Sun Mt. my BESTEST ever

Father's day and my first 25K.
(I am a published poet and now you know it).

This was a great time and the most physically demanding thing I have ever done. I was ready for it, barely. He he he


The weekend was great despite the fact I was nervous the entire 2 days before. Friday night I had difficulty sleeping even though I was tired. Saturday I was fluctuating between “jumpy” and distracted to the point of zoned out and then Saturday night I slept somewhat better. I was very excited and yet nervous as I was running a race with Jason and Candice and Seth and these are “experienced” runners in my book. I am still a “wanna be” runner.

I mean when I compare myself to them I would say (and everyone else would agree) they are several levels above where I am at. I know I shouldn’t compare myself; but I still do, as I wonder what my future might look like and wonder how far I would have to go to get there.

Back to the day of, so we are going and I am mentally preparing for the idea that I might be the LAST runner to make it across the finish. This race is only in the 2nd year and not really a mainstream run so most of the runners know what they are getting into and are prepared. Very few weak gazelles in this pack. In fact I may be doing something that is just going to serve as an example to the universe of what a young runner should not try to do. Preparing to be last is not as easy as it seems, no one plans to be last and I sort of know why. In order to meet my goals which are to be : 1. Injury free 2. Finish the course and 3. Finish under 4 hours I needed to think about what being last would look like. At the start everyone would be ahead of me so I would just hang back and maybe even make sure I was last so I wouldn’t have to wonder. I could be certain I was in last place. Then if by a miracle I passed anyone I would know how I was no longer in back. Backwards logic ? Yes, but still effective.

Race day warm up standing around talking as the rain starts to fall I feel like a pretender and a little like “What am I doing here?” Molly is taking pre race photos and saying “why don’t you smile” I want to say back “because I am about to try to run 15 miles” but I stick with “I am too nervous.” As the pack forms for the start I drift to the rear while Jason and Candice and Seth mingle in the front middle. In front of me I notice this guy in the pack waiting at the starting line shakes his legs and his calves and I am think “Damn those calves are huge and his thighs are monstrous as well. He is only about 5’6’’ but his legs look like a body builder and They stand out here in a group of good legs, in a pack of legs that are all in good shape. This is not compared to the average American leg, this is a leg compared to the average long distance runner. I decide he is juiced or has a genetic malfunction but either way I make a mental note not to Indian wrestle with him.

Go! and we are off, all 60 people (the 50K and the 25K start as one big group). I went pee three times in the last half an hour and still I have to pee as we head down the first trail. The pack of gazelle’s forming a loose herd. I migrate to the rear of the pack looking down so I don’t trip and stay there for about the first half mile. Then I pause to pee again and let the entire herd go ahead. My natural gazelle instincts are screaming “not safe! Stay with the pack! There are Lion’s and Tiger‘s and Bear’s in the woods! (Not sure that Bears eat gazelle’s?)

Anyway I take care of business as the very last gazelle is coming up the trail. I know now that I am 2nd to last and I am okay with that. I run the first mile right behind these two older ladies who then pause so I can pass them. I think they more wanted me and my heavy breathing off their tail. The first couple miles I am going at a slow pace but breathing heavy and I think it may be the altitude. I begin to sound a lot like Darth Vader. I keep repeating things to myself like “This is my race, and I am just trying to finish” or “save something for after the Aid station” or “Everyone has to walk some” The Aid station is at mile 8 and not quite at the top of the run.

The trail is beautiful as it meanders alongside some lake for the first couple miles and then we turn in and the climbing begins. The next few minutes is a series of little climbs mixed together with gradual climbs that look easier but are not. I am still imitating Darth Vader here and running so slow I can walk faster. I pass a girl in pink and now I know I am third from the end. I also wonder/hope I will not learn what it will feel like if she passes me back later. I see this guy in a black rain coat ahead of me practicing the Chi running technique of going uphill by turning your feet. It reminds me to pay attention to my own form and I am about 50 yards behind him I think man he is going slow. But I can’t find the energy to close the gap. I work at catching him for awhile getting within 20 yards at one turn and then I recognize I am really getting winded. I need to slow myself and save something for after the Aid station. Save something for the last 7 miles. Off goes the little mouse (I never see him again so maybe the alligator or Bear ate the “almost last” gazelle and left the last gazelle’s for weaker slower alligators).

