50 Miles -- What can I say, but I did it! Through a mix of running, walking, rock hopping, climbing, crawling and sliding; I completed the North Face Bear Mountain 50 miler with time to spare! Yeah I didn't run the whole thing and it was also not 50 miles either.. it was 51 - false advertising. I say that with a smile because anyone who does trail races knows that the miles are always approximate and on a race like this there are only a few select aliens who actually run the the whole thing.
So let me start by saying, I can't thank my husband enough for supporting me on this crazy adventure. I invested many hours of training leading up to this day and Scott was so incredibly supportive. Additionally, I have an amazing support network of friends who were there for me on this adventure both leading up and the day of... what can I say but thank you all! Especially my JUGS gals and my crazy Ginger friend who somehow convinced me that I could do this in the first place and that I even should. I am not sure how anyone can take on something like this without some sort of support network. The challenge alone is an exploration of your own willpower and strength but it definitely helps to have some external support.
So here is my Bear 50(51) tale....
Taking on a 50 mile race seemed like something I would just never do. But then again, taking on a 5K was once something I would never do. Yet here I was about to do just that. After having completed a handful of 50K's my favorite Ginger Canadian friend aka FGC (and only Canadian ginger friend) had heard me say that maybe one day I'd like to try a 50-miler. With so many great races to choose from, I was partially leaning toward the DirtyGerman since that was also where I did my first 50K. However, the idea of a completely runnable course also seemed a little bit awful. So when FGC suggested I run this 50-miler in NY with her that was going to be tough but fun with "tough cutoffs" - I nervously accepted this challenge.
My Training Plan thanks to UltraLadies.com
First thing was to settle on a training plan that was going to work for my schedule. I ended up utilizing the plan from Ultraladies.com. With that plan I tried to focus my long runs on terrain that would be close to what Bear Mountain had to offer (steep hills and rocks). Some minor modifications here and there as life required along with adding to that family walks and strength training efforts where I could fit them in. I think all of this led up to some pretty solid training for my big day! As the date approached, I had many doubts. I always felt as though I could cover the distance, my only real concern was if I was going to be able to make the cut offs.
Our plan was for FGC (FGC also means Fast Ginger Canadian) and I to head up the day before and stay overnight in a local hotel. On the way up we would pick up our bibs and stop for a shake out run too.
Shake out run along the Hudson River.
We also planned to be smart and stay an extra day instead of driving home after the 50-miler too. This worked out perfectly as we had news of seasoned crew who would be helping us on Saturday and then we could be around to cheer her on Sunday as she was doing the half-marathon. At the time, I had no real idea what having crew would mean... other than a happy face and someone carting my crap around for me. Isn’t that a Caddie in golfing? Anyway, fast forward to the big day!
The morning of the race we set our alarms to get up by 2:30am. Not much sleep, due to tossing and turning, but I had "banked" sleep in the days leading up which I was hoping would help. Upon waking up I immediately shoved half a bagel down and got things moving with a cup of coffee. I am happy to say I had "moving" success - which is very important to runners. Taped up my nagging ankle to add some security for the rocky course that laid ahead. And I had my trusty laminated pace chart to guide me and obsess about. My pace chart had three times : "Crazy Town" - which meant these are really aggressive times and you should not be doing these if you plan to finish, "Realistic Push" these times would mark a potentially realistic assuming all things come together perfectly, and then "Wheels Fell Off" represented the cut off times.
Hanging out by the fire prior to the start
All geared up we drove out to the parking and then boarded our shuttle to the start line. They had great little fires going where folks huddled around before the race began. Being the North Face challenge this race had a lot more runners than I've typically seen at many of the local trail races. We were in wave 4 and they did a great job moving us along in 1 minute waves. Before I knew it we were out and running on the course and I was about to traverse 51 miles.
Me and my FGC before the start. My race outfit was XOSkin and my "modified" Ultimate Direction vest.
My first time ever running trails in the dark turned out not too bad. The only annoying part was when it started to mist and then it was difficult to see anything other than the drizzle itself. The first few miles or so I felt pretty good... until I didn't. It suddenly dawned on me that I had many miles in front of me, I was running faster than I had planned, I felt really crowded and I suddenly just didn't feel good. I felt light headed and a bit dizzy and as we continued the feeling got worse with each climb. I started to wonder how the hell I was going to get through this day. I'm not even 10 mile in and I feel like I'm gonna pass out. I just repeated to myself.. "just keep moving". FGC kept checking in on me and my response each time was something like "meh, but whatever." I had promised myself that I could splash in the mud after mile 30 as a reward, but that splash had to come sooner as the running herd insisted on minimizing their splatter by going around the muck. We must have passed 20 people in one section as people made their way around a particularly muddy section while we just forged ahead... Splish splash splump! A good splash in mud always cheers me up... it helped a little as we forged on.
