Hellgate 100k++ That Didn't Happen

I have always had a knack for getting in over my head. At any given time, my attention may be devoted to hundreds of activities, when a half dozen is the reasonable number.

I like to stay busy. I like to have a plan. I like to be the best at everything I do.

That's just who I am. 110% if there ever was such a thing.

The knee injury I carried through the entirety of September was a nagging beacon of honesty about the road that my over-scheduled lifestyle was leading me down. I was helpless, and the only solution to regaining the use of my right knee was to simply stop. Being physically incapable of doing what you love is a powerful lesson, and the most painful I’ve ever learned. I could barely walk, and should not have tried to, but that awful voice I have that makes me overschedule, overcommit, and over-try made me walk.

A month later and I was at rock-bottom. It was embarrassing. It didn’t have to be though; I made it that way, because I can’t be happy with anything less than my version of perfect. 110%. But when one is physically and mentally injured, 110% has to be put on hold for a while.

Along the way to rock-bottom, I’d decided that making myself busy with clubs and double-majoring was the obvious solution to all of my problems. Distracting yourself from what is really wrong is the best way to make things better, right?

Oh yeah, and I’d sent in my Hellgate 100k++ “application” when I was still powerless over a flight of stairs.

Hellgate was the day after I would be returning from a week-long geology conference in San Francisco, California. So it only made sense to sign up for it, right?

Too many things.

By mid-October, I could run again. I was definitely not in the shape I was in the summer, but I'm getting there one week at a time.

So here is a brief description of how Hellgate 100k++ went for me.

8pm Thursday: Land in Roanoke after flying for 8 hours.

9pm: Good night

10am Friday: No I don’t want to.

4pm: Ughhh here we go

8pm: I really just wanna hang out with people and put all these temporary tats on my legs

12pm: HAHAHAHAHAHA!

12:45pm: Did I really just fall into the stream…

2am: Good run. Time to go home.

That’s all.

Being Injured

It has been 19 days and a few hours since I crossed the finish line at IMTR 50 Miler, my 16th ultra since April 2011. Since crossing the finish line, I have not been physically capable of running a single step.
Whatever happened to me at mile 40 of IMTR two and a half weeks ago is not something that will just go away with a few days of rest. I have not been able to put weight on my right leg while it's bent, as you naturally do when walking, running, biking, or swimming. I still can't walk properly, and biking to campus is only possible because it's a straight shot downhill (getting back to my apartment is a different story). I still can't walk up or down stairs, and even driving my jeep is painful.

Last known image of me actually putting weight on my right leg.

I've talked to my friend Jordan (a PT) about it, and have been seeing the chiropractor in town, both of whom diagnosed my injury as sever runner's knee. I've been to the chiropractor 4 times, with a 5th visit scheduled for Friday, and I'm seeing Jordan again tomorrow evening. This week has been more painful that the previous, but still a little better than immediately after the race (however, without being able to produce endorphins for over 2 weeks, my mood has plummeted and I'm stuck in general grumpy-bitch mode) (sorry to everyone who has to be around me on a daily basis). Because it hasn't gotten better in the 19 days I've already given to COMPLETE rest - only 2 trips to the pool, and one day where I forgot my bike downtown and had to walk to campus - I'M STARTING TO GET A LITTLE FREAKED OUT.
For example: Today it took 8 six minuted to hobble from my class of the 4th floor of Derring Hall to my class on the 2nd floor of Derring Hall. OUCH.
In some ways I'm glad that my body is forcing me to take serious time off. 16 ultras in 2 years is a lot, and I've only just turned 19 years old. I'm not worried about getting out of shape or dropping muscle mass (although I've been weighing myself periodically these past two weeks, and I've gone from 116-115lbs to 109-108lbs..), I just don't want this injury to haunt my the rest of my life! Being a teenage still means rapid recovery with proper nutrition and rest, and I'm totally fine giving my body this time to mend itself. It's good for me. But when I'm told that this injury has resolved itself and it 100% better, I really want it to be completely 100% better. I've accepted the time that this injury will take to heal, and I'm not going to try to run a single step until this problem is totally resolved. When running resumes, I am going tobe extremely cautious and adiment about training properly.
I just want to be a healthy, lifelong runner, and I hope that this injury will not hinder that from happening.

