The Bear Chase Trail Race 50K

For someone who is super Type A, I've run 2 major races in the last year without training for them. Ooops. Maybe I'm becoming spontaneous in my old age?

I signed up for the American Discovery Trail Marathon right after moving to Colorado. It was to be held on Labor Day & starts a few miles from my home. It's 26.2 miles point to point on the Santa Fe Trail into Colorado Springs. Due to a bridge wash out and more importantly the current threat condition, the United States Air Force wouldn't allow the marathon to take place on the section of the trail that runs through the USAFA. So they changed it to an out and back starting in Colorado Springs. Yuck. Luckily Makai's coach decided to NOT redshirt him this year so he had his first NCAA Cross Country race in Arizona the weekend of the marathon....and I had a perfect out from running it.

I didn't run anything more than 18 miles when training for ADT, as my longer runs were to occur after I backed out of the race. And once I didn't have the marathon hanging over me, I just ran. Sometimes I would set out and have no plan and end up with 15 miles under me. The next day I would run 10.  As liberating as it was, I felt a bit lost without a race on the schedule.

Steve had signed up for for The Bear Chase Trail Race 100k and I considered running the The Bear Chase Half Marathon, until I found out it was the day after the 100K. My friend Mary had been training hard for the 50K and her excitement was contagious (and inspirational!) so 2 weeks before the race, I decided to go for it.

Steve and I wanted to check out the course but spent 4 out of 5 weekends before the race traveling so it didn't happen.

I love the atmosphere at Ultras. So many reasons. Ultra peeps, the crews, and volunteers are simply awesome. My mom, who was in town for a short 10 days, decided to crew Steve and I the entire (19 hours) day! I'm not sure if she will volunteer to do that again.

Realized shortly after we arrived at the Start/Finish that I had forgotten my heart pill. 3 things get my heart racing when I am running. And by racing, I mean 200 bpm.
1. Tequila (I haven't had any of that since 4th of July after a horrible July 5th run)
2. Hills
3. Heat
We were expecting recored high temps in the upper 80's and clear as day was a mountain right in front of me. I was a little worried but there was nothing I could do about it, so said some extra prayers. That would be embarrassing to have an ambulance come for me during a race.

Trying to keep warm before the race

Steve set out at 6:30am with the 100K & 50 Milers. Mom, Mary, & I tried to stay warm under towels, as the temperature was in the 30's, while we waited for the 50K start. At 7:30 the horn blew and we were off!

Stretching before the start with Mary

My feet were numb. (My Hawaiian feet, who prefer toes in the sand, do not appreciate 30 degree temps. The same thing happened at the Napa Valley Marathon...feet numb for m-i-l-e-s.) It's hard to get in a groove when you can't feel your feet. A little over a mile into the race we crossed a stream. My feet were not super thrilled.  Then we climbed up a couple switchbacks and headed down the mountain on the other side. There were a whole lotta rocks. My uncoordinated self got worried very quickly. Steve told me after the race when he saw all the rocky downhill sections he thought I would be in trouble. But I stayed upright and kept myself at a 9 to 9:15 pace, although I wanted to fly. The plan was to take the first 2 laps slowly and let loose the last 12 miles.

I ran with some guy for the 1st loop and I remember telling him at mile 5, "I can FINALLY feel my feet!" He laughed and said that it was just in time for more stream crossings.

Headed through the Start/Finish at the 10k mark to my mom waving and her video camera rolling. I didn't stop as I had a pack on with a lot of water still left. The next 12 miles felt really good. I took a chomp every 15 minutes and a salt pill every hour, thought I was drinking great, crossed 3 more streams, and filled up my pack with water at mile 15. Blew through the Start/Finish at mile 18+ and asked my mom how Steve was (I thought he was in front of me the entire time). She said he had only come through twice which worried me, but I kept on going. I noticed it was getting hot.

2nd loop. mile late "teens". It was still easy & the kind volunteer was giving me words of encouragement.

