I had hoped this would be a most awesome race report ever. It still is awesome, but spoiler alert, I did not get a full 50. Let's dive in shall we?
The first 10 or so miles are pretty much uphill and in my opinion are the hardest part of the race. Seriously, if I could have done the second loop backwards, I might have been able to get it done. Anyway the views of the flint hills in the spring were absolutely amazing.
First Tony and I had a miscommunication at the first manned aid station. We had driven to both of them the other night, but when he called I thought he said the top of the hill and he was at the bottom. Don't make me have to think too much LOL! As i ran up the hill away from the aid station looking for Tony, several crews reached out to me to give me whatever I needed and this is why I dearly LOVE the ultra community. I didn't really need anything, but wanted to see Tony and Andrew. I was not feeling great, was huffing and puffing WAY too much. There was still several fields smoldering and I felt like the humidity must be high because I just couldn't get a full deep breath. Stella was running well but we were both getting pretty muddy. Some sections were like running in peanut butter and some sections had big full puddles. Of course after starting like a lunatic, she was pretty thirsty, so she would stop at the puddles and drink. Thank goodness yet again for overnight rain, even if it made things a little soupy. When I finally found Tony, he had me my stuff ready to go and after a brief visit, I headed back out to try and re coup the lost time. You see this race had a cut off of 14 hours and my previous 50 while much more technical took me 14.5 hours. I needed to not have any wasted time to make the cut off for sure.
Along with me huffing and puffing and not having the energy I needed even though I was fueling like a boss (honey stinger waffle every hour and a bottle of Colorado cola and a bottle of water in my pack), I noticed my fingers were swelling and turning weird colors. Now I have lots of friends who suffer from Raynaud's and I have not ever been one of those, so this was kind of weird. I felt like I was getting enough electrolytes and that I wasn't cold enough to need gloves. I was still sweating salty, so I took some water a few times and just rinsed my face off. OF course due to the humidity, which I later found out was at 92%, the water on my face would just sit there and not provide any cooling effect and I had to wipe everything off with my sleeve.
I am not sure when I met up with Derrick, but he was having a rough time and wanted to bail at the half way point. He has run this race several times and I have volunteered several times he has run it and of course we are FB friends LOL. We power walked and talked and I made him run a few times when he didn't want to. A few miles after we met up, I noticed Stella wasn't running right. I know this sounds weird, she wasn't lame, but I could tell her gait was off. There was nothing in her feet, but something had happened and while she was keeping up, she just wasn't 100%. I called Tony to let him know I wanted to switch out dogs and that I also would probably be done at the half way point. I honestly think he was relieved on both points because a) he didn't even want me to do 25 miles with her and b) and think he and Andrew were tired of crewing. It's a long hard job, that is for sure with LOTS of waiting.
Derrick and I threw our run:walk intervals out the window and just tried to run when we could. We also tried to power walk as hard as we could, but heck my little legs couldn't go faster than 17-18 minute miles. Derrick calculated if I could keep up my pace, even with walking that I should be good to finish, but that he was DONE. As we got closer I kind of talked myself into trying to get to at least the 35 mile aid station before stopping, even knowing the first part of the course in my opinion, is the toughest part.
I had started having some issues with the top of my left foot. On and off it would hurt like crazy, but then it would just go away. My right shin stayed at a dull roar the entire time thank goodness because my stomach would not let me swallow my tumeric pills early in the morning. I started gagging and seriously couldn't stop and didn't want to loose my breakfast. I also was having a weird pain in my left knee when I would run down hills. I honestly was sore all over at that point.
I decided I would not make the decision till I got to the start finish. Once we hit the start finish I had made up my mind to try and power walk to at least the 35 mile aid station where I would see Tony again. Unfortunately see the picture above of the first 10 miles. My body was NOT having it and I was having a stabbing pain in the bottom of my left foot. It as first felt like I had a rock in my shoe poking me, but I had on gaiters so that couldn't be the issue. Then I felt like maybe my sock was all bunched up in the middle of my foot. Tugged and pulled on my sock but nothing was changing the pain. I was about 8 miles out from the aid station at that point and my walking had slowed to a 20:00 minute per mile sufferfest. I called Tony to just come and pick me up because at that pace there was no way I would be finishing before the cut off but he was IN MANHATTAN! What I didn't know was he was buying me flowers for finishing, but at the time I was hopping mad. I told him rule number one was NEVER leave the course so bring everything you might need for the entire day.
When Tony finally got to me, I was at peace with my decision. I didn't know what was going on with the bottom of my foot and did not feel like I could suffer through till the aid station. Of course when I got my shoe off it is a giant blister that is super deep and puffy, which I could have popped at the aid station but not on the course as i had nothing to cover it with. I don't think I would have made the cut off anyway as those hills with the north wind were kicking my ass. I thought I would cry when I went to tell the RD I was done but I didn't. I am at peace with my decision as of typing this just as I was post my 50K DNF years ago. I couldn't have pushed my body any harder, it just wasn't my day. I haven't gotten to do any hill work with my adductor injury and then subsequent shin injury because I wanted to keep up some semblance of running. I chalk it up to a great training experience where both dogs got some miles, I got to practice fueling, and got to spend time with friends. Will I do it again, not next year. I want Robin and I to do another 50K or heavy trail marathon like Rockin K. She has committed to that and nothing more than that. I have found that I really enjoy racing with her and as I did with Melanie. Someday I may revisit the 50 mile distance and get a buckle but I need a race with no cut offs to worry about and more hours in the day for training.
Stay tuned for another post because I know the photographer Billy got some great shots of me with both dogs!
No comments:
Post a Comment