The night before the race, I struggled to sleep. I attribute that to just being overtired from work but when the alarm went off at 3:50am, I hoped that a cup of coffee or two would do the trick for me. By 4:45, I was out the door with bags, gear, and a small cooler of beer. I anticipated it to be a hot day, and a cold beer after running 32 miles in the mountains had to be a part of my recovery routine. After all, I was wearing my motivation on my socks that said "BEER" written in large black letters down the sides of them. If beer can motivate me, I was sure that it would motivate another to finish the race. Seeing so many of my good friends really added to the wonderful vibe of the morning! Some of them chose to camp out overnight up there. I chose to stay home and drive up alone the next morning. My son Kyle would not be joining me for the ultra after all. He recently started cross country with his school and we knew that if he ran with me today, he would not be able to compete for his school for several weeks due to his inexperience and recovery time needs. I missed him and thought about him a lot today on the run. Kyle plays piano quite well and when one of the songs came on my phone, it helped push me along as I thought of him. My goal today was to beat last year's time. I had no idea how I was going to do today because I have done so many marathons since June but I was eager to get this done as fast as possible. My plan was to get down to the bottom of the canyon as quickly as I could so that while heading back up, it would be early enough in the morning where the heat hopefully wouldn't be as brutal. Standing at the start with so many amazing runners is such a awesome feeling and knowing that many of them are some of my closest friends made it emotional for me. My friends Beth and Trisha were running their first ultra today and Chad, Chris, and Jeff were all striving for that PR. Chris would go on to finish in 3rd place today. He is such an amazing runner!!! I need to say, that if it wasn't for Jeff, my PR would not have happened. Jeff helped me train the last several weeks. We ran these trails and some other tough trails around northern San Diego. He is a powerhouse of a guy and amazing in his own right as a 100 mile finisher. Typical of the course, be expected to catch a toe multiple times on rocks while running here. It is an art to run trails, and also an art to save yourself from a trip that most would anticipate a massive fall as a result. I somehow saved myself multiple times from falling while running down that canyon!!! Seeing friends along the way helped me stay strong. When I reached the aid stations, I would grab some chips, salt tabs and refill my bottles. The volunteers were awesome and so helpful. They made sure we had everything we needed to continue on our way. I saw Chad scoot by with his smooth effortless stride. Then soon on the return from the bottom, I saw Vanessa... looking like a hot Momma in her inknburn pants. Then I think it was Trisha next (i may have the order confused). She looked like she was having the best time! She was beaming! Shortly after, I saw Beth. Beth has a gorgeous smile, and she lit up the trail with it when I passed her by. Hey... Wheres Jeff? Somehow I missed seeing him! I bonked a little by the time I reached the next aide station. I was breathing hard, stuffed my mouth with fritos and as I breathed, the crumbs spilled out onto the ground as I leaned forward. It must have been quite the site to see. Lol! Very unladylike but after a farmer's blow and a few snorts, I felt better and frankly.... When you run this far, all the pretty ladylike and girly mannerisms go to the wayside because you just don't give a sh** what people think!!!! When I finally got out of the canyon, I only had 9 miles to go and another aide station in 5 miles. I have to say that my incline training really helped me getting up that canyon. Using the treadmill at a 30% incline makes the body strong. I felt exhausted but still able to keep moving quickly. The only real issue I had was a sore upper back. Surprisingly my right foot gave me no issue. As I caught up to people that passed me long before and passed them, I felt totally excited that I was still able to keep a good pace despite the climb that eats many runners up. At the last part before getting out of that darn canyon, I caught my foot again on a rock, but this time I couldn't save it. I fell like a tree that had been cut at it's base. If I had thought of it at the time, I should have yelled "Timber!" With a bloody elbow and a face full of dirt and dust, I brushed myself off, swore a bit and continued on my way. My bottle of ice water helped to clean off the elbow and rinse the dirt from my mouth. The beauty of the last climb is so stunning. I stopped just for a moment to take in the view. I hadn't seen anyone for a long time and wondered if I missed a turn but soon I found another orange strip marker which verified that I was indeed on the right trail... I was just ALONE and it seemed like it was forever until I caught up with the next runner. Lance was his name. We chatted for a bit and it helped get me through a bad patch. Before I saw Lance, I had resorted to talking to myself... and I wasn't being a very supportive person to myself at this point. I just wanted to be done and in trying to motivate myself, I swore like a truck driver out loud under my breath. When Lance and I reached the last downhill heading into the finish, I said my goodbyes to him and took off down the trail. Downhill running is my strength and whenever I could, I used that strength today. Coming to the last aide station, I ate a few pickles, dumped out my water bottles and kept just one bottle with fluids to lighten my load. I only had about 4 miles to go. Up ahead, I can see that darn lady in the white spandex shorts that passed me 8 miles back. I wanted to catch her but just couldn't seem to muster it although I came close enough to see her pink bikini underwear glimmering through the backside of her shorts. ;-) This year, I didn't have Evan to greet me and help run me in to the finish as he decided to stay home. I was ok with it. When I set my mind to do something, I will do it no matter what. As I came across the finish line and saw Dave and Kyle standing there to greet me, I hugged each one of them. Not only had I finished the race with a huge improvement on my time, but I had felt like I had finally arrived home. Post race.... A beer, some chilly, crackers and lots of pictures! Thanks to everyone for making this a fabulous event!!! Kyle and I stayed to wait for everyone to finish. I wanted to be there to show my support for them as it is a big accomplishment to finish this tough race!!!! Great work to all of you and love you all so much!!!! | 