Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Solvang Double Century (3/24/12)

Solvang Double Century
(my first double century)


Preface

Friend: Why are you going to Solvang?
Me: For a double century.
Friend: What is that?
Me: A 200 mile bike ride.
Friend: 200 miles in one day?!
Me: Yes, at least in theory.
Friend: Why?
Me: Because I want the Triple Crown.
Friend: What is that?
Me: Three doubles in a year.
Friend: How many doubles have you done?
Me: This will be my first.
Friend: How many centuries have you done?
Me: One. Two, if you count the 100 mile training ride I did earlier in the month.

As I head down to Solvang, a part of me thinks I just might be under-trained. I think I should have ridden more, trained a little more on the bike. But, I had to train for other things (i.e., my first ultra marathon earlier in the month) and the weather was not always cooperative. I think all my running might help compensate for me not riding enough. My legs feel strong. And, from my running training, I have gotten pretty good at knowing how to fuel myself for long endurance events. I have pretty good running endurance. I am just really hoping my running endurance can convert to cycling endurance.

Guess I'll just see how it goes out there...

Friday evening (pre-ride)

I travel all day with Tawny, Julie, and Rex (new cycling friends) down to Solvang. We are kind of an odd foursome. The four of us all different from each other, except for our craziness in wanting to go ride 200 miles this weekend. The road trip down is fun with them though. By Friday evening, we arrive to our destination and check in. Then, we work on getting our bikes and gear ready for the ride tomorrow.

To ride 200 miles, I find there is a lot one has to consider carrying (either on the bike or on myself) and there's only so much room to carry stuff. There's the usual gear that comes with any ride (i.e. helmet, tubes/C02, garmin, etc....) I have my new pink rabbit kit ready to go. But, since we will be riding in the dark and in the daylight, we have to consider the clothing for the dark and the daylight. Slight chance of rain and possibility of wind are in the forecasts. I just stick to my trusty favorite red cycling jacket! I have the full fingered gloves to wear in the morning and the fingerless gloves packed away. I have arm warmers and don't think I will wear leg warmers. My legs are okay with cold.

Then, there's the lighting equipment. Front light and tail light. My front light is awesome. It's as bright as a car light. My tail light is not awesome. It is kind of cheap and not sitting so well on my bike. Hopefully it stays put.

And, then there's the food/fuel. Two water bottles with just water to start off with but I have electrolyte tabs and pedialyte powder to use. I have the GUs, shot blocks, and cliff bars. But, I have found in running, I like real food so I have packed away peanut butter crackers, oatmeal cookies, wheat thins, and almonds. Since not all the rest stops will have sodas, I also packed away a can of coke (Coke is one of my energy sources ;-))

I also pack away a portable charger since my Garmin only has a battery life of 10 hours. No way am I fast enough to ride 200 miles in under 10 hours. Also, I pack away my cell phone cord in case my cell phone needs charging too out there.

Okay. Think everything is all set. Just need to get a good night sleep and ready to go in the morning.

Saturday morning
Yeah, did not get such a good night sleep. Took awhile to fall asleep then kept waking up every hour or so. But, that's how things usually go the night before a big event.

At 4 a.m., we are all up and getting everything on and the bikes ready to go.

My tail light is being kind of funny so Tawny lends me an extra red light just in case (don't want me to get DQ'd for missing a rear light). It's a good thing she lends that to me because as I roll my bike out of the room into the parking lot, my own tail light completely falls apart (the cover comes off and the batteries go flying). Good grief! Julie also kindly gives me an extra red light to put on my bike.

Then we ride over to the Marriott, where the ride is starting. It is about a 1/2 mile ride.


The Start to the First Rest Stop (Mile 41)
For these rides, it is not a race. You just have to finish by a certain time (10 p.m.). Faster riders are encouraged to start later and the slower ones are to start earlier in order to finish on time. So, they have staggered starts. I am starting at the earliest possible since I have no idea how long 200 miles will take me.

We get to the start and a lady is saying something to the riders but who knows what she's saying. Then, the riders start rolling one by one through the timing system thing. The numbers we have attached to the front of our bikes has the timing chip in it.

Everyone has told me to "pace myself" so I am thinking that as I start off. Though, I cannot see my speedometer since it's dark out. So, I just ride in the middle of the pack. I also cannot see my route sheet in the dark so have to follow the pack to know where I am going. I hope I don't follow them the wrong way.

The first 25 or so miles is generally going uphill. This is not straight up hill. There are some hills and little breaks and some slight declines but generally going upward for the first 25ish miles. No crazy steep hills either. But, as I hit each hill, I find myself sliding over to the left to pass people. For hills, I have to pedal at my climbing pace. I cannot climb behind people slower than me. It throws my rhythm off making it hard to climb. I am not that fast but not that slow either. So, I slide to the left to pass. Eventually, this gets me to the front of the pack (remember, the super fast guys haven't started yet). At one point, it is just me and another single speed guy at the top of this hill. I look back to see the pack still only halfway up the hill. I slow down a little to let them catch up (again, I am not sure where we are going).

Around mile 25 or so, I continue climbing strongly but the sun is starting to rise so I can kind of see my route sheet now. I climb up Foxen Canyon and then start descending. That is fun, though a little cold. I level out and it's just me and a couple guys around me. There's a guy with blue tires that I ride near. I had seen him earlier in the ride but passed him on the climbs.

Now that the sun is up, I see that this area is quite beautiful. A beautiful countryside. Nice and peaceful in the early morning hours. Blue tires guy and I are commenting at how nice it is now that the sun is up. Another guy joins us and we ride along for a bit.

Then, the train of fast guys comes through. It catches us on a slight curve so we get absorbed into the middle of the pace line. This is a fun, fast pace line! We are rolling at 25+ mph. I think to myself, this isn't exactly pacing myself.A friend specifically told me to not go chasing after these fast pace lines. Though, I did not chase the pace line. It just kind of sucked me into it. I am also not at the back trying to cling on for dear life (which is how I often find myself in pace lines). I am comfortably riding in the middle just flying along. And, loving the speed!

Even when I move up to the front of the pace line and it gets to be my turn to pull, my legs are feeling good and strong. I manage to do a decent pull for a bit before falling back and another guy pulls. These guys are all really nice thanking each other for each pull. When we all slow down as we approach the rest stop, one guy rides near me to say good job in helping share the work. I am happy that my riding is feeling strong today. The few training rides I did where there were pace lines, I struggled just to stay on, much less help pull. So, the day is start off pretty well.

We arrive to the first rest stop. I eat a little, refill my water, use the port-a-pottie, change into my fingerless gloves and text an update to twitter/facebook. (For my ultra marathon, I was out running for about six hours and my friend bugged me for live updates and knew she'd go crazy if she did not hear from me all day long at the double. so, I set it up so I can send a quick text to twitter, which would post to facebook, to let whoever wanted an update to know where I was. It was going to be a long day!)

at 7:35 a.m., I text/tweet: "at first rest stop...40 miles...probably went too fast...got in fast pack!"

