Chuckanut 50k 2006

Wow that hurt! I mean, it was about 10 times harder than I thought it would be. It will be hard to put into words what I went through yesterday but I'll do my best. BTW - I'm not going to tell you my finish time because on a day like this it just doesn't matter. If you have to know, Google it.


Simone and I headed up to Bellingham after work and got there around 7:30 - 8:00. We arrived at the Days Inn to hear that they were overbooked and our room was gone. They sent us down to the Travelodge and said we wouldn't be charged. I hope not since I paid for the room when I made the reservation. They guy at the Travelodge was very nice and we got the last room. I have to say, it was a pretty bad hotel. The carpets in the hallways were really dirty, the first floor smelled like smoke and our clock radio didn't work. Once we settled in we walked to a convenience store and picked up snacks. While there we got treated to some of the local gangsta wannabees. Lovely crowd. We spent the next couple hours watching bad TV and getting ready for the race. We had the lights out by 10:30 and our phone alarms set for 5:45. Sometime in the middle of the night I was woken by the sounds of very drunk neighbors. Great. And, the room was steamy hot; so much that I was sweating. Yummy. So, I didn't get a great night's sleep. After a quick stop at the espresso stand drive through we were on our way! Ken had shown up and planned on doing the race. It was good to see him and know he was out there too.

Scott Jurek was there and I was pretty excited to see him. I thought he was going to run but it turns out he was there to volunteer. It was so nice of him to support the local ultra community like that. He is very down to earth and you’d never know he was such a great athlete because there was no attitude. Enough gushing.

The weather was overcast but it didn't look like we were going to get any rain. It was darn cold so we struggled with what to wear, going back and forth multiple times. I settled on a short sleeve shirt, a long sleeve high collard shirt and my trail jacket. Turned out I did pretty good. Finally 8:00 arrived and we were off. I got about 200 yards and realized my water bottle that I had put on my Fuelbelt wasn't going to work so I ran over to the car quickly and dropped it off. So, I was behind, as usual. Actually I was content since that meant I wasn't going to try and keep up with the big kids out in front. That is so tempting to do and I knew I had to stick to my plan otherwise I would never finish. I felt super strong and confident. I was smiling and had a very positive attitude. Thank goodness because that would be what saved me later in the day. The first 6.5 miles is on the flat urban trail and while my legs were stiff from the start I was able to work through it and kept right on my goal pace. The first aid station was right at 6.5 miles and I was able to get some water and and a bathroom break and I was off.

After the aid station we started up. And up. And up. I'm pretty sure we didn't stop going up for the next 25 miles. At this point I lost track of the miles and was perfectly OK with that. I stopped trying to keep track of what time it was and compare it to my projected mileage and moved with the terrain. That is all you can really do on that race. I'm glad I did that instead of worrying about how far I was and what time it was, it allowed me to go with what my body was feeling it was capable of doing. I can't describe how many hills there were in a way that someone who hasn't done it can full appreciate. The amount of walking I did was far more that I could have predicted going in. And, I wasn't the only one walking them. I talked to Simone after the race and she walked quite a bit too. This was actually pretty frustrating because while I knew it was the right thing for me to be doing I really wanted to run. But, I held back. I'm glad I did because the 3 mile uphill between aid station 2 and aid station 3 would have killed me if I'd try to run all of it. I had a lot of company walking that so I didn't feel bad doing it. I was able to do some running as there were a few flat areas but not nearly enough to make good time. I'd just have to settle for getting to the top.

I was able to trudge along to aid station 3 and I was feeling really good. At this point I was about 13 miles in and I was a little behind what time I wanted to be there but oh well, must just keep moving. I raided my special needs bag, drank some soda and off I went.

Unfortunately it was in the wrong direction on the loop. I took a right and I should have taken a left. Amazingly I went past 2 dozen people and no one said a word. I got about .75 miles along the trail, on the steepest part. Luckily there was a course volunteer there that told me I was going the wrong way and sent me back up the hill. (Note, I said "up" the hill). I got back to the aid station and told them what had happened. The woman was stunned and said "I don't know what to say." I told her that no matter what, don't sweep me, I was going to finish this race. She said OK and the amazed crowd watched me run off. I am not ashamed to say I was bawling my eyes out for the next 10 minutes. Not a little hiccup, a full on tears streaming down my face, howling. Lord that was bad.

I really didn't know how I was going to make any kind of cut off. And, I had to go back up that hill. This part of the course was extremely technical. I was hiking, not running. I had to scramble over rock, huge steps up over tree roots, slippery rocks and very narrow trail. At some points it was hard to tell where the trail went because there was no visible way to get through the obstacles in front of me. About 3 miles into the loop my iPod died. Dammit! I really needed it at this point but there was nothing I could do but suck it up. I gave myself a stern talking to, out loud, and keep moving. The view from up there was beautiful and a great reward for the hard work.

The problem with whole this trail run isn’t just the uphill, it is all the downhill and what that ends up doing to your legs. My thighs were just nothing at this point.

