I currently don't have the motivation to complete a big narrative on this one, and I've convinced myself people likely don't want to take the time to read every little detail, so pretty much just putting down notes of the highlights:
September 15, 2018
Weather is supposed to be 30s in the morning, partly sunny and warming to 70F during the day - 30s again overnight. Debated shorts v. tights - went with shorts. No debate for top clothes - short sleeve t-shirt, sleeves, and knit gloves - also a buff while I had the headlamp on.
Start 6 am
Mellow start with a mix of gravel road and easy rolling trail
Skunk smell a couple miles in - did the leaders cause that?!?!
About an hour of dark
My layers were too light - hands and arms cold for a few hours
Light jacket in the pack, but didn't want to stop and foolishly kept thinking I'd be warming up quickly - not the first time I've made that mistake!
Some chatting with fellow runners, but that died off quickly - only 175 starters
Focused on not tripping and not freezing
Willow Basket ~10 miles ~8am
Warm up hands by the lovely fire a few minutes, did not take the opportunity to dig my jacket out, then continued on
Sipped some maple syrup - honey - decaf coffee (to take the sweet edge off) concoction
Fun out and back to Loon Lake - got to see a couple familiar faces - Steve Sorenson and John Taylor being a couple of the other Minnesotans out there
Sharpie at the lake to mark your bib as proof of actually taking this extra little excursion - luckily it was an easy X that my numb hands could readily handle
Already pee'd three times in three hours - guess I did a good job starting out hydrated!
Rolling gradual ascent along the Sechesh River
Chinook Campground ~17 miles ~9:30 am
First crew stop!!
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| Rudy packing away the headlamp while I warm up my digits |
More rolling cruisiness to another Willow Basket stop - glanced at the snacks, but not compelled to grab anything new
Finished up the course's easy-ish miles to the marathon mark, then tackled the first big climb to Diamond Ridge ~1000' up in a mile
Lots of cool white boulders scattered about (quartzite I think)
Short stretch along the ridge with eerie wind whistling through the leafless trees
Long and dusty descent to drop the couple thousand feet of altitude gained over the first quarter of the course
Couple miles on (mostly) gravel road and random trails
Upper Payette Lake ~33 miles ~1:30 pm
Crew again!
More broth
Assembled a snack pack of potato chips, gummy bears, swedish fish, and peanut M&Ms
Got to see Chris Scotch, and hear his wife Helen was doing well!
Left the aid station with Steve - nursing a nagging injury and happy to hike some miles with me and get caught up on summer fun.
Back on smoother trails and fell in with another little train of runners - a couple guys from Buffalo NY area and a lady from San Diego
Weather actually cloudy, cool, and windy
Went ahead and stopped to put on my jacket
Almost too warm, debated another stop to put my jacket over my pack to get more ventilation Eventually light rain started up, so finally stopped to get the jacket over the pack to keep things a little drier - pulled the gloves back on too
Maybe 50F, light rain, but steady and soaking - a little too much for the wind breaker, now wet and sticking to my rapidly cooling arms
Went by Duck Lake, some encouragement from backpackers and campers already set up for the evening
Duck Lake ~43 miles ~5 pm
Rain intensified - 5% chance of precipitation for the day came through!
Plenty of runners huddling under the little tents - very few with rain gear
Kept it simple with the eating to that point, but was wanting some fuel since I didn't have clothes to add to the situation yet - broth, hummus wrap, quesadilla.
Started to leave
Steve yelled my name and asked if I wanted hand warmers. YES PLEASE!!
So Lucky
Five miles of road (not very heat generating)
Rain dissipated, but still wet and cold and the hand warmers kept me out of absolute misery
Snowslide ~48 miles ~6:30 pm
Crew!
Spent ~20 minutes by the fire, eating (more broth and quesadilla), getting fresh batteries in the head lamp, and preparing for the big climb we were warned of at the pre-race meeting
Rain was done and jacket dried quickly, so off I went without additional layers, except mittens
1000' for a mile to Snowslide Lake, and another 1000' for the next mile above the lake
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| Halfway up the big climb! |
Made it to the pass and amazing views in the light!
Short stop to put on my headlamp, then started down the other side with Steve, and Tony from Boise, here with Emily (who I had been around since Duck Lake).
Got to hear some details on the sections to come from Tony - good to start thinking about the long night ahead!
Soon dark enough for the head lamp - which seemed dim! I saw new batteries go into it, just getting old, or a bad connection?
Back up hand held, much better, but only for about an hour
Luckily not too technical - some stream crossings, rocks, and roots, but fairly runnable
Back to the headlamp, which lasted well enough to the next aid station
Enjoyed a lovely half moon too - set fairly early though
Lake Fork ~59 miles ~10:30 pm
Time for Rudy to join!
Swapped headlamp for Marcus's
Put on rain jacket and pants for a night of hiking in the cold
Fueled up with rice and broth, and a last minute slice of veggie pizza.