The thought comes into my head “What am I doing here” about the 45 minute mark. I know I haven’t run 5 miles yet and I am sucking wind. I know it takes me an hour to run 5 miles in Saratoga woods and that is at Sea level. I am speculating I need to make it to the Aid station by the 2 hour mark if I want to make it in under 4 hours. Well I bust open my first pack of energy blocks and begin fueling my high performance body. He he he It doesn’t feel like a high performance body but that is what the package says. After a refuel I am in the high meadows where the run looks out over the Methow Valley and the sun peaks out a little. I get a little warm and taste of what it would be like if it was not raining. I am not sure I could make this on a 90 degree day. This upper rolling hill is really like running my own training run because I am so far behind everyone else I only get glimpses once or twice. I tell my self I am not interested who is behind me or how close that I am running my race. The urge is too strong and the force in my is weak. Like Darth Vader I give in to my desires and I peak behind me. Girl in pink with the two water bottles is about 40 yards behind me. I tell myself it doesn’t matter if I am 4th to last or 5th to last. I develop this idea of “Bottom 6” and I let grow on me. I am going to make the bottom 6 and that sounds great. Right now the Aid station sounds like a dream and I turn to the next set of hills. These rises are no fun at all. 50 yards up dog leg left 50 yards up dog leg left 100 yards up sharp left 50 yards up. Seems like forever and I am wondering again as I pass the 90 minute mark “why did I do this?” Then I tell myself your just going through the normal 90 minute motivational slump that happens to me every run longer than 90 minutes.

It is like this inner demon lives in a corner of my brain and comes out sometimes to tell me “Really, stop doing this it is never going to matter” and all sorts of other bad me talk. I sometimes get frustrated that I still have to deal with him every long run. It’s like “Enough already I know I am not stopping!” go away. So I focus again on my form and trudge on up the hills from hell. On the 4th or 5th hill I come across Mr. “Tanked” this guy is going so slow he doesn’t look like he will make the aid station. I think that would have been me if I had tried to run with the herd out of the gate. I never saw him finish so I imagine the Bears and alligators divided him up. A peak behind me 100 yards later show the pink water bottle girl still within 100 yards of me.

The AID Station YIPPEE ! That means 8 miles down and it is exactly 2 hours into the race. Now I can push it a little more. I know the topography map I studied before hand shows the crest of the run is about the 10 mile mark and it is mostly down hill or flat after that. At the aid station someone says only 6.7 miles to go. I drink 3 cups of vitamin water but don’t fill up my hydro pack. MISTAKE and I will regret it later. Each some potato chips in between gasps of breaths. At this point the 50 milers are joining the trail so it really makes one feel like a genetically defective gazelle with these people running by.

Heading out of the station is on a gravel road with only a slight incline so I am running happy. About a mile into the slight incline the arrow points to the right bank of the road. I look up at this trail and I am like? “What fuckin mountain goat designed this shit”. I think well I can see past the first 50 feet so maybe it levels off. After scrambling up with hands and feet and thighs on FIRE, I discover it continues up the goat fucker trail continues up and to make matters worse the 50 milers are starting to pass me every couple minutes now. I know we have to be near the top because this is the highest mountain around and I can see in all directions. Then I hit the ridge and it is flat for about 30 feet until like a sick stomach dropping roller coaster it descends. Heading down at about a 12% grade diving into the depths of hell! The trail is a snake like v in the ground made by water run off so one edge slope in and the other edge slopes in and your lower legs burn real fast. That ½ mile of down hill really made me suffer. Before we hit the bottom I had cramps in both calves and an aching Achilles on my right. Finally it bottoms out and now I am wondering if I will make it. I attempt to run up the next hills and I cannot run without cramping, so I switch to walking and burning my thighs up. About 20 minutes later brings me to the top of the last major climb and I am weary. I eat up another energy snack called “Sharkies” and prepare for the bears to step out and mangle me to a bloody pulp. I almost wish for it.

