The North Face Challenge 50mile

I am very fortunate.  This past weekend I travelled with my hubby to San Fran to run TNF 50mile.  The race is held in the Headlands Park, the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge.  We stayed in Sausalito, a small community close by.  
I've had a couple injuries this year and wanted to run this race injury free, finish strong and stay injury free.  For me this means not going out too hard~

The race starts at 5:00 am, so we were up at 3:30 for breakfast and headed off.  It was cold, not BC cold, but still for CA, -2C is chilly.  The start/finish is at a hostel so when you arrive at the start it was dark and quiet.  A bunch of runners huddled around heaters...

I was put in the first wave with the elites. When the gun went off, all I could see was a steam of headlamps taking off and I thought I was at the end of the group...and basically ran alone along dirt roads in the dark.  The first couple hills felt bad, but that's typical for me.  It takes a while to feel comfortable and I stuck to my pace.  I went through the 2nd aid station and Kevin told me I was in the top 20 females.

The sun came up between aid 2 and 3.  I was winding up along mucky single track the ocean down below to the left.  Beautiful.

After station 4 there is an out-back section for almost 3 miles to aid 5.  This was the first time I go an idea where I was positioned in the race.  The lead men were on fire coming back wearing singlets and shorts.  I still found it cold and had a toque, jacket, and arm warmers on!!  After a while I saw the lead woman coming back, I wasn't as far back as I thought.  This section was challenging as the ground was icy and the trail was narrow and cut into the side of the hill.  Fine if you were the only one running but tough to pass and get around. 

We dropped down to the beach to station 6 (over 1/2 way!) and I was heating up.  I was so happy to see Kevin and drop my outer layers.  I knew the big "cardiac" climb was coming. At this point I had gained a bit of ground. Kevin told me I had gained a couple spots.

For me, getting over half way in a race is a big mental boost but for ultra runners, this is where the race begins.   I was able to pass a few girls over the next 10 miles.  The trails were fun, mostly single track and we ran through Muir Woods, the infamous redwood forest.  Amazing trail and scenery. 

By the time I reached about 10 miles to go, I was starting to feel real fatigue on the climbs.  It was hard to know who was running the 50 mile race as we caught the 50 km racers (always fun!!).  I knew there was still some more climbing to do and geared down, but also was thinking my position was pretty much established. 

On the final descent, 2 guys running the 50k gave me a push, which was very encouraging! I was able to finish strong and held my position.  I ended up 9th female, 8:11, and 1st in my age group. 

I feel fortunate for this amazing opportunity to run with so many strong elite women and I'm thankful for support of my sponsors, TNF and Wild Mountain Kelowna but also couldn't have done it without the support of my friends and family.

TransRockies Run 2013 ~ Let the beauty you love be what you do ~ rumi

Transrockies run is a 6 day stage race from Buena Vista to Beaver Creek CO.  I had teamed up with Stacey Cleveland for this adventure last summer after our one long run together...we both though it would be a great idea.  Fast forward one year, I needed almost 3 months off running this spring to recover from tendonitis in my foot and stared to run again in July.  I definitely had some doubts how running 6 days at elevation would work out.

For those who know me, the hardest part of this race was getting on the plane...my daughter was in tears at the airport, I was leaving for 8 days, while my husband was working and managing three different camps for the kids.  This was my first time flying out of country alone.  I was meeting up with Stacey at race check-in.  I spent one night at an airport hotel in Denver and met up with other runners (who became great friends) on a shuttle bus to Buena Vista.

Day 1:  20.8 miles, 2800 ft
No time for acclimating to altitude for this girt, the only advice I had to follow was drink as much as possible.  Day one started on a short road segment that led out of town.  We hit nicely groomed single track trail and dirt roads right away.  The scenery was amazing, red rock, pine, beautiful mountains.  The altitude was most challenging on Day 1, I felt light headed if we pushed too hard, so I just kept drinking :)  We went back and forth with Team FitSocks, a speedy team during the run.

The last part of the day was 5-6km on flat dirt road, we planned to hold our pace and let the speedsters go if they passed us.  At 800m we could hear them coming and decided to push and get Stage 1!!

Our first night in camp city followed, I'm not much of a camper and thought it best to choose a tent close to the line of portapotties, that was a mistake, as I heard the "creek and slam" of the doors all night...Then early the next day morning got a wake up call at 5:00am from an excited runner...

Stage 2: 13.4, 3200 ft.

I was looking forward to this stage from the beginning.  This stage involved climbing over Hope Pass, close to 13000 ft !!! The trail up the side of the mountain was entirely single track, so of course getting to that trail head in a good position helped.  Although the distance was only a 1/2 marathon, there was one climb, one descent and then about 6 miles flat and rolling.  The climb was beautiful, we passed through forested areas, across small creeks and then above the tree line.  The air was breezy and cold.  We power hiked most of the climb and then opened the legs on the descent.  

