Dec. 13, 2013 started like any other Friday. I got up and went to work. After getting off work, I prepared for a new adventure that I was excited about, crewing for Todd, Alexis and Kevin as they ran a 100k.
Time to start at the beginning now. Blake and I talked about doing this a couple months before because the race was on my birthday. I knew if we going to do it, then we would crew as a couple and we were not able to crew for Todd for Grindstone 100 mile because of the government.
Blake informed them of our decision and then the planning began. Blake made a table and winds screen to heat up food with a single propane burner before the race day. He even tested it out one night to see how everything would work.
So , Dec. 13th came. I prepared by wearing my running clothes as I was unsure of if I would go for a run of some sort on Saturday. Blake and I got food items together and any other items such as a book to read. We meet everyone at the Thomas' house before 4pm on Friday. Kevin arrived a minute or two after we did. Once he was there, Todd, Kevin, Blake and I talked in the kitchen/dining area for a bit before Alexis came down stairs. Once she came downstairs, it was time to load up the surburban with the gear and to head to Camp Bethel near Roanoke, VA.
We chit chatted on the way to the camp for the pre-race briefing and dinner. We made a stop at Wal-Mart to get some last minute items and then at a Subway to get some subs. Once at the camp, Kevin, Todd, and Alexis checked in and received their race numbers. Then we waited and picked up two people (another runner and another crew member, Jamie). We waited for the start of the race. At 10:50pm, it was time. Everyone at the camp loaded up the vehicles and traveled to the starting line. At this point, I had no idea where I was going. I am glad that Blake was driving. Then we waited again. This time, for the start of the race at 12:01am on Dec. 14th.
The race started on time in the cold. Only to get colder as the day went on. Everyone who was crewing left the start line to go to the second aid station. The car we followed went right instead of left so we arrived a minute or two behind some of the other crews. Blake, Jamie and myself tried to sleep some before Alexis, Todd, and Kevin came through aid station two. We got everything ready and set up with the table and burner to heat up ramen noodles for them as well as get their running packs for them. Kevin and Alexis left Todd behind at this point in the race as they did not to eat the noodles but just drink the broth.
We packed up the gear and then travel to the next aid station which was number 5. Jamie, Blake and I tried to sleep for a couple of hours as they were on their way. I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep. I think I was able to get 4-5 hours. Then it was back to setting up gear for the runners. Blake and I could not find Kevin's second running pack at aid station 5 before he came though. We had no idea were it went and thought it may have fallen out of the car at aid station 2. Todd came to aid station 5 before Kevin and Alexis, which was not what we expected. Todd looked like he was having fun and he was. Soon after Todd, Alexis and Kevin came. Kevin was not upset over not having switching his packs outs. This was a relief as Blake and I were freaking out over where it could be. Before leaving the fifth aid station, Jamie found Kevin's second running pack in the car.
Alexis wanted to stop and ride with us but the crew said no. She was doing great and we knew she could make it. Alexis was not too happy with us at this point in the day.
The sun started coming up as we left the fifth aid station. However, the weather became gloomy with rain, sleet, and snow. I really enjoyed the snow. We then traveled to the seventh aid station. This is where Blake was going to pace Kevin in to the finish. I was nervous because I would then be driving the surbuban. Todd came in before Alexis and Kevin again. This time, his lead was extended from roughly 30 minutes to roughly 45 minutes. Todd was enjoying the race and doing his thing. Kevin also looked like he was having fun and enjoyed himself until towards the end. Alexis had a pacer join her at this point as well. So leaving the seventh aid station, Alexis, Kathie, Kevin, and Blake.
Jamie and I then packed up the gear and some what organized the gear so we knew which items belonged to which runner. She and I left the seventh aid station followed by Kevin's wife and daughter and went to the eight aid station. Todd arrived at the eighth aid station an hour before Kevin and Alexis and the pacers (Blake and Kathie). He was doing great! Jamie and I decided not to set up the table and burner since the aid station had roman noodles and broth as well as other items. Jamie and I sat in the car for a bit in between the time Todd left and Kevin and Alexis arrived.
I am glad Jamie was with me. I enjoyed talking with her and getting to know another runner.