To the second rest stop (mile 87)
I leave the second rest stop. As I head to an intersection, I am confused. I see a pack of cyclists go to the right. But I thought we were supposed to go farther down before turning left. I see a SAG vehicle at the intersection too as I approach and then it starts driving to the right, in the same direction as all the cyclists. All the cyclists go right and I see they have the numbers on them so they are doing the same event. So, I turn with them but kind of hesitant of the direction we are going.

Another guy asks if we are going the right way. Others don't respond and keep going. I say I feel like this is not right. The guy u-turns back and joins another guy who has stopped to inspect his route sheet. I decide to u-turn also as I certainly don't want to be riding 10 miles in the wrong direction. The three of us agree this is the wrong way and turn back. I see a pack of cyclists continue off in the wrong way but they have gotten too far from me to yell at them. I am confused that the SAG vehicle just rolled by all of us and did not bother to redirect us the right way.

I start riding along in the other direction and eventually see a road marker to know I am going the right way now. Fortunately for me, I only rode an extra mile. I heard others rode a lot more extra miles the wrong day. My legs are feeling pretty good and I just ride along. I am mostly by myself for a bit. I am enjoying the scenery. I am also starting to pay attention to the time and remind myself to constantly eat food, GU, or a shotblock every 30 minutes. In endurance running, I have learned about being diligent about taking in food and such at certain times as you do not want to bonk. Fueling myself is where I know my running training will be helpful to my cycling training.

The scenery is quite beautiful and the sky is blue! I attempt to take pictures but only manage one picture before my camera spazzes on me and all the pictures are turning black. Too bad as it would have been nice to take more pictures.

Around 55 miles into it, I get near Highway 166. Two cyclists catch up to me. It's blue tires guy and a guy with a yellow bike (who had been in the fast pace line earlier too). They pass me briefly but we hit a small hill and I pass them on the climb.

As turn down on road, we start descending a bit. The two guys come flying past me. I am a descent climber but I can only go so fast descending. I think it is because I am small. Anyhow, I just tuck myself in behind these two guys as they go flying pass me on the downhill.

The three of us end up working together. We rotate taking turns pulling. I do notice I tend to be the one up front pulling them up the hills but just as well as they pull me on the declines and some of the flats. This is a nice little team we formed as we are going a lot faster than I was when I was riding alone.

As we pass through Arroyo Grande, we slow down a little bit to get through town. A few other cyclists join our a little trio. I end up being the one navigating through the town as the guys follow me. I hear one of the guys behind me say something about "how she just keeps going." Has to be talking about me as I am the only girl around at this point. This amuses me as my friends do frequently call me the Energizer Bunny.

We all end up chit chatting a bit as we roll through town. Yellow bike guy says this is his triple crown ride. He has already done two doubles this year. Blue tires guy says he really like the bike shorts which have pink rabbits on the side (my pink rabbit jersey is hidden under my red jacket). He jokes that the guys are chasing the pink rabbit. hehehe. Blue tires guy is from the bay area. I tell him I am from Sacramento. He tells me "you know how to ride in wind then." I say I guess so (boy do I not know what I am in store for).

We eventually get back onto some open country roads and the guys start picking up the pace again. We join another faster group of riders and they just leave me in the dust. Figures. But, I am being good about not chasing them.

As I am riding along, I notice a runner running along the country road. He is carrying a couple hand held water bottles and running along. I think to myself, I wonder how far he's running. Oh, I kind of wish I was running today. I have become a cyclist but I was a runner first. Then, I see a bunch more runners running along. Makes me curious as to where they are running and how far they are running. I am thinking of my running friends. I am wearing my java joggers wristband on my right arm. They gave it to me to wear in the NYC marathon as it says "We are with you Java Joggers." But, I find I like wearing it for most major events, even my non running events. I also have a Java Joggers water bottle on the bike. I am always the Java Jogger. ;-)

Around mile 87, I arrive to the second rest stop. I am getting hungry now so I eat a little more snacks and drink the can of coke I had packed away. So glad I packed it. After 87 miles, a coke (even though not that cold) is refreshing! I stock up on some GU and get ready for the next stretch. A guy comes up to me and thanks me. Tells me I was right about us going the wrong way. He tells me some people ended up going a lot farther. I like that all the other cyclists are really friendly here.

At 10:22 a.m., I text/tweet: "2nd rest stop. 87 miles. feeling good. beautiful day! :)"


Mile 87 to the Lunch Stop (mile 114)

Coming out of the rest stop, I start thinking that I am nearly to the 100 mile mark. Halfway done. I am feeling pretty good too. Been going along at a pretty nice pace too and my legs do not feel tired. I continue to eat/refuel about every 30 minutes. And, I make sure I am frequently drinking water. My friends really emphasized staying hydrated. I am also standing out of the saddle periodically to stretch my legs and back. My worry is not whether my legs will last 200 miles but whether my back and neck will. So, I try to change up my position to sit upright when I can. Everything is feeling good at this point.

I pass through San Luis Obispo and eventually get onto Highway 1. We ride along the Highway for about 10 miles. It is a simply beautiful day. The skies are blue and it is getting warm out. This is kind of neat to ride in the opposite direction of where we drove yesterday. I am riding towards Morro Bay.

As I exit the highway and turn, I realize I have ridden over 100 miles. I am officially now on my longest bike ride ever! Woot! I feel a long stronger and better than the 100 mile ride I did with Mitch a few weeks prior. I think about the NorCal Aids Cycle (4 days ride I have in May). I should be fine doing those 100ish mile days if I feel like this.

I make another turn and start heading south. I am starting to feel the wind. My pace slows down a little but nothing too bad. But, the wind is making me tired. The road has a few rough patches. I recently replaced my tires, specifically so I would not get any flats. So far they seem to holding up pretty well. I sure hope they do. I start getting hungry and tired. I eat some cookies and crackers as I ride along. I look forward to the lunch stop as I plan to rest a bit longer there than I had at the other stops.

I get to the lunch stop around noon. Just around 7 hours total time now. I feel I am making good time. The first thing I do is pull out of my charger and charge up my Garmin. Garmin has been going 7 hours now and will need to recharge while I am resting here. Then, I go grab a sandwich and other snacks to munch on. And, of course, I drink a nice cold Coke. I just sit for a bit and read a few of the messages my friends have posted to my facebook. It makes me smile to see the support from my friends. This is always what keeps me going. :)

Lisa has written to me that "Tawny is 58 minutes behind you." That's nice to hear about where my friend is. I have not seen Rex at all. I saw Julie briefly as I was leaving the last rest stop. Again, I see Julie right as I am leaving the lunch stop. I talk to her briefly.

