I have not written on this blog in a long time but I want to write down some race details so I can remember them later (in case my husband ever lets me do another 50). I print this out and keep it in a race log.
The race was AMAZING!! I had a great day, loved the whole day (almost), and almost everything went perfectly. the course was brutally hard 13,00 feet of climbing, ouch!! but it was also one of the prettiest and most exciting courses out there. The trails were dry and mostly single track and always BEAUTIFUL! The course is divided into3 legs which really helped mentally! Fist I made the mistake of eating too big of a dinner (but it was sooo good) and too late at night (7:30) I never fully digested it, if you know what I mean. I tried in the a.m. but nothing was happening. I had a good night sleep and woke up at 5 to get ready. I had a my usual breakfast and drink but made the mistake of NOT wearing my usual race socks and also using body glide all over my feet which was suggested to me the night before but I have never done before, BAD idea! I started off with my friend Mindy about mid pack. We took the first few miles slow and easy but I knew from the begining my stomach was NOT happy. By mile 4 I was in PAIN, every step hurt my whole inside. I was bloated and in so much pain I wanted to cry. I slowed down and let my friends leave me, I decided to walk a bit and see if I could get things under control. The first leg is 17 miles long with one aid station at mile 8. I made it to aid #1 still i pain and NOT happy. I saw my good friend Ryan who told me to drink some coke and walk the next very steep 4 miles which I did. The coke got things moving in my stomach and soon I felt so much better!! i followed my plan of eating something every 20 min. the whole way and it really helped! I ate gu chomps, pb m and m's, gu brownie things, and a gu every hr. I drank a lot all day, peed about 20+ times. I ate watermelon and chips at the aid stations and drank coke and heed. Sounds healthy huh?! By aid #2 I was feeling great!! I met some friends there who refilled my bottles and filled my pack with food and sent me on my way. The next leg is 16 miles with a ton of elevation. I met a cool lady about 4 miles into it and we ran the rest of the way together. We really pushed and pulled each other and chatted the whole way, the miles flew by. We reached aid #3 in no time and passed people all the way. She left me there and I struggled the long 4 mile downhill to aid #4 alone. My stomach was now great but my legs were in pain!! At #4 I met my friends again who fixed me all up, they refilled my bottles with ice water, gave me a cool bandana for my neck, even bandaged my now 8 growing blisters, I NEVER get blisters, ever, dang socks and stupid body glide, never again!! I thought for a long while I had a rock in my shoe but was too afraid to look in case it wasn't a rock, it wasn't! Leg 3 is the longest, 20 miles and steepest, a 8 mile climb up scout mountain. I was feeling good and pushed hard the whole climb passing 3 more ladies. There were about 5 false summits and I was getting a little pissed by the end! The sky was partly cloudy, the ridge was windy and cool and perfect. I had great music and just kept eating and drinking. I even found some snow and stopped to massage my legs with it for a few min. The decent off scout is very steep and very painful! I was getting less and less happy but knew I was getting close now, 8 more miles. I hit the last aid station at mile 48 and ran into a good new friend from Montana who cheered my up and cooled me off and gave me some new food since i was DONE with all the stuff I brought. She told me I was in 5th and the next lady was really close! I had no idea! I thought I was probably in 20th?? So I took off and somehow felt AWESOME! I don't know how a body can keep going when it had been going 10+hrs. and is in so much pain but I think at this point your heart and soul take over and your body listens. I felt like I was just starting out on a new race. One mile down the road, yeah, felt great! A nasty, steep one mile climb, ahh! Then 2 miles down hill to the finish, I think I was doing 7-8 min. miles. I passed the 5th lady and it was my friend I had run with for so long. I felt bad passing her but I was ready to be done! I came in at 11:47 (was hoping for 11:30) but it was good enough for 4th (again!!!, I am SO sick of fourth!!) but my good friend Mindy got 3rd with a great time of 11:17 so we were so happy! I had a really fun day, seriously. I loved it, the whole day, the whole race. some days just feel good, and some do not and this was a good day. I felt pretty good after and can almost see the possibility of going farther.....
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