Well, until next time, I'll just be chillin right  here in my bed, reading my physical chemistry text book, drinking tea, and watching America's Next Top Model. Cycle 20 has BOYZ whaaa???

Bet you guys didn't know that I AM ALSO in cycle 20 of ANTM. I'M NOT HERE TO MAKE FRIEND I WANNA BE ON  TOP!

Iron Mountain 50 miler: a 50k plus 20 miles of mistakes

Iron Mountain Trail Run is probably the best kept secret in Virginia as far as ultramarathons go. A small field of runners, beautiful trails, laid-back atmosphere, and fresh baked bread and jams/jellies as finish awards are all unique to this event, along with the college-student friendly entry fee of $25! Plus, Damascus is one of the prettiest areas of Appalachia and less than 2 hours from Virginia Tech. So obviously all 11 of us ultraVT runners were crashing at Guy Love's mom's house in Damascus Friday night.

The first thing I noticed Saturday morning was the humidity. I'm from coastal Virginia, so I am far too familiar with this weather phenomenon, but one of the reasons I've moved to the mountains was to avoid it. Humidity meant a storm was approaching, so relief was looming in the distance, but the first few miles were gonna be sweaty ones.
The next thing I noticed was the 7 person pack us ultraVT hooligans made for the first 10k on the Creeper Trail. I love running with my boys - it's a ton of fun and I love them all to death -  but sometimes we all feed off each other and run a little too fast when we aren't warmed up. I noticed this in my tight legs and felt a little panic-stricken when I heard Jordan Chang call out that we hit the 5.5 mile mark in 40 minutes. Oops. I immediately began walking and dropping back when we hit the climb, and Rick asked me why my shorts were already dripping with sweat. Too fast.

Mike and I won the IMTR 10k

I then noticed feeling the miles tick away effortlessly. I glided along the cloud-covered ridge like a bike coasting downhill. The trails were ideal: a few rocks to dodge - keeping your mind engaged - a soft pine needle bed to cushion your landings, and stunning views intermittent along the treeline.
I noticed being lost in my thought - enraptured in the shear freedom and joy that trail running brings me - and not aware of how fast I was ticking the miles off. I ran the ups and hopped the downs and was smiling to myself about how happy I was to be there. I felt amazing.
I felt my IT band twitching and was brought back to reality. I was running through a field that lead me to a fire road, about 1.5 miles from the aid at mile 17 - the turn around mark for the 30 mile runners. I have had IT band issues in the past that have lead to 2 months of rest and a moppy, angered Rachel.
I should tell the aid station workers that I am dropping to the 30 and turning around.
If I was smart, I would have. If I had changed to the 30 miler, I would not be working on my 10th consecutive rest day right now.
What's 20 more miles? I'll take it easy.
This is what you signed up for. You'll feel ashamed for dropping to the 30.
Sometimes there is a devil on both of my shoulders. I blew through the aid station with my eyes closed to avoid temptation, and was thus greeted by douch-grade fire road. Damnit.
I ran most of it because I never know what to do with douch-grade and wanted to be done with it ASAP. I was also running scared, distracting myself by talking to a nice guy named Andrew that was in the middle of completing his first 50 miler. That made the next 15 miles or so tick off easily. Around mile 35 I was told that I was in 2nd place. I DID NOT WANT TO KNOW THIS. I purposefully did not wear a watch or ask aid workers what time/place I was in for this reason. I did not want to find myself racing.But after the climb up the waterfall I wanted to be at Tammy's aid station as fast as possible to secure 2nd place.

starting to struggle (but the trails were gorgeous!)

