Me, and Blue Shirt who I saw off and on throughout the day. He finished just ahead of me.
Left Dixie Mine, heading up to Thompson Peak
Beautiful Views toward the top
Pictures cant portray how steep this was
See the Tower, that is where we were going
Beautiful View
More Beautiful
Fun to look down and see the trail winding all over the place below
Turning a corner on this steep climb
Spectacular!
I made it! Once you get to the top here, you admire the view and then start back down. Back down was no pic-nic either!!!
Picture of the tower to prove I was there!
My camera makes it look far away, but I could actually see the Fountain Hills fountain very well. Can you see the little while dot in front of the mountains?
McDowell Mountain Frenzy 50 mile Trail Race
December 8th, 2012
“At the start of races 50 miles or longer, most people have
the spirit of We’re about to embark on an adventure. At the finish, regardless
of how we place, we’re all equals because we have finished a grand adventure.”
-Kami Semick
This is the quote that solidified my commitment to try a 50
mile race. I’ve always been in awe over my Uncle Leland’s race portfolio. He
runs a hundred miles. I tell people that all the time. But that sounded like way
out of my league. It just sounded like something only a super kind of person
could do. Someone with different genes than the rest of us. But when I heard
this quote it got in my head. Fifty miles. Fifty miles is enough to make it an
epic adventure. Fifty miles would be enough to take most of the day. Fifty
miles would be enough that I could stop and chat with Aid Station workers and
not be bothered by the clock ticking. Fifty miles would be enough that you’d
look around at the people you are starting with and know that they might be
your new best friend! Fifty miles would mean if I wanted to walk it wouldn’t be
that I was done and just had to get to the finish line so I could pass out. If
I wanted to walk, Id just be regrouping. Getting ready to run some more.
Cynthia signed up for the 10 mile distance at McDowell and
kindly agreed to start her day an hour early so that she could drive me for my
7:00 start. (The 10 milers didn’t start til 8:15). Mary got a ride with us too
and so the start of my day was calm and comfortable. I get so nervous for these
races, but always feel TONS better when I have friends with me! Racing is so
much funner with friends!
When we got there it seemed like we had plenty of time, and
we did. But then right before the start, the 50 milers were called over for a
meeting. I guess I didn’t realize the meeting would be so short and to the
point cause suddenly he counted down and said Go! “Oh!” I hadn’t even put my
phone out of my jacket pocket into my fanny pack….! So I started.
I had imagined that we would all take off together, pacing
ourselves very slowly in the beginning. But a group of people in front went out
very fast and were soon out of sight. There were 40 of us. Throughout the day I
marveled that I was alone so much. I knew for sure that there were a bunch of
people ahead of me. I figured that there were a bunch of people behind me. But
I was often alone. There wasn’t very much passing or being passed. If someone
was in front of me, and I could pass them, I just thought maybe Id be better
off to slow down anyway. I think that people in back of me felt the same way.
Change to the order would happen when we got to an aid station. I was slow at
aid stations and people who had been with me would be off again before I was. I
had decided to take my time at Aid Stations and make sure that I ate something,
drank some coke, got everything I might want out of my drop bags. I wanted to
fully utilize the Aid Stations.
There were three guys I was around for quite a bit of the
race. White shirt, Blue shirt, and Fort
Worth . We’d go long periods of time separated but then
see each other again. Fort Worth
was behind me for awhile and was very chatty. I enjoyed the company but worried
that I was going too fast with him behind me. He said he didn’t want to pass
me. When we got to Dixie Mine he went ahead and took off.
It was easy getting to Dixie Mine. I had pre memorized the
Aid Stations and the distances between each one. So it was easy to think just a
few more miles until…..(the next thing).
But after Dixie Mine I had to get up to Thompson Peak
At the top there was a volunteer sitting up there by the Cell Towers
As soon as you are done lookin around then you turn around
and go down the hill. One of the other girls there, green shirt girl, she flew
down so fast. I couldn’t believe it. She was zig-zagging and maybe I should
have tried her method more. I didn’t want to pick up extra mileage with
zig-zagging but she finished like an hour ahead of me, so I think she was doing
it right! I was really slow coming down. My stomache couldn’t take the pressure
of a hard down hill descent. If I tried to go fast at all my tummy yelled “NO!”
