Rewarding Race Seasons Don't Always Happen as Planned

As 2013 nears the end, I feel so rewarded to have participated in so many wonderful events this year.
 
As her crew chief, I helped Stacey make her way diligently from Canada to Seattle, 173 long, paved miles. 

Stacey laughing as she approached her finish

I helped Jonathan earn an Eagle as he completed a successful Grand Slam while I paced and crewed him.  Starting with Western States and ending with Wasatch there was never a dull moment, so many feelings of excitement, stress, fatigue, defeat, compassion and euphoria out on the course.  We shared so many stories and times, that I was swore to secrecy. 

Team Shark at the completion of the Grand Slam

Terry Sentinella and Chiping Fu became great friends as they completed the Grand Slam and I was right there to cheer them along the way.  I paced/crewed Linh to finish her first 100 miler at Badger, and Leadville; where she starred as the runner vs her usual role as Crew Chief.

Linh and I preparing for LT 100 "She Ain't Got no Quit" Thanks for the mantra Run Pretty Far

I also had the opportunity to help Van accomplish her goals when I was unable to complete my own journey in two of our joint runs.

Van at the finish of Issy 100

Van and I had our first Double Wonderland attempt, 186 miles around Mt Rainier.  It was not to be completed this year due to unexpected problems but we'll get it next time.  "Next time" was to be next year but now we may need to attempt Tahoe 200..........  Double Wonderland will happen, the mountain isn't going anywhere and it will be well worth the wait.

I had some great races early in the season, and completed the all time best 100 miler, Cascade Crest Classic.  There were many successful runs and adventures with friends and many new friends made along the way.  I am happy with my running accomplishments but had no idea how rewarded I would feel from helping others achieve their goals.

CCC 100

 The pressure is greater when your responsibilities include helping someone achieve a goal.  If you let yourself down you can accept that and have only yourself to blame.  When you help others realize they have more strength, potential, finesse and ability, it truly feels like you have accomplished something big.  It makes you feel warm inside and out.  Watching them cross that line and realize what they have done elicits a true feeling of euphoria.  It feels nice to be a part of the accomplishment and not even need a recovery period :)

This is no way means that I don't have big running goals this year!!!!  And now it's my turn to get a few buckles or an Eagle for the shelf. 

I'm in the usual lotteries WS and HR 100.  And dare I submit a letter to Barkley? I'm working on my essay.  I plan to watch for others, Tahoe 200, Wasatch, CCC 100 and sign up for some new ones too.  This will be a great year with new journeys, FKT's and a return to the usual suspects.

I'm so excited to see what next year will bring.  I'm getting tired of wearing the same old buckles to work everyday ;)

Meanwhile I'm looking forward to snowshoe adventures and running a snowshoe race or two!

Sun Mountain 50 Mile Run 

I ran a beautiful race on Sun Mountain May 19, 2013, organized by Rainhadow Running.  It was a rewarding 50-mile run with rolling hills, smooth trails and tons of beautiful flowers.  I carried my camera so I would remember to enjoy the journey and not push myself to the destination too quickly.  I haven’t been running as much distance as the last couple years, felt like kind of a slacker and didn’t want to set myself up for disappointment.  I have ran this race the last 2 years and had reasonably good times with 2011 being my first 50 mile event.  I definitely enjoyed the journey and took about 40 pictures of the beautiful course and friends that I saw along the way. 

Patterson Lake

It started out great, I ran the several miles with Linh Shark, we took our time cruising along the rolling hills as we headed toward our first of three substantial climbs. 

Linh Shark

 The first climb came at about mile 15, but wasn’t incredibly steep or long, 1500 feet over 2 miles. 

First climb, Linh is coming up the hill

This brought us up to a beautiful pasture of wild flowers and cows looking at us curiously.  I’m sure they wondered why everyone was in a hurry on such a beautiful day.  

Beautiful flowers were abundant

 It was here that I came upon an awesome ultra running friend, Angel Rossi-Mathis, she had been suffering from a cold turned respiratory infection, but decided to give the run a try anyway and see how she felt.  That is the only reason I was able to catch her, as she is one fast and furious Ultra Runner. 

