2mi (8.0)
Back down road 8mi to cars (16.0)
Done with first leg-replenish

Go up road thru right gate 0.3mi (16.3)
Left Iverson RR Trail (stay right after 0.3mi) 1.8mi (18.1)
Right onto Road 1000 0.3mi (18.4)
Right TMT 1.2mi to Karl’s gap (19.6)
Stay on TMT 0.4 mi to Millan’s Crossing (20)
Straight on TMT (not Middle Tiger Tr) 1.2mi to Hal’s Cove (21.2)
Stay right on TMT 0.7mi (21.9)
Right on 15 Mile RR grade 0.2mi(22.1)
Cross road thru rest stop to Paw Print Connector tr 0.7mi (22.8)
Right onto East Tiger Trail 1.1mi (23.9)
Left Preston RR grade 2.6mi (26.5)
Left then quick right to Road 7000 (not thru gate) 2.0mi (28.5)
Right NW Timber Trail 1.9mi (30.4)
Left down road to cars 0.3mi (30.7)
Done with second leg-replenish

Start out like first leg up West side road 1.8mi (32.5)
Onto Road 1000 0.3mi (32.8)
Left towards S Tiger thru gate and stay left on road 0.2mi (33)
Onto to TMT 1.1 (34.1)
Thru powerline tr and look for trail left to keep on TMT 0.8mi (34.9)
Next intersection stay right 0.2mi up through powerline trail (35.1)
Continue on South Tiger Traverse 1.8mi (36.9)
Left on Road 0.1mi (37)
Right Road 1000 0.3m1 (37.3)
Stay right on West Side road 1.8mi (39.1)
Finish! And feeling my 39 years of age!

2010 Pigtails 5th Annual Lake Youngs Run

2010-01-28T17:39:00.000-08:00

January 23, 2010

We had our largest field yet in this year’s race with 170 runners (42 one loopers, 48 two loopers, and 80 50Kers). Unfortunately, our fair weather was incorrectly forecasted and we had rain for most of the race, with it coming down hard at times. Everyone took it well and the sun came out just in time for us to tear down all the tents and gear.

The months leading up to the race were uneventful. I had all my permits. The only thing I was worried about was that I was scheduled to be on call starting Friday and going through the weekend for two hospitals. I was looking at a very stressful weekend with this and my race. I called the hospitals at 9pm Friday night to pre-empt any issues that they had with the patients and was told things were okay. Next thing you know I get 5 pages late that night with the kind of issues that I could have handled earlier. It’s always hard for me to go back to sleep after a string of calls like that. Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep before having to get up at 4am to get ready to set up for the race. My husband was up too and helped me all day. This kept him from his work (he works 7 days a week), but he is used to being the spouse of a runner, and for the last 5 years, the spouse of a race director for 2 races a year.

We arrived at the start/finish at 5:30 and started setting up in the rain. Tony Covarrubias and Shawn McTaggart were just finishing their first loop with plans on 5 loops plus my out and back to make it a 50 mile day, which they finished in 9hr45min (disregard their 50K time, since they started their 50K run after you all had left). They are both training for a 200 mile race in Vermont this spring. I had run the McNaughton 150 mile with them last year, and I wanted them to be the guinea pigs for the 200 mile distance before subjecting myself and my husband to this insane run. Just like McNaughton, it is a 10 mile loop done over and over, but if the 10 mile loop is tamer in Vermont than in Pekin, IL, then I might be game for it next year. After giving us a hand setting up our shelter, they took off for loop #2.

After we got the tent up and unloaded most of our gear, I ran up the trail briefly to mark the first turn down the hill for the counter-clockwise direction with flour. I came back and found that Cliff Richards, Ken’s brother, and Jerry Thayer, a fellow Maple Valley runner, had arrived. Let me tell you a little about each of them. Most of you know Cliff “quack, quack” Richards, a PT and Maniac who runs like a duck but seemingly able to do it fast. He clocked a 2:51 at last year’s Newport Marathon and has a faster PR. However, he had been dealing with injuries in the second half of 2009 with the last injury affecting one of his knees. He turned to cross training and got to be a better and better swimmer, but every time he tried running, he’d get set back in his knee pain. Then he had an incident where he fell in early December sustaining a patella fracture requiring placements of screws. He’s been in a straight leg immobilizer since. They suspected that he had a stress fracture in his kneecap that finally fractured further with the fall. The good news is that he at least knows that after healing from the surgery and going through rehab, he can start running again. It’s always nice to have that light at the end of the tunnel. It was very nice of him to stand around all day in the cold for me and the runners. He also let me borrow his big clock and timing machine. He took over the responsibility for the loop splits and finish times.

Jerry Thayer is a sweetheart. After my December race, he informed me that he had several shelters, propane heaters, tables, chairs, and a generator that he could bring to this race. I took him up on the offer. However, he not only let me use his stuff, he came early to help set up, ran one loop, and stuck around to the very end to help take down everything. Jerry knows that the trash generated from my races is a hardship for me since we don’t have garbage pickup. We haul all our trash to the transfer station and only do this 2 or 3 times a year. He had taken half of the trash from my December race and took all the trash for this race. He hooked up his coffee maker for runners to have a fresh brew. And he did all this while apparently, his wife was having car troubles further south in Tacoma and had to be towed in. Jerry was, simply put, the best volunteer a race director could ask for. I gave him some bacon and eggs from our pigs and chickens for all his help, but this seemed little compared to what he did for me.

I started checking in runners at 6:30am. Of the 95 runners who registered for the 50K, I had 6 no shows. Of the 32 2 loopers who registered, I had 4 no shows, and 7 no shows for 35 one loopers. There was a lot of shuffling around of distance during the day, with most calling it good at running one less loop than planned. I had 2 one loopers go for the 2 loops option and one 2 looper go to the 50K option, Michael Lynes, who went on to win the 50K in course record time. More on that later.

I had quite a few day of race registrants. I just couldn’t say no to them. I finished checking in everyone with about 2 minutes to the start. It was raining and half the field was crammed in under the three tents we had set up. I made a brief announcement to keep people from having to stand around in the cold. I told everyone to be careful running down that first steep hill. Looking around, I couldn’t believe the numbers of runners present! A quick 5-4-3-2-1-GO! and they were off! Next year, I need to have someone stand in front of the posts there at the trailhead. Some runners almost ran right into them. After the throngs left, there were still 5 runners in the Honey Bucket line. Next year, I will bring in another one in addition to the park one.

Ken and Cliff had loaded Ken’s SUV with all the donated food and drove back to our house to unload them to take to the food bank next week. We needed the space for all the gear we brought to take home after the race. Sara Malcom had shown up at check in and helped me get the numbers to the one and two loopers. Tony Phillippi helped Cliff check in the 50K runners while Ken organized all the food donations coming at him in all directions. After Ken and Cliff left, Sara helped me lay all the food out and heated up the soups while I ran out and marked the 50K out and back with flour. Sara was kind enough to volunteer after having signed up for the race and coming down with an injury in the last 2 weeks. She is having shin pain checked out by her doctor. She did a great job yelling out numbers to Cliff as they were coming in and serving hot soup. As you might recall, she won my December 50K race on the Cedar River Trail in record time. I came back wet and it took me a while to warm up, even after putting on another layer of fleece. Ken and Cliff had returned while I was out marking and not long after that, Michael Lynes came in on his first loop in 1:06. Several more guys came in within the next 2 minutes, some continuing on for their second loop, others finishing one loop for the day. Michael said he was cold and must have tried to warm up by running faster, since he ran the second loop in 1:04 with a total time now of 2:10, which broke the old overall course record for 2 loops of 2:13. He had signed up for 2 loops but decided to keep going. I’m not sure if he had looked up the course record for the 50K, but unless he totally blew up, he was on pace to break it by 15 minutes. He rounded the corner finishing his 3rd loop in 3:16, matching his first loop. He finished in 3:32:13, breaking the course record by 16 minutes! He said that last out and back and especially that last hill just about did him in. He was shaking quite a bit after changing clothes. That boy needs to get some more body fat on him! Congratulations on a phenomenal run! Michael is a physical therapist in the Tacoma area. He won $31 for breaking the course record and donated it right back to the food bank. What a guy! He was covered all the way up to his mid-back with mud. He must have quite a kick with his stride. In fact, many runners had the same look! Michael was the overall and masters winner. Spencer Coates took the first male open with a time of 4:00:18. He was disappointed at missing breaking 4 hours but overall was pleased with his performance. He had left about the same time as Chris Warren for the out and back but managed to put in a gap of over a minute.

The 50K female race started to heat up in the third loop. Mary Hanna, who was using this race as her final long run before heading to Arizona to defend her title at the Lost Dutchman Marathon on Valentine’s Day, came in first after the 3rd loop. Ginger, who runs similar marathon times, came in shortly after and turned around and headed immediately out. Mary ran after her for the out and back, having stopped to take off her wet shell and grab something to drink. For the next 20 minutes we wondered who would round that corner first. Ginger came sprinting in at 4:45:59 with Mary 6 seconds behind! Looks like the youngin’ won this time. Mary was first masters. Both were short of the course records (4:18 for open and 4:29 for masters). Ginger won sausage from our pigs and Mary took home farm fresh eggs. Many made comments about that last big hill at the end of the out and back, one describing it as “That 10,000 foot hill,” another “That climb up Mt. Everest,” and "Cruel and unusual punishment." I just say, “You’re welcomed!”

Two loops runners have a nice distance option. Often times, one loop seems too short, but making the jump to 50K is a stretch, so they get a good day in with 19.6 miles. Kyle McCoy was the only runner able to stay anywhere near Michael Lynes and finished the 2 loops with a time of 2:13:29, which tied the old course record (in previous years, I did not record seconds, so the old course record was marked at 2:13 and with it being this close, I just call them essentially tied). That’s some fast running on such a miserable day! The first male masters and second overall was Russ Otani, in a time of 2:19:56, which was impressive since he said he has not run on trails before. The first female was Iliana Sach, who clocked one minute short of the course record with a time of 2:33:14. First female masters was Barb Blumenthal in 3:07:43. Good job ladies!

This day was a good day to run just one loop. Dave LaTourette did so in fine fashion taking the overall and masters win in 1:08:50. The first open male was Larry Baldwin in 1:16:47. First overall and masters female and previous one loop masters course record holder, Karen Leahy, missed her own record by 3 seconds in a time of 1:14:39. First female open was Heather Hull in 1:34:32. Congratulations to all the winners!

We stuck around for everyone to finish of course. Jennie Eyring, who works for Nuun, also stuck around until the very end, making sure that all the runners had access to Nuun. She came early and set up two 5-gallon jugs with Nuun, two flavors. The Gatorade that I made went relatively untouched while the Nuun was a big hit, so much so that Jennie had to make another batch of each flavor. Thanks Jennie for coming and running two loops and keeping our runners hydrated.

Eric and Iliana Sach from the Balanced Athlete in Kent kept us supplied with gels. That was the one item I did not purchase this year because of their cost but Eric and Iliana stepped up to the plate. It’s nice to have running store owners participate in local races and supporting the race directors.

Andre O’Donnell came and ran two loops, the longest since May because of injury and took over soup duty when Sara left with the other runners she had come with. I can’t thank people enough for pitching in. Ken went and got pizza for the volunteers and the runners at a nearby Shakey’s and even made a second trip when we ran out. Sorry to those of you who didn’t get any. I just didn’t want him to make a third trip. Most people who came after the pizza seemed satisfied with the spread that we had post race.

I’m planning on dropping the food donations off to the Food Bank this week (or Ken) along with a monetary donation. Many thanks to everyone for your generosity. Previously when I have given them supplies and money, they have been very grateful, especially since donations have been down with the recession.

So, what should I do different next year? I might have to put a cap on the number of runners at 200 after such a big jump in participants this year. Parking is the main issue, and also just being able to handle that many runners with a few volunteers. Luckily for me, there is always someone injured! If you have some reasonable suggestions, let me know. I might try to offer a memento that you can purchase for the race, such as socks with a race logo or gloves. No shirts! Everyone has enough shirts. For my December race, I plan on offering possibly a beanie with race logo for the 5th annual event. I didn’t get my act together enough for this year’s 5th annual Lake Youngs run. But no promises, these are just thoughts. Would there be enough of an interest?

Anyway, thanks for coming out for another big party on the muddy trails. Remember, if you hear the sound of light footsteps coming up behind you on the trails at your next race, beware! It might just be me coming in for the kill!

Pigtails ; )

Results below might be 10 seconds or so off from what you have since our timing machine that Cliff was entering splits and final times didn't kick in right away for some reason at the start. Also, when there were large groups that came in, we started entering times before everyone got to the aid station and some of your friend's times are not exactly the same as yours. I tried to make sure that if you came in with someone at the finish, I have the same time for all of you. Some people's split times were missed. A couple ladies who signed up for the 1 loop wanted more miles but did not come back to the start before heading out again, so I made a note that their time was a 13 mile time. Remember, this was a fun run, but if I have one of your times really off, let me know. I will have this race report and the final draft of the results on my web site after about a week in case I hear from people.

9.6mi
1,Dave,LaTourette,M47,1:08:44,1st M Masters
2,Gregg,Walchli,M47,1:08:58,2nd M Masters
3,Karen,Leahy,F41,1:14:39,1st F Masters, Female Masters CR
4,Ron,Horton,M41,1:15:56,3rd M Masters
5,Larry,Baldwin,M37,1:16:47,1st M Open
6,Ben,Barlag,M27,1:19:03,2nd M Open
7,Mark,Howard,M53,1:19:33
8,Jeff,Howell,M46,1:19:40
9,Jerry,Thayer,M55,1:20:48
10,Brian,Hatch,M40,1:24:26
11,Randy,Haagens,M56,1:26:45
12,Stuart,Johnston,M52,1:27:48
13,Lisa,Switzer,F46,1:32:04,2nd F Masters
14,Leon,Willey,M43,1:34:05
15,Heather,Hull,F28,1:34:32,1st F Open
16,Nicole,Santee,F34,1:35:45,2nd F Open
17,Patti,Krebsbach,F47,1:36:34,3rd F Masters
18,Clare,Nance,F45,1:38:56
19,Robert,MacGregor,M51,1:39:29
20,Yvonne,Eckles,F40,1:42:20
21,Sherri,Brady,F32,1:42:22,3rd F Open
22,Susan,Holmes,F47,1:42:59
Yvonne,Walker,F38,1:42:59
24,Kristin,Johnson,F37,1:43:09
Craig,Nelson,M37,1:43:09,3rd M Open
26,Ralph,McCauley,M53,1:43:28
27,Danielle,Rideout,F31,1:45:16
28,Michael,Crandall,M33,1:46:38
29,Linda,Brooking,F39,1:52:01
30,Jonathan,Yoon,M32,1:56:11
31,Susan,Worden,F45,1:56:33
32,Lynn,Yarnall,F59,1:57:20
33,Morrie,Bills,F41,1:59:59
34,Zale,Carroll,F43,2:02:30
35,Ann,Hobson,F47,2:05:31,13mi time
Tracy,Jones,F39,2:05:31,13mi time
37,Tamara,Cartwright,F48,2:10:43
39,Jane,Herzog,F46,2:13:38
40,Joleen,Weese,F34,2:20:08
41,Linda,Rinker,F67,2:27:37
42,Amy,Lynes,F43,2:36:06

Female Open CR: Amy Grable 1:14:36 2007,Female Masters CR: Karen Leahy 1:14:39 2010
Male Open CR: Bjorn Begelman 1:02:13 2009,Male Masters CR: Gerg Walchli 1:05:47 in 2009
Overall CR Male Bjorn Begelman (2009) 1:02:13 and Female Amy Grable (2007) 1:14:36

19.2mi
1,Kyle,McCoy,M31,1:08:28,2:13:29,1st M Open, Male Open CR
2,Russ,Otani,M50,1:10:48,2:19:56,1st M Masters
3,Ben,Cruzat,M32,1:14:48,2:27:34,2nd M Open
4,Eric,Sach,M41,1:14:18,2:27:40,2nd M Masters
5,Martin,Saxer,M41,1:14:08,2:28:09,3rd M Masters
6,Brennan,Wallin,M14,1:10:29,2:32:54,3rd M Open, 14 years old!
7,Iliana,Sach,F31,1:14:38,2:33:14,1st F Open
8,Chris,Davis,M42,1:15:30,2:33:20
9,Shawn,Leonard,M46,1:18:18,2:41:31
10,Tiffany,Crumbaugh,F37,1:20:53,2:43:01,2nd F Open
11,Davin,Hagman,M49,1:15:48,2:44:03
12,Andre,O'Donnell,M31,1:18:15,2:47:14
13,Steven,Yee,M50,1:29:06,2:54:59
14,Arthur,Martineau,M,1:27:10,2:58:31,Wonderdog Sheila
15,Brian,Gormley,M43,1:24:03,2:58:45
16,Timothy,Shelley,M61,1:32:02,2:59:42
17,Narvie,Seals,M43,1:24:08,3:02:33
18,Barb,Blumenthal,F53,1:32:06,3:07:43,1st F Masters
19,Barbara Rose,Chateaubriand,F48,1:34:24,3:09:26,2nd F Masters
20,Earl,Fenstermacher,M60,1:32:38,3:10:17
21,Fawn,Freeman,F49,1:28:27,3:10:42,3rd F Masters
Mitch,Parker,M49,1:28:24,3:10:42
23,Janet,Howe,F50,1:34:56,3:16:25
24,Jennie,Eyring,F35,1:35:38,3:18:01,3rd F Open
25,Peter,Kline,M57,1:27:20,3:18:04
26,Eric,Wildt,M37,1:32:49,3:18:16
27,Rebecca,Wallick,F53,1:33:55,3:20:11,Wonderdog Finn MacCool
28,Randy,Doblar,M56,1:38:40,3:21:01
29,Jeff,Carlsen,M43,1:35:57,3:27:59
30,David,Ford,M40,1:40:51,3:28:02
31,Aimee,Bishop,F39,1:40:53,3:28:07
32,Sharon,Ilstrup,F45,1:34:02,3:29:23
33,Heidi,Hansen,F40,no time loop one,3:30:43
34,Cole,Brooking,M34,1:46:08,3:34:34
35,Lisa,Agron,F39,no time loop one,3:34:59
36,George,Wiggins,M55,1:41:47,3:35:43
37,Linda,Walter,F58,1:44:59,3:42:15
38,Susan,Sisson,F51,1:45:39,3:44:35
39,Bill,Greaves,M56,1:45:54,3:47:48
40,Karen,Wiggins,F50,1:44:56,3:48:38
41,Heather,Myers,F43,1:52:41,3:51:33
42,Sherrie,Marble,F47,1:52:46,3:51:36
43,Laura,Houston,F54,1:51:09,4:01:51
Ali,Livengood,F44,1:41:25,4:01:51
Robin,Loen,F49,1:51:12,4:01:51
46,Christine,Buchanan,F28,1:55:38,4:11:32
47,Steve,Duncan,M41,1:55:28,4:11:34
48,Phillip,King,M50,1:52:13,4:20:46

Female Open CR: Annie Theissen 2:32:00 2008,Female Masters CR: Fawn Freeman 2:49:00 2006
Male Open CR: Kyle McCoy (2010) John Collins (2009) 2:13:29,Male Masters CR: Rich Nelly 2:16:39 2007
Overall CR Male John Collins (2009) and Kyle McCoy(2010) 2:13:29 and Female Annie Thiessen (2008) 2:32:00

50K
1,Michael,Lynes,M43,1:06:13,2:10:26,3:15:59,3:32:13,1st M Masters, Overall CR
2,Spencer,Coates,M21,1:14:37,2:29:14,3:44:04,4:00:18,1st M Open
3,Chris,Warren,M42,1:11:02,2:27:13,3:44:16,4:01:47,2nd M Masters
4,Tim,Stroh,M47,1:14:32,2:34:06,3:54:05,4:12:05,3rd M Masters
5,Scott,Sebelsky,M48,1:15:54,2:34:22,3:54:53,4:14:22
6,Bruce,Hoff,M47,1:14:35,2:31:54,3:56:01,4:15:56
7,Terry,Sentinella,M45,1:15:44,2:36:52,no time loop 3,4:23:44
8,Steve,Roberge,M37,1:15:34,2:31:17,4:04:56,4:31:11,2nd M Open
9,Mike,Schlecht,M39,1:20:18,2:44:09,4:17:54,4:39:31,3rd M Open
10,Robert,Towne,M57,1:19:15,2:44:18,no time loop 3,4:41:36
11,Ginger,Gruber,F39,1:26:51,3:00:23,4:28:29,4:45:59,1st F Open, 1st 50k and longest run
12,Mary,Hanna,F48,1:24:00,2:57:16,4:27:35,4:46:05,1st F Masters, Wonderdog Emily
13,Francie,Hankins,F45,1:29:20,3:07:21,no time loop 3,4:47:13,2nd F Masters
14,Steve,Stoyles,M53,1:22:47,2:51:28,4:24:30,4:47:25
Eric,Barnes,M53,1:22:44,2:51:26,4:24:30,4:47:25
16,Tony,Phillippi,M48,1:15:46,2:36:55,4:21:59,4:53:09
17,Beverly,Schubert,F48,1:27:39,2:57:10,4:31:18,4:54:15,3rd F Masters, 1st 50K
18,Olaf,Weckner,M34,1:29:03,2:56:08,4:43:05,4:57:05
19,Jae-Byung,Jung,M39,1:25:43,2:53:52,4:31:21,4:57:39
20,Jeff,Rankin,M,1:25:00,2:55:00,4:37:54,4:58:54
21,Mark,Hartinger,M53,1:31:29,3:07:45,4:43:14,5:03:33
22,Steve,Walters,M29,1:26:23,3:00:25,4:46:40,5:10:55
23,Bob,Satko,M49,1:30:44,3:10:08,4:48:31,5:12:38,1st 50K, 4 races in 57 days
24,Guy,Yogi,M56,1:26:47,3:00:17,4:49:29,5:12:54
25,Matt,Hagen,M39,1:32:40,3:08:16,4:51:55,5:13:20
26,Ryan,McKnight,M37,1:27:15,2:58:33,4:49:27,5:16:40
27,Andy,Fritz,M43,1:34:59,3:12:12,4:52:04,5:16:52,16min 50K PR
28,Lorie,Alexander,F50,1:30:30,3:08:23,4:53:54,5:18:14
Tracy,Brown,F48,1:29:38,3:13:02,4:54:50,5:18:14
30,Ken,Briggs,M58,1:34:47,3:12:01,4:54:49,5:18:23
31,Paul,Grove,M32,1:29:08,3:06:07,4:53:03,5:18:58
32,Robert,Lopez,M43,1:37:19,3:20:13,5:00:28,5:20:41
33,Craig,Hanela,M34,1:15:25,3:07:40,4:56:52,5:21:30
Scott,Krell,M49,1:31:35,3:08:42,4:57:01,5:21:30
35,Glen,Mangiantini,M52,1:30:00,3:08:38,4:56:18,5:22:24,Wonderdog Oliver's first 50K
36,Patrick,Ackley,M40,1:27:17,3:10:20,4:59:01,5:22:51
Tracey,Nguyen,F36,1:35:43,3:10:23,4:59:04,5:22:51,2nd F Open
38,Josh,Owen,M31,1:39:42,3:17:27,5:00:08,5:23:32
39,Aaron,Cunningham,M36,1:32:42,3:08:13,4:59:41,5:25:33
40,John,Anderson,M48,1:34:54,3:13:42,5:01:20,5:27:11,1st 50K
41,Seth,Wolpin,M37,1:23:44,3:11:41,5:06:04,5:27:19
42,Robert,Eichelsdoerfer,M49,1:41:27,3:21:11,5:06:57,5:30:26
43,Roger,Adams,M60,1:34:27,3:20:17,5:07:28,5:31:18,1st 50K
44,Kurt,Lauer,M48,1:32:40,3:12:57,5:04:34,5:31:36
45,Matt,Glew,M30,1:30:32,3:13:17,5:07:26,5:33:05
46,BJ,Farish,M36,1:30:48,3:10:14,5:04:05,5:36:30,50K PR by 1hr, B-day next day!
47,Scott,Flett,M62,1:36:12,3:22:24,5:14:53,5:43:46
48,Meg,Burtch,F53,1:42:28,3:30:45,no time loop 3,5:44:22
Kim,Lobree,F47,1:42:37,3:30:46,no time loop 3,5:44:22
50,Jessica,Bienvenue,F31,1:36:29,3:27:56,5:21:03,5:45:21,3rd F Open
51,Sarah,Lynch,F31,1:39:21,3:31:39,5:25:22,5:50:25
Julie,Cassata,F28,1:38:22,3:31:41,5:25:24,5:50:25,One extra loop on own before race
53,Peter,Corduan,M50,1:29:57,3:14:02,5:19:03,5:51:56
54,Heather,Mar,F43,1:34:04,3:21:43,5:30:42,5:55:16
55,Jamshid,Khajavi,M56,1:31:31,3:15:31,5:28:09,5:58:55,Blisters from HURT 100Mi Hawaii last weekend
56,Dean,Kayler,M46,1:43:32,3:39:28,5:37:11,6:03:21
57,Valerie,Beyer,F47,1:43:34,3:39:30,5:37:09,6:04:17
58,Leslie,Miller,F29,1:42:26,3:33:24,5:35:24,6:04:20
Brian,Pendleton,M55,1:42:24,3:33:25,5:35:20,6:04:20
60,Marilyn ,Pyke,F48,1:34:46,3:25:34,5:35:22,6:05:05
Brian,Starkey,M44,1:37:53,3:31:03,5:35:26,6:05:05
62,Vera,Hurt,F37,1:53:21,3:47:25,5:38:34,6:05:08
63,Marilou,Russell,F48,1:41:32,3:35:52,5:40:20,6:07:06
64,Betsy,Rogers,F46,1:49:09,3:49:19,5:42:41,6:07:33
65,Barry,Hopkins,M56,1:46:57,3:29:49,5:38:58,6:08:31
66,Tony,Covarrubias,M49,1:58:43,3:49:04,5:48:51,6:14:09,5 loops plus out & back=50mi 9:45
Shawn,McTaggart,F32,1:58:43,3:49:11,5:49:00,6:14:09,5 loops plus out & back=50mi 9:45
68,Frank ,Gradyan,M28,1:39:28,3:37:31,5:49:16,6:18:50
69,Rick,Haase,M64,1:47:37,3:45:55,5:51:51,6:21:56
70,Max,Welker,M67,1:57:17,3:57:01,no time loop 3,6:23:37
71,James,Plant,M45,1:52:03,3:46:50,5:55:13,6:24:24,50K PR, Weymouth Woods, NC 100K last weekend
72,Andrew,Dunn,M43,1:51:18,3:51:10,6:01:58,6:28:51
73,Cheri,Pompeo,F57,1:59:21,4:08:53,6:17:04,6:45:31
74,Monte,Pascual,M49,1:50:46,3:55:23,6:16:28,6:48:57
75,Mike,Pruyne,M41,1:50:13,3:51:00,6:19:40,6:52:04
76,Bret,Bellevue,M51,2:04:52,4:18:17,6:37:18,7:12:19,1st 50K
77,Michelle,Barnes,F52,2:05:13,4:20:58,6:44:21,7:17:52
Dawn,Bellevue,F50,2:04:57,4:19:20,6:42:56,7:17:52,1st 50K
Cami,Ostman,F42,1:55:43,4:05:48,6:40:31,7:17:52,1st 50K
Jessica,Williams,F31,2:05:17,4:21:03,6:44:23,7:17:52

