So I have finally finished my first ultramarathon! It took a while, but I did it.
We woke early and bodged a way to make tea on the campstove, and I ate as much of my mashed sweet potato as I could stomach. We packed up early and ended up pulling out of the campsite around 7am, arriving at race parking by 7.20. After checking in we played around and took photos on the rocks.
During our pre-race briefing, the race director mentioned a long climb that might take 30 minutes 'depending on the day'. I figured a half-hour hill wouldn't be too awful, I've seen worse climbs. Ha!
We set off at 8.30 and very quickly nearly everyone was walking up the out trail, that came complete with 'steep trail' warning sign. We were doing the longest loop, 15km first. I put myself at the back determined not to go out too fast. There were a few moments I could have passed the group ahead but made myself hang back.
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| Pink, yellow, orange, pink |
About 1.5 miles in we hit the climb. The time passed fairly quickly as I power hiked chatting with people around me. When we were about half way up, there came the realisation that the loops hadn't split yet, the trail was marked with pink (15km loop) and yellow (11km loop). We had to do the pink loop twice, which meant we were going up this hill three times! Ugh! It was fun seeing the strong 26km runners tearing up the hill past us, some very strong legs and lungs. I was happy to see that even as we moved further from the coast, the fog was sticking around.
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| My kind of running weather! |
After the hill we passed through the meadow, and down a fire road to pick up the Plantation trail - my favourite of the run. We were under the trees, soft footing, rolling a little more down than up but not steep so a great place to make time. By this time the fast 15km runners were hammering past us, and it was hard to not try and play chase, seeing how long I could keep up. We hit a road that would take us to the aid station and the next trail. The aid station volunteers were great, making sure everybody got what they needed and out of there efficiently. They were busy with three race distances passing through. I downed a cup of water and moved on within thirty seconds. Yay Tailwind! More single track through the forest brought us down to the Hwy 1 crossing at Stump Beach. We followed a trail down to the beach and straight up the other side. I managed to not go a over t down the rocky trail, but did slide on my butt as a prevention.
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| Down |
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| and Up |
The trail pretty much followed the bluff all the way back to the start/finish aid station area. Again I just took a cup of water and moved on, briefly updating T as I passed through that it was going well. On to the yellow loop and back up the hill. It wasn't so bad the second time now I knew what to expect, but did take me a little longer with not-as-fresh legs. I was pretty much by myself at this point, though other runners were occasionally in sight. The fog was lifting but it was still nice and cool. Instead of heading down the fire road, this time we went to the pygmy forest. There were some gravelly bits through here and I was grateful for my gaiters. I spotted a manzanita on the side of the trail, so tapped it for good luck like I was running JugHandle :)
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| Lucky manzanita |
Mostly the second half of this loop was downhill, and it was fun to stretch out a little. There were a few hikers out by now who all gave words of encouragement as we passed. We hit the bluffs and again followed the coastline, picking up the same trail that brought us in on the pink loop. I took a couple of minutes at the aid station to drink a cup of coke and a cup of ginger ale, while T filled my pack with water and dumped in a baggie of tailwind. I ate a teeny amount (two?) chips, and picked a couple of m&ms out the trail mix, and got on my way. I had been talking to a 9k runner earlier who had already run the orange loop that I was setting out on, and she mentioned they had a pretty big hill. I stopped a couple of times heading up here to stretch out my tightening hamstrings and glutes. I was starting to feel the effects of not having had a training run longer than 12 miles since Big Basin in June. I knew I just had to finish this loop and there would be just one left. It was great to hit the top of the hill, take a minute to stretch my legs, and set off on a nice downhill running stretch. I hadn't seen anybody from race since I started this loop, but ran into other runners and hikers so wasn't completely alone. Everyone was very encouraging, which was really motivating. I spotted a handy little hidden area to duck into for a moment (desperate need to pee = good hydration?). Not long after, I got to the road crossing, and wanted to take a picture of the view ahead. Crap! Where's my phone?! Must have fallen out of my pack when I stopped. Can't leave it there, no choice but to turn back for it. Heading back uphill was pretty depressing, but only made it just under a quarter-mile before finding that it was in a different pocket. Definitely getting tired haha. Back down the trail to the ocean again.
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| Still overcast at 2pm = Happy Cyd |
I walked a lot along the bluff trail. Even though it was flat, the ground was uneven, and I was very conscious of my foot placement. At a bit that was smoother, I picked up a kind of run, which was perfect jumping off point for my ninja 'don't step on the snake' maneuver. While it wasn't huge or poisonous, it certainly took me by surprise. Soon after, I got a cramp in my left popliteal space (back of the knee), and couldn't figure if it was coming from the calf or hamstring. I took it even easier into the aid station, but still made it well within cutoff. I made sure to not linger, I just downed a cup of water and moved on. This was the final loop, and I knew I could finish, I just had to keep moving. Once I hit a flatter spot I tried running, and actually found it was easier on the crampy leg than hiking. This was great motivation to keep moving forward. I still hiked the hills, and wasn't looking forward to going up the long hill a third time. I timed myself this time, and took 28 minutes to get up, but it felt like a lot longer. I wasn't overly thrilled about it:
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| Pity party anyone? |
The sun had finally come out, and it was a bit warmer, but still not hot (I had seen a forecast of 89* and it was nowhere close to that). There was plenty of shade going up the hill so I was rarely in the sun for long. I was really happy to make it to the meadow and know that I only really had one hill left, and a couple short little ups, the rest was downhill.