Angel Rossi-Mathis

We had a great time catching up with each other as we climbed one of the hills.   I also caught up with Ultrapedestrian Ras who a week earlier had just completed a R2R2R triple ~170 miles and was out to run Sun Mountain 50 miler as part of his deemed "Sunpig Mountain Tails Challenge 250 miler."  Today he was living true to his motto “An ultramarathon is like a mullet: business up front, party in the back” It was great having him party with us.

Ras climbing the hill, I can't see it, but I'm sure he is smiling

Jonathan Shark is the little speck climbing up the mountain in white

The run was great through here with fabulous, soft, single-track trails and lots of friendly runners to chat with and pass the time.  I felt good, had a great pace and the miles were flying by until about mile 20 when it started to heat up and we started our next climb. 

Beautiful, soft, single-track trails

  I have been trying to use less salt pills to avoid the massive “bloat” post race and the need/desire to consume copious amounts of water.  In the past, almost automatically, I would take one an hour to avoid problems with electrolyte imbalance.  It got pretty hot; I was sweating like crazy and feeling lots of fatigue in my hamstrings and calves, to which I immediately attributed to my docile life as of late.  Rookie move: I failed to listen to my body telling me I needed more salt until I got a twinge of the “slosh” in my stomach, an alert that I need more salt, and this time I listened.  The great thing about running an ultra is, you are out there long enough that when you make a mistake there is time to correct it and if you keep moving forward it always gets better. 

Sun Mountain Lodge

I was starting to feel a bit better as I began the climb to Sun Mntn Lodge; it’s a 3.5 mile loop up to the top and about 2000 ft overall climb.  At the beginning of the loop you come upon a very charming volunteer every year, she assures you "I will be waiting for you to get back and that will make it all worth it." The climb seemed to go much faster than last year, maybe it was because Tim Mathis jumped out of the woods and scared me just before I started the loop.  He had already finished his loop and was on his way down the mountain.

Tim Mathis patiently let me take a photo

Upon completion of the hot, 3.5 mile loop, I was very happy to see the smiling volunteer directing me down the hill.   

Beautiful mountains surrounded us at all times

I met a new friend, Lourdes Gutierrez-Kellam, we chatted a bit as we ran down the hill toward our final climb.   The course changed from the previous 2 years, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect or how tough it would be.  Lourdes and I set out together to conquer the hill in good spirits.  We had a great time chatting along the way and seemed to reach the top pretty quickly, with more ease than I remember the last couple years.  It was so much fun watching the other runners that had reached the apex flying back down toward us.

On top of our last summit

We summited, took a few photos and headed down to the finish line.  It was then that I realized I could still finish at about the same time as last year.  I used my poles to “fly” down the hill and felt like an Eagle taking flight. 

Photo by Glenn Tachiyama

Monica Bloom was headed to the peak with a gal (running her first 50k) who had tried to give up along the way.  Monica told her she wasn’t done; together they fed off each other’s energy for a successful 50k and crossed the finish line together.

I crossed the finish line 2 minutes slower than last year, but with the photos I stopped to take and the casual attitude I had during the run, I was elated with my journey.  Success was mine.

A few things I figured out during the race:

I can run 50 miles on substantially fewer calories and less solid food than I thought.  I used Gu, Gu Chomps, Gu electrolyte drink , one luna bar, oranges, bananas and ½ jelly sandwich (no peanut butter). 

Sometimes taking my time is a more rewarding journey than hurrying and I have lots of great photos.

And, most importantly…….listen to my body.

Lumberjack 100 Mile Endurance Run

Lumber Jack is known for it's muddy course and the inherent challenge due to the roots and winding terrain.  Being eternally optimistic, I looked at it as an opportunity to set a PR, as the elevation is not as severe as most of the 100 milers I choose to run and it's my first 100 of the year, so I'm fully rested.  I organized my vehicle to enable an easy transition; I planned to run without a pacer and wanted Stacey to be able to find items I may ask for, if she was able to help crew. 

The look of apprehension on my face should have been a clue of what was up.

The race started under blue skies with a few scattered clouds and a wonderful running temperature of around 45F.  The weather was predicted to be thunderstorms, rain and wind, but so far, so good.  I run in the rain all the time, so no big deal, right?????  There were a lot of familiar faces at the start line: George Orozoco, Van Phan, Vivian Doorn, Ultra Ras Pedestrian and his wife/crew/pacer extraordinaire Kathy Vaughn and Kyndra Moeller taking on this 100 as her first.  Also at the start line was Carsten Buus, we planned to run the course together unless one of us needed to slow down and would jeopardize the others ability to succeed.

The run started perfect, my legs felt great, the course wasn't very challenging to negotiate and the puddles could be skirted around to avoid getting my feet wet.  There were some areas in the first 4 miles where 3 miles per hour was a "good pace" but all in all I was stoked, this was going to be a great run, sub 24?????  Each loop was 12.5 miles and our pace for the first loop was 12:08 per mile, it looked like we would have a great finish time.  

We were covering some ground and having a great time.

By the 50-mile mark we were still sub 24 and felt pretty good.  We ran our 4th loop hard to get in as many miles in daylight as possible; I knew the course would be much harder to negotiate with headlamps and the course deteriorated quickly with all the foot traffic of the participants.  There were times when we were the only people visible until we were at an AS, or occasionally we saw Ras taking it easy at base camp, followed by him eloquently striding past us down a hill.    

I was wet but still felt great and was enjoying my day out.

Toward the end of the fourth loop we got hit with some heavy rain, we came in soaked and I put on dry clothes for the next loop. The fourth lap was an 18-minute pace but still okay considering the conditions, nightfall and clothes change.  We knew the pace would be slower due to the weather, mud puddles and nightfall.  We set out in good spirits, with some warm soup, warm clothes and headlamps.  Maneuvering the logs, swamps and mud became more challenging and our pace slowed substantially, the condition of the trail had deteriorated due to all the feet that came before us.

As we approached the eight-mile AS the hail came down hard leaving the ground covered.  With the pace slowing it began to get quite cold.  Carsten was very cold and needed to be sure he could find enough gear in his truck to endure the cold conditions for the remaining loops.  As we approached the start/finish we heard the first person, Tim Stroh whom had passed us recently, completing his run, that sounded like a great idea but we'd have to wait 25 more miles.  We finished this loop with a 21:36 pace, which admittedly disheartened us a bit but we put on all new warm, dry clothes (I put on some Icebreaker gear which warms me to the core) got some soup and took off after about a 30 minute delay.  

Tough to get going on this lap but we were out for number seven and that meant only 2 more.  There seemed to be some folks that were struggling in the Aid Stations but I have a tenancy to focus on the positive in the race and was thinking; I only have to circumnavigate the "mud bogs" two more times.  As we approached the start/finish we could hear cheering and knew it must be Van (1^st female) finishing her race.  Again, sounded like a great idea but we would need to complete one more loop before we finished.  We finished this loop with about a 20:30 pace, quickly resupplied and headed out for our last loop.  The sun was beginning to come out and it looked like this would at last, be the end of the rain, a welcomed thought that added some skip to our step.  

The last loop was a struggle for me, energy level low, pain in my ankles and some GI distress.  None of that was important at this point; all that was on my mind was the buckle.  The thought never occurred to me to quit, I was only bothered by the fact that out goal of 27 hours was out the window and I was concerned that I was slowing Carsten down.  I let him lead and tried to answer all of his "pushes," our conversation was pretty minimal, but when we came upon a tough spot Carsten pointed out that was the last time we would ever have to "see that section of mud."  It turned out to be a beautiful day with blue skies and a perfect running temperature.  At last we reached the last section of single track I got my energy back, I skirted ahead of Carsten and ran toward the finish.  Our pace for this loop was 19:45 so we had taken advantage of the daylight to pick up our speed.    

Carsten and I running in from our last loop.

  

We finished the run in 28:10 so we missed our goal but I was thrilled to get the buckle and be finished!  I was very surprised to learn that I was the 2nd place female and 9th person overall to finish.  The run had a finishers rate of about 50% so a lot of people had struggled and took a a lower finishing distance. It was great seeing George at the finishers line where he snapped a photo and congratulated us on our finish.  We saw Stacey helping out a runner that was having medical issues, Ras and Kathy were there breaking down camp and soon thereafter Vivian came in.  George had a great 26 hour finish, Ras came in at 26:44, Vivian came in at 28:43 for third place woman and Kyndra completed her first 100 miler on a tough course in 34:21.   I'm glad I ran IMTUF last year because I had to remind myself of that while out in the mud bog.  Will I do it again???  Maybe if Van does......... HA-HA

Carsten and I proudly displaying our buckles.

My 2nd place Female award.

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