Right after I got back to Dixie Mine 2nd time,
that’s when it got hard. It just got hot and my stomache didn’t feel very good.
I don’t do very well with heat. Having a visor helps allot, but hot is hot. My
strategy for the race was to take a gel every 5 miles and eat something at
every Aide Station and drink some coke at every Aide Station. I was able to eat
a few bites at every one. I always tried something different. Peanut M&M’s,
Peanut Butter Pretzels, bananas, oranges, Nutter Butters, figs….and for most of
the race I was able to take my scheduled gels. My stomache was always on the
edge, at least by mile 20. It was hard to tell how much of this was a result of
distance racing and how much of it was a result of being kinda sick. I got sick
Thursday, two days before the race. Just a yucky head cold. Congestion, Sinus
pressure, cough…I think if you wish hard enough to NOT get sick or hurt before
a race- You definitely WILL get sick! So for whatever reason I just didn’t feel
like eating stuff but you can just tell that if you don’t do it then you’re
gonna get in a bad place. So I just kept trying to get my nutrition down. It was
fun to pull out gels. I have shorts with 3 pockets in back. I kept three gels
back there and would restock out of my drop bags at aid stations. When Id reach
back and pull out a gel then Id look to see what flavor and that would make me
think of a person that was rooting for me. I mentioned on facebook a week or so
before the race that I would love to get some gel contributions from people.
Nobody gave me the same flavor so when I pulled out a gel Id know exactly who
it was from. I would smile thinking of that person and feel a boost.
I knew the middle of the day and the heat would be hard but
it really didn’t feel very long. It seemed to pass very timely. I just walked
when I wanted to walk. My theme for the day was “outdoor adventure, enjoy every
moment”, so if I didn’t feel good I would walk and look around and appreciate the
day. And wait to feel good again. I would think about how lucky I was to have
this opportunity. I would think back to my IT band injury that lasted all
summer. Over the summer I kept hoping Id get to do this race, but not knowing
if my injury would heal in time to let me do a proper amount of training.
For part of the race I could look over and see the Fountain
Hills fountain going off. That was kind of fun. I felt like I was so far away
but knew that town was right there…when I got back to Gate Aid then I knew it
was 6 miles back to Start/Finish, and then another 5.4 mile loop. So I was
headed the 6 miles back to S/F, not expecting anything imbetween and I came
upon an abandoned Aid Station about mile 43. What???! This freaked me out big
time. At this point I thought I was 2 or 3 miles from Start/Finish. But this
unexpected table of food and drink made me worry that I was in the wrong place.
I was seeing the orange with black polka dot ribbons that means you are on the
right trail…but what if I somehow got turned around and was headed the OPPOSITE
way on the correct trail? This is the type of thing that can happen to me. I
don’t have an internal compass or anything. So I decided to just keep running
and really hope that in 2 miles I would be at Start/Finish, and not 2 miles
farther away from Start/Finish!!!!!!! I looked around and wished that Blue
Shirt or White Shirt would show up. I think I was smack in the middle of them
at this point.
So I’m running along a little freaked out at this point…and
was SO SO SO happy when I heard voices and saw 2 bright colored shirts on 2
girls who looked familiar to me! I could see they were holding up a poster and
I started to guess and hope that they were MARY and JULIE-ANNE! Yay. They were.
They ran with me to S/F. I picked up my pace a little to run with them. It gave
me a boost of energy to have friends here! Then JA asked if I wanted company
for the last 5 mile loop. I did, but I was nervous that Id be too slow at this
point and it would just be torture for her. So I was slow to answer. She said
“I don’t want to take away anything, if you need to do this on your own…”
Nooooo, that’s not it at all! I’m just worried that I will need to slow down,
and also walk some! She said she’d do any pace I wanted at this point. Once I
could tell she was really willing to do this, I was sooo happy to have the
company!
