Race Reports Archives ~ Page 11 of 13 ~ TRAILMOMMA

April 7, 2015May 1, 2019

2015 AMERICAN RIVER 50 MILE RACE REPORT

When I signed up for the American River 50 Mile race (AR50) back in February, I had just had a string of really strong and powerful training runs. I was on a high. I felt the strongest I have ever felt. And then, a series of unfortunate events started happening one after the other. I was bit by a dogÂ on a training run that caused me to tweak my back. I ran a really super hard 50k that was primarily down hill, something my knees and back really did not like and basically, I just started losing quality sleep little by little. In my head, I was falling apart so how on earth did I think I could run 50 miles? What was I thinking!?

Yet, I kept plugging at it little by little. I pretty much took my taper more seriously than I ever have before. The week of AR50 I ran 3 miles on Monday afternoon (it sucked), I ran 4.5 miles on Tuesday morning (ugh, again it sucked) and I ran another 4 miles on Wednesday afternoon (oh boy, shoot me now). Then, I rested. Completely. No stairs at work. I tried for quality sleep each night. I ate really well. I even decided to work from home the Friday before the race.

Working from home = less stress and more relaxed. Plus I got a ton of work done.

When Friday arrived, I was still super nervous. I had to go and pick up my bib and race packet and I knew the minute that I did that, my energy would change. If you have ever been at a packet pick up for a big race like this, you can just FEEL the energy of everyone that is there. You look at people and think “Wow, they are going to crush it!” or “Wow, they are running too?!” You just get sucked into the awesomeness of an ultra’s race scene. It is infectious.

I brought the Peanut with me as I had to drop her off at a friend’s for a sleepover. She wasn’t as impressed with packet pick up as I was. 🙂 Still, it was neat showing her everything and introducing her to people.

When I got home, all I had to do was make myself dinner. I had pre-packed my hydration pack, my cooler, and everything else that I had needed earlier in the day. I made some yukon gold potatoes for dinner. Simple. Easy. Nothing that would upset my tummy and I made sure to eat early enough so as to digest it all before laying down for sleep.

Slowly but surely, I started to get a migraine. It started slow and low on my head but by 7:30 pm, I was struggling to keep my eyes open due to the pain. I kissed Squeaker and Vans goodnight and crawled into bed close to 8 pm.

I woke up a few times during the night. I had that “late for the airport” feeling that you get when you feel like your alarm might not go off. But, eventually at 3;45 am it went off and I immediately hopped out of bed. I felt, rested. For once.

I changed, grabbed all my gear, filled my bottles and hydration pack and I waited in the garage for PigeonÂ and MissouriÂ to pick me up on their way to the starting area. Due to some unfortunate planning on my part, Vans would not be able to see me throughout the day. He promised that he would be at the finish. This meant that I had to build myself my own little personal aid-station again for Beal’s Point and make it easy enough that Missouri would be able to carry it from the car to somewhere close to the course.

At the starting area cars were lining up in the lot and the sky was dark. There was an eclipse of the moon so it was exceptionally dark at the start this year and I didn’t bring more than a dinky little light. Ooops

The minute we arrived, Pigeon and I hopped out of the car and headed to the porta potties. The line was short (at the moment). When we were done, we loaded back into the car and for some reason, I buckled myself in. Missouri turns to me and says, “Are you afraid we’ll get into an accident just sitting here?” I looked at her for a minute not quite comprehending what she was saying and then I realized what I had done. HA! My mind was obviously occupied and not thinking clearly. 🙂

We had a good laugh about that for Â while and that seemed to lighten the weight in my chest.

Soon however, it was time to head to the starting line. The race started at 6 am and it was still pretty dark outside.

Pigeon had a flashlight with her but I only had the little light on my visor. It would do but it wouldn’t be great. We only had to run about 3 or 4 miles in the dark, that was my guess anyway based on the sunrise. Luckily, a lot of other runners around me had lights.

Without much hype, the race started and wave 1 began running up the 1 mile marina drive towards the trail. Pigeon and I were able to chat with Miss P and Blisters for a bit which was nice. Everyone seemed to have a nice nervous energy.

Immediately I just felt like what I was doing was work and not fun. In the back of my head, I still had a lot of doubt. My knee was achy and I just dreaded any downhills that I would have to face.

Pigeon took the lead on this section which is funny since last year I took the lead. She also scolded me last year for going out too fast so maybe she thought if she took the lead, she could keep me settled down. I was content to follow her. My mind was still not in the game yet.

Finally we reached the levee and the sun was up (or mostly up) and our lights were no longer needed. We had to run to Folsom Point where the first aid-station would be (at mile 4.97). As we were running down and around Folsom Point, the door of the restroom opened up and I ran straight in. Pigeon followed as the door next to that one also opened. We were amazed that there were no lines! Last year they had really long lines. I was happy to get this out of the way now instead of later.

We said ‘hi’ to the Fleet Feet crew manning the aid-station and then dropped down onto the road making our way to the parkway bike path. Here, the sun was rising and you could tell it was going to be a beautiful day.

When we dumped onto the bike trail, I had forgotten how much downhill there was on this little section. Paved down hill doesn’t bother my knees as much as trail downhill for some reason. Pigeon and I just kept running. We weren’t chatting too much. We did occasionally comment on the gear of some of the other runners. We saw some crazy things out there and it is always interesting to see how people prepare for runs like this. The announcer had said there were 350 people running their first AR50. That is awesome.

Pigeon and I just made our way down the path. She was being rather quiet, as was I. Last year I had my headphones in at this point so I started digging them out of my pocket only to realize they were in a complete knot. Pigeon decided she needed to duck off the trail to take care of some business somewhere around mile 11. I told her I would walk. I needed to keep moving. I had a feeling that if I stopped, I wouldn’t start again. My head and my heart were just not in this yet.

When Pigeon finally caught up to me, she was running with TiggerT!!!!!???? TiggerT just happened to be out running with the Java Joggers group when she just kind of ran into Pigeon emerging from some bushes! How funny?!Â TiggerT ran with us to the next aid-station at Willow Creek (mile 12.77).

I didn’t take any fuel here or get any water. This year I ran with one bottle on my pack and my hydration bladder filled with electrolyte water. I did eat some of my peanut butter banana cookies but they weren’t tasting so great so I stopped. Nothing seemed appealing to me which isn’t good 13 miles into a 50 mile race.

As we were making our way to the Hazel Bridge, we saw that quite a few runners had gone off course and were running around the aquatic center parking lot. They looked at us like we had cheated but we had clearly followed all the ribbons. They must have been kicking themselves for adding at least a half mile to their legs.

As we crossed Hazel Bridge, I had that familiar feeling of relief. You see, at this point in the race, you start running TOWARDS Auburn and the finish line, no longer away from it. There is something to be said about this. It just switches something in your head and you feel better as you start climbing those crazy beautiful bluffs.

Coming down the back side of the bluffs.

I just took my time going down the rockier sections not wanting to aggravate my knee. I had forgotten about the next aid-station, one of my favorites in this race, until we came upon it (Main Bar Aid-Station, Mile 16.98).

At this aid-station, they blast the best 80s music around and as we approached, super happy super sweet volunteers rushed to see what we needed just as Bonnie Tyler’s I Need a Hero started blaring from a radio near by. Awe yea!!!! I was starting to warm up and get a little excited …. I even started dancing like a fool calling to Pigeon to come on, hurry … WE NEED A HERO!!!!

Granted, she looked at me like I was crazy and laughed. I told her it was the music. It set me on fire a bit. We started running. Soon we came a cross a stray (oddly clean) porta potty. Pigeon needed to stop so I decided to stop as well. I didn’t have to but I tried and it worked out timing wise.

Next up was the Negro Bar (mile 20.18) aid-station where Diane Hanes and her FTR crew volunteer every year. Diane gave me a big hug when she saw me and asked how I was. I told her that honestly, today felt like ‘work’ to me, that I just didn’t feel like I was having a lot of fun yet. All she could say was “uh-oh.”

Pigeon and I took off. I did get a surge of energy as I knew that our next aid-station would be Beal’sÂ Point which is mile 24.31 and where Missouri and hundreds of other people would be waiting to cheer on runners. Beal’sÂ is a HUGE point in the race. Two years ago, it marked the half way point (sort of). Now it was mile 24.31.

I always run up the hill to Beal’s. I love the surge of energy you feel as you crest that hill and run down across the arches as they call your name. I spotted where Missouri had set up our camp. I refilled my hydration pack and ate a gluten free peanut butter and honey sandwich. I had to really force it down but I managed to eat the whole thing.

I also emptied the rocks and pebbles that had been gathering at the bottom of my shoes. This year, I didn’t change socks. I probably should have but I didn’t.

Off we were again. Pigeon needed to stop at the bathrooms before we left the aid-station. Once again, I decided to go too. Might as well. When she emerged, we made our way back onto the course and headed towards Granite Bay aid-station (mile 29.45).

Last year at Granite Bay we were surprised by Missouri, TiggerT and Vans. This year, no one would be there. As were approaching the aid-station, Pigeon mentioned that her foot was hurting her. She hadn’t said a peep the entire day so it took me by surprise that she was having some discomfort.

She even said, “Missouri will kill me if I have to call her to pick me up here.” Wait. What? She went from “my foot hurts” Â to considering dropping in a nano second. I couldn’t process it all just yet. We then spotted Dasie and Pigeon ran to talk to her while I made my way to the aid-station. I needed some food in my tummy as I was planning to take the Advil I had stuffed in my pocket. My knee was just starting to tweak a little bit and I didn’t want it to flare just yet. Not now.

When I found Pigeon, Dasie was rubbing her foot. I started to stretch Â my legs and squat to keep myself limber and from totally stiffening up. Pigeon I could tell didn’t know what to do at first. Her goal race is in four weeks. This race, AR, was just a training run for her. She was torn.

We were at that aid-station about 8 to 10 minutes when Pigeon laced up and thought she would start running but instead, she told me that she had wasted too much of my time already and that I should just go on and if she could, she’d join me but she wasn’t sure just yet what she’d do.

I told her, “Okay, I’ll start out walking just in case. Just don’t fly by me like last year!” 🙂 But, she never did. I did walk for a bit and then the trail started to develop into a nice rolling course. Something that was runnable. So, I just ran.