It began to thunder. Misty rain as washing sweat into my eyes and I was temporarily blinded on the fire road. I found my way to the next stretch of trail and flew on the downhill miles. It was effortless. The trail began to hiccup and I ran over them like they were nothing. The hiccups got gradually more rocky, muddy, steep, and slick, and I grew more and more frustrated.
I am not sure what exactly went wrong over the 2 miles from the trail to the last aid station, but something very bad happened. My IT band had been chatting to me regardless of my efforts to block it out, and then the rest of my right leg followed suit. The pain arose in my knee, the whole knee. The inside, outside, top and bottom all collectively  shouting at the top of their lungs.
I just turned 19 eleven days ago, I should not be having these types of problems.
Well. Shit. I continued a shuffle/hobble/run to the aid station and told them I was having problems and would be walking it in. I just stood under the tent their for a while watching the rain drop down and considered dropping along with it. These next 8 miles would be very bad for me.

 8 hours and 47  minutes had passed since I began the run. I had 8 miles left, and set out for the finish line feeling depressed and anxious. I just wanted a healthy 50 miles before school started. I ran for about 3 of the 8 miles to the finish, but ended up falling in a mud puddle (i.e. the trail) and twisting my knee even more so . That was the final straw, and a gimpy hop/walk was my only mechanism of transporting myself to the finish line.

done

my face says it all

About 9 people passed me during my struggle the finish line. I dropped to 6th place female. The trail turned into pavement and I knew I was less than 2 miles from the finish. I wish I had had a phone to call my boys and tell them that I was going to be a while. My knee hurt SO FREAKING BAD that I had to walk down the pavement backwards. I got some strange looks from the Damascus residence, and knew I was going to have to make some changes.
In just under 11 hours, I managed a pathetic shuffle through the field and the finish line. At least I got some applause.
Then David and I went to the hospital to pick G-$-Love up (but it's okay because he got 4th!)

what a day

I went to IMTR with my only goal being a finish, and now my only goal is to heal up so I can finish another ultramarathon. But, UltraVT had an awesome showing overall, as we all finished out respective races! Yay! I love our team.

These past 10 days have been stressful in many ways, in all aspects of life, and some stresses have made it difficult to recover properly, but I'm doing my best. I've been icing and taking NSAIDs and trying to sleep (though I pulled one all-nighter last week...oops). Jordan Chang took a look at my knee and said he's not too worried about it, which was a huge relief. I'm sure all it needs is another few days of RICE and I'll be able to go on a nice little jog.

I also got into MMTR via overflow application (woohoo, thanks Clark!) and would LOVE to have an awesome 3rd running this year. So I'll be resting until my knee is pain free, and then begin a proper, gradual training til November 2nd. I want to actually do welllllll at MMTR this year! I know I can! I just have to listen to my body this week. And do all my school work! I also paid dues for VT Triathlon team (finally!) in order to increase the amount of cross training in my ultra training regimen to help with injury prevention. And it would be cool to do a few triathlons! And I guess the people on the team are okay:)

See ya 'round the mountain.

Spring Recap and Summer Shinanigans

HELLO!
It's been a while! Sometimes I decide to put a million servings of BUSY on my plate and then become overwhelmed with everything and decide not to do any of it.
But I'll always be running! Anyways.

After the Georgia Death Race, I felt like I was invincible and could complete any distance and any race I wanted. It took me about a week and a half to feel totally back together after GDR, so I had 3 weeks of maintanence before Promise Land 50k+. This year was my 4th time attending PL, and 3rd consecutive year of running. PL was my first ultramarathon in 2011, when I was a wee 16 year old lass, so I will always hold this event near and dear to my heart. Last year I placed 5th and PL, and this year I just slogged along exhausted from my 21 credit hour semester (see? too many thing on my plate) and two job. This sums up my time at PL:

2010, me plus mom (her 2nd ultra) plus some guy we were friends with..idr his name

2011, me NERVOUS before my first ultra

2012, like "apple orchard? this ain't no thang!" comfortably cruisin in 5th place

2013, running on no sleep, like "who the heck signs up for 21 credit hours? oh, ME..."

 So that was a fun photo journey, right?! After PL I took a little break and finished the semester pretty well. I signed up to take Organic Chemistry (lecture and lab) for the first 6-week session. Short Story: IT WAS REALLY DIFFICULT BUT I PASSED WITH A B+. Somewhere during that trip, I raced Eastern Divide 50k for the second time. RACED. I wanted to run so hard I would run out all my stress from ochem. I must have, because I managed to finish 2nd place woman in a time of 5:01! (and beat Fletcher by 5 minutes tehe) If I had worn a watch I would have made myself break 5 hours, aha. Here's some pictures!

