Finishing is winning

Blind Pig 100, Croft State Park, Spartanburg, SC

Finishing is winning.  Thanks for that nugget of wisdom, thumbs-up-Kate. :-)

This is not a race report with split times, race strategy, details about calorie consumption or gear choice.  It's about people and the wonderful, if not dysfunctional, extended family in this sport.

The race was a 1 mile out-and-back followed by 11 9 mile loops on (mostly) single track - I planned to borrow Holly's approach of dedicating each lap to someone.  This strategy would take on a new meaning when I learned about the tragic events in New Orleans the day before the race - AP, a beloved member of the running community, and his brother-in-law were riding their bikes when they were hit by a car.  His brother-in-law, Frank, did not survive and AP remains hospitalized (and continues to improve!).  Hearing about bike accidents never gets easier - I pray each time it's the last one.


Lap 1 - AP and his family and friends. 
Lap 2 - thumbs-up-Kate and Alex, who finished their first 100 milers last week at Umstead and the future first-time 100 mile finishers at Blind Pig.
Lap 3 - AP and his family and friends.
Lap 4 - my friend Andrea who is off in Guinea, working on the Ebola outbreak.
Lap 5 - AP and his family and friends.
Lap 6 - Pete, Michael, Jim, Jen, Timmy and others who are recovering from injuries and will certainly be back stronger!  Kelley finished the race and is the perfect example of this.
Lap 7 - AP and his family and friends.
Lap 8 - Holly and Harley - they are about to embark on the ultimate ultra by becoming parents and raising an awesome daughter.  Phillip and Rhonda too!
Lap 9 - AP and his family and friends.
Lap 10 - Brandi, Andy and my other friends who juggle graduate school, jobs and running.
Lap 11 - AP and his family and friends.

Each lap I had time to send thoughts and prayers out towards my friends.  I hope they felt a little warmth and kindness and a hug from the universe.  I also got to spend many miles of each lap running with old friends and new ones - this was a different experience from previous races and prior to the race, I did not appreciate the mental or emotional boost I would get from this.

I had the pleasure of sharing laps 1 - 3 with Brad and our new best friend from Louisiana.  Jimmy works at sea for 30 days at a time - no one was happier to be on trails than he was after a looong month on a boat, confined to a treadmill.  He had great stories and is an honorary Yeti runner.  Deano and I ran lap 5 together - he is much faster than I am so this was a treat, as was chatting with his awesome wife Lisa between laps.  Thanks for the avocado soup!!  I shared a few miles with Sully, the genius behind the route.  Andy arrived later in the day and said he'd pace me at night.  Just because it was better than being at home alone.  And maybe he was procrastinating some school work too?!  I shared laps 9 - 11 with Andy and our new best friend Brian from Columbia (city not the country), who was running his first 100 miler.  Andy was in heaven - ebola AND helicopter stories.  His constant chatter kept us entertained and moving forward.  We talked alot about how we got into running and why we run - for many of us, we have small families or families that are spread out.  Dysfunctional though we may be at times, the ultra and trailrunning community is an extended family who I love dearly and appreciate more and more all the time.  Andy said it much more eloquently than that, even at 4am.

There are a million ways to procrastinate school work (and I've tried most of them) that don't involve staying up all night, running 100k, losing toenails, straining a hamstring, eating fig newtons and listening to stories about poo in exotic places - but this is just what Andy does.  And I and many others love him for that!  He paced Holly in December and ran with other runners at Blind Pig, helping as many people as he could - I truly felt honored and fortunate to share his company for hours.  It's a bond that he, Brian and I will always share.  I look forward to returning the favor someday soon!  THANK YOU ANDY!!!

Other thoughts on this race...
* I wish I had a picture of the pig!  A stuffed pig was placed on the course and runners would pick it up and run with it before putting it in a new place.  It's small details like this that make a race unique and special!  Seeing a random stuffed pig in the middle of the woods at 2am is sure to put a smile on anyone's face.

* The runners were so incredibly encouraging of each other - there was a short section where runners going in and out would pass each other.  The woman who won always had a high five and "good job!" to share.  Another runner had a huge crew of supporters (go team LaLa!) with great fluorescent green Blind Pig shirts - they rang the cowbell for every runner.  They also paced numerous runners and volunteered.  Ray was awesome for just being Ray - and for having run 100 miles at Umstead the weekend before.  Viktor was a local legend who earned his very first buckle - he cleans up the trail as he runs, by kicking up sticks (wouldn't believe it if I hadn't witnessed it numerous times!) and by collecting trash.  He crossed the finish with a bag full of beer cans - definitely more beer cans than gu wrappers on the trail.  Thanks Viktor!  There were numerous other achievements - first 100 mile, fastest 100 miler, distance PR.  Each person had the opportunity to push themselves and find out what they were capable of.

