“pssst! Honey, wake up. I kind of had an accident in the kitchen. I tried to clean it up but I have to leave for my race now … I am SO sorry!” Not the best way to start a race but it sure added some excitement. 🙂
Also buy levitra on line the medicine renders a huge amount of Sildenafil citrate, PDE- inhibitor, whichworks on blood hydraulic effects. generic cialis price unica-web.com The advanced age of the woman. 3. The dosage is to be kept in levitra online unica-web.com mind while opting for male enhancements that enhancement does not necessarily means increase the size of the penis but towards the genitals. It helps pushing the blood cialis samples to the reproductive organs and makes is relaxed.
I have run the FOURmidable 50k twice before. Once in 2017 before it was a USATF race and then again in 2018 when it was a USATF race … and it was insanely muddy that year. I love this race because it really gives you a test of where you are training-wise on some beautiful familiar trails.
The attempted clean up of my early morning disaster.
While the house was quiet and I was waiting for Not Chris to pick me up, I started putting together my race pack which means sticking my soft-flask that was filled with Unived Wild Watermelon drink mix into my race vest. I love using soft-flasks for the lightness of them but man, the same thing that happened to me at Canyons, happened in the middle of my kitchen.
This is how it went down: I try to gently squeeze the full bottle into the pack while covering the nozzle with my mouth so that the liquid wouldn’t shoot out when I squeeze it. Well, the nozzle on my soft-flask popped off in my mouth and the bottle became more or less a fountain shooting up, out and everywhere! You can’t really stop it either because the pressure from the vest is so much that it really just looks like a hose in your face. Needless to say, my kitchen floor was a sweet sticky mess. Sorry Vans!
I am normally a solid food runner when it comes to ultra races but I’ve been trying to experiment more with gels lately and this race, was going to be my gel race test. It also helps that I am a Unived Ambassador . I absolutely love their drink mixes and their recovery mixes but the gels are something I am not entirely used to using but I am working on it.
What is awesome about FOURmidable is the start time … 8 am!!! That’s later than when we normally run so it took some getting used to when it came to timing my breakfast (Picky Bars Can’t Beet Chocolate oatmeal for the win as usual). It was super chilly at the Auburn Overlook race morning because of the wind, but I knew it would warm up so I went with a tank top and shorts to start.
The race bibs are distributed right before the start of the race. I was lucky enough to see and say “hi” to a few friends I haven’t seen in forever when I was picking up my number. Soon enough though, it was time to line up and get ready to run.
The plan going into this race for me was: Treat this as a long training run – practice fueling and work on form. I’d say part of that held true. 🙂
At 8 am we were off and running down to the bottom of Cardiac. The trail meanders around a little bit but I noticed quite early on that my legs felt a little stiff. I had battled all week with a stomach/gluten contamination issue so I had not run much all week and I was feeling that in the beginning. Luckily gravity helped so I just let it pull me.
Not Chris took off like he stole something and was never seen again. He had been looking forward to this race and had trained pretty well with intentions to beat a certain time. Needless to say, he crushed it … and I just let him go.
The climb up Cardiac was brutal as always. That is never an easy climb for me for some reason. My breathing took some time to get under control and for 3/4 of the climb, I was leading a pack of runners who didn’t want to pass. I offered, they declined. Finally near the top, a little annoyed at the closeness (and my inability to breathe), I moved aside and let three or four of them go ahead of me.
The first aid-station is mile at mile 5.4 at Gate 142. I had decided that I’d take a gel but not stop. I smiled and thanked all the volunteers who were cheering for us excited to make the descent down to No Hands Bridge which has been our training ground the last month.
The gel I took however, a different flavor than I had taken before the start of the race, just hit my stomach the wrong way. I immediately felt some stomach discomfort. I quickly wondered if maybe I should consume the same flavors during a race (total gel newbie here)? There was nothing I could do and it wasn’t hindering my running that much, just a little uncomfortable.
You run up and around Robie Point, one of the historic sections on the Western States Trail and then you make your way to No Hands Bridge.
Stomach wasn’t too bad – still smiling
When I reached No Hands Bridge (Mile 9.6) Aid-Station, I battled internally if I should stop and use the porta potty here. I went for it. Prior to this moment, I had been solo on the trails for quite some time but while taking care of business, I heard runners coming in and it kind of defeated me for a minute.
I quickly shook it off. I felt 100 times better for having stopped. I then grabbed some fuel and made my way up to K2 (aka Training Hill) for another brutal but familiar climb. When I was training for last year’s Broken Arrow Sky race, I spent a lot of time on this hill. I know every nook and cranny inside and out. I just put my head down, engaged my glutes like I’ve been told and motored up. I passed a few runners on this climb.
The next aid-station isKnickerbocker 1 at mile 13.4. Still feeling pretty good, I took another gel and had zero problems. Maybe it was just that one flavor after all? I didn’t waste any time at the aid-station as I was eager to get to the downhill that leads to the old dam and another familiar climb.
I felt pretty good on the switch back climb up the dam. The old giant bird’s nest that was pointed out to me in 2017, was still there though no longer occupied. There were no runners near me this year for me to point it out to them. It is really a sight to see.
When I reached the top and the tiny bit of paved section of the course, I decided to run. I was feeling pretty good and it was getting warm.
You come back to Knickerbocker Aid-Station again from a different angle at mile 18 and when I did, I was greeted by two of the nicest guys! One of them was a fellow Topo Athletic Ambassador! Finally we get to meet face to face. Nice to meet you Chris!
Once again, barely taking any time I was off headed to the dreaded stream crossing. I’d been dry the whole race and while normally I don’t mind stream crossings, I just wasn’t thrilled about getting wet at that moment.
When I got to the bottom, I quickly looked at the crossing. It was considerably lower than in years past but definitely above the ankles. I noticed some rocks off to the side, decided against trying to balance on them. Knowing me, I’d slip and crack my head open so I waded in. Suddenly right behind me some dude comes by and just dances across the rocks.
He looked me and I said, “Show off!” He laughed he said he really didn’t want to get wet! I said, “I didn’t either but I would have totally fallen in if I had tried that.” We laughed and then made our way up the hill.
The back side of this race is absolutely beautiful but it was sunny and getting warm. I typically really enjoy the sun and the heat but this was the first ‘warm’ day of the season so it took a little out of me I think initially.
I had to pause for some horseback riders at one point, they were super gracious and nice and told me that I did not have to pull to the side but that “horse has the right of way” etiquette is ingrained in me.
Once again, I found myself relatively alone this entire time. I ran into a set of hikers who said, “Wow! You have the biggest smile we’ve seen yet!” That made me feel great and totally gave me a boost. I’d been slowing slightly through this section, I think the heat partially getting to me and I started thinking about my mom. 26 years ago to the day, she passed away from a massive and unexpected heart attack. She was 47 years old. I am 43 and it just hit me that I was running a 50k race something she’d never been able to do and I knew, that my two girls were at the end waiting for me to cross that finish line. Some how, my mom gave me a boost from above and I started running. Thanks mom.
Mile 23.4 is the Cool Aid-Station. I dropped some trash here and continued on. I was eager to get to the roller-coaster trail, one of my favorites in Cool.
As soon as we entered the start of roller coaster I took off. I felt like I was moving faster than I probably was but I managed to pass 4 runners here and made my way back to No Hands Aid-Station (mile 27.2). Once I was there, I knew in my head that there were only 4 miles to the finish and I was eager to get there.
I walked across the bridge fueling and trying to recover a little from the downhill push. Earlier in the day, I had met a nice guy from Reno who was running his first FOURmidable. I ran into him again on No Hands, his stomach having taken a turn.
Together he and I yoyo’d down the trail chit chatting when we were close enough. He was super nice and remained positive despite not feeling very well. I loved that.
When we finally made the sharp left to head down to the river, I was on fire. I could smell the barn and once again, I took off. Reno stayed close and asked some questions about the finish hill … like “Are you going to run it?” I told him, “I never have but my kids are there today and I am going to try!”