Female Open CR: Alison Hanks and Devon Crosby-Helms 4:18:27 2008,Female Masters CR: Gwen Scott 4:29 2008
Male Open CR: Ryan McKnight 3:51 in 2009,Male Masters CR: Michael Lynes 3:32:13 2010 (Previously Alex Swenson 3:48:15 in 2008)
Overall CR: Male Michael Lynes (2010) 3:32:13 and Female Alison Hanks and Devon Crosby-Helms (2008) 4:18:27

Triplin' into the New Year

2010-01-03T16:06:00.000-08:00

12/31/09 Last Chance Marathon: 3:52:34, 1st female
1/1/10 First Call 50K: 4:50:15, 1st female
1/2/10 Tiger Fat Ass 50K: 6:36:56, 3rd female

It has been a long time since I've done a triple. Over a year ago, when I did the Wishbone 27+mile trail run, Ghost of Seattle 50K, and Seattle Marathon in November 2008. I've done many 100 milers since then. A triple is just a different animal. But when the stars are all aligned and three races come together, I sometimes rise up to the challenge. I had decided not to do the triple the weekend of the Seattle Marathon this year and ended having to work anyway. I wanted to see where my fitness level was starting the new year since in truth, I hadn't run that much after the Seattle Marathon, being busy with work and putting on my race.

I have ran all Last Chance Marathons since its beginning in 2005 when Diana "Slug" Robinson and Stacy "Possum" Otter came up with the idea. So it is tradition for me, requiring me to request a day off from work on a Thursday. Mary Latta took it over the last few years and will be handing the reigns over to Terry Sentinella, RD of Skagit Flats marathon. It is run mostly on the Interurban trail in Bellingham and is an old railroad grade with packed dirt and gravel, mostly flat. There is a very short section of road. It is a double out and back, which makes for a social run. There are some steep and short hills that make this run a little of a challenge. I have run it in the 3:30s to just over 4hrs. Rain had been forecasted but we were mostly lucky. I didn't get caught in the rain, but the last few runners did. The first male finisher was Joe Adams in 3:01. He was flying! And, he had his wife order pizza for everyone including the volunteers for post race consumption! Mary and I quipped that he is setting a big precedence. In the future, I could see the frontrunners holding back so that they would not have to buy pizza for everyone! Overall, I felt pretty good. My back only bothered me a little, and I could pick up my pace a little when I wanted to. I also knew when I needed to back off. My goal was to run under 4 hours and I did. That was my 30th race of the year, with only 2 being marathons. Even though that is much less than my 53, 51, and 54 from 2006-2008, I ran six 100 milers this year.

Next was First Call 50K on Friday. There was a marathon option, but when there is a choice, I usually choose the longer distance. I wasn't really looking forward to running 6 more paved miles, but oh well. The forecast was for rain and wind. Again, we lucked out. I only felt a light rain in my last 2 miles. The wind was about 10-15 mph on the out with a tailwind on the back, which made everyone overheat without it being in our face and wearing too much at that point. This was a double out and back as well on the Sammamish River Trail, which was more mentally challenging than the more scenic Last Chance. Adrian Call, the RD, had placed cones out the night before for the marathon and 50K turn around. Unfortunately, it was New Year's Eve and the cones were gone by the morning, unbeknownst to everyone, including Adrian.

There was a large crowd of marathoners and 50kers at the 8am start. I was clearly overdressed, but I was worried about being too cold from my run the day before and being low on calories and hydration. It was nice to have my shell on the first out because of the headwind, but I took it off and wrapped it around my waist for the back. Because the cones were gone, everyone kept running and running. I had my foot pod and knew we had passed the marathon turn around, and I knew a lot of people ahead of me running the marathon who had kept going. Robert Lopez had his GPS and said the same thing. Some people, who obviously had GPS, turned around at the appropriate spot. Anyway, we finally started to see people. The marathoners who kept running turned around earlier in the second half. Robert and I ran to 8 miles and turned around. We were telling people on the way back that the 3 mile post was about the 6.55 mark, but in truth, it was probably more like 6.75 miles. It was just an easier landmark to turn around. So the marathoners probably ran just over. We also started to see all the half-marathoners and told them to turn around at the 3 mile post.

I dropped my shell at the start/finish, grabbed some more GU and fluids, and headed out for the second out and back. This time the headwind felt great, since I was heating up. I ran that second half by myself. It was warm again when I turned around, but I felt better after I pulled off my arm warmers. With about a quarter mile to go, I caught a guy I knew, Dave, who was walking. This was his first 50K. He said he was feeling a little sorry for himself at that point. His calf was cramping some. I grabbed him and said let's run this in. We did and he was very pleased later with making it through his first ultra. We tied for 2nd. Tony Covarrubias finished first. There were pancakes and hot chocolate as the main fare for post race. Lots of other treats also with fudge, cookies, chips, and pop. I brought a big sub sandwich which was a big hit. ( I stole Dean Kayler's idea.) It's nice to have something that isn't sweet to eat. I thanked Adrian and the volunteers. I cheered more runners in but needed to get home and rest for my last race.

Saturday was the Tiger Fat Ass 50K and 25K. The majority do one loop for the 25K. Each loop has 3700 feet of elevation gain. I had asked Steve Stoyles and Eric Barnes who had volunteered at First Call if they would like to meet me early and get started before the crowds hit. In previous years, I have found it frustrating getting caught in a pack and being forced to run too fast or too slow after hitting the single track. I know it is supposed to be laid back but it's nice to run at my own pace. They had a friend named Tom joining us. We ran the whole thing together. The weather was perfect. There was some change in the trail due to winter closures in the Swamp trail and construction at Issaquah High. But the hills were still there. We moved along at a decent pace. I was worried my back would really start to hurt with the steep ups and downs as it had for the last few months. But it did well. I think that stretching every night and running more at Tiger getting stronger on the hills has helped. Running at Lake Youngs and Cougar, where the hills are miniscule compared to Tiger and the Cascades just doesn't cut it for me anymore. My back did stiffen up if we stopped too long, but again, it loosened up faster than before.

We caught runners that started before us but for the most part had the trail to ourselves until we reached Tiger 3. This was what I wanted, running at our own pace with little traffic. We stopped at the Christmas tree around Bootleg trail and admired the ornaments. As soon as we headed down Tiger 3, the trail immediately got congested with hikers going up and down. We had a 3 mile descent, which I just love. Tom was not yet comfortable with downhill running, but I think he did pretty well. We finished the first loop in 3:05, spent 5 minutes filling our water and grabbing more fuel. I ate my sandwich walking up the road to the trail and it was raining some at that point. But as soon as we hit the trails, we had some tree cover. We did the second loop in reverse and said hi to everyone finishing their first loop. The first guys we saw on the road up to the trails. Uli was further back but started late. He ended up winning in 4:59. The first woman was Shawna Wilskey in 5:44. So our second loop started with the 3 mile hike up to Tiger 3, then we traversed over to Tiger 2 and Tiger 1. The rest of the run was mostly downhill except for the rolling trail on the back side of the TMT and the switchbacks above the high school. I felt great the whole day. I ate and drank enough. We finished in 6:36, which is not that much off my previous Tiger runs. My fastest is 6:04, but my legs were fresh still back then. I have put many miles on since.

I was very pleased with my triple and feel that I'm starting out with a good base for this upcoming year of racing. My main race is Western, and I will be doing a lot of running at Tiger for training. See you on the trails!

4th Annual Pigtails Flat Ass at Cedar River Trail

2010-01-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

4th ANNUAL PIGTAILS FLAT ASS 50K AND MARATHON
December 19, 2009
Cedar River Trail

And so it goes. Another year, another race. This year, I had to deal with more issues because of the need to obtain permits and insurance. In the past, I was proud to offer this race for free but was forced to charge a small fee to cover expenses. No one seemed to be bothered by the $5 price tag. In fact, people were so generous with donations that in addition to food for the Maple Valley Food Bank, I was able to donate $200 as well. Thank you for your kindness, especially during these tough economic times and holiday season. Ken delivered the food and monetary donation because of my busy work schedule and he said they were extremely grateful. The food bank was packed with people with a long line of people out the door and there were even a couple of volunteers coordinating parking. It was very special for him to see the looks on their faces. I wish I had been there.

Every year I have had to come up with a new medal design. It’s getting tougher and tougher to make each better than the last. The first year was a gold ball ornament that I taped a picture of a pig on. It was a hit. Then year two featured a round Styrofoam pig that I spray painted pink, watching the Styrofoam melt literally before my eyes, but they still held their shape, enough for me to super glue feet, snout, and tail to. I drew on its eyes, which was next to impossible with Styrofoam. Then last year, my husband turned some very nice pear wood and cut me thin slices and sanded a beveled edge that I put a finish on, glued felt ears to, and drew on the face. Both were adored. But this year, I wanted to get back into the holiday spirit and came up with the idea of jingle bells. I have an ornament on my tree that is a reindeer made from a bell. That gave me the idea of making a pig from a large jingle bell. Out came the pink spray can again. Fortunately, we had a day in the low 60s this late fall without rain that I was able to go outside and paint 120 bells. It left my driveway with a pink spot but it is gravel and eventually disappeared. But then it was looking like I was going to exceed 120 sign-ups, so I went seeking for more bells. (I had cleaned them out last year with the after Christmas sale-yes, I came up with this idea just after my 2008 race finished.) I found about 20 more, but this time, the temps were in the 30s and it was snowing the day I needed to spray paint them. (Remember that week a couple of weeks ago with temps in the teens?) I didn’t dare do it inside, the spray was going everywhere, and I couldn’t contain it. So it was snowing while I painted that last batch. I spent many hours super gluing the tiny felt ears that I cut out, sometimes getting my finger glued to the bell or to my other finger. I drew on the faces and looped the ribbon through. Of course I would run out of this or that and would have to go back to the store to get more supplies. I was so worried that I would run out of medals for all the runners, but rather, I have more than twenty left over from the cancels and no shows. Oh well, better to have too much than too little. I can use them now to help mark the trails for the Tiger Fat Ass after the New Year. The medals were a big hit this year again. How can I top that?

I was able to get my race permit with a discount because of my low fee and the fee for USA Track and Field was reasonable for 100 runners. We had 98 starters with the same finishers. No one got hurt or lost, thank goodness! My volunteers were amazing! Jess Mullen and Shawn McTaggart are fellow ultra trail runners that don’t care much for flat races, lucky me! They have done tons of races and know what runners want. Heidi Hansen is relatively new to distance running and did her first marathon at Portland this year. She has been running and exercising a lot and agreed at the suggestion of a friend to give her body a little break for a week. Being a mother of 6, I think she is entitled, but you can see her hardly being able to contain herself and wanting to get back to it. She told me she lost 50 pounds when I first met her earlier in the year so I’m sure she wants to make sure it stays off. Jess is training for a 100K in Texas in January (a veteran of several 100 milers herself) and Shawn, also a veteran of long distances including 150 miles in April at McNaughton, ran a phenomenal 50K the day after my race with so much elevation gain and descent, it hurts just thinking about it. Then, there were the start/finish volunteers. This included my husband, who supports not only my crazy running addiction, but also putting on two races a year. He does it without complaining or “you owe me for this” attitude. Tamara Cartwright was critical in helping with handing out medals, reading off times, keeping the soup pots filled and hot, and everything else under the tent. She has such a cheerful attitude, which was very much needed during the times I had to focus and couldn’t give the runners the special attention they were looking for. Tamara has been running more and more. I know she ran 37 miles at this year’s Redmond Watershed 12hr, but I’m not sure what she has done lately. She is also a great climber. Mel Preedy helped with organizing all the food donations and support until he had family commitments. I enjoyed hearing about his recent accomplishments at Cross Country Nationals in Lexington, Kentucky where he won a bronze for 3rd in his age group and a gold and trophy for 1st team in his age group. And Mel is 76! He ran 70 miles on his 70th birthday. I better slow down if I want to be able to do that at 70, but it might take me a week. And then there’s Michael Cartwright, who really counts as two volunteers. Unfortunately, my brother-in-law, Cliff Richards, whom many of you know, fractured his patella last week and had to have surgery the Friday before my race. He was planning on helping at the finish. Instead, he was laid up at home. He had been dealing with patellofemoral pain for a while and it was felt that he probably had a stress fracture that fractured even further when he fell last week. Well, at least he has the peace of mind knowing what the problem is and can now get back to rehabbing and returning to running. On the positive note, he had become a pretty good swimmer, but will need to get back to that slowly as well. Michael is a pretty amazing climber if you didn’t know, but has been focused on work lately. He has run many ultras and puts on a few of his own. He was my everywhere guy at my race, going back and forth, feeding the other volunteers, including me, and riding his bike back and forth on the trail checking on runners.

The day before the race I was supposed to have off to pack my vehicle and get all the last minute details done. But of course, I had to work, filling in for a sick coworker. I worked half a day and came home and got more stuff done that I didn’t get done Thursday in the evening. I had ordered race numbers that didn’t come because they misplaced my order. I used instead last year’s numbers, cut into 4s and wrote people’s names and numbers on. I made a special one for Bill Barmore for his 50th lifetime marathon. I loaded Ken’s Pathfinder, answered last minute e-mails, and actually had a relaxing evening with takeout Thai food, yum! We went to bed fairly early, about 9:30 and I had a decent night’s sleep, loaded up on antihistamines for my hives that had been plaguing me for a few days and causing a few restless nights. (You know when you have a terrible itch that feels oh so good to scratch as if you could take off the skin only to return worse with a vengeance with burning, bruising pain, and even more itching? That’s what I had to deal with. But I digress.) We awoke at 4:30, Ken had his coffee and we had our oatmeal. We arrived at the start about 6:30 with a few cars already there. Then we set up the shelter in the dark and I had to run out the ½ mile from the start to mark the turn around. I got back to more cars and runners checking in. Thank you, thank you for carpooling! That was very critical! The check in went pretty smoothly, but there seems to be a peak time that everyone decides to show up. There were quite a few race numbers still on the table when I led runners to the start on the other side of the river to the power/pipeline trail. I had already sent the aid station volunteers off to set up the aid station. At the top of my lungs I squeaked out last minute course information and sent everyone off into the mist for a short out and back. Then runners came back over the river to get on the main Cedar River Trail. As soon as they were off, we left Mel and Tamara to take care of the food bank stuff/post race food and any late stragglers. We had one from Beaverton, Oregon who showed up an hour late. Michael helped me put up signs and mark turn a rounds and setting up the unmanned aid station. This required some driving around. We picked up coffee and breakfast for ourselves and Tamara and Mel. Ken ran some errands. Michael dropped me off at the start/finish and went to join the aid station gals and also to bike the trails checking on runners. Tamara and I received runners as they came in. Cliff lent me his clock and time machine, which was great! It felt like a bona fide race! Unfortunately, the time machine paper got a little wet and jammed up on me, so I didn’t think I could use it anymore. Turns out I could have retrieved the information later, but I didn’t want to depend on that. Scott Sebelsky came through as first male and Stephanie Day as first female in the marathon in times of 3:20:20 and 3:56:04. Their course was an out and back. Kyle McCoy overtook Alex Swenson in the second half of the 50K to win by just over a minute in 3:56:02. Sara Malcom was first female in the 50K with a new course record of 4:26:00. Way to go! She received $31 for breaking the record. Their course was the same as the marathoners with another out and back at mile 21.5. Winners received farm animal salt and pepper shakers, but two did not pick theirs. I made use of them later anyway. Mary Hanna and Heather Nugent tied the Masters course record or 4:40 set last year by Merita Trohimovich-Pollard.

One by one, runners came in, were given their pig bell medal and offered hot soup. “I need more pig bell!” Betsy Rogers’ Thai Butternut Squash soup was again a hit. I made sure to get some of my own. Mary Hanna’s spice holiday bread was gone pretty fast. Heather Nugent made cookies, and there was delicious peppermint candy, other cookies, and a Jell-O delight that got eaten as well. Thanks for bringing to share! People hung around for a while, which gave it a festive feel. Most people were hovering around the propane heater (thanks Ken!) and no one caught fire. Everyone wore their medals-they better have after all the trouble I went through! Actually, people loved them. They jingled every time they moved. Things were thinning out at the end, but I kept the soup going for the last runners. Patty McKerney, who came in 2nd female in the marathon, was waiting for her niece Monica Fredrickson, who decided to switch from the marathon to her first 50K. She looked strong coming in. It’s great to see a wide range of ages. She was youngest at 19 and Bob Dolphin is keeping everyone’s dream alive at 80. I love to see their determination at the end. Bob had left when I needed to get rid of my two extra salt and pepper shakers. I gave one set to Monica and the other to Patty. Patty had found an i-Pod that turned out belonging to Jason Grose’s son. He was happy to see that we found it and Jason e-mailed me saying it prevented the need for him to crack his son’s skull! What a fun group! Other notable accomplishments included first 50K for Tony Myrie and Josh Owen, 50K PR by over an hour by Jessica Bienvenue, 50 miles in 8:58 by Lorie Alexander who ran 50 races of 50 miles or more this year (plus she has a quad coming up the weekend of New Years in Vernon, BC if you are interested but I don’t know the details-I’m sure I could get it for you), 50K PR by Susie Ro, Michael Kuhlmann, and Andy Fritz, marathon PR by over 25 minutes by Will Thomas, who had taken a 5-6 year hiatus from marathons (talk about a long taper!), and Maniac qualifier for Cody Hill and Robert Stretz. For Aaron Cunningham, it was his first 50K and Maniac qualifier. Welcome!

After everyone left, Tamara and Michael stuck around to help me take down the shelter and everything else and load my car. What a lifesaver! Can you imagine me trying to pack that big shelter by myself? Ken had to pick up his parents at the airport, so I was lucky they decided to stick around. Let me tell you, I couldn’t load anymore into that vehicle if I wanted to. It also was raining at that point. Jerry Thayer and Michael were nice enough to take my trash, which is a huge help since we don’t have garbage pick-up, we haul all our trash and recently made a dump run. So this prevented the need to make another trip for such a small load. Even though the race was over, I still had a lot to do. I went to three spots to pick up signs and break down my unmanned aid station. It was getting dark and raining. I squeezed more stuff in the vehicle and basically had to push stuff away from me falling on me from the passenger side. I hadn’t eaten since mid-morning or peed for hours. I know, silly me, I had plenty of help and time. I got home and still didn’t go, too busy unloading the Pathfinder. Finally, I sat down and had dinner, entered the results on Excel, and went to bed. Sleep was restless again with my hives. I awoke at 5am, planning on running about 28 miles on Tiger, but managed only 13. I was running with Terry Sentinella, and we kept getting lost. This sapped our energy and he had run a marathon Saturday (he had already signed up for the Bob Greene marathon before hearing about mine). I felt I had gotten a pretty good workout after 3 ½ hours with steep ups and downs and decided to call it a day. The race directing made me more tired than I had expected and all I wanted to do was go home and have a nap. Ken was pleased I decided to do this because he knew I had a busy week ahead with work and family functions.

So there you are. That is my race story from start to finish. Thanks for sharing it with me. I don’t know how many years I will continue this, but for sure there will be a 5th Annual Pigtails Cedar River Run (new name because insurance doesn’t like anything that has the word “Ass” in the race title). It will be scheduled for Saturday, December 18, 2010. Remember, there is another Pigtails Run at Lake Youngs on 1/23/10. Registration is open. Distances are 9.6mi, 19.2mi, and 50K. Loop course, one aid station, same $5 at the start and food bank donations, and no medals. Prizes only for 50K of farm fresh eggs, sausage, or bacon, all from our animals! See you then!

