Trail Marathon - No Wimps Challenge

Trail Weekend -  No Wimps Challenge

This is a two day event: the first day we run a Half Marathon and the second day either a full marathon or 50k.  This year I chose the half marathon and then the full marathon, to run a total of 39.3 miles for the weekend.  And yah, I am a bit crazy, but over the last 6 years of running I have met a lot of great folks who make crazy seem possible.

Saturday – The Half Marathon 13.1:  I was nervous and excited as I rocked out to my favorite run tunes on the way to the race.  I started thinking about all of the amazing, supportive, and positive friends I have met over the past years and started crying.  I am not sure I could have made it this far, or been brave enough to attempt this race without all of that positive energy encouraging me on through all of the training runs.  My trail peeps kept me honest about my miles and gave me a reason to keep to my training plan.  I do this race every year and I think this has been the best year of training so far, and it’s because of the enormous support from my running peeps.

Saturday was supposed to be my easy run day.  As the miles got rougher and rougher I kept telling myself  “With all of my training 13 miles should be a fun walk in the park, right?” My Pace goal was to keep between 13-14 miles/min to save my energy for tomorrow’s longer Marathon distance.  I am proud to say I was pretty successful with that even as the miles got more and more painful. 

I had a shoe malfunction where it felt like the tongue was pressing into a nerve in the front top of my ankle.  I have worn these shoes for 2 months with no problems and no pain and now it felt like I was bruising a nerve with each step. Each downhill step was a burning and stabbing pain.  After stopping to re-tie and adjust 4 times I gave up and just pressed through, tried to ignore the pain and focused on staying on pace.   I don’t really remember the people around me or the scenery.

I tried to distract myself with songs; Middle of The Ride-Jimmy Eat World, I’ll Fly Away – Allison Krauss and Gillian Welch, Carry On- Fun along with snippets of several others were playing in my head.  You know when you can’t remember anything but the chorus?  There is a song that I can’t remember the title or artist but the chorus is “The bells, the bells, the bells” in my head it became “The hills, the hills, The Hills!” 

I made it to the finish in the time I wanted and with a crowd of cheering friends to greet me. I did it!  But I was part elated, part scared. I was very sore, 13 miles was not easy it was a rough ride, and I had changed my gait to try to relieve my ankles causing some different pains in my hamstrings and glutes.  I was worried that I would not be able to get through the next day’s 26.2 miles.

Sunday – The Full Marathon 26.2:  Sunday morning I was not as sore as I feared, and after some trial and error I found that with 2 layers of socks and pulling the tongue of the shoe over to the side alleviated my ankle pain.  The day was cold and gloomy, with threatening skies and a forecast of steady rain.  My friends, however, were all cheerful, excited and full of enough sunny smiles to brighten any day. 

The plan had been to pace Leslie for her first full marathon at 15 – 16 min/miles for the first loop, then pick up pace for the second if my body was feeling up to it.  However Leslie was considering a slower pace at 16 – 17 min miles and Connie who joined us at the last minute wanted to go slower as well.  Erinn, Leslie, Connie, and I started out together at the back of the pack, however Erinn and I kept to a 15 – 16 min/mile pace and Leslie and Connie soon fell behind.  I was surprised to find that I felt really good at that pace with no pain or soreness, it felt like the day before had been a rough warm up and today I was falling into the right rhythm and relaxing into the pace right off the bat. 

Erinn and I picked up another runner named Kim, who said she liked my pace and she remembered me from yesterday and how I looked like a natural and made it look effortless. If only she knew what an effort yesterday was for me!  I assured her that every step was an effort. Kim and I stuck with Erinn for the first 8 ish miles then Erinn picked up pace and after a mile at 14 min miles I decided to slow down and stay with my planned pace. Kim stayed with me for the rest of the race, she said she liked my pace and that I inspired her to run more and walk less.  This was a first for me, after 6 years it’s nice to know I have gotten to the point I can hold a pace that someone else likes.  This is the first Marathon that I have had company the whole way and it really helped the miles go by!

 I was also lost in memories of the trail.  6 months of training on the Potowatami trail, and I had memorized every turn, hill, bench and rock along the way.  I was accompanied by memories of all the fun times with friends; Pacing Leslie with her grit and determination, and occasional rap music inspiration to keep going through any weather or soreness.  Hearing Cindy’s voice yelling “C’mon Jen, you got this!” as we run up some of the toughest hills on the trail.   Kim yelling “My ass hurts!”, and singing loudly and enthusiastically “These are a few of my favorite things!”  Erinn’s dry, sarcastic humor and her swearing, a lot at the cold, and the rain, and the trail, none of which seem to slow her down.  Steve’s “I think I know another way to get to 20 miles, I’m sure it’s over here.” Leslie’s hearing an owl for the first time.  Climbing the “Jurassic Park” fence, switching around the race magnets on another Ultra runner’s car. ( I wonder if they ever noticed?)  And hundreds of other silly, grueling, and awesome moments with Cindy taking Go Pro pictures of the journey. These memories kept me company on the trail. 

Kim and I had some of our own silly moments especially in the second loop towards the end when I was getting a bit loopy from fatigue.  Kim remarked that she could no longer go in a straight line, my thought that Steve complains about that with me when I haven’t been running a marathon.  May Apples were looking like little umbrellas in the rain and reminding me of an anime character Totoro, standing and waiting for a bus.  I imagined lots of little forest spirits waiting for the bus and thinking if it came by I would love a lift to the finish. Seeing a scattering of broken red pottery on the path and thinking I should be careful not to cut my feet, then realizing it was bark, not pottery, and I have shoes on so it wouldn’t cut my feet.

We were a ¼ mile to the finish when another runner came up behind us and remarked “My everything hurts!”  I was with him at that point, everything hurt, but for some reason I didn’t want him to pass me. And with Cindy’s voice in my head I roared as I picked up pace and ran up the next hill, and kept my pace up.  He passed me anyway, but Kim quickly fell behind as I ran up the remaining hills and saw a crowd of friends shouting for me as I pushed into a sprint into the finish.  I felt Brilliant!  I had done it!  6 months of slogging through ice, snow, mud, and an occasional sunny picnicking day.  I think this is the first race that I felt well prepared for and didn’t charlie horse or cramp up during, and I didn’t do it alone.  “It takes a village” and I have been blessed to find a village of inspiring, supportive, and kick ass friends to get me to the finish.  

Thank You everyone who shared in my journey!