Knowing that the rest stop will not have any soda, I grab an extra can of Coke and pack in the back of my jersey. I pop some Sports Legs pills and refill my water. And, off I go again.

Todd had mentioned to me that the Garmin may reset itself when you charge it. I was worried about it but as I turned the Garmin on, I see my data was still there where I had paused it. Yes!!! I am happy! I will be able to keep my ride in one upload. I am a bit of a data nerd about my workouts. :P

At 12:18 a.m., I text/tweet before I go: "made it to the lunch stop. 114 miles. officially on my longest ride ever! the wind is exhausting!"


Lunch Stop to Guadalupe (Mile 144)
I ride out of the rest stop and about a mile or two out, I stop at a stop light. Another guy stops behind me. He then goes "Oh no!" I look back and he points to a goat head stuck to my rear tire. I reach to pull it out but the guy tells me if I pull it out, I'll probably get a flat. I feel my tire and it's still feeling firm so no flat right now. He says I could just ride back to the lunch stop as it's only a mile or so back. The light turns and the guy takes off.

In my head, I think, no way am I riding backwards. Just days prior to this, I went to Folsom Bike and told them that I have had about a dozen flats in the past few months and I have a double on Saturday and the last thing I want to do is to change my tire 10 times. So, I bought these new Continental Gators which are pretty much supposed to be flat proof. Now, I have a stupid goat head stuck in my tire. So far my tire is staying put. I decide to continue to ride. I'll just check the tire at the next rest stop.

I start riding by Pismo Beach. It is lovely out. I love the ocean especially the smell of it. It's this beautiful shade of blue and the sun is shining. I am enjoying this nice stretch near the beach. Then, I look down briefly at my route sheet to see what my next turn might be. When I look up, I immediately see a dark blue car door flying out just in front of me. My heart jumps and at the last second, I swerve away from it. Whew, that was a near miss! Clueless car guy does not even acknowledge he nearly car-door'd me! Ugh! I have been car door'd before and not a fun experience. It takes a bit for my heart rate to go back down.

Around mile 132 or so, I make a turn and start climbing this one hill. The grade gets kind of steep. Before the ride, I had really studied the route to see where all the climbs were and how steep the grades were. While the elevation graph made all the hills in the middle look small, I noticed one hill in the middle with grades 12%+ and nearing 18%. I made mental note to be prepared for that. And, here I am, climbing that hill. But, all day, I have been feeling good climbing the hills. I like hills. As I am trucking along up the hill, I think about the Death Ride. How I look forward to doing that with my cycling friends. I am still enjoying the hills after 130 miles. I actually can hardly wait until the Death Ride.

As I near the top, my right hamstring cramps just a little bit. My right hamstring has cramped in both my marathons and on some of my long training runs. It likes to cramp in long endurance events apparently. Of course, it cramps up at the worst moment as I am trying to crest a hill. I cannot stop at this point of the hill so I just bear through it and get to the top.

As I start descending, I stand up to stretch it a little and cramp passes. I drink some more of my fizz water and pop some more sports legs. I keep moving along. It's nice that while cycling, the cramp did not completely stop me as it has done in running. In running, when my hamstring cramped, I had to stop dead in my tracks. I start thinking that running is harder than cycling. At least in cycling, there are moments where I am just sitting and still moving.

As I roll down the hill, I feel a cross wind start to kick up. It gets a bit stronger that my bike wobbles a little bit. I have to start pedaling a bit to stay balance on the descent. The wind gets stronger the more I go. I feel like it's starting to be more work coming down than it was climbing up. I level out a bit and the wind is really rough. I am pushing my way through.

A small train of cyclists come by and I tuck in behind a tandem bike. They kind of shield me from the wind but it is tough for all of us. Fortunately, it is only a few miles to the rest stop.

We get to the rest stop. I turn off my garmin again and put it on the charger. I am so happy I had the coke packed in my jersey. I down the can. I eat some crackers and such. They have candy at this rest stop so I eat a bunch and throw some peanut m&m's into my jersey.

I do a quick check of my tire. I do not see the goat head stuck in it again and the tire is still feeling firm. Boy am I really happy that I bought these new tires. They are great!

I start noting the time. I am making good time. The next rest stop is not too far away. Just 26ish miles. That should take me less than two hours. Then, probably another couple hours from the last rest stop. I think I can finish before sundown. That would be awesome.

I see quick glimpses of the messages my friends have been sending me on facebook. This gives me a smile. I post a quick text/tweet at 2:48 p.m., "rest stop...144 miles...the wind was really rough!"


To the last rest stop (mile 169)...in the WORST wind ever!
I roll out of Guadalupe and can feel the wind but doing okay. My pace is not as brisk as I would like but I am doing okay. As I get out of town, the wind gets worst. I shift down and down and down. I am practically in my granny gear. Pushing as best as can through this headwind. I can hardly get my pace to go over 10mph. Good grief!

As I ride along, it seems to get harder. My pace drops to about 7-8 mph and I have to struggle really hard to get it to go any faster. I think the wind is blowing at 20+ mph. I see the road curve a little to the left and hope that when I make that curve, I get a little relief. It does not happen. The wind is just blowing away.

This wind is draining my energy. And because I am hunched down, my back starts to hurt. I try to straighten up but I can barely ride through the wind so hunch back down. Every so often, I have to use one hand to rub my lower back as it is really starting to ache. As is my neck.

I am thinking, I know in long endurance events, there is a "wall" that happens. Usually it is mental and you have to tell yourself to keep going. I did not think I would have to ride through a physical wall of wind. Seriously, this is the WORST wind ever!

A couple cyclists pass me. Some guys that seem to be the fast guys do not look like they are going very fast. I try to tuck in behind a guy here and there. The fast guys are going at about 10-11 mph. You know it's really bad when they are going really slow too. And, I can barely hang on at that pace. I drop back to 7-8 mph and fall off their tail.

I struggle along cursing the wind. It is the longest stretch of road I have ever ridden on. And, I just cannot move any faster. Because I am using so much energy to go through this wind, I get hungry so I eat quite a bit. I go through my whole baggie of wheat thins. I eat the peanut m&m's I had packed away. More GU and shot blocks.

During this stretch, my garmin randomly goes off. I have been in the saddle a little shy of 10 hours now. My garmin has a battery life of 10 hours. I have been charging the garmin at rest stops knowing I will be riding more than 10 hours. Now, I worry that the charger did not work. I turn the garmin back on and see that the battery symbol shows it is still half charged. I carefully watch the garmin as I exceed the 10 hour mark. The garmin stays on. Random fluke I guess. It continues to record my ride.