Pigtails

50K
1 Kyle McCoy M30 3:56:02 1st Male Open
2 Alex Swenson M45 3:57:15 1st Male Masters
3 Bruce Hoff M47 4:16:14 2nd Male Masters
4 Sara Malcolm F26 4:26:00 1st Female Open, CR
5 David Spooner M41 4:28:25 3rd Male Masters
6 Greg Koenig M42 4:31:04
7 Mary Hanna F48 4:40:05 1st Female Masters, Tied CR
Heather Nugent F43 4:40:05 1st Female Masters, Tied CR
9 Tony Covarrubias M49 4:41:57
10 Dean Kayler M46 4:43:14
Tony Myrie M53 4:43:14 1st 50K
12 Josh Owen M31 4:44:26 2nd Male Open, 1st 50K
13 Matt Hagen M39 4:47:57 3rd Male Open
14 Paul Grove M32 4:50:53
15 Aaron Cunningham M36 4:58:10 1st 50K, Maniac qualifier
16 Robert Lopez M43 5:04:46
17 Julie Cassata F28 5:09:05 2nd Female Open
18 Terri Gray F41 5:09:35 3rd Female Masters
19 Guy Yogi M55 5:12:49
20 Craig Foster M47 5:17:22
21 Mark Stadum M49 5:22:12
22 Jessica Bienvenue F31 5:24:39 3rd F Open, >1hr 50K PR
23 Scott Flett M62 5:31:23
24 Andy Fritz M43 5:33:05 50K PR
Ashley Kuhlmann F23 5:33:05
26 Lorie Alexander F50 5:37:39 50 mile 8:58
27 Betsy Rogers F46 5:43:00
28 Mike Kuhlmann M59 5:43:56 50K PR
29 Susie Ro F38 5:44:02 50K PR
30 Max Welker M67 6:33:33
31 Monte Pascual M49 6:55:33
32 Monica Fredrickson F19 7:06:17 1st 50K

Female Open CR: Sara Malcom 4:26:00 (2009)

Male Open CR: Bryce Mercer 3:41 (2006

Female Masters CR: Merita Trohimovich-Pollard, Mary Hanna, Heather Nugent 4:40 (2008 & 2009)

Male Masters CR: Alex Swenson 3:52:36 (2007)

Marathon
1 Scott Sebelsky M48 3:20:20 1st Male Masters
2 Will Thomas M31 3:31:57 1st Male Open, >25min PR
3 Brad Nelson M41 3:36:34 2nd Male Masters
4 Eric Bell M38 3:40:24 2nd Male Open
5 Jae-B Jung M39 3:44:28 3rd Male Open
6 Bob OBrien M52 3:45:31 3rd Male Masters
7 Eric Gierke M46 3:46:01
8 Steve Walters M29 3:54:41
9 Stephanie Day F45 3:56:04 1st Female Masters
10 Mark Looi M49 3:56:45
11 Patty McKerney F47 3:57:43 2nd Female Masters
12 Narvie Seals M42 3:58:23
13 Eric Barnes M53 4:01:15
Steve Stoyles M53 4:01:15
15 Heath Johnson M43 4:05:47
16 May Cheng F44 4:08:54 3rd Female Masters
17 Thomas Tan M38 4:09:04
18 BJ Farish M36 4:10:51
Cody Hill M36 4:10:51 Maniac qualifier
20 Bob Satko M49 4:10:51
21 Lesa Overfield F50 4:12:51
22 Rich Hieb M36 4:14:59
23 Valerie Beyer F47 4:15:54
24 Jennifer Aldassy F31 4:18:29 1st Female Open

Greg Manciagli M49 4:18:29
26 Sarah Lynch F31 4:22:34 2nd Female Open
27 Dan Whitaker M48 4:27:27
28 Adrian Call M57 4:29:45
Jerry Thayer M55 4:29:45
30 Marilyn Pyke F48 4:30:11

31 Peter Corduan M50 4:35:52
32 Vivian Doorn F43 4:35:57
33 Steve Yee M50 4:36:47
34 Stan Nakashima 4:40:37
35 Bill Barmore M57 4:41:15
36 Brian Pendleton M55 4:47:57
Marilou Russell F47 4:47:57
David Appleby M37 4:47:57
39 Karen Wiggins F50 4:54:15
40 Heather Myers F43 4:55:02
41 Sherrie Marble F47 4:55:09
42 Patrick Barnes M61 4:56:36
Jim Boyd M67 4:56:36
44 Jill Hudson F47 4:59:32
45 Takao Suzuki M44 5:00:35
46 Tory Klementsen F44 5:01:59
Brian Starkey M44 5:01:59
Marie Zornes F46 5:01:59
49 Jason Grose M41 5:07:27
50 Janelle Gilbert F27 5:11:47 3rd Female Open
51 Christine Buchanan F28 5:14:55
52 Steve Duncan M41 5:15:00
53 Katie Robinson F30 5:23:20
54 Barry Hopkins M56 5:27:35
55 Robert Stretz M41 5:45:10 Maniac qualifier
56 Oliver Chapman M51 5:49:48
57 Dawn Bellevue F50 5:54:27
58 Michelle Barnes F51 5:56:10
Abigail Brownell F35 5:56:10
Jessica Williams F31 5:56:10
Jenny Appel F36 5:56:10
62 Matthew Fleming M34 6:11:22
63 Bret Bellevue M51 6:11:37
64 Jon Yoon M31 6:13:29
65 Bob Dolphin M80 6:33:37

Female Open CR: Annie Theissen 3:14:10 (2007)

Male Open CR: Chuck Engle 2:37: 54 (2006)

Female Masters CR: Merita Trohimovich-Pollard 3:54:15 (2007)
Male Masters CR: Tony Phillipi 3:15:38 (2007)

Linda Rinker F67 3:31:24 14 miles

Seattle Marathon 2009

2009-12-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

11/30/09
3hr38min45sec

This was the first marathon in a year for me. I focused on trail ultras in 2009. So I didn't know what kind of pace I could still run in that short of a distance and on roads. I rode in with Mary Hanna, who had done the half many times and decided to give the marathon a go. (Mary is both an accomplished and competitive half and full marathoner as well as an occasional ultrarunner).

I started out conservative as usual. The weather was perfect. Cool and no rain. It was fun to see so many familiar faces. One Maniac that I ran into at the start of the race was Gunhild Swanson. She remarked that I was having a good year. It had been a while since I had seen her and told her it was nice to see her again. She was running with a sign on her back in memory of her husband Jack Swanson, who had succumbed to cancer. The Seattle Marathon had been his last and 200th marathon. We all miss him.

At about the 3 mile mark, I was being passed by a bald guy wearing a pink tutu. I made a whistling sound. He raised his pink wand and made the walkers laugh. He was a few strides ahead of me when I decided to run up behind him and pick up his tutu from behind. He said, "Hey! I charge for that!" More laughs from the walkers.

I enjoyed seeing all my friends on the out and back on the I-90 bridge as well as the front runners. I always run this part too fast, getting caught up in the excitement of seeing everyone. Mary looked strong. I saw Gwen Scott, who paced me at CCC 100 and ended up taking first female masters with a 3:18. Mary came in at 3:19, first in her age group F45-49 and 3rd female masters.

I decided I needed to back off on the pace a little when we we hit Lake WA Blvd at about 8.5 miles. Eventually, Phil Kriss caught up with me along with other Raise the Bar runners at about 11.5 miles. We went back and forth until I couldn't keep up any longer and let them go. I needed to run my own race. At about mile 16, Robert Towne from Eastern, WA, another accomplished ultrarunner, caught up with me too. He said he thought I was going to take it easy. I was only pushing it a little. We finally hit some hills, which I was pleased about since that is my strong point and I could use different muscles. I would catch up to others on the up and get caught again on the down. But the hills kept on coming in the last 6 miles and there is one right before the 26 mile mark. That's when I decided to put on the jets and passed two gals in my age group, Robert, and Phil. They couldn't respond on the hill and I sprinted that last 200 yards. I could hear Gwen shout, "GO VAN!"

I was very happy with my finish time. The race hurt in a different way from my trail ultras. I did have a low lying back ache the entire run but it was manageable with adjustment in pace. My second half was less than a minute longer than my first, which is a pretty even effort since the second half is harder.

Afterwards, Mary and I joined Tony Phillippi and his gal for pizza at Zeek's. I hope to continue this tradition of the Seattle Marathon every year after Thanksgiving, regardless of the weather.

Doppler Fat Ass 50K

2009-11-30T19:13:00.000-08:00

November 22, 2009

6hr42min19sec

The night before this run, I called Karen Wiggins, who lives in Bremerton, WA, where the run was to be held, about the weather and recent damage from high winds. She told me there was a lot of water on the trails and some downed trees. She was planning on running about 10 miles with her husband George, who also happens to rock climb with my husband Ken before leaving to attend a funeral. I then looked up the weather forecast and it called for heavy rain and wind. I tried to call around and ask if anyone was planning on a long run on Sunday, but everyone was tapering for the Seattle Marathon the following weekend, which I was also running. I had run few miles earlier in the week anticipating the 50K. After looking on the Marathon Maniacs site and seeing a few familiar names (Eric Barns, Nic Plemel, and Rick Haase), I decided to make the hour and a half trip to Bremerton the next morning.

It rained pretty hard on the drive there, but by the time I arrived at Wildcat trailhead, it had stopped. John Straub, the RD, had marked the course the night before with it pouring, blowing, and snowing so he had the worse of it. The weather during the run was perfect. Cool with occasional light wind. No rain!

There was a crowd of about 20 runners at least. Different distances were offered. Mostly, people ran 20 miles or the 50K. The course was tortuous with many intersections, with some that we were to arrive at a couple times. We got a map with directions, which worried me. But it was very well marked and a few times we needed to check the map, which was reassuring. This was a fat ass style run-no fees, no awards, no whining. Eric Barnes asked his trademark question before every race, "Is this course Boston certified?" It is always good for a few chuckles!

We started at 8am on the Wildcat trail that climbed to the Vista Trail for 4 miles. I started out pretty slow, nursing a sore back from the day before. I ran 9 miles with my running buddies in Maple Valley on the Cedar River Trail Saturday morning then headed over to Cougar Mountain for 4 hours of trail work. We were wheel-barreling gravel to low spots on the Lost Beagle trail, which was 1/4 mile of slightly downhill trail with roots and rocks, which was so very difficult, especially since we filled the barrels too full the first time around. Then up we went for another load. I was only able to do this twice before I was glad to be relegated gravel shoveling duties. I'm glad there were strong, young men there to stress out their backs. But the damage had been done and I was sore for the rest of the day and tender still Sunday morning. So I started out slow and let Nic and Eric take off. I didn't want to follow Eric anyway. He has led me astray before on well marked trails.

It wasn't long before we hit major puddles that we could not run around. So we ran through them, but OMG! The water in the puddles was so cold! I can't imagine doing one of those ultras up in the frozen tundra! After running through a few puddles, your feet got numb enough that it became more tolerable. But then you would run through some dry trails and get re-shocked again after your feet had warmed up a little. And also, after 2 miles of climbing, we encountered snow. Just enough to cover the trail and make going uphill a slippery mess. A significant part of the single track was simply a flowing creek. I was worried that this was going to be a very long day. I ran with Karen and George until they had to turn around and head back for the funeral. It was good to have them around since they knew the trails well and were able to point us in the right direction at some confusing spots. I also met Melissa, who recently moved to Portland from Arizona. She was dressed very warm in my view, but she was comfortable having come from Arizona. She just finished her first 100 miler at Hundred in the Hood. She loved it! I also met Julie Cassatta, who lives in Seattle and came with her friend Sarah Lynch, who planned on running the 20 mile version. Julie, Melissa, and I ran together until about 12.5 miles and I ran the entire run with Julie.

After arriving at the summit of the Vista trail and not seeing any views, we connected up with the power line trail that took us down a steep trail where you had to remind yourself not to grab those thick power lines. It was very slippery and rocky but was a short section. We then ran down some very nice trails including Gold Creek trail and the Beaver Pond trail then Plummer trail-single track, fun and twisty, and of course with many puddles. There were plenty of puddles in the morning that still were cold enough that snow or ice still floated in them! We were just getting our icing while running. We arrived at the one aid station at 7 miles that we would return to at 23 miles. We ran another 2 miles before a steep climb up to mile 10 where there was a volunteer there to point us in the right direction since this was an intersection we would come back to and also where if you were running the 20 miles, you took a left turn instead of right. This took us to the service road part of the run which was 10 miles. It did help us catch up on the time lost in the wet, snowy, and technical trails. It was a mix of about 5 miles of up and 5 miles of down. This part included going up to the KCPQ Doppler tower (thus the name of the run).

Then it was back to the previous intersection that we came to at 10 miles. We headed down a trail that was covered with leaves and was basically a slightly downhill creek for about 2 miles. Then we hit a really nice double wide runnable and totally beautiful trail. Other than a few ankle deep spots, it was a very pleasant break from the really techinical and wet single track. After going through the aid station at 23 miles, we had to climb back up the power line trail. Most of the snow had melted and it was not as slippery. We came back on the Vista Trail viewpoint and there was some views now. The rest of the run was on nice single tracks, some on previous trails that we had run, some different, with the last 2 miles on the Wildcat trail. Julie and I finished together. We passed the girl ahead of us with 1.5 miles to go. Melissa either turned back too early off the service roads or decided to cut it short. She had finished a little less than 40 minutes ahead of us. Eric did take a wrong turn with 2 miles to go and he and Nic finished a little after us.

It was a fun day, the sun even came out. At one point, Julie and I could see the Seattle skyline from Green Mountain. I did get to know Julie better. She is 28 and a landscape architect. She has hiked the Appalachian trail and this past summer, hiked 2/3 of the PCT trail in Oregon. She led the first female marathon runner at Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon and had been dealing with an Achilles injury for about 9 months. She was finally getting back to running and was thrilled. She was planning on doing her first double with the Ghost of Seattle and the Seattle Marathon.

Came back to the finish, changed into dry clothes under my robe (my trademark pre and post race look), and enjoyed hot chocolate from my thermos. One other runner looked at me in my robe and drinking my hot chocolate, pointed at me "veteran", and pointed at himself "newbie." I thanked RD John and the volunteers and headed home happy that I decided to come out and run!

Chilly Willy 100

2009-11-15T15:33:00.000-08:00

November 7, 2009

26hr56min30sec

Vernon, BC

I thought I was done with 100 mile races for the year. I had done Pac Rim 24 hr (108 miles), McNaughton 150 miles, Bighorn 100, Cascade 100, and Hundred in the Hood. I had planned on 6 but downgraded to 50 miles at Stormy after reports of 3 cougar attacks and didn't want to be out there alone at night in an unfamiliar place. But at Baker Lake 50K this year, Lorie Alexander told me about the 100 mile run she was putting on in her hometown of Vernon, BC. I told her that it was not likely. I had planned on running at Ron Herzog 50K, which I have done many times.

But then Jess Mullen emailed me and told me that she was planning on doing Chimera 100 down in CA in December. This got me craving for another 100 miler and I looked up Lorie's race on Club Fat Ass, a great group of Canadian runners who put together official events as well as what they call "Flash" events. Flash events can be put together by any member and posted on their web site. I am a Club Fat Ass member, and these events are free for members and non-members. They was usually minimally aided and no whining is permitted. I told Ken I wanted to do another long run. He rolled his eyes as usual. He said I was not allowed to hang out with Jess anymore. I emailed Jess and told her about my plans. I thought she could still run Chimera even if she did Chilly Willy, since they were over a month apart. It turned out that going to Chimera was not possible for her and she was interested in going with me. The only thing she needed to figure out was for someone to watch her dog Katie, since her husband Mike was going to be gone scuba diving for a week at the same time. When she was able to commit, I was excited. I love road trips, especially ones that involve exploring new running trails. Ken was worried that Jess and I would be too tired to make the 7 hr drive back home after being awake all night running. I told him we would take turns and stop to rest if needed. I did have to work the following Monday.

Two and a half weeks before the run, Jess called me all frantic. She had just rolled her foot doing of all things, jumping up and down to stay warm. She said she caught one foot on the other and rolled on to top of her right foot. Ken said that she really needed to work on her story and should say something like, "I was screaming down a steep techinical trail on the mountain and came around this corner where there was a big root and I went flying!" She had immediate pain and was hardly able to bear weight. She wanted to know what she should do. She had already called her doctor and was waiting to hear back. She had already elevated it and iced. I suggested getting an x-ray, taking anti-inflammatories, and not putting weight on it until she had gotten an x-ray. She thanked me and had to get on the other line, her doctor was calling her back. Fortunately, she didn't have a fracture but was just about to leave for Washington, DC for vacation and to run the Marine Corps Marathon. She had to give that up, but had a good time being a tourist with Mike and his family. She did have some painful days there but she was able to run at Carkeek 12 hour upon returning a few laps without it hurting her more. She felt she would be okay for Chilly Willy.

I picked up Jess on Friday at noon at her home, since she was on the way up to Canada. I had packed all my food for the race and gotten some Pagliacci pizza (a very common staple when I went to school at UW) and some sushi. I ate the sushi for lunch and had a piece of pizza for dinner. I had two pieces of pizza left to eat for the race in addition to Quaker chocolate chip granola bars, GU, bacon, Pringles, and other foods. It was pouring when we left Jess' place and even hailed very hard. But by the time we got to Everett, the weather improved. We stopped at a Haggen store in Bellingham and I got some Chinese Sesame Noodles, which was heavenly and wished I had gotten more. We went through the border at Sumas and got a strange look from our guard when we told her our plan was to run 100 miles.

Jess took over the driving after I had been at it for 3 hours. That was just about when we went over the Coquihalla pass at 4000ft with compact snow and temps down to 34. Trucks were pulled over for chaining up. Jess drove well over this section and my husband's Pathfinder performed well. It even has heated seats! We filled up on gas in Merritt and went over another pass, this one in the dark but bare and dry. There had been snow earlier and it was on the trees and the median, but none on the road. The temps dropped to 26 degrees on this pass. Jess continued to drive well. We reached Kelowna, where Karl Jensen, another Club Fat Ass member who lives in North Vancouver, BC, was staying with his brother. We stopped to buy some water for the run, since there was going to be minimal aid. Finally we got to Lorie's after 7pm. Barry Hopkins was crashing there too. He planned on running 50K because he had been injured for a while now. I had brought cots and thick Thermarests, but Lorie had a twin bed, which Jess slept on, and I slept on an inflatable mattress. Lorie showed us the route for the run on a map. It consisted of a 14K big loop and a 10K small loop. There was going to be about 16,000+ elevation gain. We anticipated 7 big loops and 6 small loops. Jess and I knew we had to get done as soon as possible so that we could hit the road or get some sleep before leaving. We asked Lorie if it would be okay for us to do one big loop before the 8am start. She said okay as long as we got back by 8 to start with everyone else. She had already marked the trail. We planned to start at 5:45am just in case we got lost and needed a cushion. Lorie said she'd join us if she is up by then, but she was pretty tired. Content, Jess and I headed for bed. That's when I realized that I brought my hydration pack but not the bladder. I did bring hand held water bottles as back up but didn't want to carry anything in my hands, especially at night. Jess almost brought a spare bladder but didn't and neither Lorie nor Barry had an extra. I was really bummed and kinda was stressing a little about it over what my plan would be. I didn't want to carry two bottles. I decided that I would wear my hydration pack, carry one bottle, and have the other in my pack to switch. That way, I also had front pockets to carry food and other gear. I planned on two water bottles for the big loop and one on the small loop.

Both Jess and I had fairly good night's sleep. We awoke at 5am and were outa there by 5:35. We got to the trailhead, only 2K from Lorie's house and found Daniel Probst of Bellingham sleeping in his car. He had driven most of the night after working. He stepped out to say hi to us but was not prepared to join us on the first loop. The temp was 36. Jess and I were both wearing shorts, hers was a little longer and came to above her knees. I had a beanie, short sleeve with arm warmers, gloves, and a shell jacket. I was comfortable wearing my shell for two loops. At first I thought I left my Suunto watch that went with my foot pod at home but it was already in my pack. I thought, oh no, not another thing forgotten! We started on the High Rim trail on single track right away. After about 50 yards, we encountered tumbleweed on the trail. I picked one up and tossed it aside. Then there was another and another! Soon, I was not even able to see the trail because there were clumps so thick it was crazy. We both freaked out that this was going to last forever. We found that it only lasted for about a 1/4 mile, but we didn't know that while we were running in it. It slashed up our legs pretty good though. Nice way to start. We ran along the fence that bordered someone's farm and we got to run past some really healthy and strong looking cows on later loops. Jess' hand held light was not working well. She scolded herself for packing in a rush and not putting in fresh batteries. It gave her enough light until the sun came up.

Soon, we encountered our first very steep but short hill. I could see that if this was wet, it would be a slipping and sliding mess. After reaching the top, it continued to climb gradually. I was running this because I felt we got behind in time at the tumbleweeds, but Jess reminded me that this was a hill and I slowed to a power hike. We had planned on running the entire 100 miles together and walking all the hills, no matter how slight. Next thing we knew, we were running downhill. It was a little techinical but not too severe. We ran along this for another quarter mile until we took a turn onto the Bear Valley trail. This was double track with a comfortable grade downhill for about 1/2 a mile. Then we crossed a gravel road and continued running downhill at a similar grade for another 1/2 mile on the Cosens Bay Trail. In later loops, these two combined trails took it's toll on me because I had to force myself to run it even in my tired state. I felt I had to take advantage of the downhill. When we reached the Cosens Bay trail, it was starting to get light out and Jess and I marveled at the view we were heading towards to Cosens Bay. At times, the wind was blowing pretty hard in this section. That trail ended down at the beach, where there we two nice outhouses. We took a right turn, ran on a trail next to the beach for about 100 yards then started climbing. It was not techinical and a small portion did level out and was runnable. But there were about 4 switchbacks and it climbed about 1000ft over 3/4 mile. We took our time, ate and drank. We were still getting spectacular views of the bay. We topped out and ran along easy footing double track for about another mile away from the bay before making a sharp left turn down some single track. We crossed a paved road and picked up the trail again for a short jaunt through a little more technical trail down to the beach again.

We ran a short section of beach, got back on a double track, easy footing trail that ran next to the water and runnable. A short section later, we made another turn up to a short section of road next to more nice outhouses, down to the beach again, then back on double track next to the water. We hit the end of the trail and scrambled up a steep but short technical rocky trail. This was more often than not a very windy spot because of its exposure, but very beautiful here with the water below and mountains across the water. After topping out, we ran down some technical rocky trail before getting back on easy double track that included rolling, down, and up (again next to the lake and gorgeous) before me made a turn back onto the trail that we switchbacked up before. The section before the switchbacks was the hardest for me later in the run for this part of the loop. We ran down the switchbacks and turned onto Sidewinder trail that was a rolling single track with some slight uphills that took its toll as well. We crossed a couple roads, a bridge, and the final road before heading back to the start on another section of Cosens Bay Trail. This trail was out in a big prairie area and was a different environment, but also very beautiful. It got very cold here at night. It climbed gradually for about half a mile, topped out, and descended to th parking lot for about another 1/2 mile. It took us 1hr55 minutes to finish that first 14K (8.6mi) loop.

There was a crowd of about 12 people, which included relay runners, when we got back. I immediately put on my robe (many of you have seen me come to training runs in my robe-it looks funny but is the best!). Everyone thought it was a great idea, especially Jess as she shivered waiting for the run to start in another 15 minutes at 8am. We took a group picture. Jess and I loaded up for another long loop so that we could run with everyone else. We told Lorie we loved the trail and views. But we warned them of the tumbleweeds in the first part. Lorie said it was clear a couple days ago when she marked it, but it had been windy during the night. Lorie wanted to join us for the long loop but started after us and ran a short loop instead. After everyone signed in, we started, me, Jess, Karl, Dan, Lorie, Barry, and a couple of relay runners? We did a little trail work at the tumbleweed section. Jess and I had to pee and lost the group. We caught them much later in the loop.

We got back to the finish and the relay runners group cheered us on. Their group was getting larger as more runners showed up. They looked cheerful and warm in their down jackets. They had set up a couple of nice tents with food, lights at night, hot soup, hot dogs, and all kinds of treats! The smaller loop started with the last 3/4 mile of the first loop, so up for about 1/2 mile then down for about 1/4 mile before turning onto a trail that was rocky and took us up 1000ft in in about 1/2 a mile. This was a lung buster. It took us up to the ridge where it was often windy before it wound down the Comin Round the Mountain Trail. This was single track for a little over a mile, slightly technical before we hit a gravel road, where we climbed to more single track, which was runnable, back briefly on the road, back on single track then the rest of the way back on the road up and down (mostly down) back to the parking area. This turned out to be 9K instead of 10K and necessitated us to do 7 loops each of the big and small to give us 100.1 miles for the run. This loops was one of the few times that all of us solo runners would be together.

We loaded up again and headed out for big loop #3. A couple times because I had my hydration pack on, I forgot to grab my water bottles. Fortunately, I would realize that not far from the car. It was on this loop that my back started hurting. This has become pretty routine for me no matter what pace I go out, fast or slow. It does hurt more if I go out fast. But I felt we were not pushing the pace and I still was hurting. I do know that up and down is more of a factor than the pace. We ran with Lorie some of this loop and she told us about her Javelina 100 run. She kicked a cactus plant with one foot into the ankle of the other. It logded into her and caused terrible pain, especially when she tried to walk on it as the barbs on the cactus thorns dug and twisted. Another runner and her tried to pull it off with sticks or whatever they could get to grab it without their hands. But nothing worked. Fortunately, a hiker who frequented the trails happened on them and had a pair of pliers. He said the only thing that can remove those thorns were pliers. He removed 28 of them Lorie said. I think she said she went on to finish 100K but Barry's family had health issues and she stopped to be with him. Lorie is shooting for 52 Fifty milers in a year. She is on track and plans on completing her quest.

Jess and I started small loop #2 with my back killing me. She was having problems of her own too. Her right foot that she rolled was talking to her but in addition, she was having plantar fasciitis problems in that same foot. We hiked up the steep hill, which made my back worse. For some reason, we decide to do another short loop after this one to even out our count of 3 loops each of big and small. The consecutive short loops did us both in. My back was on the verge of spasming and Jess's IT band at the knee was starting to flare up, something she had not dealt with for over 2 years, the last time being at Where's Waldo where it flared up early in the race at 30 miles. It took her two weeks to get over it. Here it was flaring up not long after the 50K mark and we had so far to go. I finally decided to take one ibuprofen pill, something I avoid at all costs. But I was peeing a lot and just had some solid food. We both agreed that doing two short loops made our problems worse. There is quite a bit of downhill in that small loop and that usually will aggravate IT band and back problems.

So we got back to the parking lot and had 3 long and short loops each under our belts. It was time to grab a flashlight for the next long loop. I put on capris. This was one of our longer stops. We headed out and I started to notice that my back was not killing me. Was it the long stop or the ibuprofen or slowing down as the sun was setting? Who knows. I was just glad I was feeling better. Jess' IT band continued to get worse, however, where every step on a down was jabbing pain. I briefly had the same problem about mile 20, but thankfully, it went away. I also had some shin pain that came and went. The route is overall pretty runnable, with lots of downhill running mixed in with short, steep ups. This is a recipe for disaster if you have IT band pain. We were about 1/3 through our loop when we needed to turn on our lights. Jess had put in new batteries, but her light was very faint. She did not understand why. Were her replacement batteries old? I thought maybe the bulbs in her flashlight were wearing out. She had that light for over 2 years. There were parts of the trail where it was smooth double track and I could shine my light for both of us to run. But there were enough areas with single track that it was impossible. Running behind Jess didn't work because the shadow that my light casted was annoying for her. So she tried to stay close behind me but still stumbled along. She was pretty mad at herself. I noticed that her breathing was getting more labored too. We finally made it to the end, now over half done.