Started climbing the mountain for the 3rd time at mile 20ish and realized that I was dizzy. Really dizzy. Drank more water. Ate 2 chomps. Walked. Worried about how my heart was racing. Saw a freaking baby rattle snake in the middle of the trail so stopped. I had zero energy to jump over it. Then I had the thought that it was a baby and if it bit me, wouldn't cause too much harm.  It finally slithered (disgusting!!!) away and I continued climbing. Later I found out that baby rattlers are the worse. YIKES!  Started running when I hit the top and caught up to a guy with muscular legs and American flag shorty shorts. I was old enough to be his mother. Wherever I could find motivation.

I was beat. Caught up to a couple more runners, some caught up to me, and I noticed that we were all walking the uphills. I'm not fond of walking. And I tend to go faster going up than down, so I was irritated with myself that I just couldn't run. I started feeling really nauseas and was certain I was going to throw up.  I drank some coke and ate watermelon at one aid station as the thought of more chomps and water started making my mouth water. During the next three stream crossings, I put water on my head and neck to cool off. I grabbed gatorade at the next aid station as I really wanted to just sit down. I continued the walk/run routine and next thing I knew, I was at mile 28. 3 miles should be so easy. It so wasn't.

1 of 7 stream crossings. I didn't fall. Or swim. 

Crossed the Finish line with my mom and Mary's family cheering me on. I was worried I was going to start crying but held in my tears. My goal of a sub 5 hour didn't happen as I crossed the finish line in 5:01:15.  I had no idea what my place was as I lost a group of 3 girls I had been tailing for the first 5 miles when they took a wrong turn (how they ended up in front of me without passing me, I'm uncertain, but whatever.) Shortly after I finished, I was given a pint glass and told I was 1st in the 40-49 AG and 5th female overall, and the 15 finisher overall. The competitive spirit in me was slightly less wounded coming up short of my goal time, when I found out overall I did ok.

Holding back the tears. So happy to cross the finish line! And my mom was waiting for me! 

Then Mom told me that Steve was having a rough day so I quickly forgot about how I felt and started looking for Mary and Steve. Steve's day is his story. I was thrilled to see Mary finish as I knew it was on her bucket list for 2015! You can read how beautiful the race course is, awesome volunteers, and Mary's journey to a 50K on her blog here.

At the Finish with Mary

So what happened? The race was at over 6000 feet elevation.  You can get dehydrated sitting in the sun at that elevation with the dry heat.  I didn't get enough fluids in me and would have been better off with Tailwind or Nunn along with the water. Remember to take my heart meds. Huge lesson learned. It took another 36 hours after the race before I felt hydrated again.

Next major race is Boston in April and I have All. The. Goals.

Pacing Steve for 15 miles (didn't know that did you Emily, John, Shannon, & Sara?) at Javalina Jundred on Halloween.  After pacing him at HURT in January, I swore I wouldn't do it again. Yet there is something about being a part of your spouse's 100 mile journey that can't be replicated anywhere else. So I'm going back in the desert with jumping cacti (no snakes please). After Boston, I want to conquer more trail races.

And next year, I'd like to get a redo at Bear Chase and hope there are cooler temps. HOLY HOT!

Then There Was One

(Almost) Empty Nest Syndrome Is Real

Definition

I decided to write this, after neglecting the blog for 16 months, while sitting in church with tears streaming down my cheeks. The song we were singing in worship had nothing to do with a child leaving home, but all about God's love and grace. It set me off. And I found out it set Steve off too.  I didn't see his face during church because Kanoa was sitting between us. Yet I did observe both of us rubbing the Little's neck, back, and legs most of the sermon.  Kanoa tolerated it but am sure is over Mom and Dad clinging to his every word and has told me often this week that I ask too many questions. 