At one point after struggling for a few miles alone, a pack of cyclists pass by. I tuck myself in behind the tandem at the back. I get a little relief from the wind but it is not much since the wind is more of a cross wind than a head wind. I do my best to draft behind this tandem but because the wind is so crazy, all the riders are shifting right and left a lot. No one can really hold a straight line. This is dangerous. My front wheel is nearly clipped by the tandem in front of me. I fall back a little not wanting to be taken out. This results in me falling off the group. I do not even want to try staying with them. It's too nerve-racking.

I pedal away through the wind, still unable to pick up the pace. I am so so so miserable. I am counting down the miles to the rest stop. This is horrid. The longest 25 mile stretch ever! I wish I would have had rain over this. I would rather ride hills all day long than this flat stretch in the wind. I think I was climbing hills faster earlier than I am on this flat road, in my granny gear, pedaling as hard as I can.

I decide I need something to help motivate me. So, I pull out of my iPhone. Facebook comments from my friend appear on the screen like text messages. I do not see all the messages. I am just glancing at the screen to the most recent ones. What I see is: Tim saying "Good job Helen", Roy saying "Keep it up Helen", Susan saying "YAY Helen", Lisa saying "Oh my, your fast. You ride a double like it's a century" (this makes me laugh)....and, the message that really warmed my heart, from Javier (my cycling "father") saying "U go girl!" (I have noticed Javier sending me messages all day long)...All of this makes me smile. This is the encouragement I need at this point. My friends are cheering me on and I must keep going.

Finally, after the longest 25-26ish miles of my life, I make it to the last rest stop. It took me nearly 2 1/2 hours to get here. Whatever time goals I had in mind kind of went out the window. A lot of cyclists around me are worn out at this point. Many talk about quitting. Quitting never enters into my mind. I am just going to rest for a bit and then continue to the final stretch. But, good grief, I just ache all over. My legs feel okay but the rest of me is so sore. My knees are getting sore too. I decide to pop some motrin in order to get to the last stretch.

There is no place for me to rest my bike so I just lay her down on the ground. I put my garmin under her to charge. Then, I go looking for a Coke as they said they would have some here. I get my can of coke and a cup of chili. Both are tasting oh so good right now.

After recuperating for a bit. I get back on the bike. I know this is the last stretch. There is some climbing involved but basically, the home stretch. I pray to the weather gods that I have less wind. I turn on my rear light as this last stretch will probably get dark by the end and I do not want to stop to turn on my lights.

At 5:36 p.m., I text/tweet: "after 25 long slow miles in heavy wind, I finally made it to the last rest stop...169 miles...I hurt all over but legs still able to spin!"

The final stretch home

I head out of the rest stop and start riding away. There is still wind but it does not feel as strong as before. I am thinking I still might make it before 8pm. It would be nice to get within 15 hours. But, we will see how the weather goes. I am amazed my legs are spinning as well as they are. In long runs, I have hit points where I have to mentally tell myself to pick my feet up and keep going. Here, my legs are just spinning okay. The rest of the body aches but the legs are able to keep going.

I turn on some rural road. The route sheet says to go on a private road through a vineyard so I do. I hit the bumpiest road. The whole road. I ride to the left, to the right, up the middle, and it is all bumpy. There are also random little dips and such. The road is kind of gravely too. And, I tell you, 175 miles into a ride, there are certain parts of you that do not like getting bumped about. So, I stand up out of the saddle and kind of feel like I am mountain biking as I bounce along on this road. I am glad again I have my new tires on my bike as this road is just asking for a pinch flat.

After bouncing along that road for two miles, we finally hit a smooth road. I hear my text message alert. I pull my phone out and see my friend Mariah has sent a message "hope your double is a blast!! And hope the weather is better than here!!" I also catch a glimpse of messages from friends who posted to facebook. A lot telling me I am on the final stretch, nearly there, etc. This just makes me smile and helps me keep going.

The climbing begins. It is a good thing I like hills as this does not bother me. I do think about how Julie is always complaining about hills and how she is really not going to like that at mile 180 and such, there is more climbing. But, I climb up the hills a little slower than in the morning but legs still feeling strong. I do randomly think about Alex and Scooby snacks. My friend Alex often blasts by me on hills and talks about Scooby snacks when he does so (kind of inside joke between us). The grades are not that bad so I have no issues with my hamstring cramping again. I just keep going along. At some point, this guy with a single speed bike comes riding near me. For some reason, the single speed guys are always nearby when I climb hills. He's friendly and we kind of give a nod to each other.

I descend down and can see the sun is starting to dip down. I am racing the sun now but do not think I will beat it. I will be close though so that is still pretty good.

As I turn onto Ballard Canyon Road, it starts getting dim out. So, I turn on my front light. Then, I hit a hill I did not expect. Not too crazy but it's a little steeper than the one at mile 180ish and we are at mile 190. But, I plug away up the hill. When I get to the top, it is getting to be pretty dark and the descent is kind of fast and windy. It would be fun to go down in the daylight but kind of scary in the dark. I am thankful my front light is SUPER bright! Like a car light! Though, the battery seems like it may be low. I just hope I have enough juice to get to the finish.

I ride around in darkness alone for a bit. I had memorized the end of the route sheet since I cannot read my route sheet in the dark. I remember, I just have to make right turns. I ride closer to the right and start looking for the arrow markings to the turns. A man rolls up near me. He asks me if I know where I am going. I said kind of. He says he will stay behind me since I have a better front light and he has a better tail light. I am grateful this man is nearby as it is kind of unnerving to ride in the dark countryside alone, especially when I am not familiar with the area.

As we come out of this countryside area, the guy takes off. He seems to know that we are pretty close. I am not quite sure how much more we have to go. As I get near the last turn, a lady rides by saying I have no tail light. The light that Julie has lent me does not like to stay on and the one from Tawny is kind of small. I push the button for Julie's light so hopefully it stays on at the end. I really hope I don't get DQ'd for my stupid tail light not working.

I make one turn and look up and realize the Marriott is right there. Oh wow, I am just about done. I roll into the hotel and pass the timing thing. Finished!

After returning my timing number, eating a sandwich, and chit chatting with a few other finishers. I have to ride back to the hotel. I return to my hotel with my garmin saying about 199.6 so I just have to ride a couple laps around the parking lot so that I finish at exactly 200 miles. Happy to be done!

Text/tweet at 8:07 pm "first double century...DONE!"
and, a little bit after, I wrote "also thank you everyone for the good thoughts and well wishes today! I haven't seen all the comments yet but I felt the love/support! :)"

Random thoughts in the end...

My running endurance was able to convert to cycling endurance.

I think endurance running is harder than endurance cycling. My brain doesn't get fried cycling like it does with running. And, my legs are not so worn down as they are with running. And, I think I get a higher high from running than cycling. But, I enjoy enjoy the endurance cycling.