This is a critical point in the race as the next aid-station at Horseshoe Bar (mile 38.14) is 8.69 miles from the last aid-station. That is the farthest stretch between aid-stations in the entire race and it was getting WARM, on second thought, it was getting HOT and fast. I had started dunking my bandana in any ice buckets that I could find and would wash my face and neck. It just cooled me down and kept me present.

Alone, and full of fuel, I just ran. I started passing people. I am not normally one to pass people. I usually just settle in behind and ride the conga line but something took over. I just started saying, “on your left” whenever I could and would, bit by bit, pass runner after runner.

This section of the course is full of mountain bikers and I ran into a couple. I felt bad as they had no idea a race was going on. I also ran into quite a few horses out on the trail, causing me to stop and move to the side. It was busy out there!

Another option is purchase viagra no prescription High Intensity Focussed Ultrasound, which uses sound waves to “melt” away the cancer. But, thanks to the inventions in medical science, there are 100% natural, http://appalachianmagazine.com/2017/01/30/understanding-the-7-distinct-nations-of-appalachia/ order cheap viagra FDA approved medications are there which you should buy OTC drugs online which are instrumental in curing the erectile dysfunction of male reproductive organs. Modern busy life makes us so much busy that we can’t solve a problem from the buy cheap levitra same level of effectiveness. The current quality of a pair’s sex life will still remain to be based on purchase levitra in canada past, present and future relationship issues.

Steady and strong. I just kept running. My Garmin was slowly starting to lose its battery strength. I kept watching the charge get lower and lower and wondered if it would make the whole race.

My legs felt light as air. I had no aches or pains. I honestly felt like I was out for a nice easy jog. I couldn’t believe it. I tried not thinking about it as I didn’t want to jinx myself or trip and fall as I am apt to do while trail running.

I knew I was getting close to Rattlesnake aid-station (mile 40.94). I knew that once I reached that, I was in the single digits to the finish line. Last year at Rattlesnake, I could barely make it down the hill the pain in my knee was so excruciating. Now, I just ran down it, passing another runner (what the heck is going on?!).

I as entered the aid-station I got a huge “HI PAM!” from Legs which made me smile and then I saw Pigeon. She had dropped after all. She wanted to know what I needed. I kind of laughed, because I went from having no crew to having Missouri, Dasie and Pigeon all attending to my needs. I didn’t know what the heck to do! I told Pigeon I wanted ice in my pack. I dropped my water bottle since I had never even touched it and I wanted to lighten my load.

I was off running again. Dasie had made me a nice neck scarf of ice out of my bandana which felt amazing. Back up that steep hill I went and when I got to the top, I passed four more runners. Watch out, I was on my way to the finish line.

So it continued happening, I just passed runner after runner. When I got to Dowdin’s Post aid-station (mile 43,92) I just flew in, grabbed a few things and flew out.

Around mile 45, I came across Hassan who was pacing another runner in front of me. This runner let me pass and I said ‘hi’ to Hassan who immediately ran ahead and hid behind a corner and then started taking photos of me as I ran by! What a hoot!

Smiling the WHOLE time. Photo by Hassan — Smiling the WHOLE time.
Photo by Hassan

Hassan’s happy demeanor brought a new wave of energy for me and I just never stopped smiling. Well, I did stop smiling when I realized that I was running up behind Miss P. If I run into Miss P in a race, I know it isn’t good. She must be struggling. Sure enough, I didn’t get my usual smile and “Hey!” from her. She said it just wasn’t her day. She just wanted to be done and she let me pass. My heart broke for her. Miss P is an incredibly strong runner. It saddened me to see her not feeling well.

I motored on and almost yelled with joy when I was dumped off the trail and onto the final road that leads you to the finish line. I power hiked as much as I could up this gravel rocky road. Some parts I ran, just eager to get off the gravel. My power hiking has improved and it didn’t fail me now. One step in front of the other.

The Last Gasp aid-station ( mile 47.56) is hilarious. It is run by a bunch of young guys who wear spandex. It always brings a smile to my face.

Soon I reached the infamous 3 mile sign. I’ve taken a photo next to this sign every year.

Me and the sign in 2010 – photo by my pacer

Me and the sign in 2014 – photo by my pacer

This year, I was all alone. No pacer. No one to take my photo. So, I took a photo of the sign anyway.

The sign - doing it on my own in 2015 — The sign – doing it on my own in 2015

I decided now was the time to find my easter candy. A handful of starburst jelly beans is what got me up the Damn Hill and those last 3 miles. I’d walk a few steps and run 10 times more. I ran into Annabella on the this section too. I said hi and just kept motoring on. I was determined. I knew that I could beat my old time. Part of me wondered if there was any way that I could get sub 10 hours (my dream) but my Garmin decided to die at mile 48.9!!!!! It almost made it!

My pace up this big hill was hovering around the 11 minute mile range. If you have been on this hill, that’s pretty good (in my book at least). Walk two steps then run 10 times more. Repeat repeat repeat.

I saw the hill that crests up to the top near the parking lot. I couldn’t muster the energy to run up this whole hill but darn it I tried! I ran down onto the street and then up onto the curb and then I just started running as hard as I possibly could. People were clapping and cheering and I just ran as hard and as fast as my tired legs could manage.

Pigeon was there waiting with a smile and a high five.

I had scored a 22 minute PR!!!! I finished in 10 hours and 11 minutes. Not too far from a sub 10 hour finish!!! There is hope ….

I felt pretty awesome. My body felt awesome. I mean, what the heck? I made it down to the canal and I rinsed off the poison oak and iced my tired legs and then changed into warm clothes and took advantage of the recovery boots at the finish line.

I was just on a complete and total high. I can’t believe what had started out to be such a hard and grueling task had ended up being so much fun.

My body had responded and came through when I asked it to. You see, I had had a nice talk with my body the night before the race. I promised that if it would get me through those 50 miles that I would honor it and rest completely for two weeks. Nothing but stretching, walking and sleeping. I plan to keep my word and not run a step, which will be hard but also somewhat enjoyable.

The day after the race was Easter Sunday. We went on a family hike around where we live. Nothing too grueling. Just some easy walking with Vans and our six year old and three year old and TiggerT.

Now, two days later, I feel amazing. I am not sore at all. Nothing! My knee doesn’t feel “right” but my muscles feel great. I really focused on nutrition this time around too. I didn’t drink any alcohol for the month leading up to AR50. I watched my sugar intake and I ate really well race week too. During the race I tried to take a salt tab about every hour and monitored my water intake too.

Now, with this race behind me, I am looking forward to running for fun. Vans asked that I not run AR again for a bit as it always falls during the Easter holiday making it hard on our family and I can understand that. Some day though, I will return.

But for now, I am content to get back on the trails when the time is right and to run with Pigeon, Stonegate and Burning Girl all of whom are training for the Tahoe Rim Trail races (Pigeon is doing the 100 miler and the other two are doing the 55K). Their training plans and runs will be vastly different so I will get a mix of everything.

I have a few “paid for” training runs on the calendar and only one race in late June (a marathon while on vacation). All of these are low pressure runs. Even the marathon is purely an effort to keep my mileage up while on vacation so that I can pace Pigeon in Tahoe in July.

I look forward to just running for me. Running for fun. Running to help someone else. Having lost that love and spark in the early part of AR really unnerved me. I generally love the first half of that race. However, I am glad that I finally found it and that it carried me to the finish line with a smile.

Happy Trails!

~Trailmomma

(You can read my 2010 AR50 Race Report here)

(You can read my 2014 AR50 Race Report here)

March 1, 2015April 21, 2015

SALMON FALLS 50K RACE REPORT

Well the day finally came. I have been talking about running the Salmon Falls 50k over these last few blog posts and yesterday was the day.

I will warn you now, this post may be a bit long and I have TONS of photos but none of which were taken from me during the race. All of them are compliments of Vans and his awesomeness as being the best race husband and dad ever. This post is for him because without him yesterday, I may not have smiled half as much as I did. I needed him yesterday and he was there 110%.

You know how when you hear a lot of hype about something and you inadvertently build high expectations about it? That’s how my training has been. I felt ready. I felt trained. Yet come race day, not everything happened the way I had envisioned it. Isn’t that always the way?

For the first time, in a very long time, I had a great night of sleep. Squeaker didn’t wake me up throughout the night as she had these last few weeks. I went to bed at a decent time and I woke up a half hour before my alarm was set to go off. I was excited.

The weather was unpredictable. The entire week the forecasters had said it was going to rain on race day. It rained the night before which meant the trails were going to be muddy but it also didn’t rain for very long … so there was hope that things would be semi dry for race day. The temps were colder than they have been but I decided to go with what I have been wearing for almost all of my runs these last few months. My “uniform” so to speak.

Pigeon was set to arrive at my house where Stonegate would pick us up and take us to the race start. Stonegate is running Way Too Cool next weekend and we were lucky to have her chauffeur services to the start. Tri-Girl also met at my house as she had decided to sign up for the race.

The race is a point to point starting at Magnolia Ranch. There were strict parking or rather NO parking rules. Stonegate got us there in plenty of time. We were able to enter the main parking lot and hop out of the car to register with Coach Nikon, the Race Director. It is always great seeing his smiling sarcastic face first thing in the morning before a race. His races are always a class act and well put together. He has probably the best volunteers around too and you can’t have a good race without great volunteers.

After signing in, Pigeon and I hopped back into Stongate’s car while Tri-Girl decided to get into the mile long porta-potty line. This gave us a good reason to sit in the lot waiting for her. The park rangers were there and we were watching. Unfortunately, the line was not moving super fast and so Stonegate had to move the car to across the street. Long story short, we kept missing Tri-Girl as she was trying to get back to the car. Poor Stonegate probably drove back and forth about a million and two times trying to find her, drop us off and then drop her off. :)Â We saw so many awesome trail friends at the start. This race was full of smiling friendly faces. It was so nice to say hi, get hugs and catch up with everyone.

I was starting to get excited and a bit nervous. At some point during all of this pre-race waiting, I heard something that unfortunately I let get into my head. This person didn’t mean any harm or ill will at all. My head just operates in a certain way and my brain reacted (or maybe over-reacted?) and went into over drive. This would haunt me for most of the race and cause me to battle internally over and over with myself. I was trying to will myself out of the negative mental spiral I was putting myself into but combined with all the other little things that didn’t go as planned, it made for a long and interesting experience out there.

