Short version: Tahoe Triple 9/28-9/30, 2nd female, 7th overall (Day one 3:52-2nd woman, Day 2 3:46-2nd woman, Day 3 3:51-1st woman in triple, 8th woman in entire marathon field), Auburn Marathon all on trails 4:19, 2nd woman, 9th overall.
Long version: (Read it or leave it)
Ken and I left for California on Tuesday, 9/26 and were able to drive all the way to Susanville. Unfortunately, there was a lot of road construction, delaying us for almost 30 minutes at one point. They really know how to take their time-taxpayer’s money well spent.
On day two of our driving, we only had about 2-3 hours left to get to South Lake Tahoe, so we stopped at the Sierra Trading Post Outlet and I was able to get another pair of Brooks road shoes (last year’s model) for a great price. I also got a great pair of Saloman sandals. On the last leg to South Lake Tahoe, we ran into even more construction, this time actually on the course that we would be running. I was shocked by this but later heard that this is how it is every year. The roads apparently get pretty trashed during the cold winters and this time of the year is the prime time to fix them. We arrived at the Lover’s Leap campground outside of Lake Tahoe, which is right where Ken was going to be climbing with a buddy who would arrive the next day while I ran my first marathon. It was great that there was no fee at this campground. It saved us a bundle. Ken and I brought our cots, so I didn’t have to sleep on the ground for four nights. We picked out a great site with an incredible view of the rock face that he would be climbing. We set up camp and returned to South Lake Tahoe to pick up my number. We attended the mandatory race meeting that evening. Pam Reed gave a speech, mostly talking about her first Badwater experience. She also was also promoting her new book. She would be running the 72-mile ultra as was maniac Sean Meissner. I also learned that last year’s woman’s champ, maniac Laura Bleakley, would not be there. On the second day, a nice lady named Lori came up to me and said that Laura told her to look for Pigtails because I was going to win. Thanks, Laura, for your vote, but with the number of races I have run thus far, including 2-50Ks and a 100 miler earlier in the month, I didn’t expect to win. After the race meeting, which scared me more than it helped, we went back to the campground, which was a forty-minute drive away. I had to get my race stuff ready, including going to sleep with my race clothes on every night. I did not go to bed until after 10:30.
9/28/06-Tahoe Triple Day One:
Woke up 4:40AM, ate breakfast, left campground at 4:50AM, drove 40 minutes to the Horizon host hotel to catch 6:15 bus to the start. Had my Snicker’s bar on the bus and an Ensure before the start. This was my ritual every morning. The temp was about 30F and I was cozy at the start with a long sleeve, singlet, hat, gloves, and shorts. The race started at 7AM at Inspiration Point, which would mark the last 10K on the last day for us. Sean shot off the starting gun and we were off. The first 3 miles were downhill switchbacks on the main road around the lake against oncoming traffic. Because of the switchbacks, most cars were going fairly slow, but some were racing up that hill, even when there was not a shoulder for us to run on. It was hard to hold back on the first three miles of our journey. Deborah Hamberlin, the eventual overall female winner, stayed in front of me within sight for the first 10 miles. After the 3-mile downhill, we hit a nice bike trail and ran through Pope Beach area, a very nice trail but with some tiny inclines that I knew would tax me at the very end of day three where the triple ended. At mile 8, we re-entered the main drag around Lake Tahoe and had to deal with the morning commute. Since the sidewalk wound in and out and added extra distance, we all stayed on the road, running against traffic with ½ a bike lane’s width. I was thinking this was crazy and the driver’s probably thought so too wondering why we didn’t get on a perfectly good sidewalk. We were breathing all of the fumes from the cars and trucks and I worried about my asthma acting up, especially with the elevation that I was not used to. I realized early on that I had overdressed for this day. Although it was very cold at the start, it warmed up rapidly, and I was overheating. Half of the runners had a crew, but I had to carry everything with me (my waist pack, inhaler, epipen, water bottle, ID, e-caps, and 4 GUs). Then I had to carry my gloves and hat, and I didn’t want to take the time to take off my long sleeve shirt under my singlet. So I kept it on and got hotter and hotter. Before the ½ marathon mark, I started to have some cramping in my hamstrings and had to back off a little. I took my e-caps and was able to keep the cramps at bay. There was one fixed water station at mile 17. There was also a roving aid station. The terrain from mile 8-17 was mostly flat with gentle hills. Then the hills started to come. There were several before the infamous hill from mile 23-26. We also started to encounter the construction at mile 14. I don’t know if it was a blessing or not. On the one hand, the construction zone slowed the drivers down. On the other hand, once they got through those zones, and there were several, they would go screaming through, probably in an attempt to make up the time they lost in the construction zone. There was quite a bit of traffic, including large dump trucks. I have to say that I was not having fun. It wasn’t because I was bonking. It was because I felt very unsafe and had to work hard to pay attention to the oncoming traffic. The last 3 miles were the craziest. Here we were trying to run up this long, unrelenting hill on a 4 lane highway with the speed limit 50 but most driving over 60 because they were driving downhill, with a narrow shoulder to run on, inhaling the fumes, and gaining altitude in thinner air! Even though the cars and trucks had two lanes to drive in, most stayed in the right lane next to us, even with the other lane open. I just didn’t understand it. I was thinking to myself that this was suicide and I probably would have been safer where Ken was, climbing a sheer rock face. I was also developing a hot spot on the ball of my feet on the left. I finally arrived at the finish in 3:52, seven minutes after Deborah. The finish was at Spooner summit, the highest point in the Triple at 7146ft. As soon as I stopped, I had an asthma attack. After sucking on my inhaler like candy, I was able to breath almost normal again, unless I did anything strenuous. I felt that I had spent a significant amount of energy dodging traffic, which may have drained my ability to push it in the end like I normally do. I got a ride with a guy who was doing the Super (26, 26, 72), Peter Lubbers. His crew helped me some on my first day and a lot on my second day. We drove to Cave Rock beach and soaked for 20 minutes. The lake was perfect. They dropped me back at Horizon hotel and I drove back to the campsite after stopping to get some Pad Thai. I took a shower at a lodge next to the campsite, ate my thai food, and waited for Ken and his climbing partner, Chris, to get back. I only had to wait ½ an hour. We went back to town and had dinner. Back at camp, I readied myself for the next day.
9/29/06-Tahoe Triple Day Two:
I woke just a little later on this day since the race did not start until 7:45. I did my routine of waking, eating, leaving in 10 minutes, driving 40 minutes to Horizon hotel, going into the hotel bathroom to brush my teeth, put in my contacts, braid my pigtails, and tape my feet before hopping on the bus. I tied my shoes tighter to prevent that hot spot from getting worse and it helped. Again, we were dropped off at the start (Spooner Summit) and stood there freezing for 30 minutes. The people who had crew were lucky to stay in their warm cars. Because I overdressed the day before, I wore less to start with and froze my ass off standing around. I was worried about my asthma. After my attack the day before, my chest hurt and felt tired. Fortunately, the first 10 miles were downhill, and my asthma usually does better, as there is less strain on my breathing. I had trained myself to breathe in through my nose to warm the air coming in (because cold air also makes it worse) and out my mouth. We were off at 7:45. Deborah took off on the downhill, along with another lady, who came in third yesterday, only 4 minutes behind me. I thought, “CRAP!” I didn’t want to work that hard that day. But I decided to run my own race and let those two girls go ahead. I knew after day one that I could not catch Deborah because her previous performances revealed that she became stronger with each day. So I made it up in my mind that I would go for second. But with this other woman taking off, I was starting to worry about my position. I still maintained my pace and was able to pass her before mile 10. She was going quite a bit slower when I passed her and saw her reach her arms above her head, indicating possibly stomach cramps. I asked her if she was okay and if she needed any salt tablets. She said she was fine. At mile ten, we turned onto a side street towards Incline Village, where multi-million dollar homes lined the streets. It was on of the nicest part of the triple for me since there was less traffic. It was also on this street that I encountered the front-runners for the 72-mile bike ride going in the opposite direction. The first group was a big pack of about fifteen, and they were flying! They had a police escort. I criss-crossed several other packs before seeing more solo bikers. After about 3 miles, we entered the main drag again. At times, it would get a pretty tight with me running one direction and a biker and car or truck approaching. Again, the cars did not slow down or give you an inch. I felt we were running into a headwind, which was compounded by the fast moving trucks that sucked all the air away from you. There were some hills from mile 14-20, but nothing too significant. I was still feeling good and thought I might be gaining on the people in front of me. But when I reached mile 20, all of the sudden, I couldn’t breath. I was taking shallow breaths and coughing. My asthma decided to make an appearance at the hardest part of the day at a long and steep hill. I had to walk the last half of the hill and lost quite a bit of time. I struggled in the last few miles and came in to the finish at Tahoe City 8 minutes after Deborah compared to the 4-minute gap (someone had told me) that I had closed in on before my asthma. I was so mad that I had to deal with a condition like asthma that prevented me from running my full potential. This day was as packed with traffic just like the first day, and the combination of the two days taxed my reserves. Everyone was really worried about me at the end because I was using all my accessory muscles to breathe. It took me 15 minutes to get it somewhat under control. Jean, the woman who went out ahead of me at the start, came in 10 minutes later. Then I had to walk three blocks to a climbing store to get Ken a guidebook. I came back to the finish and walked down to the beach to soak with the other finishers. After, I joined Peter and his crew again to get lunch at a deli and get a ride back to the Horizon hotel. I arrived back at the campsite to find that Ken and Chris had already finished. While Ken showered, I got ready for the next day. We went out for Thai food at the place that I got my Pad Thai the day before. Dinner was wonderful. Back to the camp to rest for the next day.
9/30/06-Tahoe Triple Day Three:
This was the last day of the Triple, which coincided with the full marathon field. The Super Triple runners (5 of them), started their final day at midnight and would run all the way around the lake, finishing with the regular marathoners and the regular triplers, who would start at Tahoe City (where we finished day 2). Also, the 72-mile ultrarunners had started at midnight as well. I did my usual ritual at the Horizon Hotel. I hopped on the bus, now with many more runners, and took the long ride to the start. On our way, we saw the 72-milers. The first ones we encountered had about 8 miles to go before reaching Tahoe City. We saw Pam Reed, who had about 4 miles to go. Apparently, Sean Meissner and Sam Thompson had already passed the start, so we never did see them. After I got off the bus, I was walking to the start when a bike came around a corner to tell everyone to get out of the way as the elite women marathoners were coming. I was surprised to see Deborah and Jean (the 3rd woman in the Triple) in that pack of 5 or 6. I didn’t think we’d be eligible to run in the elite pack since I didn’t expect any of us to run an “elite” time. The requirement was that you had to have run a 3:30 in the past. So Deborah and Jean signed up at the expo the night before. At first I was disappointed because I wanted to keep an eye on Deborah and Jean, but then I decided that I just needed to run my own race. We started with the elite men at 8:30. On this day, I wore a blister Band-Aid under my hot spot. The adhesive was very sticky and it worked like a charm. I felt pretty good, but I also went out conservatively. I knew that the big hills came after mile 15, but so did the other girls as they had run this before. The Triplers wore their special singlet on this last day, so all the runners and spectators knew who we were. It was great getting encouragement from the field. Although the road was supposed to closed off to traffic in the lane that we were running on, there were still some cars on the course. That annoyed me, perhaps because I had become overly sensitive running the first two days with crazy traffic. I was looking forward to a day finally where I didn’t have to think about anything but running. When we reached the hills, I felt strong. My breathing was good and my hot spot was protected. I did not walk at all the entire race, even the hill from hell that climbed 540ft over 1.5 miles at mile 15. I ate and drank regularly to avoid bonking, since doing back to back to back marathons will burn any calories immediately as soon as you took it in. I never had any stomach problems on any of my marathons. I was gaining on other marathoners and was being passed by relayers and half marathoners. My goal was to reach the 20 mile mark without bonking, because that last 10K was something I had already run, which was downhill and flat from Inspiration Point. As soon as I crested the steep one-mile hill from 19 to 20, I ran as fast as I could to the finish. I think I averaged 8-minute miles. I felt like I was running faster than that. Unfortunately at this time, we were encountering the half marathon walkers who walked 5 abreast. So instead of taking the tight curves down the switchbacks, I had to run around them, and there were a lot of them! Still, I had a strong finish, with 3:51, 38 overall out of 377 runners, 8th woman of 158, and 2nd in my age division 35-39. The first woman was 3:24, which just shows you how hard this course it. The first guy was 2:42. Deborah finished 3:53 and Jean in 4:12. So I felt I had a pretty good day. I did have a bit of asthma when I finished, but not as bad as day one and two. The top 25 women and men received a special top 25 finisher’s shirt in addition to a license plate holder that said 26.2 miles and finisher’s medal. I soaked in the lake for over 30 minutes, had something to eat, then waited in line over 30 minutes to catch a bus back to the Horizon Hotel. When I got back to camp, Ken and Chris had already finished. Chris wanted to go back to the Thai restaurant and I had no objections. Once again the food was fabulous. We went to the awards ceremony where all the triplers got a plaque, hooded sweatshirt, and license plate holder that said 78.6 miles. I came in second woman overall in the triple, less than 15 minutes from Deborah’s overall time. Age division awards were also handed out for the marathon. A guy from South Africa, Johan Oosthuizen, broke the Guinness World Record time for three marathons in 3 days. The previous one was set back in 1988 when that runner did Belfast, London, then Boston in three consecutive days. Johann ran 2:43:35, 2:43:31, and 2:44:03. Although the previous record holder traveled more, Johann ran much tougher courses and at elevation. Sean Meissner won the 72-mile race in a time of 10:27:48. That’s an 8:44 pace! Geez! Karen Wiggens did a great job of crewing him, which was so thoughtful of her since she had to drop out after the first day of the triple due to hip pain. She still managed to run Auburn Marathon in a great time. Anyway, back to camp again where I got ready for the last day of racing.
10/1/06-Auburn Marathon “Quadzilla!”
