Many on the Genny - 40 miles for my 40th birthday

I signed up for this race almost a year ago because it was too perfect - a 40 mile race, fairly close to home, a week after my 40th birthday?!

I've been hashtagging #seeyaatthedam for months. 
Finally at the dam.

Race morning started with a jolt, as I had set my alarm for 3:15, but due to the blasting a/c in the hotel room, didn't hear it until 3:25.  Then I took too long in the bathroom.  There is a shuttle from the finish to the start.  In the pre-race emails we were warned that the shuttle would leave at 5 am SHARP and they were not joking, as I arrived to the finish at 5:00:30 to see the buses pulling out of the parking lot.  So I had no choice but to follow the buses to the start, which was only 2.5K straight uphill from my hotel but about 8K from the finish. I definitely wasn't the only one who missed the bus as there were quite a few cars there.

Tip #1: get to the shuttle early!

The race started promptly at 6, running back downhill. There were a few familiar faces, Jeff and Heather from Happy Trails and Lizzy. I saw a LOT of people with poles.  I don't own poles and I'd probably like them but I would like to try them out first before buying. After a couple of minutes, I looked behind me and thought, "shit I am already last?!" 

I think this was the first quick pass
 through the start area, less than 5K in.

I was going back and forth with a guy from Michigan, and another guy in an orange shirt, who had done the race last year.  I was chatting with MI dude when Orange Shirt whistled at us, we missed a turn and were off course by maybe 100 m.  Fortunately, that was the only time I went off course all day.

Tip #2 - wear quick drying clothing!

We were told by the RD in the pre-race briefing that there was a water crossing at 7 miles.  He didn't mention it was really deep.  The water went up to my waist. My skirt didn't dry very quickly and I was still wringing water out several hours later.

You can see how deep the water was from Orange Shirt.

Directly on the other side of the water crossing.  

My watch specs say that the battery lasts 10 hours in "best" GPS mode and I knew I'd be over that, so I put the GPS mode to "good". After a couple of hours, I started to see some funny stuff, like my pace being 1:30/km when hiking a hill, but the splits were still reasonable numbers, so I didn't worry too much until I asked Orange Shirt what distance he had. "13 or 14 miles?" My watch was showing over 25K.

The aid station at the halfway point was a highlight of the race.  The theme was auto racing/pit stop and the volunteers got my drop box, handed me a freezie and refilled my hydration pack, so that I could focus on stuffing food in my face.  I was wearing my Altra Lone Peaks and felt pretty good so I did not change shoes or socks.  I was told that the next aid station was in 7 miles.

The scenery at the halfway point was also the most beautiful.  I can't remember now if I heard about the race first, or saw pictures of the waterfalls at Letchworth, but it was a huge reason why I signed up.

Lower Falls.  Just awful scenery.

So terrible.

Nothing to see here.

I thought only Orange Shirt was behind me, but I came across two girls, one of whom greeted me with, "I love your Dona Jo skirt!" to which I replied, "I love it when people know where my clothes are from, instead of asking what brand it is."  I'll be honest, I tried to drop these two girls several times, taking off when they were taking pictures and running hard on easy sections, but they caught me every time.  Kudos to them!

The distance showing on my watch was totally bonkers by now, so I said to the girls, "hasn't it been awhile since the last aid station? they said 7 miles and it's been 2 and a half hours!" Nope, we had only gone about 10K.  It was raining off and on, and there were many muddy streams gullies with a steep step down, and then a climb back up.  It reminded me of The Bad Thing.

Tip #3 - don't rely on the aid stations

There were only 4 aid stations (plus one self serve water station) for the 40 miles.  They were at least 7-9 miles apart.  I was carrying enough food for about 30K and I usually grab fruit or pop at the AS.  One minute, I felt fine and the next I was very dizzy, I sat down on a log and the two girls finally passed me.  A third lady turned out to be right behind them and asked how long it had been since I had eaten.  Oh shit...at the last aid station, well over an hour ago.  I pulled out an e-beet, took one bite, and it happened, I blew chunks everywhere.  A first for me, I have definitely dry heaved after 5Ks, but never, ever have I puked during a race.  I got down the rest of the bar and it stayed down, surprisingly after a few minutes I felt much better and got up to continue.  The lady, Torrie, stayed with me.  It was her first ultra but she got me going again like a veteran! Another lady, Jen from Long Island was also with us. This part was really, really slow, but I kept referring back to my mantras, 'relentless forward motion' which is on the bracelet that I wear always, and my arm tat, 'sometimes, the moments that challenge us the most, define us."

Turns out that one of the two girls was Torrie's SIL, and she kept calling Torrie to see how I was doing and when they had reached the next aid station, they alerted them to the fact that I had been sick.  This last station was manned by jokers.  It was located 4 miles from the finish and 8 miles from the previous station.  I had started using my old Garmin 210 at exactly 30 miles (according to Torrie's SIL's watch) so we were startled to see a sign at 35 miles saying "1 mile to aid!" but then right after that, around a bend, another sign that said, "haha 0.25 to the station!" Way to fuck with the minds of ultrarunners!