Finish! 2nd, 5:01!

Top 3 women! The girl to my left (3rd place - her first ultra!) is also a Hokie!

ME AND FLETCHER <3

 I haven't felt like I've had a structured training regime in about a year now. I hope that this coming fall semester will bring some training (and motivation) back into my running routine. So far, I'm only signed up for Iron Mountain 50 miler (Aug 31)...but thoughts of doing the 50 mile at the Trilogy in WV are floating around, as well as a few races in TN. Hellgate 100k+ has been a definite in my mind since February, however the plans for that may change. I have recently had the honor being able to submit an abstract to the American Geophysical Union  on the research I am doing with a professor in my department. I'm studying the effect of subsurface microbes on chemical concentrations in fluids flowing out of hydrothermal systems, particularly those considered greenhouse gases. It's REALLY COOL! I'll be doing a poster presentation at the fall meeting in San Francisco! I'm first author on this project, and as an 18 year old rising junior is about the coolest thing that has ever happened to me academically. HOWEVER the fall meeting is (get this) December 8th-13th...and as all of us ultrarunners know, Hellgate is scheduled to begin at 12am on the 14th...sooooo I may not be able to do it...But thats okey! I still want to TRAIN and be in shape for it. If I can't, it ain't no thang, because being able to present my own research to tens of thousands of the worlds most reknown geoscientists/physicists/chemists/marine scientists is such an AMAZING opportunity, I would be a damn fool to mess that up.
Hmmm so other than all that I've just been working at the farmer's market for a local bakery and running the student garden on campus

my garden!

 Well I think that's enough. Happy trails!

I Died and was Reincarnated as a Turtle at the Georgia Death Race

I just hope it lives up to its name (spoiler: it does)

So last weekend I ran the inaugural Georgia Death Race, a 64ish mile ultramarathon/hike over the insane mountains of North Georgia. I signed up for this adventure after many peer-pressuring text messages from Rudy and Fletcher over winter break, however when I went to register on ultrasignup, the race was full (I have to say I was kinda relieved…) but for some reason I emailed Run Bum himself begging him to let me in, listing all my sorta okay race times and stuff like that. He HAD to let me in because I was SO curious (what??) about his race! So a month later he opened a few more spots and I grabbed on ASAP. So that was happening.

Suddenly, Friday came, and we left town. I felt like I was embarking on an adventure, not going to a race. That was a promising feeling. BRING IT, GDR. Rachel is coming for you.

We checked in, met up with our friends, grabbed some food, and settled in to the cabin around 10pm, realizing that we had to be up and ready to go in about 5 hours. Crazy. I managed to sleep pretty well, and felt extremely refreshed when my alarm went off at 2:45am. I grabbed my mandatory gear (most of it…) and we were all off to the start line!

It was WARM! Wow! Like SUPER WARM! It felt SO GOOD! This has been the coldest winter EVER in my short 18 years of life! All us Hokies managed to find each other at the start line before taking off, which was awesome (so cool that there were 6 of us out on the course! I love my running buds).  RumBum gave a funny prerace talk, just as I hoped he would, told us to go have fun, and we were off! Just like that this dreaded race/ highly anticipated adventure was happening!

I chose not to wear a watch, and just go by the sun/feel for where we were in the race. So I figured about…15 min in to the race, we hit an up hill. Run Bum was standing up it telling us we were awesome and should be WALKING. I love walking during ultras. So I walked, and we kept going uphill. But then we went DOWN and I was like “wow way to undo all out hard work…”
(you can probably guess how the rest of this report goes)

We went UP UP UP UP til OUCH my quaddddzzzz. Then we went DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN til OUCH my kneezz were like STOP IT so then I’d walk.

We were all in a line, but someone would come up and pass us with some fancy off trail action, but then in a few minutes we’d catch up and pass, then a different person would pass us again, and then we’d pass again in a few minutes...It was like soul train.

This went on for quite some time.