My question at this point was whether I needed to get my
headlamp out of my drop bag. I didn’t want to stop at my drop bag because I
knew that if I stopped long at S/F then I wouldn’t want to leave again. I
wanted to move through it. I also had a goal, given to me by Dan to be done
before dark. I decided to take the risk and move through S/F without getting
warmer clothes or a headlamp.
So we ran along, and walked any time it was up hill
gradient, and she talked and let me not talk. It was perfect! I was feeling
mostly good. But breathing pretty hard. We saw a table with water to fill up.
In our excitement over this water station we missed a sign to turn a certain way.
So we got headed a shortcut back to S/F. We started to get excited but thought
‘this is too soon, we can’t be done yet’. So JA ran back and flagged Mary and
got some instruction and came back to me. We retraced our steps a little and
figured out where we went wrong. Blue shirt appeared and ran the last couple of
miles just in front of us. He asked me if I had been worried by that abandoned
Aid Station back at mile 43 or whatever. Ummm, ya! Later Cynthia suggested that
the abandoned Aid Station not on my course was leftover from one of the shorter
distance races….yes that makes perfect sense.
JA kept reminding us we were close, on our home stretch, our
Victory Lap. She was the perfect pacer not pushing me to go faster than I
needed to at this point. Not being impatient. Not expecting return
conversation. Just giving me the company that I really was ready for!
So I finished!!!!!
I was beyond words grateful to have Dan, Mary, and
Julie-Anne there with me at the finish. My husband was planning to be there but
was running late and as soon as I stopped running I think I went into a little
shock or something. They were telling me to sit down and I wasn’t sure I wanted
to. I was breathing really hard for a long time- almost but not quite
hyperventilating. It took like an hour for my breathing to calm down. And I was
shivering. But my friends brought me food and made me sit down and got my drop
bags and pulled out a blanket for me and put a jacket around me. I just
couldn’t seem to think what I wanted at this point…so they just took care of
it. I need to remember this if I get a chance to be on that side- remember to
just take over! I didn’t feel bad. Just….shocked I guess.
I was just so so happy though! So happy to have accomplished
this thing that I wanted to do. How do people run 50 miles??? I wanted to know!
I knew a small few people who had done this before- and it really inspired me!
But I had to know for myself! And now I know!!!!!
I wouldn’t recommend an Ultra to someone who doesn’t want to
do it. Its not something to do just to say that you can do it or you did do
it…not to prove anything. Its something to definitely do if you WANT to do it.
If you want to experience the high and the low of the day. If you want to run
and then get tired, but then run some more. If you want to challenge your
endurance. If you enjoy the flow of the trail. The feel of the outdoors and the
rocks and jumping and twisting….if you want to be around other people that also
feel the same way. If you like or can at least endure the lonely times when
there isn’t another runner by you. I will admit to preferring the times when
there was someone else around.
I was very happy with my first 50 miler. I know I will do it
again. I never once during the day thought “if I can just finish I'm never doing
this again!” – NO. I never felt that way. I was really glad to be there.
Thankyou to support from friends who gave me treats and gels
and words of encouragement. Thankyou to friends who thought of me and sent
texts and messages of good luck and inspiration. Thankyou to friends who
tracked me from home or came to see me at the beginning or the end. Thankyou to
friends and family who were supportive of my training. When you try to do
something out of your comfort zone, a challenge, you realize how much strength
you get from your family and friends. Even small gestures mean a big deal. It
means allot just to know people believe in you. So thankyou, thankyou! And Big
Thanks to Aravaipa and the Coury’s and the Volunteers. You ROCK!
I was happy with my time. It was surprisingly right on
target with my expectations. I didn’t know what to guess but Dr Horton out of
my “Relentless Forward Progress” book said that you could multiply your
marathon times 3. To get an estimate. So I multiplied my fastest and slowest
marathons by 3 and then used that as a range. I came in on the faster end of
that rangeJ
***I’m going to include some stats and numbers here because
I find the stats interesting. Skip them if you don’t.
My first watch of the day:
29.74 miles
5:52:35
11:51 avg pace
3390 calories
My second watch, I switched at Dixie Mine:
21.47 miles
4:43:43
13:13 avg pace
1660 calories