My new tires rock! Not a single flat tire!

I will do another double. I am a maybe on Hemet (budget concerns). I SO want to do the Davis Double (even moreso than before) and think I may ride the Norcal AIDS Cycle and the Davis Double at the same time (so long as I raise the money for the Norcal Aids Cycle. Donate!).

My athletic friends are awesome ! I could not get through all these crazy adventures without them. :)

My results

Saddle time: 13 hours 56 minutes 50 seconds
Official chip time: 15 hours, 2 minutes, 51 seconds

Overall finish: 185 out of 332 finishers*
Female finish: 12 out of 39 female finishers*

*the wind apparently made this year one of the highest years of DNF's. there were a number of unofficial finishers. people who finished but after the cutoff time so their results don't count.

Average Speed: 14.4 mph
Total climb: 7576 feet




Acknowledgements

I wish to thank everyone for all the support and wonderful messages that day! It really helped motivate me and encourage me on especially when things got tough. Thanks to those who came to my crazy dinner before I left. And, extra thanks goes to those that sent me messages throughout the day. It really helped!

Thank you and acknowledgment goes out to Hammerin Wheels. A cycling group which has really helped me become a cyclist in the past year and a half. I cherish the friendships I have made with various members of the group. I thank all of you that I have ridden and trained with. All those rides certainly helped. Extra special thanks goes to Javier Arroyo, Jeff Sanford, Scott Taggart, and Sarah Conover for the rides and the tips you have given me. You have really helped develop me as a cyclist.

Thanks goes out to my wonderful cycling group WAV. I kind of randomly became the organizer of what was once a tiny little cycling group of women. I gave it a little love and am amazed as to how much the group has grown in the past year. I love the support all you girls give me and to each other. You all make me proud to be part of something so wonderful.

Thank you to Jeff, Joan, Todd, Jodi, Lisa, Mica, Tawny, Julie, Tim, Perry, and Griff for sharing your prior double experiences with me and the advice you provided me to help me be ready for my first double century.

Special thanks to Javier, Todd, Craig, Alex, Mike, and Mark for riding with me in my first century just last October. If I had not had so much fun during my first century, I might not have considered going for a double century. ;-)

Thank you Mitch for riding with me in my 100 mile training ride three weeks prior to me going to Solvang. I was having a hard time getting in my really long rides and glad you decided to get into cycling recently. Nice to have another crazy runner friend out there to train with on the bike too. :).

Really big thanks to Jeff Sanford and Joan O'Conner for inspiring me to do this crazy thing of riding double centuries. :)

Lastly, I thank Tawny, Julie, and Rex for being great travel companions and sharing my first double experience with me. Tawny, I really thank you for all the knowledge you shared from your past experiences at Solvang and other doubles. I look forward to me sharing many more cycling adventures with all of you! :)

Monday, March 12, 2012

A Way Too Cool Adventure (3/10/12)

like i said when i did my marathon recaps, it's a long race so the recap is going to be long...but here you go...my way too cool adventure...


Way Too Cool...my first 50k...





Preface

Sometime last summer, while training for my first marathon, I signed up for the Run on the Sly 20 mile run not paying quite enough attention to the run description. It turned out to be my first trail race and my first taste of ultra-running.

My longest run prior to Run on the Sly was a 15 mile run, on the road. I had run on some trails but not of any significant distances. I went into the run blind thinking it would be a good training run for the marathon. Boy was I wrong! During the race, whatever expectations I had went out the window. I was hiking crazy steep hills for miles on end, crossing through creeks, sliding on crazy descents, grabbing trees to keep from sliding too much. I thought to myself, what the heck did I get myself into?

Around mile 11, I hit an aid station, an aid station I had been yearning for. I had run out of water. I get there and a lady offers to refill my water bottles and says I should help myself to some food. And, there's a whole table of snacks! This is strange. In road races, they just shove dixie cups at you and you rush along. This is nice! And, they have soda here! Being a soda addict, this is a major plus. I relished the Pepsi at the mile 16 aid station.

I truck along my merry way and encounter even more crazy climbing and crazy descents. But, I keep go along, enjoying the beautiful scenery. And, everyone is so nice! I am not getting trampled on when I choose to walk up a hill. Though it was one of the toughest race I had run at the time, it was a rather enjoyable experience...I think, if this is what ultra running is like, I kind of want to try this...and so the crazy seed to ultra-running was planted...;-)

So, after my first two marathons (I had to run a second one to get revenge on my first one), I decided I would try to do some more trail running and run an ultra-marathon. Someone suggested I try to get into Way Too Cool 50k. When the time came, I threw my name into the lottery. While I may never win the money lottery or the fancy car or whatever, I somehow seem to get lucky with race lotteries. I got into WTC!

Pre-Race
The evening prior to the race, some running friends and I got together for a nice carbo-loading dinner at my friend's Paulo's house. It was just a nice evening of good food, good company, good conversations, and many great laughs!

Now, one thing we talked/laughed about was that in running, you really bond with your fellow running buddies. There's something about running for hours on end with someone. My friend David has joked in the past that his running wife is Cathy. Dave and Cathy are each married to different people but they have run together for so long, they are running spouses. I made a joke that evening that I think Scott has become my running husband. The majority of my training runs for WTC have been with Scott. While there have been big group training runs, the group spreads itself out and I usually end up running with Scott since we run about the same pace. I have gotten rather used to running the long trail runs with him. In fact, I am going to be Scott's pacer for when he runs AR50 (his first 50 mile race). So, that evening we joked and laughed about how we were running spouses.

After dinner, we watched "Unbreakable: The Western States 100." [For you non-runners out there, the Western States 100 is a 100 mile race from Squaw Valley To Auburn. It's pure ultra-running craziness but what many ultra-runners aspire to do!] For me, it was my first time seeing the movie. And, just the perfect movie to watch the night before my first ultra marathon. Very inspirational. And, the words of Gordy Ainsleigh (first man to run the Western States) stuck in my mind "keep putting one foot in front of the other"

The morning of the race, I got up extra early. My gear was already prepared as I didn't want to have another "chasing the bus" incident. After getting my usual pre-race Starbucks latte and oatmeal, I headed up to Cool pretty early. I see many of my running friends out there and just hang out. I think about how nice it is during my journey to this race, I have befriended so many amazing, inspirational runners. And, I have come to really REALLY enjoy races where I get to see so many friends running in it or just out volunteering and/or cheering runners on! Makes for a much more enjoyable experience.


We do a few frog pictures. Bruce kisses the frog for good luck. Then, we all gather over to the start line. I somehow lose sight of Scott at the start line. It is quite crowded but I am near other running friends so that's nice. We just stand around chatting away. Having fun.