It was cool being in the dark for the first 3ish hours because you couldn’t see how long the climbs were and just grinded them out. But also I got so eager and thought if I walked fast enough or ran fast enough downhill I’d get to the sun quicker (???) I was really stoked. Those trails were GORGEOUS (atleast the 2 ft  I could see with my headlamp).

I thought the sun was never going to come up. RunBum! What have you done with the sun?! It finally came up, and the sky was BEAUTIFUL!!!! Like seriously, WOWZERS that sunrise was no joke! The sun allowed me to see not only the BEAUTIFUL mountains, but also how high we had climbed already...super high. That made me kinda nervous, to have do so much vert already, but I guess that’s what I signed myself up for! Fletcher and I had basically been running together, but right as the sun was breaking I had to stop and pee, and I ended up losing him. I blew through the aid station and started up the next big climb around mile 8 or 10 (who knows) with a few guys I didn’t know. We chatted and had fun, then we hit a downhill and I passed them out of pure excitement. I ran by myself for a while, which was nice. I trotted along and enjoyed the sunrise and birds chirping and nice cool breeze blowing through the trees. Everything was going perfectly! I felt great, I was LOVING the trail and mountains, and the day was GORGEOUS! I was instantly in love with those mountains. And running. And everyone out there! If you are reading this, then I LOVE YOU! Seriously.

prettiness along the trail (Photo cred: Michelle Matys)

I started up a climb and suddenly noticed my legs were already kinda achy….oh well! I was mindlessly staring at all the trees and the blue sky way above my head of the top of the climb when I heard someone whistle at me, and sure enough it was Fletcher. I was so sure he was miles ahead of me at this point, but somehow I passed him? Weird. Anyhow! It was nice to have him back and he said he wanted to stay with me (yay!) so he wouldn’t go too fast and blow up. So we trotted along together, up and down and jumped over and limboed fallen trees and just had an awesome time out on these amazing trailzz together! It was so awesome!

The next 12 miles were splendid.

Around mile 25(27?28?) I lost all grasp of what mile we were at. The decent to the aid at mile 25 (?) was about 2 miles, and I was SO hungry by the time we got there. Those climbs just make you ravenous! So I ate a ton of pb&j, filled my pack, and was informed that the next section was long. KEWL. So we hiked back up and I was like:

Wow my legs…

Run Bum observing me and Fletcher in our natural habitat

But seeing everyones beautiful (and tired and already deranged) faces on the way back up was so nice!!! I love saying Hi to people when I am hiking/running. So we got to the top and kept going onwards. Our friend and 5 time Beast Series finisher (INSANE) Marc Griffin caught up to us talking about some knee problems and that he did not feel good at all. I was feeling in good spirits, as was Fletch, and the three of us ran together for the next section. Which was FOR-FREAKING-EVER. Oh man. I felt so good, but after an hour and a half, I was expecting another aid station….we’d been running, and told it was 6 miles away. So where was the aid? We were on pace? We kept going….and climb over the next mountain….and the next one…surely it was down this mountain?....nope…not the next one either. I had been eating and drinking, but the noon sun was hot and I was getting tired. I was also hungry and dizzy. It had been 2 hours. IT HAD TO BE CLOSE. I saw a massive climb coming up, and was sure we wouldn’t have to go over it. But guess what? We did. Marc had run out of water and drank out of a creek, I was dizzy and starving after eating all my food and Fletcher was leading the way.

What I Learned Here: If there is a mountain - no matter how big -  you will get over it, even in your weakened state.

WE MADE IT and I could not have been more relieved. That was NOT 6 miles. Idrank a lot of Mtn Dew and took cookies for the road. Fletch and Marc and I continued along together onto this much welcome road section. The next aid was soon after the last, only a TRUE 4 miles away. I was feeling it.

