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I have been remiss these last few months on posting race recaps. Since Western States in Jun 18, I ran the Air Force Marathon, Feral Hog 50k and Shawnee 50 mile. I had some good races and some not so good.
AF was not my best performance, but the heat was terrible. They actually cancelled the race shortly after I finished. I joke that I executed a perfect 30k, except that the race was 42k. It was a learning experience...I much prefer trails now and will stick with them for the near future. Maybe one day I will try to qualify for Boston, but it's not in my immediate future right now.
Feral Hog was so muddy that I still get nightmares from it. I earned a second flask with a time about the same as 2 years ago on a longer course.
Shawnee was a first year race at Shawnee State Park in SE Ohio, put on by Michael Owen. I've been wanting to run there for a long time and a chance to do the entire loop plus some was enough to get me to sign up. Snow started just as we did and I had a great day. It was a good way to finish the season. Finished was what I was. I was a bit burnt out, after racing 3 months in a row (yes, I know, some people do more each month, but I can't). I took most of November and all of December off from formal training. I kept up with speed work, but that was it.
So in early January I started training for High Lonesome 100. By mid-February, I was bored with training and losing motivation. I had not found a spring 'tune-up' race to keep me motivated. I knew about Hellbender from Nettie who ran it the previous year and kept talking it up. As much as I didn't like the idea of a second 100 mile race, I wanted a race that I was invested in. Hellbender offered a similar elevation profile, but at lower altitude. I sent a note to Coach Corrine asking her to talk me off the ledge, but got a 'I'll support you'. Not what I was expecting, but I had her blessing. We re-arranged my training calendar and I signed up. I had 6 weeks to get into full training, oh-with school and a new job since I had started working again. Needless to say, I was busy. I'd say at least it wasn't golf season, but I use golf as time on feet, so it was a bit of a disadvantage to my training.
Mark and I ended up driving down to Old Fort, since the weather was iffy on Sunday and we needed to be home on Monday. One thing we've learned over the 15 years of owning N28GM, if you need to be somewhere on time, drive or fly commercial. General aviation is the best way to travel if you have time. We stopped for a short 3 mile shake-out run near Rocky Top TN, arriving at check-in just in time for the pre-race briefing.
We had been watching the weather closely for a few days. I was joking that 'Nettie weather' was coming (for those that don't know, Nettie seems to get the worst weather when running, but she pushes through), as it was predicting lots of wind and rain on Friday. When we woke up, it was dry and the radar didn't show much activity. Maybe we had lucked out! Nope...shortly after the start, the rain came and lasted for a few hours. Luckily the wind wasn't there. I moved steadily along, running with different groups of people. I was on the pace I wanted to be and felt great.
I came into the next aid station to the question of "where's the wine?" from the RD, Aaron Saft. I had to laugh. (Backstory: Mark and I brought a bottle of wine with us to the pasta dinner the night before. It definitely makes us stand out, but I was not going without. It was odd enough that I wasn't having sushi prior to a big race, so I had to have some normalcy. ) It was nice to see the Aaron. I almost forgot my poles there, but one of the guys recalled that I had them when I came in and caught me before I left. As I came out I saw Lee Conner and Michelle McClellan, the two people I assumed were in front of me. hmmm...now I was confused and concerned as I know I am not faster than those two. They and another gal came screaming by me at mile 29 on a downhill that there was no way I was going fast on. oh-well, I was out to have fun and run some great trails.
I was eating regularly especially at aid stations, as there was avocado and bacon and all the good stuff. I was feeling good and kept moving along. The climb to Mt Mitchell was pretty crazy with the roots and rocks. The descent was nuts. I think I had a panic/anxiety attack. I couldn't move more than a few steps without my breathing rate increasing and my heart rate sky-rocketing, despite the fact I was barely moving. It wasn't pretty, but I finally made it to mile 48, the Colbert Creek aid station. Brad was making quesadillas and asked how I was doing. I didn't even realize who it was at first (I had met Brad at GDR a few years earlier). All I wanted was the quesadilla...a sock change and bandage on my ankle (I had been catching my ankle with my heel all day long and it was painful) and I was on my way, with another quesadilla in my hand.
Within a few miles after leaving this aid station, the sleep monster hit. I wanted to curl up and sleep. I sat down for a few minutes, but my mind was afraid that I'd not wake up. This happened a few times throughout the night. It was a first for me. In hindsight, I should have gone into one of the aid station and had them wake me in 10-15 min. It wouldn't have hurt me and may have actually helped. The worst was leaving mile 72, my body decided to rebel completely. I didn't want to go on, but I remembered my friend who had completed a 100 mile race a few weeks ago. It took her 6 tries to complete the distance. I thought of other friends who can no longer run due to illness or other things. Quitting because I was tired and sore and frustrated was not an option. There was no injury, nothing permanent. I had to keep going. I came into the mile 78 aid station in tears, even though I knew I could finish. I was frustrated with myself.
Despite changing my socks regularly, I ended up with some blisters under my toes. They really hurt, especially on the downhill. It impacted me on the last few miles, but once we got to the less rocky sections, I was able to move a bit faster.
As I came down the last descent, the cold rain started. Grrr...couldn't it wait a bit longer? No, it rained harder and I slipped my way to the finish. I could hear a train in the distance and knew I was getting close as we had to cross a track prior to the finish. We came to the train track and I was so glad there was no train. What I had forgotten was that crossing the track was not right at the finish. I forgot there was still more downhill to go. Mark was there waiting for me! Aaron handed me my buckle and congratulated me.
What did I learn? This was the toughest race I have done. I have to figure out the night sections better, to stay awake. I also need to get more comfortable on technical trails.
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