I don’t even know where to begin with this race. I guess an apology should be first. I failed as a blogger by not really taking very many photos. My focus was to finish and at some point during my 62 mile adventure, my focus became “just survive.”
The training road leading up to Quicksilver was long. Back in March I had run the Marin Ultra Challenge (MUC) mostly as a training run but it also was a bucket list race for me as well. However after MUC, I found myself not being as excited to go out for a long run anymore. That’s pretty rare in my world. I love running on trails. A lot.
To be fair, April and May have been insanely busy months for us. Birthdays, vacations, swim team, soccer team, volunteer duties and oh yeah, that full-time job that I have too. I was truly starting to feel like I was burning the candle at both ends some days but then other days, I had boundless energy.
When race week arrived, I had finally started to get excited. I spent the week using my dining room table as my race headquarters, adding and taking away things that I wanted to pack.
I had planned for three drop bags one of which would be a “safety” bag – a bag that I could use if I absolutely needed but wouldn’t mind donating to the post-race lost and found either.
When I ran this race 2 years ago, the biggest concern was inventory at the aid-stations. If you were near the back of the pack, as Pigeon and I were back then, you were &hit out of luck if you wanted soda or water at an aid-station. This time around, I planned my drop bags accordingly.
When Friday rolled around, Pigeon and I left town. Our first stop was at Pushkins (a gluten free and partially vegan bakery) for sandwiches. It was Pigeon’s first time. She dug it.
San Jose is about a 2.5 hour drive for us. Leaving as early as we did, we missed a lot of gnarly traffic. .
We picked up our swag from the Sports Basement, grabbed some food from Whole Foods for post race and then headed to our hotel to chill. We both were spouse-less and childless for the next 24 to 48 hours.
With a 4:30 am race start, 2:15 am came pretty quick. Surprisingly I actually slept quite well. The hotel bed was heaven. We dressed, ate, packed our drop bags and headed to the race start.
This year we didn’t get our bibs until the morning of the race which caused a bit of a back-log and resulted in the race starting 15 minutes late on what was already going to be a VERY hot day. The sky was clear, every star visible which meant the sun would be beating down on us as soon as it came up.
The race director gave us a quick pep talk and at 4:45 am we were on our way, a line of headlamps heading straight up the mountain.
The course this year differed quite a bit compared to two years ago and to how it was listed in their course description (which differed from their turn-by-turn directions). I was a little thrown off by this but the mileage was panning out as expected. I was also running with people so I knew I had not made a wrong turn.
One familiar part was running around the cemetery (it is so cool). Someone yelled, “Trailmomma!” and whoever you were I apologize! I was still adjusting from removing my headlamp and I have no idea who you were but you made me smile so thank you!!!
The first aid-station we came to is Hicks #1 (mile 6.1). I was in and out and on my way.
My legs were feeling pretty good. I had been running quite a bit of the uphills and going slower on the down hills to preserve my quads (which would benefit me later in the day).
The second aid-station was Wood Road #1 (mile 12.5). What a lively bunch! I think I stopped briefly here to see what they had. My goal was to just keep moving and eat what I had on me, what I knew I liked and what I knew worked.
I just kept running and bobbing back and forth with a group that seemed to be running together. I was chatting with a guy who was asking me about Dogmeat. I inadvertently told him that it came around mile 15. Pretty sure it was more like mile 20 or something. Oops
The trail then dumps you out onto the pavement and you’re directed up the hill to the Lexington aid-station (mile 17.9). The girl directing us was none other than Amelia Boone! I totally fan-girled her and said her name and she turned and looked at me like, “Do I know you?” and I just had to say, “You don’t know me, but I follow you on Instagram.” HA! That’s a TOTAL “I carried a watermelon” line!! (Dirty Dancing reference for those who don’t get it).
I was actually laughing to myself as I ran into the aid-station. I was in and out of here pretty quick climbing up the hill to Priest Rock Trail (aka Dogmeat). I don’t think it even registered with me that I was even on Dogmeat until I was mostly done. It didn’t seem as bad as two years ago which is good because what came after WAS pretty terrible! 🙂
Photo by: Sean McPherson
The next 8 miles were newly added to the course last year. You run four miles down (and I do mean down) to the Kennedy Road aid-station (mile 25.8). As I was starting my descent, Cat Bradley was running up the hill and told me she liked my hat. 🙂 Another fan-girl moment.
The descent down wasn’t too terrible, it was hot and exposed but what I noticed most were all the runners coming back up. They looked like they’d been hit by a mack-truck! Brutal.
I made it to the bottom and I over heard the volunteers talking about conserving water and ice. They wouldn’t open another bag of ice for a runner. Uh-oh. That’s not a good sign.
I got in and out of there. I wasn’t eager to climb back out but I did want to get it over with.
Once you climb up those four miles, you continue climbing on the Kennedy Rollers (another 1.5 miles of that I believe) until you are back to the Wood Road aid-station #2 (mile 31.3) which also meant you are half-way done with the race! Yay!!
When I was at the bottom of the hill the volunteer wanted me to call out my bib number but I was so happy to see him that I yelled, “I am so happy to see you I could kiss you right now!” He laughed and told me that was the best response he’d received all day. 🙂
I was really starting to feel the affects of the heat, the distance and the hills. I think I did well by keeping myself cool with my bandanna and my extra water bottle that I used to spray my head and face. My mouth however was not into chewing anything. Certain things that I brought with me I was really trying to force down as I knew at some point, there would be no more solids happening. Calories help make you go and if you can’t take them in, you’ll be in trouble.
Hicks Road #2 (mile 37.8) was next. Here I had a drop bag. Lucky for me I had frozen water bottles that were just almost fully defrosted. I pulled those from my bag and refilled my pack and extra bottle here.
