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| Last year's adventure with the Hawk 100 |
If you follow my blog or my personal page, you know I have been sick. I have battled upper respiratory yuckiness that knocked me out of my long runs last weekend and knocked my mileage way back the week before the race. In some ways it was kind of nice to have a taper of sorts. The plan had me doing some pretty high mileage the last few weeks and I was feeling SOOOO good and ready for it, but my body had other plans.
The nights before the race I actually got some decent sleep. I was still coughing, but it had changed honestly for the better if that is possible as in it wasn't as deep and hurtful. The day before the race I actually started having some pretty serious head congestion. WTH body? My son is also sickly again with congestion, so I figure he re infected me since I was already down. I wanted to stay the night in Lawrence, but Andrew had his first fall baseball practice Friday night and I wanted to watch since we weren't coaching. The marathon didn't begin till 8 am, so I didn't have to get up so bright an early, but I did need to pick up my packet and get stella's bib pre race.
I got up at 5 am and was on the road a little past 5:30 am. I rest assured that the Trail Hawk aid stations would have anything I needed if I forgot something. I didn't lay out a flat Michelle or flat Stella because we just had too much going on and when I got home I wanted to go to bed. Luckily I didn't forget anything, but Stella in the meantime did eat some of my Tailwind singles that I had bought to carry in my pack. She even ate one that was caffeinated, whoops. I had them way back on the counter so I have a feeling that Elvis helped her by batting them closer.
When we drove up, someone was leaving the parking lot right by the start/finish, BONUS! I got checked in quickly and got my swag. There was SO much good stuff including a really, really nice drawstring bag, a collapsible cup for aid stations, a long sleeved soft T shirt, and a Hawk buff. The rest in the picture came later :)
Stella was all smiles with her pacer bib. She always get so much love pre-race. There were so many groups of adults and kids giving her love.
She ate it up. At 8 am we were lined up and off! If I could figure out how to download the video Todd got of the start I would so you could hear her barking her head off. She pulled like a sled dog for at least 2 miles. We ran around the playground and then dumped on white where we had a conga line. I was fine with it, I was not in a hurry at all. This race is about finishing for me and not about a time. I have said previously, but this is a technical trail. Very rooty, very rocky, and lots of up and down. No vert or huge elevation climbs except for the up for bunker hill.
You have to keep your eyes on your feet, pick up your feet, and watch out for snakes. I had so many almost super man events where my toe caught some thing and I almost went flying. I managed to catch myself every time, lucky for me, but I stubbed my toes multiple times and I am pretty sure I will loose both big toe nails.
There are several small sections of runnable to me trail. Some people run the whole thing and to them I say, way to be a mountain goat! I am just not sure footed enough to do that. That lady in the picture is one of my new trail sisters Indika. We ran together for quite a while before she started feeling bad and we had to leave her at an aid station. The humidity felt like it stuck around instead of dissipating. The tree cover seemed to hold it in, and I was very quickly covered in sweat that was going no where. I knew it was suppose to get hotter later but the forecasts had been all over the place with regards to the actual ending temps.
We not only had technical trail, but we had steps, we had grassy fields that were mowed, we had gravel roads, and we had gravel hills.
I am not a purist when it comes to trails, so this change in trail to open field was a welcome difference. The only problem was we were exposed on these parts and it was getting hot. The aid station workers at EVERY aid station took such great care of us. They refilled our bottles, wetted stella down, helped me get Tailwind powder in my bottles, and fed me watermelon. Stella got watermelon and peanut butter sandwiches and wraps. She also got lots of love by many trail runners and just ate it up. This year there was some parts of the trail where we actually met other runners this year due to the re route. For the most part, it was fun to see the 50 and 100 milers coming through. We had one gentleman that made some derogatory comments about Stella being out there, but I tried to put that out of my mind and not let him rattle me.
We had a section of out and back on a HUGE gravel hill. We had to get a trail trinket before heading back down. Of course we had to get the little dog :)
Back up and over Bunker hill. The views were amazing, but the heat was getting real. I was ready to head back to the trail and to the cover of the trees. At least without the direct sun beaming on us, we were able to stay cool enough. I caught up with several runners and ran with a few over the course of the race. Sometimes it's just nice to have company for a little bit. I didn't get any pictures of the rooty and rocky trail parts which is pretty much the whole of the White trail that is on the way back because I was afraid of falling.
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| there is a trail down there somewhere |
You can see how flooded some areas where. They RD and Trail Hawks did an amazing job with the re routes and re planning of the course. They were dealt a ton of challenges this year, and they rose to the occasion as always. I honestly can't say enough good about their races. The course is also marked perfectly for a blonde like me. I can get lost easily on trail races and I never got confused or felt the need to back track.
It was about mile 17 according to my watch that I felt like it was getting a bit hot for both of us. We were power walking at this time anyway, as for me most of white is not runnable due to the rocks and roots. My watch seemed very off, especially when we saw a sign that said 6.5 miles to the finish. We as marathoners needed to do another out and back around Sander's mound base before heading to the finish, but still the numbers weren't adding up. I decided to not trust my watch since trails do crazy things to watches and just trust the signs that said we were almost done. I think I did beg and plead to the lady at the spot where I had to do the out and back to let me finish instead of going to the loop, but like a good trail course marshal, she made me head down anyway. Mean lady :) The out and back was again in full sun on grass that some of which was over deep mud which sounds weird but you had to see it to believe it. Again power walking was all we had and we gave it our best. One of the only complaints I have about this race is that we didn't have aid from Land's end to till the end. That I think was about 8.5 miles and I ran out of water and tailwind. I had Stella's water, but I was trying not to drink it, plus she gets sink water in the bladder and i think it has a weird taste. I stopped several times to give her water because it was stupid hot at that point. We finally headed back up the hill and to the finish!
Ah the finish line! Such a great sight until some lady was screaming out asking for my number. I honestly had to stop as at that point I didn't know my number, so who knows what my pictures will look like :( Stella was pulling in front of me and then at that point she was stuck to my side looking at me because we had stopped.
I was given my beautiful hand made medal and my sticker and I quickly had to get Stella some water and me some water. As always, the Trail Hawks made sure we were good to go, bringing me a cup of cold water and Stella a bucket of clean water. Stella quickly got a sponge down from the RD Sherrie. We got a coke and some food, but I couldn't eat because my teeth hurt so bad from the dang Tailwind. I have NO clue why it does that sometimes and other not but it's very annoying because all I wanted post run was some salty chips. Many of the runners snuck Stella food and she got lots of pets that she loved it all. She is such a ham for attention!
We sat for quite a while before heading back. I couldn't eat, but I tried to get something in other than just Coke. One of the awesome volunteers made me a BBQ quesadilla that was quite tasty, but I just couldn't chew well enough to enjoy it. The drive back was tough because I was so sore, but I talked to my mommy the whole way which kept me alert and awake. When I got home I was running a fever and not feeling great, but so goes life lately. I can't seem to shake whatever it is that i have. I felt fine during my run other than being a bit snotty and having to spit, snort, and or cough. I can't wait to see the Mile 90 photos as always. I felt so strong during the race minus the heat. If you want a great fall trail marathon with RDs that truly care and volunteers that are out of this world, this is your race! I already can't wait till next year and maybe just maybe we can do the 50!
I will do another post about the good, the bad, and the ugly since I enjoyed doing that for the last trail marathon plus I will add Mile 90 photos because i know they will be amazing. Thank you Trail Hawks, volunteers, spectators, runners, and all. We had an amazing time and we will be back!
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