The Race

The Olmstead Loop (first 8 miles)
We are all gathered at the start. Everyone is excited. We are talking and laughing and just hanging out. I do not even hear the gun go off or hear when exactly the race started. We just see people start to move forward so we start going along. I try to look around to see if I can find Scott but he's no where to be seen. I am a little bummed as I was hoping we would at least start off together. But, at least, I have my other running friends around.

Once we cross the start line, we start running. A nice group of us are running together. We are chatting and laughing and going out easy-ish on the road. I am running with Randy, David, and Sophia for bit. I can hear a few other runners I know behind me. But, it is pretty crowded and we are just trucking along up the road.

It gets a little crowded so I start weaving around some people. I am running at a pretty decent pace but trying to not go out too fast. These legs have a long way to go today.

We come down a hill and hit the little creek area. Many runners slow way down as some try to tip toe across the creek, balancing on the rocks. This creek isn't much of anything since it has not been raining much so I just go running across it. Got to get the feet wet at some point. Bruce is right near me when we go splashing through the water. We make some comment to each other about now that our feet our wet, the race has really begun!

I am running along pretty well. I try to keep near Randy for a bit. But, when I hit the single track, I just get stuck behind some slower-ish runners and lose sight of him. I have no idea what happened to my other running friends. This pack I am stuck in is running a bit slower than I want to run but I tell myself this is good that I are keeping me from running out too fast as I will need my legs later on. So, I just truck along at this easy pace for a couple miles. This is a nice area but I am mainly looking at the feet of the guy in front of me. I don't want to trip. He nearly does on a rock.

Eventually, the trails opens up a little and I am able to skirt around some people and get ahead of them. I get a little anxious being stuck in crowds and so whenever I have the chance to get around and break away from them, I do. I am feeling pretty good as I am running along. I pass a couple people I know as I go along. I start to think I am running perhaps a little faster than I should be running so early in a long race. I am trying my best to not get into full race stride.

The first hour passes quickly and I am happy with my pace. It's already getting pretty warm and my arm warmers come off pretty quickly. I am thinking about taking off my gloves but I keep them on a little longer.

About half a mile back to the Cool Fire Station and the first aid station (at mile 8), I am running through a field area and I can see the runners ahead. Ahead of me across the field, I see a bright green jacket! It's Scott! I am really happy his wife, Mary, told him to wear bright clothing! He isn't too far off for me to catch. I think I can probably catch up to him at the aid station.

Cool Fire Station to Quarry (at mile 11ish)
I get back to the Cool Fire Station and the crowds are cheering. This is fun! I high five two guys dressed as a gorilla and a banana! This is good. I remember a gorilla and a banana passing me in the NYC marathon when I was struggling in that race. At least I am not getting passed by a gorilla and banana this time.

I feel like the first 8 miles was just a warm up run. Here's where the real race begins. And, I will be running on the trails I have been training on, which I have come to know well.

I hit the aid station with my eye on Scott. He just passed the aid station. I stop briefly to refill my water bottle and take a quick shot of coke/pepsi. Then, I start sprinting after Scott. I am flying out of the aid station and down the trails. I hear some people cheering me and I think some people are looking at me like I am crazy for sprinting so hard so early in a race. But, I have my eyes on the back of Scott. I want to catch him!

I make the left turn and running down the trail as fast as I can until finally get to him. I am so happy to have caught up to him. I tell him it took me awhile but I finally caught you. I had lost sight of my other running friends. They just run different paces than me so we get separated easily. But, I am thinking I could run with Scott for awhile. At least to Goat Hill.


We run along chatting about the race, other runners, etc... We talk through what we have ahead as we have become familiar with the trails. We tell ourselves, we just go down to Quarry, then to the Dead Truck Loop, then the loop we know so well to Goat Hill. Up Goat Hill then back down to 49 and back up to Cool. We know this. Mentally, we are getting ourselves ready.

The run down to Hwy 49 & Quarry trails is mostly a downhill run so we go at a pretty decent pace. Though, we are thinking this is not going to be fun going back up at the end of the race. We are just enjoying the run and going along. The weather is really nice today! My gloves have come off!

We near Hwy 49 and can hear the cars. We turn the corner and head down this little decent before crossing Hwy 49. As we come around the bend, I hear people yelling out my name. But, it is so rocky that I am looking at the trail and not up. But, I am delighted to hear friendly voices.

I look up and see good ol' Steve right there taking pictures as usual. As I cross the street, I see my cyclist friend Lance. What a nice surprise! He had cycled out there and is watching the race and cheering me on! Seeing my friends definitely gives me a little boost!

I then see there is no one using the port-a-pottie so I zip my way down to it. I had been waiting for an opportune time to relieve myself (for the past 10 miles) and got lucky, there was no line here. Scott decides to de-jacket at this point and he kindly waits for me.

Quarry Trail
Once we are ready, off we go. We pass the aid station that seems to have some tropical theme. We don't stop.

This section going along pretty well for us. We are running along pretty well. I walk some hills, run some other hills depending on how I feel. Anytime Scott suggests we walk, I am all for it. Important to conserve our energy. When I do run the hills, I try not to attack them but run easy and use it as recovery time as my friend Bruce suggested to me a couple weeks prior. I get on my toes a bit and go lightly up the hill.

Around mile 15.5, I comment that we are halfway done! I am feeling pretty good and we've been running at a decent pace. Though now, I am really trying to focus on my fueling, making sure I take GUs and other food and drinking water routinely. I feel as though I have not been eating enough lately.

This section seems to go by in a blur. I remember passing a few people we knew but the miles on Quarry passed by quickly and easily for us. We made a quick stop at one aid station.

Dead Truck Loop
We get to the bottom of Ball Bearing and joke a little bit about taking the short cut up ball bearing. But, we turn and head onto the Dead Truck Loop. For the past couples, it was a little warm so I look forward to this section knowing it is fairly shaded.

This section of the trails, I absolutely love! It is simply gorgeous here! Canyon to your left and lush mountain sides on your right...beautiful greenery! And there are moments where you just feel like there is no one else around. My legs are feeling just good and I am just rocking and rolling through this section. I am happy that I am feeling so good as the upper teen miles often get to me. And, I just run along passing a few folks.

We get down to a creek crossing and hop some rocks to get over it. Then, it goes straight up for awhile. We hike our way up. I use that time to eat an oatmeal cookie and some shot blocks as I hike up the hill.

Then, the trail opens up a little and there's a slight (sometimes not so slight) incline for a bit. I am feeling good and strong so run along feeling great. I am not trying to push myself too much but I feel like I am running a nice comfortable pace. I am even running nice and easy up the hills (rather than walking). I pass up a number of runners. Scott is behind me for most of it. He sometimes gets stuck behind another runner but I know he's not too far back. I am feeling good and happy that we are doing a really good pace. We are right on track to getting under 6 hours today! I am also happy that I am feeling a lot better today than I did when I did the practice run in this section.