Finally, Coach Nikon had us gather at the start. I loved the low-keyness to the race. He gave us a pre-race briefing and pep talk in Coach Nikon fashion. He said, “We used over 9 rolls of tape to mark this course in addition to trail chalk. If you get lost, I want to know how you did it.” 🙂

He counted down and we were off. I would venture to guess there was close to 180 people in the race. While not large, it still made for an interesting start jockeying for position on the very wide trail. There were some puddles and mud and then all of a sudden, we were at our first shin high stream crossing. We were not even at one mile yet! That’s how you start a race!

It starts with a pretty good up hill climb with some switch backs along the way. Â Pigeon, Tri-Girl and I were close together. We saw some friends along the way like Miss P and we all sort of ran together trying to get out of the congestion a bit. For some reason, the congestion was bugging me. I like to have space and there was none at this point. I was also starting to feel my stomach sloshing around a bit. Uh-oh. That is not what I wanted right off the bat.

I climbed, ran and hiked hard. There were some good down sections too. Tri-Girl took off. Pigeon and I tried to conserve our legs and our energy knowing what was to come. This is where my brain started taking over again. I could not shake my thoughts so I ran, harder. Pigeon told me not to go chasing some girl down the hill. She knew I was itching to just open it up but it was too soon.

The trails are gorgeous through these sections. I truly wished I had my camera. At some point, we caught up to and passed Tri-Girl. Running the downs and trying to hike the ups. As Pigeon and I were running there was this guy next to us who started talking about “the hill.” He was worried, “It is the biggest hill in the race. You have to walk it. It is huge.” This got Pigeon in a bit of worrisome state as she had not been on these trails prior to the race. She’s only run a certain section of the course. She turns to me, “How big of a hill? Like a Diamond Peak hill?” I told her, no and that she’s already climbed it once before. He was talking about the hill that was at the first aid-station by Cronin Ranch. It was a hill but it was a long gradual hill and she has climbed far worse in her days. It was also at this point that I looked down at my garmin watch and realized it wasn’t working. At all. I had no time no mileage. Crap! I tend to use the time feature often when it comes to fueling. I had forgotten to power it down and then restart it before the race. Again, something I didn’t plan on happening.

However, I knew we were getting close to the aid-station (4.43 miles into the race). I turned to Pigeon and told her my tummy was not happy. She told me to sprint ahead and go use the bathroom that we remembered was at this particular aid-station. So I did. I sprinted like I was on fire. I ran so hard trying to get ahead and when I reached the aid-station and all the wonderful volunteers who were so ready to help me, I ran right past them. They looked confused but they must have figured out I was going to use the bathroom except the bathroom was SO FAR AWAY. I am not talking a couple of yards, I am talking VERY far away. I was sprinting my little heart out and then just started freaking out that it was too far. When I turned back to look at the aid-station, Pigeon was just getting there. Forget it. If I had continued on, I would have been so far behind. Instead, I turned around. I convinced myself that I would just make it to the next aid-station.

When I finally reached the aid-station Pigeon was talking to the volunteers. Pigeon said, “that’s Trailmomma!” A lovely woman smiled at me and said, “Hi Trailmomma! This is Dizzy!” pointing to another runner. I have to apologize to these two, I was so confused. I thought at first, she was telling me that this guy was dizzy. However, she was trying to tell me that both of them read my blog and follow me and that his name is listed as Dizzy in my followers list! Dizzy I am SO sorry! I must have looked totally confused. So I want to give a shout out to Dizzy and that super wonderful volunteer whose name I did not catch who follow me! Thank you SO much for being out there yesterday and thank you for following all my crazy running stories! 🙂

Next it was time to climb Pedro Hill, the big hill that other runner was worried about. I just put my head down and climbed. I’ve been working on my climbing over the last few months and it has been paying off. I finally feel strong when I climb (most of the time).

Battling the demons in my head and the alien in my stomach, I just climbed and climbed. We finally reached the top with its amazing views and started running the nice long down stretch. What goes up, must come down.

The next aid-station was at mile 7 (Norton Ravine) but there was no bathroom. The next aid-station after that where there WAS a bathroom was at Skunk Hollow but that was 5.8 miles and a lot of rolling hills away.

This is where my brain took over. There are some pretty good climbs and some technical sections during these 5.8 miles. I was not in the mood for chit chat. I pulled ahead of Pigeon and just hiked the up hills hard or even ran some of them. I ran the downs pretty hard too. It was almost as if I was trying to kill the negative thoughts through my head. My Â tummy felt better when I was running compared to when I had to stop and hike. I just motored.

For a while, Pigeon was not behind me. I couldn’t even see her. My legs felt good and strong which bothered me because I felt I could have run even better if I wasn’t dealing with that alien in my tummy.Â At one point you get to a switch back area and I could see Pigeon. I looked down at her and she looked up at me and I mouthed the word, “bathroom” and she goes, “is that’s whats going on?” 🙂 That made me laugh. Pigeon and I know each other well out on the trail. She is training for a 100 mile race in July. Yesterday was a training run for her, not a race. She needed to get the miles in AND be able to run today on tired legs. For me, she knew I was excited about this race. Us separating in races doesn’t happen often but it goes without saying that both of us supports the other one no matter what. If one of us is running strong, the other lets it go and supports her 100%.

So I was gone. I wanted to get to Skunk Hollow (mile 12.8) and I wanted to get there fast. I blew down the Red Dragon faster than I ever have in a training run. Some guy got frustrated with me being behind him and stopped to let me pass. I apologized for being on his tail. 🙂

I could hear the aid-station ahead of me. I could hear the cheers. I also knew there were real bathrooms there! But first, I had the first of many surprises out on the trail!

Vans surprised me by having the girls on the trail! They were a sight for sore eyes for sure!

Vans asked me where Pigeon was and I told him that she was behind me somewhere and that I had to use the bathroom fast. I left them on the trail and headed to the aid-station. I went straight to the bathroom and when I came out I saw Missouri and JCM there with smiles and a sign.

I saw Tri-Girl leave the aid-station and make her way up the hill. I saw quite a few friends here too and stopped to chat. They all asked me where Pigeon was. Finally Pigeon came in and made a bee-line to the bathrooms as well.

I see Pigeon coming in but apparently I needed more hugs.

I stayed at this aid-station talking to Vans and the girls and few other friends for quite a bit. Pigeon had to say hi to Missouri and JCM and fuel as well.

We were told it was raining at the finish and that the storm was moving our way. It was getting colder and darker for sure and the rain was spitting at a us a little bit, but not too bad. Pigeon and I left the aid-station together. She told me that I had killed that first section and I told her I was fueled by the demon in my head and the alien in my stomach. While I felt better, my tummy was definitely not having a good day and continued to be a worry for me the rest of the race.

Pigeon and I crossed the Salmon Falls bridge over to Sweetwater and back onto the trail. I entered the trail first and again some how pulled ahead. The next aid-station was 4.1 miles away. The trails of Sweetwater are well, pretty darn sweet. VERY runnable with a lot of rolling hills. I just was cruising again. On auto pilot basically, feeling strong and full of emotion. I came up behind a guy wearing a yellow racing jersey. I was so far in my head at this point that I pulled one of the biggest rookie moves ever when it comes to trail running. I followed the jersey instead of the ribbons. What happens when you do that? You go off course. Yup, I got lost. I was zoning and running hard and followed this guy and had a guy behind me follow me. When I heard the road I knew we had made a mistake. Both of the guys were in doubt and swore up and down that there were no ribbons. A hiker told us that yes we did miss a turn and we had to run back. The guys were in doubt. I was angry and told them, yes we missed a turn and just bolted ahead of them running my heart out to find the course again. I was probably a good 10 minutes ahead of Pigeon and when I finally found the course and saw the stream I was supposed to cross earlier (and about 100 ribbons mind you) I called out to her. She turned and looked so perplexed. “What are you doing behind me?”

The moment I realized I had made a wrong turn and basically ran a mile or so out of my way, I deflated. Every ounce of energy that I had, just let out like one big giant sigh. I was done. I was tired of fighting the demon in my head which was not allowing me to enjoy my day. I was tired of my stomach not settling itself no matter what I tried. Now I had to come to terms with the fact that I had run off course and added a mile to my day. Mentally I was done. I let Pigeon get in front and I just followed her legs up the trail. I was tired. I was beat. This was not the day I wanted and truly, I had no one to blame but myself 100%.

Pigeon carried me for a bit. I just needed to check out. We laughed about the fact that I got lost after Coach Nikon’s pre-race speech and I laughed that there really were about 100 ribbons indicating the turn that I had somehow missed. I couldn’t dwell on stuff. I had to let go. I was finally starting to let go of that demon, that pressure that I had put on myself from the start.

The next aid was at mile 16.9, more than halfway through the race. We saw Captain Kirk and Wonder Woman at this aid-station. Always great to see their smiling faces. Captain Kirk laughed that I had gotten lost. He knew the guy who had led me astray. 🙂

After the aid-station, the next one would be 6.9 miles away. The largest stretch between aid-stations of the race. Finally feeling like I had freed myself a bit from the pressure I had put myself under and from trying to control the things I could not control, I let go and tried to enjoy what was left of my race.

Little did I know, that Vans would be my superhero. He knows these trails very well from mountain biking and he knew just where to go to find me.

I was running behind Pigeon when I heard her yell, “Hey!” I looked up and saw two smiling faces that just melted my heart and gave me a boost.

My girls were having quite the adventure on the trails all day and were always happy to come give me a hug when they saw me.

Pigeon even said they were giving her a boost too. Post race, I heard from quite a few runners that my two smiling angels actually gave a lot of runners a boost. I love my trail cheerleaders!

Vans was awesome as well. I told him I was not feeling 100% but that I was doing okay. I told him it wasn’t the day I had planned but it was still a great day.

One thing to note, besides being beautiful single track trails they were also poison oak infested trails! It was everywhere. I used to not be able to pick out poison oak, but these leaves were SO red that it was impossible not to see it.

Pigeon and I continued on. We’d play leap frog with a couple of runners. I was still feeling deflated and content to take up the caboose. MyÂ left knee was starting to bug me. We still had a long way to go too.

At one point as I was running behind Pigeon I saw some movement on the trail in front of her. TURKEYS! Three of them to be precise. Pigeon started running, clapping and yelling “gobble gobble gobble” and she scared those turkeys right off the trail for me. Thank goodness I wasn’t in the lead at this point as I might have completely freaked out. Thanks Pigeon!!