As Kevin, Alexis, Blake, and Kathie got food at the aid station, Jamie and I left to go to the finish line. We decided not stop at the ninth/last aid station because of the gap. We arrived to the finish line before Todd did. I was really proud of myself with driving the suburban. I was anxious about driving it just because of how big it is. Jamie and I both thought we would run at some point during the day but the weather made us changed our minds.
Jamie and I talked with other people at the finish line as we waited for everyone to come across the finish line. Todd was the first of the three runners to come in. He finished in 13 hours and 50 minutes. He did great and just chilled until everyone else came. Once Kevin's wife and daughter arrived at the finish line, I knew that Alexis and Kevin would not be that far behind. Kevin's daughter and I ran out to meet the group of four to run with them as they got closer to the finish line. They all were soaking wet from the rain/sleet.
Kevin and Alexis kept each other company through the whole race. They were able to encourage each other and kept each other going.
They all seemed happy to be done, get somewhat warm showers, and food. After awhile and several trips to the car, they sang Happy Birthday to me and we celebrated with cake. It was sweet that they got me a cake to help celebrate the day.
Now, I am at home relaxing and enjoying the warmth of my house. I know this is an unusual way to celebrate a birthday but I definitely enjoyed the day to see my friends and husband run through the mountains. I know that one day, I could be doing the same thing. I know that this type of race is not for me but I would like to complete one ultra at some point. Blake, Alexis, Todd, and Kevin are role models who have shown me running can be fun and difficult at the same time. I hope that one day, I can be able to run with them.
Now time to get some sleep!! :)
Showing posts with label ultra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ultra. Show all posts
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Holiday Lake 50k
Well for this past month or so every run has been gearing up for Holiday Lake 50k. Three training runs on the course itself and one of which we ran that entire race distance. The long runs on Wednesday nights up and down Candlers mountain had boiled down to this day, February 9th. I had my goal time of 5 hours 30 minutes. Two times I had tried to get under this time and come oh so close, 5:34:48 in 2011 and 5:34:32 in 2012.
The alarm clock sounds at 4:30 and I get up and eat a bit of a different breakfast than usual. Instead of cereal I eat some bread items to hopefully avoid the usual sloshing of my stomach for the first 8 miles or so it feels like. We arrive to the start at 6:00, I check-in and I find my friends and we have a little chat and wish others there good luck. Then off for a last minute pit stop before going to the starting line. I find some of my friends as we huddle in the pre-sunrise cold and the we're off.
For the first opening few miles I fell in behind Chelsie Viar going around the lake. One of the uphills I passed her for the moment. Around mile 3 the guy behind me had a watch alarm go off and I jokingly asked him if that meant it was time to go. I had gotten hot in the opening miles and the long sleeve shirt that was over my short sleeve one had gotten very hot. I pulled it off on the uphill getting near aid station 1. I tossed it towards Kristen as I came through the aid station.
I knew going into the day that these next 8 miles needed to be pretty good ones as the trail is nice and the legs are fresh. I went at a nice and reasonable pace I thought. I ran with a rather large group at that point it seemed as we clicked off the next miles beside the road. Shortly after the turn as we headed down to the first creek crossing Chelsie comes scorching past me. I wondered if I had a parachute on my back she went past so fast. I didn't think my pace had changed that much so I kept going at my speed. Going through the second creek was a nice wake up call and the water was nice and chilly. As I neared aid station 2 Horton was driving back towards us cheering us on. I stuck to my plan at the aid station of getting water only. I had eaten my first GU on the way up to the aid station. My plan was to eat the chomp blocks between each aid station and a GU as well. I was able to eat on the nice long downhill after the aid station and entered the shot section through the woods. I always like that little section from the road until we cross the asphalt road to the power line. It has a nice secluded look to it. I made it onto what I like to call the backstretch of the course. It is nice and blinding as you are running perfectly into the sun. Around mile 9 or 10 I finally gave into my stomach and found a friendly pine tree to use. After last year I figured it was better to bite the bullet earlier this year. I felt a lot better and got back to it.