There's an aid station at around mile 21. I am looking forward to it. I want to drink some coke now, get my coke fix. And, I know I need to eat some real food. Maybe some potatoes. I think about what I am going to eat and drink at the next aid station as I run along.

I come around a bend and start heading on a slightly steep (but short) downhill section to the aid station. My left foot completely cramps up! I stop in my tracks. The guy behind me (not Scott) makes some comment about how I need to learn to descend better. I say I am sorry but my foot is cramping. I manage to get myself down and my foot is okay for a moment. Odd pain that I did not expect to get.

I drink some 3-4 little dixie cups of coke and as I am reaching for some potatoes, my left foot completely cramps up again. So painful that I yelp and grip the end of the table in pain! One of the volunteers runs over to me and asks me what's hurting. I say my left foot. And, she starts to massage my foot and stretch it out a bit while I eat some potatoes and salt. I think to myself, this is why I like ultras, people take care of the runners.

I grab some extra GU packets and eat one as Scott and I head out of the aid station on our way again.

ALT to Goat Hill
Since my foot cramped up, I am a little anxious about how the foot will hold up but we go along okay. Scott is running in front now and I am behind him. I am trying to be more diligent about taking GU more often and drinking more electrolytes/water. Every couple miles, I try to take something, either a GU or some of my cookies or shot blocks. I have had the hamstring and calf and was prepared to deal with that but the foot is not something I am used to and not sure what works best to relieve it. The only time my foot has cramped like that is when I wear high heels all day long.

I became a little more cautious on how I was stepping as I was running, especially when I was on a decline since the foot had cramped up on a descent.

But, I mostly run okay. I can feel a little twinge here and there but we are going along okay. I am counting down the miles now. We hit mile 21 and Scott and I are happy that we are in single digits now! He's always says it's always nice when we are in single digits. Every mile, I am counting down! 9 more miles! 8 more miles! etc.

This section of trails that we are running is a favorite of mine. It's really pretty with the canyons and the trees. Just beautiful trails. The trails are soft with leaves and pine needles in some sections so you can just really go on them. There are still some roller hills here and there. We walk some and run others but make sure we are saving our energy for Goat Hill and the finish.

We just go along. I mostly just stare at Scott's feet ahead of mine. Just have to keep going. One foot in front of the other. It is nice to be familiar with the trail.

Around mile 25ish, we get near the bottom of Goat Hill. Goat Hill is a beastly hill. Not very long but it has some very steep grades (over 25% and some reaching into the 30%'s). This is a hill you hike (or drag yourself up), not run. In the past, Scott usually gets up the hill faster than me. Then, he'll just take off running. I am usually so wiped out by the hill that it takes me a little bit to recover after climbing up the hill.

As we near the hill, I tell Scott he can just take off after the hill as I probably will hang back a bit. We refuel ourselves and make our way to Goat Hill. We mentally get ourselves ready for it and say "here we go." We make the sharp right turn and up we go. It goes up and up with some switchbacks. I stay behind Scott as best as I can pushing my way up this hill. I just stare at Scott's feet going up and try not to look up to the top of the hill. Just look at what's immediately ahead of me and keep one foot in front of the other.

Halfway up the hill, I tell him how glad I am that we went up this hill last weekend. For a training run last weekend, Scott, Gary and I went for a 10 mile run including Goat Hill. I had wanted one more practice hike up this hill to have my legs and brain better prepared for it during the race. I am really happy we did that. Goat hill does not feel so bad at this point. It is hard but I have felt far worst other times I have gone up this hill.

When I finally get up to the top, panting heavily, but feeling pretty good though tired. I run pass Scott to the aid station as I really want to drink more coke. I drink more coke, eat a few snacks and refill my water. There's a guy there sponging people so I get sponged a little bit. It feels refreshing. Then, off we go.

Goat Hill to Upper 49 Crossing
We start running along and it's mostly a downhill run for this section. I am happy that I am still running with Scott. He goes downhills a lot faster than me but I try to stay up with him. I can tell my foot is feeling a little funny on the downhills. I am nervous it might cramp up again.

We are going along pretty good but then on one descent, my foot cramps up again and I have to stop and sit on a little rock in the middle of this hill. Scott is just flying down the hill and around a bend out of sight that I figure he's just gone now. A couple runners come passing by me. One guy is really nice and asks if I want help or salt tabs or anything. I say my foot's cramped and I will be okay. Another gal does the same thing. The runners are so nice.

The cramp passes and I start to get up and I can hear the runners that had just pass me say "she has a foot cramp" or something. I hear them telling Scott that I had cramped up.

I get down and around the bend and Scott is there with a s-cap in hand to give to me. Then, we start going along. Scott gets a little ahead of me for some stretches but always in sight. I am getting really tired now. My legs are tired. I feel slight twinges in my calf and hamstring. I worry my whole leg might cramp up. I drop some fizz tablets into my water and just start drinking that.

I am doing whatever I can to stay with Scott but it's getting hard. I pass one runner, Marc, who looks familiar. He recognizes me and tells me I am doing well and encourages me on.

Oh man, I feel so tired. Scott seems to be running pretty strong but we're 28 miles in and I can feel it now. I have no doubt I will get to the finish but this is where the true heart of the race is. Where one has to tell oneself to keep going. I told myself at mile 10, when I was feeling great, the race hasn't begun yet. When I hit mile 16, halfway through, I told myself the race hasn't begun yet. Now, here is where the race is. It finally started somewhere around mile 28. In my head, I am just thinking just keep one foot in front of the other. I try not to think too much beyond that. Just one foot in front of the other. Keep going.

As we get near mile 29, I can faintly hear the cars on Highway 49. I can hardly wait to get to the next aid station. I know Paulo and maybe some other friends will be at that aid station. And, it's the last stop before the finish line. I am using whatever strength I have left to pick up my feet and keep moving them forward. I can tell Scott is tired too. We start to walk pretty much every incline, even the smaller ones. We are not saying too much to each other anymore. We just want to get to the finish.

But as we get closer to Hwy 49, we can hear the cars and people there. I can hear the cheering and maybe some cowbells. And, this gives us both a little boost. We start to run again. Much slower than before but we are running. I just want to get to that aid station. Then, get to the finish. That is all I am thinking about.

As we start heading down to Highway 49, we see some friends cheering. Mary (Scott's wife) is standing at the bottom taking pictures of us as we come out onto the road. She starts running behind us as we head to the aid station. There is something about seeing a familiar, friendly face in a long race. It was like that in my marathons and like that here. There's something that just gives you a little extra that you need to see someone you know encouraging you on.