  The run ended near the town of Leadville, where we spent the afternoon in the only coffee shop and met up with Tina Lewis, a friend running the Leadville 100m later that week.  We avoided tent city that night by staying in Stacey's friends cabin.  I have to say I prefer a couch to the tent, just to wake up warm...

Day 3:  24.3 miles, 2800 ft.

Day 3 was probably the most challenging for me.  I knew it was a long stage with some long grinds on dirt roads.  I wanted to be over half way through the race.  We started with a climb and I needed to put my head down and work it out.  I told Stacey, "it's not you, I might just be grouchy for the first hour every day now..." Luckily, after the climbs there is always descents, and I love to hit "runnable down". The weather was perfect, sunny and hot at times, but there was always a wind to cool off.  Dave, Stacey's hubby followed us along this stage which was super encouraging.  We spread our lead and chatted most of the way (while after the first hour).  We ran into Nova Guides, our camp site for the next two nights.  I booked a massage to celebrate being 1/2 done and have some lotion rubbed into my dried out legs!! 

Day 4:  14 miles, 3700 ft

For a strange reason I woke up today feeling like I was ready to go.  Sure my legs felt tired and a bit sore, but no worse than any other day....We didn't have to pack up our tents so had a bit more time in the morning.  Team Fit Socks had been trying to stay with us the start of each day and unknown to my dear partner I decided "not today".  It was a short stage, why not??? I took off hard and fast and Stacey tagged along.  We pushed the climb, the craziest and steepest jeep road I've every seen, and had a blast descending.  The last section of descending was down a creek!!! Awesome!

The run ended in Red Cliff, a small mountain town with one restaurant, one hotel, etc.  We enjoyed tacos and beer and felt ready for bed by 11:30 :) 

 shuttle in/out of Red Cliff

Day 5: 33.6 miles, 4100ft

Day 5 started early again, 5:00 am wake up call from the "neighbour", putting my clothes in my sleeping bag to warm up, getting dressed with a camp light, layering in a down jacket, carrying our 50lbs. bags to the transport vans, breakfast, shuttle back to Red Cliff to wait for the start.  I was excited again, but promised Stacey no sprint starts today....We were running to Vail.  The trail was a combination of single track and road.  The single track was amazing.  Beautiful wild flowers, bright mushrooms, creeks to cross.  Stacey and I were feeling good and cruised through most of this run.  Once we hit the top of Vail, there was a short rock scramble and down-down-across and down- to get to the finish.  We could see the finish for a least 30 minutes before getting there!!

Vail reminded me so much of Whistler, same type of shops/restaurants/tourists.  They were shocked to see a group of us emerge from a creek and walk thru town to catch a shuttle to camp.  We showered at camp and had decided to and check into our hotel in Beaver Creek one night early.  

Day 6: 21.7, 5200 ft

Yeah!!!! Day 6, I was so excited for today, unfortunately, Stacey had developed a head cold and was not sharing the love....we probably should have gone for the hotel sooner.  This was my favourite stage; in every race I feel best towards the finish.  We climbed great single track out of Vail and ran with some friends we had made along the way.  Again the weather was fantastic, sunny, warm and windy.  At the top of the climb there were jeep roads for several miles and then a descent through a gorge of huge wild flowers (thistles) and creek crossings.  The difficult part was a second climb with sun exposure.  Stacey's cold was taking it's tole and it sounded like Darth Vator was chasing me....We slowed down and took our time on the climb and then blasted the descent into Beaver Creek!!

Overall, we won our stages and placed first female team.  Each stage has an awards ceremony and we received pink leaders shirts to wear all week.  This made for an exciting week.  I was so proud of our team work throughout the week. I had incredible support from home (friends and family) and my sponsors, Wild Mountain and The North Face!! 

What did I learn from this experience:  I love running in the mountains, the cold air, streams, and fast trails, the beauty all around.  The expressions and joy of other runners finishing the stages and sharing stories of the trail with my new friends, joy and beauty from the inside.  I am so happy to have this experience, travelling alone, and working on a team.   

Let the beauty you love be what you do~

Chuckanut 2013, running a new age

Sometimes when I run it's an opportunity to reflect on changes in my life.  This year Chuckanut provided more of an awakening, like being doused with a bucket of cold water (not just freezing rain).  I turned 40 in December and I've run 2 races in my new age division, but my age didn't really make a difference.  Now, don't worry, this is not a post on "aging" I hope that won't come for a while.  No, this is more because I realized how things in my life have changed over the past few years.  Subtle changes, for sure, but sometimes they become more clear during an event like Chuckanut.  

When my kids were very young, running provided a break from the sometimes tedious daily tasks of being a mom.  It was a social outlet and there tangible results, I got back into shape after having babies, toned up, lost weight...  Now my kids aren't little, (7, 10, 12) they are fun to take new places, they motivate me during training and races.  My time is more precious with them as their lives start to fill up with school, friends and activities.  I want to share my experiences with my kids and hope they will go on and follow their dreams and passions.  I was starting to realize how fast time goes by, so cliche, I know...but this was the stuff rolling around in my head mid race!!  Mentally, I had checked-out!

