What’s better than doing a favorite trail race a 2nd
time around? Doing it with trail running friends and spending the weekend in a beautiful cabin
on a creek that looked up at the Eastern States 100 trail.
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| Bear Lodge in Waterville about 30 mins from the race |
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| Enjoying the creek |
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| Bunk beds galore! |
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| At the starting line. Shari had a cool fold up bike and escorted us each in to the finish. |
What went well:
- At the top of the last climb – aptly named “SOB”
I felt really, really good. I looked at
my watch and our time was 3:15. I knew
that the rest of the course was mostly flat and there were some big downs. Could we break 4? HECK YEAH!
I really didn’t
think we could break 4, but I felt AWESOME – my legs were springy, lungs were
full, feet were fresh. We flew by a pack
of very fit looking men and they cheered for us, which felt amazing. We looked at each other and gave a fist
pump. Then it was all business. Our heads went down and we charged ahead. We
made it in for a time of 4:00:36! The lesson here is that being smart about
hiking the climbs leaves a good amount in the tank for a strong finish.
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| Conga line before things got real on Humble Hill |
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| Hyner View |
- Nutrition was just about perfect during the
race. I had focused on hydrated well the
day before the race and it paid off. I
drank frequently during the race from my UD vest and took a couple small
Gatorade cups at aid stations. I started
with my 33 shake pouch at the 1st aid station – which was after the
1st big climb at mile 3. I
would usually wouldn’t eat so early, but we were waiting for friends so I was
filling time. I think this made a big
difference. I ended up doing 1.5 33
shake pouches, a small cliff bar at mile 9, and Swedish fish at the last 2 aid
stations (mile 9 and 12). My friend Amanda made homemade cinnamon buns for
Sunday morning which were amazing and I definitely had seconds. The lesson here is eat early and start well
hydrated!
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No feet on the ground!
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- There was a section of the trail
carpeted in moss which felt like I was running on a cloud. The
lesson here is to enjoy every moment that nature hands to you and you will be
gifted with a rich experience that will outlast any PR.
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| hard earned s'mores around the campfire! |
The lessons for next time:
- My heel spur has been feeling great
(miraculous), but I still kept the inexpensive Dr. Scholls gel heel cups in my
shoes. I think these were overall good,
but they annoyed me on the downs at the end.
I iced after the race twice and my heel is really in great shape. My quads are pretty fried though (as
expected) – up the steps ok, down steps and sitting on toilet elicits a groan! I need
to get my shoe/foot situation figured out before World’s End in May.
- Stupid underpants. Wedgies, chaffing, etc. = distraction. There has to e a better solution out
there. I need to think about this and find underpants that work for me.
- Got closer to the start line
than last year strategically in front of a tree that I remembered, but it was
still too far back. Next year I need to
be even farther up so that we can get a bit more of a jump on the placement in
the conga line for the 1st climb up Humble Hill. Next
year be gutsy and get closer to the start
Maybe next year a couple of us will give the 50k a shot.
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