World's End 100K attempt #1

 WORLD'S END 100K Attempt #1

Ah, World's End. The race that intimidated me and did not disappoint! Eastern running is not something I was ready to take on, I'm just going to put that out there right now. World's End is a magical and treacherous course, and one that's going to keep me coming back for more until I get better and better at it. When I was running the course, I did have thoughts cross my mind about never coming back again (many times, actually) haha, but it's funny how the good overcomes the bad in many areas of life isn't it? Now all I can remember is the beauty of the course and how I can prepare to give the course the effort I feel it deserves the next time around.

How do I even describe this race? I felt like a giant had decided to throw a temper tantrum which resulted in the trail I was now trying to navigate through. Rocks and roots were everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. These roots and rocks were also covered in beautiful green moss, great scenery when it didn't involve the morning rain which had turned the moss into a black ice like surface. I couldn't see very well because my headlamp was not bright enough the first couple hours of darkness during the race before the sun finally penetrated the forest floor, so the slick mossy rocks and roots were an accident waiting to happen for me. I highly suggest visiting a race course before you run it. I think that would have at least helped me at least a little, but I have never needed to do that before so I didn't think to do it for WE. It's something I added to the "learn from your mistakes" list.   During the first couple of miles of this race you immediately gain quite a bit of elevation because of the first big climb which leads to a narrow cliff trail. I was doing my best to navigate all these slippery roots and rocks when, WHAM! I fell hard after slipping on a wet root or rock I hadn't seen and must have stepped on at the wrong angle. Thankfully I fell to the non cliff side of the trail though. :) I pulled myself up quickly and let the runner in back of me know I was fine, and started running again on my now really shaky legs. I really wanted to keep up with my friends Scott and Marit and I figured the shakiness and pain would eventually dull after I had a chance to shake the fall off a bit. Once daylight hit, I had a couple people ask me if I was "ok," and I didn't think anything of it since it was such a tricky course, but responded that I was fine and thanks for asking. At the first aid station around mile 5, I finally looked down at my leg and realized it was bleeding pretty good, but other than scratches and soreness the injury seemed pretty superficial so I kept going.I did have a few aid stations give me the title of "bloodiest female runner" which I wasn't sure how to take at the time.... . but at least I was moving ok.

I lost Marit pretty quickly, she is an amazing runner and there was no way I was going to try pushing any speed on this course. I had two goals now that I knew what this course was like: try to keep up with Scott, and remain uninjured from this point on. Thankfully Scott let me tag along after him and I decided it would be a great idea to start naming the crazy steep hills after shark species to take my my mind off my throbbing leg and the miles and we decided to save the great white of course, for the worst hill we found. They kept getting worse though, so we would find other sharks we thought compared pretty well on the deadly scale but still kept GW open for that extra awful hill we knew was out there. And we found it. See the elevation chart below? Great White is pretty easy to spot. That hill lasted forever! It had to have been close to a mile long! And now the course was heating up as the mid day sun warmed everything up.

It was nice to have most of this course shaded though, so there were only a few areas where the hot sun was bothersome.

So back to the course itself, the next few pictures were taken by a photographer at the race who was kind enough to let us download and share his pictures. I only got a couple pictures during the race because I was just too focused on the trail and course markers. This guy captures some of the course very well, although it's impossible to truly show how difficult it really was. (photo credit to Randy Gessler Photography, thanks!)

The climbs are tough and relentless, there is even a bit of bouldering to be done here and there. Sometimes the trail just disappears and you look blindly around for another trail marker to figure out how to navigate to the next trail
section you can see and I'm pretty sure we got lost at least 3 or 4 times for just a bit before realizing we needed to turn around. The downhill sections are so steep and filled with slick rocks and roots it was pretty difficult to actually "run" down them, so figuring out a way to shuffle quickly became my next strategy.  On top of just the intensity of the course, there had to have been some pretty significant rainfall within the last few weeks (and of course, I can't forget to again bring up the rain the morning of the race) because there were many sections of the trail (yes, often times while climbing a hill, in the middle of the hill too) with huge patches of
thick mud, water, and rocks. The waterfalls were beautiful when you could take a minute to look at them that is! There was one point where a wooden ladder needed to be utalized to climb over an steep area with a waterfall right next to you. I think that was my favorite section of the race.  I can't even remember how many stream crossings there were.. a lot. Scott and I got pretty good at hopping along the rocks to avoid getting our shoes wet. But my shoes eventually were covered in so much mud I just started walked through the stream crossings in an attempt to clean them off.