Jess had already made up her mind before we finished that loop that she wanted me to hook up with the other runners even if it meant that I ran another long loop again. She was planning on doing two short loops to give her over 100K. I asked her if she was sure, and she was. She knew that she would be moving too slow for me. I didn't have to wait too long for the others to come back from their short loop and joined them for a long one. Jess headed out on her own for a short loop, bundled up in case she was moving very slowly. I got more food and caught up with Karl, Lorie, Dan, and Barry, who was I don't know where in his mileage. He ran some in the morning but didn't finish his 50K then. Perhaps he was finishing it off now. I asked Dan how he was feeling, and he said pretty good. So we hooked up and ran ahead. I was still feeling okay and my back didn't protest at our pace, which I felt was faster than I wanted to go but I didn't want to lose Dan and run by myself. He was always a few steps ahead of me. I was content to just let him lead and keep him in my sites. We ran all the down, flats, and some of the gradual inclines.

I noticed that on the steep upill techinical climbs, he was swaying back and forth. I asked him if he had trouble with night vision. He said no. It was all the caffeine he had taken to stay awake for the drive up and for running in the night. Caffeine affects his balance. Did it ever! I was worried he was going to fall of the trail or cliff or back onto me! But somehow, he was able to get to the top of these climbs without toppling over. We talked about how his shoes froze at Arrowhead 135mile run when the temps dipped to 27 below. He is a pretty strong runner, finishing well before me at Cascade. I knew I would have to work hard to stay with him and was worried that my slower pace would make him get cold. But we were moving along well. It was only when we stopped at the end of each loop that I really got cold.

We got to the parking lot and I saw Jess. She was done. Her breathing was really difficult and she didn't think she could make another climb up the steep section in the short loop. She said it took her forever to finish that loop.She ended up with 57+ miles, a huge disappointment for her. I felt bad for leaving her. I just imagined her mind going back and forth on that last short loop of whether to continue for one more, but when you can't breath, there is not much you can do. I've been there before. My first DNF was at Where's Waldo in 2006 because I couldn't breathe, and I had to be hauled off the mountain on horseback. Actually, I could have made it down on foot, as long as I was going downhill instead of up higher. That was quite an experience. Jess kept consoling herself by saying she had a great year of running and was bound to have a difficult one, but that doesn't always make things better.

I was getting really cold and decided to put on my windproof pants over my capris. Jess cheered me on as we started our short loop. Again Dan swayed around on the climb but moved strongly on the rest. I overheated on the climb and was almost regretting the wind pants but was thankful to have them for the rest of the run. I was comfortable in them for the remainder of the night when it got very cool, especially in the valleys. We made it back in decent time. Each time I got to the parking lot, I would put on my robe and eat something substantial, which was often a hearty soup by the relay runners. Jess was there and told me that they were going to pack up soon and not to expect them at the end of my next loop. I was so bummed. Seeing a tent with lights and people really kept me motivated. Jess was going to catch a ride back to the house with Barry, shower, and try to get some sleep. She planned on being back before I finished.

Now I had finished 5 big loops and 4 small loops. Dan and I headed out on the big loop, but I slowed down some more. Still, we kept moving. He told me about the Bear 100. He seems to like the challenging one. Bear 100 scares me. It's the altitude (and bears). I've done Bighorn 100 twice and struggled in both because of the altitude. We talked some, but mostly just ran in silence, which was okay with me. I didn't have much energy to talk and my breathing was starting to get more labored as my asthma got worse with the cold air I was breathing. My IT bands on both sides started to ache but did not prevent me from running the downhills. I had some hot spots but my feet have been worse. The bottoms of my feet were really starting to get fatigued. My back was still cooperating but started to feel our urgent pace. We both wanted to get this run done as soon as possible.

Another loop done, except this time, the parking lot was empty. This was discouraging. I grabbed some food and went to sit in the car to eat, thinking that Dan was going to take some time again to get ready to go back out. Next thing I know, he is standing outside my door. He wanted to get going because if he didn't, he was tempted to just crawl into the back of his truck and go to sleep. So I quickly stuffed the food into my pack pockets, took off my robe, and started up the trail with him. After the end of this short loop, I only had one long loop and two short loops to go. I spent about 14 hours of the run in the dark. The night seemed to last forever.

I started the last long loop optimistic, checking off for the last time each section of the trail. But I hit a low spot about halfway through and started to have negative thoughts like, so what if I didn't finish? I was tired, cold, unable to keep my eating up enough to create heat, and just wanted to stop. I told Dan that I was thinking of stopping after this loop and call it a day at about 89 miles. He would not have any of it. He was going to get me through the last 2 short loops, end of story. He said I would feel better when the sun came up.

We finished my last long loop and I didn't dilly-daddle at the car. I needed to just keep moving. Dan offered me his halogen head lamp, that literally lit up the entire parking area, but I told him that I didn't want to wear anything on my head anymore and prefered to just use my hand held for the next half hour before the sun came up. I felt bad. It look like he spent some time getting it ready for me and I declined it. As we were finishing this loop, Dan wanted to know if I wanted him to come with me in the last loop. I knew I wanted his company, since he kept me motivated to keep moving and made me feel safer, but that would mean that he would have to run by himself one last final loop rather than hook up with Karl. He wanted to help me finish.

We came into the parking lot and Jess was there. It took us 1hr38min to do that loop so I told her I'd be back about then. I dropped my hydration pack finally, took off my wind pants, ditched my I-pod, grabbed a bottle and 4 GUs. We booked along and I was running much more of the trail after the climb. Dan ran ahead realizing that I was running more now. I looked at my watch and realized that I could come under 27 hours and decided to push it. We were finishing our last 1.5 miles when a couple of women ran past me on one of the longer inclines with me walking. They reached the top and stopped to stretch. Dan casually dropped the fact that I was finishing 100 miles. I could hear them say OMG! So when I reached the top, I said to Dan, "Let's finish this!" and we took off downhill. I was sprinting now, but there were some little hills still to go. I started coughing from my asthma, realizing I was a little premature in my sprint. But I kept looking at my watch and knew I had to keep going. Dan had really taken off. I saw him kicking up his heels before he disappeared out of my sight. Finally, I saw the final turn and ran in to give Dan a hug. Jess was nowhere to be seen. We finished that loop in 1:21, so a lot earlier than I told Jess. Dan was right. I was glad to finish the 100 miles rather than stopping short at 89 miles. I jotted down my time and got into someone's heated van to change into my clothes. Just as I was coming out of the van, Lorie came in. She finished just a couple minutes behind me.

Dan took his own sweet time before heading out for his final long loop. He hadn't left by the time I left and Lorie told me he still hadn't left by the time she got back to her house and I had already showered. My time was 26:56, Lorie 26:58, Dan 27:03, and Karl 27:38. Even though we all ran within 45 minutes of each other, we all finished at different times in the day since Lorie and I started early on different loops and Dan stayed with me when was finishing, doing 2 small loops back to back. Karl has a goal of his own and wants to finish twelve 100 milers this year. So he is putting on a fat ass event the weekend of November 21st, but I told him Ken's brother was coming to town from Alaska and I would not be able to make it. Besides, that one is even worse with one 10K loop. I would get too dizzy!

I stayed on top of eating and drinking as best as I could. Admittedly, I started the run low on calories since Jess and I got up early and I didn't really have a breakfast. I had a small granola bar and spent a good part of the next few hours trying to catch up. I tried eating less GU and more solid food, and that worked okay until the end when I needed calories fast and GU was able to provide me with that. Backing off on the GU meant less caffeine, and I peed less but enough to know I was well hydrated (pretty much 1-2 times an hour and clear). I had left over pizza, which was good. I went through 12 granola bars. I took a Succeed every hour. I had bacon. I used hand warmers. The weather was completely dry-no rain or snow. My shoes stayed dried unless I was not able to control my urine stream. I had no stomach problems. I brushed my teeth at 30 miles and 60 miles and they were not sensitive after the run. So the run went pretty well except the mental challenge of running multiple loops.

Here are my loop splits:

Big loop (14K=8.7mi)
Loop 1=1:55 (night and day)
Loop 2=1:55 (day)
Loop 3=2:06 (day)
Loop 4=2:26 (day and night-Jess' light low)
Loop 5=2:20 (night)
Loop 6=2:41 (night)
Loop 7=2:56 (night)

Small loop (9K=5.6mi)
Loop 1=1:16 (day)
Loop 2=1:17 (day)
Loop 3=1:32 (day, clothing change)
Loop 4=1:39 (night)
Loop 5=1:51 (night)
Loop 6=1:38 (night and day)
Loop 7=1:21 (day)

We stayed and chatted for a little but hit the road as soon as we could. Jess and I grabbed some food. I also had my leftover Chinese Sesame Noodle-heavenly! She drove most of the way home as I passed in and out of consciousness. I only drove for an hour after we made a rest stop to the border and then to Bellingham. She then drove the rest of the way home-thank goodness she was there! I was glad I was able to grab some sleep. Taking a Celebrex kept the pain tolerable. After dropping Jess off at her house, I drove home with an overwhelming sense of fatigue. Somehow I was able to stay awake. I got home at 7pm, much earlier than Ken had expected me to be home. He was worried I'd come home at like 3am and have to get up to work. It helped that we were able to run an early loop and that Jess was able to drive most of the way after having been able to get little but some sleep after she finished. I know she would have rather finished 100 miles and be exhausted.

I had a full night's sleep and was in surgery for 13 hours the next day. Fortunately, I was not needed in the clinic on Tuesday and had my normal day off Wednesday, allowing me to catch up on rest. But I did go for a nice run at Cougar with Mary Hanna, Dean Kaylor, and Allison Moore for 11 miles. I felt pretty darn good. This was followed by another good run with Heather Nugent for 9+ miles at Lake Youngs on Friday and 17+ miles with the Seattle Running Company at Cougar on Sunday. I think my recovery went just fine!

Sisters Poker Run

2009-11-10T14:44:00.000-08:00

October 17, 2009

This is a special run that I try to make every year. Gene "Fatboy" Trahern puts on a fun run with nice giveaways and prizes. I've done it the last 3 years and have gotten great race momentos with race logo including North Face gloves in 2007, knit arm warmers in 2008, and this year a neck gaiter/head warmer. I treasure these! I lost my arm warmers at Bighorn this year but Gene gave me a leftover pair when I saw him at Hundred in the Hood. I won't let them out of my sight ever again! The race fee is just right and the proceeds goes to the Sisters Trail Association. I enjoy going down and socializing with Oregon runners but many Washington runners participate as well.

This year I rode down with Jess Mullen. Allison Moore was supposed to join us but couldn't find a sitter for her dog. She was bummed and we were too. We all had so much fun when we went to Hundred in the Hood together. Jess and I drove down Friday and stopped at our favorite market-the New Seasons Market on Rose Park Way just past the OR-WA border. Jess introduced me to this place and the food is so wonderful. I love their Biali, a bagel type bread with onion mix in the middle. I was disappointed when I got there and a woman was taking one of only two left. I took the last one and asked the baker if I could pre-order some and pick them up on Sunday. It just so happened that she had 4 more on a rack. So I bought all five and didn't take too long to eat them all over the next few days. Also, they have a wok grill their and you pick your ingredients that they stir fry up. It's sooo good!

We arrived in Sisters a little after 7pm, checked into the Sister's Inn, which was new and very nice, and headed to the noodle house where people usually meet for pre-race dinner. Unfortunately, everyone had eaten and left. We returned to the hotel room and we retired fairly early.

The weather forecast earlier in the week called for rain and colder temperatures. It is always cool at the start. But the day turned out to be very nice and Jess and I complained that we were overheating as the sun warmed up the day. In past years, I have stayed at Sean Meissner's house, which is only a few blocks from the start-walking distance. Our hotel was just a five minute drive. We socialized for a while before the race. Shawna Wilskey and Joe Tompkins were there. Terry Sentinella came with his wife, who volunteered at an aid station. Jess and I said our hellos to Michael Cartwright and his wife Tamara. I reminded Michael of when I made fun of him last year. I had come down with Shawn McTaggart and Tony Covarrubias and we were running the first stretch on the road before hitting single track. A car was approahing from behind and Michael yelled, "A cah is coming.". I said to him, "It's caR, not cah!" He replied, "Peace off!" I yelled back to him, "It's PISS off, not peace off!" Shawna, Joe, Jess, Tamara, and Terry just roared in laughter. It's fun to make fun of Michael's South African accent.

Gene briefed us a little about the course. There were several distances: 20 miles, marathon, and 50K+. The aid stations were stocked with the usual fare from previous years including pumpkin pie, animal cookies, Rice Krispie treats, pretzels, and others. The course is very runnable with great single track. For the 50K runners, there is some climbing but nothing too strenuous, and the views on this day were so beautiful. We hadn't planned on it, but Jess and I ran the entire run together. It was fun. Jess had a rough spot in the middle of the run. But when she recovered later, I worked hard to keep up with her. Jess is getting stronger for sure. We saw several runners on the out and back, including Shawna, Joe, Linda Barton, Christel Elliot, Caroline Ly, and Heidi Deitrich.

We reached the second to the last aid station and crossed the creek over a log bridge. Then some more running until the last aid station where we had to cross the creek with almost knee deep water. It was refreshing but added several pounds to each foot. At each aid station, runners grab a card and finish with 5 cards. Then at the finish we get one more card and choose 5 of 6 cards for the best hand. I ended up with two pairs (6 and 4) with high of 8. My hand was something like the 16th best hand. Nowhere near random prize winnings. Jess had nothing :( The winners had full houses. Michael Cartwright, who won the hand the last two years ended up winning the random chip drawing (each poker chip had a certain card value) when his chip was selected for a quilt. It's not fair, he always goes home with a major prize. Every year, Gene's wife hand quilts a piece, and this year it was a wonderful picture of mountains in the background, runners, and all kinds of flowers in the foreground. I soooo wanted it! Oh well, guess I have to keep coming back!

2009-11-02T15:42:00.000-08:00

September 26, 2009

Hundred in the Hood

Short: 23:12, 6th female

Slightly longer: This was my 5th 100 miler of the year, one month after Cascade and two 50K races between. My 11th total (one 150 miler, nine 100 miler, and one 24hr run/108 miles). I traveled down to Mt. Hood, Oregon with Jess Mullen and Allison Moore Friday before the race. It was a great girl's weekend. We stayed at a decent place in Government Camp. After checking in and dropping our stuff off, we headed to the start at Timothy Lake to get our race packets. Olga Varlamova and co-RD Mike Burke were there to greet us. Olga and Larry, newlyweds, acted like an old married couple. They seemed very comfortable around each other. We chatted with a few other runners and headed for dinner at a pizza/pasta restaurant in ZigZag.

We retired after dinner after getting our race morning clothes ready. I felt dehydrated but did get up to pee a couple times. It was pretty warm, which made it hard for me to sleep, so I opened the window. It helped some but there was a loud noise outside and it kept me awake, so I closed it back up. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well.

The race started at 5am. It was cool out but not cold. I spaced that it was going to be dark at the start and didn't have an extra one. Allison lended me hers, which I returned back at the nine mile aid station. The race layout was out 14 miles, then back, and then 37 miles out on a different part, then back. That's right, 102 miles. The entire race was on the PCT, so it was too runnable. It took it's toll on many of us. Allison was there crewing for Jess but helped me out quite a bit as well until she took over pacing duties at mile 55.

There was an amazing view of Mt. hood off to our left on our way out in the first out and back. On our way back, Karl Jensen caught up to me and we were coming into a group of spectators. Several children were screaming/cheering us on. I screamed back. Then Karl said, "I didn't touch her, really!" I played along and said, "Get your hands off me you dirty old man!" The crowd loved it!

I started to experience the same problem as at CCC where I had to pee a lot. (I had not figured out yet that the caffeine in the GU in addition to the Fraps I was drinking was dehydrating me). As a result, by 50K, my legs were heavy. I slowed down but continued to move along. I was passed by a bunch of people by mile 55. (I ended up finishing before most of them.) Jess caught me at this aid station, where Allison joined her and she continued to run strong. I was very impressed! She had gotten serious with Cross-Fit and lost 10 pounds after starting on a Paleolithic diet. Whatever she was doing was clearly helping her. I was not able to keep up with them and just concentrated on running my own race. The section after 55 miles was beautiful (Breitenbush)but challenging. The entire race was a series of hills that were too runnable. As a result, you felt compelled to run these but wore yourself out in doing so. The section after 55 miles featured more of the same but the trail was more technical, so that taxed us out even more.

This was only my 3rd 100 mile race without Ken crewing. I had run most of them before without a pacer, so this was not new, but it would have been nice to have someone to keep me company during the night. At times I was worried that I was off trail, even though the PCT is the main trail there. The trail was not marked except at the aid stations. I also heard things in the bushes that freaked me out. I basically ran the last 25 miles completely alone. I finally was caught about mile 90 on a significant uphill that I didn't remember being so long on the way down but lost the runner and his pacer from having to stop and pee constantly. At least I could make out their light far ahead. When I reached the last aid station, I had caught them. We were all under the impression that we only had less than 5 miles to go. Apparently, we had over 6 miles to go. I lost them again. They were laughing and taking their time when I caught them for the last time with about 2 miles to go. They let me pass. The last mile was on a different trail than what we ran out in and wouldn't you know it, it was the most techhical trail of the run. Many people got hurt in this section, which was during the night for most. I also got very cold. The temps got into the 30s. But then I would put on my shell and get hot. Clearly, I couldn't control my body temp, which is usually a reflection of dehydration and calorie deficit.

I took my time in this last mile so that I wouldn't trip but still had some urgency to finish. Finally, there it was! Jess and Allison were wrapped in blankets sitting next to a fire and cheered me in. I got my belt buckle and hat and headed straight for the car. I changed slowly, careful not to pull anything. Just as I was finishing, Jess and Allison got in the car freezing. The fire didn't do enough to keep them warm. We decided to head back to the hotel. Fortunately, it was only a 30 minute drive and Allison drove.

Jess finished 4th woman in 22:33! A strong sub-24. Only sub-24hr finishers got a very cool belt buckle, which I didn't know. Next year they will give out Bronze buckles for sub 30hr finishers. I'm glad I didn't blow up too much and was able to bring home more booty. First male was just under 17 hrs and Shawna Wilskey won in her first 100 in 18:26. Sick! Apparently, the front runners (the first 10 runners, including Shawna) missed the trail to the major aid station for miles 55 and 75 because of a mis-marked trail and had to go basically 14 miles without aid.(There was a section of the race where it was a 10-mile stretch between aid stations with a water drop a mile from the main aid.) Plus, they were supposed to pick up their pacer at 55 miles. But everyone held on tough.

When we got back to the hotel, I really had my first chance to see how pale and weak Jess looked. She really left everything out there on the trail. I couldn't see her well in the dark. But back in the hotel room with full lighting, I became very worried about her. I asked her if she wanted us to take her somewhere (like the hospital). She said she just needed to rest. Allison and I went down to the hotel restaurant and got her a hot chocolate and Sun Chips. This helped her she said. I was the first to hop in the shower. That was nice! Jess was next. Allison had to deal with both Jess and me coughing our phlegm out as she tried to get some sleep. After Allison showered, we headed to the start/finish to see others finish, like Tony Covarrubias and Shawn McTaggart, engaged since CCC. Also, Nic Plemel and Mark Dahlby (his first 100). We had a bite to eat and hit the road. We thanked and hugged Olga for a fine race.

We took turns driving home and stopped at Dairy Queen for some calories. We re-lived the weekend with laughter and pictures. Good times! Thanks girls for a memorable weekend!

Cascade Crest Classic 100 Mile Endurance Run

2009-11-01T17:53:00.000-08:00

August 29, 2009

Short: 26:40, 3rd CCC, 6th female

Long: This really is a classic race. Great race director, great course, and great volunteers. So close to home, can't really pass it up. But these are 100 challenging miles and runners who start need to be in good shape and mentally tough. It's getting to be popular and the race filled up in a week this year. It will probably be by lottery next year. I would like to become a five time finisher.

The race starts at 10am on the last Saturday of August in Easton, WA. The place is buzzing with runners, crew, pacers, volunteers, dogs, children, search and rescue, and bees. The pancake breakfast, including sausage and ham, eggs, muffins, fruit, orange juice, and coffee fuels the excitement. Drop bags are dropped off. Numbers are pinned on. Check and double check all your gear. Race briefing. Charlie's second year as race director. Good guy to have taken over. Wife Audrey two weeks from delivering their first child (now having entered the world as Lucy). Some notable accomplishments and nice framed pictures given out. One of them to Jamie Gifford going for the only 10 year finisher if he completes the run, which he does in fine fashion and gets a ten-year jacket. I need to get to 5 years first then start thinking about 10 years. Hopefully it still will be around and I will still be able to make the cut-offs. Charlie talks about not being able to go down the rope section to the John Wayne trail and throught the 2.5 mile tunnel since it is closed. The new section features extra elevation but no extra charge. No complaining allowed. There is also a test question at the top and you have to answer it to continue. We all have nervous and incredulous looks on our faces thinking that after 50 miles, we could be disqualified for being brain dead at night and not be able to answer the question.

We line up, all with fresh legs (or not for some of us-but I did actually taper for this race, that is, I didn't run a race the weekend before), realistic goals or not, but happy to make it to the start. I vow to stay on top of my eating and drinking and to start out conservatively. Ken is crewing for me, Mary Hanna will run with me from 47 miles to 53, brother-in-law Cliff Richards from 53-75, and Gwen Scott to the finish. This is a great team. I get to the first water only aid station having already emptied one bottle, refilling it, and arriving 2 minutes slower than previous years, which is what I am hoping for. The first major climb up Goat Peak taxes me, even though I started out conservative. I am sweating profusely because of what I feel is very humid conditions, but others are looking comfortable. I'm power hiking, not running up this mountain like I have in years past. Yet by the time I get to the Cole Butte aid station at about 10.8 miles, 5 minutes slower than previous years, my legs feel heavy already. But I know there is some downhill running coming up and hope to stretch out my legs. Uh-oh. The increased speed moves things along and I have to make a pit stop. I take a little detour off a side road and take care of business. But in my bathroom position, one of my inner thigh muscles decides to cramp up! I jump up immediately, thank goodness I was done, but very worried that I am having problems so early on despite eating, drinking, and taking salt early.

I continue running down the hill, not at a full clip, but taking advantage of the descent. I know the next aid station will be after another climb. I power hike this but by the time I get to Blowout Mt (Chris Ralph and Tom Ripley's 15 mile aid station), my legs are twitching and I seriously need to slow down my WALKING pace before I have a full blown cramp. I've been through this pre-cramp feeling before and know what I need to do to avoid a muscle catastrophe. I arrive about 8 minutes slower than previous years. I leave the aid station very slowly up the hill, knowing there will be some downhill in about a mile and arrival at the PCT. At this point, I'm peeing like every 15-20 minutes. I'm not understanding what I'm doing wrong. My low back is hurting and my legs have no spring in them. I am able to stumble the downhill once it comes, but certainly cannot take advantage of this nice trail and grade. Many people pass me. I get passed on the down, up, and flat. But I'm still slowly running, not walking, which does help me cover some distance. It does give me a chance to really enjoy the beauty of the PCT. I enjoy running in the clouds sweeping over the trail. Even if there is no view, the wind swept alpine trees are beautiful and strong. I am in the moment.

I arrive at Tacoma Pass at about 23 miles, manned by The Balanced Athlete, hurting pretty bad in my pelvis, low back, and legs despite the gradual downhill to that aid station. However, I'm glad to see Ken for the first time. Jess Mullen, who is crewing Allison Moore, is there also to help me. This place is a zoo, being a major aid station with crew access. Even though I'm hurting, I'm not too worried. I have had low spots before and have gotten through them. I smile at all the people cheering as runners come through. I drink a Frap and grab a dixie cup of mashed potatoes that I had cooked up the day before with cream, butter, and salt. I later learn that it is probably all the caffeine that I consume early in a race found in GU and Fraps, which affects me more since I don't drink coffee on a regular basis and dehydrates me. Too much sugar makes me pee a lot too. I have also found that uphill running and downhill running aggravate my low back, which does not bode well for mountainous runs that I love so much. I arrive at this aid station 35 minutes slower than 2007 and 17 minutes slower than 2008.

But I leave still in a good mood, happy to be on the PCT. There is quite a bit of uphill after leaving the aid station and I welcome this chance to eat and take my time. More people pass me. I get encouragement and advice from some who probably thinks I'm new to this. I slowly start to feel better. I'm able to run the flat and slight ups now along with the downhill, almost being able to keep up with those who catch up with me. But I'm smart and try not to force myself to stay with them. I need to run my own race. The PCT foliage changes from bushes right next to you creating a funnel with twists and turns to more open areas with bigger trees. I can hear a constant buzzing as if bees are all around me, but I don't actually encounter any, even when I step off trail to pee.

