My alarm goes off at 4:30 which sucks. Its never easy to get up that early. I didn't have any sleep issues for this race. The excitement was there but the attitude was so different. I opted for a small bowl of oatmeal since I was still outside of the 3 hour window for no food. I actually had my stuff already set out so all I had to do was throw it into my bag before leaving. I did double check that I put my shoes into the car about 7 times. That's a mistake you don't want to make. Recovery slippers will NOT work on a trail ultra. So once I was sure I had my gear, including all my nutritional items, we were off to pick up Carolyn Watson, body genius, and soon to be our neighbor at the store (Core Kinetics Pilates).
With both runners on board, and my wonderful girlfriend doing the early morning driving duties, we were set to make the trip east to Baker Lake. As night gave way to day, we could tell that it would be cloudy and cool, exactly what the forecast had said, but then again, how hard is it to forecast our fall weather. Cloudy and cool with a chance of rain right? But for me, it doesn't get any better than the mist and fog snaking its way in and around the hills and trees, just like the picture at the top of this blog, which is an earlier picture from Baker Lake trail.
We arrived right as the early starters were getting ready to leave. It's always a little nervous when they were giving start instructions even though I knew I wasn't supposed to start with them. I got checked in and after a quick trip to the bathroom (also the warmest place at the start) I started mixing up my nutrition. I decided to go with two ten ounce bottles with Perpetuem, and two full bottles for the return trip if necessary. I also had some Perpetuem chews and some Montana Huckleberry Hammer Gel along with one chocolate GU. My plan was to use primarily fluids and swap out bottles at the turnaround, and possibly grab additional gels. I set my countdown timer to repeat every 15 minutes to remind me to fuel. It also helped break up the time on the trail.
As usual, I had plenty of extra time at the start, and with it being a 31 mile race, warm up was minimal so I found myself with too much time and getting nervous. The Gulley's and Sam arrived about 20 minutes before the start to help distract me from the effort to come. And soon enough it was time to line up for the beginning of the race.
From the sound of the gun, it was a three man race. Myself, Justin the previous years winner, and Dusty. Little did I know that Dusty was a 1:51 college half miler (and only 24 years old). We introduced ourselves on our easy run up the road to the trail head. Justin and I did quite a bit of talking on the way out while Dusty stayed more reserved just behind us. The trip out went pretty smooth and was pretty uneventful. Dusty stopped to relieve himself but caught back up just a couple minutes later. We passed a handful of the early starters. Most were pretty alert and offered words of encouragement. A couple had headphones. One guy couldn't hear our second warning, a near shout and we were forced to skim by him on the tight trails. Seriously. You're on a narrow single track trail, and you know you'll eventually get passed. Turn down the music so that you can hear something.
Dusty and I lost Justin pretty quick. I guess he dropped a gel which he stopped to pick up and the gap was there for good. I sensed a little bit of a gap forming between Dusty and myself so I kept at it. I ran aggressive but not crazy. Every time I checked behind me, Dusty was there. Sometimes close and sometimes a little further back. I thought about easing off the pace to work with him but I just couldn't tell if he was on the verge of breaking or not. So I keep up my constant effort hoping for the best. As the number of people we passed face to face dwindled, and things got quieter, I had to focus more and more. I kept checking for Dusty, who at this point, seemed to be falling just slightly further behind each time I checked.
I probably passed my last outgoing runner with somewhere near 8 or 9 miles left to run. I was still feeling pretty good although my right hip/groin region was starting to give me some feedback. Hills didn't feel great. My belt grew so very annoying. I just couldn't get it situated. My right shoe was feeling pretty tight and I had to pee. Decision time.
I was still worried that Dusty wasn't that far behind. He wasn't necessarily hurting or fading, I was just holding a slightly (very slight) faster pace. So first things first. My first experiment with urinating while running. I'm not down with going right in my shorts so I tried the obvious. Pull down the waistband, aim relatively forward, and just slow down a little. The "stream" was only "on" while my legs were close to parallel. When one leg or other was forward, the flow was cut off. After about 40 seconds of running with the sprinkler on and off, I was finished, mostly dry, and feeling so much better.
My next issue was the shoelace. I wasn't going to stop and retie it. I was gloved which isn't a big deal. But my knots were pulled incredibly tight. My only complaint about the Saucony Peregrines are the laces. They just don't like to stay tied unless you really wrench on them. Well, I did, and they stayed tied, but as my feet began to really swell it was plenty uncomfortable. I just had to deal with it.
After several miles without seeing anybody coming the opposite direction, or seeing Dusty behind me, the mental battle set in. I'm tired, I'm hurting, my groin feels like its going to tear apart. And yes, its the same area where my year long Seattle injury bothered me. But since it was an out and back, I had to just keep going. Walking up hills didn't help. I tried for about 10 seconds and abandoned that idea when I was slower and it wasn't any less painful. My thoughts rotated between the pain in my groin, the pain in my foot, and my stomach which was feeling increasingly worse. The damn hydration belt didn't help. It never felt comfortable and kept annoying me the whole way. I almost wish I did the small handheld. And over the last handful of miles I just kept waiting for the one tree turned bridge that I knew was close to the end of the trail. It never seemed to come. As fast as the first half of the race flew by, the last 30 minutes absolutely crawled. It felt like hours. I kept heading around one bend hoping for the bridge only to see more and more and more trail.
When I did finally hit the bridge, I slipped getting off of the log and banged my knee on a rock. Not enough to do any damage, but enough to hurt and make a feeble mind worry. But I kept trucking along, just hoping that Dusty had self destructed or at least was hurting nearly as much as I was. I finally did make it to the end of the trail and out onto the gravel road for the final 1+ mile. I thought I would be home free since it is a nice gradual downhill, but at that point the legs were fried. Just running was hard enough. Running fast on a downhill seemed absurd. I just couldn't do it. My stomach was feeling worse and worse so I ditched the belt knowing that somebody could drive back up and get it. I finally rounded the last corner and hit the pavement and the dam and what a great site that was. 
It may as well have been the Hoover Dam though, because it felt like several miles. Sam and Jason were at the far end to cheer me on. While they were shouting encouragement and telling me I looked good, I was just trying not to cry. I can't explain why the long races get me emotional like that, but I was. No tears as I passed them and as I finished, but it was close. I probably made it two steps across the line before crouching down and I would have laid down right there if it weren't rainy and wet. I looked and felt awful. But I finished in 3:57:28, a new course record! |
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A big congrats to Paul, Carolyn, and Scott who braved the trails with me, even though they may not have had banner days, they finished and I'm proud. After collecting my prize, a bear and a cake, and gathering Carolyn from the meal table and the cookies (don't worry I ate a ton too and I'm sorry if we rushed you) we joined the Gulleys and Sam at Birdsview Brewery for the most amazing burger and beer. A glorious way to end the day! The end. 