From there, we came across a swinging bridge and another big climb which didn’t seem as bad as the other. This is where the beginning of my downward spiral of stomach issues began. I had a good climb sorta…but stopped about 3 times to vom/other things. Where had this come from all the sudden?! This was NOT okay! I couldn’t keep food or water down and literally had to stop every half hour. It was so bad. I went from being so happy and energetic to dragging and dead. Everything was great, the course was just as I expected, and the conditions were perfect. What happened??
I don’t know, but my body was rejecting everything. With 23 miles left in this thing, I felt totally defeated. How was I going to grind another 23 miles out I couldn’t eat or drink? Even if it was going to all be on fire roads? I knew I had plenty of time to finish, but did I wasn’t to continue going? Was continuing going to do more harm than good? Could I die? Would I be able to mentally take DNFing my 13^th ultra, given perfect conditions and running buddies? I didn’t want the Death Race to beat me, and a 6 hour car ride back to Blacksburg without a spike would be so depressing. But was it worth it? I don’t think I said a word to Fletcher or Marc for about an hour.
We got to the aid at mile 40ish and I was in a lot of mental and physical pain. I didn’t know what to do, and everything on the aid table made me want to gag. I know I looked like I was about to either drop dead or burst into tears (and I felt like doing both), and everyone was asking me what I wanted and needed and if they could do anything for me. All I thought was

Please shut up and get the hell out of my face or I am going to vom all over you

I am always grateful for the aid station people and it’s nothing personal. I just really needed some space to confront myself.

I sat down while Fletcher got all packed up for the next 7 mile downhill stretch. I was pissed. I told him I didn’t know what I wanted to do (besides throw up and sleep) and he should just keep going because this is a race and at least one of us should finish. Sean Pope gave me a ton of electrolyte pills and some PopTarts, promising that they would make me feel like a champ in just a few minutes. Anything was worth a try. I eventually got up and started walking down the fire road with Fletcher and wasn’t sure what was about to happen. He started running and I promised I’d see him at the finish in one form or another, and proceeded to sit down on the side of the road.

A bunch of friendly people kept running/walking by and asking me if I needed help or anything. Well, yeah I did, but theres not much anyone can really do about it. I munch on the PopTarts and took all 3 endurolytes and just thought about why I was where I was (there is no answer to that question). A few minutes passes and one of my friends from these races came by and gave me a ginger chew. I had never thought about eating ginger during a race, but I love ginger chews in real life (because during an ultra you’re in an alternate universe) so I accepted the gift from him and ate it gingerly (HAHAHAHA GET IT?!). I thanked him, and he continued on his way.

I continued sitting and staring for another few minutes, and literally all of the sudden I had a revelation, a rebirth, a major come back. I thought

You are going to get up.

That’s all I had to do. So I got up, and to my surprise only half of my stomach was in a knot. I ate half of a PopTart and started running down the fire road. I was by myself, but I needed to be by myself. I felt so good! So suddenly! Ginger is magical. Don’t need no fancy processed stuff, just give me my roots outta the ground and I’m good to go! I even started passing people, announcing “LOOK AT ME I HAVE BEEN REBORN!” I kept passing people, and eventually caught up to my ginger-bearing buddy, bless his heart. We ran together and talked for a while, and then parted ways as I decided I wanted to catch Fletcher. I passed by Marc, who had also been reborn from a sock/shoe change. He told me Fletch took off and I probs wouldn’t catch him, but I felt like I could since I know how he runs. And whaddaya know, as I ran into the next aid at mile 48, there he was!

Thank you guys at this aid station SO MUCH for the bacon-grilled cheese. SO GOOD.

So back together, Fletcher, Marc, and I set off for the end of this show.

Due to pavement with 10 miles left, we started walking, and this quickly generated to a 10 mile hike. But we were all happy and chatting again, and no one was passing us…

And then we hit the fire road up to the next aid….and it twisted around, and around, and around, and aroung, and AROUNG until I got dizzy! Marc left us to get it over with, but we kept on walking. I think I blocked this section out of my memory because it started to suck so bad. Thank goodness my stomach was feeling better or I would have cried for the 3^rd time.

Finally at the last aid, the workers joked about giving us various psychedelic drugs and promising us we could run 6.5 miles downhill in an hour. I’m not sure which was more hysterical, but neither of those two events happened during this race!

We donned our headlamps and grinded forth into the lingering miles of our undertaking.