As I neared aid station 3 on the downhill I heard a familiar voice coming up from behind. I turn to see Grattan Garbee and we chat as he pulls ahead on the downhill. I see Kristen and grab some GU and chomp blocks while my water bottle gets filled. I grab it and go and I catch back up to Grattan as we enter single track again. I pull ahead as we go on and I break out a GU on the way up the hill and walk for a bit. As I near the lake I always like seeing the leaders and how far the front runner is out in front by. This year he wasn't as far along as the past year, but still a nice lead. It wasn't long until I saw Frank Gonzalez and Sam Dangc in a nice train of about 5 runners. I started counting the females as I wanted to have an idea of where Alexis Thomas was at. Seeing the other runners and my friends is always a big energy boost. I knew eating going around the lake wouldn't likely happen, but the energy from seeing and cheering them on makes up for it. It wasn't too long before I saw Todd in a nice group. He was a decent distance from the dam crossing and I thought to myself he had a scorcher of a first lap. I was trying to count females, but lost count a little before crossing the dam. Right after I crossed I finally saw Alexis. I cheered for her, but at the same time I wanted to kick her in the rear to go run down Todd and those other females. I knew she was flirting with a top 10 at the moment. I then saw Chelsie a bit closer to the turn and thought there was still hope at maybe catching her. I came into the aid station for halfway and looked at the clock 2:35 and change. My heart skipped a few beats at the sight. I have never seen a number that fast on any lap I've run around this course. I seen Kristen as she is cheering for me and grabbed some more GU and chomp blocks while my water bottle gets filled and I grabbed two hunks of potatoes and dunked them in salt and and a hunk of orange for the road. I saw Jennifer Captain who was cheering me on too as I went back out for lap 2.
It was long in the second lap I come upon Kevin who was walking and looking a bit hurt/sore. I encouraged him to keep on going as I went by. I saw Mike at the dam crossing and cheered for him and then some more friends a bit further around the lake. At this point I was behind 2 older runners and while there pace at times was good, in some of the more technical parts I felt faster, but couldn't easily get around them. I was starting to get hungry and knew that waiting for steep hill near the end of lake would be the best spot to eat. Our group hit the hill and started to climb up it while I started eating my chomp blocks. I hadn't even finished before I was at the top and ate the last few on the run. I at a GU after the little hairpin on the way down the hill. I come into aid station 3 and again pickup some GU and more blocks from Kristen. I got the water topped off and an orange slice for the road again. I started walking up the hill and at some more chomp blocks because I knew this was a good opportunity since I was walking although I hadn't been that long since I ate. As that hill levels off a bit it is still a bit of a climb, but I saw a girl up ahead and she started running it and I thought if she can run it, so can I. I passed the guys that she was going past that were walking. I think I passed about 5 people through there. Shortly after I crossed the road to the backstretch again (power line section) I see Andrew Charron walking. As I caught him and asked how he was doing and he said he was really hurting. I said to keep at it and my legs didn't like me much at the moment. He told me to keep on pushing and I did just that. I found another person up ahead of me that was running and I was slowly reeling in. My legs were getting pretty sore by this point. I thought about turning on my music, but just didn't. By the time we crossed the road to my little fun secluded section of trail I had nearly caught the person I was chasing. At this point I kept on trying to see people up ahead and slowly catch them. At the start of the uphill back to aid station 2, now 6. I ate some more chomp blocks and walked while eating them. After I finished them off I ran the rest of the way to the aid station. I got the water topped off and grabbed a few hunks of orange again then I was off.
This section was another part I knew I needed to hold a solid pace as it was an easier section given it was a bit downhill for a bit. I ate a GU as they were giving me the energy where the blocks were more for my hunger pains my stomach would send out. I was heading down the hill and the closer I got to the creek crossing the worse the mud got. I was going from edge to edge of the road trying to find the best spot that had the least amount of mud. I could feel it weighing down my shoes. I even slid down the road in a few spots it was so thick. Again, I saw a familiar face come from behind on the downhill, Grattan and caught me again. I even turned and said to him "You again." It was getting funny at this point that we kept on ending up together. When I got to the creek I knew that plowing right through the middle was going to numb my feet a little and clean off all that mud. I did just that. Afterwards I walked a little bit of the hills, but tried to run more than walk. My legs were really starting to sting. I passed Grattan on the uphills as I had a feeling it wouldn't be long before he would find me yet again. After the 2nd creek crossing I powered up the hill as best as I could and ate pack of chomp blocks before hitting the section that feels like it takes forever beside the road. I make the turn that starts it and at the first road crossing I see Kristen and Debbie there cheering me on as I said to have some GU and blocks ready for the last aid station. Soon after crossing the road it was Grattan coming by me yet again. He pulled away for a bit and then I started to pull him in just a bit. My legs were killing me now. My calves and hamstrings were just dying. Having Grattan ahead helped though as it took my mind off the pain a bit and away from this long forever feeling section of trail. I just kept trying to catch him little by little. We finally crossed the road, which meant aid station 1, now 7 wasn't too far ahead. I was almost beside Grattan as we came into the aid station. He totally blew threw it and kept on running. I did the norm and got GU and blocks from Kristen as the crew at the aid station topped off the water for the last time today. I grabbed an orange hunk and pulled off my mp3 player in half confused state I tried to communicate to Kristen to take it.