Grabbed a couple bars for the road
Started on the march up a couple miles of road.
Fall Creek Trail - mostly just as steep as Snowslide, but so much longer!
Pizza slice may have been too much, felt icky - even tried to throw up but couldn't
Tired in general, lots of breathers, star gazing breaks, laid on the side of the trail a couple minutes
An hour of climbing later, tummy OK enough to put a caffeinated gel down - totally helped
Lost a lot of time through this section and the next, just wasn't moving fast or getting through aid stations efficiently - not dawdling, just taking the time I felt like was needed
South Crestline ~mile 67 ~very middle of the night
Shared a little ramen with Rudy (I mostly took the broth) and choked down another gel
More Crestline climbing
Managed to eat both 'backup' bars from Lake Fork aid station, concoction, gels? and plenty of hard candies (during the whole event I consumed about a million root beer barrels)
Eventually descending, descending, and descending forever to hit the next aid
Box Creek ~mile 74 ~6 am
Beloved as being packed in by goats, which nearly everyone get selfies with
Not feeling fun and didn't manage to get my picture with a goat
Sipped more broth, a couple bites of Rudy's quesadilla, a little handful of gummy bears
Departed into the final hour of night
Side note: happy that my newish Coros Pace watch lasted 24 hours in GPS mode, and kept the time of day for me the rest of Sunday!
After sunrise, Rudy expressed a little concern about cutoffs and encouraged running the easier stuff Short ups and downs made for a good mix of hiking the climbs and running the rest
First minute of each run segment hurt, but typically loosened up
Little worried about sabotaging my legs for the bigger descents ahead
North Crestline ~mile 80 ~8:30 am
~2 hours before that aid station cutoff
Not a lot of people around
More broth, candy? Rudy had a big fluffy pancake
Refilled water, ditched the rain gear
Five miles down a rocky road - probably only ran half of it, like most others around us
An older guy paused and wondered why we didn't seem worried about cutoffs
Feeling confident at that point we would have time to spare, even with a lot of walking
Muscle soreness was was expected, but a little worried about deeper achiness in left foot and right shin - hard down hill was not helping that!
Terrible Terrence - essentially a former logging road that now resembles more of a goat trail - worked on over the years by the race, and really not that terrible!
Water crossing at Upper Payette Lake Dam, couple inches, not a problem
Few more miles dirt road jogging
Upper Payette Lake ~mile 89 ~noon
Gloves off and puffy hands!
End of Rudy's pacing duties and time for Marcus to take over
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| Marcus was at the aid station early! In case a was a couple hours ahead of schedule instead of the couple hours behind I was... |
Maple concoction empty - opted not to refill
Back to the road
Mostly easy up or level for a bit, but still walked
Eventually hit some trail and a much steeper than I hoped, but not horribly long climb to Cloochman Saddle
Required one breather - good for Marcus to catch a few photos.
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| Might actually be from Bear Pete Ridge, but all amazing scenery on Sunday afternoon! |
Cloochman Saddle ~mile 94 ~2 pm
Just spent
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| I'm not actually trying to match Marcus's jig |
Final 4 mile climb to the course high point of Bear Pete ~8,400'
Looong climb, then along the ridge for a loooong time, wondering when would we ever be to the top! Actually just went up to a saddle
Bear Pete ~mile 98 ~4 pm
Just filled my flask with water
Nearly devastated that it was 5.5 miles to the finish and not the 5 miles we were promised at Cloochman!
Less than 2 hours to make it - had to do some running!
But morelittle climbs - no! Just means steeper down hill later!
Soon the descent started and we maintained a decent jog for the final miles of trail
Singing poorly about how much I love running
'Enjoyed' a few more root beer barrels
Hit the gravel road where Rudy was waiting to join for the final 1.2 miles to finish
Kept the 'run' up - tired and slow and so ready to be done!
Another forever stretch
Sparse cheers from a few passers by that I didn't really respond to
Finished! ~mile 103 ~5 pm
35 hours, 7 minutes, 59 seconds - 104 of 125 finishers - 18 of 23 women
Spit out the last root beer barrel
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| Sweet relief |
Another bowl of chili, then the slow process of changing into a swimsuit and getting in the hot springs - didn't know if that would be appealing post-100-mile, but it very much was wonderful!
Already late afternoon - gathered up our stuff, found John Taylor (finished, but after the official cut off - good showing by Minnesota!), and headed back to McCall for shower, more food, and probably the best post-ultra sleep I've managed. Sore and stiff, but nothing truly painful.
Thoughts for having a better mountain ultra in the future:
More course study!
More layers!
More hiking!
Trekking Poles?
More gear/clothing/rainwear options in pack and drop bags
So grateful for:
Rudy! and Marcus!
All the other runners and volunteers - everyone was above and beyond kind!
Very few stomach issues - tolerated quesadillas well!
Lots of minor issues to learn from, but really, no disasters
100 mile finish #4 - still so much room for improvement