So back to my journey. My knee and leg were starting to throb from my fall, the mud, hills, heat and hours of running and power hiking were wearing on me. We came into mile 35 and saw a beautiful view! All of that climbing had finally (well, maybe at least one of the hills) paid off and it was glorious. And I was starving for once! Because of the terrain, my pace had slowed down a lot and I think this actually helped my stomach  by allowing it to digest. They had grilled cheese sandwiches, ginger cookies, rice krispie treats and many other kinds of treats. Man, it was a feast! I thought for sure this would perk me up and I'd be ready to go again soon. My sister was also this stop and encouraged us to keep going, that we'd be fine and she'd meet us at the next aid station to pace us for the last 20 miles. Neither one of us were in very good spirits at that point but we left the aid station and carried on.

I followed Scott to the side of the "vista viewing" area and guard rail, and was wondering where the trail was. Then I heard his voice from below say "you're not going to like this very much" and I look down to a drop off style steep down hill section (well  there had just been this beautiful vista, ->  so I don't know what I was expecting to come next. Sure seems par for the course that a steep down section was coming up, but my brain was in runners fog mode) where I almost had to sit down to scoot along a steep patch of loose gravel. Then came the next drop off section that was full of water and mud. And down down down we went... take a look at that elevation chart at the beginning of the blog again.. remember the "great white" hill? Well, this is the downhill section that led to it and wow was it was rough on my sore knee and shin I had hit earlier.

A few miles after this downhill section we start on another hill and after rounding a corner of what we thought was a really big hill Scott said "I think we found great white" and oh how true that was! To make it even more fun, there were, of course, several muddy watery sections as we climbed searching ahead for the end of this monster. We crossed a few more streams and then came to a bit of a drop off and a decent sized stream crossing and I heard our names yelled. My sister had decided to tell the aid station workers our names, so of course they were cheering us on as we tried to pick our way across the stream. I sure wish I felt as good as they sounded!

So at this point my leg was throbbing in two specific spots (knee and shin) everything else was of course very tired and general soreness was starting to set in. My sister tried hard to motivate us to keep going, but at that point I had every reason to want to stop, and I knew that.. this is what happens at an ultra and it was time for the brain power to kick on and take over for the body. But my brain had been battling a fear since that morning which I hadn't dealt with and it ended up ending my race. I could tell it was getting to be early evening because of the lighting, and I knew those cliffs and wet slippery trails were waiting for me to once again try and navigate through them in the dark with just that stupid headlamp to keep me from slipping and falling again. Well, the light I had sure didn't help me avoid a bad fall for the first portion of the race, so how was it going to help me now? And instead of 3 or 4 miles of darkness, I was looking at at least 3-4 hours of running that way. My brain started shutting down and I knew that I wasn't prepared to deal with these thoughts at this point in the race. I gave in. My first DNF (did not finish). It was so hard turning my bib over, I think that was the worst part to be honest. Not getting the buckle and crossing the finish line was sad, but at the same time I had a feeling of peace about the decision after I gave the aid station workers my bib. I was still moving and I was pretty sure I hadn't sustained any severe injuries.

 I'll never know if struggling through those final 20 miles would have worked out, or if I would have sustained a more severe injury by continuing on. What I do know is that I will be back for revenge, and the next time I will be ready to battle this course and earn that buckle. I'm also going to try using a flashlight with my headlamp because Scott told me that should help with my perception/view quite a good deal.

 
 Now, to heal my knee and shin up and focus on my next two races, Marquette 50 mile in August and my "A" race for the year, Superior 100 in September.


Until next time World's End. You deserved my first DNF. Thanks for the wonderful, terrible time!

 

Ice Age 50

                  Ice Age 50

 Ice Age 50 is near and dear to my heart because it was my first 50 mile run three years ago in 2015. I had been toying with the idea of running a 50 miler, but thought it was well out of my reach. I decided to fall off a cliff and sign up after much contemplation and probably a few glasses of wine, and have now managed to run it consecutively for the last 3 years. My hope is to keep running it until their 50th running, which will be my 49th birthday year (yeah, I know.. I was pretty sad when I realized it would not be my 50th.. but I'm sure I'll be pretty ok with being a year younger by then ;)). I love the history of this race as one of the oldest mid-western races in the US, drawing hundreds every year to anxiously wait on their computers to get a spot before the race sells out (usually within a few hours). I also love that runners return to this event year after year, and at the packet pick-up you are recognized on a chart for the number of 50 mile finishes accomplished. Some have 20 plus!!