We soon separated and I just kept motoring on. The finish line seemed to never want to appear. Finally, I knew I was on the last long final climb of the race. I passed a few dudes, one guy was hiking down and cheered us on. I knew I was close to my 2017 time but I wasn’t sure I was going to make it but I was however within distance of beating my 2018 time (which happens to be the same course – 2017 had a slightly different course).
Then, I saw my girls racing down the hill to greet me! They cheered me on! I told them I was going to run so my 11 year old (Peanut) joined me.
Seriously one of the happiest moments ever and I am so grateful Vans caught it. She ran and said, “Woah, this is tough!” 🙂 I just said, “Just keep going. No stopping!”
She left me at the finish shoot but cheered me in all the way from the sideline along with her sister.
Happy to be done but even more happy that my girls were there to watch me finish.
Not Chris was there too. He’d been done a while as he kicked butt like I knew he would. He had a great race and I am so proud of him.
Post race, I enjoyed a Sufferfest beer (thanks Michael!) and cheered on all the other runners finishing the race. It was such a beautiful sunny day. I even cheered on Reno has he made his way to finish and I gave him a nice high-five. He came back from the dead and finished strong.
Overall, I am happy with my race. I didn’t execute as planned – this was supposed to be a training run and I guess I pushed a little harder than I thought that I would but I felt good and went with it. I did set a new PR for myself (on this course) and I finished 11th female overall which surprised me but hey, I’ll take it.
Clearly I have some things to work on. Perhaps that one flavor of gel just isn’t for me? I also think a combination of gels and solid food may help too. I do like the ease of taking gels and my Unived drink mix continues to work in my favor – minus when it shoots out of my bottle. 🙂 By the way, I have found the solution to that problem since the race . Fingers crossed my new locking soft-flask works. Vans was pretty understanding about the mess he woke up to and in turn, cleaned ALL the floors in the house while I was racing. Win win. 🙂
Thanks for reading this monstrosity. It has been a while since I’ve blogged and being brief is not my strong suit. 🙂 Oh and a special thank you to Single Track Running & The Aid-Station in Auburn for a great race.
Happy Trails!
~Trailmomma
I’d like to thank the companies that continue to support me and whose products I stand behind and use:
Topo Athletic – I ran this race in their Ultraventure model. I love the company and this shoe and I was super stoked to see a lot of runners wearing Topos on the course.
Picky Bars – Can’t Beet Chocolate Oatmeal is my pre-race go-to and their Fudge Nut Bars save me so many times when I am running to coach practice. My kids also love them and usually eat them before I can get to them. I have been a long time Picky Bar fan and now I am one of their AmBADASSadors. 🙂
Unived – The Wild Watermelon drink mix is my absolute favorite but I do use and enjoy all of their drink mix flavors. Pre Fourmidable, I took a Black Cherry gel and one of my other favorites is the Orange Twist! I also really love their Recovery Mixes – Chocolate Turmeric being my number one favorite.
Sage Running – My coach, my friend and my sounding board. Always supportive and encouraging. They have helped me tremendously over the years.
“Has anyone seen a flag in the last five miles?” …. “Nope. Are we lost?” Not what you want to hear the first 10 miles into a 100 mile race. But let’s back up and start from the beginning shall we?
The basic and major component Sildenafil Citrate which viagra without prescription is known to be ideal solution to overcome smaller and lose penile organ. The jelly version of the product is a great sign that, you should purchase generic viagra store the product. browse description cialis uk It is a very effective short term solution for managing the problems of erectile dysfunction. Today we can find that millions of women are facing problems with sexual activity, or you’re having low libido, symptoms of premature ejaculation.Among the men with hyperthyroidism, 50 % were clinically identified as having premature ejaculation, 17 % with low libido and 15 % with symptoms of erectile dysfunction or impotence.All of the men in the research were then treated for their thyroid disease. order viagra prescription
As a (hobby) blogger, I love to read blogs and race reports. In 2012 I read Jen Benna’s Pine to Palm race report and fell in love with this race. That report planted the seed in my brain and through the years it has grown until finally, at some point, I decided, it was time to run my first hundred and to make it a memorable one, I chose Pine to Palm in the beautiful state of Oregon. Go big or go home right?
Training had gone exceptionally well. I ran Canyons back in April as my Western States qualifier because I wanted to run Pine to Palm for me. I did not want the added pressure of needing a qualifier. I ran this race for me and the challenge alone. My coach was 100% supportive of this and believed that I could do it too.
Finding a crew to drive to Oregon with me would be easy. All I had to do was tell Stonegate and Not Chris that I had signed up and they were practically packed and ready to go. Stonegate in particular had been waiting patiently for this moment for years. Burning Girl rounded out the crew and I could not have had a better group of friends behind me for this adventure.
Race week was filled with lots of excitement. Typical taper tantrums were in full flux. Every ache or pain was causing mini freak-outs in my head. My kids’ schedule was out of control as I found myself driving all over the place and work was also pretty crazy at the time. When it rains it pours right? All I could do was remember to breathe, trust my training and try to get decent sleep and food as much as possible.
Thursday before the race, I loaded Stonegate’s car with all that I thought I would need and we hit the road to Oregon. The best part about traveling with friends, is they helped keep me calm and relaxed. It was almost game time and while I joked with them about puking because I was nervous, they kept me laughing the entire drive.
We arrived in Jacksonville at our hotel and learned there was an Alpaca/Winery just a few miles down the road. Say what?! We didn’t even unload, we hopped back in the car after a 5 hour drive and drove straight to see the Alpacas … and have a few sips of wine. It is exactly what I needed to calm my nerves and these Alpacas were the best!! I even got a kiss!
Seriously one of the best times ever with my friends. We laughed, talked and explored the grounds making it the perfect start to our journey.
Friday morning we had serious recon plans. First we wanted to find Pacifica Gardens where packet pickup was going to be held later in the day, then we found the start location, next the first crew aid-station spot and then finally the road that leads to the second crew aid-station spot. We did all of this because it helped calm my crew to know exactly where we had to go at 4:00 am the next morning .. in the dark and because the area of Williams is pretty remote. It also helped me visualize the start of the race.
Pacifica Gardens is the coolest place. When we arrived back later in the day for packet pickup, it was all decked out in Rogue Valley Runners and Pine to Palm 100 signs making the reality of what I was about to do, come to life. Up until this point, it didn’t seem real, not yet, but seeing other runners, seeing Hal and actually picking up my bib changed all that. It was however, still very low key and down to Earth. Another bonus of doing this race.
Call it fate, luck or just a coincidence, when I approached the check in table, my bib was sitting on the very top of the pile, number 59 …. “That’s me. Right there on top.” I said to the guy as he checked me off the list. Next stop, medical where I had to fill out a contact sheet for emergencies and get my bracelet that I would wear for the next two days.
Last stop was drop bags. I had to leave what I thought I would need during the race for locations that crew could not reach me. Then, it was time to wait … and wait … wait for the pre race meeting.
Admittedly, my biggest concern about this race was getting lost. I’ve heard the stories, I’ve read the blogs and from what I could tell, it was very easy to get lost and getting lost was not something I was wanting to experience. Prior to the race, we were told that volunteers had hung over 700 ribbons throughout the course about a 1/4 mile apart each for confidence. That made me feel 100 times better and Hal reinforced that during his pre race meeting.
We left the meeting, headed back to the hotel connected with Not Chris who had flown into Medford and went over the race start and plan of attack. After that, nothing left for me to do but go to bed.
Sleep didn’t come quickly but it did come or felt like it did a little at least but I was awake before the alarm went off ready to get this show on the road.
The drive to the start was 35 minutes from our hotel. My crew played my pump up music and did everything they could to keep me calm. I was quiet but I appreciated their excitement.
We were one of the first cars in the quarry parking lot and I was the first to use a “fresh” porta potty. I had an hour to kill before we had to line up at the starting arch and I must have hit that porta potty a million times the nerves doing loop-de-loops in my stomach.
