G-Nome wishes me luck before the race...(Thanks Paul)
“You Need to Leave”
Heart
rate and altitude chart (PDF)
Big Horn Website
A race for me always starts the day before with various pre-race rituals, the most important of which is panic, followed closely by the “oh, well” and then the painting of the toenails - This year’s color was “silver speed.” After all that, the drop bags were taken to race officials, packet was retrieved and then off to the Pasta Dinner and Social
3:00 am rolled around pretty quick. I grabbed my breakfast, got dressed in the stuff I had laid out the night before and (after a quick goodbye kiss to Doug) headed out the door to get on the bus to the start. We made it to Dayton with no problem, and then the caravan of buses started up the twisty road to the start. At this point, one of the buses’ “check engine” light came on. Our bus was still moving so our driver raced us up the mountain, dropped us off and then went back for the other busload of runners. We ended up starting ½ hour late, but everybody was there, the sun was up, the moose were out, and we were ready to go.
At 6:30 we were off. My goal was to be “faster than last year” and for me, that meant I really needed to run hard for the early part of the course, so I just tried to keep up with the folks around me. This strategy actually worked pretty well – it was faster than I would have gone on my own, but not so fast as to put me in jeopardy (not as fast as dirtmama took me out at Bandera!). The first part of the course still had some snow (more than last year) and the Spring Marsh area was quite wet – my feet were wet early on, but I wasn’t concerned as I had dry socks waiting for me. This first 18 miles is essentially steady downhill, so I just WENT. I figured if I didn’t get some time in the bank I would pay for it later and I was right on this account. Through Spring Marsh aid station (BTW, they hiked a snow blower in here to get to the aid station!), past Leaky Mountain, through the Narrows. There were a group of us who kept leap-frogging one another right into the aid station at Footbridge (18 miles) so I felt good about my strateigery – I was 20 minutes ahead of my time last year when I arrived.
My hubby met me at the aid station (which is quite a feat as it is an exciting drive there – 4WD road, stream crossings, washouts etc) and I quickly changed shoes and socks, ate a pancake, ditched my jacket and long sleeve shirt, grabbed a bunch of food and headed up. And up. And up. This section is called the wall: 2000+ feet in three miles, and the climb was relentless. The sun was fully out by this time and it was heating up. Most of this course is pretty exposed, so I just kept up to the mantra “forward progress” – move along steadily and keep eating and drinking. There was still a group of 5-8 of us moving along together. One of the guys knew all of the flowers – and there were LOADS of flowers! The entire climb up was blanketed with wildflowers. Amazing. Way more than last year and just stunning. I probably lost about 10 minutes here taking pictures (it was a good excuse to stop and catch my breath!). One of the guys started singing to the tune of the Mickey Mouse song: (edited for a PG rating) G -r- u- n- t (obviously he wasn’t hiking fast enough….). it broke us all up and made the climb a tad more interesting. It was about at this point that my asthma kicked up – lots of coughing and hacking as I climbed. I had used my inhaler earlier, and would continue to hit it all day, but this was the only negative of my race.
Finally we reached Bear Camp aid station. These guys have to backpack or horse pack everything in, and after that climb we couldn’t thank them enough. And then we were off…. It’s 5 miles to the next aid station, rolling but runnable. I felt much better through here than last year so I felt like I was moving pretty well. We still had the same little cluster moving essentially together, so I knew where I was in the pack. In and out of Cow Camp (bacon! Yummm!!) and then forward to the next aid station at Dry Fork. To me, this is the toughest part of the course. It is up and down and up and down and (get it?). No shade. And you can see the next aid station for at least 3 miles. Luckily this stretch was covered in lupines (almost like the Texas bluebonnet J) so I was happy to run when I could and enjoy the scenery when I couldn’t. It was along this stretch that I introduced myself to one of the guys I had been playing leap-frog with:
“Hi, what’s your name?” “Doc. You?” “Celeste. Nice to meet you.” “You wouldn’t happen to be CelesteW from the Runners World forums?” DOH. We’d only been running together for about 20 miles… (nice to meet you centipede…..) Turns out I've chatted with this guy online for probably over a year.
Finally we arrived at Dry Fork. Tons of people dropped here. It was hot and dry and a lot of people didn’t make the cutoff. Luckily for me my hubby was there and got me dry socks, watermelon, PowerDream shake (Soy version of ensure) etc. As I was settling into my chair, looking for someone to chat with, he turned to me and said “You need to leave.” It was the nicest thing! He knew I wanted to improve my time so he hustled me out of there. At this point I still had about 30 minutes on last year, so I was glad to go.
Leaving the aid station I hooked up with “G” – Georgia, from Minnesota. She is a 50- something ex-marine who now works at the Mayo clinic with pari- and quadriplegics. She was stationed “forward” in Vietnam, and firmly believes in not leaving anyone behind. We stayed together most of the rest of the race. Great lady. Our goal was to run the easier downhills, walk the steep ones (the quads were trashed by this point) and then run the last five miles of road into the finish. Which we did: through the rolly bits of road, up the “haul” (short but steep final big climb) and then down into the Tongue River Canyon. It was hot and steep – we dipped our hats in whatever water we could find, and tried to stay hydrated. Somewhere in here we leap-frogged Doc, who had lost a shoe to the boot-sucking mud. The heat and the mosquitoes got quite annoying, but when we got into the canyon and hit the last aid stations, I knew I was ahead of my time and I still felt good.
Once we hit the road (five miles to go) G took off running. I tried to stay with her, but I had no climbing left, and at the small hills I had to walk – but I kept walking fast – I kept G in sight and kept motoring along. I actually passed several people along the way. Eventually I saw Doug – he had walked in to meet me, and we ran the last mile and half together. I’m sure he could’ve walked as fast as I was running, but he ran too to make me look good. Eventually we crossed the bridge, rounded the corner, and I could see the finish. Doug peeled off and I crossed the finish line in 13:55. The 20 minutes I put on at the beginning was the margin I finished with over last year.
I headed straight into the river to cool off. Saw Matt, JoeP (who had run the 100 in 33:??) and Charles who had run the 100 in 27:??, then rode his bike down the road to pace a friend back into the finish. He was 6th overall (and only 26 years old). G ended up putting three minutes on me on the road. Go Girl! Hot dogs, chips, soda etc finished up the day. I was one whipped puppy, but very pleased.
The Outcome: (drumroll…..) 2nd in my age group! This was quite the shocker (and yes, before you ask, there were more than two of us!). G got first in her age group. I ended up with 3 toenails that I will probably lose, a nasty sunburn (even though I reapplied sunscreen twice), hammered quads, a Crazy Creek chair for the finishers award, and a cool handmade ceramic mug for my age group award. The mug even has Robert Frost’s poem “Road Less Traveled” on it (see my website address)…must be fate.
Thanks for all “y’all’s” help during my training (dirtmama listened to a lot of BS offline J). Panic takes practice, too ya know! I’d also like to thank G (for pacing duties), and especially my hubby Doug who not only is my biggest fan, but knows how to crew as well. Love ya, Babe!
This race is one of the best organized races ever, and the volunteers here are unbelievable. You would never know that you are in one of the more remote spots in the lower 48 - they make sure you have everything you need, or they find it for you. They keep you moving forward, or give you a lift out. Its all about the runners here. I think they may have even planted the flowers for us....
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