Anyhow, this year the weather was the kryptonite for most of the runners. Many of us train for this spring race through cold winter temps, so an 80 degree day was going to mean some additional suffering. My usual plan for a race is to take the first half easy and push the second half depending on how I feel. After viewing the forecast, I decided to change my strategy and push the first half knowing my body would not adapt very well to the predicted heat that day. Ice Age is another race where you see a lot of familiar faces before and after the race.. again, I love the running community! So many amazing people. 

(Left, clockwise bottom to top: Erica, Stormy, Me, Arturo, Brad, Todd, Kim). ->
(<-Me, Kim, Doug.)
The course is set up as a 9 mile loop, then two out and back sections of 20.5 miles each. The morning was cool and a perfect temp to run. I went with my alternate plan and decided to pick up the pace for the first half. Around mile 7 or 8 I chatted briefly with another runner who was from Montana and getting over a rough chest cold so her breathing was pretty heavy. We lost each other for a few miles but after hitting the single track trails I heard that familiar breathing again and turned around to find her behind me. Her name I found out was Emily, and we spent the next 35 or so miles chatting and experiencing the highs and lows of running 50 miles. This girl is exactly what I look for at races, someone to experience the journey. Thanks for the company E!

The last 10 miles were just awful. My heart had been beating far faster than I was comfortable with, and I had developed a rash or burn on my hands and arms which I later found out was heat rash. I knew I could finish this thing, but was a little sad I didn't get the time I had been on route to achieve until those last 10 miles when I was just too worried about the way I was feeling to push very hard.  Regardless, It was another wonderful experience and I am thankful for it. Huge shout out to my friend Kim, who selflessly did her best to take care of me after the race when the heat stroke symptoms started kicking in and I was really not feeling good for a few hours. With her help and a lot of water and some food, I felt so much better! She is amazing and I really appreciate her kindness and willingness to care so much. 

Huge shout out to Erica and Mark for their half marathon and 50K trail finishes too! This course and weather made for a challenging day! I loved spending time with our group that day!

Training Season! Paleozoic 50K, & Earth Day 50K

Wow... I am truly not a good blogger! I really need to start writing this stuff down ASAP so I can remember some vivid details. But don't worry, I may have waited 3 months after my best race to blog, but I'll give you more details than you may want in regards to my first DNF at World's End 100K.

So Paleozoic spring 50K. My training had not been going as planned, I felt under trained even for a 50K.. my motivation to run this year has been a pretty severe struggle. I was not feeling confident, it was raining and muddy and I didn't want to run for 31 miles, but off I went because I needed a training run and the thought of not running a race I had paid for was killing me. I enjoyed riding down with Kim and Arturo, those two are so happy they can make the most irritable runner smile! The thought of running in the mud and cold rain was not helping my mood.. we sat in Kim's new (yes, brand new car and she knew there would be muddy runners needing a ride home that day, she is an awesome friend!) car and watched the rain hit the windows as we waited for the race to start.

The race started and because of  blog I read about wasting energy avoiding puddles and mud during a rainy race, I decided to just plow on through the puddles and mud.. what the heck.. I wasn't going to be able to avoid getting muddy and wet and energy was pretty important to me at that point. The course was hilly, but not bad. Crushed limestone, not many roots or rocks along the way.  The hills were irritating from time to time, but really not difficult (however, my perspective on "hills" have changed greatly since World's End, so at the time a few of Paleo's did seem unpleasant). Honestly, the mud and out and back X2 course were probably the most irritating things about this race. After a few muddy miles I found myself with two other female runners and the three of us chatted for a time about races we had run and other nerdy running talk. They were cool, and the miles melted away. We hit the first turn around point at mile 7.75 and managed to run another 3 or 4 together.