The house is quiet for 10.5 hours Monday through Friday. I leave at 6:55am to take Kanoa to school, well after Steve has left for the office. It's football season and practice ends at 5pm, but by the time Kanoa changes out of his gear and grabs his backpack out of the locker room, we get home at 5:30. Evenings are reminiscent of the last 21 years filled with homework, dinner, and preparing for the following day, except a lot quieter (Makai loves to chat and I sure miss hearing about what they discovered in Human Pys that day or how many cars tried to run him off the road while he was doing a workout on Kainalu or through Lanikai (Kailua drivers!!!).

Not only are my Big and Middle away at school, but my Little is in middle school which means athletics at the school, so Mompool is no longer needed.  That's actually a huge huge huge positive for Kanoa, but this new independence takes adjusting to. 

Football gear still needs to be cleaned daily

When Kiana left for school, we lived in a small 3 bedroom home and the boys shared a room. The boys loved having their own rooms and we went from the chaos of three different schools, to two and both close to the the house.  I was working full time and although I missed her terribly, the boys and work kept me busy enough that the distance didn't seem that great.  At least that's what I remember.  Having your first child leave for college may be like childbirth and you forget the painful parts.  Of course I counted the days until she came home for Christmas and was stunned at how much she had changed (that's for a different blog), but don't remember looking at her things and crying.

Before Kiana went to college collection

College influence collection

I'm not working full time, we're in a new hometown, and this past week has been rough.  I know you cannot truly miss someone in a week's span, but the knowledge of how our life has changed has caused many tears to flow.  A flood of memories have crept up on me and it seems the last 18 years zoomed by.  Preschool drop offs were a nightmare because Makai would cling to me and cry, yet as soon as I made it out of his sight he was fine. The 1st day of Kindergarten I was worried because he was so little (I don't even think he was on the charts at that time) and was seated next to the biggest kid in the class...they ended up being best friends until we moved away in 4th grade.  The milestones, challenges, and being his biggest cheerleader all happened way to fast. 

Enter running and we spent more time together than probably most Moms are able to spend with their teenage boys. At first we used to run together...can you believe he couldn't keep up with me just 3.5 years ago!!!???....and when he got faster and was bored of training on his own, I would bike beside him.  And we would talk. And talk. And talk. 

For the last 3 years, our weekends were filled with Kanoa's football games and Makai's races.  How did it go by in the blink of an eye?

Running kept him busy in High School. State Medals above.

Thankfully we leave Friday for Flagstaff to watch Makai's collegiate running career debut. Just as we were there on Bid Day for Kiana. The following weekend we are headed to Stillwater for our first Parent's Day for our Big. (More importantly it's Dad's Day for Tri Delta!) There will be another visit to Flag in October for their Parent's Day and I'm going to try and swing Homecoming at OSU later that month. 

If I can just get through the 10.5 hours of too much silence during the week.  Yes I run. And go to the gym.  Today I didn't get home until 11am after working out and grocery shopping and then had to walk the dog! "PHEW"! I check Snapchat and Twitter way too much to see if my Big and Middle have posted anything. Will probably work a few hours a week to get out of the house, but don't need or want full time as I have traveling to do. And a football player to take care of. 

Thankfully Makai has found his tribe. He has an outstanding coach and teammates to push him and encourage him. Something that was lacking during his high school experience. Between school and running, he's not going to miss us nearly as much as we miss him. There is joy in his voice when he calls me. That brings huge comfort knowing he is exactly where he is suppose to be.

$300+ worth of Go Fasters that Mom & Dad no longer have to pay for (& more to come!) :)

The dishwasher has been used twice in 9 days and I've never had so much food in the house for so long! Apparently Makai ate a lot and used a ton of dishes while making his food! He also did most of the grocery shopping and cooking. We used to grocery shop together or I'd send him with a list as he cooked every single night. Now I have to do one of my most hated chores: The Grocery Store! 

I am already saving for therapy in 6 years when my Little goes away. And planning a l-o-n-g running vacation for Steve and I.