50K trail event in 9:08 with LA
We traveled to NC Friday night, arriving later than ideal but we're sadly getting used to that. We checked into a hotel that we learned had six feet of water last year when the hurricane came through. Our room was new (except the bath vent!) and while that's nice, it was sad to know why it had to be rebuilt. And that many residents in the area don't have their homes back. Or their cars. Or their lives.
Race morning - cold! I was layered with a long sleeve, shrug, and STL Tri Club coat. That coat goes everywhere! Camelbak, compression socks, Craft shorts, and my March 2025 Adrenalines that don't have much life in them, but then had more space than the ones I just bought. I wanted to still have toes by mile 10.
We'd broken this race down into 4-6-4-6-5-5 which was the distances between the aid stations.
This wasn't a large race, maybe 100 runners? I love the ultra vibe (aura, as the newer Gens call it) - casual, laid back, chatty, open, rugged. It's a crowd I'm comfortable in. We made a race-long friend before it even started - the camera guy who saw me and Lev holding hands, and jokingly went to hold Lev's other hand as we walked to the start flags. :)
4-6-4-6-5-5 0-4 miles
8am start, around a meadow to spread us out. We jogged this, wet grass that had an herby smell to it. Then onto single track, lined up like a train. Lev kept jogging and I fell back. I fell back even more when I let the runners behind me scoot around. I can't deal with runners up my tailpipe like that, unless I'm racing and want the push. Today, no push.
I was quickly alone in the first 1-2 miles. By mile 1, my lonely head started back on my Moria issue, and I thought "hey it's been 30 years of this, and I have 30 miles ahead of me, so let's review!". My head can be shitty to me sometimes! Mile 1 - coming home alone in 1993-94 era and home alone to Moria. Mile 2 - being alone in the dorm in 1996 spring and alone with a tupperware. I passed a guy limping, he said I was chipper today. Well yeah, it's my birthday!! Mile 3 - kept going in a spin - until I FELL. WHAM. I'd been tripping and unfocused, this was my karma for that. At that mile, I thankfully jumped tracks and thought about better things (like how stupid I was being) until Aid Station #1 around 3.8 miles.
0-6-4-6-5-5 4-10 miles
Lev and I caught up, rather he waited, at this water-only aid station. Was this the lake? Yes. Is this a water station later? No, the next one is up the hill, and the volunteer pointed behind him. Over the bridge, to the left, back on trail. We were together sometimes at the beginning of this section but Lev was moving faster and soon enough took off. I took my 1st of many biobreaks here. The two women I'd passed earlier were behind me, I occasionally heard their voices.
Bippity boppity alone entirely with my head. A mess. Various past discussions and problems would surface, about 1 per 0.1 miles it seemed. Sometimes I entertained them. Most times I'd be like seriously WTF are you doing here in my head. But it's how I sorted out problems, but it was mostly useless problem solving that wouldn't solve anything. This is how I got to running with podcasts, I needed someone else's problems. Lev was trying to call me and I was receiving messages from family. I saw them on the Garmin, but to stop and pull off the gloves and pull out my phone meant a stop or a stumble. I couldn't do it, plowed on doing my brisk walk and breaking into a slow jog when I was going to briskly to continue walking. The lead runners were coming back at this point. Damn - they ran 20 miles in the time I did 10!! AS #2 was a tent in a turn near the campground. Lev was just ahead of me, the volunteers pointed him out and I took off after his orange hat.
0-0-4-6-5-5 10-14 miles
This section started out on a gravel road along a camping area, right turn onto a road with an electrical pole emergency. Utility trucks, emergency vehicles, and a grassy detour through a neighbor's yard. Lev was head, walking and jogging, I was making slow progress to him. As the runners were coming back, one of them claimed it was the prettiest part of the course, and I believed her. What part of the course was she running?!
After a turn off the road back to single track, we hit a burned-out area. The full sun was warm and bright without a canopy to shield us. The ground went from soft pine needles, dirt and root to washed-up but dry mud. Smooth but dry and lifeless.
I haven't mentioned the flora here yet, just how beautiful the weekend was. Perfect weather, perfect. Cloudy early and more sun later. Dry trails smoothed by mountain bikes. A pine-ish canopy in many areas, with trees shedding green needles onto soft ground. In other places under the canopy we could see far into the forest, where spikes of bright red fall colors stood out. The lake had a green tinge in the first miles, later bright dark blue. Ferns abounded, reminding me of a paleolithic era diorama. Maples (?) that had burned into a deep purple. Ground flora I didn't' recognize and mean to look up. Small lavender purple asters as a last wildflower of the season. And the magnolias - oh my the magnolias. Not the type at our house, but a wild variety with long thin leaves, droopy branches that made an arched canopy over the trail and reminded me of Opryland. At times, we were surrounded by magnolia and hugged along the trail by their light and windy branches, still with green leaves. This was a pretty trail!!