The male reproductive organs do not affected the way female reproductive organs are affected by external changes. davidfraymusic.com viagra price canada Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can also be performed to detect sildenafil online no prescription virus specific antibodies and antigens. It is packed with sildenafil citrate, pill viagra for sale davidfraymusic.com which is a PDE-5 (Phosphodiesterase sort 5) inhibitor. Some men may already be taking medicines that interact with cialis pills online http://davidfraymusic.com/2019/03/ It is extremely important for you to know that this medicine may interact with other medicines.
I was trying to fuel the best I could despite the alien in my tummy starting to wake up again. It was always there but it was starting to get antsy again and I was trying to ignore it.

For fuel I had brought a ton of options with me. I had two baggies with salted potatoes. I had my favorite Picky Bars broken in to pieces. I had salted plantain chips and I had ProBar Bolts just in case. I also had (somewhere in my pack) chocolate covered espresso beans which I never even touched.

These next few miles were rollers again and Pigeon was pushing the pace a bit. I didn’t mind. It felt good to mentally check out and let someone else dictate what I had to do. Again, I heard her yell “Hey there!”

More hugs,Â hellos and another boost of energy for my heart and brain. These smiling faces brought so much happiness to me it made me realize that I needed to let go of what I had battled so much on the first half the race.

I knew that Pigeon and I were approaching Spanish House which is a section that I have run many times. I wasn’t quite sure where the next aid-station was, and without my garmin I had no idea where we were mileage wise.

I was starting to feel the burn though. The eagerness to be done. To be at the finish line and not out on the trails. I don’t have that feeling often, but I had it a few times during this last stretch.

Finally we were approaching Fitch Ct. aid-station (mile 24). I heard “Hey Pam!!!” and I looked up and saw Seth from The Ranch Athletics waiting for me with a smile and a hug. Another stellar aid-station. I saw Patrick who I used to workout with all the time. Everyone was eager to help me and asked me what I needed. I admit, I was some what out of it here though. I was trying to ascertainÂ what I wanted to do. Up until this point, I had not touched one item at any aid-station. I ate what I brought with me. Here, I looked at the table. I was done with my food. Then, I saw them. Off on the corner of the table, in a bowl were PayDay bars. PayDay bars is what I used to fuel during my first ever 50 miler. I am not a candy bar person but there is something about those PayDay bars that just spoke to me and so I grabbed a couple.

Pigeon and I left eating and hiking at the same time. There was not a lot of space at that aid-station and it seemed a lot of runners had stopped there. Feeling a bit claustrophobic, I told Pigeon I needed to move. She was fine with that.

I turned to her and said, “So we only have one more aid-station to go right?” And she said, “No we have two more.” My head said no way. I told her I wasn’t too sure about that but she was adamant that we had two more aid-stations. Hmmm, okay.

MyÂ left knee was screaming at me so somewhere in here I took two advil. It seems I end up having to do this more and more near the end of races to ward off the knee pain from getting worse. Except this time, it made myÂ left knee pain completely disappear but caused some screaming intense pain in myÂ right knee and lower back. I guess for 24 miles I had been compensating for myÂ left knee which only aggravated my right? Who knows, but it was a slow pain that just kept getting worse and worse as the miles wore on.

Finally, we approached the marina and Browns Ravine. I knew that there had to be an aid-station here. Some how, I had a spark of energy and was ahead of Pigeon again only I didn’t realize it. As I entered the aid-station, I heard “Good job runner!” Runner? Singular? It made me turn around to see where the heck Pigeon was. I really thought she was right behind me.

I arrived at the aid-station and Annabella was there with a HUGE smile on her face! I asked her, “Is this the last aid-station?” She said, “Yup! Only 3.47 to the finish and you are done!” WHAT??!! Seriously!?

At this point, Pigeon came running in and was grabbing some coke and some pretzels. I said, “Hey this is it!” and she goes, “Yeah only 3.47 to the next aid-station,” and I said, “NO! 3.47 to the FINISH!” Again, she didn’t believe me, it took the volunteers AND the fact that there was a sign taped to the table that said, “3.47 to FINISH” for her to finally get it. Boy, did we laugh about that one. Pigeon laughed hard and apologized profusely. It was funny.

We were now on the section that is basically the start of the American River 50 Mile race. This section I know like the back of my hand but funny enough, I have never ever been on this section with tired legs. This is only a few miles from my house so when I run it, I haven’t run far. Running on this section with 28 miles already on your legs makes it feel like a completely different trail. Tiny little rollers that I normally run up seemed like mountains to me. Yet we knew the finish was near. We could smell it.

Finally we could see the levee that we’d have to run over and we could HEAR the finish line. We could hear Coach Nikon’s voice over the loud speaker. We were almost there.

As we were coming down off the trail and onto the levee, Pigeon yells from behind me, “Is that TiggerT?” And sure enough, sitting perched on the levee like a shining light was TiggerT! What a sight for sore eyes. She smiled and congratulated us. Pigeon and I guilted her into walking the mile to the finish to come hang out with us. 🙂

Hanging out at the finish line waiting.... — Hanging out at the finish line waiting….

The levee we had to run was probably the longest mile of my life. You could see the finish. You could see runners before you finishing but yet the distance on the levee didn’t seem to change. No matter how many steps we took, it didn’t seem to get any closer!

Finally, I was off the levee. We had to climb a couple of rollers but I saw that finish line. I saw my girls waiting and all of a sudden I was over come with joy, exhaustion and a desire to just get it done. Pigeon wasn’t far behind me.

I started to run harder. Pigeon and I have a history of sprint finishes at all of our races that we finish together. It is all in good fun. I was slightly concerned my girls were going to jump out onto the trail and run with me, which is fine (sometimes) but I really just wanted to run and be done.

Coach Nikon was on the microphone. I could hear him laughing and announcing that I was coming in and that my running partner wasn’t too far behind me. Would there be a race to the finish?

I knew Pigeon was behind me but I also knew I had a few steps ahead of her. Still, I wasn’t sure if she’d try and pull a sneak attack on me.

I crossed the first mat not realizing there was a second mat that I had to cross. Coach Nikon started yelling something and I had a feeling that Pigeon was trying to catch up and pass. 🙂

I finished one full second ahead of her. She was trying to pull a finish shoot sneak attack but when you have Coach Nikon calling the play by play over the loud speaker, that’s a little hard to do. 🙂

We did it! We were done!! What a long day full of so many lessons for me. I was happy to be done and happy to have so many awesome faces at the finish.

Coach Nikon telling us about the day from his end.

Me very animatedly telling Coach Nikon how I got lost and how it totally was my fault.

The minute I finished my lower back pretty much seized up. Whatever had been going on with it held off until I had crossed the finish line (thankfully).

Now that we were done, it was time to try and remove the poison oak that was covering our bodies, change and relax.

TiggerT came after all and enjoyed in some awesome post race views and laughs

My monkeys just climbed trees and had a blast playing around

So many good things happened during this race too. The volunteers were spectacular. The course was amazing. It is such a runnable course that it is deceiving because you spend very little time hiking the way you would do if you were running in Auburn. Here, you can run so you find yourself running a lot more miles than you hike which in the end, really adds a lot to your tired legs.

Missouri made an awesome sign for Pigeon and I. She had it at Skunk Hollow but we didn’t get a photo of it until after the race.

Vans was the best. His support and efforts to get himself and the girls all over the course was truly the lift I needed to get out of my head and back into the fact that I run to have fun. I run to enjoy the day, the trails and my friends. Thank you Vans for being the best trail husband ever. I love you.

Pigeon was pillar of support out there. She constantly was telling me how strong I looked and how smart I was running despite the fact that I didn’t feel smart or strong some of the time. She ran a great race herself. She executed it exactly the way I think she wanted. She ran steady the whole time. She struggled I think with the fact that her legs ran more miles than she is really used to running (compared to hiking massive climbs in Auburn and Tahoe) but she handled it well and had juice in the tank when she needed it. Her spirits were up too. If she had down moments, I hardly knew about them (unless she had them when I was off having my crazy moments ahead haha).

Many thanks to all my awesome trail friends and to Missouri, TiggerT and Coach Nikon. It was a great inaugural race and I know that many other runners were super happy with the course, the race and the volunteers. Like I said, Coach Nikon’s events are well organized and always a blast.

Now I rest. I plan to take a couple of days to figure out what is going with my back. I am not sore other than the low back pain today. I feel well. My quads are not sore, my legs feel like they could go for a run but my back is stiff and tight. I plan to take a couple of days off maybe to rest and stretch. Next weekend is the Way Too Cool 50k race and I plan to be out there supporting Stonegate through her first 50k finish.

And of course, in typical Trailmomma fashion, I have other things up my sleeve so stay tuned for more. Oh and if you made it through this entire blog post, you need a medal! Wow, talk about a long winded report! 🙂 I also have not proof read this (duh, it’s way too long haha) so please excuse the typos .. eventually I will fix them.

Happy Trails!

~Trailmomma

December 9, 2014November 17, 2016

CIM 2014 RACE REPORT

This past Sunday I ran my 6^th CIM (California International Marathon) and my 8^th marathon total. I didn’t blog much about CIM mainly because I had that OTHER big race I was thinking about and preparing for. Yet, CIM is one of those races that is near and dear to my heart.

It was my first ever marathon. It was the first marathon that I ever truly bonked and completely injured myself during the course of running it. When I was pregnant with the Peanut and couldn’t run the marathon, I ran the relay. It was also my first major run after my ankle surgery last year. It holds my marathon PR to this day and I just love that it is in my own back yard. Since my first year in 2004, I have only missed running it a handful of times.

With that said, last year somewhere between miles 40 and 50 on the American River 50 course, TiggerT said to me, “You need to run CIM with me again this year if I am pacing you during an ultra!” That seemed fair right? She paced me 10 miles and I was to pace her 26.2, ya, math is truly not my strongest asset.

Still, I adore TiggerT and I ran with her last year during CIM just 3 months after my surgery. Not the smartest move at the time, but it worked out for both of us. I got to see how I would hold up running that far and she had someone by her side.

Fast forward to just a few months ago when TiggerT tells me she hasn’t been running very much. She has this bum hip that has been screaming at her for quite a while and it seemed the closer that CIM came, the more it barked. She had not run longer than 8 miles in the months leading up to the race.