I looked down at my watch 4:43 and change. I told the aid station worker I was going to have to push to make a sub 5:30 I thought. I left the aid station and ate the orange fast. My brain set to work on trying to figure out the figure out what times I needed to average to get that sub 5:30 goal. This usually wouldn't be too hard of a task, but the pain was taking over and my brain was trying to shut down a bit in order to block it out some. I figured around an 11:00 minute mile would do the trick. This thought horrified me because the twisting trail combined with 2 steep uphills and my legs great desire to not function meant this was not going to be a walk in the park. Through out the day I had been praying for for my friends race and praying they would do well. At this point my thoughts shifted a bit as I started praying and more begging sound to God to let me finish in a sub 5:30. All the training that been done to come so close. I flew down the hill as fast I thought I could. I saw Chelsie's dad, Craig, and he said Grattan was about 30 seconds ahead of me and Chelsie was about 1min 30seconds ahead of me. I appreciated the updated, but at that point I didn't care about a position, I had a time goal. I made my mind up that it was sub 5:30 or bust. I hit the bottom of the downhill and pushed till the uphill. I did walk on this steep one and used the time to eat a GU as I knew I would need it these last 3 miles. I caught Grattan again around 3 miles to go. I said I was running for all I was worth for my time goal. He assured me we had it in the bag. I said at the 1 mile to go I'll cue the fat lady, but not until. He said he was just going to take a reasonable pace from there so I went around and said maybe I might even catch Chelsie in the process. I ran up the hills that I have walked in past years. I was pushing for all I was worth. I got to the beach and looked down at my watch as I passed someone. I saw that the goal was looking more likely, but again I wasn't backing down yet. I ran hard and passed another person as we went back to single track. I finally got to the steep hill and powered up it as best as I could. As soon as it leveled out I started running again. It was really fast, but kept pushing until one of the people I passed caught me at the 1 mile to go mark. I let out a cheer of happiness. I looked down at my watch and I saw 5:14. I knew at this point that I could likely walk it in and get my goal. The short single track seemed to take forever as my aching legs were dying to stop. I had one other guy pass me through here as I wished him well on his finish. I dumped out to the road finally. I looked as far ahead as I could and for the first time since the turnaround I saw a quick glimpse of Chelsie up ahead on the road. She had a fairly decent gap and even if I ran my guts out I didn't think I could close the gap. The two guys that had passed me in the last mile were going hard and weren't gain that much ground on her. I had a good pace going, but wasn't a dead sprint by far. I then neared the bend in the road and looked behind me for the last time and not a soul in sight. I knew I had no one that could catch me from behind and no one to really try to catch ahead so I kept a fairly fast, but somewhat comfortable pace. At about .40 to I looked at my watch to see 5:19 something. I just started to take it all in and knowing that I was going to finish in under 5:30. I got tear or two in my eye even. I so wish I could bottle that feeling up. I just started grinning ear to ear and giving praise to God thanking him for that race. I knew I had laid out all I had on that course and pushed my body hard. I could hear the cheers at the finish line and Kristen's voice along with my friends. Todd was a little in front of the finishing line saying Chelsie had just beat me. I said I had sub 5:30 in the bag and just didn't care and she had run better that day. I crossed the line in 5 hours 22 minutes and 14 seconds. I was soooo happy! To come so close before and to finally get my goal time very convincingly was great. I got my long awaited handshake from Dr. Horton and then gave Kristen a big hung followed by a kiss. Mom and dad were right behind her as well congratulating me.