The 3rd AS was the drop station and I needed it as I was low on water. Lev picked up his water here (he'd run without it until now, mile ~13, which might not have been the best idea since we got separated). He changed shoes and insoles, as planned. I picked up sweet potato, plantain chips. We saw camera guy again. Few other runners. In, out, go. Lev clocked the stop at 6 minutes. After we'd left, about mile 15, I checked the clock and we were at 4 hours. GOOD! In the desert section (what Lev called the burned out area), he gave me the impression that we were short on time for cut-offs.
I haven't mentioned nutrition yet!! Prerace banana and coffee. For the entire run: 2 salted japanese sweet potatoes, a few AS cut bananas, a few AS clementines, later on potato chips, a box of raisins, serving of plantain chips, small handful of nut raisin trail mix. Doesn't seem like much but it was just right.
After this we mostly walked, fast and brisk, but running was mostly out for Lev. He was having leg and foot cramps. I led the way as he still walked faster than I did, and I'd figured out in our training runs that I couldn't walk his pace or stride and had to sometimes jog a bit to keep pace. And a shorter step. This worked, I led. Pulling him like he pulled me in 2019 Wisconsin. He kept stumbling, and I kept encouraging food and water. He was eating only jelly beans it seemed. And he wasn't peeing. Me on the other hand, pee'ing quite a bit! Good. This section was pretty, in and out along the lake, but we were aching to see the AS after the bridge. We needed it like a mental reward to know this section was done.
The utility trucks were still gathering, the road still closed, and the grassy detour still in place. A volunteer said a backhoe went too high and hit the pole? At the AS, water and potato chips, some trail mix. I hope a squirrel enjoys the 3 M&M's I donated to them.
Continued walking, Lev suffering way more than me and getting grumpy. I was hurting for sure, but since it was less than I expected to be hurting it bothered me less. My left foot bunion toe was aggravated. My right ankle was hurting both at the bone chip site and achilles, every stumble took a toll on it. My knees were getting tight and the soft tissues pulling. My hips, both hips at the IT/illiac/? were sore. But not hurt. I could move, even jog.
I stopped soon after the AS to lube my left toes, good thing I did as a blister was forming between 3 and 4. Later on the right foot wanted the same but I didn't stop for it. This section drug on, our mileages off and this left Lev thinking "why did they lie to us about the mileages?!". I'm used to it, and I wasn't watching the garmin at all closely. I know trail races aren't accurate, and we'd had a trail detour earlier that changed us a few tenths. But he couldn't accept it, he needed the break. Unfortunately, this break was the one at the top of the hill. By the time we reached the top, we wasn't amused and was complaining.
Oh hon, if you only knew how much it means to me that you did this with me!! This is how we started years ago, pulling each other through the tough times!
0-0-0-0-0-5 miles 26-31+change
More of the same. Walking, me leading, Lev cussing at every stumble, me smiling and at point near tears of amazement. We finally got to walk along the lake through a sandy beach area. Back onto trail, and now in these last 10 miles some tough fire road section hills. Then gravelly roads with hills. Was this the first or second 5 miles section? I think the first, but I'll leave mention of it here.
Through trees, more rocks, magnolia canopies along a noisy creek. Lev pointed out that we crossed this on the outbound. But I don't remember it!? I was so in my head, and when running with him I wasn't, and that's a great summary of my mental status in this race. The 10 miles without him was a struggle, the 20 with him I could focus on him too and it distracted me from me.
He wanted to quit. He wasn't enjoying it. He regretted doing this. He said this is too much. He said....
But I was so happy. Miles from goal, 3.5, 2.5, 1.5, 1 mile, 0.8 mile. A volunteer, a guy from germany we later chatted with, said 0.8 that's how I got that oddly specific number, haha. I knew Lev wouldn't stop, he doesn't. It's something I admire in him, although it can be painful to see and even damaging, he won't stop once he has a goal. How else did he get this far in life with so much success?
The volunteer said we'd hear the music. I did. I saw the finish area! I'm pulling Lev along, he threatened to finish first. We came through the gates and arch and DONE!! A hug, a kiss, a photo. WE DID IT!!!!!
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We talked to the German volunteer while Lev drank some purple haze drink from the brewery. We had a soup that was D-lish, to the car, to the grocery. He'd been promising himself potatoes and Brie cheese for the last 20 miles :)
Hotel, dinner, calm. Pained, but not injured. Blistered, but not bleeding. Tired, but not dead.
The last miles of this race, I was starting to stumble and didn't trust myself to rush over rock and root. But as I'm doing it and push pulling us, I realized that if I can make myself do all this, I can do anything I really want to do. I can change what I do. I can fix my mistakes. I CAN CHANGE.