Finally it was time, Hal counted us down and we were off and just like that, my nerves went away … this was just another race. One foot in front of the other was all that I had to do. Just.keep.moving.
Start (mile 0) to Seattle Bar Aid-Station (mile 28.5)
You start on a fire road that goes up hill. Here I mixed up power hiking and running. Everyone around me seemed to do the same. When we reached the top of the hill where you veer right to hit the single track, I realized I had made it just as Hal, the race director, was pulling over in his truck with water. This was our first “aid-station” of the day though it came much earlier than expected. My pack was still full so I just continued on the trail behind a bunch of other runners as you go down a nice soft single track.
We had headlamps and the sun was rising yet the trees here are still too dense to let much light come through. One thing I noticed very early on in this race, was that everyone, and I do mean everyone, had hiking poles! I, however, did not. I am not a fan of poles. I understand the benefit of using them but I find that the more races I have done where people had poles, the more people do not know how to use them. I was poked or jabbed or a pole ended up in my shoe more times than I can count.
I tried to focus on finding flags but the terrain was so nice that it was more natural just to follow the runner in front of me … up…down…up…down. Finally, after a good solid period of hiking up hill, I noticed, that we had not seen a flag in a very long time. We were maybe 10 miles into the race and we were supposed to be (I thought) at the top of Grayback Mountain by now. I was in a line with 10 other runners when I posed the question, “Has anyone seen a flag in a while?” Silence. “Has anyone else run this race before.” I received 10 “Nope. This is my first 100.” … in return. Finally, at what looked like the top of Grayback (as I have seen from YouTube videos and other blogs) we all paused to discuss. Some pulled out maps. Finally, a runner approached us from behind and I said,”Have you run this before?” He said that he had and that they probably couldn’t hang ribbons on this section because of protected land. Whatever. I was just happy to hear we were on the right track. In reality, there really were NO other off-shoots or sections but the quarter mile confidence ribbon reference was still fresh in our minds from the meeting the night before.
The top of Grayback Mountain
Downhill came next and it was glorious! That is until I felt an excruciating pain shoot up my left forearm. I looked down and there was a yellow jacket sitting there stinging and biting me. Holy crap that hurt! I flicked it off my arm and just kept going. My arm started to swell and burn but I didn’t want to stop. Twelve miles into a 100 mile race and I was just stung by a yellow jacket. What the heck?!
I entered the O’Brien Creek Aid-Station (mile 14.5) and a sweet volunteer took me aside and told me I was third female. WHAT!? I actually laughed and choked on water at the same time. It was way too early to have that kind of chatter but he was sweet. He filled my bottles, I found my drop bag and then was quickly on my way.
Steamboat Ranch Aid-Station (mile 21.5) was next. Here I had found a nice group of runners who were into walking and running stretches. We had a nice time chatting about all the races we’ve done. I met Eve from Phoenix, Ryan from the Bay Area , Holger from Edmonton, Canada and another guy from Portland whose name I never caught. Together we all ran and just had a nice time each of us eager to get to the next aid-station where our crew would be waiting.
Seattle Bar Aid-Station (mile 28.5) appeared like a dream after a little stretch on some hot pavement. I saw Not Chris up ahead hooping and hollering for me. He was a sight for sore eyes. I was in good spirits and nothing was wrong at all, I was just eager to see my friends and get some ice!
Like a fine tuned machine, my crew met me, handed me a cup of water to drink and sat me down to remove rocks from my shoes. Stonegate poured ice down my sports bra and wrapped an ice bandanna around my neck. It wasn’t horribly hot but the next section up Stein Butte was notorious for chewing up and spitting out runners who were not ready for some exposed hot trail.
My favorite photo ever.
Seattle Bar was such a lively aid-station. Not Chris was showing me were I had to check out and I saw Eve from Phoenix sitting there and I called to her. She hopped up and joined me and Not Chris across the field and under the bridge. Holger also ran up and joined us. It was nice to have some company.
Stein Butte Aid-Station (mile 35) to Hanley Gap Aid-Station (mile 52)
The climb up Stein Butte was not too bad at first. I had expected something a lot worse. Both Eve and Holger had poles. Their uphill was strong. Mine was starting to slow a little and I took that as a moment to have more calories. Soon, I lost sight of the two of them and I was by myself just power hiking as much as I could. It was a solid 6 miles up hill. Then we entered a section I had been warned about, Elliott’s Tract and man-alive that section was brutal.
Top of Stein Butte
The top of Stein Butte, though hot, was pretty gorgeous. I had to stop and take a photo. I tried eating more calories but the sun and heat were making it a bit difficult. At one point I had found Holger and Eve again. We all entered the Stein Butte Aid-Station (Mile 35) together.
I made quick use of it because I wanted to get to the next aid-station desperately to see my crew. I left without Holger and Eve.
The downhill into Squaw Lakes 1 (mile 41) was AMAZING! It was shady, soft and just the sweetest single track ever. The forest was also incredibly quiet! Not even a bird could be heard. I was bombing it and I even commented on how awesome and quiet the trail was and another runner agreed. Together he and I were super excited to get to Squaw Lakes and see our crew. Stonegate was at the top and she let out a big “WHOOP!” when she saw me. My runner friend said, “Awe! That’s going to make me cry!” and so I told Stonegate to cheer for him too and she did. 🙂
Coming into Squaw Lakes
Squaw Lakes is where you come into an aid-station and then have to run 2.5 miles around a lake and then revisit the aid-station and your crew again. My crew did exactly as I had asked them to do. They removed my pack and gave me a handheld to run around the lake with instead. Stonegate was allowed to run the 2.5 mile loop with me which was so nice. We walked and caught up and she had me run some too and try to eat. I shared with her the day so far. This lake is absolutely gorgeous. It was breathtaking. I would love to come back and camp and paddle board some day.
After the loop around the lake (Squaw Lakes 2 (Mile 43.5) I told them I needed a restroom and sure enough, there was one there and it was available. Score! While I had been running, the crew had refilled my pack and was ready to send me off.
The crew had did some recon on the next section of trail and warned me that it was a lot of uphill but that after that, I would see them again at Hanley Gap (mile 52).
After seeing them, I was alone for a long time. My climbing legs seemed to have disappeared completely but I still had my flat and down hill running legs. French Gulch (mile 47) was a water only aid-station which was a little sad only because it meant I would continue to be alone. Eventually some younger ladies passed me on the trail looking really strong. I told them to go get it!
When I came into Hanley Gap Aid-Station (mile 52) I was SO excited to see my crew. They had set up the perfect spot but they shared with me that I had to climb up to Squaw Peak to get a flag and bring it back down and that I had to do so alone.
They had me remove my pack again and handed me my hand held for the 1.5 mile climb up and 1.5 mile climb down. They also handed me baggies of food in hopes that I would eat. What I forgot to bring was my phone. The climb up was pretty relentless. Steep with a lot of switchbacks but on a fire road. You had runners running down with flags so that was exciting to see. I just continued moving, one foot in front of the other.
When I reached the top where the bin of flags were held, the view took my breath away. It was gorgeous and I didn’t have my phone. Probably for the best because it forced me to grab my flag and head back down.
When I reached the bottom my crew whisked me to the side. They massaged my calves, my quads, my hamstrings. They shoved food in my face, covered me in bug spray, gave me my charged headlamp … they were in short, fantastic!
Stonegate walked me out of the aid-station almost a mile. The next time I would see them it would be at Dutchman Peak where I would be able to have Not Chris pace me to the finish. It was all I could focus on.
After she left me, I ran some until all of a sudden I couldn’t. My stomach decided that every downhill step that I took, it would start to rumble. I’d stop to take care of business but nothing would happen. I’d start to run, rumble, stop again, nothing. This happened 8 times total. It was beyond frustrating. My saving grace was the sun had set so at least it was dark and I was alone on the trail.