* A special thanks goes out to the RD, Angela.  No one slept less than Angela that weekend - she was up early, stayed up all night for each of the finishers, personally handed out each buckle, thanked everyone and took pictures.  She was sincere, thoughtful, took care of little details, made sure we had a smorgasbord of food - the list goes on.  For example, there were a few water crossings - she placed sand bags so we could easily cross and keep our feet dry.  She knew 100 miles was tough enough - she didn't want runners to deal with wet feet too.  She was 100% committed to helping everyone finish and achieve their goals. THANK YOU ANGELA!!! 

I haven't had post-race blues yet and I don't think I will - every time I think of this race, I smile and get a warm-fuzzy feeling thinking about all the wonderful people I'm blessed to have in my life.

Oak Mountain 50k, Alabama; March 22

I started writing this race report in my head a few weeks before the race - I really wanted to start it with "I finally won a race!" If I visualized winning, it could happen. I've placed second the last 2 years and first seemed within reach. I'm usually much less ambitious - my top priorities are always racing smart (staying well fueled and hydrated, not getting lost, not falling, not dying) which means I should finish and might be fast, but I can only control my race and there's a entire field of faster women doing the same. Still, it seemed possible...

Oak Mountain is my favorite 50k - very low key, great well-stocked aid stations, beautiful views, fun & challenging trails, incredible volunteers, runnable sections, technical sections and a waterfall.  To start, someone yells "hey everyone, we're going to start soon.  If you think you're going to drop, let me know now.  Ok, go!"  The finish is a white, chalked line at a pavilion with grilled food, frozen fruit salad, and brownies.  Most people hang out eating, drinking, chatting, and cheering all the finishers on.  It's a great community!!

After the RD yelled "go," a guy took off like it was a track meet, not a 50k - most of us took the paved loop easy just chatting.  Seemed to work for him though as he killed it and won.  The climbing on the yellow trail begins right away.  This year, in addition to my usual race priorities, I had 2 plans I thought would help:  1) wear a trucker hat (worked for the woman who won Mount Mitchell Challenge, granted she's also placed in the top 10 at Western States, but hey, couldn't hurt) and 2) stay with local legend and my running idol on the early climbs and hopefully as long as possible.  I figured even if I went harder than I thought I should, I didn't want to lose time early.  That plan worked perfectly at first - except that 4 other women seemed to have the same plan.  So 5 of us were within seconds of each other for 4 or 5 miles.  We took turns leap frogging each other and then finally I was in the lead.  For maybe 30 seconds.  Then I got passed on an uphill by a woman and I couldn't match her pace.  By the next turn, she was out of sight.  Huh.  Well, it's a long race, alot can happen in the next 27 miles or so.

The next section is the blue trail - very runnable along a ridge and leads to the waterfall.  I love this section of the course!  I got to run with my friend Kerry - he was taking a bit of a risk as I was the one who lead us off course at Pine Mountain a few months earlier.  We were running well.  And then I got passed by another woman and couldn't match her pace.  By the time we reached the rocky decent to the waterfall, I started to take a wrong turn.  And got passed again.  As much as I wanted to win, it was more important to enjoy the day and keep running smart.  I caught up to the woman who had just passed me - she is ridiculously fast, but was doing her first race after a long time off.  She's super-nice and talented, and it was great to see her back on the trails - I wished I could have kept up with her!  She could set a CR at Oak Mountain, but unfortunately, took a wrong turn later in the day and DNFd.  I hated that for her, but she still had a great time and was happy to be running again.

Love Peavine Falls and the AS there - a few more miles was halfway...and then my brand new shoes with fewer than 20 miles on them started to fall apart.  Argh!!  Stopped to fix them, which let me catch my breath - and the local legend caught up to me as well so we got to run more together.  Time seemed to slow, but I remembered that I would see Holly at the next AS!  I did my best to pick up the pace and was happy to see her around 20 miles.  The encouraging words and ice were awesome!  I actually love the next section - it's a long jeep road climb that's tough either on a bike or running / walking.  By this time, temps were near 70 and it was sunny.  The climb has multiple water crossings - I stopped to splash in each one to keep myself cool.  I think it helped!!

Made it to Peavine falls AS for the second time - it's almost all downhill from there.  One of the volunteers was keeping track of runners and pace - his kind words gave me a boost as I left.  Only single digits left from here!  The last section of the race is the infamous "blood rock" trail from mountain biking.  I can't decide whether this trail is more fun to ride or run!  Closer to the finish, is a series of switch backs - super-fun for riding, but I was ready to be done at this point (partly because it was 70 and partly because the course is actually closer to 33 miles).  And then I saw the girl who passed me back at mile 5 - I felt bad pushing to catch her with only 2 miles left.  Finally, last switch back, then the bridge and white chalk line.  Done!  Just in time as it was getting HOT.

Old school finish - manual timing and finishers and times are recorded on a wipe board.  I was a few minutes slower than last year, but finished second again.  I felt like I ran well, no low spots and pushed it some, but I still have alot to learn about racing.  How do get faster?  Can I get faster?  Definitely, the strongest and smartest woman won the race - congrats to her!!  I'll keep running and visualizing have a good race - I might finish first one of these days, but as long as I cross the finish line with a smile and enjoy playing in the woods, I'll be happy.