It takes me about the same amount of time to get to the next aid station as last year, but still 37 minutes slower than 2007 (where I went out too fast). I'm still about 1hr10minutes slower in total time than 2007 and 18 minutes slower than 2008 by the time I get to Snowshoe aid station at mile 29. But things continue to improve as my next 4 miles pace is the same as 2007 and faster than 2008 by 10 minutes. I arrive at Stampede Pass, another major aid station teeming with crew and volunteers, at about mile 33, still behind 2007 and 2008 pace, but gaining back some time. I'm feeling better and greet Ken and Jess with a smile. More Frap and mashed potatoes. I leave with an extra shirt, gloves, hat, and headlamp, required at this aid station. I give Ken a quick kiss goodbye and start hiking uphill and eating my potatoes.

I cover this section in decent time and others who see me leaving the next aid station at Meadow Mt at about mile 40/41 tell me I look strong. The trail becomes much more technical at this point and Gwen had told me that if I could run this part of the race with still some light, it would be much easier. Unfortunately, I'm less further along than I had been in previous years by the time it gets dark and I have to accept that I will run this next very rocky section with the aid of my headlamp. Yet it does not take me much longer than in previous years and I'm am starting to catch some of the people that passed me earlier. I'm still peeing a lot, needing to refuel with gels that have caffeine. Even with darkness now here, I'm still warm and don't require any extra clothing as long as I'm moving along. About a quarter mile before Ollalie Meadows at 47 miles, manned by Seattle Running Company, I hear Ken's voice, "Van, is that you?" "Ken? What are you doing here?" I am not aware that I am close to the aid station. He wants to warn me that they are not allowing any pacers from Ollalie like they had in previous years unless you arrive after 10pm. He is worried that I would be very disappointed and affect my race. I am totally okay with it but am sorry that Mary would not be able to run with me. He runs with me back to the aid station where Mary and Cliff have my night gear. Jess had already taken off with Allison, who had a great first 100. I cover this stretch before Ollalie in similar time as years passed.

I take some perogies with me and head down the rocky trail. I chat with David Bliss for a little bit until he loses me when we reach the road going up to the Alpental Ski Area. This is the re-route, which is not as fun as going down the rope and running in the tunnel. It definitely adds on about 20 minutes. I climb for what seems like forever, but of course, not knowing where the trail will go next and especially at night is very disorienting. I constantly search for that next flag or glow stick. I'm moving along strong however. I get to the top after a few false summits and get to the test question that I worried about so much at the beginning. There is no gatekeeper there to DQ me if I get it wrong. The question is, "Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?" I think back and remember this question being asked before, somewhere, I think at one of the other CCC races. I smirk and move on. Unfortunately, the next part is a steep descent on barely a trail strewn with rocks everywhere! I trip and curse but somehow stay upright. I don't see any blood on the rocks from previous runners although fully expect it. After what seems like an eternity, I'm running down a steep slope of grass and dirt, hardly able to control my speed. I pass someone but am even more surprised to be passed by another guy. He is screaming down the slope. Maybe he skis this slope during the winter. At the bottom we have quite a bit more of trail, some techinical, some runnable, but defintely a gradual climb before hitting pavement that head downhill. I'm able to run this well and stride into the next aid station after going under I-90 to Hyak, mile 53 and grand station central. I've lost some time here because of the re-route but don't stress about it. I'm approached by volunteers in costume and cheered on by spectators, including RD Charlie. Ken and Mary load me up on food and Cliff joins me for the next 23 miles.

We hit 2.5 miles of pavement, gradual uphill but runnable. Every year I force myself to run this section because there will be a lot of walking when we hit the gravel road, that climbs a little steeper for the next 4.5 miles. At the start of a shorter race, this can be run, but not after 55 miles. I imagine the front runners can run it though. I continue to drink despite peeing a lot. I eat. I'm feeling good so continue what I had being doing all day. We see few runners on this stretch. Unlike last year when there were rowdy and troublesome kids, we have no encounters this year. Cliff has been injured but felt he could pace me after I had run 53 miles. He also wanted to be a part of what a mountain 100 mile race is all about. He is in for a treat! We make good time to Keechelus Ridge at mile 60-61. We don't dawdle too long. I think I have some soup and Cliff does as well. We leave with more road a little up then a long down before it levels out to Kachess Lake station at mile 68. In 2007, I ran down the road too fast and think I developed a bone bruise that hurt during the next stretch and after the race for several weeks. I grab some things from my drop bag, eat some food, and leave quickly again. We head up the last bit of road and make a sharp right turn smackninto the side of the hill with buried skeletons.

The next section starts with a bush back, which is the beginning of the Trail from Hell. We head in the opposite direction from the final direction that we will be heading once we reach the main trail. There are a lot of downed trees on this trail, some large enough that I can't reach my leg over to touch the ground on the other side. Many of these trees head straight down, so you are fighting gravity to scale them. Cliff provids me with a foot support as I try to slither over one without pulling a muscle. We follow the glow sticks through terrain with no trail at times, careful not to get our eyes poked out by branches. We finally reach the main trail but almost immediately have to cross the creek on the remnants of what used to be a major foot bridge that has been washed away. We continue on a very technical trail that has some significant drop offs down ledges and rocks, steep lung busting climbs, up and down creek gullies, a short section that was washed away into the lake way way down below with a narrow ledge left, and of course more downed trees. Karl Jenson said he counted over 90 downed trees. I guess that's a good way to pass time. I run in front. We catch a runner or two with their pacers. Again, after what seemed like an eternity, we make a right turn down to the Mineral Creek crossing. In past years, I have gotten my feet wet, but this year, there are perfectly placed logs where I scooch on one and have my feet on the other. I am careful not to get splinters in my but though. A short section and we are at the aid station at 73 miles. Some potatoe soup before we head uphill again for another section of gravel road.

I continue to feel strong. Cliff is stiffening up. His injury usually felt better at a certain pace, which we are not able to keep. This short section before getting to Ken at the intersection in the road takes forever. During this time, it gets light. Gwen is ready to go when we arrive. She and Ken had been waiting for a while, but Ken is used to this now, me not showing up as planned. If I don't have pacers, he worries more. It's amazing to me that my crew and pacers give up their time to come support me in my long races. At least the pacers get something out of it. They get some exercise and to run on amazing trails. But Ken seemingly does not get anything out of it. His thing is rock climbing, so he "gets it" when I push myself or come back for more. But he doesn't have similar running experiences to compare. He does enjoy seeing runners come through. He gets joy if I am having a good race. He comments later after I finish that he has never seen me looking so strong and happy in any of the 100 or plus mile races that he has crewed for me and this makes it worth it for him. But in the past, I have had tough races and snapping comes out. I have lightened up and make a real effort to remember that this is something that should be fun.

I get some butternut squash soup and take a Frap with me. I am glad to get rid of my headlamp. This is about the only time I put on my red shell, which I take off after about 15 minutes. Gwen paced me this section in 2007, and I wasn't very pleasant to be around. I was having a lot of trouble breathing that year and really struggled. This year, I am feeling strong and breathing is fine. We run and walk, joking and laughing. Gwen was really stressed out the days leading up to the race because her dog Scout was dealing with some health issues. She had just found out some good news and relaxed for her pacing duties with me. I get tired of stopping and peeing so much and stop hydrating as much as I had been. I run more of this section this year and Gwen is impressed. We are both impressed with the views from the road across the valley towards the Leavenworth area and the Enchantments. With the sun rising, it is gorgeous. I'm glad to share it with Gwen, such a good person.

We arrive at No Name Ridge aid station at 80 miles and I've made up some time. We continue mostly running, some walking. There is a steep section that I remember coming up but Gwen does not. I am right. It is a long one. We get through it. Having run CCC 100 and Bighorn 100 (2nd female in both!), Gwen knows what I need to get through these last 25 miles. She constantly tells me how strong I look, compliments me profusely when I run a section, and reminds me to eat and drink. We amble along up and down until we reach the aid station before Thorpe Mt. I drop my pack and ask them to fill it while we hike up to the top to retrieve a chip that indicates we went to the top. Glenn Tachiyama takes our picture. We have spectacular views of the lake below us and Mt. Rainier in the distance sitting above the clouds. We see runners come down as we head up and runners head up as we run down. I show the aid station workers my chip and get back my pack. One of them tells me that she didn't have to fill it, it was pretty full. Gwen gives me a disappointed motherly look. "Busted!" she says.

I cover the last section to Thorp faster than in previous years. I know the next 3 hills are part of the Cardiac Needles (there are 5 and we already did one before Thorp). We pass two runners who are "re-grouping" in the shade. The sun beats down hard and Gwen gives me her hat so I don't overheat. It saves me. I start drinking again, but backing off earlier is catching up with me. My legs start to get tight and there is a little twitching. My breathing is more labored as well, not just from the Needles. I am downing GUs every 10-15 minutes and they simply evaporate. But I cannot eat regular food anymore. I am able to complete this section before French Cabin (88 miles) a little faster also than previous years. Last year I had no pacer for the last 25 miles. Mary had paced me up to the point where Ken met me last on No Name Road.

I get to French Cabin and grab a pancake, hoping I can eat it. I took two bites and handed it to Gwen after we get back on the trail saying I just can't eat it. She had grabbed a Frap for me but I never drink it before finishing. I just keep eating GU. I start peeing again and running is possible, but breathing continues to slowly get worse from dehydration. But we are moving along really well and I am catching people. After leaving French Cabin, there is one last climb, the last of the Needles. I grunt up this thing. Thereafter, the trail rolls up and down, but mostly down. There are some technical sections that slow me down, but I run most of this 6+ mile stretch. There are several short creek crossings and it feels pretty good on my legs as the day gets hotter and hotter. We finally reach the long, steep, and rocky downhill before the last aid station. I am able to run this pretty well and pass 4-5 runners that I remember passed me earlier in the race when I was struggling. I am glad I made the decision to slow down then so that I could recover for the rest of the race.

I arrive at Silver Creek (95 miles) ready to finish this. But it is very warm and we are told even hotter when we reach the road. I fortunately have a hat in my drop bag and am able to give Gwen hers so that she can get some protection from the sun. Ken has my water bottle ready and a couple more GUs. He and everyone else there clap and cheer us on for the final stretch. I am able to run most of this but grunt a lot of the way. Gwen does a good job of ignoring all the noise I make. We make the last turn and run along the train tracks. The fire station looks so small in the distance. Every year it seems further away. I run as hard as I can. I don't understand it when someone walks the finish or show little joy of finishing. I have seen people in agony right before the finish and still sprint in as fast as they can. I have experienced pain and fatigue in the end but somehow the adrenaline rush of finishing masks the pain and I am able to run hard across the finish line. I want to give the people who have stuck around to see me finish something to cheer about. There is a surprising number of people still there and a decent roar as I finish. I don't run another step after passing under the finish banner. I give Gwen a hug (I think) and Charlie gives me a hug, my third belt buckle in three CCCs, and a beautiful print made by Leah (formerly Jurek).

Ken helps me to a chair under a tent shelter. I had been trying to fuel as much as I could in the final miles, but now nausea overcomes me because of my calorie deficit. I don't feel sick enough to need to lay down or hurl, but it is uncomfortable. I am able to eat something but it only fills part of the deficit. I clean my feet in a bucket of water. I watch with everyone else as more runners come in. I scream as loud as I can for each runner. I was only passed by one runner in the second half, a 19-year-old who looked so strong passing me in the stretch from French Cabin to Silver Creek. I know I passed at least half a dozen, I think more. My three CCC times are all within 30 minutes of each other: 2007 26:22 (5th woman, 19th overall), 2008 26:48 (5th woman, 23rd OA), and 2009 26:40 (6th woman, 43rd OA). But 2009 was the one I felt the best (after my rough start). The second half from Hyak to the finish really tells the story: 2007 14:05, 2008 13:54, and 2009 13:10.

I want to stay longer but had to work the next day. Ken helps me get my drop bags and into the car. We see some runners coming in as we hit the freeway. Ken asks me if I want to head to Cle Elum to get something to eat but it is in the other direction. I just want to get home as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we are not aware that there is a big back up ahead because of a motor home that had pretty much burned down to it's frame. We are now stuck. I am starving and eat the last of Ken's sandwich. We are both exhausted. I nod in and out of consciousness. Somehow Ken gets us both home safe. It takes us two hours to get home, twice as long. We had fixings leftover and I make each of us a substantial hamburger. It feeds us well. I take a shower without slipping. We retire early and in contrast to my other 100 mile runs, I am actually able to get some sleep. Usually, I cannot find a comfortable position and am kept awake by constant shifting. I get enough rest to be able to be on my feet for 10 hours of ortho surgery the next day. I ran again 7.4 miles for the first time the following Wednesday with a fast group and was worried that I was going to run the 2nd half alone. But I felt great and did several miles in the low 7s pace. It was nice to get some leg turnover.

A sincere thanks to Ken, Mary, Cliff, Gwen, Jess, and everyone else who made this my best CCC experience (so far).

BIGHORN 100 BEATS ME UP-AGAIN!

2009-10-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

June 19, 2009
Dayton, Wyoming

This post is late in coming and I'm still working on Cascade, Hundred in the Hood, and Sisters Poker Run.

I did this race in 2007 and practically had to walk the last 30 miles. A combination of a pulled hip flexor at mile 68 and asthma slowed me to a crawl. I finished in 31:49 but wanted to return and have a stronger and faster race. I thought I could complete it under 30 hours and with a 24 hour race and a 150 mile race under my belt earlier in the year, I felt ready. I even skipped a weekend of racing as part of a taper. Unfortunately, the days leading up to the race left me feeling tired and poorly rested at the starting line.

My husband and I planned a 12-day road trip and car camping with my race in the first part and rock climbing to follow. We wanted to leave early Wednesday to have a relaxing 2-day drive down to Dayton, WY. But the CD player in our Pathfinder crapped out a few days before leaving. We were able to order a replacement but the earliest it was due to arrive was Wednesday between 10-noon. We had planned on leaving about 7-8am. It did arrive at 10:30am, but wouldn’t you know it, it was defective. So we left at 11am without a player and already behind schedule.

We drove for most of the day Wednesday and set up camp in St. Regis, just past the Montana border after making a stop in Spokane to pick up climbing supplies. There were 3 sites, but I didn’t feel safe about the location, especially with the stories of crazy people out there. I called my brother-in-law, Cliff, and told him where we were, aware of the fact that it was not really remote since I was able to get cell reception. Still, I didn’t like the look of our neighbors. We set up camp around 8pm, which was close to the road it came off and under a train tressel. So needless to say, sleep was fitful and everyone knows that your sleep the two nights before the race is the most important, not the night before.

Thursday was another long day of driving. There was quite a bit of road construction on 1-90 that slowed us down and I was worried we were not going to make it in time for the packet pick up and mandatory weigh in. We arrived in Sheridan with 20 minutes to spare. We were not able to make it to the pasta feed because we had a little more driving to do to get to our camp site at Burgess Junction at 8’000 feet. The drive up was incredible with many rock formations which were labeled with their age, with the oldest dated 2 billion years old. We again set up camp around 8pm. I had soup and a ¼ bagel for dinner, but should have stopped and gotten something more substantial, but we were running out of daylight. I got some sleep. I knew I was dehydrated because I did not pee much overnight. I did have breakfast, but the race did not start until 11am and we had a briefing to go to at 9am in Dayton. I did have another bagel and a Boost before the start but overall, I felt like I was dehydrated, poorly rested, poorly fueled, and deoxygenated from sleeping at 8’000 feet. Plus, at 11am, it was already hot. I was not heat or altitude trained. I was already behind the eight ball.

My plan was to start out slow and pick it up in the second half. That didn’t happen. I slowed quite a bit in the second half, again because of my asthma, which was aggravated by the altitude. In 2007, I had a faster start and had plenty of time to finish when I slowed, but this time, I started out slow and was running out of time as the race went on. I was feeling okay until about mile 40 when darkness came and it started to get cold. The dry air and cold made my asthma really noticeable by then, but I was having trouble breathing after the 50K mark. I felt I was hydrating and taking salt well initially, but as sometimes happens, I became less religious about it in the later hours of the race and I think that also contributed to more problems with my breathing. Because of my slower pace, my muscles were not that taxed and I had no cramping issues or joint pain. But I did have hot spots in both of my feet from stream and mud crossings. I really struggled on the uphill parts with my breathing, and even though running downhill was better, it still taxed me, feeling as if was I was getting the wind knocked out of me with the pounding. I encountered the front runners on their return trip earlier than in 2007, indicating to me that I was behind that year’s schedule by quite a bit. We were running into a headwind and I was glad that I decided to take my windproof pants from the 30 mile aid station. I also had 2 shirts on, a shell, two hats, and gloves and was still cold. The cold and my struggle with breathing were draining my calories faster than I could replace them.

We started the race along part of the Tongue River, already thrashing and beautiful. There's a bit of climbing early on but with large rock cliffs on both sides opening up into flowered covered hills, the climb was breathtaking. At the first aid station, I sampled the shrimp cocktail that I declined a couple years ago. It was okay (I'm not a big dill fan but it didn't really affect my running). I felt pretty good coming into the second aid station at Dry Fork where I first saw Ken about 13 miles in. The next time I would see would be at the turn around point halfway. I was already behind schedule but feeling good. We adjusted my arrival time there. The next section involved some service road before getting back into single track which was nice running. The next major aid station at the Footbridge of the Tongue River (about 50K) after a steep descent was where I readied myself for the night. There was still light when I went through and I was amazed at the huge boulders that I was running along, the size of houses. Night time came and I slowed down, not just from the darkness, but from the cold as well. I was passed by a bunch of runners and thought I was one of the last stragglers to get to the turn around.

I arrived at the almost halfway mark (49 miles) at Porcupine aid station at almost 9,000 feet exhausted but had no intentions of quitting. Ken was there to make sure I had some solid food. He had been waiting for me for a while and gets very worried when I arrive much later than when I told him I would. I had originally told him 12 hours but saw him at 13 miles and told him probably more like 13 hours. I arrived at 15 hours. I had some protein and a cup of noodles. In an effort to make conversation with me, the aid station worker told me how the lead male runner, Karl Meltzer, had been attacked by a moose. Ken was thinking that was the last thing she should have told me. Sure enough, I left there very scared but was able to catch up with another runner, Dennis Aslett, whose brisk walk was faster than my slow run. He stayed with me until it got light and I enjoyed his company. Here was a veteran Ultrarunner who has run the Bear 100, which is just as difficult as Bighorn, which he had done several times, and had even run Hardrock but had to drop at 95 miles! I thought I was moving along pretty well but kept getting passed by men with gray beards. This was pretty discouraging. But we ran together as the sun was coming up and we were in a valleywith massive rock cliffs on both sides at a distance with a full moon. Again, breathtaking and calming at the same time. It was getting warm as the sun rose higher and higher. I shed most of my clothes except for my windproof black pants. I didn’t want to stop to take them off and fortunately we were in and out of shady areas. But by the time I got to The Footbridge aid station at 66 miles, I was very glad to get rid of my night clothes, which were weighing down my hydration pack. I had a sleeveless shirt on and my arms got fried. One of the other runners was gracious enough to give me some sunscreen.

I left The Footbridge knowing that I had a long and steep hike up. The first 50 mile runner coming from Porcupine passed me as I started out. Then another and another…I thought, this sucks! In 2007, I was passed by them further in the race and on a road, so there was plenty of room. Stepping off the trail constantly on an uphill, muddy, single track just sucked! This is the worst part of the trail in the race with shoe sucking mud and nowhere to step off at times it seems. It started me thinking and gaining a greater appreciation for early starters at races that have that option. (As you probably have guessed, there is no early start at 100 mile races, just cut-off times. More on that later.) But with races that have a shorter distance sharing the same trail, it is quite a hassle! Getting up 3 miles in just under 3000 feet of elevation stressed my lungs quite a bit. It took me a while to recover from that effort, forcing to me to walk even slight inclines. The day was getting hotter and hotter and it was hard to believe that just a few hours earlier, I was freezing. The hot spots in my feet had long since developed into blisters. I kept thinking that I would need to change shoes at Dry Fork at about 82 miles, but kept going back and forth since that would take time, and I was starting to worry about the cutoffs.

So, about the cut-offs. I have been fairly lucky that I run well enough that I have never had to worry about cut-off times. For the first time, I was asking at the aid stations that had cut-offs how much cushion I had there, and when did I need to get to the next one? The climb out of Footbridge decreased my cushion from 2 ½ hours to 2 hours. So in addition to being passed by guys with gray beards and by a constant stream of 50 milers, my running ego was taking a beating. I developed another appreciation. First it was for early starters, now it was for back of the packers. Actually, they are often one in the same. I know 2 hours seems to be a pretty good cushion, but everyone knows that can change quickly with a trip and fall, poor nutrition causing nausea and vomiting, dehydration, or heat exhaustion. For me, it was my asthma. I had it in my head that we only had 4 miles from the next aid station to Dry Fork at 82 miles, but it was actually 6 miles. I just could not do the math right. Once I realized that, I took off as fast as I could on the downhills, and ran as much as I could on the uphills. Those 6 miles are a never ending up and down of dirt road with the last bit straight up to the aid station. Everyone looks terrible going into this aid station and it is a common place to quit. I had my last weigh in and for the entire race never fluctuated more than 2 pounds. Ken was there with a Boost and tried to force me to eat a ham and cheese tortilla wrap and a small slice of pizza. I decided not to change shoes. At that point, my asthma was slowing me more than my feet, and the longer I stopped, the worse my asthma got. Anyone who has asthma knows that if one is to continue, it is better to get moving since the adrenaline that is pumping in your system actually dilates the air tubes in your lungs. Sure it was very painful in my feet to get moving again, but eventually, the blisters settled in their place and unless I stepped on a rock just wrong or stubbed my toe, the pain was manageable. I stopped long enough that my asthma got pretty bad again to the point that I was burning calories very rapidly just trying to breathe. This forced me to slow down and I could not keep up with Vinny, a guy I had been running with for a while. I kept downing gels, but they took several to get me out of that empty, bonking feeling. I let Vinny go. There was one last steep climb, and I knew there was no way I could do it without stopping several times to catch my breath. Sure enough, on that climb, I was passed by three guys. I couldn’t keep track of the 100 or 50 milers at that point. Once on top of the climb, it was a treacherous and long downhill 5 miles or so. Ray Gruenweld said that this was the kind of race where the trails were difficult enough that you had to pay attention to every step you make, even on the dirt roads. This adds to the effort involved just to move forward. I couldn’t agree with him more.

I let gravity carry me down the trail but had to brake quite a bit because of the steepness and technical trail. Breathing was better on the downhill. Somehow I caught Dennis and then he and I caught Vinny. I passed one guy on an uphill who was tripping and cursing. I said to him, "I'm so ready to be done." He was "f--cking this and f--cking that!" We all finally arrived at the last aid station with 5+ miles to go on a flat, never ending road back to the park in Dayton. I stopped in the outhouse, "lightened" my load, and started making my way to the finish. I started out running with Vinny, but found the pace to be too slow. Dennis was challenged by another runner to catch that guy who was tripping and cursing and took off. I would pick a tree or a fence or another runner to run to. It still took forever to cover that last bit. I looked back and saw a girl coming on fast. I wasn't sure if she was a 50 or 100 miler. So what? I knew I was going to finish over 33 hours but just didn't want to be the last girl in the 100. So against my wishes, I pushed myself. Dennis did catch that tripping and cursing guy but they finished pretty close in time. I came in not long after, having caught another 100 miler but ran in with him, didn't want to pass him in the last 100 yards.

Immediately on finishing, my breathing got worse and I was coughing. I got some extra attention from the EMTs, who were shaking their heads that I had just finished 100 miles. I think it was more amazing that it took me 33 hours, 14 more hours than Karl Meltzer and 9 more hours than the first woman. They gave me an albuterol treatment. We headed back to the car and Ken got me some food while I got off my dirty running clothes and put on some dry clean clothes with the heat blasting. I was depleted of energy and was cold. I ate some of the food Ken brought me but overall just didn't want to move anymore, not even to chew. The wind was picking up outside. In the last 5 miles, it was thundering and lightning was striking in the distance. A ton of pollen was blowing all over the park, one reason we didn't stay at the camping ground next to the park like we did in 2007. We decided to head back to our camp and left our folding chairs there. The drive back was amazing with lightning across the valley. We got back to our tent and just crashed. Ken was just as tired as me and seemed to zonk out. I tossed and turned trying to find a comfortable position but mostly just hacked and coughed most of the night. I think I got some sleep towards the morning.

We got moving in the morning and headed to the awards ceremony, which included a pancake breakfast. We arrived just in time to catch Karl giving his account of his moose attack. He got lots of laughs from the audience. I don't know him personally, but he has a reputation of being a nice, shy, but approachable guy. Then the 100 milers were awarded their belt buckles (in order of finishing time), finisher's jacket, and age group awards. Gwen Scott, a good running buddy of mine and runner extraordinaire, came in second woman and won her age group. The 40-49 women spanked the 30-39 women, which I came in first. Actually, I was the only 30-39 woman to finish. The other girls had a rougher day than me. I got a pretty cool shaped rock with engravings of the race, mountains, and my place. I was estatic and my WA cheering section went crazy!