Woke up at 4:50 to hit the road at 5AM for a 90 mile drive to the start of the Auburn Marathon in Cool, CA. Ken would break down our camp and head to a different climbing spot for his last day of climbing. I would meet them later. I arrived at the start of the race with 50 minutes to spare. Sean was supposed to be there to run with me, but he never came. Perhaps he needed some rest from the 72-mile ultra. So, I put in my contacts, brushed my teeth, braided my hair, ate, and put on my gaiters and trail shoes for the day that I was looking forward to the most. And this race did not disappoint. We started at 8AM with over 60 marathoners. The half marathon, 9 mile, and 5K did not start until 9AM. We started on a dusty one-mile out and back. I started out slow, wondering what my legs would feel like. I had to wear my facemask to keep the dust out, worried that my asthma would start sooner than later. I probably looked pretty funny to other runners, but Ken told me later that they wouldn’t be laughing at me after beating most of them. Our out and back came through the start before heading off again on the trails. There was a one-mile stretch of rolling before we reached a downhill section. Now, I love the downhills and can cruise pretty good. I decided that even though I had run three marathons already, I didn’t want to wait for the others who were timid on the downs. So I passed a bunch of people and broke out of the crowds. There was a good amount of down before we reached No Hand’s Bridge and turned around. I had counted 3 women in front of me, but the 3rd woman was looking like she was fading already. Still, I kept my own pace and ran with a guy with a 50 states shirt on and red shirt guy, who would run up the hills in tiny switchbacks. I just ran straight up them and asked him why he was running extra laps up the hill. He said he had always run up hills that way and it worked for him. After the second aid station, I dropped those two guys. I was feeling so good that I didn’t want to slow down. Was I in jeopardy of going out too fast and bonking later? That’s what others might have thought as I passed them and probably thought I was a rookie trail marathon runner. But I never was passed by anyone. In fact, I passed three more guys. I passed the 3rd place girl, Vanessa, before the 13-mile mark. I ran the entire race except the very steep uphills, which probably measured less than a mile. This was the best I had felt in a long time. I had no muscle soreness or fatigue. I wanted the race to be a double marathon. I loved the single-track trails, weaving along the course, no traffic, and fresh air. I was alive! I ran most of the race by myself as well, but I would have preferred to run with Sean. Finally, I passed a guy and the second place gal at the aid station just before the 22 mile mark. In that last 4 miles, I gained 5 minutes on her and finished 9th overall, 2nd female in 4:19. This race just re-affirmed to me that trails are my passion. I hung around a little but had to leave to meet Ken, still 1 ½ hour drive away. Everyone got a T-shirt, belt buckle, and a vial of gold for finishing. I got a 2nd place woman trophy and also a 2nd in my division medal. Wow, just one race and I got almost as much as in the Triple! I highly recommend this race. I told the RD that I had to give this race my vote for my most favorite trail marathon, even more than Haulin Aspen, and that’s saying a lot. Both of those beat road marathons any day!
I met Ken in Truckee, CA and we drove to Redding. We had dinner, stayed at a motel and had a much needed shower (I hadn’t had one in three days), and drove the rest of the way the next day (about 800 miles). Other than being sleep deprived, I feel great. I’m looking forward to number 42 at Baker Lake 50 this weekend on 10/7.
Thanks for listening!
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Cle Elum 50K 2006
9/16/06
Short version: 6:22:04, 4th woman, 2nd F30-39
Long version:
I hadn’t planned on writing a report for this race since I’ve tried to write only about distant races that most others would never have a chance to run. But I decided to continue with my “memoirs.”
After returning from Lost Soul 100 mile, I promptly caught a cold. It didn’t take much as my immune system was down from all the traveling and running. So, I didn’t run all week because I didn’t want to screw my chances of running at Cle Elum 50K on Saturday, September 16. I rested and took Airborne day and night. It seemed to work because it didn’t blossom into a full blown cold. Mainly, lots of sniffling, congestion, and a mild cough.
I awoke to the sound of pouring rain 4:45AM Saturday morning. I met Tony Covarrubias, Arthur Martineau, and Shawn Lawson at the Maple Valley park and ride at 5:30. Shawn was volunteering, Tony was the trail sweep for the first 21 miles, and Arthur and I would try to run our best, both having completed 100 milers recently. Shawn and Arthur had finished Cascade Crest 100 mile on 8/26.
Fortunately, as we dropped down to the eastern side of Snoqualmie pass, the weather cleared up and it was looking like a fine day for running. Due to a bridge closure, we had to take a longer route to the start but arrived in plenty of time to check in and get ready for the start. Krissy Moehl, the race director, had marked the course the day before with snow falling on her at Windy pass. So we all prepared for possible inclement weather.
My plan for this race was to just enjoy myself. It was the last race in the Trophy series for me, and after having garnered 400 points the week before, I knew that I didn’t need to place in the top three to win the series. Besides, my legs were probably dead and I was dealing with a head cold. I started out very conservatively, even running next to last place in the first 3 miles. But one by one, I started passing people, still running at a comfortable pace. Although my calves were tight from all the hill climbing in this race, I wasn’t feeling too bad. I did produce a ton of snot from my cold. Gross!
For the first time in the four years that I have run this race, I really started to look around and realized what a nice course this is. Sure, there are areas where the motorbikes have trashed the trails with big divots, but there are still a lot of runnable areas. I’d say that 70% of the trails are runnable, granted you have not trashed yourself in the first half with all the hills and end up having to pay for it in the second half. The first year I ran this race, which was also my first ultra, I went out too fast and ended up struggling with frequent walking in the 2nd half, particularly in the last 10 miles. It wasn’t very pleasant. On this day, I kept it at a comfortable pace, enough to get my breathing going but not so much that felt I was riding on the edge. I was able to run the entire second half.
Unfortunately, there was a motorbike race happening that same morning. Krissy said that she applied for her permit long ago and couldn’t understand how another race was allowed on the same day. She was able to delay them starting an hour to 11AM, but I still encountered many motorbikes during my run. Not only did they stir up dust, but the fumes from their bikes were even worse. I had brought my face mask in anticipation of this, as my asthma has been bad at recent races. Thankfully, for the most part, my asthma did not bother me during the race.
I took me 3hr45 min to get to Windy Pass, which lived up to its name. It’s amazing how the climbs just went on and on. I think it was about 17 miles into the race by then, and I figured it would take me another 3 hours to finish. I had been running with the same guys for a while. We continued to pass a few more ladies. There were several stream crossings, but nothing higher than ankle deep. I reached the 21 mile aid station at 4:38. I figured then that it would take me another two hours to finish. From that point on, I was able to run ahead of the group that I was running with except for one guy-yellow water bottle guy. I kept him in my sites for most of the last ten miles. We ended up passing a young looking gal, but then she decided to pass me right back within a half mile. Guess she didn’t like the fact that I had passed her. I told her as she was passing, “Don’t worry about me, I ran a 100 miler last week-end and am fading.” She said, “What? Are you psycho?” and continued on. She never got too far ahead of me.
With about 3 miles to go, we both passed another girl. Then we passed yellow water bottle guy when he stopped at a water station with 2 miles to go. Still, young looking gal was always within my sites, probably only 20-30 seconds ahead, but she was running like there was no care in the world. When we reached the last downhill section, which marked about ½ a mile to go, I gunned it down that hill as fast as I could to catch her. She was still just trotting along, unaware that I was closing in on her. A hiker was coming up the trail, and just about then, my shell jacket fell off of my hydration pack, having loosened from the bungee cord holding it in place from my pounding down the hill. She alerted me that I dropped my coat. “Oh no!” I cried. She helped pick it up for me. I thanked her and went on my way to catch that girl again. As I was coming up right behind her, she turned to see me coming full speed and picked up her pace. I wanted to pass her before the last turn down the short single track switchback, but I ran out of trail and she entered it first. The finish is practically right there when you emerge from the trail. She ended up finishing before me, 11 seconds according to the results, but I think I was more like 5 seconds behind her. She took third and I was fourth. If I had known our position, I would have run harder after I had passed her to keep her behind me. So I didn’t get any extra points for the trophy series, but no matter, I pretty much clenched the series win with my performance at Lost Soul. My race number was 19 and I came in 19th overall. Cool, huh? My time of 6:22 was only 9 minutes off of last year’s time. Not bad on spent legs, I thought.
Arthur finished 15 minutes faster than his time last year with a 6:55. But he struggled with hip pain that he developed from Cascade. Tony did his trail sweep to mile 21 and looked forward to running in the last 10 miles at his pace. But when he got there expecting to hand off the duty to someone else, he was told that he had been signed up to do the whole distance. So he ended up sweeping the entire course, running more like 35 miles in an effort to keep moving. He would run ahead and back to the last runners, trying to get them to eat and drink as they were seriously bonking. Thanks Tony for taking on that duty!
The post race festivities are always very cold in that area due to the shade. So if you ever run this race, make sure you pack extra warm clothes to change into. Also bring a chair to sit in. The awards ceremony was fun with great prizes and give-aways (Krissy has great connections). I won a pair of Montrail shoes (and who needs shoes more than I do!) since the first place F30-39 was not there to get first pick. Lucky me! Next year, Chris and Marty Fagan will take over the run, but did a fine job in the “Race Directors in Training,” on this day.
I don’t have a race next week-end, but the following week-end will be the “Quad” with Tahoe Triple and Auburn Marathon. See some of you there!
Short version: 6:22:04, 4th woman, 2nd F30-39
Long version:
I hadn’t planned on writing a report for this race since I’ve tried to write only about distant races that most others would never have a chance to run. But I decided to continue with my “memoirs.”
After returning from Lost Soul 100 mile, I promptly caught a cold. It didn’t take much as my immune system was down from all the traveling and running. So, I didn’t run all week because I didn’t want to screw my chances of running at Cle Elum 50K on Saturday, September 16. I rested and took Airborne day and night. It seemed to work because it didn’t blossom into a full blown cold. Mainly, lots of sniffling, congestion, and a mild cough.
I awoke to the sound of pouring rain 4:45AM Saturday morning. I met Tony Covarrubias, Arthur Martineau, and Shawn Lawson at the Maple Valley park and ride at 5:30. Shawn was volunteering, Tony was the trail sweep for the first 21 miles, and Arthur and I would try to run our best, both having completed 100 milers recently. Shawn and Arthur had finished Cascade Crest 100 mile on 8/26.
Fortunately, as we dropped down to the eastern side of Snoqualmie pass, the weather cleared up and it was looking like a fine day for running. Due to a bridge closure, we had to take a longer route to the start but arrived in plenty of time to check in and get ready for the start. Krissy Moehl, the race director, had marked the course the day before with snow falling on her at Windy pass. So we all prepared for possible inclement weather.
My plan for this race was to just enjoy myself. It was the last race in the Trophy series for me, and after having garnered 400 points the week before, I knew that I didn’t need to place in the top three to win the series. Besides, my legs were probably dead and I was dealing with a head cold. I started out very conservatively, even running next to last place in the first 3 miles. But one by one, I started passing people, still running at a comfortable pace. Although my calves were tight from all the hill climbing in this race, I wasn’t feeling too bad. I did produce a ton of snot from my cold. Gross!
For the first time in the four years that I have run this race, I really started to look around and realized what a nice course this is. Sure, there are areas where the motorbikes have trashed the trails with big divots, but there are still a lot of runnable areas. I’d say that 70% of the trails are runnable, granted you have not trashed yourself in the first half with all the hills and end up having to pay for it in the second half. The first year I ran this race, which was also my first ultra, I went out too fast and ended up struggling with frequent walking in the 2nd half, particularly in the last 10 miles. It wasn’t very pleasant. On this day, I kept it at a comfortable pace, enough to get my breathing going but not so much that felt I was riding on the edge. I was able to run the entire second half.
Unfortunately, there was a motorbike race happening that same morning. Krissy said that she applied for her permit long ago and couldn’t understand how another race was allowed on the same day. She was able to delay them starting an hour to 11AM, but I still encountered many motorbikes during my run. Not only did they stir up dust, but the fumes from their bikes were even worse. I had brought my face mask in anticipation of this, as my asthma has been bad at recent races. Thankfully, for the most part, my asthma did not bother me during the race.
I took me 3hr45 min to get to Windy Pass, which lived up to its name. It’s amazing how the climbs just went on and on. I think it was about 17 miles into the race by then, and I figured it would take me another 3 hours to finish. I had been running with the same guys for a while. We continued to pass a few more ladies. There were several stream crossings, but nothing higher than ankle deep. I reached the 21 mile aid station at 4:38. I figured then that it would take me another two hours to finish. From that point on, I was able to run ahead of the group that I was running with except for one guy-yellow water bottle guy. I kept him in my sites for most of the last ten miles. We ended up passing a young looking gal, but then she decided to pass me right back within a half mile. Guess she didn’t like the fact that I had passed her. I told her as she was passing, “Don’t worry about me, I ran a 100 miler last week-end and am fading.” She said, “What? Are you psycho?” and continued on. She never got too far ahead of me.
With about 3 miles to go, we both passed another girl. Then we passed yellow water bottle guy when he stopped at a water station with 2 miles to go. Still, young looking gal was always within my sites, probably only 20-30 seconds ahead, but she was running like there was no care in the world. When we reached the last downhill section, which marked about ½ a mile to go, I gunned it down that hill as fast as I could to catch her. She was still just trotting along, unaware that I was closing in on her. A hiker was coming up the trail, and just about then, my shell jacket fell off of my hydration pack, having loosened from the bungee cord holding it in place from my pounding down the hill. She alerted me that I dropped my coat. “Oh no!” I cried. She helped pick it up for me. I thanked her and went on my way to catch that girl again. As I was coming up right behind her, she turned to see me coming full speed and picked up her pace. I wanted to pass her before the last turn down the short single track switchback, but I ran out of trail and she entered it first. The finish is practically right there when you emerge from the trail. She ended up finishing before me, 11 seconds according to the results, but I think I was more like 5 seconds behind her. She took third and I was fourth. If I had known our position, I would have run harder after I had passed her to keep her behind me. So I didn’t get any extra points for the trophy series, but no matter, I pretty much clenched the series win with my performance at Lost Soul. My race number was 19 and I came in 19th overall. Cool, huh? My time of 6:22 was only 9 minutes off of last year’s time. Not bad on spent legs, I thought.