Lucky (or unlucky?) for her, she has quite a few friends that said, “Nah! You can do it! Heck, we’ll do it with you and we haven’t trained either!” Ya have to love runners.

I told her I was keeping my promise. I would be by her side helping her get to that finish line and LAUGHING most of the way too. She tried to push me away and tell me that I could go run it with all my heart and see what I could do time-wise. Besides the fact that I had no intention of dropping her, I have not run on pavement in over a YEAR. My tender little tootsies have been running on dirt trails for the better part of a year. Switching to pavement is a whole separate beast. Sure miles are miles to some, but for me (and my back and my feet and my knees) there is a significant difference between the two.

When CIM expo week arrived I started to get excited. CIM traverses through Folsom, Orangevale, Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks, Carmichael and Sacramento. It was founded in 1983 and was celebrating its 31^st race this year. I was excited!

I missed the expo last year but made a point to go and get my bib this year and for fun, I brought Vans along with me. He loves a good expo (aka free snacks and goodies). We saw TiggerT while we were there and I saw quite a few ultra-buddies too. It is such an electric environment! I love it.

With my bib in hand, I felt ready. I knew I could cover the distance, I just wanted TiggerT to be able to do it too and I could see and sense the fear in her every time we’d talk. That uncertainty can really play with your head. Yet, she’s strong and she said that NOT starting, was NOT an option (yet she had no qualms about bowing out mid-race).

Sunday morning couldn’t come quick enough. The weather was predicted to be absolutely gorgeous albeit even a little warm for this time of year. Last year’s CIM was a massive ice festival with a max of like 30 degrees for the day! That’s cold for around here.

5:40 right on the button, TiggerT arrived in my driveway ready to take me to the start. She has run this race so many times (way more than I) that she has the starting ritual down to a science. We get dropped off at a gas station, we use their inside (warm) bathroom and then we hop on a bus that takes us to the start and drops us off in the thick of things. This year, the bus took a different route which did cause a mild case of “What the?!” from TiggerT and myself. Glad to see that we were both paying attention!

Another quick jump into the super long porta-potty lines and then TiggerT dropped her bag of warm clothes off in the truck. This year I didn’t bring anything. I wore a long sleeve t-shirt that I was willing to toss and it was warm enough for shorts (or a running skirt). I didn’t need gloves or anything like years past, it was great! I had one water bottle with me and I threw some fuel in the pocket of my skirt. Inside the bottle pouch I had some salt tabs. Something just nagged at me that morning to grab a couple salt tabs just in case it got too warm too fast.

We found TiggerT’s crew and we made our way up towards the start line. It was just a sea of runners. The excitement was overflowing. We listened to the most beautiful rendition of the National Anthem and then they started the wheelchair division first.

When they blew the horn we made our way shuffling with thousands of others past the starting arches. We were on our way. TiggerT started off at such a good pace I wasn’t sure what to do. She seemed okay. Maybe she was trying to warm up? I just went with it. She ran ahead of her friends and we soon lost them in the crowd behind us.

We had goals in mind. We knew that TiggerT’s wife would be a mile 5.5 and we knew quite a few of the people running that aid-station as well. Our goal, was get to mile 5.5! TiggerT seemed okay. Me, on the other hand, was starting to think about a pit stop. When we reached the 5.5 aid-station I told TiggerT that I needed to jump into the port-potty line. She joined me. I hate having to stop during a race like this. On the trails, I don’t seem to mind, in a road race, I get annoyed but it is what it is. In line I got to talk to Stonegate who was helping at the aid-station. She laughed when she saw me in line for the bathroom, “Shocker!” she said. It was here that I shed the long sleeve shirt I had in my hands.

With business out of the way we were off again. Prior to our stop we were running right next to the 4:35 pace group which was a bit surprising to me. Yet, TiggerT seemed okay at that pace. Of course when you stop you tend to stiffen up a bit. When we started on our way again, I noticed that TiggerT was a bit slower than before. Maybe she had noticed our pace finally! 🙂

At some point she reconnected with her friends but it was pretty brief. We lost them again as our pace just naturally seemed to be a bit faster. Our next goal was mile 8 ish where we’d see Pigeon, Missouri and the rest of the Fleet Feet crew.

We talked as we ran. We passed a man holding onto a leash. Of course I just thought it was a dog but then TiggerT turned to me and said, “That was a goat!!” I looked at her and I looked back but I couldn’t see anything, “Are you hallucinating?” I asked her. “No! I swear that was a goat!” We had a good laugh about that one for a few miles which was a nice distraction.

One of my favorite things during a marathon is to read the signs people hold up. Yes, I DO read them so all you spectators out there, KEEP THEM COMING! I love it. One of my mental goals during the marathon is to try and remember the funniest signs that I have seen along the way.

This year, my favorite sign appeared very early in the race yet this woman was a superhero and somehow magically positioned herself all.over.the.course! She was EVERYWHERE! I wish I had a photo of her sign, it wasnâ€™t artistic at all, but the message had me cracking up every time I saw it. The sign read: Chuck Norris has never run a marathon! How funny is that!? There were countless others that made me smile like, Smile if you are not wearing underwear! and Run Now. Wine Later. I love it and appreciate it.

We were trucking along still moving when all of a sudden I see a boy holding a goat. I look at TiggerT, “That’s a goat!” I turn to the kid and said, “Hey man, nice goat.” He smiled and the woman next to him said “Goat-get em!” Which caused the cheesy side of TiggerT and I to crack up with laughter.

When we ran through Old Fair Oaks I saw chickens! I said, “Look chickens!” but TiggerT assured me they were behind the fence (thank goodness).

Somewhere past the half-way point I think, I started to feel the pavement in my feet and the tingling in my calves. They felt like they were on the verge of cramping. I took a salt tab hoping that would help.

The middle miles of this race are usually quite boring. They go through a section of the course that is more business than residential and usually that means a lot fewer spectators out there. Not this year! I have to say I didn’t have the middle mile dread! There were bands and people cheering and it was exciting! Such a difference and I hope it is one that sticks!

At some point in the race, we got to the point where TiggerT needed to walk every so often. At one point, she stopped to use the porta-potty and while she did I tried my hardest to stretch my calves out (they were still screaming at me).

I also ran into an ultra-friend who was running alongside a man dressed as Flash. Head to toe Flash complete with spray painted shoes, water bottle and fanny pack. It was awesome. Everyone would cheer him on as he passed. We ran with them for a bit while I was chatting with my friend who was running the marathon only to head into surgery on Wednesday. Amazing.

Closer and closer to the finish we ran. I was amazed at how quickly the miles were just flying by. It helps when you are running to SEE something, whether it is a friend or an aid-station where you know friends might be, having something there, really makes those miles fly by.
During the release of this drug, the manufacturing company announced that only two percent of the patients will have chills and fever. price for generic viagra Lots of men are suffering from the problem and get difficulty running their sexual life to generic viagra this storefront on sale now the fullest. Modifying diet was mentioned at the beginning of this editorial as being a beneficial way of controlling cholesterol numbers is by controlling the levitra 10 mg diet. This situation causes the arteries to narrow order generic cialis https://pdxcommercial.com/16095-se-mcloughlin-blvd-brochure/ and harden which subsequently results in a very limited blood flow.

Oddly enough, running against the sea of runners was this guy in a speedo. It was pretty funny and he was quite boisterous cheering us on. He had sneakers and a speedo. The cop at the intersection cracked me up because he had this smirk on his face as if he was trying to decide if he should laugh at this guy or arrest him.

Down Fair Oaks Blvd., we ran and when we looked to our left we saw a man, holding two llamas. Yup. Llamas. TiggerT and I just looked at each other to make sure we were both seeing this. We were like, “Look! Llamas!” and the runner behind us said, “Oh thank god you see them too.”

We were quickly approaching Loehmans Plaza. This is roughly just past mile 20 in the race also my old neighborhood. Vans and the girls are generally here cheering us on (as well as hundreds of others). We jogged through the intersection and I couldn’t find Vans. I saw a line of cars and I thought to myself that they must have changed the way they routed traffic and he couldn’t get in (or was running late, or both). It was harder for him to gauge my time this year since we were unsure as to how TiggerT would feel during the race.

We did find TiggerTâ€™s wife and we stopped to say hello. I think TiggerT even sat down for a minute! This would be the last we’d see of her as she was heading home and I was praying Vans would make it to the finish to pick us up.

Miles 20 to 26.2 are always interesting. They are heavily populated with spectators so it isn’t boring but it can be quite deceiving. It is here that you enter the number streets that lead you to the state Capitol. So if you are focusing on the numbers, you are mentally counting down in your head as you run however, the closer you get to downtown, the longer the blocks become so it really starts to mess with your head. I don’t think I looked at one street sign the entire time. I have learned my lesson.

It was on this section that TiggerT ran into quite a few friends and I finally met Jody who commented on my last blog post having run Mt. Tam too. Such a small world! The music on this section is always good too. They have DJs every few blocks. My only complaint is the instrumental band in front of the convention center… I get it, it is artistic but it is NOT motivating to listen to classical music at mile 25 of a marathon.

We were getting closer and closer. I could smell it. I kept wanting to pick up the pace but I was trying to be conscious of TigerT. I am a finish line girl. I know you are supposed to leave it all on the course when you race, but for some reason, I always find a reserve when I get near the finish line. It is in my nature to try and run fast the last mile no matter what.

I kept myself in check and instead focused on seeing my favorite guy at mile 25. Every single year I have run this race, there is this guy dressed like Jesus (wearing a robe and a wig and of course bright blue running shoes) standing ON the course holding a sign that says: THE END IS NEAR! I know he is there but it still to this day, makes me crack up. I love it!

We rounded the corner heading toward the finish line. I saw the number on the clock. It was my slowest marathon to date but I had smiled the whole day so I didn’t care. My goal was to get TiggerT to finish and I did. We crossed in under 5 hours and best of all, she felt (and feels) great! I was worried that this would push her hip over the edge pausing her running career for too long but she tells me days later, that she truly feels great. That makes me so happy.

I feel great as well. My calves were really starting to burn around mile 21. I recall taking another salt and I took an Aleve. I don’t like to take meds during a race but I was seriously on the verge or cramping up something terrible and I figured, why not, we’ll see what happens. As it turns out, the calf pain went away! Days later I feel great, no pain. I do need to foam roll my calves and quads still (I know I know).