The downhill began with an uphill. What the HELL Run Bum?! (it’s not personal I swear)

We were walking anyways so it doesn’t really matter. We walked and walked and walked for an hour and a half until we hit a dirt road that took us to the pavement. The pavement brought a huge sigh of relief because it meant I could sit down soon. If we could only figure out which way to turn! There were no marking telling us which way to go! We went left and uphill…nothing…right and downhill? Nothing. Across the road? Nothing. Back to the dirt road? Nothing! We consulted our maps and a fellow lost soul broke out his phone to look. We decided to go left – cautiously – and ended up waving down a car. We asked the driver which way the visitors center was, and she told us it was right down the road, then take a sharp left at a stop sign. With these instructions, we proceeded, totally pissed and ready to just get this BS over with. We hobbled down, and a car behind us slowed way dawn and began shouting directions at us out his window. He told us the COURSE HAD BEEN CHANGED that morning and Run Bum Blanton was up the the last aid station telling runners about it. None of that made any sense to me – why not just mark the couse…whatever. We were ½ a mile til done. We turned left at the stop sign and began running. There were no marking telling us where the finish line was, so I began yelling “WHERE DO WE GO?!? SOMEONE TELL US WHERE TO GO SO WE CAN STOP!!!!” (I promise none of this was personal, it was all out of fatigue) and we were directed to run between these cars and then we could stop. What? Okay…so we ran there together and suddenly we were done. We gave our numbers to some guys and a woman handed us out spikes…

The most anticlimactic finish of all time.

I am still not sure if this was appropriate for the race or just another joke in the same vein as the “motivational” signs posted along the course (such as “Actually you’re nowhere near done with this climb! You should probably give up!”)….All I wanted was for Sean Run Bum Blanton to give me a high five and hand me my spike. But nope. Anyways, the deed was done, in 18 hours and 12 minutes. We finished the thing together. Happy. Suddenly we were sitting down inside and then on a shuttle back to Vogel. I fell asleep for most of this part. Then we were back in our cabin and I took the best, shortest shower of all time and passed out asleep.

And that was the Georgia Death Race/March/Joke/Adventure/Painfest.

What I Learned:

• ·         Don’t ever DNF unless you have literally busted an internal organ or broken an essential bone (i.e. your leg), because you never know how things can turn around in another few miles
• ·         Eating and Drinking are CRUCIAL in the 100k+ distances
• ·         I love going uphill on singletrack.
• ·       Doing a race that is so hard you question your ability to finish/cry/grind it out at turtle pace to the finish is much more rewarding that racing to win/PR/other time goals.

SPIKED the Death Race!!!

I enjoyed nearly every single moment of this race. The course was AWESOME even the parts I as cursing. I really like what you’ve done here, Run Bum! A beautiful and really challenging course a key aspects in any successful ultramarathon. I may even call this my favorite ultra I’ve ever run. DEFINITELY the perfect first 100k for me! I am still extremely satisfied and EXHAUSTED one week later, but that's not a surprise! See you next year?

Love,

Rachel Corrigan

On Saturday, February 9th, 2013...

Last year, I swore upon my favorite running shoes (Adidas Trail Response) (fine, tease me, but those fancy Inov-8s or Montrails just don't do it for me) that I would never run Holiday Lake 50k ever again.

No offense, Horton, it's not personal!

 
I just kinda hate flat surfaces.

So what in the WORLD happened? I dunno. But Friday the 8th I found myself for the THIRD TIME in the car with a bunch of stinky guys heading to the darn 4-H center. I was seeded 6th woman. Crap!
I have the sickness.

My head was in a weird spot, neither in the race nor out of the race, neither present nor distant. I was thinking about my legs and how strong they had gotten at climbing for hours and hours in the mountains, at walking/running from sunrise to sunset. I am neither slow nor fast, but consistent.

I knew moderate-speed consistency was NOT going to put me in a Top Ten finish at Holiday Lake. Especially not this year.
Maybe I would construct a giant mountain at mile 20 with my huge rock collection that I have made in Derring Hall on campus. If my pending bachelors degree in geochemistry gets me one things, it's rocks.

As we approached I finally accepted how bad my stomach felt and how my right knee and left ankle were seriously hurting. Pshhh whateverrrr no big deal.

 A brief stroll on the course with a fellow VT Ultrarunner proved my biggest fear: the course was just as flat as I remembered. What was I going to do? Why didn't I do track workouts and tempo runs? Why did I sign up for a flat 50k and a MOUNTAIN 60 miler within a month of each other?!