Squaw Creek Gap Aid-Station (mile 59.5) to Grouse Gap Aid-Station (mile 80)
When I made it to Squaw Creek, I was excited. This was the last solo aid-station of my race. After this, I would have Not Chris with me. While here I ate a banana with a huge slab of peanut butter on top. This really helped my stomach situation. I asked the nice volunteer what was next, and she said, “You go that way, make a right at the parked truck. Then it is 6 miles straight uphill.” Um, what? No sugar coating it. It was going to be brutal.
Prior to this, a lovely trail angel had told my crew to give me a new buff to wear around my neck so that I could cover my face as the 6 miles up to Dutchman is the same fire road that every single car uses to climb the mountain so the smoke and the dust kicked up, was pretty bad. I am so thankful for that bandanna.
The climb up was pretty relentless but we had a full moon which made the sky absolutely beautiful. I just kept moving. I saw hundreds of dead and alive scorpions on the ground on my way up … I also saw a lot of puke from earlier runners.
The climb goes on forever, not going to lie … and at one point you can see the lights of the aid-station but you’re no where near close when you do. Just keep moving.
When I finally reached the top, there are some logistics to figure out. To the left is the aid-station where you need to check in but to the right is all the crew parking. Ryan from the Bay Area had informed us to go left and visit the aid first then go find our crew so that is exactly what I did.
When I reached the aid-station I was handed a cup of warm vegetable broth which was great because the winds blowing around at the top of Dutchman were probably 45 mph. It was also freezing .. if you stood still. The key? Don’t stand still. I found Burning Girl who helped me check in, made me take another cup of broth to go and then led me to our car which was 2 miles away. Yes, 2 miles.
When I finally reached Stonegate’s car it was go-time. Not Chris was ready to pace. I changed into some much needed warmer clothes, switched out to a stronger headlamp and tried to ingest some calories. Soon, Not Chris and I were headed off on the PCT to finish this darn race!
Going from running completely alone for 66 miles to running with a friend, is like Christmas. It was a whole new day for me. I was excited to tell him what I had seen along the way. He was in pure heaven running with me on the PCT. The sky was just littered with stars and as instructed, Not Chris made me pause and look up as much as we could.
The next aid-station was Siskiyou Gap (mile 73.5) and my stomach was doing that wonky thing again where if I tried to run down, it would rumble in an unhappy tone. I had asked for some Tums when I saw the crew but there was so much stuff blowing around from the wind, we all got distracted and I forgot to take one.
When Not Chris and I entered the next aid-station I made sure to ask and some Tums magically appeared. I took one (something I never take but I was desperate to make the stomach issue go away).
It worked. About 30 minutes and one stop later, I felt brand new though it was still hard to ingest anything other than liquid calories. I just knew we had to keep moving to get to Grouse Gap, mile 80 where Stonegate and Burning Girl would be waiting. For me, at this point, I had broken the race down into 10 mile increments. Looking at it that way, made it seem so much easier to conquer.
I came whooping and hollering into Grouse Gap (mile 80) and quickly found my girls. They whisked me over to the fire so I could remove my shoes and take out some stones while simultaneously feeding me some veggie broth.
Grouse Gap
The runners already at this aid-station looked like death warmed over. I wondered briefly if I looked that bad. I didn’t feel that bad, tired but not like death. I wanted out so I stood up ready to go when Burning Girl mentioned some “vegan treats” at the aid-station.
“Holy crap! I forgot! The balls!” Earlier in the week, a volunteer had posted to us runners that they had made gluten free vegan rice crispy balls – and they even used fresh new pans to avoid contamination (not intentionally but it worked). I ran back to the aid-station and asked about the balls and sure enough, they had some (I mean, how many gluten free vegan runners are there in a 100 mile race? haha). I thanked him profusely and started off up the hill excited to have one of them. They had to have been the most delicious thing in the world at that moment and probably the most amount of calories I had consumed in a single shot in over 5 hours. Heaven.
Weasle Creek Aid-Station (mile 90) to Finish line/Ashland (mile 100.5)
Next stop, mile 90 … then only 10 freaking miles to the finish. Nothing was stopping me now. I felt like I was moving decently but later on, Not Chris shared that I wasn’t exactly breaking any records. The sun would also be rising very soon, bringing life to the day.
Before we could hit mile 90 however, we had to conquer Wagner Butte, the last major climb in the race. An “easy” 7,000 foot climb to the top of the butte where I had to grab a flag and then descend 7,000 feet to the bottom. Piece of cake right?
The trail to and up Wagner Butte wasn’t smooth. It was semi technical or as technical as it can feel at mile 86 in a race.
The climb to get the flag was legit rock climbing and bouldering. Hand over foot up these giant rocks to the top. You had to laugh and even though my legs were shaking with fatigue, I was having a blast.
When you reached the top and grabbed a flag, you were met with the most amazing view and Not Chris and I had timed it just perfectly with the sun rising. I have never seen anything more beautiful. It was impossible not to smile ear to ear.
Then we soldiered down. Slow moving due to some tired quads but we just kept moving. I was on a mission. I was counting down the miles in my head and I knew I would finish this but I wanted to get to mile 90.
When we finally reached Weasel Creek Aid-Station (mile 90) I tossed my warm clothes into my drop bag that I had there. It was warm enough again for a tank top and shorts. I ditched my lights and any bottles I had too as I wanted to be as light as possible for the final 10 miles into town.
I quickly tried some goodies from the aid-station and just kept moving. Not Chris had to catch up with me because I didn’t want to stop. We were a little confused on what the volunteer had said the trail conditions would be like for the next 10 miles.
The guys hiking down around us were not in the best of spirits so we ran ahead. Not Chris turned to me and said, “So you are okay with 30 hours?” I looked at him like he was crazy, “It’s not going to take me 4 hours to do 10 miles. I can do this in 2.5 tops!” He said, “Okay, but you’ll have to run. We can do it. You just have to keep running.” So, run we did. The final splits the last 10 miles still blow me away. I would pick an object and run to it, take a quick break and run again. Along the way, there was one more aid-station, Hitt Road which was just a table with some water but it was at mile 95.5 and I wanted it. I didn’t need any water, I just wanted a marker, a destination.
Down down down, we continued to run. I was passing guys left and right along the way. To be fair, there was only 22 women that started the race and only 12 finished so the race was very male heavy.
Eventually we rounded a corner and was met with a slight uphill and another female. This girl had run strong all day long. She had passed me way earlier in the race but I had entered aid-stations just as she was leaving most of the day. I just had not seen her in a long while so it was quite a surprise to see her in the last 10 miles.
Not Chris looked at me, “You can do this.” So, I ran. I ran uphill past the girl and continued on down for as long as my body would go. Now, it was a matter of just how much I could run in a single stretch. Our little walk breaks became just a few steps and then no steps. Just run.
Finally we reached that water jug aid-station and I said, “Now I want the pavement. I want to see the pavement!” Not Chris laughed at that is not something I would normally prefer over trails but I knew pavement equaled Lithia Park and the finish line.
With 3 miles left to go, still on the dirt, Not Chris clipped a rock and went flying. He hit the ground bounced up and kept moving. I was shocked and concerned but he was hell bent on getting me to that finish line.
When we finally hit the pavement my heart swelled. This is it! There is NO walking on the pavement. As steep and as painful as that downhill section was, I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. I wanted to get there and I wanted to get there as fast as I could.
Finally we rounded a corner and I could hear cheering. I pushed as hard as my body could go. It felt like I was running 8 minute miles hahaha I wasn’t but I was moving!
I crossed that finish line, gave Not Chris a high-five and was engulfed in the biggest hug from Stonegate I have ever had. An awesome camera guy near by caught the whole thing on video! I thought I would cry but I didn’t but I could not stop smiling.
This race meant a lot to me and I am beyond grateful to my crew, the volunteers and my family for all their support. I wanted a challenge and I wanted a race that was beyond beautiful and I received exactly that.
After celebrating at the finish, we went to our hotel where I had some time to shower and take a nap before heading back for the buckle awards ceremony.
This was one of my favorite parts. Hal, the race director handed out our buckles and some gifts. In return, he asked us to stand and say our name, where we were from, how many 100s this was for us and a turning point in the race. I truly loved hearing everyone’s journey while eating one of the best post race meals I have ever had.
