Rockin K Trail marathon 2019

Okay this blog post is going to be heavy, as in heavy marathon style.  Have you heard of the term?  I hadn't!!!!   I know that trail races can't always be the exact distance, so you get what you get.  Plus, I think trail RDs like to make it hard on purpose and I love that!  I knew by reading previous posts and talking to others that this race was longer than a 26.2.  I had heard varying distances of 27 and up to 29 miles.  YIKES!  Oh well, we were signed up and ready for the adventure no matter how long it took! 

I didn't know we had red dirt roads in KS!

Packet pick up:  The plan was to meet up with Cindy at the hotel and ride over. I get lost easily on roads and trails, and riding with someone else to get use the route is the best idea for me.  Luck would have it that Cindy was running late and needed to meet me at packet pick up instead.  I found the hotel (ended up being where I stayed for my very first 50K) and got checked in and sat for a minute.  Then checked the details about packet pick up and realized crap, it was already going on and i was going to miss it if I didn't get my butt going!  Tried using my phone for GPS and ended up going on some sort of cross country red dirt road adventure.  Packet pick up was pretty small, just a few people at a shelter at the top of a giant hill (foreshadowing).  We got these cool baseball style button up shirts and our bibs.  We passed the time by walking around the shelter and taking in the sights!

It's so odd to be seeing nothing but prairie, and then to see a huge lake right in the middle!  We also found at least 4 ticks crawling on Stella, YIKES!  

Everyone got lots of love from Stella, and she ate it up.  We had spaghetti full of black olives, mushrooms, and meat balls.  It was SO delicious and did NOT give me indigestion, thank goodness!!! 

soaking in all the runner love at the pasta feed

After meeting several really nice runners, we headed back to the hotel as Cindy and Miles were pulling up to eat.  I was tired and just wanted to chill a bit, so we said see ya at the hotel and be careful on those dirt roads!  Cindy drives a nice jeep that I knew could handle it, but I warned her she might have to pull me out if I got stuck!

On the way back we saw these crazy rocks on the side of the road and realized that we were in Mushroom Rock State Park.  We had to turn around and get out and explore!

They looked like petrified wood, but they were rocks.  I forget that once Kansas was under water.  These are so neat and un-touched!  What a gem to find!

The park itself was on both sides of the road so we took a walk around each side.  

After our little side journey, we headed to sonic in Ellsworth to have a sweet treat and catch up with Cindy and Miles.  After some dessert, we headed back to the hotel to sort gear and crash.  

flat Michelle without the bags and bags of tailwind

The weather was predicted to be in the 60s with clouds and possible storms.  I elected to go with shorts and a tech T with a jacket I could take off if I got hot.  

Flat Stella

I debated about taking a drop box.  Part of me likes having everything on me so if i need something, I have it.  Then of course I look like a pack mule with various bags of tailwind and honey stinger waffles stuck everywhere, but I don't care anymore!  I am slow and I need lots of stuff!  In end I left my drop box in the car and really didn't need it other than more lube for my shoulders where my pack was rubbing.  

Race day: We had a pre-race briefing scheduled for 6:30 am, so decided to head out for our 30 minute drive around 5:30 am to have plenty of time to get out and potty and stretch.  I slept, not great but not horrible and lucky for me .  I was wide awake at 4:45 am packing the car and fueling.  We had to check in pre-race and Stella was again getting all of the love.  We always get lots of comments about her running, mostly good, some in awe, and a few bad.  Heck, Cindy's dog Miles has done a 100 K, so it can be done!  Sometimes the fact that people doubt that she can do it makes me smile.  She trains with me every step of the way, plus she is bred for endurance.  She was bred to be a working dog and running is just a form of working!  

Around 7 am we were off.  Miles and Stella were barking like mad and we were bringing up the rear as usual.  The first half mile or so was on pavement and Stella was pulling like a mad woman.  I had to rein her in several times so she wouldn't pull herself silly.

We saw a lot of this at first.  I am going to be honest, this is the reason why I will not run this race again, and it makes me sad to say this because other than these ruts, this race is AMAZING!  I run like a penguin feet out and I run on the outsides of my feet, so to make my feet go straight and run on my feet flat for miles and miles destroys my feet.  This is primarily a horse trail, thus the ruts and it makes me sad.  

The scenery is amazing on this race.  You go through so many different types of terrain, from high prairie, to canyons, to rocks and sand, to forest and bluffs.  

There were lots and lots of water crossings.  I can't give you an accurate count, but I would say at least 7 or 8, if not more.  Most just were ankle deep, but some came up to my thighs, and the big one was boob deep.  All were super cold, which was needed as the sun came out later in the race, but wow that cold water really takes your breath away and tells you where you chaffed pre shower!  The first water crossing didn't look all that deep, so I had my phone in my shorts pocket, but once Stella started swimming, she bumped me into the deeper part and almost drowned my phone!  After that, I kept my phone in the same pockets as my bottles high up so that wouldn't happen again.  