My legs were shot and my calves and hamstrings were screaming and my quads weren't much better as I got my finisher's shirt and slowly made my was over to see Todd, Alexis and Chelsie. They congratulated me and I in-turn asked them how it went for each of them and heard they both had a sub 5:00 finishing time with Alexis getting 9th female. I told Chelsie she ran a heck of a race. Grattan was true to his word of a sub 5:30 and came across at 5:27 and change. I then got to cheer in my other friends as they finished. I love the time after the race is over in a way more than the race. That is partly because all the hard part is done. It is always great to hear the conversations of each others race and trails we each had and overcame throughout the day. The race was a great result for many of my friends and we all enjoyed it.
The race went about as best as I could have asked. My plan of my pre-race food went well along with my fueling plan during the race. I stayed a minimum amount of time at the aid stations and the training that went into the race paid off. Thanks to all the running friends and all those group runs. Along with Kristen for crewing and cheering me on. The aid station workers who help us along the way. Lastly to thank God for the great weather for the race and the ability that he has given me to run when it doesn't seem that long ago that I couldn't even run a mile.
Blake E.
The alarm clock sounds at 4:30 and I get up and eat a bit of a different breakfast than usual. Instead of cereal I eat some bread items to hopefully avoid the usual sloshing of my stomach for the first 8 miles or so it feels like. We arrive to the start at 6:00, I check-in and I find my friends and we have a little chat and wish others there good luck. Then off for a last minute pit stop before going to the starting line. I find some of my friends as we huddle in the pre-sunrise cold and the we're off.
For the first opening few miles I fell in behind Chelsie Viar going around the lake. One of the uphills I passed her for the moment. Around mile 3 the guy behind me had a watch alarm go off and I jokingly asked him if that meant it was time to go. I had gotten hot in the opening miles and the long sleeve shirt that was over my short sleeve one had gotten very hot. I pulled it off on the uphill getting near aid station 1. I tossed it towards Kristen as I came through the aid station.
I knew going into the day that these next 8 miles needed to be pretty good ones as the trail is nice and the legs are fresh. I went at a nice and reasonable pace I thought. I ran with a rather large group at that point it seemed as we clicked off the next miles beside the road. Shortly after the turn as we headed down to the first creek crossing Chelsie comes scorching past me. I wondered if I had a parachute on my back she went past so fast. I didn't think my pace had changed that much so I kept going at my speed. Going through the second creek was a nice wake up call and the water was nice and chilly. As I neared aid station 2 Horton was driving back towards us cheering us on. I stuck to my plan at the aid station of getting water only. I had eaten my first GU on the way up to the aid station. My plan was to eat the chomp blocks between each aid station and a GU as well. I was able to eat on the nice long downhill after the aid station and entered the shot section through the woods. I always like that little section from the road until we cross the asphalt road to the power line. It has a nice secluded look to it. I made it onto what I like to call the backstretch of the course. It is nice and blinding as you are running perfectly into the sun. Around mile 9 or 10 I finally gave into my stomach and found a friendly pine tree to use. After last year I figured it was better to bite the bullet earlier this year. I felt a lot better and got back to it.
As I neared aid station 3 on the downhill I heard a familiar voice coming up from behind. I turn to see Grattan Garbee and we chat as he pulls ahead on the downhill. I see Kristen and grab some GU and chomp blocks while my water bottle gets filled. I grab it and go and I catch back up to Grattan as we enter single track again. I pull ahead as we go on and I break out a GU on the way up the hill and walk for a bit. As I near the lake I always like seeing the leaders and how far the front runner is out in front by. This year he wasn't as far along as the past year, but still a nice lead. It wasn't long until I saw Frank Gonzalez and Sam Dangc in a nice train of about 5 runners. I started counting the females as I wanted to have an idea of where Alexis Thomas was at. Seeing the other runners and my friends is always a big energy boost. I knew eating going around the lake wouldn't likely happen, but the energy from seeing and cheering them on makes up for it. It wasn't too long before I saw Todd in a nice group. He was a decent distance from the dam crossing and I thought to myself he had a scorcher of a first lap. I was trying to count females, but lost count a little before crossing the dam. Right after I crossed I finally saw Alexis. I cheered for her, but at the same time I wanted to kick her in the rear to go run down Todd and those other females. I knew she was flirting with a top 10 at the moment. I then saw Chelsie a bit closer to the turn and thought there was still hope at maybe catching her. I came into the aid station for halfway and looked at the clock 2:35 and change. My heart skipped a few beats at the sight. I have never seen a number that fast on any lap I've run around this course. I seen Kristen as she is cheering for me and grabbed some more GU and chomp blocks while my water bottle gets filled and I grabbed two hunks of potatoes and dunked them in salt and and a hunk of orange for the road. I saw Jennifer Captain who was cheering me on too as I went back out for lap 2.