Ramen Daddy Food Truck
Pine to Palm 100 is breathtaking. I had a near perfect day something I am forever grateful for and I will never forget. If the body breaks, the mind will follow and I was hell bent on not letting my mind falter, not ever. It wasn’t that hard, the trails, the beauty, the magic that is the Siskiyou Mountains makes it hard to get down in such a beautiful place and my crew is the most positive, uplifting and fun bunch of friends a girl could have.
My Dream Team
I am still feeling that high, that joy of knowing that my two feet covered 100 miles up and over some pretty big mountains. It makes me smile just thinking about it.
A special shout out needs to go to Hal, the race volunteers and the other runners. The ultra running community is generally friendly and supportive normally but this race, everyone seemed to go above and beyond. Thank you to Adam Boyd for my finish line video!
Hal, me and Not Chris aka pacer extraordinaire
To my crew, my friends, there is no one else I want by my side on our next adventure. I am forever grateful for all that you sacrificed for me and my dream and to do so with smiles, laughter and love really made the journey 100 times better.
Thank you to my Coach for your continued support, belief and never ending advice. I am so happy our paths have crossed and look forward to more adventures for us both.
To Vans and my girls, thank you. Thank you for supporting me and this crazy idea. Thank you for handling weekends without mom and all my early morning runs. I could never have accomplished anything without your never ending support.
If you are still reading this monstrosity, thank you. My blogs tend to be an ultra in and of themselves but you never know, maybe some day, someone will read this race report and it will inspire them to run Pine to Palm too. 😉
Happy Trails!
~Trailmomma
Some extra photos:
Best pacer everMy final 10 milesPacers help you remain steady even after the raceWhat do you do after a 100 miler? Walk a mile to the awards ceremony of course. Post ceremony crew celebration
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.”
Photo from: www.quicksilver-running.com
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.
Packed and ready to go!
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.
Photo from: www.quicksilver-running.com
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! 🙂
Me on Dogmeat 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.
Photo by Chihping Fu
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. 🙂
Photo by CC Lee
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. Overdose of this tablet must be avoided which means that wouroud.com buy viagra online it is not sold by one particular manufacturer, and therefore, a competitive market exists, with vendors lowering their prices to attract buyers. To order buy pill viagra or place the order online you should log-in through proper website and buy as you want. It takes about three months to witness fully side effects viagra fledged results. NF Cure capsules cialis discounts increase semen volume, which is too much necessary for performing lovemaking acts.
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.
Photo by me
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.
Photo by me
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! 🙂
Finished!! 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.
Photo by me
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.
Spontaneous (spon-ta-ne-ous) adjective: performed or occurring as as a result of sudden inner impulse or inclination and without premeditation.
The reason that I recommend that you try out an initial small dose to eliminate any side effects and to determine if the results are satisfying enough. online generic cialis Although that is certainly a logical approach, professionals and parents alike know all too well, that trying to control or hurt or trespass on another and it affects the effectiveness of the viagra online in canada http://deeprootsmag.org/2014/03/05/okapi-horse-zebra/ drug also. The inflamed bladder can accelerate generic viagra sales the process of stone formation. This generic solution too works by relaxing blood vessels and causing hard-rock erection, which enables you perform well in bed deeprootsmag.org online cialis canada again, this is just the crux of the entire body.
Spontaneity was our theme, our goal, our mantra this past weekend. We only had two items on our road-trip agenda:
1) Stop, stay and explore Eugene, Oregon; and then
We’ve had this trip in the books for a while. When Stonegate presented me with the idea of running the Oregon Coast 50k, I was all-in because I love a good race destination road-trip ESPECIALLY when that destination is in Oregon.
Photo from: www.rainshadowrunning.com
When I signed up for the race, I decided that I truly wanted to run it. Maybe the correct phrase is “race it” but in a middle of the pack kind of way. 🙂
I started training in July. I told Stonegate and Burning Girl (who was supposed to join us but had last minute family obligations), that my intention was to push it hard(er) on this race than I have for our other road trip races. I don’t normally run “hard” in the fall, instead I use this time as more of a recovery period from a gnarly spring race schedule. Yet, something compelled me to want to run harder.
The Oregon Coast 50k boasted an elevation gain of about 4500 feet. I tried not to let that get in my head. That is probably the lowest elevation I have raced on trails in a long time, but I know better than to underestimate any race, especially a coastal race.
I had an A Goal (place top 3 in my age group), a B Goal (place top 5 in my age group) and a C Goal (finish standing and smiling). The day before, Stonegate and I played “tourists” a bit over zealously and man, did we both feel a tad bit tired! Oops.
The race had a 9:00 am start time which is something completely foreign to me! Most ultras start in the dark and super early. Stonegate and I really didn’t even need to set an alarm for this one. What did require some juggling, was our pre-race fueling but we managed okay by making huge smoothies and taking selfies on our hotel patio.
They have you head to the finish line and then they bus you to the starting line up the road. The race starts on the beach! The bus ride was quick and painless. Some runners had to stand but no one seemed to mind because the weather was gorgeous. I guess in years past it has been rainy and pretty gloomy … it was sunny and quite warm for us.
Starting line – Jason (in red) is the Race Director
Stonegate and I were pretty excited. The energy around was happy and everyone was so nice and talkative. Jason, the Race Director let us all get situated on the beach before we took off running.
Stonegate and I minutes before the start.
Boy did everyone RUN! The whole race started off crazy fast! I was hoping it was just the excitement and that everyone would eventually settle down. I mean, 6 miles all along the sand … that can be brutal on your body if you’re not careful. Stonegate stuck with me. My first mile rang out on my watch. …
Stonegate: I feel like we’re going really fast.
Me: Well we’re doing about an 8:30 pace according to my watch.
Stonegate: Okay then, you go ahead, I am going to slow down dude. I don’t want to start out too fast.
Me: Okay! I am sure you’ll catch up to me soon!
I felt okay and not like I was pushing to keep the pace so I tried to just settle in and run. A few groups passed me so I assumed that I had slowed a little bit.
Now don’t get me wrong, the ocean was GORGEOUS. You had the beautiful Pacific to your right and an adorable coastal town to your left but six miles, on sand … is a really REALLY long time. It was for me at least. I found my mind wandering, “What will I eat later today?” and “What do I have to do on Wednesday again?” I tried to zone in my thoughts and focus on my form like my coach instructed me to but every so often I would drift.
At the end of six sandy miles you literally hit a rock wall. You then have to climb up some steps (that felt like boulders at the time), and then you run along the most beautiful path!
We walked the path the next day … super cute!
I sort of felt like a weight had lifted off me when I left the sand. I am not a sand loving runner. 🙂
You then run through the coastal town of Yachats (pronounced Ya-Hots). The first aid-station is here, Mile 7 except that I never actually SAW the aid-station. When I crested the grassy area, I saw a ton of elite-looking guys changing their shoes but I never saw a table and I didn’t really want to waste time looking for one. I decided to fuel with what I had on me. In hind-sight, I probably should have fueled a tad earlier in the race given the later start time.
The course was extremely well marked. We were assured at the start that if there was a major turn that there would be clear markings and signage and there WAS! I only had a few moments when I was alone on the trail, that I had those “Oh crap! I haven’t seen a ribbon lately!” thoughts but to be fair, there were no turns or any other trails around…you just had to follow what was natural and in front of you.
There were more stairs much to my dismay but not a ton. Not like at Stinson Beach or in the Bay Area. I just kept moving. Then we hit our first climb and it felt like a ton of bricks had landed on my chest! “What the heck?!“
I decided to fuel thinking that maybe I was in need of calories. However I could barely chew because my chest felt so tight. I pulled out my inhaler and actually took a puff. I can’t remember when I have had an allergy attack like that. I say allergy because I never had it again and Stonegate had the same thing around the same spot on the trail! Something was blooming that my allergies didn’t like.
Around this time, about 20 people passed me on the uphill deflating my inner fire a bit. How on Earth did they have the strength and power to climb like that?!