After we left, Ken and I hiked back up the trail that I ran down just hours before. So we still had not showered. It had been 5 days and 100 miles ago. Yet here we were hiking up a trail in the heat of the day with packs on our backs. The Tongue River Canyon is just gorgeous. We found the sport climbing routes above the trail and Ken climbed two routes. I did not have the desire to stuff my swollen feet into tight climbing shoes. So more sweating and getting dirty. We had been invited to visit Gwen and her crew to one of her crew's relative's home in Story, WY. We were treated with great hospitality by a stranger with food, drinks, and a SHOWER! We hung out on her patio, played with Dyno, and looked out on her many acred property.

The next morning we headed to Tensleep, WY, a climber's destination. I had not seen any wildlife the entire trip but on our drive out, we saw a Mama moose with her baby moose, who looked like it was just learning to walk the way it was wobbling about. Ken had seen a group of them at our race camp site while I was running. We arrived our next destination with enough time to set up camp and find some climbing routes. Our camping spot was clearly a climber's campground. It was at 5000 feet and off an old dirt highway opened only several months of the year. Ours was a little off the road with 3 sites. There was a fire pit right up against a boulder in a site that looked pretty permanently occupied. And there was someone's camper at the other site but no one around. We set up then loaded up our packs. We parked off the main highway through the canyon and hiked up to the climbing site. Immediately, I had trouble breathing and coughed my way up. It was not a long way but still had switchbacks and several times I had to lean on my hiking poles. It took us 30 minutes to get to the base of the climbs. I can't remember if I climbed, don't think so, but Ken did two routes. The routes were long and ratings a little stiffer than we're used to. It got cold and we called it a day.

We awoke the next morning and headed out climbing. Again, I struggled up the trail. We did a warm up route, but it was hard for me. It was already hot with sun beating on the rock. We found a route Ken wanted to do where the first bolt was pretty high up. It was a challenge for him to get to it. The next bolt was even more challenging. He made a dyno move for a hold but it was not as positive as he thought it was going to be and popped off the hold. Next thing I know, he dropped 20 feet to the ground and rolled to the trail just below me. What happened? Climbing involves a belayer (me) who is supposed to catch the climber if he falls. I was using a new belay device called a Cinch that is supposed to be idiot proof and will catch the climber without me having to use my braking hand. I had already belayed Ken with this device few times and we always tested it before he started climbing. The only thing I could think of was that something caught the release button and let the rope run through. I really don't know! All I knew was that I was so scared. I immediately ran to him and said, "Are you okay?" He said, "What happened?" "I don't know!" I said. "Somehow the rope didn't catch." Ken touched his head to see if there was any blood. There was none. I looked in his ears to see if any blood or fluid was coming out. (He wasn't wearing a helmut-I know-bad bad!) Ken said that he couldn't remember what happened. I asked him if he knew what month it was. He didn't know. What state are we in. "Don't know." Do you know what year it is? "2007?" Who is the president? "The black guy?" he said with a quizzical look on his face. He said his head was ringing a little but denied any headaches everytime I asked him. I said we needed to get him in the shade and have him drink some fluids, since we had been bad about hydrating all morning. After about 20 minutes, he was able to tell me what state we were in. He still could not remember what happened right before he hit the ground. He did remember that the hold he was going for was not as good as he thought and not hitting the end of the rope. Next thing he knew was that he was on the ground with a ringing in his head. I was worried about him and he was worried about the two pieces of gear still left on the route. But he was in no condition to climb. He belayed me on top rope off the second quickdraw (a type of climbing gear with carabiners where the rope runs through) and somehow I got to the first quickdraw and retrieved it. Then I had to climb up to the second one with Ken's help pulling me up because the difficulty of the route was beyond me. I got to the second quickdraw but had to replace it with a carabiner that I put the rope through to lower off of and retrieve the second piece of gear. So the only thing we lost was an old carabiner.

Amazingly, Ken wanted to keep climbing, but I urged him to hike down because he still looked a little razzled. Instead of going back to our camp and sitting around, we decided to drive to Buffalo, WY. We had a nice semi-fancy early dinner. There was an emergency room there and I asked Ken if he was willing to be checked out. Nothing doing. I was worried that something bad was going to happen because recently in the news, Liam Neelson's wife died hours after having hit her head skiing. Turns out he had a concussion after he told his doctor climber friend George Wiggins what happened. We headed back to the camp with me constantly asking him how he felt and if he had a new headache. No, fine. Even so, while we were sleeping, I made sure I could hear him breathing. When we arrived back at camp earlier, the occupant of the camper was there. He had three ferocious dogs that jumped on our car and barked constantly and through the night. He made what we felt were pretty feeble attempts to control his dogs.

Ken got in a good day of climbing the next day, doing many of the classics. He had great fun. There were very few easier routes, so I don't think I climbed much or if all. We came back to our camp and decided to move over to another area, which gave us great views of the rock formations and got us away from those terrible dogs. It was a much better site and would be the spot we would go back to if we ever return. I can't remember if we climbed another day. We headed back west and visited friends at Priest Lake, Idaho. We got to see their new home, had another shower, and stayed in their guest house. Again we encountered a Mama and young moose on our drive out, this time much closer up. I enjoyed it in the comfort and safety of our car. Then we stopped at another's friends new home in Twisp, WA. We had a nice dinner, slept well in their guest bedroom, and went climbing in Mazama the next day before heading home. I actually did some good climbing there. The drive through the North Cascades was beautiful.

Well, pretty full vacation. 100 miles, good times with friends, days without a shower, exploring a new climbing area, a concussion. What more can you ask for?

McNaughton 150 Mile-Entering Unchartered Territory

2009-04-15T17:50:00.000-07:00

4/10/09 Pekin, IL

This is going to be a long report. So grab a cup of coffee, or two, or three and read on if this is the kind of stuff that pushes your buttons, and if so, you are probably just a little sick like me.

This race really snuck up on me. After 2008, I backed off on racing every weekend and April seemed so far away. Before I knew it, it was here. But after a good run at Pac Rim One Day with a strong recovery, McNaughton seemed doable.

I took the day off before we flew to Illinois to pack and get as much rest as possible. Turned out that it was a pretty hectic day and I didn’t get to sleep until about 10:30pm, which was restless of course. We had to get up at 2:45am to be ready to leave at 3:30am and drive over to Tony Covarrubias and Shawn Lawson’s house where Shawn’s brother was going to drive us all to the airport so that we could leave our car at their house. They had signed up for the 150 mile as well. I hardly got any sleep on the airplane, even though I was very tired. Ken got to rest his eyes while I watched the movie Marley and Me on the screen. We picked up our rental car and headed to Pekin from O’Hare, a 3 hour drive. We stopped for lunch partway. I stole a few moments of sleep with my head bobbing and my mouth propped open, but it was not refreshing. The drive was not very stimulating with flat, mowed corn fields. As we approached Pekin, there was one hill.

We got to Pekin and Shawn and tc were just checking into the hotel. Ken and I headed over to Walmart to get supplies for the race, including a chair, large plastic container for all my drop stuff, Frappuccino, cup-a-noodles, Gatorade, water, and food for him. Poor Ken. He and Walmart are not a good match. But he was such a sport all weekend, returning there if I needed something else that I didn’t have. We returned to the hotel room and I got all my race stuff ready. We were going to meet tc and Shawn for dinner, but they were going to Appleby’s and Ken declined, saying going to Walmart was enough of a stretch for him that day. We found a local pub. The food was okay. It did the trick. We retired at about 10pm. Sleep again was poor for me in a strange surrounding. So two nights of poor sleep before my race. Also, it started to rain overnight, and that got me worried. We woke up at 7am and finished getting ready. Originally, I pulled out shorts to wear for the race but changed my mind, remembering how cold I got at Pac Rim and how difficult it was for me to get moving again after getting cold.

We ate breakfast and headed over to the race start at 10am. The race was to begin at 12pm. It was rainy and windy and people were running back and forth to their cars to try to stay dry and warm. But there was a glimmer of hope since the forecast was calling for good days for Sat and Sun, perfect for the 100 mile and 50 mile runners. We just needed to get through the start of a nasty day. I said hi to several people I knew while getting my spot ready where Ken was going to be every loop to crew me. I checked in and got my race number and goodie bag. The 150 and 100 milers got a tech tee and a fleece pullover, both very nice. I put them in my car hoping that I would be able to wear them, contingent on my finishing. I was dressed for the cold, including a long sleeve with hoodie, my red shell, gloves, tights, shorts, gaiters, gore-tex wind and waterproof mittens, and a plastic poncho. I was cold standing there at the start but was wearing a Nathan pack without the water bladder and knew I could stuff excess material that I could easily discard after the first lap. I carried one water bottle, as there were two aid stations on course.

There were forty nine 150 mile starters and a handful of 100 mile runners getting an early start. Apparently, two of the 150 milers were already on course since the day before-Thursday. I kissed Ken goodbye and ran off in the middle of the pack. The rain was still falling and the wind was strong at times. That morning the wind was 15-20 mph with gusts of 30mph. It was less noticeable in the woods, but there was plenty of open field running. I almost fell on my butt immediately after the start where we headed down a steep slick hill with deep ruts. Footing could be found if you bounced back and forth from side to side. After about 100 yards, you turned and ran clockwise on the outside edge of a flat field for about a mile. This part became increasingly hard with each loop, since it was a part you needed to run because it was flat and walking it meant losing quite a bit of time. Since I’m not a very good power walker, I did lose time here walking, but I tried to use this spot to eat and walk. It was tempting to run across the field after so many loops instead of around it but at the pre-race briefing, race director Andy Weinberg, who is quite an endurance athlete himself, having done double and triple Ironmans, stated that littering and cheating were grounds for disqualification. Okay, so that’s obvious. But he also said that he had recruited high school students to hide in the bushes and if anyone was caught doing either, they were given permission to peg us with paint ball guns. Apparently cheating has occurred since this very challenging 10-mile loop can really get to ya. Andy had traveled from Middlebury, Vermont, his new home to direct this race one last time. It must have been hard to put on a race from afar, but it sounds as if he had a good group of people in Pekin to mark the trail and get other details ready.

Next was “Tanner’s Pass,” a short but very steep hill. It started with ankle deep shoe sucking mudd (my new four letter word) that never dried up over the entire weekend. So very early on for each loop, you feet were covered in mud. The mud was either sopping wet or heavy clay-like mud. You crested out on an open grassy field before hitting the first section of the Red Trail, also known as the Potowatani Trail. Now came several ups and downs here which included running through a boggy section of above ankle water and mud, which became worse with each loop. The sides of the trail started out as areas that you could plant your foot, but eventually, all that was turned into a mess too. You were better off just going through the shortest route. You encountered another steep hill up and after that a section of several steep ups and downs mixed in with rolling hills and not much flat. On the first day, it was treacherous to run down these hills because of the rain and very slick conditions. There was plenty of mud on people’s back sides. You’ll notice a trend here that there was very little flat running. The down hills were harder than the up hills.

The first aid station was at 2.5 miles and known as the Totem Pole aid station. I did actually use the aid stations on course so that I only needed to carry one water bottle. Usually I filled my water bottle here and grab light snacks like cookies, banana, pretzels, or chicken noodle soup at night. More rolling hills in open grassy fields followed, across a “Blue Bird” section where there were several bluebird houses. Then came “The Beach”, a section of sand. I have to say, this was not as much of a “beach” as it could have been. There was enough moisture to keep the sand packed down. We crossed some water and I thought this was the first creek crossing and felt it wasn’t so bad. Then came the real crossing of Lick Creek at 3.5 miles, which for me on the first day was knee deep at the deepest sections where the water was rushing the most. I have to say though that it was refreshing initially but cold at night. It cleaned up the shoes nicely.

After the creek, which was just over 3 miles, we ran some flats and some more hills before arriving at “Golf Hill”. This had a rope to help you climb up, since the trail drops off on both sides and it is steep. More hills, including one called “Heartbreak Hill”. We ran down to the road and made a hairpin turn towards the next aid station including going up another steep section, running in fairly flat open grassy fields, and passing Meyer’s Cemetary. One runner asked the aid station volunteers if the cemetery had bodies of previous runners. Finally, we arrived at the second aid station at 5.8 miles, through “Heaven’s Gate”, which had great food and a nice fire. I made an effort to eat real food here, which included mashed potatoes with cheese and bacon bits, egg salad sandwich, or turkey and cheese sandwiches. These were good in the beginning, but at some point, I just got tired of constantly eating and no food appeared appetizing, even if I enjoyed it before. This aid station also got very cold at night, since the wind seemed to blow there more and stopping to get food further chilled me. I’m sure the wind chill fell well below 30 degrees. On the second night, I wore two long sleeves, one short sleeve, my red shell, thick tights, a pair of shorts over that, and capris over that, as well as a beanie, heavy fleece gloves, and a plastic poncho, and I was still cold! I would take my food here and eat on the run in a one mile loop that included some flat running along the creek as well as hills and a section of open field that was a tedious trip through more shoe sucking mud that never dried up over the weekend. It was “demoralizing!” The end of the loop brought us back to the aid station, but I usually did not stop a second time. This was now 6.9 miles that continued on with more rolling open field running, steep hills, and everything in between before arriving at the second creek crossing at about 8.6 miles. This was almost as deep as the first but not moving as fast. It was a welcome crossing, since by then, my shoes were really covered in mud and I would have a clump of mud under the ball of my foot that would wash out nicely, at least for a while. The last 1.4 miles had a decent amount of runnable terrain but also some steep hills and very muddy trails. You had to be careful not to be pegged by serious Frisbee golf players since we ran through their area.

Each loop had 1600 feet of elevation gain and same of loss. Multiply that by 15 and that’s 24,000 feet! Day one featured very slick conditions on the hills, but after drying out on Sat and Sun, they became hard as rock and painful to run down. At least the footing was better, but there were still plenty of sections that did not receive any sun and stayed wet all weekend. I finished the first loop in 2:01 and my body, especially my back, was already hurting. I was using so many dormant stabilizing muscles. Basically, my first 20 miles hurt until I figured out how not to fight the muddy trails. I forced myself to plant my foot securely before moving forward. I felt this saved me time and energy in the long run. I watched so many people slip and slide trying to move through these areas quickly but ended up slipping backwards and falling side to side. I knew several girls were in front of me and did not try to catch them because pacing myself was the most important thing I could to do finish. Besides, I let them duke it out and hoped they would wear each other out.

At the end of each loop, Ken was waiting for me. I wanted to drink a Frappuccino before the start of each loop and did this while walking through the start/finish area. He also handed me a new bottle with water or Gatorade and more Gu. I would change clothes if needed and he had my down jacket ready so that I could wear it if I stopped too long and got cold. I ate a cup-a-noodle a few times. Sometimes he would grab me a grilled cheese sandwich from the aid station or other food, but mostly, I stuck with my own stuff. I was peeing so much and didn’t realize it was from all the caffeine from the Frappuccino and Gu. Duh! I backed off on drinking the Frapps until I realized that I was low on calories and getting tired and started up again. I took salt about once an hour initially but stopped because I was peeing so much and thought it was too much salt when really it was too much caffeine. Fortunately, I had no problems with nausea or cramps, so I probably was getting enough salt in the soup and other sources. It was good to see Ken every 10 miles but hard to leave again to keep moving. I tried to smile and be positive and even gave him a kiss now and then before heading off. People were cheering me on and I waved and smiled for them too. I think it’s important to acknowledge people as much as possible since they are there either volunteering or crewing for other runners in the cold and dark. I also feel that even if you are feeling bad, forcing yourself to be upbeat might even help. Ken said of all the races he has crewed for me, I looked the best at this one. I did change my shoes once at mile 60, and almost was scared to look at the state my foot and skin were in, but it wasn’t so bad. I ended up changing it back to my original shoe after another 30 miles. Otherwise, I wore the same disgusting sports bra, tights, and undie for the entire race! Ken had washed my shoes before I changed them back to the Cascadias and said they were really heavy before he was able to get all the mud off them, which took him 15 minutes.

By the end of the first loop, I was 5th place woman. I stayed in 5th through the 6th loop. By mile 70, I was in 4th place and stayed there through the 9th loop. Shawn passed me by 100 miles and I was back in 5th place. But then everything changed. The four girls that were in front of me for most of the race had dropped out. Charlotte Vasarhelyi, who set the women’s course record (46:21:29) last year in the 150 mile in worse conditions than what we were having, dropped at 90 miles. When I lapped her on her 9th loop and I was on my 10th, it looked like she was having nausea problems. Tracy Thomas, who held the 100 mile record for this race and is a very accomplished 48 hour racer, quit after 100 miles due to painful feet. She was a whole loop ahead of me when she quit. The two other women who I didn’t know or remember seeing during the race also stopped after 100 miles and were also a loop ahead of me when this occurred. So that left me, Shawn, and another gal named Nikki Seger. I spoke with Nikki after the race and this was her third try at the 150 miles. The first year she made it to 100 miles, 2nd year 110, and this year 120. I can’t imagine going that far and having to quit. I couldn’t believe that after 70 miles, I had already been running almost 23 hours and I was not even halfway done! At that point, I was really starting to worry if I could finish.

It was sunny Saturday and I was even stripped down to a t-shirt but still wore my tights since it would have been impossible to take them off and put them back on again. It got warm enough that I needed to wear a hat to shield my face, which was quickly getting bronzed. I had made it through the first night without sleeping and all day the second day. I was told that people who took a quick nap felt refreshed and returned running stronger. So after lap 11, I tried to take a 15 minute power nap but was too cold to ever fall asleep. Besides, Ken had found a pacer for me and he was patiently waiting in the cold. This loop had the longest elapsed time from my attempt to sleep and I had crossed the timing mat before heading to the car. I was glad to have a pacer because I was scared the first night on my own. I was running along on the trail with one headphone in when I heard a “Grrrr.” I yelled out “Go on! Get out of here!” I ran away fast from that spot thanks to the rush of adrenaline. In a little while I heard some howling. I came up on a slower runner who had a dog with him. He said the dog had followed him from about mile three at the first creek crossing but was friendly. I figured that was the dog that had growled at me from the bushes and did all that howling. But since I was moving faster than this other person, the dog decided to tag along with me. It was okay that he was friendly and all, but he was running back and forth and circles around me, running and bumping into me. It was getting old. I arrived at the second aid station and asked if they knew this dog. They found out later for me that it belonged to a woman at the first aid station and had gotten loose. It followed me for another mile for a total of 3 miles before tagging along with another runner. In all, it ran with 4 other runners before his owner got a hold of him. Anyhoo, I now had a pacer starting loop 12. His name was Jamie, and he was a GREAT pacer. I learned a lot from him about how to be a good pacer. He had come to pace Charlotte 80 miles, but when she dropped, he had only gotten in 30 miles. He still needed 50 miles. I only had 40 miles to go and he joked that I’d have to run an extra loop. Jamie ran behind me and held his strong flashlight above my head, which was nice because my headlamp was not that powerful. Or if he could, he would run on the side of the trail to light my way. He asked me frequently if I was eating or drinking. He encouraged me to run the flats and down hills, which I was having trouble getting motivated to do in the flats and thus lost a lot of time.

In the 12th loop, my right knee was really starting to hurt when it didn’t hurt before. It made it very difficult to run the steep down hills. I had never taken any anti-inflammatories during a run, having heard too many horror stories of kidney failure or stomach bleeds. But I had been peeing a lot and Jamie encouraged me to take one of his Aleve’s with some cookies. I decided I had better try it since I still had over 35 miles to go and these loops were already taking me 3 ½ hours to complete. I’ve heard of loops taking 5 hours, and that could seriously jeopardize finishing under 52 hours for the cut off. It started to kick in after ½ hour enough to dull the pain. I was exhausted though using extra energy to baby that knee.

By the 13th loop, about 39 hours into the race, I started to yawn, the first time since waking up 7am on Friday. Then I said something like. “I’m so cold, I wish I could sit on some seated heats.” “Heated seats,” Jamie corrected me. Then the hallucinations started. I was stumbling a bit, but not enough for Jamie to reach out and try to grab me. I had to force myself not to look at stumps, bushes, or trees. I was seeing too many figures and tried to focus my attention on the trail. Jamie was getting tired too and started to take caffeine pills. Next thing you know, he’s stopping every 10 minutes. But he kept talking to me and me to him and we kept each other awake until the sun came up. I had tried a knee brace on this loop and ended up taking it off because my whole body so swollen and it was too tight. Jamie gave me another Aleve before the end of this loop and it really helped the rest of the race. He also encouraged me to pick up the pace, not only to stay awake, but also to potentially win this race. I had no idea where Shawn was, but I knew she was behind me from taking a longer sleeping break than my 15 minutes. However, I also knew that she and tc were moving faster than I was the last time we ran together when she passed me and got to 100 miles first. I was whining to Jamie that I didn’t care if I won. I was tired and hurting and wanted to walk. I considered taking a nap at the end of this loop. But by then, the sun had come up and we realized that I had a good chance of staying in front of Shawn, so I kept going.

At the start of the 14th loop with only 20 miles to go, Jamie told me that he would only be able to run half of this loop with me since he had to get Charlotte home. He was going to run with me to the second aid station at mile 5.8 and take a short cut back to get to Charlotte by 9am like he promised her. That was totally fine with me and I thanked him for getting me through the night and pushing me. He really did help make the miles go faster. I would have preferred the company, but I simply pretended he was next to me telling me to run when I wanted to walk, eat, and drink. We really picked up the pace in those last 6 miles he was with me. My split for that lap was much faster. But because of the increased pace, my shin splint came back and I was in quite a bit of pain in my 15th loop. I made the mistake of tying my shoe tighter, thinking that my right foot was swimming in my shoe, causing the problem. What I realized later was that tightening me shoe caused more pressure on my tendon, more friction, and thus more inflammation. Still I kept the pace up and hit the aid stations in really good time. I was really hobbling though by mile 4 in the last loop and was walking by mile 7-8. That was about the time I caught up with tc and Shawn and was about to lap them. Realizing I had this much of a gap to win, I walked and let them go ahead. Shawn had long been dealing with blisters. I had a couple, but they were not slowing me down as much as her. Somehow, I managed to continue at a decent pace and finished my last loop with the 4th fastest loop time of all the loops I ran. But the fast time probably had to do with my spending very little time between loop 14 and 15 and it being the last loop without any need to re-stock for another loop. My last loop was also the second fastest last loop of all the 150 and 100 mile finishers except for one guy in the 150 mile who ran his in 1:56:10. However, my last two loops combined were faster than any 150 or 100 mile finisher. The first place 150 mile finisher’s last two laps combined were 19 seconds slower than mine. I CRANKED in the end!

I ran in the last stretch to a roaring crowd of a dozen people or so. Ken took pictures of my exhausted face. Jess Mullen was there and I ran into her arms and burst into tears. I was so physically and emotionally drained. I did not sleep the entire race: 47 hours 39 minutes, and 12 seconds, first woman and 6th overall of 12 finishers and 49 starters for the 150 mile race. Race director Andy came over and gave me a hug and my 150 mile buckle. Jess ran incredibly well, beating down her DNF demon from last year at 70 miles. She finished 2nd woman and 8th overall with a time of 28:27:22. Shawn and tc ran together the whole time and finished in 51:16:30. All the Washington state runners finished! We are one tough as nails group!

Ken and I headed back to the hotel and grabbed some Quiznos and a shower. I was really hurting by then in my ankle/shin, barely able to put weight on it. I even thought I might have a stress fracture. We returned to the race to see Shawn and tc and a few others finish and Ken had to support me while I walked because of such sharp severe pain. He even had to give me a piggy back up the stairs at the hotel. I was not the only person who burst into tears when finishing. There was a 19 year old who finished the 150 miles about 10 minutes before Shawn and tc who cried upon finishing. He had run the 100 mile the previous year and the 50 mile the year before that. What an accomplishment for a 19 year old! Shawn also shed some tears.

We decided to get together for dinner in the evening. Ken and I laid down our heads to try to get some sleep before dinner, but I was not able to due to the pain in my right ankle and knees. We drove quite a distance to find a restaurant because most places were closed for Easter. We came back to the hotel and proceeded to pack because we had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning for the 3 hour drive back to O’Hare and return the rental car. Finally, we went to bed by 10pm after I had been awake for the last 63 hours. I did get some sleep but nodded on and off during the drive to O’Hare. Ken was a lifesaver for me on this weekend crewing me and doing all the driving. The weather when we awoke Monday morning was severe. It was raining hard and wind was blowing 40mph sustained. The drive was very stressful for Ken. I kept thinking how fortunate we were with the weather for the race. We had a pretty good window. It was rainy and windy at the start, but that seemed to have subsided after the first 2 loops. Yes, the nights were cold, but it certainly could have been worse.