The volunteers at the last aid station took great care of me.  I sat down for a few minutes, ate watermelon, oranges, Coke, a dill pickle and a handful of swedish fish - in that order, OMG! Torrie went ahead and the volunteers assured me that it was 4.5 miles to the finish and net downhill.  I could still run pretty well on clear trail and I ran the last km or so hard to the finish.

There was a local delicacy, the garbage plate, at the finish and I couldn't bring myself to have any.  But I did have my beer! and Long Island Jen was kind enough to drive me back to my car at the start.

I can't say enough amazing things about this race.  Challenging distance, gorgeous scenery..fantastic volunteers and fellow runners!  Definitely made my first week of being 40 memorable.

Conquering the Canuck

Party with the Varty, me, Grace, Neil, Cody

I only registered for Conquer the Canuck 25K because Coach Heather had assigned a 25K long run for the week.  I ran the 25K previously in 2016, and I remember it being hot as balls and a very slow race.  So when the weather forecast started looking promising, I thought surely I could manage a course PB?

Someone plunked out O Canada on a keyboard (note to self: volunteer to play next year!) and we were off.  I started off running with Neil and Cody was run/walking so we were passing each other every few minutes.  I chose to walk a hill, but Neil took off, so I ran with Cody until he had to make a pit stop and I was alone.  

At the end of the first loop (the course was 3x8.3K), I saw that I was on pace to hit all my goals.  I was passing a lot of people.  There was a woman who would bolt out in front, then suddenly stop, or completely ignored the course marking and turn the wrong way and then jump back on course right in front of me.  I was very glad to drop her!

The results say that I ran the 2nd loop really fast, a good 10 minutes faster than the 1st loop..I felt good but I find that pretty hard to believe.

I finally caught up with Neil again, he had calf cramps so I gave him my salt pills, which unfortunately did not help his problem.  I felt like I should have stayed with him, but PB GOALS man! so I kept pushing hard.

The loop was slightly different from 2016; I remember going farther past the start/finish area, and that part was more open, nasty on a hot and sunny day but mentally harder as well.  This year, we only went 1K or less past the finish and then a very fast slight downhill finish.

I thought I might have placed in my age group, and I probably would have, if I hadn't been in the huge "under 39" group!

3 minute distance PB
GINORMOUS 25 minute course PB!
📷by Cody

Well, I will enjoy the last 6 days of my 30's while tapering and carbing up for MOTG.

I don't think my new age group is slower. NOT AT ALL.
Sarah Marie Design Studio

Sulphur 50K - 2018 edition

It's now been 3 years since my first 50K and my secret goal was to PB, or at least go sub 7 hours.  But alas, the weather gods had other plans.  I felt very well trained, running similar mileage to 100K a year ago. Then I watched the daily high go up and up on the forecast..and I knew my only goals were to have fun and not have the day turn into a sufferfest.

I was determined to get to the start EARLY and have a repeat of last year's insane rush to the start.  It was overcast but not as horribly humid as in 2016.  The first 10K felt fantastic, the cloud cover and breeze kept it from being too hot and I ran straight through the start/finish without stopping.  

The 2nd loop was my favourite - it is no secret that I hate seeing people when doing training runs, but the awesome thing about Sulphur is that there are so many familiar friendly faces.  I saw K guiding Tim (nice to finally see you in person, Tim!) and David and Steve running the 100 mile.

I was hitting or surpassing all my usual time standards (15K in 2 hours, half marathon in under 3 hours) then suddenly...passed 25K in 3:37 so dreams of sub 7 was gone. Normally when goals slip away, my mental strength to do anything besides finish goes out the window as well.  I gave myself a little pep talk, I could still manage my 2nd best 50K time if I kept pushing. Passed Vince on Martin Road, he told me that Greg was at the finish when I was finishing up 30K.  Yes, Greg was there...handing out medals! 

Impulsively, I asked if Greg would run the last bit with me, to meet me at the aid station at the lollipop start.  Then I set off on the final 20K, a short countdown until I picked up my pacer. I came around the corner to see the lollipop aid station and saw Greg talking to Kathy, I refilled my bladder and we started out.  Literally two seconds later:

So graceful. At least he didn't actually face plant.

I told Greg there would be lots of walking on the Three Bitches, of course, but since it was the first time since 2015 that I didn't have giant blisters on my feet, I would run the glorious cornfield downhill, the best part of the course. 

I forced myself to keep moving on the final climb up Martin Rd., Greg ran ahead to get some video.

The girl did get her beer.

Another successful training cycle almost complete - 2 weeks until my 40th birthday, and 3 weeks until my birthday goal race: 40 miles (for 40 years) at Many on the Genny.