I decided to power hike as best I could. I knew I was on the first of the three climbs and that the second one was way bigger.
Photo from: www.rainshadowrunning.com
When I got to the top and started on my way down, I was eagerly looking forward to bombing a downhill! The trail however was super technical with lots of tree roots and rocks. Still, I did my best trying to open it up on the down.
I was flying down a hill, somewhere at about the 12 mile marker when I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my left quad! “What the heck!” I yelled. I had thought that I was hit with a be-be gun! I didn’t stop running but the pain was intense! I looked down and there was a stinger sticking out of my quad! “A bee?!”
I was seriously just dumbfounded. I kept running afraid to stop and have it blow up and swell. I haven’t been stung by anything since I was like 8 years old so … I had no idea if I was allergic or not.
It burned, it itched, it stung. I didn’t stop. Finally, I came to Mile 14 and the Cape Perpetua aid-station. I grabbed a hand full of grapes and I asked the guy there if they had bees around here and he goes, “Oh yea! We have an angry bunch that just stung a ton of people!” Great. Well at least it wasn’t a be-be gun. 🙂
I continued on a bit, knowing that the big second uphill was coming. I was starting to feel a little bit better around mile 17 or so. The views were just outstanding and really were lifting my spirits.
“Just keep moving Pam, you can do this. You trained for this.” That’s what I kept telling myself at least. Then I ran with a guy for a little while who was talking about the 100 milers he had done and how he was excited to have his Western States Qualifier. He lived in Ashland and I told him that was our race destination spot last year!
THEN! I was stopped dead in my tracks on the trail. There was a bunch of runners and some guys just yelling. Turns out, there was a Yellow Jacket’s nest in the middle of the trail with tons of angry yellow-jackets.
One dude said, “I am going to go for it!” and he ran straight through! I felt like I was watching him in slow motion … BAM stung in his calf … BAM stung in his quad.
I turned to the girl next to me and we were like, “Um nope! No way. No how!” We followed the other group that had to bushwhack their way FAR around the buzzing yellow jacket’s nest.
By the time I reached Cooks aid-station (mile 19.5) I was already coming back to life. I was excited that this was essentially the “turn-around” spot which mentally always helps propel me in races.
I ran into that aid-station ready to be in and in out but then I looked at the table and saw mini dill pickles! Oh my. I’ve never eaten pickles in a race before though I hear a lot of runners like them. I had a quick mental battle of “should I or shouldn’t I?” in my head and decided to grab one and walk out. It was THE BEST PICKLE ON EARTH! 🙂 Seriously, that little dill pickle recharged me and I floated out of that aid-station light as feather!
One more aid-station to go and the biggest down hill section of the race was next! I honestly felt like I was flying down the next section. It was one of the few NON technical downhills in the course. I am going to assume that the intense thick tree cover interfered with my pace on my Garmin. 🙂 I know it did with the mileage because the race came up short in distance according to my Garmin but we were under some pretty thick tree cover for a lot of the race.
I just kept running. I’d pass a few people here and there. Sometimes they’d pass me back. In my head, I had settled on my C Goal but a part of me wasn’t giving up completely.
I came across one guy who was laying on the ground. I asked if he was okay and he said he had swelling in his knee. I asked if he wanted any Advil and he hopped right up and said, “Sure! We can keep walking so that way I won’t slow you down.”
I handed off some Advil and wished him luck and continued on my way. Finally, I came to the last aid-station! Woo hoo! I was getting excited knowing that I was getting closer and closer to the finish!
I chatted with the aid-station volunteer. I asked him if anyone dropped here earlier because of bee stings and he said he had a lot of drops, but not sure if because of bee stings – Stonegate is allergic and I had been worrying about her all race.
I continued on my way running all the ups and the downs. When I encountered any stairs, I walked. 🙂 FINALLY I was dumped back onto the pavement! Yes!!! I could smell the finish but I knew that I had to run a lot of pavement first.
I looked up and saw a woman that had passed me earlier in the race. She had looked SO strong too. She powered up all those hills like they were nothing. A small part of me was excited to have caught up to her.
I ran along side her and she seemed excited to have someone to run with. I told her to go ahead and she said she was out of water and that she couldn’t go any faster. I asked her if she wanted my handheld water bottle, “Are you sure!? You don’t mind?” she said. “Of course not! Go ahead, I have plenty.”
The two of us ran through the town together. Then we made the turn onto the grass. The woman said, “Come on, we have about 400 yards. We can do this! I don’t care about time.” In my head I was thinking: First of all, how does she know it is 400 yards and second of all, my C Goal had turned into “finish this BUT finish under 6 hours” since I was way off what I had hoped I would finish in … so for ME, I did care about time, MY time. It wasn’t about beating anyone but myself. It always is.
We were running across the grass. Everyone was cheering. I saw the finish and that it was a little up hill and something just turned on inside me and I went for it. I sprinted as hard as I could. I saw the clock and I pushed it!
Whew!!! I did it. I was done, thank goodness, I was done! That is one helluva race. It is unassuming in many ways, but don’t be fooled, it’s a doozy of a race and I was thrilled to be done!
The woman came up to me and thanked me and said, “When I saw you turn it on, I said, I don’t have what she has!” 🙂 Then the Advil guy finished shortly after and he thanked me for the Advil.
I found my drop bag and waited for Stonegate to finish. She texted me so I knew that she hadn’t dropped because of an allergic reaction but she had been stung.
Stonegate Finishing!
I changed out of my smelly shirt and ran back out on the course to find her. I ran through the town with her until she reached the finish! What a day!
Final stats:
I finished in 5 hours and 53 minutes.
I was Second in my Age Group!! 🙂
And 17th female out of the 91 that started the race.
I will take it! I conquered my A Goal after all despite feeling like I had run a terrible race. It just goes to show you, never give up, never quit. Give all that you have left to give!
Stonegate and I didn’t hang around the finish for long. We were hungry! 🙂
Post Race Tradition – Champagne!
We headed back to our hotel, showered, stretched, had some champagne (a tradition), hummus, carrots, crackers, chips and salsa. Food never tasted so good!
Later that night, being that we are both Plant-Based and know the importance of post race fuel being key to recovery, ran out to the store and bought kale! We made a rice, bean, kale and salsa dish in our instant-pot that night which was perfect!
Plant-Based Athletes recovering with plant-strong food!
Overall, I am happy with the race outcome. It was a gorgeous race, super well marked and well run. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone even though I had some dark(er) moments out there. I was able to pull through and not wallow for long … there is always a silver lining, there is always something you can do or try to pull you out of your funk. No one can do it but you.
In the end, it was the best road-trip ever. I am in love with Oregon and I finally got to visit and run on the coast. It was everything I expected it to be and more.
I truly am blessed to have a friend like Stonegate who seeks and cherishes adventure like I do and a husband who is willing to let me go and explore and feed my soul on trips like these. I missed my family immensely while I was gone, they would have loved the Oregon Coast. I guess we need to head back all together. 🙂
Until next time Oregon!
Happy Trails!
~Trailmomma
******
Some of my favorite road trip photos from our four days of fun!
We discovered a selfie-stick in Stonegate’s car and it opened a whole new level of fun for us. Thank you to her 10 year old for leaving it in there!
Wandering the University of Oregon campus …
Discovering the Sea Lion Caves on 101!! One of the best random finds of the trip!
No shortage of laughter while driving long hours.
Our home away from home most of the time – our ocean side patio.
“About 53 miles into the race is the aid-station called Tina’s Den. It is home to four female mountain lions who like to hang out there. Two days ago, one of the cougars scared away a few mountain bikers. Don’t worry though, just don’t be last.”
That’s essentially all I heard during the pre-race briefing from the Quicksilver Race Director on Saturday. Not exactly comforting news before I am about to begin my first ever 100k race.
While I haven’t written much about it on here, it was evident beginning back in January that I have been training for something …. something big. I wanted to run a 100k and not just any 100k, I wanted to run the Quicksilver 100k.