The flight back was very uncomfortable for tc, Shawn, and me. Shawn and tc had lots of cuts and a pretty bad rash on their legs, probably from horse manure in the creeks. I fared better, maybe because I wore tights the whole time and they wore shorts most of the time. Tony said he was hardly able to take off his tights because they were stuck to him. Another lady had the same problem. It was hard for me as well but I think I fared better. Tony had weeping from his legs the morning after the race and Shawn had very red legs. We all had significant worsening of calves swelling on the flight, but particularly tc. Plus, he had to leave for India for three weeks for work, just 2 days after getting back from McNaughton. I told him to take some aspirin to prevent blood clots. I had one blister on the top of my middle toe on the right foot, the same foot as my inflamed ankle tendon. That blister now was filled with pus and my toe and right foot were very swollen. While sitting at the terminal at the airport, I drained the blister (gross!) and the redness and swelling of my toe improved from then. The swelling of both my ankles took much longer, more like a couple days.

Finally got home, ate, and went to bed by 7:30pm. Sleep was very restless for me because of my swollen calves and sore ankle. I tried to sleep with my feet on a pillow to get it above my heart and help with the calf swelling, but that was hard to do. I have been ice massaging my creaky tendon, which at its worse felt like BB pellets rubbing up against my tendon every time I flexed and extended my ankle. It seems to be getting better every day but might not be good enough to run a 50K by the weekend.

So, I did it. I set out to run 150 miles and somehow I was able to get it done. Although I didn’t have a bad race, I certainly had problems. I had asthma problems starting at 50K. I had back pain, knee pain, shin splints, and an inflamed tendon. I was not able to keep my body temp under control when it was cold or when it got too warm for me. I attribute my ability to finish to my fitness level and my will to succeed. You too can succeed with the right attitude!

Happy trails!
Pigtails

100 UNDER 20

2009-03-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

(Warning! This is a long article, but what do you expect for a 100 mile race?)

After several years of running ultras and all the goals that I have placed on myself and achieved, one would think that I’ve done it all. But setting new challenges is what keeps me motivated to get out there to train and race. Setting PRs at various distances is a challenge that is hard to achieve the older and slower one gets. Yes, yes, I know I’m just a babe in many people’s eyes, but in terms of lifetime miles from the time I started running 7 years ago, I have put a lot on these tires of mine and feel as if the tread has been worn on them for a while. So where did I get this crazy notion of trying to run 100 miles in under 20 hours?

In 2007, when I was around the peak of my running, I ran Rio Del Lago 100 mile race in Sacramento. I finished in 21:48 (which fulfilled my goal of 100 miles in less than one day), but felt that my asthma, losing the trail several times, and running without a pacer in an unfamiliar city at night resulted in a slower time than what I was capable of. Since then, I have felt that 100 miles under 20 hours was within my reach. But after completing my 3 years with 51 or more races per year of mostly ultras and getting into the Maniac Hall of Fame, I was worried my speed was pretty much gone. I knew there was no possible way of running such a time in a mountainous 100 miler. I know of fairly “flat” 100 milers, but those races are pretty far away. I never considered running a 24 hour run but decided that Pacific Rim One Day was my best chance. Usually on this particular weekend in March, I sign up for Chuckanut 50K. I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of running around a one mile loop at Pac Rim 100 times, but I thought that was preferable to a high school track.

Training leading up to the race was sub-optimum. I pretty much cannot run during the week due to long hours at work, and I just can’t seem to wake up at 3am to get my running in on my treadmill. I’m an outdoor runner. I was able to get out for long runs on a few Mondays that I have off, but the majority of my running has been back-to-back long runs on the weekends, often involving a race on one of those days. I didn’t do any type of speedwork. The fastest I ran before the race was with a couple other girls who I met at 5:45 on a Saturday morning to run 9 miles before the larger Cedar River Runners group met at 7:30am to run 14 flat miles. I ran with Heather, who is in her 40s, has 4 kids, and is incredibly fit and Sarah, who is younger than both of us and has a family of her own too. I was thinking we’d start out slow and pick up the pace. But Sarah with her bouncy morning person stride took off like it was a 5K race and Heather and I struggled to keep up (at least I was). Heather’s heart rate monitor and watch were beeping off letting her know it was too high. She said it was running 200! We slowed down, briefly. Fortunately, when we were done and met the 7:30 group, I could catch my breath and have a more leisurely run settling in the usual plodding pace that I am used to.

I took the day off from work the day before the 24hr, a luxury of resting before race day that I don’t usually have. Friday’s are always hectic at work with patient’s calling to get in before the weekend and being on my feet constantly. This type of being on my feet bothers me a lot more than if I had just run that day. My Friday off was still very busy doing chores around the house and getting ready for the race. I made garlic mashed potatoes and Rice Krispies treats to eat during the race. Boiled potatoes for me are always hard to chew and swallow, often because they are undercooked. I decided it would be easier to get mashed potatoes down, and I made it with lots of butter, garlic, and sour cream. I loaded everything I needed in a large cooler: extra clothes, shoes, Gu, E-caps, my inhaler, Imodium, Mucinex, the mashed potatoes in paper cups, Rice Krispies treats, vanilla Frappuccinos, Coke, my MP3 player, and extra batteries.

I had a restless night, dreaming about a very small circle that I kept running around and around on and the circle kept changing in size. I met Tony Covarrubias at 6am Saturday morning and we rode to the start together at Longview, WA. Many were already there set up. Tony felt there were more runners than usual, possibly because Chuckanut filled up very early. He also warned that despite what other areas were doing, this race is notorious for wind and rain. We had lap counters and there was an aid station at the start of each loop, which I only used a few times the entire race. There was also a Honey Bucket just past the ½ mile mark as well as flushing bathrooms at the end of each mile loop. The loop consisted of running about 200 feet on a concrete sidewalk before it turned into a fine gravel groomed path. Just a short distance after, you had to make an almost hairpin turn (my cooler was just before the turn), then very slight down for a short distance followed by a short but little steeper up on a section of the trail where the gravel was very loose and annoying. Most people walked this early on but I refused to do so. Then you had to run across a metal bridge over the water just about 150 feet that made a terribly loud noise, followed by 50 feet of concrete before getting on the groomed trail again. Then you ran straight on this flat section of trail for just over a ¼ mile before a short steep hill (just a few steps) onto another bridge over the water that was concrete (I started to walk this flat bridge after 26 miles because it was hurting my feet slapping against it). After the bridge, you could stay on the concrete sidewalk or run on the grass that people were stomping out a trail before turning right for another over ¼ mile straight section back to the start. This sections starts with a slight down, then flat, then slight up to a turn for the last straight section to the finish, which again was a concrete sidewalk that I ran on the grass nearly every time. So the loop is not completely flat and the turns and slight ups definitely slowed people down. I didn’t run one mile under 9 minutes, and my average pace for 100 miles is just under 12 minutes. It’s strange how the slight downs are imperceptible and at least in my case did not help at all, but the slight ups definitely were challenging, especially as the miles rolled by. The race was on the trail system around Lake Sacajawea. Although I recently cut 3 inches off of hair, I bet my pigtails made me look like the ghost of Sacajawea from behind. I bet she would have been a great Ultrarunner!

I started out conservative, averaging around 9:30 pace for the marathon distance. I covered that in about 4:20 including a couple bathroom breaks. The weather was very good, considering past runs. I was out for 22 ¼ hours and it only rained on us once, which even then only lasted 5 minutes. We did have breezy conditions during the day, but again, could have been a lot worse. After I stopped running, the rest of the people still out there had to deal with rain and wind while I tried to warm up in Tony’s car. I finished 50K in about 5:05 (PR 4:28). Someone asked me afterward how I managed to pace myself to meet my goal. I told her I didn’t have a plan other than having to keep my overall pace below 12 min/mi. So I knew that I had 2 hours to finish 10 miles, an easy way for me to keep track. Of course I knew I wouldn’t be running that slowly to begin with but I still found myself keeping up the pace to bank time because I knew I would slow down significantly in the second half. Now we all know that it is not wise to bank time in a race. Doing it in a marathon is unwise, and doing it in a 100 miler could be simply catastrophic. I have also told people asking me how to pace for a 100 miler that if they are feeling good, they are going too fast. My first 20 miles actually hurt, but I settled into a nice slower and less painful pace from then until 50 miles. Basically, I was throwing all the rules out the window and just kept moving forward. I feel that one of my gifts as a runner is my ability for relentless forward motion. For the entire 100 miles, I probably walked no more than 3 miles of it (such as when I started walking the concrete bridge after 26 miles, when I drank my Frappuccinos, and when my quads were shot from miles 94-95). Veterans of 24 hour races will tell you that a run/walk strategy like run 5 miles/walk 1 mile will allow you to keep going for 24 hours. But that was not my goal. My goal was to get 100 miles under 20. I hit 50 miles around 8:30 (PR 7:19) and 100K around 10:40 (PR 10:23). These splits are not much slower that my PRs for these distances, so I really was pushing myself. I stopped at 50 miles to adjust my shoes. My feet were swelling and my big toes were rubbing against the shoe, causing hot spots. So I sat on my cooler and took of my liner socks and slathered Vaseline on my big toes and more under my bra and between my knees. I didn’t have gaiters on. I had lent them to Olga because she forgot hers. I did have small rocks in my shoes, but Olga looked like she needed them more than I did. My hot spots went away and I had very little blisters at the end. After sitting about 3 minutes (the longest time I stopped moving) to do that, getting up and moving again was quite a chore. I had stiffened up a lot in that short period of time. That’s why I never sat down at CCC 100 miler.

The miles just dragged. Listening to music did help and I had it blasting at times. Many people tried to talk to me and occasionally I would take out an ear piece and talk back, but for the most part, I just kept moving. I had a plan and was focused. Plus, no one was really running my pace. Either they were going slower or faster. I needed to maintain my pace. After 70 miles, the music did not really help much anyway. It’s amazing that I was only able to get through 270 of the 470 songs on my player in the entire time I ran. I couldn’t believe that at 60 miles, I still had 40 miles to go. Hitting 70 was better to take, since I knew I only had 50K to go. At 70 miles, I still had about a 1hr45min cushion if I maintained 12 minute miles. But at that point, my mile splits were just about 12:40 pace, so my cushion was slowly disappearing. At 80 miles, that cushion shrank to 1hr30 min, and by 90 miles, it was just over an hour. But then, at about 94 miles, my quads just stopped working. I had done a good job up until that point of eating and drinking. My schedule was eating mash potatoes every 2 hours (after my marathon distance) and alternating a Frappuccino every two hours. The mashed potatoes in paper cups were great. I had a spoon and just scooped it out little by little and licked it like it was a popsicle. It went down easy and I could continue running. The Frappuccino required me to walk to avoid getting it all over myself or choking on it. I walked twice per loop to get it down, 20-30 seconds each. Next time, I will put them in bottles with mouth pieces so I can continue running. I also continued my Gu in between and took a Succeed E-cap every hour. I had a hand held bottle with Gu20 that I refilled every 5 miles and ran without it while I either ate mashed potatoes or drank my Frappuccino. I had pretty much a system down. I never ate any of my Rice Krispies treats. Between the Gu and Frappuccino, I didn’t want anything else sweet. Same with the Coke. I grabbed a cup of water every once in a while at the aid station to rinse my mouth out. By mile 94, I had run out of Frappuccino, the mashed potatoes were not as tasty as earlier, and it was starting to get cold. I think my body simply decided to shut down. I started walking/running. Regulating your body temperature was hard on this course because one side of the water was warm and the other breezy and colder. Finally, at 94 miles, I stopped and put on a pair of pants and long sleeved shirt. Up until then, I had worn shorts, a short sleeved shirt, heavy arm warmers, gloves on and off, and a Smartwool head band. By mile 95, I recuperated after adding clothes and eating again. My last mile was under 13 minutes and I finished with a healthy cushion in 19 hours and 31 minutes! I was elated! Finally, I could walk, eat, RELAX!

But as soon as I stopped, I froze! I was planning on walking the rest of the time, but I just couldn’t warm myself up. I went to the car and changed into a dry sports bra, couple shirts, shell, fleece pullover, and thicker long pants. I changed my socks but kept the same shoes. I put a new hat and gloves on and just started walking. With the clothing change, it took 45 minutes to finish that lap. I walked the next two miles, then had 3 or 4 good miles where I was actually running again, then hit a wall again at 106 miles. I dragged in another 2 miles of 20+ minutes each and called it quits. I needed to warm up again. I went back to the car and threw my sleeping bag over me. I was shivering and forced down some food. I watched from the comfort of the car people running in the last few miles and minutes before the cut off in the rain and wind. It was impressive to see how fast they were moving after running for nearly 24 hours. I brushed my teeth, which was great! My teeth were not sensitive, thanks to rinsing my mouth with water frequently.

Lisa Bliss finished first woman with 113 miles. I finished with 108. She continued on for the entire 24 hours while I ran 22:19. Although I finished 100 miles before she did, she ran a smarter race to be able to continue to the end. But I had a different goal for the day and was pleased I met it. Lisa was able to run this many miles despite nausea. She is such an impressive runner who is even tinier than I am! She has run much tougher races including winning Badwater 135 miles a couple years ago. The top male was her main squeeze, Tim Englund, with I think 126 miles. These were both new course records, and rightly so with the weather cooperating. *tc ran 108.5. I think we were all winners that day.

The volunteers were just great. Every mile I came in, I received a “Go Van!” or other cheer. And similarly, other runners were rooted on. The food at the aid station look appetizing, but I didn’t even allow myself enough time to stop and enjoy the selection. The lap counters sat in the cold keeping track of our mile splits. I was hitting my watch every time for my splits and it went over 100, but unfortunately, it only stores 30 splits! There were two “Pitch In!” trash containers after the start of each loop, which were these creative stands of a person holding a trash bag. What was nice about this was that you didn’t have to slow down to throw your trash away. They were right off the trail. There were garbage cans on the trail, but most of them you had to step 1-2 steps off the trail to throw something into them and I just didn’t have the time to do that-crazy as that may sound.

I looked miserable to the other runners after the race, hobbling along slowly to the brief awards ceremony. I could have used crutches at that point because my right knee and right sacroiliac joints locked up. Went to breakfast with a bunch of people but the food did not look appetizing when they brought it. I knew I needed to eat to help with the nausea I was feeling and picked a little at it. Tony drove us home with me bobbing my head and talking in my sleep. At first, he was not sure what to make of it but then realized he could ignore me. I was planning on helping him drive but I was useless. He did stop to catch a few zzzzzs part way home. I slept poorly that night unable to get into a comfortable position with my knees. Then I was in surgery and on my feet all day on Monday with 7 cases, holding retractors and big legs up. This was followed by being on call that night. So I had poor sleep the night before the race, no sleep day of race, poor sleep night after race, and on call on the 4th night. My first full night of sleep did not come until 6 days after the race. I was able to walk normal by Thursday without any pain and went on a run on 6 mile 9:30 pace run Friday. By Saturday, I ran 14 miles with the Cedar River Runners and had no pain anywhere. In fact, I felt good enough to run a 50K. That made me feel confident that I will probably be ready for my 150 miler after just over 2 ½ weeks of taper. Yes! This time, I’m actually going to taper!

Well, there you have it. It was the longest distance I’ve ever run. The longest time I’ve ever run was 35+ hours at Coyote 2 Moon. I know that if I finish McNaughton, I will have both run my longest race and been on my feet longer than ever before. I’m going to miss the Maniac Reunion at Yakima River Marathon since I’m on call for work! Best to you all and wish me luck as well in my 150 miler!

Pigtails

Pigtails 4th Annual Lake Youngs Run

2009-01-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

1/24/09

It was another great turnout for this year’s winter trail run. We had 119 runners (49 50Kers, 3 three loopers, 31 two loopers, and 36 1 loopers. The weather was perfect, no rain or snow in sight. The temperature started in the low 30s, but runners said it varied throughout the course. The trail was in good condition and no one got seriously injured. Barb Blumenthal fell at mile 3, but continued to finish 3 loops for 28.8 miles before her swollen bruised knee protested to further running. Apparently, Eric Barnes got poked by some prickly vines during nature’s call, but luckily they were fairly low to the ground! Several said there was a guy on a bike who was a little scary talking out loud, whether to himself or to the runners. There was also a crew working on taking down a tree the entire race.
The “free race” tradition continued as people generously brought food as the race fee to donate to the Maple Valley Food Bank, who was reported to have been in low supplies since the winter started. I ended up filling my SUV with the back seat down with donations and even went through the trouble of sorting the food for them (box of chicken noodle soup, box of chili, box of dried goods, etc), which was greatly appreciated. We also had great food to share at the aid station during and at the end. The chicken noodle soup and butternut squash were a huge hit as was anything sweet or salty. All the gummi bears, M & Ms, red vine licorice, homemade cookies, Chips Ahoy cookies, banana bread, Kettle chips, and bars were gone at day’s end.
The men’s 50K race was tight through loop 3 until Ryan McKnight overtook Alex Swenson for the win. Although Ryan broke the male open course record by 3 minutes with a time of 3:51, Alex still holds the overall course record of 3:48:15. Both brought home the bacon! Wendy Wheeler Jacobs was largely unchallenged throughout the day, although I’m sure this was just a training run for her. She finished first woman overall and masters for the day with a strong sub-5hr time of 4:50. Stephanie Day was surprised to have come in first female open in 5:07, also taking a relatively easy day. The women took home the sausage, with all prizes coming from our mini-farm.
The 19.2 mile race saw a new overall course record by John Collins from Oak Harbor with a time of 2:13, wiping out Kyle Skagg’s time of 2:18 in 2006. The first male masters went to Bruce Hoff in 2:23, a perennial strong runner. The female race was won by Iliana Sach in 2:34, who missed Annie Thiessen’s course record by two minutes set in 2008. First female masters winner Anne Hobson ran well under 3 hours with a time of 2:54.
Bjorn Begelman took off and never looked back as he crossed the finish line in 1:02:13, well under the previous one loop course record time set by Matt Morrison in 2007 of 1:04:09. That’s cookin’! Five men ran under last year’s master’s course record by Jamie Gifford of 1:15:00, but Gregg Walchli prevailed with 1:05:47. Karen Leahy just missed the overall course record of 1:14:36 set in 2007 by Amy Grable but came away with a new female master’s course record of 1:15. First female open win was shared by two Tahoma X-country girls, Emily Duerson and Gracie Libby in 1:35. Way to go!
Other notables:
Ryan McKnight had a 50K PR in addition to winning the race.
Tony Covarrubias and Shawn McTaggart did 5 loops in preparation for the McNaughton 150 mile in April in Illinois. I get to go, too!
Jess Mullen ran 4 loops, also in preparation for McNaughton 100 mile.
Linda Barton ran the gnarly HURT 100K the weekend before.
This was Heather Nugent’s and Jessica Williams’ first 50K.
Eric Barnes, Nic Plemel, Jill Hudson, Linda Walter, and Monte Pascual did the double with Yours Truly 50K on Sunday. Nic also had a PR at my race.
Susan Cooley and Amy Begnal had 50K PRs.
Lisa Switzer, Janine Windom, Deanna Vig, and Whitney Janicki ran the furthest they had ever run. Lisa is training for her first marathon at Eugene and is hooked. She even wants to try Mt Si 50K. Janine is looking forward to Yakima, Deanna is looking forward to Whidbey, and Whitney is on the Tahoma X-country team.
Nicola Wethall pushed a stroller the entire loop.
It was Kane Jamison’s birthday. Thanks for spending it with us!
Thanks to my husband for helping with set up and take down. He had a chance to go back home and climb in his home rock climbing gym with George Wiggins, who finished one loop.
Thanks also to Ray Shaw, who called out numbers while I wrote down split and finish times. That was a huge help! Too many numbers running through my head!
As for me, I had a long day with getting up at 4:30 then not getting to sleep until 10:30pm after having spent the evening with my family for Chinese New Year’s Eve. Then it was up early the next morning for the Yours Truly 50K. A dusting of snow fell overnight and made the first half of the run enjoyable with snow on the ground and trees. I loved the feel of the soft snow under my shoes, but it became more slippery in the second half with it warming up slightly, although not that much since the temperature when I finished was still 33. The course was supposed to be an out and back twice, but due to a bridge out for some construction, it was changed to a quadruple out and back. There was the option of detouring around the construction, but apparently race director Brian Pendelton was chased by a mean dog and had to fend it off with rocks. No thanks! So we all (about a dozen with a few 25Kers) turned around at the fenced off area and saw each other frequently during the day. For the 50K runners, an extra short out and back was required in the end to make it a full 50K, which I did before going out for my last long out and back. I was well hydrated the first half, having to stop several times. As a result, I had a pretty negative split and finished in 4:47, first one in. But 5 people out there were doing doubles, so kudos to them! Brian had hot chili with pepper jack cheese and sour cream, tortilla chips, and hot chocolate at the finish. It’s amazing how much better food tastes after a cold run. At least it didn’t rain.
Well, that’s a wrap. Be on the lookout next year about this time again for the 5th annual Pigtails Lake Youngs run!

A Self Imposed Double in a Day

2009-01-12T18:12:00.000-08:00

I did it! What you say? Ran two 50Ks in a day. One a training run; the other a race. So only one counted. Why? To prepare for the McNaughton 150 miler in April. My race plans for 2009 will involve less races but longer distance. I’ll be bringing you along on the journey. Join me if you want!
I only know of one other double in a day here in the Pacific Northwest. In March, you can run Chuckanut and then drive 3-4 hours to Longview, WA and join the Pac Rim 24hr run already in progress. This year I’ll be foregoing Chuckanut and trying a hand at my first 24hr run. I don’t really know what running around on a one-mile loop will be like. I’ve run around a track for 6 hours and have done a 12 hour run on a 5-mile loop. Who knows? I might actually enjoy it!
Earlier in the week, I came up with idea of running about a 50K distance before the 3pm start of Bridle Trails. If you have ever run Bridle Trails, you know this is a tall order since conditions are typically wet, cold, and muddy. Think over 200 people running on a rolling 5-mile loop that is a horse trail with rain making each loop increasingly difficult. Originally, I wanted to run the first 50K at Bridle trail self supported and then run the race. I e-mailed what I felt were like minded masochists such as *tc, Shawn McTaggart, King Arthur, Eric Barnes, Rob Hester, Jess Mullen, and others. No takers! I re-thought the idea after we had record flooding from rain combined with all the snow that melted from our winter snow.
Friday night before race day came and I decided to run my 50K with members of the Cedar River Runners. Mary “mph” Hanna was looking for a long run and was in for 28 miles. We met at 6:30am Saturday and ran only 5.5 of our goal of 7 miles before the usually group met for 14. I had never seen Cedar River so high and fast flowing. We saw many homes surrounded by water. So sad! Mary and I had nearly 20 flat miles and capped it off with two hilly 4 mile loops of the Bear Run in Maple Valley. I then added the rest to make 31 miles. Weather was good. I was done by noon and had 3 hours before Bridle Trails. A couple years ago, Mary and I had run a half marathon in the morning and then Bridle Trails in the afternoon/evening and I developed hypothermia, almost causing me to DNF. I found that I needed to refuel my calorie deficit to avoid that problem. Knowing this in preparation for this double, I had all the intention of filling my tank. But I made the mistake of going to a teriyaki place and ordering yakisoba. First, it took forever for them to make it, there was not enough noodle to vegetable ratio, and the shrimps were pathetic! I barely had enough time to eat it and digest if before the race started. I should have gotten some pizza or a burger! So needless to say, I felt somewhat empty starting out the race.
The 5 milers started first, then 5 minutes later the 10 milers, then 5 minutes after that the 50K solo runners and 50K relay teams. I stayed in the back of the pack, determined to take my time and not push myself. Most of the trail is pretty wide but you feel that it is almost single track because you have to pick yourself through the mud and spots that have better footing. The 5 and 10 milers had already churned up the trail, which was the worst on the back side of the trail at miles 2-4. It’s a 5 mile loop and the first two of six loops can be done without a headlamp. Uli Steidl, the male winner had three loops in before dark and lapped me twice during the race. Results are not back yet at the time of this writing, but I expect he ran well below 4 hours.
Some maniacs caught me halfway through the first loop. Them: “Hey, I think that’s Pigtails, but I only see a ponytail.” Me: “I was lazy.” Them: “We shouldn’t be passing her.” Me: “It’s okay, it will be a long night for me. I ran 50K this morning.” Them: “What race was that?” Me: “Just a training run. Don’t let me catch you later!” I finished the first 2 loops each in under an hour. But the third loop was slow and hard. I was working too hard to keep my form running while slipping and sliding. So I started walking. I was still under 4 hours after three loops. Loop four felt better but I was just over 4 hours at the end of it. It started raining before the race and never stopped. I was getting wetter and colder with each loop, and my calorie deficit was the reason. I stopped by the aid station every loop to find food. Aid station volunteer: “Hey Van, how are you doing?” Me: blank stare. Volunteer: “Can we get you anything to eat?” Me: “Soup.” Volunteer: “Can we get you anything else?” Me to myself: a warm bed, a hot tub, common sense? I had put on all the clothing that I had in my drop bad, and they were all soaked.
Each time I left the aid station, I was shivering and was sure that I would never warm up again. But each loop after I got moving, I’d warm up enough to continue. But I was constantly cold. Plus, I had to stop at least once each loop and twice in loops 5 and 6 to pee. Thank goodness none of the other! Even though it seemed like I was well hydrated, once when I went to pee, my shoulder blade muscles seized up on me. By loop 4, I found that I did a better job running through the mud and horse-sh-- puddles if I just ran through the middle and taking small steps instead of trying to weave from side to side trying to find good footing. This was even more important in the dark when you couldn’t really see that well. It took me over an hour each to finish loops 5 and 6. My original plan to take it easy and go slow changed when I got too cold going slow and I wanted to get out of the elements as soon as possible. With about 2 miles to go, I picked up my pace and even ran all the hills. But my faster pace actually made me colder maybe from the wind moving over me faster. And my right IT band at my knee started to ache. So close to 62 miles and I had to slow down!
I finished in 6:23. Scott McCoubrey, the RD, said that the race was probably more like 30 miles, but I told him that it was probably 5 miles long with all the slipping and sliding. I headed straight for my car. There were less than a dozen cars left when earlier before the start of the race parking had filled up fast and people resorted to parking on the road or across the street in residential areas. King Arthur, who had a strong race finishing something like 4:44, walked me to my car, started it for me, and helped me put my heavy fleece robe on. I have found that bringing my robe to races and training runs during the winter is great because you can put in on over you right away if you are cold and change underneath it. I had a hard time getting into the car because one of my shoulder blade muscles cramped when I tried to close the door. I went to the other side and used my other arm. While my car warmed up, I sat there shaking uncontrollably. I had just paid $400 the previous week to replace a broken thermostat in my car that prevented it from heating up the car. Best money I have spent in a while! I slowly peeled my drenched clothes off without going into a full body spasm and just sat there in my robe for another 15 minutes. After my Succeed caps kicked in and I had changed into some dry clothes, I headed home, but not before grabbing a burger. I still woke up at 3am starving marvin. So that sounds miserable, right? Well, actually the first 50K was fine. I enjoyed it. Bridle Trails yes was mostly miserable, but the way I think about it, the misery that I experience now will hopefully make my 150 mile experience less miserable. We all know that the feeling that we get after finishing a race is what keeps us going and coming back for more.
Summary: 50K training run in morning: 4:50. Bridle Trails: 6:23. Total: 11:13 Note to self: Volunteer at Bridle Trails next year. The End!