 I wanted to run my race and I wanted to race the women and finish top 10 and get that fancy shirt. I ran a 4:58 last year off a month of ITB and fatigue. What was going to happen in the morning was sometimes I could not predict.

 I ate pasta and pretended to be engaged in conversation with my friends and mom and boyfriend, but really I was not there in that room talking to those people before that race. I was off in my thoughts and concerns but pretending to everyone that I felt good and fast.

 

I woke up to people in my bunkhouse WAY too early. I was grumpy. I had the grumps. It does not take an hour and 45 minutes to put shorts on and tie your shoes. I immediately went outside to get some air and try to convince myself that I was going to RUN 33 miles sorta fast. I couldn't get excited. I felt so so so sick and nauseous and full of stomach cramps. My left ankle wouldn’t bend and water made me gag. What on Earth was happening to me? How did I make it to the start line? Why was everyone running SO fast for the first 6 miles? This was not track practice! This was an Ultramarathon. I ran the first lap with a façade of enjoyment plastered on my salty face and tried to run with some people but couldn’t make myself think of responses to their sincere conversation. I still was not present. I arrived that the turn-around aid station in 2:25, faster than I have ever wanted to run 16 miles. I pretended to act excited when Fletcher and Rudy cheered for me and told me I was killing it. If I could have stopped at the turn around I would have, but that’s not how I do things. If I’m signed up for a race I’m gonna finish it. No matter how much I want to throw up and sleep for 15 hours. As soon as I turned around my body gave out. I was drained, zero energy. My legs felt like they weighed 100 lbs themselves, and my back and stomach were NOT happy. I drank hardly any water during the first lap, and only 1 orange slice and ¼ a pb&j. I couldn’t swallow any food or water. My ankle was on fire. I had to make about 3 pit stops within 4 miles, catching my legs in the torn bushes in the process, which took about 5 minutes to untangle myself from. My attempt to take an endurolyte ended in my heaving it up, still in it’s capsule (reusable?). What has happening to my body? Miles 18-28 passed by in slow motion and my mind left my body for a while. I woke back up at mile 28, the last aidstation, and stopped for a minute. I was in 14^th place and nostalgic for my physical condition last year. Within 10 minutes of leaving the aid, I was passed by a 17 year old boy and felt lost. That was me last year, 17 and happy and passing people with 4 miles to go, on fire and full of adrenaline. I was without my spark, not Rachel Corrigan at all, just a sweaty mess of curly hair and tired legs.

Sometimes 4 weeks of resting is more beneficial than 4 weeks of intense training and mileage.

The last 4 miles dragged on and my legs were not moving anymore, but churning slowly in a vat of viscous jelly. Each stride required a massive effort and was greeted with a heavy sign from my tired lungs. How badly I wanted to curl up in bed and not leave until I was back to my old self.
Suddenly I was on pavement. “Look, Rachel, ½ a mile to go!” I said to myself.
“Ugh. Whatever. I give zero craps.” I responed.
“Yes you do, come on, pick it up. The faster you run the sooner you’ll cross the finish line.”
“Eh….I do have to pee…”
With that acknowledgment I picked it up and ran sorta fast across the finish line. The clock read 5:09 and I was finally done. Horton gave me a hug and told me I was 13^th. That’s fine. Only 11 minutes slower than last year.

I eventually cheered up and gave people high fives and stuff. I mostly hung out with  my mom until we all decided to disperse back to our respected habitats. I was really sore and tight and nauseous until we got back to town that afternoon, where Fletcher and I got the most delicious cheeseburgers that have ever been made.

I am tired but feel much less nauseous than I did Saturday. I know I just as strong and in shape as I was last year, but I need to rest, especially before the Georgia Death Race on March 16^th, which I am extremely anxious forJ I will represent the women's contengent of VT Ultrarunning proudly!

Overall I am still glad that I did HL this year. It confirmed that I was ultrarunning to take me to places on this Earth that you can only see from traveling on foot, not fast times and PRs. The journey is what's important. I want adventures!

 See you on the trail.