Yes, I am that kind of runner – folders, labels etc.
Last year everyone I knew did that race, including Pigeon because it was a Western States 100 mile qualifying race. I wanted to run it because I wanted to conquer that distance and I loved all the race photos from everyone last year. The chance to qualify was just icing on top for me.
Earlier this year, I raced two very challenging 50ks (one in February and the other in March) and that set the tone for my training. Going into Quicksilver with its 13,000 feet of elevation, I felt ready to climb but I was uneasy about the distance.
Insanely confusing course
So sit back, grab a beer or cup of tea and read on if you care to see how my race unfolds (warning: it is LONG) or if you want to see a million photos, feel free to skim. 🙂
With its 4:30 am start time and the half-ish hour drive to the start, Quicksilver definitely taught me a few things about being flexible with my morning routine. I woke up at 2:15 am, ate and finalized my drop bags. I have never used drop bags before. This was totally new to me. You can tell it was new to me too because I used Star Wars lunch boxes that I got free from Target as two of my four drop bags! I also used two Dylan Flinchum RockOn Foundation bags as my other two because if anyone can boost my spirits, it’s that little boy and his family back in New Jersey.
My “fancy” drop bags!
I even taped a photo of my girls in one of them to give me a boost late in the race.
Inside my drop bag – my shining light!
After that little “pep-talk” by the Race Director, we were off and running in the dark. I had my lights with me and everyone around me had headlamps so visibility wasn’t an issue. Pigeon and I ran into Miss P who was also running her first 100k.
The race starts with a pretty good climb and everyone is reduced to a solid hike in the dark. Miss P and I chatted a bit on the way up which was nice. Eventually though, everyone spread out. Pigeon and I just ran. Our plan had been to run the race together. She knew the splits she wanted or needed in order to get a Western States qualification. I was content to run with her because I was unsure as to how the day would unfold having never approached this distance OR this type of elevation before and of course running with a friend for that long is always nice.
Soon the sun was rising and the views started to appear around us. It was pretty amazing and the temperature was nice and cool. I started in shorts and a tank top never needing anything more.
The sun waking up!
One thing to note about this race is that there are a lot of “lollypop” loops in it. Picture a lollypop at the end of stick. To get the mileage we needed, we’d run up a trail, do a loop and then run back down the same trail passing runners. I noticed early on that we’d pass a lot of the runners coming down from the loop but none when it was our turn to descend. It was clear that we were the back of the pack. This unnerved me a bit as it is something I am not used to but I also knew there were many more miles to the day and that anything could change at a moment’s notice.
Such amazing views!
A few times Pigeon and I found ourselves behind some runners that I wanted to pass but I wasn’t sure how she was feeling so we devised a “code” for those situations. We’d ask each other, “How is your foot?” And if we said, “good” we’d pass and if we said, “not good” we needed another moment. This situation actually only came into play once during the race. Pigeon asked me “How is your foot?” and I said, “What are you talking about? My foot is fine!” Hahaha I had completely forgotten about our little plan.
Hicks #1 Aid-Station (mile 7) was first. I had a drop bag here but didn’t need it. I did take advantage of the restrooms. We both did. The volunteers were so nice and cheerful. They were very eager to help. Pigeon grabbed some more apple sauces from her drop bag.
We left Hicks and headed towards Bald Mountain. I remember feeling pretty good. Nothing was bothering me and the trails were rocky but not too technical.
Coming into Bald Mountain. Yes, I have a huge smile. -Photo by Quicksilver volunteers
Soon we approached Bald Mountain Aid-Station (mile 12.2). It was another lollypop type loop. You run past the aid-station to this beautiful cliff area, grabbed a purple rubber band to prove that you did the full loop and then back to the aid-station. We didn’t stop long here other than to use the restroom again.
After Bald Mountain we ran a short down hill followed by a pretty nice climb to get to Kennedy 1 Aid-Station (mile 18.9). Again, no drop bags for us but I noticed the aid-station was pretty bare bones. Not much to offer runners. I was fine with what I had been consuming thus far which was mostly fruit leather, some jelly beans (on the climbs) and my homemade Engine 2 Peanut Butter Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies. We did refill our packs here though and discovered that the water at the aid-stations tasted like rubberized chlorine! UGH! It was barely drinkable and we had to run 5.4 miles to the next aid-station with that water.
After Kennedy however, we ran DOWN and by down, I mean far down. Still, I was feeling okay. I was worried about my left knee going into this race as it tends to not like a lot of steep down hills but so far, it was behaving just fine.
When we reached Lexington Aid-Station (mile 24.2) I was feeling good. Pigeon’s wife Missouri and son were at this aid-station as was Miss P’s pacer, Christine. It’s always nice to see people you know and have them give you a good pep talk. We also had drop bags here.
We both dumped our packs and refilled them with our own water. I dug into my drop bag for the first time and swapped out a few things, grabbed some more cookies and dumped the apple sauces as they weren’t working for me.
We left Lexington and headed for the longest biggest climb of the day, Dog Meat Hill. I have seen the photos of this climb, but none of them do it justice. This is one brutally long fully exposed climb. We were lucky in that it was overcast most of the time but it was definitely warm out there.
Welcome to Dog Meat Hill!
However, I was just in awe of the views and the trail itself. I did my thing and power hiked up every hill taking photos whenever I could. I’d wait for Pigeon at the top and then we’d repeat it again and again.
A little Dog Meat selfie!
I had overheard a guy talking about how this is the hardest climb in the race and that nothing in the second half of the race compares. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear right then. It gave me a little boost that once we were done with this beast, things would be easier.
You can see how far off in the distance the road actually goes. Insane.
When we finally finished Dog Meat, we arrived at Kennedy 2 Aid-Station (mile 31.1). I mentioned to Pigeon that we had completed a 50k! She didn’t seem amused. She’d been battling some tummy issues along the way which is never very fun in a race.
Hot and sunny on Dog Meat. Brutal.
When we reached the aid-station, they had nothing. Pigeon wanted a Coke or a turkey avocado sandwich desperately and they had none. I think this hit her pretty hard and knocked her spirits down quite a bit. Her mood had been quiet thus far but I could sense her go a little deeper into a dark spot.
I just tried my best to keep hiking and chatting when I could, hoping I wasn’t bothering her too much. Eventually, I told her that we had to just let it go. We couldn’t rely on the aid-stations at this point, they’ve proven to be pretty useless in the quantity of fuel provided and we’d have to make do. I knew we were heading back to Hicks 2 Aid-Station and I knew we had drop bags there. I tried to get her to focus on that.
Her stomach just wouldn’t let up though. Once we reached Hicks 2 Aid-Station (mile 36.4) we both used the restroom and then attacked our drop bags. I grabbed a few more things here including some Advil. My right knee (not my left knee as I mentioned earlier) had started to really bark on the long descent from Kennedy to Hicks. So much so that at one point, it literally gave way and Pigeon almost had to catch me from cratering to the ground. At Hicks 2, I took 2 Advil. I didn’t want to but I had no choice at this point.
From Hicks we ran towards Hacienda Aid-Station (mile 39.3) which was a little hard to stomach because Hacienda is where my car was parked!!! Yes, I had to run past my own car to get to the aid-station! That’s just cruel right?
The nice part about this section of the course though is that the distances between aid-stations were cut in half essentially which means, the next one after Hacienda was Mockingbird, just 3.1 miles away. Although Mockingbird was also the finish area so you have to run past the finish arch to go another 20 miles … again cruel.
Pigeon needed the restroom at Hacienda. I talked to the volunteers and took some pebbles out of my shoe. When we were finally back on the trail running, I reminded her that we were on our way to her wife and son. We had to do some climbing to get there, but I assured her it would be worth it.
This is the reason buy sildenafil uk for man to be sexually happy. Topical, nonpharmaceutical scalp-stimulating treatments are available and sometimes used in conjunction with other forms of molineanimalaid.org order generic levitra hair loss treatment, but for some, it is effective. Before molineanimalaid.org pfizer viagra sales knocks the door the condition was overlooked and no particular attention was provided. Thus, some males may think that pounding in the woman would still satisfy her later if not tadalafil online cheap immediately.