3rd Annual Pigtails Flat Ass Race Report

2008-12-22T18:01:00.000-08:00

SATURDAY 12/20/08

Wow! What a week and weekend! The weeks leading up to the race had people signing up and cancelling, some for reasons other than the weather. Of course, the most cancellations came the day before the race and people not showing race day. Without any cancels, I would have had well over 100 people come to run. Nevertheless, we still had 58 runners with 22 braving the 50K and three more runners who did a point to point from Renton to Landsburg for 15.87 miles. Val Beyer, one of the volunteer at the 50K turn around, ran 18.4 miles, ½ before the race and ½ after. So she ran, stopped and volunteered, and ran again! I actually had a few people sign up the night before and a couple show up race day!
About a week before race day, my e-mail crashed and I lost all everyone’s e-mail. I spent 5 hours on the phone with EarthLink but was not able to retrieve any of my contact information. So I then started saving e-mails from then on of whoever sent me one and combed through the maniac site for whoever had their e-mail listed, since most entrants were maniacs. Because of this, when the weather turned south and the forecast was ominous for Saturday, I couldn’t very well cancel or postpone the race since I did not have everyone’s e-mail who signed up. I’m glad I didn’t, because the weather was as good as it could have possibly been given the warnings.
Also, leading up the race, I made my homemade medals, now an anticipated tradition each year. It’s getting harder to come up with new designs, but I’ll keep trying every year. This year, my husband was a big help. He is a woodworker and uses exotic hardwoods for his pieces. He turned European Pear wood on his lathe and the made medal sized slices, beveled the edges, and drilled a hole for the string. Now, this is not your ordinary wood. It is much denser than your typical domestic hardwood like cherry or oak. Believe me, he can make exquisite pieces of furniture with similarly hard woods (see his web site: kenrichardsfurniture.com to see what I mean), so these medals were just child’s play for him. Still, he took time out of his work day to do this. I then put a couple coats of finish on them then drew a pig’s face on the front, glued felt pig ears to it, and wrote on the back race name, distance, and date. At one point when it looked like I had almost 100 runners signed up, I continued making more, for a total of 105. From their responses, people really liked them!
I had to work the day before the race and was not able to check my e-mail during the day. When I got home, I had over 60 e-mails to read. Do you know how long that takes to read and respond? When I got home, Ken and I went out to fill propane tanks and mark a couple spots on the trail. It was dark by then. I ran about a couple miles to mark and got a fairly good idea of the trail conditions, runnable on snow ½-2 inches deep. But even in that short distance, I was using different muscles with slipping and sliding in trail shoes. Also the cold air aggravated my asthma and it was predicted to be colder the next day. Got home, ate, and set about loading up my vehicle with supplies that I had staged for each aid station. Then I read my e-mails and updated the entrants list based on cancellations and add ons. I was in bed by midnight and woke at 4am.
After filling the water jugs with hot water and loading them in my SUV, I got on the icy/snowy roads until I got to the main roads, which were bare and dry. I know those who showed up had the same experience. As soon as they got past the surface streets and onto the freeways, it was fine. But I know some people’s surface streets were steeper and harder to get through and I’m glad those people stayed home instead of jeopardizing getting into trouble. I set up the two self serve aid stations at mile 9.1 and 5.6 with a 5-gallon hot water jug and 5-gallon Gatorade jug, bag of hammer gels, trash bag, and covered the jugs with a blanket to keep the liquids from freezing. Then I had one more area to mark with tape and arrived at the start at 6:10am. One or two people had already arrived. Many came early because the roads were not as bad as they anticipated. I did let some start earlier than what they were signed up for but for the most part, people started at their listed times. I had group start at 7am (50K early starters), 7:30am (marathon early starters and 50K regular starters), and 8am (marathon regular starters which only had about 5 people). Sorry if I was short with anyone wanting to start early, especially after I had sent an e-mail saying it was okay. It turned to be a lot more complicated than I thought. Next year, everyone is starting at the same time: 7am so that I don’t have to keep 3 different watches, in which one was lost yesterday somewhere on my trip back to the finish after checking in on the 12.5 mile aid station. The temps were in the high teens to start and probably crept up to 20. It was not windy and the sun even came out in the first two hours. It became overcast after then and the wind only slightly picked up after 6 hours. So conditions were favorable for just about everyone. Ken helped me set up the propane heater and check people in. People brought canned goods as their entry fee for the food bank and also donated money for supplies. Thanks! It does help a lot!
After sending everyone off, I took down check in and waited ½ hour for any stragglers that might have taken longer to get there due to the roads. As I was leaving, Thomas Tan arrived looking relieved that I was still there. He took off alone saying that he might not run the entire marathon and just do a long training run. He did 26.2. I stopped at mile 5.6 aid station to see if the nozzles had frozen on the jugs. They were still okay after having sat out in the cold for 3 hours at that point. Some runners were arriving and I helped them out. Then I stopped at the 9.1 aid station. It was fine too. I arrived at the 12.5 mile aid station and it was bustling. Shawn McTaggart, *tc, and Jess Mullen were busy unfreezing people’s water bottle tops by dipping them in boiling water. We had fig newtons, chips, M&Ms, gummi bears, hot chocolate, Nuun, salt tabs, and hand warmers as well as encouragement for the runners. Some 50kers decided to cut back to marathon but no marathoner wanted to run a 50K. Gee, I wonder why? A lot of the runners had frost on their caps or hair sticking out. There were frozen eyelashes and eyebrows. Some were cheerful, others more subdued. After leaving the list of confirmed entrants with my three helpers, I headed back to the start to get soup heated up. I didn’t check in on the 50K turn around volunteers, Dean Kayler and Val Beyer, but word is that they were great as well!
I want to thank the people who brought stuff to share. Betsy Rogers, who I heard is a chef, made an incredible Thai Butternut Squash soup. Samuel Pichinini brought another wonderful soup. I asked him what it was called. He called it Pigtails Soup! Isn’t that great? He sounds like quite the cook! It had lentils, collards, kale, and a bunch of other yummy stuff! They both got all eaten up, a lot by me! We also had chicken noodle soup and cream of mushroom. Jill Hudson, did you bring those “healthy” chocolate chip cookies that you said were not so good? They were great and popular. Someone brought really good nutless banana bread. Steve brought me homemade jam. Mary Hanna brought delicious pumpkin bars. If I’ve forgotten anyone, sorry. It was a rather hectic day.
Runners were nice and spread out coming in. No course records, as to be expected on this tough day. Bryce Mercer won the 50K in 3:58, off his 3:41 win in 2006 and Bronwen Williams in 5:24, both getting a stuffed pig and $3.10 for their efforts. In the marathon, Shawna Wilskey ran 3:41, taking $2.62 and a pig for her win. I mistakenly awarded Joe Tompkins the male marathon win expecting no other runner to run faster but had forgotten about David Cole who started at 8am. Joe did ask before leaving if I was sure there was no one else out there faster, and I said yes, yes, I was sure. He proved me wrong. When David came in, I told him I had made a mistake and he was gracious about it and would have donated the money back anyway. Joe came in with Shawna at 3:41 and David ran a fine 3:35. Runners have such great attitudes!
Special note for some accomplishments. Bob Dolphin ran his 439th race. Brian Hampsch, Jerry Thayer, Ashley Kuhlmann, Michael Kuhlmann, Andy Fritz, and Bronwen Williams ran their first 50K. Ryan McKnight ran a one minute 50K PR, which is just wrong, given the conditions! But Ryan, I feel, just has not peaked yet in his running. He ran a great race at Seattle Marathon, finishing 17th overall in 2:54:08. Jessica Williams, BJ Farish, and Lisa Hurley became Maniacs with my race. Linda Walter achieved 5 Maniac stars with my race, having run 26 races in 12 months, starting with this race last year. Bruce Hoff has run all three of my Pigtails Flat Ass 50K and this one was his 100th of marathon or longer. Thanks for choosing my race to accomplish your goals! Jon Yoon came to the end of the race to drop off soup to donate, even if he could not make the run! What a funny guy! Thanks Jon!
Paul Piplani went out for a double marathon after completing his first one in 6:23. He was signed up for the double this weekend with the Christmas Marathon and was disappointed that the latter was cancelled due to weather warnings. I urged him not to go back out because the wind was supposed to pick up and it was supposed to snow as well. I also was going to clean up the aid stations, so he had to be self sufficient for his second marathon. He went anyway and assured me he was going to be okay. He fueled up before leaving.
I stuck around until the last finisher came in and headed out to the self serve aid stations to clean them up. Paul was just leaving the 5.6 mile aid station and I gave him some more food. The weather was still okay at that time, but it was about 2:45. Darkness would come soon. My two blue water jugs were stolen at the 9.1 mile aid station. I just bought those! I was heading home but thought I should go to the store and stock up on food before the storm and possible power outages. Seemed like everyone else had the same idea as me because Safeway was packed and a lot of shelves empty. But I didn’t have to stand in line too long. For once, I picked the right lane!
When I came out, the weather had really gotten bad. It was miserable just getting to my car with wind and snow. I thought about Paul and how terrible it had gotten. I was about to turn onto my road home, but decided I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I didn’t at least try and go out and look for Paul. So now it is dark, the wind is really blowing, and snow is coming down, and I’m trying to drive and look at the trail at the same time. If you have ever done this, it is hard even in good weather. There are some parts where I could not see the trail from the road along Hwy 169, where I expected he was. Judging on how long it took him to get to 5.6 miles, I did not expect him to be at the more secluded gravel part of the trail. I drove all the way down to about where there was less than 2 miles to the finish and didn’t see him. All I could do at that time was hope that he hitchhiked his way back to the start and his car. But he did run a second marathon in less than 6 hours and is safe.
Got home, showered, had dinner at my brother-in-law’s (Cliff Richards) next door, came home, went to bed, and I was OUT! The wind never got really bad, thank goodness. I was planning on running the Dumb Ass on Sunday, but had already been cancelled. A few were planning on running anyway and the weather was actually okay down here in Maple Valley, not sure how bad it was up on Tiger. It was good for me to sleep in and spend the day with Ken. I spend too many weekends away.
So there you are! Long report for an eventful weekend. I’ll see most of you at Last Chance! Remember, I have an event at Lake Youngs in January 2009. It will be on 1/24 or 1/31, depending on my call schedule. Come out to run one loop (9.6mi), 2 loops (19.2mi), or a 50K. I will know before the end of the year on the final date.
Pigtails

TRIPLING ON THE WAY TO THE MARATHON MANIACS HALL OF FAME

2008-12-05T18:17:00.000-08:00

Short:
Friday 11/28/08 Wishbone Trail Run 27.4 mile-4:18:14 (3rd woman)
Saturday 11/29/08 Ghost of Seattle 50K+-4:47:31 (1st woman)
Sunday 11/30/08 Seattle Marathon-3:53:47 (whatever woman)

Long:
It kinda just creeped up on me. Before I knew it, my hall of fame race came before December even started. This was a long time in coming, thousands of miles traveled. This triple weekend was ideal with local races and good running weather. And I was not alone. Many completed the triple and many more a double. Some of those their first. It’s nice to be surrounded by other sick people.
Friday’s race was in Gig Harbor, just a stone’s throw from Bill “Hotrod” Barmore’s house. He had wonderful volunteers, including Val Beyer, Lesa Overfield, and Karen. The course was a twisty, turny 6.85 mile trail loop done 4 times, which was reverse the direction of his July run. It was overcast but not cold. I twisted my ankle twice in the first loop and 3 more times before the run was over. Both sides. Of course when the trail was not as technical. I had a nice time running with Merita Trohimovich-Pollard, who ran the Turkey Trot 10K the day before and still managed to finish over 3 minutes before me after leaving me at the halfway point of the last loop. She wasn’t even planning to run the whole thing! It’s great to see her back at the races despite a nagging injury. Shawna Wilskey ran an “easy” 3:48:30 in her first race of two in her first double. She recently placed 9th woman at the Marine Corps Marathon, easily breaking 3 hours in a time of 2:57 and change. She looks so effortless running it’s sickening! First guy was Ken Reinkensmeyer in 3:43:20, then Joe Tompkins with the same time as Shawna and his first double as well, then Rich Hieb in 4:07:30. Afterwards, we were rewarded with yummy huckleberry pancakes and a medal with a wishbone attached! I love those homemade medals!
Saturday morning came, again with good weather. Warm for my standards. The course took us around Seward Park then an out and back along Lake Washington Blvd (50Kers went a little longer, of course up a hill), then repeat for the marathoners. The 50Kers had to do a third loop of Seward Park. I ran the race pretty much in shorts and sports bra. Same with Shawna Wilskey, who had no trouble finishing in 3:20. Terry Sentinella won with a time of 3:14. Shawn McTaggert and I swapped leads several times, when one of us had to hit the honey bucket. Me twice and Shawn several times. Poor Shawn, she didn’t realize that we had to do one more loop of Seward Park and increased her speed heading to the finish line. She even sat down on the grass thinking she was done until someone asked her if she was just running the marathon. Reluctantly she got up and started running again, which was about 4 more miles to go. I must of passed her one last time when she hit the honey bucket, still feeling good at that point and was able to have a strong last 4 miles. Post race hot dog and chicken noodle soup hit the spot! Some brave souls soaked in the lake. I had to get to the Seattle expo to pick up my race packet.
Sunday came too soon. I arrived in Seattle early to get a decent parking space before all the roads got blocked off. I woke up with sore ankles and knees, worried about a repeat of my DNF last year when I had to quit at mile 8 because of an inflamed Achilles tendon. After stepping off a curb and feeling a sharp pain in my side tendon on the right ankle, my fears increased. I did some gentle stretching after heading to the start line and told myself to just take it easy and get my hall of fame run done. I saw several doublers and triplers throughout the run. I also saw tons and tons of maniacs. It was great seeing Annie out there and even better to hear that she won after trailing in 8th place when I saw her on the out and back at the bridge and 3rd on Lake Washington Blvd when she was at about mile 15. It took me about 10 miles to loosen up. I sped up around Seward Park when the trail got narrow with too many runners and went through ½ way in about 1:57. I maintained my effort for the rest of the race, finishing with an even split. My goal for the weekend, other than just finishing all three races, was not to walk at all, which I was able to do. Afterwards, I got together with Cheri Pompeo and Gregg Wachli to celebrate his 200th marathon at Zeke’s Pizza!
So, I think I was the first woman to meet the criteria to be inducted in the Marathon Maniacs Hall of Fame. And I’m not done with my year! I have 4 more races to go, shooting for 55 to make my average for three years an even number of 53. So what’s next after this year? I’m signed up for the McNaughton 150 mile race in April. If I do well, there is a 200 mile endurance run in the fall in Vermont put on by the same guy. If you are interested, there is also a 100 mile fun run as well. Plus several 100 milers in between. Less road marathons, more trail ultras.
Well-see you on the trails! Great job to all you doublers and triplers!

BIRCH BAY MARATHON

2006-12-12T18:24:00.000-08:00

12/9/06
Short: 4:14:07, bad cold, #51 for 2006

Long:
The weekend before, my husband and I got our Christmas tree. We returned to a tree farm in Enumclaw (WA) where we got last year’s tree. It was cold and foggy out and as usual, it took a long time to pick one out. I told my husband that I didn’t want one as big this year because it took too long to decorate the year before. I don’t know if it was the darkness setting in or me getting my ass frozen off that led me to choose a tree that was even bigger than last years. The guy at the tree farm said that the open space outside is misleading in that when you get your tree home, it turns out to be larger than you expected once inside the home. He was sure right! He used his BIG chainsaw to cut it down and getting it into our truck was quite a chore.

It was well dark when we arrived home. I moved some furniture around to make room for the tree and Ken set about getting the tree stand on it. We learned from last year that getting the tree stand on it before bringing it into the house was much smarter than trying to wrestle with it to get into that little hole with it upright. We called Cliff, his brother, to come help us drag it into the house. In my efforts to keep the cat out while the door was open, I slipped and fell on our hardwood floors and landed firmly on my left hip. The pain was immediate and I laid there in shock for only few seconds. I needed to get up and help with guiding the tree in. I don’t know how they were able to squeeze this huge tree through a regular doorway, but Ken said that it took all his strength to get that tree in and upright. Cliff was huffing and puffing in agreement. Ken figures the tree had to weigh about 300 pounds. Its trunk is massive at about 10 inches in diameter, standing 13-14 feet tall, and laden with far-reaching, heavy, and healthy branches. I limped around as we cleaned up for the night and called Mary canceling our run for the next day. I slept on an ice pack all night and my hip was better the next day but not good enough to run on. Mary took advantage of the time off and slept in. Ken and I spent the entire day decorating our tree after he had trimmed off some branches to open it up more. Even with that, we still ended up using 400 more lights this year than last year with it probably now having a total of 3000 lights. It’s a beautiful tree!

Anyway, having this very fragrant tree in our house and working closely to it triggered my asthma, which made me susceptible to a cold. My cold kept getting worse as the week progressed, but it was not bad enough to prevent me from doing four double runs during the week in my quest to reach 3000 miles for the year. But by Thursday night, it had really affected my sleep. That, coupled with a very stressful day at work, culminated in the peak of my cold by Friday night. My husband welcomed me home with an endearing, “Hello, sicko.” I was coughing up thick yellow stuff that was plugging my airways. They were coming from deep within my chest. Even simple tasks like going up the stairs from our basement left me short of breath. This did not bode well for my marathon the next day. I had another restless night before having to wake up at 4:45.

I met Mel Preedy, Tony C, and King Arthur at the park and ride at 5:30. Mel drove and we sat in the comfort of his brand new car. I felt bad carpooling with them sick. I was a veritable petri dish! I tried to keep my talking down to a minimum and covered my nose and mouth every time I sneezed or cough. I hope none of them got sick. We arrived before 8AM and the race was to start at 9. Scott Krell, the RD, had not planned on having an early start, but there were about 10 of us there who wanted to get going including Bob Dolphin, Stan Nakashima, Dave Dutton, and Rick Haase. Scott didn’t think that Tony, Arthur, and I needed to start early and called us “troublemakers.” But he let us go anyway and we were off! The weather was actually pleasant for a change.

I had been coughing and hacking before the start and it continued for a few miles before I settled into a reasonable pace. Usually when I do the one nose blow, anything that comes out lands on the ground with a smack. On this day, it was so thick that it was flapping in the wind until I wiped it off. I had never run a race this sick. But I didn’t want to cancel it because the next weekend I planned on finalizing my race for the 23rd. I didn’t want to enter last minute in the Christmas Marathon and pay a lot of money. And, I wanted my race to be my 52nd. So I plodded along feeling like I was working as hard as I could but still running over 9 minute miles. I was miserable the whole race but after reaching the one aid station after about 14 miles, I got a lot worse. I had stopped to get more fluids and Gu. But the stopping was what made it worse. My body had settled into a rhythm of breathing and needed to start all over again. I walked out of the aid station very short of breath and my chest was killing me. It felt like someone had punched me there several times and I had a deep burning pain. All the coughing had overworked my chest muscles and every breath was painful and shallow. I had to stop and walk a few times to catch my breath before I was able to run steadily again. Plus, my body felt weak, and I struggled with the weight of my water bottle, constantly needing to change hands, something I usually don’t notice. I walked the one steep hill that is in the first half of that loop. I had to walk when I ate my Gu and go through the process of getting my rhythm again. I knew that a sub-4 hour marathon was not possible and decided to take it easy. I ran through the aid station before the last 2.5 miles to avoid stopping. The wind had picked up by now. I finished in 4:14 and dropped my bottle next to Mel’s car.

Tony and I had talked about running a few extra miles after the race, but it looked like he changed his mind and had already changed into warm clothes. I had been debating what I would do. On the one hand, I was obviously very sick and stopping would be the prudent thing to do. On the other hand, what damage I had done probably already had been done and running a few more miles would not make that much difference. Besides, I was feeling a little better by the time I finished the marathon. I decided not to stop to think about it and just dropped my bottle and turned around. I told Tony that I was not going to be long. My plan was to run out to meet Mel and run in with him. What I didn’t know was that Mel was struggling out there. I saw Arthur at about 2 miles out and decided to turn around at the 2.5-mile point where the aid station was after hearing that Mel was not near. When I set out, the wind had become much stronger. What I don’t understand was how it was a headwind both ways because when I turned around, the wind was fierce! It took me 50 minutes to run that extra five miles, making it a 50K day for me. As soon as I finished, I got into Mel’s car and tried to catch my breath. Again, the stopping led to coughing and difficulty breathing as I had anticipated. I changed slowly into dry clothes between breaths and was warm. It had started to rain as soon as I got into the car. I was worried about the people still out there.

I emerged from the car and went to get something to eat. First it was hot chicken noodle soup. I visited with some people I had not seen in a while like Mark Hartinger and his dog Bruce, who ran the marathon with him. I had two hot dogs, something Scott has learned is a favorite of mine and others after running. He told me that Stacy “Possum” was unable to finish. She apparently was not feeling well and was throwing up. Unlike me, she was smarter and listened to her body. There were only two other women in the race. Karen Wiggens came in while I was eating. Chris Ralph was still out there. I felt embarrassed to learn that I was the first woman with a time for 4:14! John Bandur came in, then Chris Ralph and Tom Ripley, then Bob Dolphin, and then finally Mel. Each of them had spent a good hour out there with the rain and wind. Tony and Arthur ran Mel in the last stretch. Arthur said that he commented to Mel, “It was a personal worse for me today.” Mel replied. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” I just love Mel! He can find humor in a situation even if he didn’t have such a hot day. But I’m glad everyone returned safe.

Arthur was kind enough to drive us home in Mel’s car. I was in no position to drive. My cold continued to attack my body. I coughed up some big wads after the race and my body ached. What really hurt most were my head and eyes. I had a fierce headache and my eyes felt like they had been punched. It was probably from all the pressure I created when I coughed. I took a lot of Advil, but it only took the edge off. We arrived home at the park and ride a half-day after starting our journey. We departed ways, but not for long before the next training run or race. My next one will be #52 at my race. I hope to healthy again by then.

I drove the short distance home. I became very short of breath just going from my car to the house carrying my bag. It was hard to imagine that this weakling of a person had run 51 races this year including the one earlier in the day. My breathing would only improve after clearing my chest of the secretions plugging my airways. My husband told me that I sounded like I was dying when he got home. I am better today, although not yet back to normal. At least I was able to clean the house without having to catch my breath. Looks like I may be on the mend.