Hell Creek 20 Miler
6:28:15
Feels like 62, humidity 95%
I wanted to start out with some stats just to show that while the temps were amazing, the humidity was off of the charts and totally derailed my race. Let's start at the very beginning shall we?
Rockin Robin and i headed out around 5 am to head over to Wilson Lake. It's about a 2ish hour drive and we made the trip uneventfully. I always am super nervous going up the morning of the race, but also Boom has never really traveled, never has stayed in a hotel, and has a peeing problem that I don't want to experience on the road. Maybe eventually I will feel okay traveling with him but for now, it's going to be short distances that we can go to morning of. I also had NOT done any official races with him and no trails. Sigh. Bad me. This summer has not been the best for me for getting on trails and or running period. My kiddo has a very busy schedule with racing and now football. It is what it is and I will no longer till my kiddo isn't racing/playing sports do fall races. It makes me sad as there are SO many great races in the fall, but I can't miss anymore of his events. He is only young once and while he loves having me there, I am going to show up and be there. Anyhow, we arrived around 7:15 and got our bibs and goodies.
Not going to lie, the swag is what got me. If you remember I have run out on these trails before and it did not end well. No shade and high temps just did not make me successful on my first 50K attempt out at Wilson Lake. At mile 22 and I had thrown in the towel and taken a DNF, my very first and certainly not my last. I had hoped the cooler temp and cloud cover would make a difference this year. While it certainly helped I feel like the cloud cover just helped hold the humidity in. I will take one over the other I guess.
We got the dogs out and got them to potty and then pottied ourselves. Boom actually got a #2 out and so did I, YIPPEEE! The race rules had mentioned that we needed to bury any poop that happened on the trail and I was NOT looking forward to that possibility. Spoiler alert: Boom did in fact have another poop session and I had to carry a bag of poop for quite a while, but details.
Right away we noticed the dogs were picking up stickers on their feet hair and feet. This was not a good sign.
Let me tell you about the trail you run on at Hell Creek. It's a mountain bike trail plain and simple. This means there are ruts the entire trail. If you are like me, which you probably aren't, this kills your legs. I run with my feet out like a duck, so keeping them straight down in those ruts is tough. It wrecks havoc on the outside of my legs and my knees. There are a few places that the ruts get a little wider but mostly it's all narrow ruts. I know I can't run in that ever, yet I keep signing up for races like an idiot on trails like this. I just love the scenery I guess. Plus, this race has some big rocks as well as some fun switch backs. Sometimes you can see people and you think, wow, I am catching up, but due to the switch backs, you are still a ways away from them.
So pretty much the entire race you are in a rut going up and down OR climbing over rocks. Two of my main nemeses.
Boom did not understand the concept of switch backs. He kept stopping and looking like, "uh, my friends are over there, why can't I cut over mom?" He also had intense issues with pulling at the start much like his aunt stella. Except for the fact that stella usually settles down and he seemed to not settle down even after several miles and loosing the pack of runners and Rocking Robin and Miss Kitty.
The course reminds me of Fancy Creek and Clinton lake with the rocks and roots. Not near as technical as Clinton, but a different type of technical. Lots of up and down and the down is usually rocky, very loose rock. Not like Konza gravel, but still loose. I was pretty slow and gingerly on the down. Right away my ankles were killing me and going out pretty regularly. By going out I mean it's like they would just give out and my whole leg would go to side and roll my ankle which would hit the side of the rut.
We hit the first aid station and it was unmanned. I thought it was suppose to be around 5 miles, but by my watch it was a bit more than 5 miles. Boom guzzled down several bowls of water immediately. I had decided if he didn't relax and stop pulling and freaking out for lack of a better terms, that we would be done at the first aid station, but again, I had totally forgotten the first aid station was unmanned. After a little rest and some water, he seemed to be okay to continue on. At this point while we were behind Rockin Robin and Miss Kitty, we were still running most of the runnable sections with no problems and walking down the steep downs.