She was in her dark spot I think again. She snapped at me once about starting to run, which is fine, I get it, when you hurt you hurt. I wasn’t offended. I mentioned something about the time and trying to qualify and she shot back that she was already well aware. Up until that point, I hadn’t really been focusing too much on the time. It was on our way to Hacienda I think that I started calculating the math in my head with the pace that we’d been going and realized, our chances of qualifying for Western States was slipping away. I battled in my head with what to do.
The dilemma in my head was broken by the sights and sounds of Mockingbird Aid-Station (mile 42.9). I needed this boost. As I ran in, I told Missouri that Pigeon was hurting a bit, her tummy was just not happy. I had a drop bag here so I swapped out some things and I grabbed some cream for my knee. I applied some but I wanted to run with it just in case. The Advil had kicked in by now and the knee was feeling much better. As we left Mockingbird, I turned my phone on (it was on airplane mode most of the race) and I texted Stonegate and Vans that we had 20 miles left in the race and that any chances of qualifying were starting to slip away.
While I had been texting, a bunch of texts from earlier in the day came in, one of them was from my Peanut. My girls had a mock swim meet that day and my Peanut had sent me this:
That gave me such a boost. It got my thoughts running again. My little girl didn’t give up today. I shouldn’t either.
From Mockingbird to Bull Run 1 it’s up hill. We did not have to climb the huge rock pile that the Quicksilver race is known for but instead, they rerouted us an extra quarter mile. What’s an extra quarter of a mile in a 62 mile race?
I powered up the climbs but instead of waiting at the top for Pigeon like I had been, I wanted to keep moving. So on the downs, I’d slow down a bit hoping she’d catch up and she usually did.
We reached Bull Run 1 Aid-Station (mile 46.1) and we ran a weird little lollypop thing again. Pigeon and I ran that together. I think she was starting to get her mojo back because she said, “Hey, do you want to try for it? We have 15 miles to go and about 3.5 hours, we can push it. Want to go for broke?” I was just thrilled she had her spirit back! “Sure! Of course!” I said. Pigeon was coming back! She then said, “Okay, we’ll take turns pulling each other. I’ll go first!” She took off running down hill and I was hot on her heels behind her.
About five minutes later, she turned and said, “Ok, your turn!” and she let me pass. I never looked back. It was if a fire had been ignited within me, one that had been burning all along but I was too afraid let to come out.
Since Mockingbird I had been thinking, a lot. I thought about the time, about the race and about this course. Sure this race was a Western States Qualifier and while not my only reason for running, I had ran so much today that I wanted it. I wanted it bad. Pigeon is running Tahoe Rim 100 in July. I hated thinking this but I knew she had a second qualifying chance down the road. This, this race was my ONLY chance. So, I ran. I ran hard.
I passed runner after runner. I passed runners sitting on the ground. I passed pacers urging their runners to just take another step. I ran uphill. I ran down hill. I entered the scariest freakiest single track trail I have ever seen in my life. It led to Tina’s Den (remember Tina the mountain lion from the beginning of this post?) … I can see why Tina and her friends like to hang out there! I was too afraid to stop to be honest that I just high-tailed it as fast as I could.
You finally get dumped onto a road. A volunteer said, “It’s a mile down that road and then turn left and the aid-station is about a half mile from there.” What he failed to tell me is that it was like a half-mile UP hill but whatever. As I had made the left turn, I saw this woman jumping up and down on a rock.
I thought she was waving to the guy in front of me who didn’t look too enthused to see her. In my head I was like, “Man what a jerk!” Little did I know it was Stonegate!!! She had raced the 2.5 hours from home to catch me at mile 53!!!!! She was a sight for sore eyes!
She hiked with me to the aid-station. We got there and they were dry. Nothing left. I had a drop bag but my stomach did not want much. Stonegate refilled my pack with ice cold water without me even taking it off. THAT is what I wanted. I told her that I had left Pigeon and that if she sees her to tell her how sorry I was and that I really wanted to push. I felt bad for leaving her.
Stonegate encouraged me and reminded me that Pigeon will understand and that she would WANT me to go. So, I went. Less than 9 miles to the finish and I was racing the clock with a lot of uphill between us.
Photo by Stonegate
After Tina’s Den (luckily I saw NO mountain lions) it’s a good uphill climb to get to Enriquita Aid-Station (mile 55.8). I ran quite a bit of this uphill. I channeled my training runs up Stagecoach and just pushed. Every so often, I’d hike and then I’d run again.
At Enriquita Aid-Station I didn’t even stop and instead made a sharp right hand turn and went down this gully of a trail with terrible footing. Never mind there are runners hiking their way up too so it was a bit of a mess. When you reached the bottom, you had to read a sign (Read?! You want me to read and comprehend right now?). The sign said that in order to prove that you made it to the bottom of the hill, you had to hole punch your bib and show the volunteers at the top.
Um, the hole punch was attached to a cord that was ridiculously short! So after 56 miles, you have to try and stand on one leg while lifting your other leg, and hole punch your bib. Lordy!
I did it and then I ran my bum back up that hill. Just before reaching the top, I saw Pigeon making her way down. I hooted and hollered for her and she hooted and hollered for me and told me to just GO!
After reaching the top of Enriquita again, I ran towards Bull Run 2 Aid-station (mile 58.8), the final aid-station before the finish. It just happened to be completely up hill. I had to hike. There were moments where I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. I couldn’t eat anything. I wasn’t sure if it was from how hard I was pushing myself or from nerves of being on the edge of not making the cut off.
When I got to Bull-Run 2, I was sprinting, or at least I felt like I was sprinting.
The volunteers went wild when I came through! “Just 3.5 miles to go! You got this! Run just like that and don’t stop and you will qualify!” Wait, can they not SEE the big hill down the road that I have to go up in a minute? They want me to run like this, up that?! I had to laugh, it was funny.
I kept having these mini dialogs in my head pleading that there would be no more “rollers” and then I saw a sign that said, “Just a few more rollers and you’re at the finish!” I just want to note, you don’t SEE these “rollers” on the map or elevation chart but holy cow, were they ever there!
Course profile.
I pushed and pushed. I passed runner after runner. I was cutting every corner I ran around even if it meant cutting in front of another runner. Soon, it was all downhill. I pleaded with my knee not to flare up (it hadn’t make a squeak since Mockingbird). Other runners cheered me on. Hikers on their way up cheered me on and told me I was close. The sky to my left was insanely gorgeous with the sun setting and I wanted to stop and take a photo SO bad but I didn’t dare!
Finally I saw the finish. I heard Stonegate first, “You got this girl! Just up this hill!” Which made me laugh out loud! Another freaking hill! I heard Missouri and Christine (Miss P’s pacer) cheering. I was so overcome with joy and happiness. I had made it! I qualified! I made it with about 20 minutes to spare (my time was 15:38). I was done.
Smiling the whole way into the finish!
Five months of training was over in one day. It was totally worth it. My friends congratulated me and then asked where Pigeon was. I told them I left her on the way to Tina’s Den. I said she’s behind me but I am not sure how far.
Pigeon came in a short time later. She too qualified for Western States with just minutes to spare! She gutted it out and ran her butt off to get to that finish line. I am proud of how deep she dug to do it.
As it turns out, she wasn’t upset at me for leaving and was happy that I qualified. That’s how friends work, especially trail friends. We support each other.
Overall, I feel pretty good. I have some soreness and I stiffen when I sit too long but my heart is full. I feel like I set out to conquer something, something I’ve thought about for a while, and I did it. I worked hard for it, very hard.
Not sure what is next. I have a few training runs planned as I am pacing Pigeon at Tahoe Rim Trail in July so I have to be ready for that.
I definitely plan to rest though and let my body recover. I owe it that. It did everything I asked of it this season and I am grateful. So I will enjoy some down time with my two amazing little swimmers.
){kind=link}
){kind=link}
){kind=link}