I enter the trail called “Pete’s Dragon” which I know from the girls report the day before is a nice easy trail. Another 50 miler passes me and she smiles saying ”It is all about falling downhill”. I think that is another Chi running quote and so I focus again on my form and let gravity increase my pace. I really start falling down Pete’s Dragon and make some decent time. I imagine I make decent time but I am not really sure. I do know the legs are not cramping as much on this stretch. I think “My left leg feels great!” over and over again. This helps me ignore the other aches my body is reporting. Mostly in my back and shin and thighs and shoulders and feet.

Reaching the section I know I have been on before I stumble/run praying for the rain to open up and the Gods answer my prayer. It begins raining a lot and I like it because it helps me cool off. Funny how the entire decent down my lungs have been no trouble, just my muscle parts having the issues. I get almost run over by another 50 miler and a short while later he comes back asking “Is this the right way” I think “Hey JACKASS your in front remember!” I yell back “It is the way I am going”. He turns around and runs ahead again. “What does he just enjoy passing people twice?”.

Oh the tiredness is really seeping into me now and I am struggling to keep my grip on reality. I think I saw the Bear Alligator cross breed that crazy scientist from Winthrop developed and then released to track how they prey upon week gazelle’s lost in the local forest. I call her the “Bearigator”. Of course she is female every example of nature where the mate and then eat the partner it is the male getting eaten. So it males sense if these two cross bred the female would be the only one alive. I drink the last of my water here and I know I have a couple miles left so I wish. I mean I really wish I had filled up more at the Aid station.

I somehow continue running trying to remember what form I should be focused on. “a good lean” or “Loose lower body” or “level pelvis” or “knees down ankles up”. As I round a bend I hear voices and I see picnic tables and it looks like a clearing getting ready for a party. Wah…….wait what the arrow points right? That is more than horrible at this point. I hate everyone now. A false finish line is the cruelest of jokes. I hobble on, very deflated. The trail has turned into this nice flat wide pine needle laden track that would normally be a joy to run on. I am the troll from under the bridge in that fairy tale and if I saw the Bearigator now I would punch him in the throat.

This is not the lowest I get on this day, shortly after that the two old ladies I passed in mile 1 pass me back and I stick too them for about a half mile. I can’t manage to find the energy to keep up with their pace. My thighs are really hurting and my calves cramp every couple of minutes. I tried stopping to remove a rock in my shoe and as soon as I took the shoe off BAD IDEA FOOT CRAMP. OW o wow ow don’t try that at home. We are at like 3 hours 30 minutes now and I know I am well beyond anything I trained to do. My body is sore and my water is empty and I don’t think this insanity will ever end. Next the two ladies have stopped to ask “Is this right way” Again I think “Hey dumbass you are in front”. I must have a sign on my back saying “Ask for directions”. I reply my new mantra. “It’s the way I am going” they say “oh your not who we thought you were. We thought you were one of the 50 milers”. I laugh at that one. “No I just look like a 50 miler”.

So my two ladies leave me to be eaten by the Bearigator and race on. I give chase but I don’t have much left anymore and coming out of the woods to another road I see the end. But first one more little hill I am walking up when Jason and Seth who have been back so long they are on their 3rd beers come beside me and run with me the last 50 yards.

MASS cheers from friends and family and I stumble across the line with cramps in both legs and very very happy tired look on my face. 3 hours 52 minutes of trail running.walking,stumbling. For a total of 16.7 miles. My longest run ever.

Thanks for all the support from my friends and family I would never had made this without all of you. My success is "our success".