As it turns out, a lot of people suffered from cramping on Sunday. We saw people lining the sides of the course trying to stretch their calves or hamstrings. I think the warm temperature really threw everyone for a loop. Vans and the girls made it to the finish area too which was really nice.

Overall, it was a good race. I look forward to a little recovery this week (not much) and then back at it for another trail race in late February and possibly another in April. After that, I may be taking a break from doing any races. There is a summer one on my radar if things work out but if not, no biggie.

Next year however, I want to train and run CIM for time. I think I finally have that PR bug again.

My CIM History to date:

CIM 2004 : First Marathon!

CIM 2005 : First major bonk & race injury

CIM 2006 : Ran the Relay (still injured from previous CIM)

CIM 2007 : Relay Team (ran two legs pregnant with Peanut)

CIM 2008 : PR race, Peanut was 8 months old

CIM 2009 : Missed a new PR by 3 seconds

CIM 2010 : Pregnant with Squeaker so I volunteered

CIM 2011 : DNS (Bronchitis & Squeaker was 6 months)

CIM 2012 : Brother’s Wedding

CIM 2013 : Ran with TiggerT, 3 months post ankle surgery

CIM 2014 : Ran with TiggerT

CIM 2015 : Yes, I already signed up and I may try and actually try to BQ (eeeek)

Happy Trails

~Trailmomma

November 17, 2014October 5, 2016

MT. TAM 50K RACE REPORT

I have been blogging about preparing for this race for quite a while now. I haven’t talked much about it in detail on the blog, other than I had decided to do another 50K with some new training partners. You see, a while ago, Stonegate Girl mentioned to me that she wanted to do a 50k. She has never done a marathon but she did not care. She is strong. She is determined. She wanted to hit the trails. Burning Girl and I agreed to join Stonegate on this adventure as long as we stuck together. Burning Girl had one ultra under belt (ahem, the North Face 50K – a very difficult race that she had done solo) and I had my plethora of races mostly all local and in my own backyard. I was ready. I wanted to venture a little bit out of my comfort zone and try a race that required just a little bit more.

Burning Girl picked the race. The Mt. Tam 50k put on by Inside Trail Racing. I agreed without really looking into the race. I signed up as soon as sign ups were open without thinking twice. I mean, running in the bay area has been a dream and this race cost me $65!? What ultra costs only $65? I signed up and then I looked at some of the race stats but I didn’t look at the elevation map. Hmmmmm…..I should have, right?

Look at those bumps! I knew the race had about 6,800 feet of elevation gain but it never occurred to me how that elevation would play out over the course of 30 miles. In my naive brain, I assumed just a long gradual climb up Mt. Tam, which quite honestly, I knew nothing about.

Well those bumps in the above photo we nicknamed “the boobs” and referred to them as such throughout the race. For example, Stonegate Girl “Hey, what boob are we on?” Burning Girl: “I think we are at the base of number two boob.” Hey, whatever passes the time and makes us laugh right?

Regardless, I knew nothing about the course other than our map showed that it was sort of in the shape of a clover. I was okay with that. Then, a few days before the race, all participants received THE most confusing email EVER about the race. I should note, that at this event, they had a 10k, a half marathon, a 30K and the 50K all happening at the same time. Here is the blurb we received about the course markings or ribbons that we are supposed to follow during the race:

Let’s read that again, shall we? “50K – Yellow Out to Pink Out to Red/White Checkered Extension to Pink Return to Yellow Return.” Did you get that? Also, my second favorite part is the section that reads: “There will also be blue ribbons on the course. If you run past a blue ribbon you are going the wrong way!” That quickly prompted a chant by us girls throughout the race, “Blue is Bad. Blue is Bad.” Every time we ran by a blue ribbon, we’d say “blue is bad” and if any other runners were near by, they’d laugh.

However, if you compare the course marking description with the course map above, it DOES start to make a little bit of sense. Still, we ran with a copy of the map in our packs JUST in case and as it turns out, they came in handy.

On Friday, Stonegate Girl and Burning Girl picked me up at work and we left for Mill Valley. Stonegate has this amazing friend, who I am going to call ‘Mill Valley’ because she is as beautiful and as amazing as that little town. Mill Valley offered to let us stay at her house before and after the race. She has BEDS! Do you how amazing it is to sleep in a nice warm bed in someone’s home before a race? It eased all the tension and nerves that I had I about my pre-race routine.

Packet Pickup was at the San Francisco Running Company store in Mill Valley and it was really neat going there. I’ve heard and seen so many things on Facebook about this store and the runs they lead, and it was kind of neat actually getting to visit it in person. Scott Jurek had only been there a few days before!

However we were antsy and ready for Saturday. We were tired of this waiting and were ready to get this race started. The night before, the girls got some pizza and brought it home while I brought some of my food with me. As of late, my “go-to” pre long run meal has been plain steamed quinoa with some tempeh bacon that I have been addicted to making lately. For some reason, this meal has been siting fairly well with me for most long runs.

Saturday morning came soon enough and we loaded the car and headed to the beach. We wanted to get there with enough time to use the bathrooms and just relax and take it all in. Oddly, the race didn’t start until 8:30 am which is really a late start for an ultra. It was cold but not as cold as I had expected. I knew that during the race we might reach 70 degrees and I naively dressed in a t-shirt instead of a tank top. That may be my one regret on this race.

So, here is the point where I am going to give you a heads up that this is going to be a super long race report (wait, isn’t it already too long?) but I promise to provide a TON of photos. I went a little nuts on this run and rightly so as you will see. Truly an amazing course with remarkable terrain that varies from desert like situations to rain forest. Truly spectacular. So, grab some tea and settle in or bookmark this page to return to later. 🙂

We arrived at the start finish area and hit the bathrooms. We stayed warm in the car for quite a while just assessing all the people around us trying figure out who was running what race (remember, there were 4 different races happening).

Finally it was time to get out of the car, get dressed, put together our packs and head to the starting area where the race director was giving us some last-minute instruction about the course markings (remember, Blue is Bad). The 50k and 30k runners would start together and the rest of the race would start later at 9 am.

In all, there were only 91 runners doing the 50K and there were 107 running doing the 30K distance. Overall, probably one of the smallest races I have done in a while.

One, two, three go! We were off and it was a conga line from the start. They had us ~~squeeze~~ run under the Start/Finish arch and onto the street and up towards the trail except it wasn’t a trail at all, it was a flight of stairs ….

This is not what my cold legs wanted. In hind sight, a warm up run to stretch the legs might have been needed in this race. Starting a race up hill is never easy. Starting a race on a flight of stairs? Forget about it.

I will warn you, a lot of my photos from the beginning of the race are going to be blurry but I am going to include them anyway so you can see exactly what the terrain looked like. In actuality, the trail itself seemed blurry to me as I was running. My eyes were tearing up and it was just over cast and very muggy to start.

Very overcast at first — Over cast skiesÂ at first

I knew the first aid-station was 3.7 miles into the race and I knew it was where we would see Mill Valley and her amazing friend Ironman April. Normally the first aid-station comes and goes but I realized quickly that this was not an ordinary race at all and it wasn’t long before I was counting the minutes until we saw that aid-station.

But first, we had 3.7 mile of insane trails to conquer… all of it uphill … with a few obstacles thrown in for good measure.

The ground was soggy and very slippery. If you stepped on a root, you slipped. If you stepped on a rock, you slipped. If you stepped on some mud, you slipped. You just couldn’t win on this section of the course. It made me wish that I had changed my shoes to my newer models before the race. Awe well, too late now!

Not the most flattering shot but you see how steep and wet it is on the trail.

I knew this race had stairs and I knew that within the first three miles, we’d hit a ladder. Yes, I said ladder.

As soon as I saw it I smiled. HOW FLIPPING COOL IS THAT!!?? Despite feeling a little bit tired still, I was in trail heaven.

Since we were running with the 30K runners the first 3 miles were pretty congested. It wasn’t too bad and it helped distract me up some grueling climbs to listen to some of the conversations happening around me. I needed it as my lungs were not adjusting. I couldn’t fathom why because it wasn’t like we were in Tahoe at massive elevation. I just couldn’t catch my breath or get my lungs ready and my legs were feeling like the blood wasn’t reaching them. It messed with my head a little bit but I know a 50K is a long race and that things can change in a moment’s notice. I knew that I would turn a corner eventually and that perhaps I needed more fuel than I thought on this 3.7 mile stretch.

We finally made it to the aid-station and were super excited to see Mill Valley and Ironman April hooting and hollering for us!

Me carrying my camera! Classic. — Carrying my camera! Classic.

I really wanted to check out the fuel here at the aid-station but I felt like we were rushed. Normally fueling only 4 miles into a race is not usually needed but after a climb like we had just tackled, it definitely was … but we got caught up in taking photos instead.

Let's go get this! — Let’s go get this! (ps – Why do I look so short?)

Mill Valley & Ironman April – our crew masters!

The next thing that I know, Burning Girl and Stonegate are taking off down the trail. I tried to eat a few of my plantain chips along the way but they really were not hitting the spot. I realized I probably needed a salt and I took one which really did seem to help a bit. The girls had said that they were not going to do aid-station fuel and only stick with what they brought but when they took one look at the aid-table and all it had to offer … they looked like two kids in a candy store! I believe Nutter Butters is what Burning Girl zeroed in on. Every race I find there is one item on the table that is your saving grace. Something that your body is craving AND needing during extreme measures. I had this happen to me on this race (despite a lot of inner turmoil).

At one point we came to a group of about 3 or 4 guys standing around looking a park map. They asked us which way to go. To the left of us were orange ribbons and to the right of us were pink ribbons with some stripes. Burning Girl says “We go left. I am almost positive.” And so we all started off in that direction. A few feet into our run I say, “We are at orange already?” and then Burning Girl stops in her tracks and pulls out her map. Nope. We had to go right. We yelled to the men we had sent off running telling them we had to go the other way. I said, “Man, they finally stop and ask for directions and look what happens!” One of the guys really liked that. 🙂

Over the logs in the middle of the trail.

We had about 6 miles until the next aid-station and I was battling some low energy despite having finally started my fueling. I just kept thinking to myself, “there has to be some flat sections. We can’t go up up up and then down down down all the time!” There were some flat sections, but very very few of them.