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| No more fog, lurking in the shade |
I had turned on my music for this last loop as an added push, and it definitely helped. I may have had a little dance party to myself out in the open too. It made me instantly cheerier and I went blasting down the hill - well, as blasty as my tired feet were letting me on a harder surface. I got back to the plantation trail and while I was missing seeing other runners, it was fun to not have to keep pulling over to let faster people through and just run down the hill. Running a little faster felt really good on my hip flexors too, and the shade and soft ground were perfect. I hiked most of the road to the aid station, running occasionally. It definitely seemed further away than I remembered. I grabbed a cup of coke and a cup of ginger ale while two lovely volunteers topped off my pack for me. I decided not to add tailwind, since there was still some in there and it was only three more miles. I took a salt capsule and headed on my way, in and out in two minutes. More wonderful trail, music (still loving the Aftershokz headphones), and relishing the fact that I could still run at mile 29! Finally reached the last road crossing, and hoped I wouldn't fall down the short bit of rocky trail to the beach. Definitely had to concentrate more this time around! There were a lot of people at the beach by now, and some of them cheered as I went by. I was struggling to run along the flat, so would run a minute and walk a minute.
The sun hadn't come out here, and it was a little more breezy, but still pleasant. I looked up and saw a runner picking flags. What?! Am I really that late? They wouldn't pull trail markers with me still out, would they? Turns out he was just getting the orange and yellow flags since anybody still out was on the pink loop. My running intervals had gone down to about 30 seconds, and I was a little disheartened to see that I was 7h55 and still a mile or so from the finish, so wouldn't be making it under eight hours. My only real goal was to finish, even if I was overtime (nine hour limit), but had loosely aimed for eight if I could. As I got nearer to the finish line, I was really trying to make myself run, but struggling. The carpark was about half a mile away, and as I came nearer to it, I saw two people running towards me. They were mom K and little K, who had run the 9km together earlier and then volunteered all afternoon. Since it was quieter, they didn't need more volunteers but little K had been feasting on jelly beans and needed to burn off some excess energy, so they came to cheer people in. It was such a boost having them run that last little bit with me, and having people to talk to. Thank you guys so much :)
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| Kaya and Kelly, bonus cheer squad |
They let me run the last little stretch myself, and not sure where the energy came from but I managed a sprint finish (watch says 7.25m/m - sprint for me!). T and the volunteers were all cheering, and I couldn't stop grinning, but also couldn't breathe, my lungs were rebelling at the last minute push. The broth they gave me was delicious, and while I drank someone made me a fresh quesadilla! Delicious! Looking at my watch when I finish, the distance was actually 32.36, and 5154' of ascent. This was a great race, well organized, with excellent course markings, and happy helpful volunteer. Also thanks T for crewing and cheering :) I know she took a lot of photos, so will share them another day.
Added Note: I DIDN'T FALL DOWN! Not once! Woohooo!
I have been so so bad about updating here. Mainly because (shush, touch wood....) everything's been going really well! And other than race reports, who wants to read "I ran today, it was good" over and over again. I do have some reviews I keep meaning to get to, but I just have 50 50 50 in my head. Since I'm now starting to taper, I will have more time and some pent up running-ness that I need to vent somewhere without actually running or boring my poor husband to tears. The plan on spending some running time on increased pony rides has been thwarted in my pony's decision to grow out of his saddle. While I have a bodged enough fit for short easy rides (not that he does much more than that anyway...) it really isn't something I want to be using more than necessary. Bareback doesn't seem like a good idea two weeks out from my longest ever run by 18 miles either - both due to potential of falling and already having a bum hip. If you saw me ride bareback you would never guess the 25 years of riding experience and being called on as a crash-test-dummy for so many people and volunteering to hop on trouble makers. It's really quite embarrassing... And if you're selling an English or hybrid style treeless, or interested in a super comfortable, English made close contact saddle let me know!
Tomorrow and Monday are my last challenging runs, with a hilly route (distance tbd, never mapped this route, guessing between ten-twelve) tomorrow and the longer version of Russian Gulch (only eight-ish) Monday (and strength). Then taper! Not the ten day clusterf*ck that was pre- Salt Point. I have my massage booked, my runs and strength workouts mapped out, yoga time, and then I'm going to run fifty f*cking miles! Wooooo!