There were some major ups too.  At about mile 13, we came to our first manned aid station and we were warned the next 5 miles would be tough.  They weren't lying!!!!  We had to go straight up and straight back down at least 3 times and boy it was steep!  I was so glad I had Stella to steady me on the ups and downs.  She is such a good trail dog!

The views of the river were so amazing when you were up high!  I found out later this is the Smoky Hill River.

We saw lots and lots of beaver dams and beaver chewed trees.  I had never seen a real beaver dam, and didn't realize how strong there were!  We used several to cross over the water (see the flag in the middle of this dam?)

Stella loved the water crossings because the water was always moving and drinkable.  She fell in a few, but that was good because she got lots of water on her belly that way.  At every aid station she got a big bowl of clean water and some treats and she enjoyed the attention.  We had four aid stations for the whole 28 miles, two unmanned with water and I think Gatorade, and two manned (the same station twice).  I filled up my bottles with ice cold water and put my tailwind powder in with the help of the aid station works and also partook in some nutella smeared tortillas YUM.  

More ruts.  The ones at the end were brutal. If you tried to run on the outsides of them, it was thick grass and roots/shrubs.  I honestly don't know how the fast runners navigate these things!  We had a small stretch of gravel, which I thought was heaven, but then we were quickly back to this.  BLEH!

We had a stretch post bluffs of hot sun and heat.  The wind was blowing thank goodness, but we were all getting super hot.  Stella was handling it better than I was, but I was praying for rain and clouds.  After 5 or so miles, the clouds came back and we felt so much better.  Never really got any rain, but I would have welcomed it.  

This sand was post our big water crossing.  Let me back up for a minute.  As I was attempting the biggest water crossing, which is across a river, I spy some people on the banks on the other side with a loose dog.  Okay, I figured they saw me as they were pointing at me and would collect their dog.  As Stella and i were trying not to drown  to navigate safely across, their dog jumps in the water after Stella.  Sigh.  Could you please get your damn dog so we can get out of here safely????  They were steadily talking to me about are you in the race, what mile is this, did she do the whole thing, blah blah blah.  Just get your dog out of my dog's face please!  Stella ignored the dog and luckily the dog was friendly, but still!!!!!  I had my dog on leash unless we were in the water 100% of the race and yet others can not abide by the rules.  

I ran with many groups of people and by the end of the race, was catching up to several new to me groups.  I was getting a little worried because i had gotten lost briefly at one point and didn't look to see how off I was.  I caught up with some guys power hiking (we all pretty much were at that point), and they assured me we were truly almost finished.  I thought we got back on the road much quicker, but we ran parallel to the road (and in those stupid ruts) for a while before heading away from the road again (NOOOOOO).  Since the start finish was up on a hill, Stella could see it so for the last 2 or so miles and she pulled like a demon.  I really really wish I could have that much energy at the end of the race!  She for sure pulled my butt up that huge hill at the end!!!!  Something about hearing cheering and cow bells motivates her like no other (or maybe it is the post race food???)

I love unique race awards!

Post race we waited on Cindy and miles to finish and had some yummy burgers and pringles.  My teeth hurt probably due to 7 bottles of tailwind, so chewing was a bit of a challenge.  Then the headache started.  I seemed to be able to control it as long as I was drinking caffeine, but if I stopped it came roaring back.  I am still trying to figure this out.  I drank plenty of water because my fuel is in my water and I take a bottle per hour to get my 200 calories.  I didn't drink coffee before the race, but I did have some diet coke which has caffeine.  I didn't have any Advil on me, so upon leaving the race, I had to just continually drink my diet coke to stave off the headache.  Once I got home, I took some Advil and tried to eat some more food, but at that point I was too far behind the head ache and puking started.  I tried laying down, but the late in the day caffeine was hitting me. I finally passed out at some point, and this morning feel fine other than sore from running.  I have had this problem a few times in the past, but not lately.  I am still trying to figure it out.  I do not think I was dehydrated, my pee looked good and i was doing plenty of peeing on the course.  I usually take a shot or two of coke during the race, and I didn't this time and of course my tailwind is not caffeinated, so maybe that had something to do with it.  It was hotter than it has been all winter, so I am sure that contributed.  

Okay, to wrap this post up since it is super long so here goes.   I will say this course is very beautiful, very challenging, and very well marked.  I would love to do it again, but just can't due to the ruts and my stupid running form.  The volunteers and aid station workers were amazing and I can't thank them enough for being out there.  I can't wait to see the Mile 90 photos as always :)  Rockin K, you are one amazing and epic race!  SO glad I tried this race and can't wait to get on the trails more and more this year in preparation for my first 50 miler!  I felt well trained for this race even though I didn't get to the trail as much as I wanted this year. I credit the shorter training cycle, the cross fit, and the walk run intervals I did this time.  Even when I was power walking, I felt very strong and very fast.  I still need to play with fuel.  Post my 6 bottle, I was having to choke it down.  I have all summer to try things and try I will.

Till next time!