The BEFORE
I'm always a sucker for a race, bc when I'm sitting in my house watching TV, any race sounds amazing. It's a great way to reconnect with nature and see what my body is capable of. I took most of 2018 off of running after having some heel pain that stuck around for the better part of 8 months. I did my Western State's qualifier early (Black Canyon 100k) and went about getting my Yoga Teacher Instructor Certification for 4 months. Then, as I was sitting back relaxing, someone told me that if I get into WS via the lottery, there's an astrix next to your name if your qualifier is a 100k. WTF????? I don't know if this is true or not, but I'm just vain enough to do something about this. Ok, so now I have to actually train and do a 100 miler this year. Everyone I knew was planning on doing Javelina Jundred, so it seemed logical to sign up for this race again this year. This was going to be the year I was serious and actually put in my miles and trained. This is the year..... and it was....KINDA.
I started out well, real miles, actual distances, etc. I started working as an intern teacher for a yoga studio, but my classes were either Sunday or Saturday, thereby eliminating the ability to go run long with friends in the mountains. And I'm not motivated enough to go run for 6 hours by myself in the mountains, frankly, I'm afraid some random stranger might kill me. (Hang out with me long enough and you may get the urge to strangle me, maybe....) Anyway, so after a great start, my training fizzled out in September when I had a hip injury sneak up on me and every mile was torture. Added to that the kids had a 2 week break and the family went on vacation. This meant low mileage. Which I thought might be a good thing, maybe low mileage would mean I would be able to get my hip firing off the way it was supposed to. I figured if I could just start the race injury free, I might do OK. So I trained injured and hated it. I started working myself into a bad headspace before finally deciding to make an appointment with a sport chiropractor and possibly get my hip fixed, 2 days before the race. He got me mostly working again and gave me some tips to do if my hip started tweaking midrace. Some were hardly noticeable, but the easiest one to do was basically target the glute on the other side of my body, the actual weak culprit causing the imbalance. So I would be running the race, whacking myself on the tush. Great. Nothing weird about that AT ALL.
We have friends that live in the Phoenix area that our kids simply love. So it was a no brainer to ask 1) if they wanted a fly by visit and 2) if the kids wanted to go at all. The family drove over after school Friday night (this is a huge deal because it was the night of their annual fall festival at school. Fun, games, candy, friends..... I'm not even going to pretend they wanted to come see me run a race, they wanted to go chill with their friends.) and Ryan and I headed to the start at 4am. We got me registered and found the Trail Crashers tent to get my gear settled. As everyone started trickling in for the race, the excitement started ramping up. And before we knew it, it was time to run 100 miles. Seems pretty simple, right? One foot in front of the other, don't be stupid and don't forget to eat.
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| Spring, me and Becca |
The first loop is an extended loop to make 22 miles since the actual loops are 19.5 miles each, the race is 5 loops run washing machine style. This is nice because you can see friends in each loop and you get a little boost seeing everyone. Loop 1 was really nice, it was a nice easy pace, the weather stayed cool for about 5 miles before starting to warm up a bit. I ran with my friends Becca and Gloria for a bit before Gloria felt great and ambled off and Becca left me at the 10 mile Aid Station. So I chilled out for an easy 12 miles, enjoying the day, whacking my right glute, normal stuff. The ONLY thing off was my shoe. I couldn't quite get it right. It was either too tight or too loose (Yeah, I'm a princess) and I swear it was too small. I ordered 3 pair of exactly the same shoe a few months ago and each of the other ones were fine. I pulled these out of the box the day before the race and shoved them in my bag and put them on for the first time that morning (ROOKIE MISTAKE, like for real). So my longest toe kept jamming into the front, I tried a different method of tying my shoe to stop it from shifting forward, but there was still pain. I made a mental note to switch shoes, thank goodness I threw in a pair of old shoes just in case. As I ended the first loop, I saw Becca heading out, I ran in, found my friends and changed some gear for loop 2. I debated not changing shoes and then my brain clicked on and I actually did change shoes. I had my friends fill my pack with ice and my bandana with ice to keep me cooled, I ate a little and grabbed some gels I had packaged for loop 2. I left feeling pretty good. (Of course I did.)
Loop 2 (Miles 22-42ish)
Loop 2 I decided to take a couple of minutes of goofing off and get my ear buds and music going since I was alone. It was a good idea, because from there on I just trucked along singing (sorry for anyone in ear shot) and having a good ol' time. Just after the first Aid Station, I found Becca. We stuck together for about 15 miles chatting and enjoying the race. I sent my husband a text because he said the kids and my friends wanted to come out and see me during a loop. I wasn't sure if they wanted to come visit during the day time or evening, so I texted when I was 10 miles out and told then if they want I could text again the next time I was at this location. And then I started in on my first low.... I don't normally like this section of the course in this direction because its downhill, but rocky, so I can't actually make good time on it. And it hurt my frickin' toe! Around now the boredom for the aid station food started, the dislike of water and the desire to not eat. Even though I knew I needed it. So I forced myself to eat a little bit at each aid station, even if I didn't want it. As I neared the end of loop 2 I saw so many friends who were just killing it! It was really nice to get the little boost from friends as you start to head into the main camp. And my kids were there! So awesome to see everyone. They gave me a sweet boost for Loop 3.