It was long in the second lap I come upon Kevin who was walking and looking a bit hurt/sore. I encouraged him to keep on going as I went by. I saw Mike at the dam crossing and cheered for him and then some more friends a bit further around the lake. At this point I was behind 2 older runners and while there pace at times was good, in some of the more technical parts I felt faster, but couldn't easily get around them. I was starting to get hungry and knew that waiting for steep hill near the end of lake would be the best spot to eat. Our group hit the hill and started to climb up it while I started eating my chomp blocks. I hadn't even finished before I was at the top and ate the last few on the run. I at a GU after the little hairpin on the way down the hill. I come into aid station 3 and again pickup some GU and more blocks from Kristen. I got the water topped off and an orange slice for the road again. I started walking up the hill and at some more chomp blocks because I knew this was a good opportunity since I was walking although I hadn't been that long since I ate. As that hill levels off a bit it is still a bit of a climb, but I saw a girl up ahead and she started running it and I thought if she can run it, so can I. I passed the guys that she was going past that were walking. I think I passed about 5 people through there. Shortly after I crossed the road to the backstretch again (power line section) I see Andrew Charron walking. As I caught him and asked how he was doing and he said he was really hurting. I said to keep at it and my legs didn't like me much at the moment. He told me to keep on pushing and I did just that. I found another person up ahead of me that was running and I was slowly reeling in. My legs were getting pretty sore by this point. I thought about turning on my music, but just didn't. By the time we crossed the road to my little fun secluded section of trail I had nearly caught the person I was chasing. At this point I kept on trying to see people up ahead and slowly catch them. At the start of the uphill back to aid station 2, now 6. I ate some more chomp blocks and walked while eating them. After I finished them off I ran the rest of the way to the aid station. I got the water topped off and grabbed a few hunks of orange again then I was off.
This section was another part I knew I needed to hold a solid pace as it was an easier section given it was a bit downhill for a bit. I ate a GU as they were giving me the energy where the blocks were more for my hunger pains my stomach would send out. I was heading down the hill and the closer I got to the creek crossing the worse the mud got. I was going from edge to edge of the road trying to find the best spot that had the least amount of mud. I could feel it weighing down my shoes. I even slid down the road in a few spots it was so thick. Again, I saw a familiar face come from behind on the downhill, Grattan and caught me again. I even turned and said to him "You again." It was getting funny at this point that we kept on ending up together. When I got to the creek I knew that plowing right through the middle was going to numb my feet a little and clean off all that mud. I did just that. Afterwards I walked a little bit of the hills, but tried to run more than walk. My legs were really starting to sting. I passed Grattan on the uphills as I had a feeling it wouldn't be long before he would find me yet again. After the 2nd creek crossing I powered up the hill as best as I could and ate pack of chomp blocks before hitting the section that feels like it takes forever beside the road. I make the turn that starts it and at the first road crossing I see Kristen and Debbie there cheering me on as I said to have some GU and blocks ready for the last aid station. Soon after crossing the road it was Grattan coming by me yet again. He pulled away for a bit and then I started to pull him in just a bit. My legs were killing me now. My calves and hamstrings were just dying. Having Grattan ahead helped though as it took my mind off the pain a bit and away from this long forever feeling section of trail. I just kept trying to catch him little by little. We finally crossed the road, which meant aid station 1, now 7 wasn't too far ahead. I was almost beside Grattan as we came into the aid station. He totally blew threw it and kept on running. I did the norm and got GU and blocks from Kristen as the crew at the aid station topped off the water for the last time today. I grabbed an orange hunk and pulled off my mp3 player in half confused state I tried to communicate to Kristen to take it.