When we reached the aid-station at mile 9 I reached for some potatoes and salt. I told the girls I wanted a minute here. I wanted to scan the table and see what I wanted. I had also accidentally dropped ALL my salt tabs on the trail a few miles back. I had reached for my salt tube while running and all of a sudden it was raining salt tabs every where. Ooops. So while at this aid-station, I quickly refilled my bottle and grabbed some solid food.

Then I grabbed a cup. I thought that I had grabbed water but it wasn’t. When I looked, I had this electric greenish yellow drink in my little dixie cup. Mountain Dew. Crap. I stared at that cup for what seemed like forever battling my brain. Over and over my head kept saying “don’t do it, don’t drink it” but my body just kept bringing the cup closer to my mouth. I am anti soda. I am probably one of the most vocal anti-soda people around but I understand WHY they are at ultra races. They serve a purpose with their sugar, easily digestible big doses of calories and of course the caffeine. Mind you, I haven’t had caffeine in a very long time … so this was going to be interesting.

I downed the cup before we left and my hand reached onto the table and grabbed two watermelon Jolly Ranchers (what the?!). Another thing I rarely eat but something told me to grab them. So I did.

Within minutes I had a new-found energy and enthusiasm. I had motivation. My legs had pep to them. I had finally found my lungs. As much as I hated to admit it, that darn Mountain Dew saved my race.

Just in time too because we had to start climbing more stairs … ah the stairs. There were a lot of them in this race.

Soon we were coming out of the “forest” and more into the open exposed cliff side of the race and would start experiencing the heat of the day with little to no coverage.

I was in heaven. I would let the girls run and I would just stop and take the occasional photo. For a brief bit, we were dumped back into a forest area and saw the most amazing tree houses. We couldn’t figure out what they were but they looked so cool!

I think we were all in pretty good spirits at this point. Burning Girl was leading the way most of the time. We were eager to get off the pink ribbons course and find the checkered ribbon part of the course.

Our next aid-station was huge. It was huge because it was basically the half way point of our race and it was at Muir Beach. I was excited to get there because I have never been and so far, this race had so many surprises. I also found that on the massive up hill climbs, that Jolly Rancher that I had tucked in my pocket, saved me. I would just slowly eat that while I climbed and it kept my mind off the hill, gave me some sugar and made smell super pretty! 🙂

One of the crazy cool surprises along the way.

This course changed all the time! I never knew what to expect just around the corner from us. Which was really neat for me. I enjoy not knowing what is ahead sometimes.

Tadalis Oral Jelly cheap cialis overnight is an approved drug by FDA. The special breathing devices like “Samozdrav”, outside the Russia it’s branded as “Cosmic Health ” – the development of Russian scientists working in the field of cosmonautics. http://secretworldchronicle.com/2017/09/ cialis prices Benefits of taking Kamagra- secretworldchronicle.com pfizer viagra mastercard Apart from the affordable price when you buy kamagra oral jelly online. Keep up my link commander viagra the good work.

We were clearly on our way to the ocean at one point. The dirt turned a bit sandy and we were on the open trails finally heading DOWN and not up for once. Making our way to ocean.

At one point, I stopped and looked ahead of me. You can’t tell through the camera lens but the beautiful blue ocean was right ahead of us.

I called to the girls that I wanted to stop and try to get the photo and they made me finally stop and pose for one. 🙂

I must have taken a ton of photos on this stretch of trail which wasn’t very easy because mountain bikers were flying down at us. We probably passed 15 to 20 mountain bikers on this section of the trail. Most of it was down hill.

There is the water? Can you see the outline now? — There is the water! Can you see the outline now?

It was about here that Burning Girl turned on her jets and took off. She loves down hills and down hills love her. I like them but I also know we had another half of the race to go and I know how my IT band and knees would react later if I pounded them now. As it turns out, they reacted regardless but not as bad as it could have been.

My calves were screaming at me from all the up hill climbing we had previously done so I was taking it easy. At one point I caught up to Stonegate Girl because a group of mountain bikers had us pinned to the side of the trail while they passed, she mentioned that her legs were bugging her too. I told her to let Burning Girl go and to take it easy as I was in the same boat.

By the time we reached the bottom of the hill we had to cross a street and run ourselves into a beach area that was definitely populated with a lot of tourists. The mile 15 aid-station was out near the parking lot and main restrooms to Muir Beach.

It was on this stretch that Stonegate got quiet. It was a essentially flat fire road but in the sun. She was saying her stomach was not feeling right and she thought she might dump her water and put Tailwind electrolyte drink into her hydration pack. I decided I would take advantage of the real restrooms and went and stood in line after I shoved a banana down my throat to try to combat the crampy feeling my calves had at that moment.

By the time I had gotten out of the bathroom, Stonegate was nowhere to be found. Uh-oh I thought but Burning Girl was there and said that she needed to move. She was having stomach issues. I grabbed a Mountain Dew (yes, again) downed it and took off running. I felt pretty amazing and I didn’t want to start feeling poor again. I wanted to stay on top and ahead of the calorie game even if it meant drinking soda. I also grabbed two more watermelon Jolly Ranchers.

It was on this fire road out of the park area that Burning Girl turns to me and says, “I may need to borrow some water.” I am like, “Sure, of course I have some. Did you not fill up at the aid-station?” She said she forgot and realized just now that she had no water. Then, the universe opened and she spotted a horse trough … with a hose.

My stomach was churning watching her fill her bladder up at a random hose next to a horse trough but, you do what you have to do and as it turns out, this hose was a miracle hose. The water was COLDER than what was at the aid-station and it would later save one of us while on the trail.

We headed out but Stonegate wasn’t moving. She just kept saying she wasn’t right. Her stomach was not cooperating. Burning Girl offered that maybe she try to throw up to feel better.

Eventually she did and she did feel a bit better. The problem however, is she had just gotten rid of all the calories and water she had just consumed right before we were going to climb one brutal hot and sunny climb back up the mountain.

She was moving but not very quickly. A lot of this section of the trail was not very runnable as it was an up hill switch back climb. Combined with the hot sun and Stonegate’s already low energy … my heart was breaking for her.

The Tailwind electrolyte drink in her pack was warm at this point and of course nothing we had on us for fuel sounded remotely good to her. The only thing she wanted was Burning Girl’s hose water.

So that’s what she had. I was able to get a salt into her at least too but this was going to be a brutal 6+ miles to the next aid-station. We essentially walked from mile 15 to mile 21 with a few sections of running. A lot of it was up hill mind you, so we probably would have hiked quite a bit anyway but really, Burning Girl and I were worried about Stonegate. We just didn’t want her to stop. She would ask to sit every once in a while and we’d let her have a few moments but ultimately, we had to keep her moving. She still had some color in her face but she couldn’t get any fuel into her system.

Finally we reached the aid-station. The aid-station at mile 21 is the same aid-station as mile 3.7 (and also mile 27) so Mill Valley and Ironman April were there waiting for us. We jumped into action. We told them about Stonegate so they grabbed a chair. I tried to force her to drink a coke (she has the same soda battles as I do) and she could barely even hold the cup to her mouth to drink it so I fed her a sip.

She was surrounded by a lot of people at this point all trying to figure out what she needed and trying to decide if she could make the next loop of the course which was 6.7 miles. I told her we could hike that easily if she wanted (although in my head I was worried even that was a stretch). Finally, I looked at my watch and saw that it was 2:10 in the afternoon. This aid-station cut off was 2:30 pm. Stonegate did not look like she was turning a corner. She went from having some color in her cheeks to white face and white lips the moment she sat down, shivering.

She called it. She told us to go on without her and that she was done. Burning Girl and I paused, both saddened by the news but we knew it was probably the best decision. Only she knows her body and what it is capable of handling.

In hind sight, it was the best decision ever as that 6.7 loop was a DOOZY!! We had heard through the grapevine that it was taking runners 2.5 to 3 hours to complete earlier in the day, especially when it was super hot out.

Burning Girl and I took off down the trail finally following the orange ribbons (yea!). As we left someone called out “Hey, just remember it’s a lot of vertical coming back!” Oh great. For the first two or three miles we talked about Stonegate and how worried we were and how she had looked. We realized very quickly that it would have been really tough for her to hike these miles. The terrain was not super easy. We did however find something that could have helped her move a little faster!

I would say we were booking it on this section of the trail. We wanted to get ahead of the cut off by a decent margin and we wanted to get back to Stonegate. When I look back at my Garmin stats, we weren’t running all that fast (sorry Burning Girl!). 🙂 It just felt like we were I guess.

We talked a lot on this loop and Burning Girl made me stop and get in another photo. We were still having a good time. My right knee/IT band was starting to scream at me and I knew we had another 4 mile stretch down hill later so around mile 22, I took some Advil. I don’t generally like to take that stuff at all but I knew we had some gnarly downhills later and I wanted to be ready.

This orange ribbon loop had lots of twists and turns. There were huge trees down on the trail that we had to climb under almost on our hands and knees. It was slippery and very technical in some sections and then out of no where we’d have these soft pine needle covered trails that felt so glorious to run on. I kept running more and more and hiking less.

I also realized that I hadn’t really fueled at all on this loop but it was ok. I tried to get out a Jolly Rancher but it didn’t work (it was all melty and stuck – gross).

Soon it was time to hike back up to the aid-station. We were at mile 27 and I could smell the barn. We had done that 6.7 mile loop in an hour and forty minutes! I was stoked and in the zone to finish this race. But first, it was time to reunite with Stonegate!

She was alive and she had color in her face! A nice guy at the aid-station was able to force her to drink the coke and gave her a bowl of every single thing at the aid-station and told her to try every single thing and when she found something she liked to stop and eat that (wise advice, taking note here). Potato Chips. That was the winner of the day! That guy was a savior.

SO happy to see her smiling again! — SO happy to see herÂ laughing again!

I grabbed one cup of Mountain Dew and that was all. That’s all that I needed to get me 3.7 miles to that finish line. Even more exciting was the fact that Stonegate Girl wanted to join us. Even though she had dropped, she wanted to finish the race with us.

I took the lead (I wanted to be at that finish line!). However we were soon hit with the all familiar sight of stairs … lots of them, all on our way down.

Down down down. Pound. Pound. Pound. It was here that I was so grateful for the Advil that I had taken earlier. While my knee felt stiff, the jabbing pain was not as debilitating as it had been before (whew!).