It was so pretty that it made it hard to hate the trail. If it weren't for the ruts I would run out here as much as possible. It's so beautiful.
The lake is amazing and different, and I have heard that camping is booked out quite a while, which makes total sense. When I needed a distraction, the boats on the water and the fisherman were perfect for that. Plus, the waves on the rocks was quite soothing and nice to focus on when we were near water.
The second aid station was also past the spot I had hoped for. It was at mile 11 and it wasn't just my watch that was off, it was several runners that said everything was at least .5 to a mile off. Anyway, we had to climb a giant hill to get to the aid station and I gladly climbed it, as we were out of water and tail wind. I was doing tail wind with caffeine in one bottle and water in the other and my honey stinger waffles every hour for nutrition. I was also going to grab something at each aid station visit to tide me over. Halloween candy and a shot of coke was perfect for that.
If you aren't going up you are going down. Boom was a champ even though the humidity was tough. I saw that it was 87% at one time but my strava said it was 95%. I believe it. So not only was my body hurting, I was really suffering from the humidity. Robin and I decided after resting a bit at the 11ish mile aid station that we would just power hike the rest. I think it was a wise decision and I don't regret it at all. Even power hiking we starting passing people who were suffering. I met one lady who it was her first trail run ever and I think I said bless your heart because while I had done trail runs before my first, this trail was still a huge shock to my system the first time I did it as well.
There is NO shade out here so I am SO glad it was cloudy the whole time. This race is moving to august and I can't even imagine how horrible it will be in the heat and the full sun. Many of my friends love running and racing in the summer but this #teamwinter girl HATES hot weather running.
Even power walking we were able to stay under 20 minute miles. I also did a very dramatic superman fall when I tried to run down in a very deep rut and my foot hit a root. I smashed my knee and had a little bit of blood, but it didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would.
There were also TONS of yucca plants that kept stinging me when I would walk by. Those things hurt! While both of the dogs were having issues picking up stickers and cockle burrs, they never did show it till the very end. I felt so horrible when we started picking out stickers when we got them back to the cars. They both were serious troopers for the entire 20 miles.
We hit the aid station again towards 17ish miles and refueled. I kept running out of one of my bottles of water, but not both. I stopped multiple times to let boom gets some water as well.
I remember several parts of the trail from the past time running it, but the ending was a bit fuzzy. The aid station worker told us the last 4-5 miles was the easiest part however, it was easier but not easiest. I wish I had something at the top of this hill to give it perspective, but damn it was steep and I had to go down it. I honestly would have gone down it on my butt if it hadn't been for the rocks. For whatever reason, my left knee had gotten to the point that running was not an issue, climbing hills was not an issue, but going down hills was torture.
We finally got to the ending which had the most stickers due to more grass I assume. We did a windy part that would have been super fun on a bike, but not so much on foot. We could see and hear the finish line, but we kept going away from it which I think is always a cruel joke.
We finally crossed the finish and got our medals and went to change. The constant high humidity had left me a wet mess. We also had to start picking stickers out of dogs (and still are).
I am so proud of Boom even though we had our struggles. He stayed out in front the whole time with a mostly gentle pull. He got better as we both got tired at stopping on down hills and not pulling me to my death via rock to the face. We still have work to do on technical trail, but he is still young and while he isn't my beloved mind reading Stella, I think he will be a nice trail dog eventually. I love the people who run this race, the aid station volunteers, the swag, but I just can't do the ruts. I know this, I keep trying again and again and like child birth I just forget how horrible it is post the last race until I am in the thick of it. I didn't have a time goal for this race, I mostly just wanted to finish. I accomplished that goal. It's a beautiful way to see Kansas and I highly recommend this race if you can deal with the ruts. There are some pics coming from the official race photographer and while it isn't Mile 90, I am super excited to see what they get with the scenery that was around us. All and all a success and another trail I can mark off my list as conquered.