I cross the road and get to the aid station. People are really peppy here but it is hard for me to pay attention to all that's going on here. I refill my water bottle. I drink some coke. Some lady puts three s-caps in my hands and tells me to take it. I see cheese-its and grab a handful and stuff all of it in my mouth. My brain is fried at this point. I am not thinking properly.

I see Paulo and I am really happy to see him though I am just far too tired to express that excitement. He is dressed in a cow costume and sponging people down. He comes to me with a sponge and sponges my head. He starts to tell me I am looking good but stops and says well, you don't look so good but you are almost done. I am amused that he told me I don't look so good because I know I do not look good. I feel like a zombie.

The final stretch
Scott and I start heading up the trail back to Cool. We are both clearly beat but we have to keep going. We are almost there and we are still on track to breaking 6 hours. Mary is right behind us. She is chatting away. She offers to carry anything for us and Scott gives her his jacket. She says she'll run with us back to Cool. That's nice.

I have cheese-its and s-caps stuffed in my mouth. I wasn't actually thinking very well when I put that all in my mouth. I am attempting to chew on the cheese-its but not the tabs and swallow it all. I tell Mary of this random dilemma kind of amused with myself. I eventually get it all down. Thinking is not working very well at this point. Clearly.

Mary makes a joke that Scott is with both his wives now. This amuses me. I am very grateful that she's there and talking away as that's keeping me going up this really tough final climb to Cool. I feel Scott and I are just exhausted and it is nice to have someone with some energy be near us encouraging us both on. We are mostly hiking this last stretch up. We run a little then hike some more. But, Mary is right behind me talking away. She talks about some of the other runners she saw while waiting for us. It is nice to hear about how the others are doing. I am beginning to understand why some of the longer ultra races have pacers. It helps to have someone there. It has been great having Scott with me this whole time but we are both so beat that it's nice to have another person there for the final stretch.

We get to the top and we just have to run about a mile back to the fire station. Scott takes off as I know he just wants to get to the finish. I am beat and just going along at my own pace. Mary hangs back with me and continues talking about this and that. It keeps me going. My brain is barely processing anything now except to keep one foot in front of the other.

At one point, Mary breaks away to the right so she can get to the finish line. I turn left and keep running along up this little hill. As I am running down it, my damn left foot cramps up again and I squat down in pain. Damn these downhills! My foot hates them. I rather run uphill now as the cramping seems to only happen on descents.

After a short moment, I pick up my legs and keep going. They hurt and want to cramp more but I can see the finish and I just want to get there. I run along the last stretch and some runners are along the side encouraging me one. I see Scott make the last right turn before the finish line. I drag myself along kind of running, kind of hobbling but going.

I turn the corner kind of gimpish and I hear some people cheer my name. Then, I kick it. My legs always know when the finish is near and when to kick into high gear. And, I sprint into the finish.

I cross the finish line and stop in front of Kevin standing there with water bottles. I stare at him for a bit as my brain is really slow at processing anything. I know this person but brain is having trouble processing what is going on. Then I think, oh, I should stop my Garmin now. I stop my Garmin and then, it really sinks in that I did it! I finished my first 50k! It was shorter than 31 miles but I sure as hell was not going to complain! I am happy that's over with.

And, both Scott and I finished under 6 hours! Scott wanted to break 6! I wanted to get under 6:10 and we came in around 5:45-5:46ish. We even had room to spare and still would have broken 6 hours had the course been an actual 31 miles. :)

The Post Race
Post race was a blast! Got to see so many of my running friends out there and watch some of them finish! Everyone seemed to have done better than they expected! It was a gorgeous sunny day! I was on a nice endorphin high! My legs were weary but I felt happy and accomplished! And, it was a really nice post-race party! Just hanging out and having a good time! And, of course, I go get and eat my frog cupcake! Oh, 30 miles for this yummy treat!

I made a few new running friends out there, which was nice. Trail races have a different vibe than road races I find. People are friendlier and it is more of a community than everyone doing their own thing. A couple of my Java Jogger friends, Dave and Susie, had come out to see me and other runners which always warms my heart to have the support of my Java Joggers!

But, as I am sitting on the couch with Bruce chatting away with Dave & Susie. I look up and see this guy. Is that who I think it is? I tap Bruce's arm and ask him if that's Gordy Ainsleigh I am seeing....he certainly looks like the guy in the movie I just saw last night. Bruce says yes it is and says let me go introduce you. And, I actually meet Gordy Ainsleigh and it's funny to see him kind of tease Bruce about this and that. Bruce tells him how I ran my first 50k today and I finished 5:46. Gordy says that's a good time. :)





THANKS

I thank all the wonderful volunteers at the event as they were fantastic! Everyone was very cheerful and caring! I felt well taken care of out on the run, especially when I was not feeling so grand. :)

I thank all you wonderful friends who came out to cheer myself and/or other runners on! It does really help!

I thank Folsom Trail Runners for all the wonderful training runs they had before this event. It really helped to be familiar with the trails. I am glad that during this ultra marathon process, I have made so many friends through FTR and look forward to sharing many more fun adventures with you all! It has really been fun running with you all! Special thanks to Bruce, Scott, Bryan, Bill, and James for organizing some great training runs!

As always, I thank my Java Joggers. I wear the Java Joggers shirt in every race for a reason. You make me good to the last mile. Always supportive to me in my crazy adventures and always there cheering me on. I always feel loved by you all and continue to love you all so very much! And, I will always be grateful for you all making me into the runner first of all and then into the runner I am today. Extra thanks to Dave, Susie, Paul & Paulo for coming out for us! Also, thanks to Ralph Keith for talking me into this crazy event! ;-)

Big thank you to Mary for being there for Scott and myself during that last stretch uphill. Oh, I was so fried at that point. I think Scott was too. It was really nice to have you there encouraging us on and just talking away. I don't quite remember all that you were saying but it was comforting and really helped me keep going. I especially thank you for still hanging back with me when Scott started breaking away from me.

And, last and certainly not least, I express the utmost gratitude and thanks to Scott Engquist! I probably could have gotten through that race without you but it would have been way worse. And, I do not think I would have gotten as good of a time as I did had it not been for you being there. I remember in the latter miles, I would just focus on your feet to keep me going. Just follow Scott I would think and not think too much beyond that. It is always wonderful having your company on all the runs we've had and it has been a blast training for WTC with you! I cannot express how happy I was when I saw that green jacket of yours and I had to book it to catch up to you! All that training together really helped me be prepared for this race. And, I was really happy that I got to share my first 50k with you for nearly all of it. Thanks for waiting up on me at certain points in the run and giving me s-caps as needed too! While we didn't quite start together, I am very happy that we pretty much finished together. THANK YOU!!!! :)