I finally came to an area where it was flat and I could run again. By this time my legs were quivery jelly and it was hard to get moving but I was happy to see the flat and managed to get in a decent run. Then, the mud. It stared off not that bad and I could negotiate around it but after a while it got pretty icky and I gave up wasting so much time finding a good path that I went right through it. It was so slippery I was twisting my ankle but I was over half way through the race at this point and was still doing OK. I had gotten past the upset of going the wrong way and was refocused on the task at hand. At this point I had gained 2000 feet in elevation and there was snow all around me. It was beautiful but cold. Now it was a question of making the 2:30 cut off at aid station 3/4. All along the route there were cute little signs that made me smile. It is amazing how much they can make a difference when you are feeling down. Just knowing someone was out there putting them up made me feel like they cared about every runner. They understood how hard it was and did what they could to make it easier.

I saw the sign for Chinscraper and knew this was the hardest part of the run. If I could get through this I will be able to finish. I was worried about the 2:30 cut-off and about half way up it I was pretty sure I wouldn’t make it. To say Chinscraper is steep is to make a huge understatement. I was using trees to pull myself up some sections and was using my hands to pull myself up over roots in others. I’d try to give you some sort of grade percentage but I don’t think I can. This wasn’t hiking, it certainly wasn’t running and the only reason it was rock climbing was because it was dirt. I stopped to rest multiple times because by then I had nothing left in my legs. I realized that even if I couldn’t go on I still had to get out of there so up I went. My thighs were trembling and I wasn’t sure how I was going to get to the top, if I could ever see the top. Somehow I did it and closed the loop, back to the aid station where I initially took the wrong turn. I came in and there were a surprising amount of volunteers still out there and it was completely set up. I asked if I’d made the cut-off and they told me there wasn’t one. If there was, I’d come in 20 minutes ahead of it. Unfortunately my special needs bag was gone. Serious bummer because my Perpetuem and a Baker’s Cookie where in there. I really needed/wanted both and was going to drop off my jacket because by this time I was getting warm. I loaded up on the food that was there, some flat Coke and got moving again after much cheering, sympathy and
encouragement from the volunteers.

From here on out it was downhill and mostly flat. I knew this and was really excited for the last 9 - 10 miles to go. Three miles to the last aid station, downhill. Scott was there to direct me to the left and when I ran up and told him and his friend about the detour they both went a little happy/crazy and whooped it up. It is nice to impress someone like Scott and his friend, who I could tell had many trail miles on him. Boosted by that I cruised into the last aid station. I was pretty out of it by this time. Bad nutrition and dehydration makes for a funny girl. I learned at this point that a woman I had passed before Chinscraper had dropped at aid station 3/4. I’m not surprised because she looked pretty bedraggled when I saw her and I can only imagine how she was when she pulled into that aid station.

Those last 6.5 miles hurt. I was thinking the interurban trail was flat but it turns out it was on a gentle grade of about 2%. Not much you say? Ha! Try that after 26 miles. I had to stop and stretch a couple times and made some deals along the lines of run for a mile, walk for a couple minutes. I was whimpering around 4 miles out but pulled myself together onece again. There is one area where you have to go up some switchbacks and at that point Ken called. They were getting concerned because it was pretty late in the day by then. I was close to a mile and a half out and I was hoping to be finished less than 20 minutes. At the rate I was going that was realistic. I was doing some walking/running after I reached the top of the switchbacks. I knew that was all I had left. At this point it was just a drive to the finish. The park snuck up on me quicker than I expected which is really nice. There was a small but happy crowd waiting for me. Simone and Ken where cheering and everyone was congratulating me. I got a nice handheld water bottle as a reward for the hard work.

I immediately had to sit down. I was so out of it when I finished I couldn’t think of what I needed to eat. Simone kept asking me what I wanted and I had no idea how to answer her. I was thrashed. Those downhills had really done a number on the quads and knees. My left leg was hurting from the uphills stretching out my calves and I had some really impressive blisters. I felt great though. This was on par if not a little harder than Ironman. With Ironman you get to coast on the bike if you get a little tired and the marathon is less time on your feet. With this, you are on your feet the entire time, battling hills/mountains and screaming thighs. I don’t remember outright crying on IM either.

Somehow I was sure I could finish if I made the cutoffs. Luckily it turned out there wasn’t one. I’m pretty proud of what I went through and survived. I don’t think I’ll ever do that one again. It was really frustrating not to be able to run and the ankle twisting and downhills were brutal. It did give me confidence that I could finish the 50 mile. There were many times along the way that I reminded myself this was essentially a training day for Mt. Si. Since that will be on relatively flat, wide trail it might even feel easy compared to this. I will need to be sure the iPod is charged and that Duncan’s Shuffle is ready when it dies out. And, I need to eat and drink more. Having friends and Duncan at the aid stations will be critical to my finishing and Debbie pacing me for the last 20 will be a life saver.

This was a huge learning experience. On the drive home I was wondering what I could have done differently during the day or training for it. The answer is nothing. There is no realistic way for an athlete of my ability to get ready for that. Even if I was stronger on hills I couldn’t have run them and done well. The middle 30k was killer and there isn’t a way to prepare for that. I did the best I could out there. I went through a huge emotional range and physical range. I came out the other side relatively in one piece and overall happy with how I did. Total distance = 32.5. I was only supposed to go 31.
An ice bath, lots of sugar and alot of love from my family when I get home. Recovery begins.