During those 3-4 miles back towards the start a few runners commented on how we were the top 3 females! Crazy! I've never been part of the top female runners group! This was exciting! I think the thrill of being in the top 3 kept me going at a decent pace and eventually one of the other girls dropped back. I held 1st for a bit, then the other female runner would take the lead, and we'd go back and forth for a few miles. She was by far a better runner and pulled ahead of me around mile 14 or 15 and I didn't catch her again. I was sure there was not a chance in hell that I'd keep 2nd place, and the women I noticed not far behind me at the turn around point to head back another 7.75 miles a final time solidified my anxiety of that hard earned place holding being taken away from me. Nothing like having a bit of competitive spirit to take over for your tired feet though! I attempted to keep up a decent pace, always listening for footsteps behind me. I felt so grateful for that opportunity and I wasn't going to let it go without a friendly fight! I splashed through puddles, pummeled down hills and did my best to power hike up the steep hills, all the while waiting for someone to start their negative splits and catch up. Because of all the rain, there were also many sections in this course that I like to call "black hole" spots, where you really had no idea how deep a puddle was, you'd just faithfully run through them hoping they didn't devour your legs. A few of these so called "black hole" sections did eat my leg about up to my knee, and I heard a few people lost shoes. :D

There was a point I think around mile 27, where one of the puddles was at least a quarter mile long and up to my almost my knees most of the way. I gave up "running" this section and power hiked as quickly as I could while hoping I didn't step in a black hole. I then heard quacking.. and noticed two ducks happily swimming in their newly expanded habitat. This was a new one for me.. plowing through water deep enough to support ducks haha! I had to giggle to myself even though I was getting really tired at that point! 
So getting to the end here.. I'm climbing (again, perception has changed, so I was just walking up a hill in reality) up the last hill (still a pretty steep hill compared to the others in this race) and I get to the top, only to discover another female has reached the bottom of the hill! HELL NO! I get to the top and haul it for the remaining couple miles! Never underestimate a non-competitive runner when they find themselves in a competitive position! I crossed that finish line 2nd place female! Probably the last time too, but hey, I'll take it! Paleo ended up being a great day for me and I'm thankful for that experience because the rest of my races for the year were not as successful. But that's just the thing, ultras are meant to challenge, and any one of them is going to challenge you in different ways. Only you know what it took during an given race and that experience is what I value the most.

 

EARTH DAY 

So next up on the training race agenda is Earth Day, one of my favorite races. Michele Hartwig is an amazing race director and I love the races she puts on: Frozen Gnome, Hennepin 100, and Earth Day are all great and I can't recommend them enough! I had a blast running this course the last two years and was really looking forward to my third time. 

I still had not been feeling great (I mean really, it's time for me to feel good again right?! I'm really getting tired of struggling through training runs and would just be thrilled if I could have another happy run again), but that happened at Paleo and it turned out ok so I tried to remain optimistic. My sister, friend Kim, cousin Stormy, and a number of other folks I knew were running ED, so I was excited to see everyone. One of the great things about repeating races, you really form a "running family" and meet so many new friends and see old friends at the same races each year. 

                                                 (Photo credit Scott Laudick Photography)

Off we went and right from the start, something just felt wrong. I was not in a happy place, my body felt like it had an extra 100lbs attached to it and I was SO TIRED. I've never felt that tired at a race before, and I have no idea why. I slept fine, I didn't change anything. I was just "off". The ED course is set up in loops, so each loop is about 5ish miles and you would run right by the parking lot again, and again, and again (X6!). For the first three to 4 loops I really thought about sneaking over to my car and taking a nap.. but I resisted the urge and carried on. It was a beautiful day, I loved the course and I should have been running happy, but I wasn't, and I started sinking into a bad mental place. 

I was able to catch up to my sister after the first loop because she had smashed her knee during a portion of the course which you are climbing a stair case. This lifted my spirits a little.. we hadn't run a race together since the prior year so it was nice to have her company. I made it my goal at that point not to loose her and did my best to keep up, and she catered to me at times too. For the first time at a race I also started to experience extreme difficulty eating.. this was very concerning since eating during ultras is vital. I did my best to pick easily digestible foods that I didn't have to chew much so they would go down without my gag reflex kicking in, but I still was not able to eat much. 

                                                  Photo credit Scott Laudick Photography

By the 4th loop I was finally starting to feel a bit better, but my sister started to feel worse. So we trudged on together, just like we did the first part of the race when I wasn't feeling so great. Neither of us were going to set a PR (for non-runners, personal record is a PR) that day, so we might as well enjoy it together. We ended up finishing, even though we both wanted to quit very badly by the third loop. Michele (one of the many reasons she is amazing) and her daughter (plus a few others) hand paint the finishers medals which I look forward to every year. This year I half jokingly requested a dragonfly medal (my favorite!) and Michele's daughter made one for me! Even after a tough race, and a disappointing personal performance I will always love this race for so many reasons.

                                                            Who's down for 2018?!