Why was this running through my head during Chuckanut?  I'm not exactly sure, but I think because by age was relevant in this race - it counted that I was competing in the masters division - and it started a chain of thoughts such as-how have things changed since I turned 40?  Who knows, maybe I was hungry and should have forced down another gel :)  Did this change my approach to the race or how hard I was willing to push during the race? No, but it meant working hard during the mid section of the race to refocus on running and staying present.  That's an amazing thing about ultra running, you can rein in your thoughts, focus internally on breathing, pace, heart rate, pull it together and finish a good race.  Looking back at it, Chuckanut ended up being a great day, I placed 6th this year, last year I was 4th, but I took 11 minutes off my time from last year and finished in 4:33.  I had a great time traveling and meeting up with friends ~ it was also great to catch up with the family at home.

It's great to be learning new lessons and realizing new things about myself out on the trails :)  Next race, I'll be prepared to keep that focus.

HURT, my first 100 miler...

I find if difficult to put my near 27 hour experience into words, so I will start at the beginning...I hope that sharing my story will provide some motivation for others to follow their passion.

HURT was my first 100 mile race, I was not selected in the first lottery and had put the race out of my mind (and budget) for the year.  In November, I was notified my name was drawn from the wait list and I stalled in responding.  It wasn't until the race director called my house and spoke with my 12 year old son that I actually confirmed the race.  Hard to refuse 3 super excited kids, now I had to get ready!!! 

Winter training is challenging and I would suggest not worrying about your gps or splits and go for time/effort.  I had a couple good friends willing to meet up and run long runs through snow and ice, looking for trails, often hitting logging roads.  Some runs I did on snow shoes.  While this is great training I was starting to wonder how this would play out in the hot and humid (not to mention technical) conditions in Hawaii. 

Roots!!!!

From the pre-race meeting to the awards banquet, HURT had a grass roots feel to the race which I love.  At the pre-race meeting, I hooked up with my fellow BC boys, Gary Robbins, Jason Loutit, and Matt Sessions.  It was great to see these guys several times on the course. 

Matt Sessions and Mel-pre race

The course consists of 5-20 loops divided into 3 main climbs and desents into aid stations.  The aid stations were stocked and so full of energy and because I hit them every 6-7 miles, I only carried one water bottle or used my camel back.  The race director indicated the course was well marked and we won't get lost if we followed the right colored ribbons.  The only problem with that was the course was so technical, I rarely looked up :)

All set....a little nervous!!

The start if kind of funny, right beside the row of portapotties...oh well... It was very dark in the trails and I needed my head lamp until the first aid station.  I enjoyed this part, so many people to chat with and follow along.  After the first station, I dropped my light and started running with another HURT newbie.  We had a similiar pace and chatted through aid 2 and started the return to home base.  I was suprised, I had moved into 1st place at that time.  Way too early to mean anything as there were still 4 loops to go. 

Unfortunately after the climb we missed a gate and continued back the same way we had run out in the dark.  We actually missed another turn and ran down the road too far...anyways we thought we had found the right trail and were headed back to the start, feeling great.  Until we ran into Jason Loutit who was coming up this trail and told us to turn around~ arrgh!!! We ran back at least 25 minutes to the gait where Jason sent us on our way.  I knew running mad or trying to make up time would only come back to bite me, so I let Daniel take off.  After lap 1, I tucked in behind Matt to regroup and spent an hour catching up.  I left him at the 1st aid station and started slowly moving up running with a few different people during laps 2 and 3.  I was getting worried about running this course at night.  Honestly, I have never run a more technical course and had already wiped out, gashed my hand, and been lost on my 1st loop!!

Water crossing into aid station 2

 

Fortunately, I had a put together a couple pacers to help keep me on the trail.  Rob Van Geen from the Big Island and Kevin Bos, my husband.  Rob is probably the happiest guy running I've ever met and knew the trails like the back of his hand.  Kevin is a cyclist, and his mountain biking skills were fabulous at chosing a good path through rooty/rocky sections.  They were able to pace for 2/3 of a lap each and then couldn't keep pace.  Still, having them on trail gave me a mental boost and I was able to finish the race on my own. My good friend Daryl Spencer was crewing every station, keeping me focused on moving forward and providing encouragement.   Once I was a bit more comfortable running at night, I found it was peaceful and enjoyed the cool air; of course my pace slowed but I felt comfortable.

My personal aid station and pacer Rob!!

The last section of my final lap was amazing.  As I climbed out of the final aid station the sun began to rise and I put my lights away.  I crossed a ridge section and could see the sun coming up, I knew I would be finished in less than an hour.  I felt giddy and happy, joked with other runners on course, made sure I went through the gait and headed home.  Crossing the finish line of your first 100 miler is an intense, raw, and emotional experience.  For me it was pure joy.  

Finished!!!