Loop 3 (Miles 42-61
I was about 3 miles into loop 3 when I had a road crossing, as I looked behind me, I thought I saw a my friend, Rob, but he was WAY ahead of me, so I was sure I was imagining things. Until he got alongside me. When I asked how he got behind me, he told me he took a 30 minute nap and was chilling and going for an easy finish. So.... he sat on his butt for 20 minutes and chilled out and we are at the exact same place. *Sigh* I'm SO SLOW!!!!!! Anyway, we carried on, walking, running, chatting, he tried to find lizards and snakes to scare me with. You know, normal stuff. By now my hip had stopped hurting, so that was stupendous. As I made it to the farthest Aid Station from the main headquarters (Jackass Junction), I was definitely feeling my stomach. So I grabbed a hamburger and a sip of coke and headed back out. This is by far my favorite part of the course, in either direction. Its smooth and runnable. I ate a ridiculously dry burger and tried to get my stomach to settle down. I think it worked, for a bit anyway. I was using a new headlamp because my normal one mysteriously vanished after crewing San Diego 100 in June. So I wasn't sure about the particulars of this one. It was crazy bright and I had to shield my hand over it as runners came in the opposite direction. I looked like a walking disco party. I wish I felt the same. As I was coming into Javelina Jeadquarters (the main staging area) I was definitely feeling WORKED over. I wasn't having fun. I wanted to stop, I was bleh. Just bleh.
Loop 4 (Miles 61-81)
But I left for loop 4 anyway, because that's just what you do. And everything was going Ok, I thought. Until I decided to fuel up at the first aid station. I ate some cantaloupe, coke and pretzels. Nothing seemed wrong, so I left to go on to Jackass Junction. I got as far as across the street before my stomach told me quite emphatically that it was not doing well. Ugh. So now we start that mess. I slowly made my way to Jackass and decided the burger had helped before, maybe it would help again. I sat down and the fabulous volunteers asked me if I needed anything. So I asked for a hamburger, that I held in my hand for 10 minutes while deciding what I was going to do. I was having a pretty good pity party for myself. I was tired. I was bored. My stomach was sh!t. My legs were tired. I still had 30 miles to go. As I sat there, staring at the hamburger in my hand, my friend Spring came rolling in with her pacer Phillip. She of course gave me some sass and asked what I was doing sitting down. I told her I was done. She responded with "that's ridiculous, you can't quit here anyway, walk with me to the next aid station, we are just walking anyway." That was followed up with "Are you going to eat that hamburger? Because I'm hungry." I haven't mentioned it yet, but I'm pretty sure she's insane. So I got up off my lazy butt and followed her out of the aid station. She ate my burger and I stole her soup, it felt like a fair trade. As I slowly attempted to get my stomach back (I'm not certain how I was attempting that since I wasn't actually eating or drinking anything. I think I was attempting to convince it with my weak mind that it was fine.) we hit that section of the course that is so lovely. Downhill rocks. Spring had blisters and I wanted to hurl. Becca and her pacer Cinda passed us and I attempted to stay with them until my stomach clenched and said NOPE. Sometimes you have to listen to your body. This is one of the few times I actually did. So we continued our slow amble to the next aid station, ate some broth and whatever looked appealing and Phillip made us leave again. We slowly shuffled into the headquarters for our last loop. At this point, you have to finish. its just a matter of pride, its only 20 miles left. 20 LONG FREAKING MILES.
Loop 5 (Miles 81-100)
As we geared up and put on some long sleeves, drank some sparkling water to attempt to settle our stomachs, I changed out headlamps. Mine distributed light weird, so I used my new back up headlamp. One of my trail running friends, Saul, had come out to support the runners and volunteered to pace me the last loop. Of course I said yes! I felt bad for him, because I was definitely not amazing company. I tend to get very quiet when I'm running tired and I was not in a good mental spot right then. But he was a trooper, forced me to eat and drink. Listened to me gripe about why I didn't want to do that. Listened to me puke and forced me to eat after (If no one has ever told you, ultra running is an incredible sexy sport.) And eventually I did manage to get my stomach back in order. We force marched the first 10 miles, passing Becca who was having some foot issues, and eventually found Jackass Junction. I swear, this is the hardest Aid Station to find in the last loop EVER. They had breakfast burritos that actually sounded appealing and I managed to eat the filling out of half of one (I need to go check my pack, I'm pretty sure the other half is still in my pocket.). As we came out I texted my husband to let him know I was headed to the finish and he told me to hurry up because he was already waiting. That made me laugh and made me speed up. So I turned on my music and told Saul it was time to wrap this up and I was done with this. I yelled back to Spring we were running now and it was time to go. She apparently told me it wasn't time, but I didn't hear that. We went off at a blistering 12 min mile pace. Ha. After 90 miles, I'm going to call that a blistering pace. As the music fluctuated, so did our pace. In the last 9 miles, we picked off between 15-20 runners on our way to finishing. Only 1 runner had any gas left in her tank to come back and pass us again within 100 yards of the finish. As I came in a spectator shouted "Great job, way to go!" I looked over my shoulder to see if I knew them. It was Scott. Fricking. Jurek. Ultra legend Scott Jurek just told me I did a good job. Holy Hannah. I ran through the headquarters towards the finish and I was so happy to be done. I saw my husband and my friends and I was so happy to no longer have to be running. My official time was 27:12:22.
It wasn't what I was aiming for, I just wanted a better time than last year, but after my huge pity party, I was just glad I finished. I know I said I was never doing this again, but I think I want to sign up again next year.
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| My biggest supporter. |
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| My awesome pacer Saul |
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| Gloria, Scott Jurek and me. |
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| Trail Crashers (Eric, Maros, Me, Robert, Becca, Jeff, Gloria and Spring) |