I looked down at my watch 4:43 and change. I told the aid station worker I was going to have to push to make a sub 5:30 I thought. I left the aid station and ate the orange fast. My brain set to work on trying to figure out the figure out what times I needed to average to get that sub 5:30 goal. This usually wouldn't be too hard of a task, but the pain was taking over and my brain was trying to shut down a bit in order to block it out some. I figured around an 11:00 minute mile would do the trick. This thought horrified me because the twisting trail combined with 2 steep uphills and my legs great desire to not function meant this was not going to be a walk in the park. Through out the day I had been praying for for my friends race and praying they would do well. At this point my thoughts shifted a bit as I started praying and more begging sound to God to let me finish in a sub 5:30. All the training that been done to come so close. I flew down the hill as fast I thought I could. I saw Chelsie's dad, Craig, and he said Grattan was about 30 seconds ahead of me and Chelsie was about 1min 30seconds ahead of me. I appreciated the updated, but at that point I didn't care about a position, I had a time goal. I made my mind up that it was sub 5:30 or bust. I hit the bottom of the downhill and pushed till the uphill. I did walk on this steep one and used the time to eat a GU as I knew I would need it these last 3 miles. I caught Grattan again around 3 miles to go. I said I was running for all I was worth for my time goal. He assured me we had it in the bag. I said at the 1 mile to go I'll cue the fat lady, but not until. He said he was just going to take a reasonable pace from there so I went around and said maybe I might even catch Chelsie in the process. I ran up the hills that I have walked in past years. I was pushing for all I was worth. I got to the beach and looked down at my watch as I passed someone. I saw that the goal was looking more likely, but again I wasn't backing down yet. I ran hard and passed another person as we went back to single track. I finally got to the steep hill and powered up it as best as I could. As soon as it leveled out I started running again. It was really fast, but kept pushing until one of the people I passed caught me at the 1 mile to go mark. I let out a cheer of happiness. I looked down at my watch and I saw 5:14. I knew at this point that I could likely walk it in and get my goal. The short single track seemed to take forever as my aching legs were dying to stop. I had one other guy pass me through here as I wished him well on his finish. I dumped out to the road finally. I looked as far ahead as I could and for the first time since the turnaround I saw a quick glimpse of Chelsie up ahead on the road. She had a fairly decent gap and even if I ran my guts out I didn't think I could close the gap. The two guys that had passed me in the last mile were going hard and weren't gain that much ground on her. I had a good pace going, but wasn't a dead sprint by far. I then neared the bend in the road and looked behind me for the last time and not a soul in sight. I knew I had no one that could catch me from behind and no one to really try to catch ahead so I kept a fairly fast, but somewhat comfortable pace. At about .40 to I looked at my watch to see 5:19 something. I just started to take it all in and knowing that I was going to finish in under 5:30. I got tear or two in my eye even. I so wish I could bottle that feeling up. I just started grinning ear to ear and giving praise to God thanking him for that race. I knew I had laid out all I had on that course and pushed my body hard. I could hear the cheers at the finish line and Kristen's voice along with my friends. Todd was a little in front of the finishing line saying Chelsie had just beat me. I said I had sub 5:30 in the bag and just didn't care and she had run better that day. I crossed the line in 5 hours 22 minutes and 14 seconds. I was soooo happy! To come so close before and to finally get my goal time very convincingly was great. I got my long awaited handshake from Dr. Horton and then gave Kristen a big hung followed by a kiss. Mom and dad were right behind her as well congratulating me.
My legs were shot and my calves and hamstrings were screaming and my quads weren't much better as I got my finisher's shirt and slowly made my was over to see Todd, Alexis and Chelsie. They congratulated me and I in-turn asked them how it went for each of them and heard they both had a sub 5:00 finishing time with Alexis getting 9th female. I told Chelsie she ran a heck of a race. Grattan was true to his word of a sub 5:30 and came across at 5:27 and change. I then got to cheer in my other friends as they finished. I love the time after the race is over in a way more than the race. That is partly because all the hard part is done. It is always great to hear the conversations of each others race and trails we each had and overcame throughout the day. The race was a great result for many of my friends and we all enjoyed it.
The race went about as best as I could have asked. My plan of my pre-race food went well along with my fueling plan during the race. I stayed a minimum amount of time at the aid stations and the training that went into the race paid off. Thanks to all the running friends and all those group runs. Along with Kristen for crewing and cheering me on. The aid station workers who help us along the way. Lastly to thank God for the great weather for the race and the ability that he has given me to run when it doesn't seem that long ago that I couldn't even run a mile.
Blake E.
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