I was some what on a high now as I knew I would be heading to the Hacienda aid-station (mile 41.4) next which was only 3 miles from where there would be a large crowd.
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I left Hacienda excited to get to Mockingbird aid-station (mile 44.5) but my legs wouldn’t have it. I had completely blocked out of my brain how many hills were between Hacienda and Mockingbird. Some runners were picking up their pacers at Hacienda too so they were all happy and coming back to life. I was just eager to get to Mockingbird because I needed the boost and the energy from the crowd even if I didn’t know anyone. 🙂
I arrived at Mockingbird, found my drop bag and did some switching in and out of fuel. I left what wasn’t jiving for me anymore and pulled some new items out that I hoped would help. As I was there, Cat Bradley came through winning the 100k race as first female. I never saw her but I heard everyone cheer. Damn.
I fully admit that I am bad at math. As I was leaving Mockingbird I was texting Vans and Stonegate on my status. I apparently for a little while in my head thought a 100k was 60 miles and thereby eliminated the fact that I had to run more 2 miles. 🙂 I eventually figured out my mistake and again laughed at myself.
When I came to Bull Run #1 aid-station (mile 48.4) I glanced at the table and saw the largest pile of freshly cut orange slices! I grabbed one, shoved it in my mouth and then proceeded to exclaim, “Oh my god this is the best orange in the world!” The woman next to me started laughing. I’m a dork, what can I say? 🙂
I was pretty eager to get to Tina’s Den (aka the mountain lion zone). I was excited NOT because of the potential of seeing a mountain lion but because it is a glorious single track rolling trail (in the shade) and I absolutely LOVE this section.
Once I hit mile 52 on my watch, my brain chemistry changed. I went from “Oh man this race is never going to end,” to “Hell yeah, 10 miles to go let’s do this!”
Whatever I had left in my legs I used them here for a quite a while. I ran and ran. I encouraged some guy who I passed to run and he joined me happy to have me pull him (or so he said). I didn’t have as much energy and power as I had two years ago on this same section but I had also run the whole race faster this time around, I left more on the course. I was trying to remind myself of that.
McAbee aid-station (mile 54.1 formerly Tina’s Den aid-station) came a lot sooner than I remembered. I grabbed a drink here and left. The volunteer said I was the fastest person in and out of that aid-station. There were people laying on the ground, it didn’t look like a place I wanted to stay for very long.
The next 5 miles are some what brutal. You are back on the fire road on a fully exposed trail. Luckily it wasn’t as hot as it had been when I was on Dogmeat and on the Kennedy Rollers but it was still pretty dang hot.
I just kept running all the downs and focusing on the ups and running little stretches of them when my legs would work. I kept counting down the miles in my head. I was doing this! No stopping me now.
Sun, sun, sun … that photo just shows what the day was like. Hot and dry.
I could not wait to get to Bull Run #2 (mile 59) because I knew (even with my lacking math skills) that the finish was just 3 miles away and MOSTLY down hill.
When I reached the aid-station they called out my number and then I walked right past the table. No stopping. Not when there are only 3 miles left. I started hiking with this nice guy from Berkeley. We chatted about our past races etc. It was nice to have someone to talk to for a mile or so. He was one of the few like me without a pacer.
He mentioned that we could finish in sub 15 hours. I wanted to finish in 14:30 but I knew that was out of the picture with the last few hills that lay ahead. My legs had nothing to propel me up but they were doing a pretty bang up job of getting me down.
The minute we came to a down hill I just turned it on and ran. The guy stayed with me for a bit but then said goodbye. I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to run until I could hear the sounds of the finish line and not stop.
Of course I had to stop when I ran right into a massive hill. Darn it! I had forgotten about those hills near the finish line! I was still a little bummed my time was slipping away but was determined to stay under 15 hours.
Finally I heard the sounds of the aid-station. It sounded so far away but I knew it wasn’t, my watch was keeping pretty accurate distance all day and it said it wasn’t far.
Finally I saw it and I just tried so hard to run as fast as I could. I thought I was sprinting but when you look at my splits I think I might have been sprinting if I was in quicksand! 🙂
Photo by Nina Giraudo
I crossed the finish line and threw my hands up in the air. I was so relieved to be done!
What a day!? I am proud of myself for gutting this out. I normally am a pretty positive up beat person when running, but I definitely had one or two internal dark moments out there. I never said the word “quit” but I did have some inner discussions with myself trying to figure out how to keep moving. Luckily I have the ability to laugh at myself a lot and that really helps.
Sadly I found Pigeon waiting for me at the finish line. She had been caught by the sweeps. Neither one of us wanted to stick around the finish line so we hopped on the shuttle and headed back to our hotel.
Luckily we had planned well and had dinner waiting for us. Plant-based pizza and a gluten free Sufferfest beer for me. I think I earned it.
I can’t end this without thanking Vans for all his support these last few months. Not only did he have to hear my whining and moaning about random aches and pains during training, he also stepped up and handled the girls’ mock meet while I was out racing.
I have to thank my Coaches too for seeing me through this and helping me over some hurdles and always reminding me to think about my form (I TOTALLY DID COACH!) and to remain positive and problem solve.
Shout out to Pigeon for sharing hundreds of miles of trails with me every weekend and for all the laughs that we have when we’re together.
Stonegate for all her funny texts and motivation during the race and for consistently getting up with me at the butt crack of dawn to run during the week.
Now it is time to rest. I am going to honor my body and give it what it needs. I’ve been consistently running/training since last summer. I think I deserve a little break and I want to find the joy again. I want to head out on a long run because I WANT to not because I HAVE to.
Happy Trails!
~Trailmomma
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