Soon I saw the ocean coming towards us. The miles were ticking off on my Garmin and I was just getting more and more excited to be done. They threw in two little climbs near the end. The first I walked and the second was almost like a dune on the beach and there was a guy racer hiking it. I just zeroed in on that hill and him and I took off running. I had so much pep in my legs (damn that Mountain Dew). When I got to the top and turned around, the girls were hiking up the hill and just laughing at me. 🙂

Down we went again and I saw another guy on the trail. We passed him. I was just reeling them in as we ran. I felt bad and yelled back an apology to the girls that I was sorry if we were running too much but I just smelled the finish line. We were SO close!

The trail dumped us back out onto the street and we had to run a few yards to the finish. Mill Valley and Ironman April had just arrived in time and were cheering us on as we came into the finish arch!

Done!! I ran the Mt. Tam 50K my first non local race and I felt amazing, inside and out. I was so proud of us.

The finish area of the race was some what of a let down though. Don’t get me wrong, the whole race was fantastic, the volunteers amazing, the course markings were spot on. It is just that normally, ultra events usually consist of 50K, 50 miler and/or 100k races. Since the 50K was the longest distance in this race, and we had struggled a bit, the finish area was almost ready to pack it up. We were way ahead of the 8.5 hour or 5 pm cut off, but clearly with so few runners in the race, we were finishing in the back of the pack which is fine, our goal was to finish with smiles on our faces and we did.

It really was an amazingly well put on race. For such a low entry fee, we received an amazing course with tons of well stocked aid-stations and at the finish, we received a shirt, a cool medal (with a Star Wars theme to it) and pint glass! Pretty sweet.

As much as I wanted to dip my legs in the ocean for my first ever ocean ice bath, everyone seemed more inclined to get warm clothes on and head back to Mill Valley’s for dinner.

Once home, we showered and rehashed the race a bit. Burning Girl had to take off for a work thing and we made a dinner decision. I was starved. I had not eaten I realized, since mile 21. Sure I had that Mountain Dew at mile 27 but nothing solid until we got to the restaurant. I devoured my food in one gulp.

Overall, I would say we were slightly under trained for this race. Not a lot, but we could have used much steeper hills to run on or I should have run the stairs at work. Body wise, I feel fine. No major aches and pains. I can walk. I can take the stairs. I feel great. My stomach is off a day or so later and I think that is probably the soda coming back to bite me BUT I stand by my decision. Without those easily digestable liquid calories, I probably would have struggled.

In my mind, I eat very healthy before, during and after all of my training runs. So if during a race my body is craving something else, I am going to go with it. I am not going to carry soda with me to my races because I truly believe that what saves you will be, and can be, different at every race. For Burning Girl, it was Nutter Butters. For me, it was Mountain Dew and Jolly Ranchers (and bananas – I don’t normally eat those during a race either).

This past weekend was surreal. While I truly missed having my family at the finish, it was for the best. We were out there for 7 hours and 45 minutes. Yes, it took THAT long to complete this race. It would have been a long day for everyone. Vans was manning the fort and kids at home nicely. I was not worried at all.

I also got to sleep in a bed, by myself, without little feet waking me up for a solid night of sleep. I woke up and sipped my tea looking out at this amazing view just feeling so grateful for the friendships I have, my amazing family and my body’s ability to take on challenges.

I want to thank a lot of people. Even though I have done a few ultras before, there was a few people who really knew how much this race meant to me and they sent me amazing texts or emails the night before. I read every word and they touched me more than you will know. Thank you as well to my two cohorts during this race. I adore you crazy girls.

Finally, my little family. My amazing supportive husband Vans. I love him more than I can say and I love that he encourages me (sometimes) to do these crazy adventures. I came home to two very happy kids, a super clean house (score!) and a smiling husband. Clearly the topper on my amazing weekend (and he got me dinner and wine too – woot woot)..

Love of course to my Peanut and Squeaker, who I hope some day will understand why mommy goes away and comes home with a slight limp every once in a while. 🙂 They loved my medal and they love looking at the photos (I have enough of them). I truly am one lucky lady.

Happy Trails!

~Trailmomma

October 28, 2014April 21, 2015

THAT DAM(N) RACE HALF MARATHON RACE REPORT

That Dam(n) Race Half Marathon and 10k race celebrated its third anniversary this past Sunday and I wasÂ FINALLY able to participate!Â 2012 was its inaugural year and I was all signed up to do the half and Vans was signed up to do the 10k but unfortunately, Squeaker fell ill right before the race and I stayed home snuggling her all day long. Vans went on to run the 10k and had an amazing race.

The second year, the entire family volunteered to help at the race but Vans was super sickÂ and it was quite cold so we didn’t stay long after the race. The girls and I had a blast though but I was due. I was due to finally run this race!

I registered pretty early for the race, determined to add it to my calendar. It did fall during a timeÂ in my training scheduleÂ where IÂ was supposed to do aÂ super long run but I tried to improvise. I reached out to my old Coach Nikon and to Pigeon to ask for their advice. Coach Nikon said I should do the race hard and then make up some of the miles before and after but he said that racing hard would be a great training run any day compared to a long slow day. Pigeon offered up running both Saturday AND Sunday. Well, as it turns out, due to a change in plans, I did end up running a little over 7 miles on Saturday and then did the race on Sunday. Boy did my legs feel it!

I left the house bright and early on Sunday because I wanted to get a close parking space. The fire-station at Cool is notoriously hard to park, particularly when a race is involved and I didn’t want to be a mile or two down the haulÂ road from the start/finish area. When I parked it was dark and I realized thatÂ I had left my headlamp at home. Luckily the iPhone has that handy dandy flashlight feature!

Stonegate Girl quickly found me and we left our carsÂ to get our packets. I saw Coach Nikon and the whole crew. It was nice to see everyone! I have missed my old trail people!

Stonegate Girl came and sat in my car with my seat warmers and we just talked until it was time to get ready for the pre-race briefing. Coach Nikon always puts on the best races. He had some neat raffle type gifts that he was handing out to everyone. I think everyone was smiling despite the chilly air and foggy skies.

Soon it was time to line up at the start. I still had my arm sleeves on and I wasn’t sure whether or not I would ever take them off it was that cold!

Coach Nikon blew his little horn and we were off and running. It took a bit for my legs to warm upÂ and catch on that I was running and in this race, the hills come pretty quick. It felt odd at first to be running up some of the hills we typically walk during our training runs but I wanted the race to feel hard so I could say we gave it a good effort.

Stonegate Girl stuck with me the entire time. It was hard letting people pass us from time to time but we were focused on the task at hand, just running and not getting ourselves injured.

Up and down this race goes. StonegateÂ Girl had never been on some of these trails and was totally blown away by the beauty of it all. It was then that I wished that I had brought my camera. Luckily Stonegate Girl had her phone and snapped this awesome shot.

Soon we approached the hill for which this race is named. That Dam(n) hill is brutal. Switch back after switch back you go. What a great training hill!

I was feeling pretty good minus my stomach. I have continued to battle stomach issues lately and it was just hovering below the surface on this run. I knew I would only be able to run for so long before I needed to find a place to duck off the trail. Unfortunately on this portion of the race, there are not many spots to do this!

The volunteers at the aid-stations were awesome. They cheered us on and wanted to know if we needed any water or fuel. I don’t think we stopped at one aid-station. We used our own water and our own fuel most of the race. Always good to practice using what you may use in a race down the road.

Stonegate girl and I finally came to a spot that allowed us to duck off the trail and take care of business. I hated stopping because I knew it was wasting time but I had no choice.

Once we were moving again we came upon a pond and StonegateÂ Girl was beside herself with the beauty of this race. It was super well marked too, no getting lost on this course!

Finally, we could hear the finish line and we could see the line of cars lining up and down the haul road. I was ready to be done. My legs were toast and it felt like I was running in quick sand at times. My legs were spent and so was my stomach (again).Â As we were approaching the finish line, I saw a sight for sore eyes … and I kind of teared up a bit.

My girls and Vans were waiting right at the entrance to the finish line! I was so happy to see them and they were wearing their big clunky rain boots because it was muddy out (great for mud, not for running!). 🙂

The idea operates by assisting to raise blood circulation in the discount levitra rx overall body. You can participate in frequent lovemaking episodes with enhanced energy levels and youthfulness through regular use of this herbal levitra online pharmacy supplement. In viagra online order whole body acidity, the human being discharges the acidic substances throughout body’s fluids. Neurological medical conditions affecting the nervous cialis prescription cost system that is actually dysfunctional and causing these sensations.

Stonegate Girl and I post race — StonegateÂ Girl and I post race

My girls love this race and they LOVE Coach Nikon and his family. I think if the Peanut could, she’d go move in with Coach Nikon’s daughter Cheetah.

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out at the race and just talking to old trail running friends. Peanut was put to work though. She had to earn those extra “finishers” cookies. 🙂

Helping Coach Nikon and Cheetah hand out awards!

Squeaker just follows along and was enjoying the pizza, cookies and music. I truly am so lucky to have such a great cheering section.

My cheering section waiting for me to finish!

This was a great race and I would really like to run it hard some day. I know what I need to work on though because twos daysÂ of running had my legs feeling pretty wobbly after the race. Luckily there was a massage tent which I took full advantage of! It really helped knock the kinks out of my legs. My recovery has been slower than normal lately and I truly believe my lack of stretching is to blame (I know, duh!). IÂ have been working on it! I also think a lack of quality strength training is hurting me as well.

I am looking forward to Coach Nikon’s other race,Â Miners Revenge in April. This is an amazing course and I am spoiled. Coach Nikon really puts on one of the best events in town. He is race directing his first 50K this February too! Check out this link to the Salmon Falls 50K! I am VERY tempted even though I swore up and down that eventually, I’d like to go back to doing shorter distances for a while. At least until my girls get a little older. I know I say this all the time, but it is hard being away from them for so long and ultras require time to train which of course I have been doing a terrible job of lately.

This Saturday will be two weeks until my 50K. After my runÂ this Saturday it will be taper time!! We have a busy weekend ahead which I hope to capture on cameraÂ this time around and blog about. There may be another race report coming your wayÂ involving the ENTIRE family so stay tuned (and cross your fingers). 🙂

Happy Trails & Happy Halloween!

~Trailmomma

Share This:

Share This:

Share This:

Share This:

Share This: