How to make friends, influence people, and finish a 25mile race

Me hiding under the trail awning waiting for the race to start

Two weeks ago I ran the Quad Rock 25 mile race at Lory State Park in Fort Collinish. It's one of my favorite races, I think one of the races I've run the most since I started distance running, and a race that proves my point: if you can't win races at least make sure the race has a sweet finisher medal at the end. Quad Rock does not disappoint. Rather than a metal clangy thing that I'll wear once and then remove it and look at it each time I have to move as I place it into a different box to totally hang up later, they give you a sweet ass coffee mug that can double as a beer mug.

The weather was not ideal. It was reminiscent to the last time I ran this race although this time it was most definitely raining. So we were running in the rain while also running through the cloud that was raining on us. This is the plot of Inception 2.

Erin Bibeau photography got some great action shots!

Oddly enough, I think the interesting weather played a significant part in my finishing and not feeling horrible. My final time was 6:42:14. Not amazing, but I didn't want to die at the end. The race was so wet, that there were parts unrunnable, at least for most people, which slowed everything down. Maybe I could have shaved 10-15min off with dry trails, but the forced slowness likely contributed to my lack of pain. I'm used to being on my feet for long stretches, but not as great at being on my feet for long stretches going fast. I had to take it slow, which translated into not feeling as fatigued when I'm at my slowest; uphill. I was woefully undertrained for this race. Very few trail miles and very few consistent weeks of runs. On paper I should have crawled across the finish line, but here I am, all smiles and mud.

Coming through the last stretch of trail before getting my mug!

I'm not saying that my training should be mimicked. Having the experience of finishing long races, including this one, in the past mentally I knew I could finish. In distance running, physical training only goes so far. Mentally training your body to continue despite [fill in the blank] is the key to connecting it all through the last mile. It is also something that doesn't leave you as quickly as physical ability. I knew going in I wouldn't break a PR, or win my age bracket, and this time I was ok with that. I never once thought, I can't do this, I can't finish. That took years of hard miles and harder races to develop. That spark that makes me want to beat myself the next time I go out did get a little stronger.

Another significant part of my success comes down to three things: honeystinger, pickles etc, and PBR. I realized after my less than steller half marathons, that maybe I needed to revisit my fuel and calorie intake. I kept thinking "13.1 is so short I don't need to eat". False. Food is fuel and without fuel you putter around. I made a commitment to eat every 30min, with something more substantial at least every hour or as I got to aid stations. I stuck with Honey Stinger gummies while I was on the move and whatever I put in my mouth at the aid stations. This came out to be M&Ms, chips, pickles, cokes, bananas, and a quesadilla. I also celebrated the awesomeness of aid station volunteers, but drinking a small cup of PBR at mile 10. Definitely helped me get up the second big climb.

My next race is the North Fork 50k. Thanks to Wrong Way Ryan for getting me a free entry for being hands down the best aide station volunteer ever. I'm also not in the best training state for a 50k, but conquering Quad Rock give me the strength to know that I can physically get it done. And the chance of being covered, head to toe in mud, is highly unlikely. I think I have my fuel worked out more and keeping my body stocked with the energy I need to finish will be priority number one.

On a more feelings based note, while traveling for work this week, my coworker and were having general discussions about running and my upcoming race at North Fork. I was discussing my use of audio stimuli on road runs vs. trail runs (I do when I'm training miles on pavements, I never use it when I'm racing or running on trails). This brought up one of my joys of trail running and trail races; the people. You meet the best people when you're 4 hours into 32 miles and haven't seen an ice cube in what feels like days. Our discussion brought up a great memory I had a few years back running the North Fork 50k. In the stretch leading up to the last aide station before the finish, I ended up spending a lot of time with 2 women as we slowly made the climb up out of a gully. We were tired, almost 25miles into the race at this point. One of the woman was 70, she was worried about finishing within her goal time. Her goal time was important because her husband told her that if she couldn't finish this race within that time frame, she shouldn't (or couldn't) do a 100 miler she had planned on later that year. That got all of us focused on getting her to the finish so she could keep her goal alive. We talked about races, how running affects our partners and our social lives, how the other woman paced her friend while she was 7 months pregnant. We got to the last aide station and as she got her needs met and I sat down under the awning drinking the beer Wrong Way Ryan saved for me. I wished her well and told her I'd try to catch her on the way down. I did end up catching her about a mile before the finish and we finished that last leg together. As we rounded  the corner into the finish I told her to go for it and she sprinted ahead to her husband cheering. I'm not going to lie, while running tends to make all of us weirdly emotional, this time I really had to hold back tears because it was just so awesome.

I'm really looking forward to North Fork. My time goal, yes I'm taking a leap and putting one out there, is 7:30. Hopefully that includes some beer before the last downhill. It's going to be hot, it always is. I got a good run in today, sweating through about 9 miles in 90 degrees. No stomach cramps and an ice cold Coke when I finished. Here's to new friends, cold beer, and 32 miles of smiles!

There's always something, right?

There's always something...right?

I got a lot of compliments on my hoody.
Kircher said I looked like a Teletubby
Quad Rock 25 2016: 6hours 23min 21sec

When you prepare for a race, a tournament, a big event you always imagine perfection. How everything leading up to it goes just perfectly and you seamlessly float from waking up to kicking ass. In reality, at least in my reality, that never happens.

Looking back at races there's always something that puts a kink in my perfect armor. There was the year before the Salida Marathon when my whole life did a 180. There was the year at Quad Rock I left all of my race food and my watch at home. There was my first 50 miler when I managed to severely roll my ankle just a few weeks out from the race. There was this years Quad Rock when I neglected to bring any of my proper cold/wet running gear to the start.

There really is always something and I'm beginning to think that something is the new perfection. I begin to get worried if something hasn't gone wrong or isn't ideal before a race. When I forgot my food and watch before Quad Rock I ran my fastest race time on that course ever. When I rolled my ankle I finished my first 50 miler. When I forgot my proper running attire, I got more compliments on my "cool hoody" then every race I've ever run combined.

The Dashing Divas Dashed to finish the marathon.
Signs made by yours truly.

We all have a fear of something going into a big race, my friend Carissa lived hers out a few weeks ago at the Colfax Marathon. She was running the first leg of the relay, the race started at 6:00am, she woke up at 6:10am. By the miracle of her two legs and some help from an uber driver she got on the race course and managed to make up a ton of time. Basically shit happens, there's always something, and despite all of that we still go on, we still run, hopefully we still finish.

My lack of posting is not evidence of my lack of running. Since the 50 miler in December I've gotten out quite a bit. I had the Salida Marathon in March, Quad Rock in May, and tomorrow is the North Fork 50k. As I get ready for tomorrow I'm again reminded...it's always something right?

First off I'm moving. No not I will be moving or I am moved. I'm in the actual act of moving. Thankfully most of my stuff has made it to the new place, but up until yesterday most of my race gear was still at the old place. I honestly can't say for sure where everything is except I made it a point to keep my running shoes in my car since the last race. Partly so I wouldn't forget, mostly because they were really dirty.

Second, I need new contacts. Honestly I've needed new contacts for almost 2 years, but I didn't drag myself to the eye doctor for a new prescription until last December. It's now been a 2 month process trying to get 1-800contacts to send me my contacts. I was hoping for some before tomorrow, I'm on my last itchy and dry pair. No such luck, the earliest arrival date is now Monday.

Third, I'm doing this race almost 100% solo. I say almost because thankfully my buddy Ryan will be at my favorite aid station, hopefully with a beer (hopefully? who are we kidding when there's Kircher there's beer). But I'm driving there solo, running solo, finishing solo, and driving home solo. It's hard to not be a little bummed by that. Running is a solo sport, but so much of what I love is the joy of being with crazy runners going out on the trail from 4, 5, 6, sometimes 13 hours. It's in my nature to want to share this so I'm sad that I won't have a predetermined person to share it with at the finish line.*

Despite the above, I feel good about the race. I feel good about my training and my conditioning. I'm really excited to just go out and run. I'm hoping to get up a good recap following the race before I jump right into another one in two weeks; Grandma's marathon!

Here's hoping that again there's something and that something turns into a good finish tomorrow.

*before you go thinking woe is Emily she has no friends. Race timing, work logistics, and health issues have taken away my usual support suspects. They aren't ditching me, they are just humans with human things. It's always something right?

Journey to Endor

it was pretty damn beautiful out there

California came and went pretty quickly and before I knew it, Christmas - New Years - 2016. So much of the last few months have been consumed with this race I feel like I crammed in a fall/winter's worth of activities in one month. So 2016 is almost  is here. I had a pretty full plate, race wise, in 2015. All of it was capped off with the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 miler December 5.

Obviously I've been struggling writing this post since it is now more than a month post race. I could easily blame the hubbub of the holidays, which is partially true, or I could admit that this post, like this race, was difficult to finish. Running  any distance is a journey and rarely do journeys happen without a hitch or two. The longer the distance, the more chances for these bumps in the road to catch you. Trying to some up 13hours and 42minutes of running in one blog post isn't easy. We laughed, we cried, we talked about Portlandia, and I came to some truths about where I want to go next in my running career.

Waiting for the start!
Not Pictured, Donny cause he was in line for coffee

First and foremost, the race was amazing and my crew was out of this world. I couldn't have done this without Donny, Beth, and Carissa helping me out. We had such a blast the whole weekend there were many times when all the prep and running hardly felt like work. Kudos to all the friends we met out there and especially our hosts who provided me with such a comfy couch and bed to recover on. The race was very well organized, parking situation aside, and all of the aid stations crews went above and beyond making sure you had everything you needed, including a bit of conversation.

In the course description of this race they focus a lot on the "mysterious car wreck" which you run by twice on the trail. Seriously, they bring it up several times and make it sound like a pretty sweet part of the course. Coming from Colorado, it really just looks like any rusty old piece of mining equipment you can see on a 14er or in the middle of Downtown Breckenridge. What I can't believe is the race promoters focused so much on a car and not even one footnote caption on the fact that we ran through ENDOR!

No, not that we ran through forests that reminded you for Endor. We ran through  Endor, A large chunk of the back half of the course was through the Muir woods which is where George Lucas filmed the Ewok parts of Return of the Jedi.

According to Wookieepedia: By the time of the Galactic Civil War, the Ewoks had reached a level of civilization where they engaged in religious, artistic, medical and even political activities. Nevertheless, they still focused most of their energies on the daily provision of food.

What a great segue because I'm sure everyone is wondering, how's your stomach Emily?

Well it's great! I had almost zero food issues during the race and more importantly no major issues after the race. My post race success is largely due to Beth forcing me to "drink this", "eat that", "now drink this again". Front loading calories was huge because I wasn't very interested in eating later on in the race. I managed to get in a good 200 or so calories every hour and mixed it up between Raw Revolution Bars, Honeystinger Waffles and chews, and even a PB&J sandwich. Bringing pickles was also the best decision I've made so far in my 30s, they had NO pickles at any of the aid stations. Are pickles just a Colorado thing?

Now, over a month post race, I'm happy to report I have had no real digestion issues. I did notice a small lack of an appetite initially, but no where near what I felt like after the North Fork 50 in 2014. I could most definitely eat half a sandwich a week post race.

Overall I felt healthy internally and the real struggles came more from the physical difficulty of the race rather than me sabotaging myself.

Stinson Beach - we ran down to it then
back up with zero shark attacks 

The first 26 miles or so were great. I kept promising myself not to "be an asshole" and run conservatively. The challenge was the first half of the race was so runnable. It was hard not to blast through it even if I was trying to play it cool. I will not sit here and try to tell you that running uphill is the easiest part of trail running. It's not, but running downhill can be so much more painful than you can imagine. I first noticed the toll all the downhill running was taking on me as I came into the Mile 27ish aid station, where I would pick up Carissa for pacing. The trail went from flat/mellow rolling to a steep decline into Stinson
Beach.

The climb immediately after the 27 mile aid station was obviously concocted by Satan within the bowels of hell.

It was 3ish miles of this:

Honestly these stairs looked a lot taller in person and
lot more frequent in occurrence then this picture shows. 

Just stairs upon stairs. As an avid "Pro-Stair" person, never in my life have I wished more for an elevator. They just kept going and my legs just kept going and then my legs and I had to go down and suddenly the stairs going up didn't seem so bad.

The race was really rough for me from about Mile 40 until Mile 48.9. I tried to spend enough time at aid stations to get some food, but I knew if I stopped and sat down the likelihood of getting up again wasn't high. I tried my best to just keep moving forward and focused on Beth retelling me an episode of Portlandia and how the same thing happened to Donny when he tried to donate clothes to the thrift store in Crested Butte. The great thing is, despite all the pain I experienced the 9 miles, the thing I remember most about that stretch is the story about the thrift store* not the hurt in my legs or frustration in my head.

Beth and I at the finish, all I wanted to
do was sit down but I had to take this picture

I'm really excited to have finished this race. It was a lot more challenging terrain wise then I had
anticipated (Rocky Mountain Hubris). It was also a lot more beautiful than I could have pictured. The first half of the course is really fast and awesome. The only real disappointing part of the course was the section by the "famous wrecked car". It was beautiful running, overlooking the ocean, but it was also two way traffic on the most single-tracky parts of the course. The perks of being a faster runner were seen in that section since return traffic had the right of way. I got real good at balancing on the slope side of the trail.

As I finished the last few miles of this race I realized I still have a long way to go before attempting a 100 miler. With that in mind I chose not to enter the Leadville 100 lottery for 2016 and instead focus on improving my 50 mile running and give a go at a 100k.

I may make a return trip for this race. Whenever you have a less then amazing race performance there is always the drive to return to the scene of the crime and do better. I think I can give this course another shot now that I know what to expect trail and terrain wise.

Physical prowess aside, mental toughness is the biggest asset you can have when ultra running. The sheer desire to finish and finish under the cut-off can overcome some of the worst quad aches you can imagine. I knew I could do it, even when I felt the absolute worst, the concept of not finishing didn't take up much real estate in my brain. People usually say I'm crazy for doing this and that there is no way they could ever do a race that long. You totally can, if I can, you can. But you have to go into it knowing you can overcome all the stuff/hitches/roadblocks/demons that will most certainly try and root themselves in your brain. Training for this race I wrote about Doubt and how dangerous that thought can be. Knowing I have the mental toughness to not even let doubt in for 50 miles reminds me that I can do this again and I will.

*Bonus the thrift store rejects became that nights Rocky Horror Picture Show outfit if only I had a picture. 

You do You

Red, White, and Blue

I'm still alive. I survived the North Fork 50k (what a difference 18 fewer miles makes) and I'm feeling good. I'm eating food, drinking beer, playing frisbee; a true American Success Story.

In all honestly the 32 miles flew by. I felt like aid stations showed up much quicker than anticipated and my smile never really left my face. The 50k portion of the 50 mile course went so much better for me that every step felt exponentially better than a year ago.

I had the usual moments of tiredness, soreness, stomach upsetedness - that's to be expected on long races. I honestly felt like I was better equipped to handle these and let myself feel the feelings and move on. Speaking of feelings; what is it about races that make you feel all the feelings. ALL THE FEELINGS. Especially odd is the overwhelming feeling of my feelings leaking out from my eyes. I'm not sad either. It's more like I feel so much stuff that my body decides to just let some of it leak out through my eyes.

One mantra that I kept on a loop in my head (when it wasn't Taylor Swift) was You Do You. I wanted to keep reminding myself that the race was about me running a good race; not about beating someone up a climb or at an aid station. Nothing reminded me of that more than when I ran into Sandals. I named this guy Sandals because he was wearing sandals. He was also carrying absolutely no water. I get the sandal thing, once Born to Run came out a lot of people jumped on that bandwagon, but no water? Personally I like my shoes and have no interest in barefoot running. I kick a lot of roots and rocks on accident and my toes already hate me from ultimate cleats I don't need to aggravate the situation. Initially I was annoyed that Sandals was ahead of me. But then I thought, who cares. He's doing his thing, I hope he finishes, let me just do me. He did finish, after a wrong turn at some point near the end. I passed him on the last climb and I'm guessing he regretted not having water on this hot, sweltering, course. I did offer him some of mine when I passed him and he refused.

Where's my sponsorship BLL?

I met some amazing people during the race who also helped keep You Do You in my head. In the middle of the race I ran with two lovely ladies named Randy and Claire. It was Claire's first ultra and Randy was a 70+ badass woman who has many ultras to her name. The three of us trudged up the hill on Tramway to the Shingemill Aid Station and joked that there was no way the high today was "low 70's". I ended up losing Claire at the last aid station (more on that later), but I ran with Randy for awhile after she had some hamstring/quad issues. We talked about running and her worry that her husband (an young 76) would try and convince her not to do a back packing trip if she didn't finish this race with a good time. Randy and I hung out at the final aid station for a bit and she took off while I continued to goof around. I caught her in the last mile and we ran into the finish together.

I drank some weird beer. I know, past stomach issues + weird beer = disaster. Quite the opposite. Turns out past stomach issues + Bud Light Lime + tequila shot + weird beer = a really fun and slightly tipsy 3ish miles to the finish. No I wouldn't say that you should make it a habit of running ultra marathons while drinking (or drunk). I only managed about half of that BLL. Ryan did give me a shot of tequila mixed with lime juice which I drank. I also tried some Cucumber/Mint/Kale Sour beer from ODD13 brewing. That beer...you do you...I don't think I'll drink it again. Out of everything I consumed that day the only thing I really remember burping is that beer the first mile out of that aid station. Oof... Food wise I made the great decision to start eating a lot early on. Not a lot at one time, but I started taking in calories from the get go. I think that made a big difference for the latter part of the race. I had some nausea around mile 18 - 22 and was able to kick it by the time I got to the Buff Creek Aid station. I think my nausea was due to too much coke. Having a good caloric base for my body to feed on helped tremendously at the end of the race.

Overall I'm really pleased with my race. I was hoping for under 7hrs. I knew I wouldn't make that cut off once I got to the last pass through at the Buff Creek aid station, so I just decided to have fun. I could have pushed it and made it pretty close to 7 hours, instead I hung out with Ryan and his awesome aid station crew for 20ish minutes and finished 7:34. Being in such a different place, mentally and physically, from the year before was the highlight for me. Being able to run the entire last section of the race was awesome and coming into the finish with a lot of cheering people made my day! I can't gush enough about how great this race is, how great of a job Janice does organizing, and how awesome all the volunteers are. They even had pickles at all the aid stations! (Side note, frozen pickles loose their structural integrity).

I'm gearing up for something this fall, not sure what the race will be but I'm shooting for a 50. I think it's about time I take on that beast again.

NorthFork 50k

It's hard to believe the NorthFork 50k is on Saturday. In years past I would probably be in full on freak out mode right now but leading up to this race I've been eerily calm and confident. When people ask how long a certain race is or how long I went on a training run I always feel like I have to "qualify" it if I'm not doing the longer race or run. How far is your race this weekend "It's just a 50k". yes I realize how silly saying "it's just" sounds when it's a 50k. Perhaps, going back to a previous post, I am still at a point where I have difficulty celebrating myself.

I've been in this position before, a week before a race, but this time I know what to expect for the most part. I know there will be moments of pain, moments of joy, moments of doubt and moments of confidence. I know all the trails, I know all the climbs, I know it gets hot out in the burn area and that there will likely be a thunderstorm at some point in the day. I also know I can finish, all I don't know is how I'll feel getting to the finish.

One of my biggest goals for this race is to conquer the food demons that plagued me a year ago in the 50 miler. While I won't be pushing myself to the same limit as I did then; 50k is still ample opportunity to have some major nutrition disasters and I want to mitigate that as much as I can. I ordered a big box of Raw Revolution bars and am planning on cutting them up like gummies and eating them along the race course. I've already got a few pickles in reserve that I am going to put in my drop bag at the Buffalo Creek aid station (we pass through it twice on for the 50k). Here's what my nutrition plan is looking like:

Stuff to carry while running:

• raw revolution bars
• sour patch kids
• gels (just in case of emergency)
• honey stinger or GU gummies (whatever is cheapest)
• nuun
• salt pills

Stuff to put in my drop bag:

• sour patch kids
• pickles
• protein (either hummus or tempeh wrapped in a cabbage leaf)
• nuun
• peanut butter cups
• honey stinger waffles

The aid stations have a lot of other items to supplement what I'm carrying (chips, M&Ms, sandwiches, ice, etc). I decided against doing the enduralite powder I used last year. That did not sit well with me and I haven't been training with it. I have been using nuun (both running and ultimate) and it's felt really good tummy wise. I learned my lesson with the pickle shortage last year and I'm sure they will taste awesome at mile 24.3. 

The weather is shaping up to be nice. Highs in the 70s, chance of an afternoon thunderstorm, but not to bad. I'm sure it will still feel hot but 70s is a lot better than 90s, especially when there's shade!

Other than nutrition, I do have a time goal for this race. My first 50k, Sageburner, was a tough one. I came in at 7 hours and 15 mine. I think I can get under 7 hours this go around. I have to figure out what that means splitwise during aid stations, but I think I can do it. I've run these trails so many times and I've got some good hard trail runs under my belt leading up to this. My achilles is feeling ready so all that's left is to lace up the shoes and go. 

I know some people (cough cough...mom...cough cough) are worried about me. My 50 mile experience does not inspire a lot of confidence. The Vegas odds might be in favor of me exploding on Saturday. To rest my critics, and the voices in my head, I feel a lot better prepared this time around. Not just because it's not 50 miles, 50k is not something to take lightly, I feel like I learned a lot from last year and have put in a lot of time figuring out how to run smarter and how to take care of my body better. There will be tough points, pain, discomfort, uneasiness. But that's all part of ultra running. I already requested a beer from Ryan at his aid station and hope to drink more than 1/4 of it! All that aside, I am going to listen to my body, make sure I'm eating, drinking, electrolyting and hopefully that translates in to a good race and a good week after the race. LFG  

To the fella over there with the hella good hair...

Quad Rock 2015 in the books. And to answer Jessi and anyone else who's asked recently what I think about when I run; I apparently think about Taylor Swift songs on repeat in my head.

What a difference a month makes! Despite the race starting at 5:30am the heat was already a factor early on in the race. Great training for North Fork, but oof, I'm not used to such high heat for this race. I swear the "shady" areas I remember from last year turned out not so shady this time around. How I missed May and it's cloud cover. Again, I did not envy the 50 milers I saw slogging their way back up the course, except for Ryan, he strolls along chatty and happy as always as if he didn't have another 20 miles to run.

First and foremost, I finished. Albeit not as pretty as I would have liked. No, no stitches this year. I had a couple "oh shit" almost falls but managed to save it before body connected to rock (I did sort of bounce off a tree at one point, much to the amusement of the person behind me). My achilles held up for most of the race but had a temper tantrum about 2 miles shy of the finish. I rolled in, sneaking by the Catt cheer squad, but sort of awkwardly running trying not to put any weight/pressure on the ball of my foot. Yes I know, not running and resting would have been better. Despite that I do feel 100% ready for the North Fork 50k, I don't think I'd have that feeling if it wasn't for this race.

I'm really happy with my uphill work. I focused a lot on strong uphill running/walking and kept really great form for most of the race. This is probably the first time I've run Quad Rock not hating myself halfway through one of the big climbs. I actually felt strong after each climb. I ran the first down hill pretty hard and then committed to taking it a bit slower for the rest to make sure I wasn't killing my body. All in all it was a really great race. I'm not happy about my achilles, but "thems are the shakes" as they say and all I can do is ice and rest as I get ready for North Fork.

Catt and I relaxing in Jessi Witt's
back yard post race with
Lory State Park in the background.

Catt really killed it this race. We had a great discussion about nutrition and bonking. I was skeptical about his fueling for the race. He's decided to eat V's (his 16 month old son) mushed up baby food pouches. To his credit they sounded sort of delicious and savory, none of the sickly sweet Gu combinations. My concern for him was the three pouches combined only had about 180 calories total (versus one of my bars that had 180 on its own). He did supplement with Vfuel gel which didn't make his stomach feel good but probably helped give him the calories he needed.

I want to acknowledge again why I choose to run despite being injured. In running, and ultra running, there's a fine line between pushing your body past being comfortable and doing serious damage. I wholeheartedly admit that runners often get this wrong. We are usually the first to tell someone else to rest and rehab and the last to actually do it for ourselves. Becca Hall (an amazing runner and winner for the Bucket Hat division at Quad Rock) posted a great article recently from outdoor magazine called Running on Empty. It looks at a condition called Over Training Syndrome (OTS). It has made me think more about the choices I make running, when to run, when to rest, etc. I am proud of myself that despite my stubbornness, I did not put on cleats and play frisbee Monday or Tuesday. It is really hard to take time off when all you want to do is train more and get better, but it's a lot better in the long run and I know this. I choose to run Quad Rock because I knew that not running it would have resulted in me making worse decisions the next two weeks feeling like I needed to get ready for North Fork. The lesser of two evils I suppose.

Final Results: 6:08:39, 127/197 and 39 overall for women. They only had 3.2 beer at the finish so Catt and I hydrated with that and then got real beer on the way home.

Achilles Heel (Quad Rock Take Two)

Achilles heel is a deadly weakness in spite of overall strength. I'm not the fastest runner, but I'm very determined. Sometimes my determination gets in the way of good judgment. Read on...

So if you've been anxiously awaiting a recap of Quad Rock you'll have to wait longer. The race was postponed due to the insane amounts of rain we got in Colorado in May. For the integrity of the trails they canceled the race and rescheduled it for June 14th.

As much as I try to be flexible and not worry too much about planning every detail, I really hate when things get out of sync with my plan. When I go on a run I like to know exactly how far I'm going, or at least close to it. When I am planning for a race I want to have most of my big training runs planned out. It's awesome to be able to incorporate a race as a long training run because you get to practice being in "race mode" and you get a fully aided training run. So Quad Rock was perfect, it was just over a month before the North Fork 50k so I could get in a good long training run in race mode.

Well now it's this weekend, just 2 weeks before North Fork. Not ideal for a race, but not too bad for an aided training run. I had already resigned myself to treating it as a training run and not a race. Meaning no time goals, just focusing on time on my feet running trails. It was tough for me to accept this. Every year I've run Quad Rock I've shaved huge amounts off my finish times. It was exciting to think I could continue with this pattern. But alas, that's not in the cards for me so my goal for Quad Rock is to survive without any gashes on my limbs.

To add another little wrench into the plan, because why not, I am also coming in to this race a bit injured. Perhaps the universe is telling me something or maybe I'm just clumsy, but this is the second year I've hurt myself 3 weeks before North Fork playing frisbee. I thought I was doing it right, not playing a tournament, not practicing, just playing good ol'league. It's no one's fault that I got hurt, but if we did want to point fingers I would probably point them at a certain person who shall remain nameless who pump faked instead of throwing it to my wide open cut in the endzone. Long story short I thought I ruined my knee. Flashes of similar movements from teammates that resulted in ACL tears flashed through my mind. Coupled with a sharp crunch feeling with pain in my knee and I thought my summer was over in an instant.

Thankfully my knee, and as far as I know all tendons and ligaments, are intact. After the fear of an ACL tear subsided and I was able to bend and extend my knee without trouble and walk on it the next day without pain. I did however do something to my Achilles tendon. (My googling and talk with a PT friend leads me to believe it's Achilles tendinitis). This is largely a symptom of a nagging injury I've had for awhile so I can't really blame anyone for this. The abrupt cut and plant on my leg just brought it all to head. A smart person would not run this weekend. A certain smart person weighed the pros and cons and decided to run this weekend and she's going to be super careful.

My achilles heel may be my determination to push through things despite the risks. I was determined to play frisbee league even though firsbee is probably the worst thing to do along side distance running. I was determined to keep running long distances throughout May with the constant rain driving me to put in a lot of long pavement miles on shoes that really need to be replaced. And I'm determined to run the North Fork 50k.

Here's why I'm choosing to run this weekend. I am running the North Fork 50k. Unless one of my legs gets chopped off and I don't have time to get a replacement leg I'm running this thing. Right now that's my last big race until the fall and it's the one I've been focused on since I didn't get in to Leadville. I see my choices as the following:

1. Run Quad Rock, rest/taper the next two weeks, Run North Fork
2. Skip Quad Rock, rest/taper the next two weeks plus 5 days, Run North Fork
3. Skip Quad Rock and North Fork and be sad :(

The only real choice is between one and two and here's why I'm choosing option one. For now the pain is manageable and is actually better when I'm moving versus not moving. The thought of not running at all from today to North Fork is just not something I think I can do and feel ok about North Fork. I would much rather get in a long fast "hike" this weekend and then let myself rest a bit over doing nothing at all. I feel like I can do a better, more successful, job at resting if I do Quad Rock. If I don't do Quad Rock I will be tempted to do things like play frisbee and run on pavement which are two things that I should most definitely not do if I want to heal myself.

I know there are a lot of people shaking their heads at me. Just know that I understand the risks and if I were on the other side I would probably be trying to convince this person to just take the rest of the month off and heal. But my achilles heel is my determination(stubborness) and it may lead to my downfall or it may just be an Achilles Heel that will heal.

Injuries aside, it's supposed to be beautiful up in Fort Collins this weekend and it should be a really awesome race! I'm excited to continue working on my nutrition and power walking up hill and am hoping there's a PBR waiting for me at at least one of the aid stations!

 

NorthFork 50 preview

When I first started writing a couple years ago I never really thought I'd get to the day where I'd be doing final prep for my first 50miler.

You paid money to run 50 miles?

It seemed like such an abstract thing that would happen in the future at some point, not something that was going to happen this Saturday at 7am. The realness of it all sunk in this past weekend as I prepared a novel length email for my friend Kate who is schlepping me to and from the race. I calculated estimated times for aid stations in case she wanted to catch me on the course and then it hit me, come Saturday I'd be actually doing it.

This past weekend was a flurry of errands. Here's what I got:

• 12 gels (10 Gu brand, 2 Honey Stinger fruit smoothie because they are delicious)
• 6 packs of gu chomps various flavors some with caffeine
• smokey tempeh (for protein in my drop bag)
• salmon jerky (for protein in my drop bag)
• a cheap watch (because I lost my other one)
• KT tape - I don't know if I'll use it or not, but it was on sale at Target
• gallon zipper close plastic baggies
• blister bandaid strips
• sunscreen.

I wanted to have something to look forward to eat in my drop bags. Unfortunately it's tough when you're at an aid station and the only protein options is turkey or peanut butter. I've eaten tempeh "bacon" during ultimate tournaments before it provided the right amount of salty, chewy, protein that I needed. I figured it'd be worth a shot and I don't really  need to worry about keeping it cold. I've got a couple other things on my list to get but I put a good dent on Saturday.

Unfortunately my body is rebelling against me right now and I'm trying to fight off the early stages of a cold (stuffy nose, scratchy throat etc). I purchased some zinc tablets and some throat lozenges and have been pounding those and Vitamin C, here's hoping for a full recovery before Saturday.

I went through the race website and put together all the info regarding elevation, turn by turn navigation, course map, estimated times etc. I'm going to make a pace card for myself to show me at each aid station what the estimated time should be for a 10hr race (ohhh how ambitious!) a 12hr race (the goal) and a 14hr race (the cut offs). I figured a 10hr estimation would give me some motivation or remind me to slow down a bit if I'm going to fast. Also I want to make sure I can actually spend some time in the aid stations so this give me an idea of when I need to be heading back out on the course.

Course Thoughts

I've been able to run a few sections of the course now which will be a big help. In total I've run about 38 miles of the 50mile course. There are some good climbs, but nothing compared to what you see at Quad Rock. The total elevation gain is 7,350 feet over the course of the race.  Here's what it looks like:

So pretty consistent up and down with a long downhill at the end. The race is almost entirely on single track with a few "service road" type sections that don't take up too much of the course. I remember the downhills being really fast and fun and I can't wait to stretch out my legs on them. Ideally I will have run a smart enough race I'll be able to run the section between the Meadows (miles 22.3 through 31.9) and final downhill. The climb from Buffalo Creek to Homestead isn't crazy steep, but it's long and I remember feeling tired doing it during the last training run.

There's some pretty hot, exposed sections of the course due to the two large wildfires that cut through the area in the past. I've been warned by a lot of past runners that these sections are hot, long and brutal. Especially during the heat of the day. I haven't settled on exactly how I am going to handle these sections, but I have some thoughts.

• A hat, I'm going to wear a hat, probably for most of the race. 
• A camelbak, I never got a fancy new hydration pack, but I've been running with the trusty camelbak for awhile now and it's been fine. I thought about just doing a water bottle since the aid stations are close enough to refuel, but I'd rather have more water, maps, food then needed and the extra water can be doused on my hat and put on my head for a quick cook down.
• Bandannas, I am thinking of packing some in the drop bags to dunk in water at aid stations or put ice in if they have it to get through some hot sections.

Temps are looking good for the day, the high is 74 and the low is 46. There are no storms predicted, but it's Colorado so it will for sure rain/thunder/hail at some point during the race. Perhaps I'll get lucky and it will be on another part of the course, or perhaps I will get lucky and the rain will come as I run through the burn areas. I'm also packing a lot of salt pills and will be taking those often.

Additional Gear thoughts:

I am still figuring out what to wear on race day. I've really enjoyed my new patagonia shorts, their pockets are good and they  have a nice back pocket which my old ones do not. I do think it would be wise not to try and shove M&Ms in the butt pocket despite their thick candy shell.

I think you're brain has a thick candy shell

I bought some additional icebreaker shirts/tanks and will likely pack a tank in one of my drop bags but start out wearing a shirt and probably arm warmers if it is in the low 40s at the start time. I am going to pack in my camelbak or in my drop bags the following:

•  a jacket 
• ankle brace
• long sleeve
• extra socks
• winter hat
• gloves 
• maybe pants. I highly doubt I'll need pants, but it's better to have them in a drop bag just in case.

Goals

So really, my ultimate goal for this race is to finish. It's my first 50miler and crossing the finish line will be the best thing ever. I'm sure I'll be all weird and emotional when I get to the paved path around the lake at the very end, knowing that I can stumble into the finish. Finishing will be huge, really that's the biggest and most important goal for me.  I do have some secondary goals:

• Finish in 12 hrs. I think with my training this is doable. If I feel good I see no reason why I can't make this happen
• Focus on my self and not get distracted. As we'd say on Molly Brown "IRRELEVANT", I'm going to focus on me, running, food and liquids. I am not going to worry about other runners or other people on the course and just be there because ultimately it's my two legs that will do the race.
• Not throw-up. I don't like throwing up and that just sounds really unpleasant.
• Drink a beer at the last aid station - Andy Jung said he'd have a cold one waiting. Hopefully by completing this goal I won't fail at the preceding goal.
• Be proud of myself, no matter what happens I'm proud that I took on this challenge.