Arthur finished 15 minutes faster than his time last year with a 6:55. But he struggled with hip pain that he developed from Cascade. Tony did his trail sweep to mile 21 and looked forward to running in the last 10 miles at his pace. But when he got there expecting to hand off the duty to someone else, he was told that he had been signed up to do the whole distance. So he ended up sweeping the entire course, running more like 35 miles in an effort to keep moving. He would run ahead and back to the last runners, trying to get them to eat and drink as they were seriously bonking. Thanks Tony for taking on that duty!
The post race festivities are always very cold in that area due to the shade. So if you ever run this race, make sure you pack extra warm clothes to change into. Also bring a chair to sit in. The awards ceremony was fun with great prizes and give-aways (Krissy has great connections). I won a pair of Montrail shoes (and who needs shoes more than I do!) since the first place F30-39 was not there to get first pick. Lucky me! Next year, Chris and Marty Fagan will take over the run, but did a fine job in the “Race Directors in Training,” on this day.
I don’t have a race next week-end, but the following week-end will be the “Quad” with Tahoe Triple and Auburn Marathon. See some of you there!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Lost Soul Ultra 100 mile 2006
9/8/06
Short version:
28:48:44, first woman, 5th overall, 29 starters, 50% DNF. Temps in the 90s. Lethbridge, Alberta at 3500ft according to another runner. Very well organized race. Great people.
Long version: (In other words, grab a cup of coffee if you want to read on)
This was my last run in Canada for the year. I have done 4 of them, two 100 milers, one 100K, and one 50K, all in the Trophy Series. All put my physical and mental abilities to the test.
Ken, my husband, and I drove to Lethbridge on Thursday, September 7. It took us twelve hours. After we crossed the border, we saw a couple interesting tourist attractions. The first one was next to an ice cream shop we visited twice on our trip. There were three goats living on top of a roof that had grass growing on it. The other attraction was the largest truck in the world. It was pretty big! I made the mistake of driving most of the way there. Ken offered to drive, but I kept telling him that I was okay, that I had it mostly in cruise control. But by the time we arrived, my calf muscles were twitching, not a good thing before a 100 mile race. I stretched as much as I could that night.
We arrived at the host hotel, the Lethbridge Lodge, at 8:30pm Mountain Time. We had lost an hour in our travel. We met the only other 100 miler coming from the states, Kim Eunsup from Texas. His mother lives in Canada and he thought it might be fun to run the 100 miler. His only 100 miler prior to that was Rocky Raccoon. Unfortunately, Kim had to drop out. I wished I had more time to talk to him, but he left before the festivities. We checked into our room, number 306, my birthday! That had to be a good sign.
After a fairly good night sleep, I woke up at 5am and got ready for the 6am weight, blood pressure, and pulse check in. The 100K runners also had to have the same done and needed to be present at the pre-race meeting at 7am before the 8am race start. My weight was 50.0kg, BP was good, but my heart was racing at 92. You’d think that a runner like me would have a very low heart rate, but I was quite nervous as my intent was to win the race. I tried to check out the competition, but with the 100K runners mixed in, I had to force myself to think about running a smart race. I actually knew a lot of the runners there from previous races. They all seemed to know about my running feats this year. I guess I have been the talk of several running groups in Canada. I was already a legend! Imagine that, little me. I picked up my race packet and found a beautiful fleece pullover with the race insignia on it. All the runners got one and each were unique to the distance you were running. I thought that was special to have that distinction. My race number was 21, also a lucky number in my view.
We all lined up at 8AM and started on time from the hotel, which was also a major aid station. The 100 milers race was 3 laps. I had only 4 days rest since my previous race on Sunday 9/3, which was a very difficult 50K. I guess that I should not have run an “easy” 7+ mile run with 73-year-old Mel Preedy on Wednesday. We ran at a pretty good clip and rather than keeping me loose, it probably tired me out more. But I could not pass up the opportunity to run with Mel. He always has the greatest stories!
The race started with a 7K loop that came back to the hotel. Although this race was run in the “prairies,” it was very tough. The race only boasted 3000ft of elevation gain per 33-mile lap, but that was deceiving. There were a lot of chinscraper climbs and just as steep descents. For those of you who have run Lord Hill, think of that steep hill 2/3 into the loop. Some of the hills at Lost Soul were steeper than that and maybe even longer. Some runners started with hiking or ski poles. I wanted to see if I could do without mine for the first lap.
The next section featured more steep climbs and descents as well as some runnable sections in the prairies. It was a 12.7K loop with a self-serve water station half way. Unfortunately, you had to run by a sewage treatment plant for about 1K. It didn’t matter which way the wind was blowing. The stench was overpowering. Because this area had some decent climbs, you were breathing in this stuff deeply. I had my face mask to tone it down a little. The end of this section brought you to the Peenaquim aid station. All the aid stations were Cadillac with big tents, cots to rest on, and a wide assortment of food, including ham and cheese sandwiches and soup. The volunteers were amazing. Ken crewed for me the entire way and forced me to eat and drink to keep me going.
It was 5.4K to the next aid station at Pavan, which included very steep climbs. It was during this stretch, only 25K into the race, that I started to have problems with tight calf muscles and twitching, suggesting that cramping was imminent. It felt like I had already run 15 miles into a marathon and was hitting the wall as far as my muscles were concerned. The combination of my 54K earlier in the week, my 7 mile training run with Mel, driving almost the entire way to Lethbridge, and the increasing heat of the day was too much for my legs. I arrived at Pavan and told Ken that it would be a very long day. I could barely sit in a chair, afraid that I would cramp up. I paced around in the parking lot while eating to keep them stretched. I was taking Succeed and drinking a lot. but I found that instead of 1 Succeed per hour, I needed two due to the heat.
I left the Pavan aid station for the longest stretch without aid, a 15.8K loop back to this aid station with a self-serve water station about 2/3 of the way. Immediately, there was a steep climb, and that really sent my calves into a tizzy. They didn’t develop into a full blown cramp like they did at Eagle, but I was just riding on the edge. I had to force myself to slow down and walk the flat sections to give them a rest. Unfortunately, when my calves were at the peak of their problems, I needed to climb over several gates and barbed wire fences. The first one was a gate, and the best way to get to the other side was to climb the rungs. But all I could do was pace back and forth there in front of the gate until I felt I could go through it without cramping. I finally squeezed in between the rungs as slowly as I could. There was no way I could have climbed over it. I made it without cramping. Then I reached a barbed wire fence. Another runner had caught up with me and held it down, since it was toppling over anyway, for me to climb over. I was glad to have him there, but then he moved on. Then there was another barbed wire fence. Another runner held the wires apart for me to squeeze through, and I made it through that without cramping as well. Whew! Finally, the extra Succeed tablets I had taken started to kick in and my calves calmed down. I was able to catch up back to the other runners that passed me except one. That made me feel better that I had not lost that much time. In fact, I was behind the only other 100 mile girl ahead of me, Charlotte, and caught her at the end of the loop.
The next section of 6K that took us back to Peenaquim aid station, but through a different route. It included two very steep climbs, and I decided to take one hiking pole with me. It helped, but I felt that having two poles would balance me more. My husband said I cranked this section and was surprised to see me get there before the others. They were just arriving as I was leaving, but without poles this time, since the next part was a mostly flat 6K with one big climb before arriving at the end of the lap at Lethbridge Lodge headquarters.
It took me 7 ½ hours to get through the first lap. I made the mistake of thinking that I should run the same pace as last year’s winner, which was 6 ½ hours the first lap. But I was not aware that the course this year was tougher with re-routing a section to avoid running in a cow pasture. This added 4 more tough climbs. In addition, last year’s temps were comfortable in the low 70s compared to our 90s. I arrived at the end of the first lap as the first two 100K ladies were leaving. That right there told me that I was running too fast. They took off on their second and last lap, minus that first 7K loop that 100 milers had to run in each of our laps. I had my weight checked-49.9kg, I had lost only 0.1kg. Great, I was hydrating and eating well. My pulse actually went down to 88 and my BP was good. I left as Charlotte and the others were just coming in.
I started my second lap. I now had both of my poles, my hydration pack with Gatorade, and a hand held filled with water to pour over my head. I think I did a good job of keeping cool. However, my asthma started to bother me with the combination of the heat, some dehydration, and the elevation, which I heard from another runner that it was at 3500ft. I was riding on the edge with my asthma and cramps for most of the race, neither getting severe enough to force me to stop but significant enough to slow me down. I tried to use my inhaler regularly, which helped. When I felt that my calves were getting tight again, I would take more Succeed. It would still take about ½ and hour for them to calm down, so I learned that I needed to take them earlier in the future. Later, someone suggested I also take Tums for calcium for my cramps, and I think it helped. Having the poles was key. They helped propel me up the steep hills because I pushed up on them, allowing my calves some rest. On the down hills, I placed them in front of me to prevent me from falling forward as well as give my quads a rest. I fell twice before using the poles but not after. My arms got a pretty good workout and were almost as sore as my legs when I finished.
From that point on, I was not passed by another woman. I heard that Charlotte had to be helped off the trail because she was not able to keep anything down. Angela Pierotti was the next woman and had passed Charlotte before she stopped. The two other female 100 milers had to quit, I’m not sure why, but probably heat-related. By then end of the second loops, Angela was 30 minutes behind me. The last part of my second lap and beginning of the third lap were run in the dark. I don’t like running by myself in the dark at all. I heard rustling in the bushes and freaked out! I would scream, “Go on!” or bark or click my poles together to scare off any critters. I saw white-tailed deer but only heard the coyotes howling. I later found that the rustling in the bushes and trees were only birds. However, the adrenaline that was released from being scared helped with my asthma since it opened up my airways in preparation to breathe better in a fight/flight response.
I experienced a beautiful sunset and sunrise. AT sunrise, I had my only hallucination, which was the top of a power line in the horizon that looked like a man taking a picture of the sunrise with a camera on a tripod. Otherwise, I was not sleepy at all.
My weight after the second lap was 49.9kg. Wow! I was amazed that I had maintained my weight. The second lap took longer, about 10 ½ hours due to running in the dark. I took off on the third lap trying to catch Hiroshige or “Hiro” because some of the run was through city trails and parks and there were a lot of Friday night parties or groups hanging out late with drinking a main theme. When we were back on the trails, I left Hiro since his painful knees were slowing him down and I didn’t want to lose any lead time I had on Angela. At the end of the second lap, she was 45 minutes behind, so I was still gaining time over her. All of us lost time during the night moving slower through the technical terrain. But the trails were extremely well-marked, and I never got lost. The 2nd half of the third lap put me back into the day light, and I made the mistake of not taking a hat with me in that long 15.7K loop. I was so hot and flushed by the time I made it through that section. I arrived at the Pavan aid station with 12.5K to go. I asked Ken where Angela was. He wasn’t very sure about the time but had been told that she looked strong going into that loop and barely stuck around. As soon as I heard that, I bolted out the chair into the next section. Ken told me that he would stick around for ½ and hour to see if she came in.
I cranked that tough 6K section and passed Carl, who had passed me about 18 miles into the race. He told Ken earlier that I would eventually catch him and referenced about “roadkill.” I told him I was just trying to stay in front of the next girl as the reason for my urgency. He said I looked strong. Ken had barely made it to the next aid station when I was about to arrive. But he was standing there with a large group of people who were waiting for a guy named Mark, the first 50K runner to come through. As I was approaching them, several of them thought I was Mark and commented that they were sure I was him because Mark floated when he ran. I slowed to a brief walk after running hard for a while. They wondered why their Mark had slowed to a walk and someone said that they had just walked out in that section and there was a patch of bad trail, so they thought that was why their runner was slowing down. I started running again and one of them commented that they had never seen Mark run with poles. That’s when Ken finally said, “I think that’s my wife. She’s running the 100 miler.” They didn’t believe him. They didn’t expect that someone who had only 6.5K to go in a 100 mile race could be running that strong. But as I approached, they realized it was not their Mark and burst into a loud cheer. It was a nice pick me up. Mark arrived and left before me. He took off on the trail and one of his friends said, “Look, he’s sprinting.” That’s when I took off sprinting, too, letting them know that I still had a kick in me. Ken told me later that they bombarded him with questions about me and it took him a while to pack up and head towards the finish line. Before I left, Ken told me that Angela had not arrived at the last aid station when he left, meaning that I still had a decent enough lead that she would not be able to catch me in the little distance I had left to go.
That last section was hard with the sun beating on me, even though it was mostly flat. My feet were really starting to hurt. I had blisters on two toes on the right foot and the bottoms of my feet just ached. Every step was painful. Then I had to run over this short but crazy section of river rocks. The person who designed this course was really sick and sadistic. I had to crank that last section to finish under 29 hours. The last part of each lap featured a long chinscraper hill. I finished to the cheers of the small crowd that had gathered there and into the arms of Ken, who helped me get through the longest period of time that I have ever been on my feet by over 2 hours. It didn’t take me much longer to do the 3rd lap than the second, yet I thought I was losing a ton of time. Angela finished just under an hour after me. Hiro finished over 31 hours, but at least he finished. I felt bad for those who DNF’d. I know how that feels, having recently DNF’d a 100K race, related to the heat, nearby forest fire, and my asthma.
I took off my shoes and hung around talking to the other runners at the finish line. My feet looked great compared to some of the other runners. After 40 minutes, I went up to the hotel room to take a shower because I smelled pretty bad. But I couldn’t stay in the shower as long as I wanted to. My feet hurt too much to stand on. I got out as fast as I could and laid in bed with my feet up. We grabbed some dinner, went out to see more runners come in, went back to the hotel room where I slept briefly, ordered for some more food through room service, and finally retired for the night. I did not sleep well. My legs just ached.
The next morning, we attended the awards breakfast. The room was pretty packed. I had great fun! The breakfast was loaded with eggs, sausage, toast, and a large assortment of fruits. When I arrived into the room, Ken immediately pointed out that there was a poster on the wall of me running, along with all the other first female and male finishers of each distance. That was pretty cool to see this 18 X 24 inch poster of me. The photographer gave these posters to us for free and everyone got a 5 X 7 photo for free.
Everyone got a finisher’s award, which was a large river rock that had been sand-blasted with the distance they ran, their name, and their time. How cool is that to have a personalized finisher’s award? The top three age division runners (18-49 and 50+) received another award, also of a rock motif. That was exceptional as well. No cheap plastic award. I will treasure these unique mementos. The Lost Soul 100 mile was also the Canadian Championship race. Because I am not a Canadian citizen, Angela received that award. The MC apologized for that, but I replied, “It’s okay!” And it really was. I was pleased with everything I did receive for my accomplishments. I also ended up placing second in the “Alberta Triple.” Angela came in first since she ran the Canadian Death Race 125K in addition to Blackfoot 100K and this race. I had run only Lost Soul and Blackfoot, but since I won both of those, I had amassed enough points to claim second. I didn’t have to be a Canadian citizen for that. I will be receiving a specialized Montrail shirt for placing in the series. Very cool!
The rock that I received for finishing the 100 mile run weighed 36 pounds, which looked like one of the largest rocks that anyone received. There was much laughter when I went up to claim it. Here I was, probably the smallest runner out of all the finishers receiving one of the largest rocks. It was a hoot!
Ken and I drove home after the ceremonies, arriving at our house at 11:30pm. What an exhausting week-end. My feet still hurt so much that I had to sleep with them hanging over the edge of the bed. Otherwise, the rest of my legs felt fine, walking at least. We’ll see how they do at Cle Elum 50K this week-end.
So if you want to run in a well-organized race with lots of perks, such as the nice fleece shirt, unique finisher’s award, wonderful awards breakfast and don’t mind traveling the distance to run a very tough race, then think about signing up for the Lost Soul Ultra of any distance. Be prepared to test your physical and mental strengths.
Short version:
28:48:44, first woman, 5th overall, 29 starters, 50% DNF. Temps in the 90s. Lethbridge, Alberta at 3500ft according to another runner. Very well organized race. Great people.
Long version: (In other words, grab a cup of coffee if you want to read on)
This was my last run in Canada for the year. I have done 4 of them, two 100 milers, one 100K, and one 50K, all in the Trophy Series. All put my physical and mental abilities to the test.
Ken, my husband, and I drove to Lethbridge on Thursday, September 7. It took us twelve hours. After we crossed the border, we saw a couple interesting tourist attractions. The first one was next to an ice cream shop we visited twice on our trip. There were three goats living on top of a roof that had grass growing on it. The other attraction was the largest truck in the world. It was pretty big! I made the mistake of driving most of the way there. Ken offered to drive, but I kept telling him that I was okay, that I had it mostly in cruise control. But by the time we arrived, my calf muscles were twitching, not a good thing before a 100 mile race. I stretched as much as I could that night.
We arrived at the host hotel, the Lethbridge Lodge, at 8:30pm Mountain Time. We had lost an hour in our travel. We met the only other 100 miler coming from the states, Kim Eunsup from Texas. His mother lives in Canada and he thought it might be fun to run the 100 miler. His only 100 miler prior to that was Rocky Raccoon. Unfortunately, Kim had to drop out. I wished I had more time to talk to him, but he left before the festivities. We checked into our room, number 306, my birthday! That had to be a good sign.
After a fairly good night sleep, I woke up at 5am and got ready for the 6am weight, blood pressure, and pulse check in. The 100K runners also had to have the same done and needed to be present at the pre-race meeting at 7am before the 8am race start. My weight was 50.0kg, BP was good, but my heart was racing at 92. You’d think that a runner like me would have a very low heart rate, but I was quite nervous as my intent was to win the race. I tried to check out the competition, but with the 100K runners mixed in, I had to force myself to think about running a smart race. I actually knew a lot of the runners there from previous races. They all seemed to know about my running feats this year. I guess I have been the talk of several running groups in Canada. I was already a legend! Imagine that, little me. I picked up my race packet and found a beautiful fleece pullover with the race insignia on it. All the runners got one and each were unique to the distance you were running. I thought that was special to have that distinction. My race number was 21, also a lucky number in my view.
We all lined up at 8AM and started on time from the hotel, which was also a major aid station. The 100 milers race was 3 laps. I had only 4 days rest since my previous race on Sunday 9/3, which was a very difficult 50K. I guess that I should not have run an “easy” 7+ mile run with 73-year-old Mel Preedy on Wednesday. We ran at a pretty good clip and rather than keeping me loose, it probably tired me out more. But I could not pass up the opportunity to run with Mel. He always has the greatest stories!
The race started with a 7K loop that came back to the hotel. Although this race was run in the “prairies,” it was very tough. The race only boasted 3000ft of elevation gain per 33-mile lap, but that was deceiving. There were a lot of chinscraper climbs and just as steep descents. For those of you who have run Lord Hill, think of that steep hill 2/3 into the loop. Some of the hills at Lost Soul were steeper than that and maybe even longer. Some runners started with hiking or ski poles. I wanted to see if I could do without mine for the first lap.
The next section featured more steep climbs and descents as well as some runnable sections in the prairies. It was a 12.7K loop with a self-serve water station half way. Unfortunately, you had to run by a sewage treatment plant for about 1K. It didn’t matter which way the wind was blowing. The stench was overpowering. Because this area had some decent climbs, you were breathing in this stuff deeply. I had my face mask to tone it down a little. The end of this section brought you to the Peenaquim aid station. All the aid stations were Cadillac with big tents, cots to rest on, and a wide assortment of food, including ham and cheese sandwiches and soup. The volunteers were amazing. Ken crewed for me the entire way and forced me to eat and drink to keep me going.
It was 5.4K to the next aid station at Pavan, which included very steep climbs. It was during this stretch, only 25K into the race, that I started to have problems with tight calf muscles and twitching, suggesting that cramping was imminent. It felt like I had already run 15 miles into a marathon and was hitting the wall as far as my muscles were concerned. The combination of my 54K earlier in the week, my 7 mile training run with Mel, driving almost the entire way to Lethbridge, and the increasing heat of the day was too much for my legs. I arrived at Pavan and told Ken that it would be a very long day. I could barely sit in a chair, afraid that I would cramp up. I paced around in the parking lot while eating to keep them stretched. I was taking Succeed and drinking a lot. but I found that instead of 1 Succeed per hour, I needed two due to the heat.
I left the Pavan aid station for the longest stretch without aid, a 15.8K loop back to this aid station with a self-serve water station about 2/3 of the way. Immediately, there was a steep climb, and that really sent my calves into a tizzy. They didn’t develop into a full blown cramp like they did at Eagle, but I was just riding on the edge. I had to force myself to slow down and walk the flat sections to give them a rest. Unfortunately, when my calves were at the peak of their problems, I needed to climb over several gates and barbed wire fences. The first one was a gate, and the best way to get to the other side was to climb the rungs. But all I could do was pace back and forth there in front of the gate until I felt I could go through it without cramping. I finally squeezed in between the rungs as slowly as I could. There was no way I could have climbed over it. I made it without cramping. Then I reached a barbed wire fence. Another runner had caught up with me and held it down, since it was toppling over anyway, for me to climb over. I was glad to have him there, but then he moved on. Then there was another barbed wire fence. Another runner held the wires apart for me to squeeze through, and I made it through that without cramping as well. Whew! Finally, the extra Succeed tablets I had taken started to kick in and my calves calmed down. I was able to catch up back to the other runners that passed me except one. That made me feel better that I had not lost that much time. In fact, I was behind the only other 100 mile girl ahead of me, Charlotte, and caught her at the end of the loop.
The next section of 6K that took us back to Peenaquim aid station, but through a different route. It included two very steep climbs, and I decided to take one hiking pole with me. It helped, but I felt that having two poles would balance me more. My husband said I cranked this section and was surprised to see me get there before the others. They were just arriving as I was leaving, but without poles this time, since the next part was a mostly flat 6K with one big climb before arriving at the end of the lap at Lethbridge Lodge headquarters.
It took me 7 ½ hours to get through the first lap. I made the mistake of thinking that I should run the same pace as last year’s winner, which was 6 ½ hours the first lap. But I was not aware that the course this year was tougher with re-routing a section to avoid running in a cow pasture. This added 4 more tough climbs. In addition, last year’s temps were comfortable in the low 70s compared to our 90s. I arrived at the end of the first lap as the first two 100K ladies were leaving. That right there told me that I was running too fast. They took off on their second and last lap, minus that first 7K loop that 100 milers had to run in each of our laps. I had my weight checked-49.9kg, I had lost only 0.1kg. Great, I was hydrating and eating well. My pulse actually went down to 88 and my BP was good. I left as Charlotte and the others were just coming in.
I started my second lap. I now had both of my poles, my hydration pack with Gatorade, and a hand held filled with water to pour over my head. I think I did a good job of keeping cool. However, my asthma started to bother me with the combination of the heat, some dehydration, and the elevation, which I heard from another runner that it was at 3500ft. I was riding on the edge with my asthma and cramps for most of the race, neither getting severe enough to force me to stop but significant enough to slow me down. I tried to use my inhaler regularly, which helped. When I felt that my calves were getting tight again, I would take more Succeed. It would still take about ½ and hour for them to calm down, so I learned that I needed to take them earlier in the future. Later, someone suggested I also take Tums for calcium for my cramps, and I think it helped. Having the poles was key. They helped propel me up the steep hills because I pushed up on them, allowing my calves some rest. On the down hills, I placed them in front of me to prevent me from falling forward as well as give my quads a rest. I fell twice before using the poles but not after. My arms got a pretty good workout and were almost as sore as my legs when I finished.
From that point on, I was not passed by another woman. I heard that Charlotte had to be helped off the trail because she was not able to keep anything down. Angela Pierotti was the next woman and had passed Charlotte before she stopped. The two other female 100 milers had to quit, I’m not sure why, but probably heat-related. By then end of the second loops, Angela was 30 minutes behind me. The last part of my second lap and beginning of the third lap were run in the dark. I don’t like running by myself in the dark at all. I heard rustling in the bushes and freaked out! I would scream, “Go on!” or bark or click my poles together to scare off any critters. I saw white-tailed deer but only heard the coyotes howling. I later found that the rustling in the bushes and trees were only birds. However, the adrenaline that was released from being scared helped with my asthma since it opened up my airways in preparation to breathe better in a fight/flight response.
I experienced a beautiful sunset and sunrise. AT sunrise, I had my only hallucination, which was the top of a power line in the horizon that looked like a man taking a picture of the sunrise with a camera on a tripod. Otherwise, I was not sleepy at all.
My weight after the second lap was 49.9kg. Wow! I was amazed that I had maintained my weight. The second lap took longer, about 10 ½ hours due to running in the dark. I took off on the third lap trying to catch Hiroshige or “Hiro” because some of the run was through city trails and parks and there were a lot of Friday night parties or groups hanging out late with drinking a main theme. When we were back on the trails, I left Hiro since his painful knees were slowing him down and I didn’t want to lose any lead time I had on Angela. At the end of the second lap, she was 45 minutes behind, so I was still gaining time over her. All of us lost time during the night moving slower through the technical terrain. But the trails were extremely well-marked, and I never got lost. The 2nd half of the third lap put me back into the day light, and I made the mistake of not taking a hat with me in that long 15.7K loop. I was so hot and flushed by the time I made it through that section. I arrived at the Pavan aid station with 12.5K to go. I asked Ken where Angela was. He wasn’t very sure about the time but had been told that she looked strong going into that loop and barely stuck around. As soon as I heard that, I bolted out the chair into the next section. Ken told me that he would stick around for ½ and hour to see if she came in.
I cranked that tough 6K section and passed Carl, who had passed me about 18 miles into the race. He told Ken earlier that I would eventually catch him and referenced about “roadkill.” I told him I was just trying to stay in front of the next girl as the reason for my urgency. He said I looked strong. Ken had barely made it to the next aid station when I was about to arrive. But he was standing there with a large group of people who were waiting for a guy named Mark, the first 50K runner to come through. As I was approaching them, several of them thought I was Mark and commented that they were sure I was him because Mark floated when he ran. I slowed to a brief walk after running hard for a while. They wondered why their Mark had slowed to a walk and someone said that they had just walked out in that section and there was a patch of bad trail, so they thought that was why their runner was slowing down. I started running again and one of them commented that they had never seen Mark run with poles. That’s when Ken finally said, “I think that’s my wife. She’s running the 100 miler.” They didn’t believe him. They didn’t expect that someone who had only 6.5K to go in a 100 mile race could be running that strong. But as I approached, they realized it was not their Mark and burst into a loud cheer. It was a nice pick me up. Mark arrived and left before me. He took off on the trail and one of his friends said, “Look, he’s sprinting.” That’s when I took off sprinting, too, letting them know that I still had a kick in me. Ken told me later that they bombarded him with questions about me and it took him a while to pack up and head towards the finish line. Before I left, Ken told me that Angela had not arrived at the last aid station when he left, meaning that I still had a decent enough lead that she would not be able to catch me in the little distance I had left to go.
That last section was hard with the sun beating on me, even though it was mostly flat. My feet were really starting to hurt. I had blisters on two toes on the right foot and the bottoms of my feet just ached. Every step was painful. Then I had to run over this short but crazy section of river rocks. The person who designed this course was really sick and sadistic. I had to crank that last section to finish under 29 hours. The last part of each lap featured a long chinscraper hill. I finished to the cheers of the small crowd that had gathered there and into the arms of Ken, who helped me get through the longest period of time that I have ever been on my feet by over 2 hours. It didn’t take me much longer to do the 3rd lap than the second, yet I thought I was losing a ton of time. Angela finished just under an hour after me. Hiro finished over 31 hours, but at least he finished. I felt bad for those who DNF’d. I know how that feels, having recently DNF’d a 100K race, related to the heat, nearby forest fire, and my asthma.
I took off my shoes and hung around talking to the other runners at the finish line. My feet looked great compared to some of the other runners. After 40 minutes, I went up to the hotel room to take a shower because I smelled pretty bad. But I couldn’t stay in the shower as long as I wanted to. My feet hurt too much to stand on. I got out as fast as I could and laid in bed with my feet up. We grabbed some dinner, went out to see more runners come in, went back to the hotel room where I slept briefly, ordered for some more food through room service, and finally retired for the night. I did not sleep well. My legs just ached.
The next morning, we attended the awards breakfast. The room was pretty packed. I had great fun! The breakfast was loaded with eggs, sausage, toast, and a large assortment of fruits. When I arrived into the room, Ken immediately pointed out that there was a poster on the wall of me running, along with all the other first female and male finishers of each distance. That was pretty cool to see this 18 X 24 inch poster of me. The photographer gave these posters to us for free and everyone got a 5 X 7 photo for free.
Everyone got a finisher’s award, which was a large river rock that had been sand-blasted with the distance they ran, their name, and their time. How cool is that to have a personalized finisher’s award? The top three age division runners (18-49 and 50+) received another award, also of a rock motif. That was exceptional as well. No cheap plastic award. I will treasure these unique mementos. The Lost Soul 100 mile was also the Canadian Championship race. Because I am not a Canadian citizen, Angela received that award. The MC apologized for that, but I replied, “It’s okay!” And it really was. I was pleased with everything I did receive for my accomplishments. I also ended up placing second in the “Alberta Triple.” Angela came in first since she ran the Canadian Death Race 125K in addition to Blackfoot 100K and this race. I had run only Lost Soul and Blackfoot, but since I won both of those, I had amassed enough points to claim second. I didn’t have to be a Canadian citizen for that. I will be receiving a specialized Montrail shirt for placing in the series. Very cool!
The rock that I received for finishing the 100 mile run weighed 36 pounds, which looked like one of the largest rocks that anyone received. There was much laughter when I went up to claim it. Here I was, probably the smallest runner out of all the finishers receiving one of the largest rocks. It was a hoot!
Ken and I drove home after the ceremonies, arriving at our house at 11:30pm. What an exhausting week-end. My feet still hurt so much that I had to sleep with them hanging over the edge of the bed. Otherwise, the rest of my legs felt fine, walking at least. We’ll see how they do at Cle Elum 50K this week-end.
So if you want to run in a well-organized race with lots of perks, such as the nice fleece shirt, unique finisher’s award, wonderful awards breakfast and don’t mind traveling the distance to run a very tough race, then think about signing up for the Lost Soul Ultra of any distance. Be prepared to test your physical and mental strengths.
Monday, September 4, 2006
Walk In the Park 54K
9/3/06
Drove to Kamloops, BC Saturday and stayed with Diane McKelvey, the same woman I stayed with for my trip to Blackfoot 100K. We had more time to chat and I found out that she is a vet who specializes in felines. She has four cats. I also met her son Alec, who at the age of 17, ran from Merritt to Kamloops, a 104K distance, in 2 days.
The race started at 7:45AM on Sunday, September 3. It was pretty warm already and the temps got into the upper 90s. We had to run 3 very difficult 11 mile loops. All told, there was 7700’ of elevation gain. The title for the race is a misnomer! It was definitely not a walk in the park! For those who have run at Lake Youngs, imagine that steep hill near the start but more technically challenging and about 50 of them for this entire run. It was craaaazy! Then add to that increasing warmth as the day goes on. I was soooo thirsty the entire run, even though I drank profusely. Everything tasted so good, except my Gatorade. But I wanted to make sure that I didn’t become hyponatremic, so that’s what I tried to drink mostly instead of water. At the last aid station with 7K to go, I downed a ton of water and Coke. I wanted to just stay there and drink and drink, but I had to get going. I passed a woman at the start of the second loop who finished the first loop before me, but she was fading fast. At the start of the third loop, she was quite a bit behind me, and I knew that all I needed to do to clinch third place was to keep moving forward. It took me 7 hours and 7 minutes. The first man was 6:12, followed by the first woman in 6:29, then the next woman with 6:55, then me. There were people there doing 1 and 2 laps. At the start, 30 runners had intended to do the whole thing, but when I left, 50% had what they call an honorable exit (HE), where they bailed after 1 or 2 loops. They don’t believe in DNFs there. Alec managed to finish 2 loops stating that he had not trained enough to run the whole thing. Boy, did I wish that I could have quit after two loops. By the third loop, my shins started to cramp. This was the only place that didn’t cramp at Eagle. I guess they felt left out and decided to cramp. That slowed me down enough that I couldn’t manage a sub-7hr finish. But no matter, I still came in 3rd woman to earn extra points for the Trophy Series. Plus, I have a 100 miler in 6 days. I needed to hold back a little. Maniac Al Harmon was there. He recently completed the Canadian Death 125K Race. I didn’t have time to stick around and see him finish, but it was good to see him. Diane finished despite little training after a torn meniscus in May.
This is low cost, low key event that I thoroughly enjoyed. Because it is in the Trail Runner Trophy Series, I decided to make the trip. The run itself would definitely beckon me to go back, but the distance to travel is significant. I was so wired after the run that I had no trouble with the 5 hour drive back home. Then I didn’t sleep a wink all night!
Drove to Kamloops, BC Saturday and stayed with Diane McKelvey, the same woman I stayed with for my trip to Blackfoot 100K. We had more time to chat and I found out that she is a vet who specializes in felines. She has four cats. I also met her son Alec, who at the age of 17, ran from Merritt to Kamloops, a 104K distance, in 2 days.
The race started at 7:45AM on Sunday, September 3. It was pretty warm already and the temps got into the upper 90s. We had to run 3 very difficult 11 mile loops. All told, there was 7700’ of elevation gain. The title for the race is a misnomer! It was definitely not a walk in the park! For those who have run at Lake Youngs, imagine that steep hill near the start but more technically challenging and about 50 of them for this entire run. It was craaaazy! Then add to that increasing warmth as the day goes on. I was soooo thirsty the entire run, even though I drank profusely. Everything tasted so good, except my Gatorade. But I wanted to make sure that I didn’t become hyponatremic, so that’s what I tried to drink mostly instead of water. At the last aid station with 7K to go, I downed a ton of water and Coke. I wanted to just stay there and drink and drink, but I had to get going. I passed a woman at the start of the second loop who finished the first loop before me, but she was fading fast. At the start of the third loop, she was quite a bit behind me, and I knew that all I needed to do to clinch third place was to keep moving forward. It took me 7 hours and 7 minutes. The first man was 6:12, followed by the first woman in 6:29, then the next woman with 6:55, then me. There were people there doing 1 and 2 laps. At the start, 30 runners had intended to do the whole thing, but when I left, 50% had what they call an honorable exit (HE), where they bailed after 1 or 2 loops. They don’t believe in DNFs there. Alec managed to finish 2 loops stating that he had not trained enough to run the whole thing. Boy, did I wish that I could have quit after two loops. By the third loop, my shins started to cramp. This was the only place that didn’t cramp at Eagle. I guess they felt left out and decided to cramp. That slowed me down enough that I couldn’t manage a sub-7hr finish. But no matter, I still came in 3rd woman to earn extra points for the Trophy Series. Plus, I have a 100 miler in 6 days. I needed to hold back a little. Maniac Al Harmon was there. He recently completed the Canadian Death 125K Race. I didn’t have time to stick around and see him finish, but it was good to see him. Diane finished despite little training after a torn meniscus in May.
This is low cost, low key event that I thoroughly enjoyed. Because it is in the Trail Runner Trophy Series, I decided to make the trip. The run itself would definitely beckon me to go back, but the distance to travel is significant. I was so wired after the run that I had no trouble with the 5 hour drive back home. Then I didn’t sleep a wink all night!
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
DNF at Where’s Waldo 100K
8/19/06
DNF (Did Not Finish). The three most dreaded letters for an ultrarunner. It’s worse than DFL (Dead F---ing Last). At least with that it means that you finished. My first DNF after 39 marathons and 50 ultras, courtesy of my asthma.
I felt pretty recovered from my double the weekend before at Crater and Haulin. My legs were not sore, and my blister had almost completely healed. I thought I had recovered from my asthma attack after Haulin, but a few warning signs still lingered. I did not tend to them as I should have.
I drove down Friday, set up my tent at the Odell Lake camp site, and attended the mandatory pre-race meeting at 7PM at the Willamette Ski Area Lodge after gorging myself with a great pasta feed. We were briefed about the course and other activities were done such as giving of gifts to key volunteers as well as the announcement of past winners and 5-year participants since the inception of the race. But, the most anticipated announcement was regarding the actual length of the course. This year, it was wheeled a couple times! There was also a contest for the nearest guess by entrants. It turned out to be a little over 66 miles! Next year, the race directors are going to place this race in the bid for the USATF 100K Trail Championships, and it has to be more accurate, so they’ll have to cut out that extra 4 miles. But for our race, it would be the longer distance, the same course ran in the first 4 years.
I decided to go for the early start with my goal only to finish this race, which I avoided in past years as I heard it is considered one of the tougher 100Ks. Actually, over 1/3 of solo and relay runners opted for the early 3AM start. I’ve never started this early, and the timing threw me off a little. My sleep was interrupted by a train that ran behind the lodge resort next to the camp sites! Plus I had this dream that I woke up to late to make the start. Perhaps that was a sign that I should not have even started. But off we went into the darkness with our headlamps and flashlights. The race starts at 5000 feet, never drops below that point, and climbs to nearly 8000 feet. It was pretty warm at the start, but as we got higher, it became a little cooler and I was glad to have my long sleeve shirt. No hats or gloves were needed. I didn’t have any problems with the altitude at the Crater run that got almost up to 8000 feet, so I did not have any concerns about that. My healed blister did not bother me as I was wearing a different pair of shoes. My breathing was fine at the start.
I ran with two others at the start behind them. I could see in my headlamp light that there was a lot of dust being kicked up. But there was not much I could do since I didn’t want to run alone in the dark and I didn’t want to run a faster or slower pace. So I sucked in a lot of dust at the start, which I feel eventually was the cause for my DNF. In addition, there was a fire on the other side of Waldo Lake and I did smell smoke at one point. Someone said later they did too and that there may have been particles just too small to see. People who did not have asthma complained that they were wheezing even without running.
We topped out on Mt. Fuji at approximately 15.5 miles with incredible views, including Waldo Lake, Twin Peaks, and Maiden Peak, the last two climbs of the race. They seemed very far away. As I continued running, I had more difficulty with my breathing. I used my inhaler before starting and during the run. But I started to get passed by people at about 19 miles because I was having a hard time even with the rolling terrain, most of which I felt was very runnable. The regular starters passed me just before the Charlton Lake at 33 mile aid station, including a guy named Gus from Salinas, California who passed me asking, “Are you Van Phan? You’re an internet superstar!” When I talked to him later, he said there were pictures of me he had seen. He was referring to the “Beer shot” of me laying on the ground with empty beer cans strewn all around me taken by Glenn T. on a CCC training run. That picture is also on the web site for Dirty Girl Gaiters with the caption reading “Van Phan, who leads the points total in the TrailRunner Trophy Series.” I guess my training secret is out!
At Charlton Lake, I had to sit down. I left that aid station thinking that it was not so dire yet and that I could tough it out, since I have been in this situation one or two times before. Hal Koerner passed me asking, “What’s this with the early start?” Krissy Moehl passed me looking very strong. The next section was long and hot. I was passed by even more people who were concerned about me. I was able to run most of the downhill but had to walk in between spurts of running. I was having difficulty with the flats and uphills. I arrived at the 38.2 mile aid station where the last access to get a ride out was available. This was where the race directors told us the night before that if you leave this aid station, you need to be sure you can finish. I debated whether to go on. In that last stretch, I knew that I could at least run the downhills. So I left with the plan to walk the flats and uphills and run the downhills. The only problem was that the following 8 miles before the next aid station was 4 miles of flat and rolling, then 2 miles up before 2 miles down.
I switched from hand held bottles to a hydration pack with all my needed preferences since no personal drop bags were available beyond this point. As soon as I tried to run a short downhill, the pack compressed my lungs enough for me to feel that perhaps I should have kept the hand helds and my waist pack, but then I couldn’t carry everything that I needed with me. By now, I was really having problems with even the flats. I passed three people sitting in the shade. I later found out they were the rescuers on horseback, but I didn’t see the horses because they were tied up in a nearby meadow. I kept using my inhaler like candy, but I was not gaining any ground, literally. I was moving so slow that I was in jeopardy of not making the final cut-off at the next aid station at 46.2 miles, even with my early start. I finally hit the climb to Twin Peaks, and after only a few steps of climbing, I knew I was done. It felt like I was climbing Mt. Everest without oxygen and carrying a 50 pound pack. (I’ve never done this, so what do I know?) Step. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Step. Pant, pant, pant. I had to stop several times to lean on a rock or tree. All I was trying to do was to get to the next aid station to tell them that I was dropping. But the truth of the matter was that I still needed to hike out 1.5 miles after I got to that point. I could barely walk 10 feet.
All this time, I was getting eaten by mosquitoes and biting flies because I could not move fast enough. I got so mad at them that eventually I let them make contact long enough so that I could squish them, even if it meant that I would be left with a bite. How dare these things make my life even more miserable that it already was. They were taking the oxygen-carrying blood I needed to help me breath. I later counted over 20 bites. Finally, a gal named Laurie, who was part of the Willamette Ski Patrol running the 2nd half of the race came upon me. She had a HAM radio and tried to contact the next aid station about me to get the horse rescuers to come get me. She was not able to get a good connection and had me sit while she hiked up to them. A few more people passed me and I asked where the horse people were. They were only 5 minutes back. So I hiked down to them.
I met Curtis, a firefighter/paramedic and the leader of the group, his wife Judy, an ER nurse, and their friend Steve. They said that they were expecting to see me again. I guess I did look as bad as I felt. I was to ride on Curtis’ horse, Andy, who was very big. I had to stand on a log to get on. He had to adjust the stirrups to reach my feet. I was instructed to hold onto the pommel and lean back when we went downhill and lean forward on the uphills. Andy was very skittish and stopped frequently without any apparent reason. He walked off trail several times where my leg almost got caught between a tree and him. I asked right off the bat if horses fall over frequently, concerned that I would get a broken leg trapped under a horse. Curtis said no, that they usually are able to right themselves when they get off balance. The ride out took 2 hours on some very technical terrain that I would have preferred to stand on solid ground rather than sitting up high on a large horse. However, my asthma improved as soon as I stopped trying to run, walk, or hike. And I got to know some good people. Only one other person had to be carried off the mountain in the history of the race, and that was last year because he was dehydrated. I now belong to a very exclusive group.
I came back to the finish area and was checked by the doctor there. Surprisingly, he didn’t hear any wheezing, even though I still felt pretty tight in my chest. He released me. But when I entered the medical tent, Hal Koerner was there with an IV. His stomach didn’t do too well and I guess that anyone who had stomach problems during the race had to get an IV, even if they finished and were doing okay. Hal was not so lucky. Like me, he did not finish either. In fact, I ran into a lot of people who dropped, all guys. I don’t know yet if another woman had to drop. I know it sounds bad, but I was relieved to hear that others did not finish. It’s not like I relished it, but I think there was some comfort in knowing that you were not the only one. I felt less isolated.
Some highlights of the run included Krissy Moehl, who took the overall win in a time of 11:18, shattering the women’s course record, set my Kami Semick in 2005 who had a time of 12:02. Also, Krissy’s time was only 9 minutes off the men’s course record set in 2005 by Andy Jones-Wilkins of 11:09. Maniac Sean Meissner set a new record for the Wet Waldo contest of just under 14 hours. This required him to completely submerge in 6 lakes during the run. He actually did not win the contest this year since he had to compete against relay runners that also got into all 6 lakes who had a better total time. That doesn’t seem fair. I think they should have prizes for both.
So overall, I was able to complete 44 miles. Other than a bruised ego and tired lungs, I felt fine afterwards. I’ve heard other runners say that a DNF is not such a big deal. That may be true if you did it early in your running career. But after such a long streak without one, it made it all the more difficult. I’ve toughed out hypothermia, frozen hands and feet, and muscle cramps, but when you can’t breathe, there’s not much else you can do. I’ll be back next year with a face mask!
DNF (Did Not Finish). The three most dreaded letters for an ultrarunner. It’s worse than DFL (Dead F---ing Last). At least with that it means that you finished. My first DNF after 39 marathons and 50 ultras, courtesy of my asthma.
I felt pretty recovered from my double the weekend before at Crater and Haulin. My legs were not sore, and my blister had almost completely healed. I thought I had recovered from my asthma attack after Haulin, but a few warning signs still lingered. I did not tend to them as I should have.
I drove down Friday, set up my tent at the Odell Lake camp site, and attended the mandatory pre-race meeting at 7PM at the Willamette Ski Area Lodge after gorging myself with a great pasta feed. We were briefed about the course and other activities were done such as giving of gifts to key volunteers as well as the announcement of past winners and 5-year participants since the inception of the race. But, the most anticipated announcement was regarding the actual length of the course. This year, it was wheeled a couple times! There was also a contest for the nearest guess by entrants. It turned out to be a little over 66 miles! Next year, the race directors are going to place this race in the bid for the USATF 100K Trail Championships, and it has to be more accurate, so they’ll have to cut out that extra 4 miles. But for our race, it would be the longer distance, the same course ran in the first 4 years.
I decided to go for the early start with my goal only to finish this race, which I avoided in past years as I heard it is considered one of the tougher 100Ks. Actually, over 1/3 of solo and relay runners opted for the early 3AM start. I’ve never started this early, and the timing threw me off a little. My sleep was interrupted by a train that ran behind the lodge resort next to the camp sites! Plus I had this dream that I woke up to late to make the start. Perhaps that was a sign that I should not have even started. But off we went into the darkness with our headlamps and flashlights. The race starts at 5000 feet, never drops below that point, and climbs to nearly 8000 feet. It was pretty warm at the start, but as we got higher, it became a little cooler and I was glad to have my long sleeve shirt. No hats or gloves were needed. I didn’t have any problems with the altitude at the Crater run that got almost up to 8000 feet, so I did not have any concerns about that. My healed blister did not bother me as I was wearing a different pair of shoes. My breathing was fine at the start.
I ran with two others at the start behind them. I could see in my headlamp light that there was a lot of dust being kicked up. But there was not much I could do since I didn’t want to run alone in the dark and I didn’t want to run a faster or slower pace. So I sucked in a lot of dust at the start, which I feel eventually was the cause for my DNF. In addition, there was a fire on the other side of Waldo Lake and I did smell smoke at one point. Someone said later they did too and that there may have been particles just too small to see. People who did not have asthma complained that they were wheezing even without running.
We topped out on Mt. Fuji at approximately 15.5 miles with incredible views, including Waldo Lake, Twin Peaks, and Maiden Peak, the last two climbs of the race. They seemed very far away. As I continued running, I had more difficulty with my breathing. I used my inhaler before starting and during the run. But I started to get passed by people at about 19 miles because I was having a hard time even with the rolling terrain, most of which I felt was very runnable. The regular starters passed me just before the Charlton Lake at 33 mile aid station, including a guy named Gus from Salinas, California who passed me asking, “Are you Van Phan? You’re an internet superstar!” When I talked to him later, he said there were pictures of me he had seen. He was referring to the “Beer shot” of me laying on the ground with empty beer cans strewn all around me taken by Glenn T. on a CCC training run. That picture is also on the web site for Dirty Girl Gaiters with the caption reading “Van Phan, who leads the points total in the TrailRunner Trophy Series.” I guess my training secret is out!
At Charlton Lake, I had to sit down. I left that aid station thinking that it was not so dire yet and that I could tough it out, since I have been in this situation one or two times before. Hal Koerner passed me asking, “What’s this with the early start?” Krissy Moehl passed me looking very strong. The next section was long and hot. I was passed by even more people who were concerned about me. I was able to run most of the downhill but had to walk in between spurts of running. I was having difficulty with the flats and uphills. I arrived at the 38.2 mile aid station where the last access to get a ride out was available. This was where the race directors told us the night before that if you leave this aid station, you need to be sure you can finish. I debated whether to go on. In that last stretch, I knew that I could at least run the downhills. So I left with the plan to walk the flats and uphills and run the downhills. The only problem was that the following 8 miles before the next aid station was 4 miles of flat and rolling, then 2 miles up before 2 miles down.
I switched from hand held bottles to a hydration pack with all my needed preferences since no personal drop bags were available beyond this point. As soon as I tried to run a short downhill, the pack compressed my lungs enough for me to feel that perhaps I should have kept the hand helds and my waist pack, but then I couldn’t carry everything that I needed with me. By now, I was really having problems with even the flats. I passed three people sitting in the shade. I later found out they were the rescuers on horseback, but I didn’t see the horses because they were tied up in a nearby meadow. I kept using my inhaler like candy, but I was not gaining any ground, literally. I was moving so slow that I was in jeopardy of not making the final cut-off at the next aid station at 46.2 miles, even with my early start. I finally hit the climb to Twin Peaks, and after only a few steps of climbing, I knew I was done. It felt like I was climbing Mt. Everest without oxygen and carrying a 50 pound pack. (I’ve never done this, so what do I know?) Step. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Step. Pant, pant, pant. I had to stop several times to lean on a rock or tree. All I was trying to do was to get to the next aid station to tell them that I was dropping. But the truth of the matter was that I still needed to hike out 1.5 miles after I got to that point. I could barely walk 10 feet.
All this time, I was getting eaten by mosquitoes and biting flies because I could not move fast enough. I got so mad at them that eventually I let them make contact long enough so that I could squish them, even if it meant that I would be left with a bite. How dare these things make my life even more miserable that it already was. They were taking the oxygen-carrying blood I needed to help me breath. I later counted over 20 bites. Finally, a gal named Laurie, who was part of the Willamette Ski Patrol running the 2nd half of the race came upon me. She had a HAM radio and tried to contact the next aid station about me to get the horse rescuers to come get me. She was not able to get a good connection and had me sit while she hiked up to them. A few more people passed me and I asked where the horse people were. They were only 5 minutes back. So I hiked down to them.
I met Curtis, a firefighter/paramedic and the leader of the group, his wife Judy, an ER nurse, and their friend Steve. They said that they were expecting to see me again. I guess I did look as bad as I felt. I was to ride on Curtis’ horse, Andy, who was very big. I had to stand on a log to get on. He had to adjust the stirrups to reach my feet. I was instructed to hold onto the pommel and lean back when we went downhill and lean forward on the uphills. Andy was very skittish and stopped frequently without any apparent reason. He walked off trail several times where my leg almost got caught between a tree and him. I asked right off the bat if horses fall over frequently, concerned that I would get a broken leg trapped under a horse. Curtis said no, that they usually are able to right themselves when they get off balance. The ride out took 2 hours on some very technical terrain that I would have preferred to stand on solid ground rather than sitting up high on a large horse. However, my asthma improved as soon as I stopped trying to run, walk, or hike. And I got to know some good people. Only one other person had to be carried off the mountain in the history of the race, and that was last year because he was dehydrated. I now belong to a very exclusive group.
I came back to the finish area and was checked by the doctor there. Surprisingly, he didn’t hear any wheezing, even though I still felt pretty tight in my chest. He released me. But when I entered the medical tent, Hal Koerner was there with an IV. His stomach didn’t do too well and I guess that anyone who had stomach problems during the race had to get an IV, even if they finished and were doing okay. Hal was not so lucky. Like me, he did not finish either. In fact, I ran into a lot of people who dropped, all guys. I don’t know yet if another woman had to drop. I know it sounds bad, but I was relieved to hear that others did not finish. It’s not like I relished it, but I think there was some comfort in knowing that you were not the only one. I felt less isolated.
Some highlights of the run included Krissy Moehl, who took the overall win in a time of 11:18, shattering the women’s course record, set my Kami Semick in 2005 who had a time of 12:02. Also, Krissy’s time was only 9 minutes off the men’s course record set in 2005 by Andy Jones-Wilkins of 11:09. Maniac Sean Meissner set a new record for the Wet Waldo contest of just under 14 hours. This required him to completely submerge in 6 lakes during the run. He actually did not win the contest this year since he had to compete against relay runners that also got into all 6 lakes who had a better total time. That doesn’t seem fair. I think they should have prizes for both.
So overall, I was able to complete 44 miles. Other than a bruised ego and tired lungs, I felt fine afterwards. I’ve heard other runners say that a DNF is not such a big deal. That may be true if you did it early in your running career. But after such a long streak without one, it made it all the more difficult. I’ve toughed out hypothermia, frozen hands and feet, and muscle cramps, but when you can’t breathe, there’s not much else you can do. I’ll be back next year with a face mask!
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Crater and Haulin 2006 Race Report
8/12/06 and 8/13/06
It’s been a long time since I’ve been this sore from a weekend of running. The day after, I was walking down the stairs one step at a time. Perhaps it is finally the cumulative effect of all of my racing, but I think it is more that my body does not do well with road marathons. I had planned on signing up for the Super Triple (26, 26,72) instead of the Tahoe Triple, but after this weekend, it was apparent that I need to minimize my time on the roads. But I need them to get to my 52 this year. I plan on racing very few road marathons next year.
Our original group of five (Karen Wiggins, Chris Warren, Gayle Zorilla and her husband Ruben, and me) dwindled down to two. Unfortunately, Gayle’s father passed away and Chris did not sign up in time for Crater. So Karen and I drove down Friday 8/11 to Crater Lake. We had a nice stop for lunch at a thai restaurant before arriving at 4:30pm. We checked into the Whispering Pines Motel, a scary place right off of the busy highway 97. I don’t recommend staying there unless you don’t mind water coming out of the faucet that smells like urine. We did not shower there. We drove the course and knew that the next day was going to be a tough one. There was very little flat on the course. It was either up or down. We did not get to drive the last 4 miles that included the dreaded uphill climb on trails. The park was spectacular, however. Since there was no decent place to eat, Karen was kind enough to share with me her sandwich fixings for dinner. We were in bed by 9:30, but there was traffic all night on the highway. That night I dreamed that I had a DNF at Crater, a road marathon of all things! Not a 50 mile, 100K, or 100 mile, but a measly marathon! I woke up with that sense of relief that only comes with, “Oh, it was just a dream!”
Because our bib numbers were higher for not signing up early, we were required to catch the early shuttle to the start. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the pick up spot, no bathrooms were open or honey buckets present for all the runners scrambling to go. We boarded the buses and were dropped off in the clear morning with temperatures in the 30’s and a decent wind. The race did not start for another hour and twenty minutes and we were all frozen by then. Many maniacs were present to share in the misery. Finally we got moving on our numb feet with a reasonable uphill start for ½ a mile. Then it was downhill for 1.5 miles. After that it was up and down until mile 9.6. Then it was just up and up and up for the next five miles. I alternated running and walking by picking a rock or a tree to run or walk to. It worked out great because I finally caught up with Any Yanni. I believe that there is a 35-year-old body trapped in 52-year-old Amy. This woman is amazing. I don’t think I have finished before her in a marathon, at least not lately. We pretty much stuck near each other until the turn around at mile 14.5. Then she took off on the downhill. I stopped to tighten my shoes for the downhill and before I knew it, she was just a spot on the horizon. Already, my knees and quads were aching, and I wanted to scream down the hills, but I also knew that I needed to hold back for Haulin the next day. I passed one gal at the beginning of the downhill and another gal passed me a little later. I passed a few guys. There were these two guys that I was closing in at mile 19. Black shirt guy was in front of me and red shirt guy was in front of him. Red shirt guy stopped abruptly to massage his calves, I presume because they were cramping and black shirt guy and I passed him. Then I passed black shirt guy. Next thing you know, I hear someone huffing and puffing behind us and it’s red shirt guy trying to catch us. He passed us right before the aid station. He stopped to get a drink as I cruised through with my hand held water bottle and splashed some water on my head. I could hear him behind me coughing then dry-heaving. He obviously went out too fast and did not want to get passed. He later finished almost 20 minutes after me. Anyway, at 22.5 miles, we ran past the finish before the climb up a hill for 2 miles on trail. It seems almost cruel that the finish is right there and even crueler that this part of the race is in the end. Yes, the last 2 miles are downhill and is wonderful if you have anything left in you, which most people didn’t. I passed that girl who passed me on the downhill part. At the turn around, there was a girl up ahead almost a minute before I got to the turn around. But as soon as I reached it, I was on a mission to get under 4 hours. As I was running past her, I yelled, “Come on, you can get sub-4! Let’s go!” I could tell that she tried to follow me, but I’m a pretty fast downhill runner and I eventually lost her. She did go on to finish sub-4 and thanked me later for pushing her. I finished in 3:56 and 3rd in my age group. Amy was 3rd woman. Terry Sentinella was the first Maniac to finish even after coming back from an injury. I think his time was 3:18. For the most part, the Maniacs performed well, but we all agreed that Crater is a pretty brutal course. After all that uphill for 5 miles, your legs are pretty much mush for the downhill section. I had some post race food then soaked in the little stream at the end for 10 minutes in very, very cold water that made my toes ache so severely that I could barely stand on them after getting out. But I needed to for the next day.
Karen and I left Crater at about 1:30 and drove to Bend. We went to Foot Zone for our packets and saw Slug and Bill Barmore. We told them that we were headed for Sean Meissner’s house for a pasta feed, but they already had plans. Karen and I checked into the Red Lion Inn, much better than the Whispering Pines and showered. We arrived at Sean’s at 6:30. Maniac Phil DeYoung was already there. It was just the four of us, but we had a nice cozy dinner chez Sean’s. He prepared a wonderful meal of whole wheat linguine with his mother’s special sauce, spinach salad, and bread. Sean agreed that Crater is the hardest marathon that he has ever run. Good, I didn’t feel so bad about my time. The party broke up at 8:30 since we needed to rest up. Karen and I were again in bed by 9:30 with sleep a little easier from wasting ourselves earlier in the day. No DNF dreams this time.
We were up again early (4:45) to catch the shuttle to the start. Again it was cold in the 30s. But this time, the wait was not as long for the start. Everyone kept coming up to me and saying, “You must be Pigtails!” I wonder if they know my real name. Even a guy from Canada recognized me from Blackfoot and told me that I was even the talk of the town where he lived! The marathoners started at 7AM and the half would not start until 9:30. I saw lots more maniacs glowing in their bright yellow jackets and hats. We started out with numb feet and hands again on a short section of road until it turned into trail for the rest of the run. Although I was stiff, I felt I was running pretty well. I was surprised to see a couple maniacs dash out in front. Lesa Overfield looked strong. Monte Fus took off after telling me before the start that he hurt his ankle and was going to see how things went. Eric Barnes was gone and I never saw him again. I ran with my friend and age group competitor Wendy Jacobs for the first 5 miles, then she took off on the uphill like always. I never saw her again either until the end. It was about then that I caught up with Lesa. She had a good race. I caught Monte at about mile 10. One girl passed me on the uphill and I passed at least 2. I passed a couple of guys, too. I was feeling surprisingly strong after all the pounding the day before and ran most of the uphill before the descent. As soon as I started down, I took off, but already I was starting to feel that my tank was becoming empty. I just could not replenish myself fast enough. I was still burning calories from Crater. Although I did pass one girl on the downhill, I told her as I was passing her that she would catch me on the flats, and sure enough she did. I knew that I could not sustain that pace needed to stay in front of her. In addition, at the 17 mile aid station, I was disappointed to learn that I still had 9 miles to go. I thought I was closer than that. So I scaled back a little and let her go to avoid bonking too early before the finish. But then I arrived at the 20 mile aid station earlier than expected and realized that the 17 mile aid station was probably more like 18.5. By then, I had lost some ground on her. Every time I took in a GU, it disintegrated in 5 minutes. So I had to just dig deep to keep moving. The downhill helped, but there was still plenty of flat and a few short sections of up. Was there any pain? Absolutely! Although on trail, my quads were pummeled at Crater and were still betting a beating. I came upon this guy, and after seeing me behind him, he picked up the pace. But, eventually, I caught him in 10 minutes. Again, here was another guy who did not want to be passed by a girl. I remembered him taking off in the beginning and knew that I would see him again. The half marathoners joined us with 5 miles to go and it was unnerving to hear foot steps behind me. But they were moving at a much faster pace and it was fairly easy to know it was them and not worry that it was another marathoner. The last 2 miles brought more pain as I could feel a sharp pain from a blister on the bottom surface of my left 4th toe. I maintained my position for the rest of the race until I passed another girl with less than 2 miles to go. With a few hundred feet to go, I saw a different girl behind me and ran in as fast as I could. Turned out she was in the half. That last sprint at the end sent me into an asthma attack. I came in 10th woman and 2nd in my age group with a time of 4:07. Last year, my time was 3:57, but I had not run Crater the day before. I think I was the first maniac finisher of those who did the double. Eric Barnes was the first Maniac to finish Haulin in a time of 3:58. Karen finished both races in 4:50. I told her that at least she was consistent and probably ran a better second race than most of us who had longer times at Haulin. We received cowbells for our finishers medal and a one-liter Nalgene bottle with the Haulin insignia on it, the best schwag I’ve received for a marathon lately. I just love this race! Great post-race food and atmosphere. After I caught my breath, I was interviewed by the local paper. I mentioned the Marathon Maniacs but he did not include that little bit of information in his report. Check out www.bendbulletin.com. Then after that, I ate and sat in the stream for 10 minutes, which was slightly warmer than at Crater. Karen and I hit the road at 1:30 and did not get back to Tacoma until 8 due to all the traffic. What a weekend!
I’m still ahead of schedule with 34 marathons/ultras. Next weekend (8/19) is Where’s Waldo 100K, then 8/26 I’ll be pacing someone 50+ miles at CCC, then 9/3 Walk in the Park 50K, then 9/8 Lost Soul 100 mile, then 9/16 Cle Elum 50K, then I have a week-end off, then the quad with Tahoe Triple and Auburn marathon the week-end of 9/28-10/1. Whew!
It’s been a long time since I’ve been this sore from a weekend of running. The day after, I was walking down the stairs one step at a time. Perhaps it is finally the cumulative effect of all of my racing, but I think it is more that my body does not do well with road marathons. I had planned on signing up for the Super Triple (26, 26,72) instead of the Tahoe Triple, but after this weekend, it was apparent that I need to minimize my time on the roads. But I need them to get to my 52 this year. I plan on racing very few road marathons next year.
Our original group of five (Karen Wiggins, Chris Warren, Gayle Zorilla and her husband Ruben, and me) dwindled down to two. Unfortunately, Gayle’s father passed away and Chris did not sign up in time for Crater. So Karen and I drove down Friday 8/11 to Crater Lake. We had a nice stop for lunch at a thai restaurant before arriving at 4:30pm. We checked into the Whispering Pines Motel, a scary place right off of the busy highway 97. I don’t recommend staying there unless you don’t mind water coming out of the faucet that smells like urine. We did not shower there. We drove the course and knew that the next day was going to be a tough one. There was very little flat on the course. It was either up or down. We did not get to drive the last 4 miles that included the dreaded uphill climb on trails. The park was spectacular, however. Since there was no decent place to eat, Karen was kind enough to share with me her sandwich fixings for dinner. We were in bed by 9:30, but there was traffic all night on the highway. That night I dreamed that I had a DNF at Crater, a road marathon of all things! Not a 50 mile, 100K, or 100 mile, but a measly marathon! I woke up with that sense of relief that only comes with, “Oh, it was just a dream!”
Because our bib numbers were higher for not signing up early, we were required to catch the early shuttle to the start. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the pick up spot, no bathrooms were open or honey buckets present for all the runners scrambling to go. We boarded the buses and were dropped off in the clear morning with temperatures in the 30’s and a decent wind. The race did not start for another hour and twenty minutes and we were all frozen by then. Many maniacs were present to share in the misery. Finally we got moving on our numb feet with a reasonable uphill start for ½ a mile. Then it was downhill for 1.5 miles. After that it was up and down until mile 9.6. Then it was just up and up and up for the next five miles. I alternated running and walking by picking a rock or a tree to run or walk to. It worked out great because I finally caught up with Any Yanni. I believe that there is a 35-year-old body trapped in 52-year-old Amy. This woman is amazing. I don’t think I have finished before her in a marathon, at least not lately. We pretty much stuck near each other until the turn around at mile 14.5. Then she took off on the downhill. I stopped to tighten my shoes for the downhill and before I knew it, she was just a spot on the horizon. Already, my knees and quads were aching, and I wanted to scream down the hills, but I also knew that I needed to hold back for Haulin the next day. I passed one gal at the beginning of the downhill and another gal passed me a little later. I passed a few guys. There were these two guys that I was closing in at mile 19. Black shirt guy was in front of me and red shirt guy was in front of him. Red shirt guy stopped abruptly to massage his calves, I presume because they were cramping and black shirt guy and I passed him. Then I passed black shirt guy. Next thing you know, I hear someone huffing and puffing behind us and it’s red shirt guy trying to catch us. He passed us right before the aid station. He stopped to get a drink as I cruised through with my hand held water bottle and splashed some water on my head. I could hear him behind me coughing then dry-heaving. He obviously went out too fast and did not want to get passed. He later finished almost 20 minutes after me. Anyway, at 22.5 miles, we ran past the finish before the climb up a hill for 2 miles on trail. It seems almost cruel that the finish is right there and even crueler that this part of the race is in the end. Yes, the last 2 miles are downhill and is wonderful if you have anything left in you, which most people didn’t. I passed that girl who passed me on the downhill part. At the turn around, there was a girl up ahead almost a minute before I got to the turn around. But as soon as I reached it, I was on a mission to get under 4 hours. As I was running past her, I yelled, “Come on, you can get sub-4! Let’s go!” I could tell that she tried to follow me, but I’m a pretty fast downhill runner and I eventually lost her. She did go on to finish sub-4 and thanked me later for pushing her. I finished in 3:56 and 3rd in my age group. Amy was 3rd woman. Terry Sentinella was the first Maniac to finish even after coming back from an injury. I think his time was 3:18. For the most part, the Maniacs performed well, but we all agreed that Crater is a pretty brutal course. After all that uphill for 5 miles, your legs are pretty much mush for the downhill section. I had some post race food then soaked in the little stream at the end for 10 minutes in very, very cold water that made my toes ache so severely that I could barely stand on them after getting out. But I needed to for the next day.
Karen and I left Crater at about 1:30 and drove to Bend. We went to Foot Zone for our packets and saw Slug and Bill Barmore. We told them that we were headed for Sean Meissner’s house for a pasta feed, but they already had plans. Karen and I checked into the Red Lion Inn, much better than the Whispering Pines and showered. We arrived at Sean’s at 6:30. Maniac Phil DeYoung was already there. It was just the four of us, but we had a nice cozy dinner chez Sean’s. He prepared a wonderful meal of whole wheat linguine with his mother’s special sauce, spinach salad, and bread. Sean agreed that Crater is the hardest marathon that he has ever run. Good, I didn’t feel so bad about my time. The party broke up at 8:30 since we needed to rest up. Karen and I were again in bed by 9:30 with sleep a little easier from wasting ourselves earlier in the day. No DNF dreams this time.
We were up again early (4:45) to catch the shuttle to the start. Again it was cold in the 30s. But this time, the wait was not as long for the start. Everyone kept coming up to me and saying, “You must be Pigtails!” I wonder if they know my real name. Even a guy from Canada recognized me from Blackfoot and told me that I was even the talk of the town where he lived! The marathoners started at 7AM and the half would not start until 9:30. I saw lots more maniacs glowing in their bright yellow jackets and hats. We started out with numb feet and hands again on a short section of road until it turned into trail for the rest of the run. Although I was stiff, I felt I was running pretty well. I was surprised to see a couple maniacs dash out in front. Lesa Overfield looked strong. Monte Fus took off after telling me before the start that he hurt his ankle and was going to see how things went. Eric Barnes was gone and I never saw him again. I ran with my friend and age group competitor Wendy Jacobs for the first 5 miles, then she took off on the uphill like always. I never saw her again either until the end. It was about then that I caught up with Lesa. She had a good race. I caught Monte at about mile 10. One girl passed me on the uphill and I passed at least 2. I passed a couple of guys, too. I was feeling surprisingly strong after all the pounding the day before and ran most of the uphill before the descent. As soon as I started down, I took off, but already I was starting to feel that my tank was becoming empty. I just could not replenish myself fast enough. I was still burning calories from Crater. Although I did pass one girl on the downhill, I told her as I was passing her that she would catch me on the flats, and sure enough she did. I knew that I could not sustain that pace needed to stay in front of her. In addition, at the 17 mile aid station, I was disappointed to learn that I still had 9 miles to go. I thought I was closer than that. So I scaled back a little and let her go to avoid bonking too early before the finish. But then I arrived at the 20 mile aid station earlier than expected and realized that the 17 mile aid station was probably more like 18.5. By then, I had lost some ground on her. Every time I took in a GU, it disintegrated in 5 minutes. So I had to just dig deep to keep moving. The downhill helped, but there was still plenty of flat and a few short sections of up. Was there any pain? Absolutely! Although on trail, my quads were pummeled at Crater and were still betting a beating. I came upon this guy, and after seeing me behind him, he picked up the pace. But, eventually, I caught him in 10 minutes. Again, here was another guy who did not want to be passed by a girl. I remembered him taking off in the beginning and knew that I would see him again. The half marathoners joined us with 5 miles to go and it was unnerving to hear foot steps behind me. But they were moving at a much faster pace and it was fairly easy to know it was them and not worry that it was another marathoner. The last 2 miles brought more pain as I could feel a sharp pain from a blister on the bottom surface of my left 4th toe. I maintained my position for the rest of the race until I passed another girl with less than 2 miles to go. With a few hundred feet to go, I saw a different girl behind me and ran in as fast as I could. Turned out she was in the half. That last sprint at the end sent me into an asthma attack. I came in 10th woman and 2nd in my age group with a time of 4:07. Last year, my time was 3:57, but I had not run Crater the day before. I think I was the first maniac finisher of those who did the double. Eric Barnes was the first Maniac to finish Haulin in a time of 3:58. Karen finished both races in 4:50. I told her that at least she was consistent and probably ran a better second race than most of us who had longer times at Haulin. We received cowbells for our finishers medal and a one-liter Nalgene bottle with the Haulin insignia on it, the best schwag I’ve received for a marathon lately. I just love this race! Great post-race food and atmosphere. After I caught my breath, I was interviewed by the local paper. I mentioned the Marathon Maniacs but he did not include that little bit of information in his report. Check out www.bendbulletin.com. Then after that, I ate and sat in the stream for 10 minutes, which was slightly warmer than at Crater. Karen and I hit the road at 1:30 and did not get back to Tacoma until 8 due to all the traffic. What a weekend!
I’m still ahead of schedule with 34 marathons/ultras. Next weekend (8/19) is Where’s Waldo 100K, then 8/26 I’ll be pacing someone 50+ miles at CCC, then 9/3 Walk in the Park 50K, then 9/8 Lost Soul 100 mile, then 9/16 Cle Elum 50K, then I have a week-end off, then the quad with Tahoe Triple and Auburn marathon the week-end of 9/28-10/1. Whew!
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Pacific Crest Trail 50 Mile
7/29/06
Short Version:
8:42:22, 5th woman. First woman new CR 8:24, the next four women all within 10 minutes of each other (8:32, 8:34, 8:38, and 8:42). Perfect weather. Trail 99% single track, some dusty, some rocky and rooty, some sandy.
Longer version:
Drove down Friday, 7/28. Was to stay with Vicki Griffiths and Barb Macklow, ages 62 and 72, both running the 50 mile race. Many people that age can’t run 50 feet let alone 50 miles. These women are MY heroes. But the room in the historic Timberline Lodge was very small. Hardly any room to walk around in. Fortunately, I had a back up plan and had brought my large tent and cot to share a camp site with Wendy Jacobs and her husband in a campground ¼ mile from the start at Clackamas Campground.
Arrived at the campground at 6:00pm. Maniac Karen Wiggins was in the next site and helped me set up my tent; otherwise it would have been a show to see me deal with the tent rods. Met Maniacs Rob Cowen and Stephanie Day as well. They were all attempting their first 50 mile. Karen and Rob went on to finish. Before I left the race, I heard that Stephanie tripped over a rock or root and had an open fracture of one of her pinkie fingers according to Karen. They were on their way to the emergency room. Now, there’s a story for you. Hope she’s doing okay. I can just see the look on the ER doc’s face when he or she asked her how she did it. “Well, you see, I was running this 50 mile race when…” Spent some time with Bill Davenport, whom I met at March Mudness 100K. I also saw him at the Lake Youngs Ultra directed by Arthur. He ran the PCT last year as his first 50 mile and came back to better his time. He also is planning on running CCC in August. I’ll probably be pacing him at that race. Finally got to bed at about 10pm. Wendy and her husband arrived at 11. Was cold most of the night. Sleep was intermittent.
Woke at 5am. Broke down my tent figuring I would be too tired and sore to do it after the race. Looked like at least 50 starters at the 6:30 time. Early starters were at 5:30. Less than ½ mile start on road, then the rest was single track. Broke out to the front (about 10 in front of me) to avoid breathing in dusty trails and jockeying for a position once the trails started. Maniac Christel Elliot caught me at mile 5 and ran ahead to the first aid station. I never caught her and she finished strong in a time of 8:38. From mile 6-19, I did not do well. My legs were telling me that I had been racing too much and felt heavy. As a result, I tripped on a root. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. I saw that I was going to land on a rock, so with my other leg, I pushed off of it to allow me to fly over the rock and travel a longer distance. In the process, I tucked my right shoulder in and did a somersault roll. Other than a road rash on my right palm, it didn’t look like I had fallen at all due to the dry trail. No dirt clung to my shirt and there were no witnesses to see my wonderful falling technique. Stephanie’s broken finger makes my fall seem like child’s play. That fall took a lot of gas out of me and Wendy caught me at the mile 14 aid station. I never caught up to her either, and she finished second woman in 8:32. My stomach was not feeling well during that stretch. I used the sani-can at the mile 19 aid station and from then on, I felt much better. (Some advice-if you are having stomach problems and have a chance to use a sani-can, even if by the time you get there you feel better, I suggest using it. It will almost always be worth the stop. It’s like stopping to get a rock out of your shoe. Yes, it will take some time and you may lose your position at the time, but in the end, it will save you valuable minutes. Okay, enough grossness).
My second half went much better than the first. After that stop, I was able to pick up the pace. I was following a 9:00 finish. The web site had a race specific pace chart, and in the first 19 miles, I was struggling to stay on track. But by the 25 mile turn-around, I was 2 minutes ahead of schedule. Mile 19-25 was faster than the chart. This race is supposed to have a negative split because the first half has about 3300 up and the second half 1800 up. I think few people were able to do that. It is an out and back, so the second half is mostly down, although I would describe the last 19 miles as mostly rolling. The 9:00 pace suggested 4:33 in the first half and 4:27 in the second, a negative split of 7 minutes. My first half was 4:31 and second 4:11, a negative split of 20 minutes. Now, that may mean that I could have run faster, but I didn’t want to push myself. I still have many more races to run this year. Although I never caught any of the girls in front of me, I had fun passing many of the guys who were in front of me at the turn-around. I’m pretty sure that Vicki and Barb finished because before I left, I had heard that they had gone through the last aid station with 6.1 miles to go and 2 hours to do it in.
I would recommend this as a great first 50 mile “trail” run. The setting is beautiful. There are only a few negatives. It could get very hot as it did last year where it was in the 90’s in the shade. We were fortunate with this year’s cool temps. The trail is mostly shaded, but can be dusty. The last mile up to Timberline Lodge is sandy and tiring to get up, but running down it was easy on the joints and fairly fast. There are a few major road crossings, and hopefully in the future they will place cross-guards at them. At one point, I heard a car slam on its brakes after I had crossed the road and was above the trail, but at the time that I crossed, there were also a lot of bikers on the road.
I want to thank everyone for their support in my leading the TrailRunner Magazine Trophy Series. But I learned about three weeks ago when I read the fine print that the person who wins the Grand Prize goes to the runner who has entered the most races, not for the most points. Believe me, I have gone over this in my mind many times and get more frustrated each time. When the magazine sent out e-mails early in the season tallying all the points, the emphasis was on points accrued, not the number of races run. In the results page on their web site, they also only list total points. If the prize was all about number of races, they should have included that statistic as well. Only in their last newsletter did they mention that this guy named Adam Blum is leading the number of races run. I never even thought about reading the fine print because it only seems logical that the reward should go to the person who runs more miles and places well. So my trip to Edmonton, Alberta will not help me to win the grand Prize. Yes I set a new women’s CR and a PR for that distance, and I will cherish those memories. I am still going to stick to my original plan: run 52 marathon/ultras this year and go for as many points as possible in the Trophy series. I will not be traveling to distant places to run a 5K and get another race in just to try to satisfy a rule that I don’t think makes sense. Well that’s enough rambling. Thanks for listening.
Short Version:
8:42:22, 5th woman. First woman new CR 8:24, the next four women all within 10 minutes of each other (8:32, 8:34, 8:38, and 8:42). Perfect weather. Trail 99% single track, some dusty, some rocky and rooty, some sandy.
Longer version:
Drove down Friday, 7/28. Was to stay with Vicki Griffiths and Barb Macklow, ages 62 and 72, both running the 50 mile race. Many people that age can’t run 50 feet let alone 50 miles. These women are MY heroes. But the room in the historic Timberline Lodge was very small. Hardly any room to walk around in. Fortunately, I had a back up plan and had brought my large tent and cot to share a camp site with Wendy Jacobs and her husband in a campground ¼ mile from the start at Clackamas Campground.
Arrived at the campground at 6:00pm. Maniac Karen Wiggins was in the next site and helped me set up my tent; otherwise it would have been a show to see me deal with the tent rods. Met Maniacs Rob Cowen and Stephanie Day as well. They were all attempting their first 50 mile. Karen and Rob went on to finish. Before I left the race, I heard that Stephanie tripped over a rock or root and had an open fracture of one of her pinkie fingers according to Karen. They were on their way to the emergency room. Now, there’s a story for you. Hope she’s doing okay. I can just see the look on the ER doc’s face when he or she asked her how she did it. “Well, you see, I was running this 50 mile race when…” Spent some time with Bill Davenport, whom I met at March Mudness 100K. I also saw him at the Lake Youngs Ultra directed by Arthur. He ran the PCT last year as his first 50 mile and came back to better his time. He also is planning on running CCC in August. I’ll probably be pacing him at that race. Finally got to bed at about 10pm. Wendy and her husband arrived at 11. Was cold most of the night. Sleep was intermittent.
Woke at 5am. Broke down my tent figuring I would be too tired and sore to do it after the race. Looked like at least 50 starters at the 6:30 time. Early starters were at 5:30. Less than ½ mile start on road, then the rest was single track. Broke out to the front (about 10 in front of me) to avoid breathing in dusty trails and jockeying for a position once the trails started. Maniac Christel Elliot caught me at mile 5 and ran ahead to the first aid station. I never caught her and she finished strong in a time of 8:38. From mile 6-19, I did not do well. My legs were telling me that I had been racing too much and felt heavy. As a result, I tripped on a root. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. I saw that I was going to land on a rock, so with my other leg, I pushed off of it to allow me to fly over the rock and travel a longer distance. In the process, I tucked my right shoulder in and did a somersault roll. Other than a road rash on my right palm, it didn’t look like I had fallen at all due to the dry trail. No dirt clung to my shirt and there were no witnesses to see my wonderful falling technique. Stephanie’s broken finger makes my fall seem like child’s play. That fall took a lot of gas out of me and Wendy caught me at the mile 14 aid station. I never caught up to her either, and she finished second woman in 8:32. My stomach was not feeling well during that stretch. I used the sani-can at the mile 19 aid station and from then on, I felt much better. (Some advice-if you are having stomach problems and have a chance to use a sani-can, even if by the time you get there you feel better, I suggest using it. It will almost always be worth the stop. It’s like stopping to get a rock out of your shoe. Yes, it will take some time and you may lose your position at the time, but in the end, it will save you valuable minutes. Okay, enough grossness).
My second half went much better than the first. After that stop, I was able to pick up the pace. I was following a 9:00 finish. The web site had a race specific pace chart, and in the first 19 miles, I was struggling to stay on track. But by the 25 mile turn-around, I was 2 minutes ahead of schedule. Mile 19-25 was faster than the chart. This race is supposed to have a negative split because the first half has about 3300 up and the second half 1800 up. I think few people were able to do that. It is an out and back, so the second half is mostly down, although I would describe the last 19 miles as mostly rolling. The 9:00 pace suggested 4:33 in the first half and 4:27 in the second, a negative split of 7 minutes. My first half was 4:31 and second 4:11, a negative split of 20 minutes. Now, that may mean that I could have run faster, but I didn’t want to push myself. I still have many more races to run this year. Although I never caught any of the girls in front of me, I had fun passing many of the guys who were in front of me at the turn-around. I’m pretty sure that Vicki and Barb finished because before I left, I had heard that they had gone through the last aid station with 6.1 miles to go and 2 hours to do it in.
I would recommend this as a great first 50 mile “trail” run. The setting is beautiful. There are only a few negatives. It could get very hot as it did last year where it was in the 90’s in the shade. We were fortunate with this year’s cool temps. The trail is mostly shaded, but can be dusty. The last mile up to Timberline Lodge is sandy and tiring to get up, but running down it was easy on the joints and fairly fast. There are a few major road crossings, and hopefully in the future they will place cross-guards at them. At one point, I heard a car slam on its brakes after I had crossed the road and was above the trail, but at the time that I crossed, there were also a lot of bikers on the road.
I want to thank everyone for their support in my leading the TrailRunner Magazine Trophy Series. But I learned about three weeks ago when I read the fine print that the person who wins the Grand Prize goes to the runner who has entered the most races, not for the most points. Believe me, I have gone over this in my mind many times and get more frustrated each time. When the magazine sent out e-mails early in the season tallying all the points, the emphasis was on points accrued, not the number of races run. In the results page on their web site, they also only list total points. If the prize was all about number of races, they should have included that statistic as well. Only in their last newsletter did they mention that this guy named Adam Blum is leading the number of races run. I never even thought about reading the fine print because it only seems logical that the reward should go to the person who runs more miles and places well. So my trip to Edmonton, Alberta will not help me to win the grand Prize. Yes I set a new women’s CR and a PR for that distance, and I will cherish those memories. I am still going to stick to my original plan: run 52 marathon/ultras this year and go for as many points as possible in the Trophy series. I will not be traveling to distant places to run a 5K and get another race in just to try to satisfy a rule that I don’t think makes sense. Well that’s enough rambling. Thanks for listening.
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