Grabbing some "Heed" juice at Camp Lanowa
It was around mile 14 where I finally started to turn the corner and feel good. We were closing in on the first cut off at AS # 4 (Aid Station) and we were doing great on time - maybe too good as we had obviously spent too much time in the "Crazy Town" pace. Once we made it through AS #4 - our next AS we would be seeing our most amazing crew aka Trail Caddie at Camp Lanowa (mile 23.2). The plan is that we would see her 2x here as you come into the AS you then do a 5.8 mile loop and end back up as Camp Lanowa which was also the 2nd cut off (mile 29). It was on our way to our first stop at Camp Lanowa where I suddenly felt amazing on this runnable downhill section. As my seasoned FGC kept telling me.. run when you can even if you don't want to. And so I ran! Just so anyone knows who is reading this, I should add that I had absolutely no regard whatsoever for my FGC pace. There is a reason that F also stands for fast. So when I heard the cautionary FGC voice from behind me say "um.. just wanted to let you know we are currently doing near 9 minute miles!" At first I thought, "this must feel like a welcome break to speedy!" And then it also dawned on me that just beyond Crazy town is your wheels fell off if you keep going too fast. So we slowed down some and cruised into the AS to see our Trail Caddie. Trail Caddie was amazing and wanted to know what we needed. She was so helpful I didn't know what to do with it... so I grabbed food from the AS and said I'm gonna keep going and see you on the next loop. Thankfully she pressed me and hit me up with much needed bug Spray. Along with a quick anti-chafe spray on my neck and back. No issues so far with my special pack modifications but prevention is best! I left FGC behind, as her catching me was not going to be a problem. I wanted to ride whatever wave I was on and off I went.
Our second time at Camp Lanowa
Over the next 5.8 miles I had time to reflect on what I should have done at that last AS. The first thing was the fact that I don't think I even thanked our Caddie for being there!, so thank Caddie, oh yes I did want to stop and pee, my ankle tape was pretty sloppy at this point did I want to change it?, did I want to change my shoes and socks?, these bugs are still ridiculous - let's do the DEET spray, anything else? FGC caught up to me without issue and during this lap my Garmin battery made it clear that it needed a charge so I plugged it in and shoved it in my backpack. Oddly invigorating as I was about to go on without my arm PC (aka Garmin) that was allowing me to obsess about pace and time. This section went by pretty fast and before I knew it we were back at Camp Lanowa where I did my best to be Crewed/Caddied and made sure I said thank you. I opted to pee behind a bush (because some poor soul was taking too long inside the port-a-pot), kept everything I had on alone, took advantage of DEET and added a few supplies to my vest and was reprimanded by my Caddie for not allowing her to help and walking back and forth too much. She is just downright Awesome! Leaving AS #6, we set out on some roads for a little bit (runnable!), but a bit difficult to get my legs moving again. They had traffic cones along the road to which I announced "let's run to 3rd cone." I may have lied and kept going or maybe I lost count it's hard to say.
We were well on our way to new territory for me (my first time past 31 miles!) Meanwhile, FGC who has traversed this distance a few times before actually became mortal somewhere between 30-41 for maybe 20 seconds? Okay.. maybe it was 30 minutes or so. Whatever it was, I will admit I did take solace in knowing that my dear friend who is an amazing athlete can in fact feel suffering. HOLY CRAP - Who knew? Understand that this race was partly training for my dear FGC who is going to be taking on her first 100 miler in August (they lie.. I think it is actually 103 btw). Aside from a glimpse into her ability to actually have human like moments, it was a training opportunity for me to understand how to help work through it if she faces the same when I am pacing her for a few miles at her big race. So far I have not received notice that i have been fired from that job... I guess I did okay! Being Silly
AS #9 - Gotta be Silly!
At just under 10 hours, we made our way into the final timed cut off AS#9 where we saw our Caddie/Crew again. Just a little behind our "Realistic Push" time.. but with plenty of cushion before the wheels fall off. By now my trusty Garmin was back in play on my arm so I could keep track. I still didn't do the best job being crewed - but she did the most amazing thing and offered me ICE! ICE that I happily poured down the front of my shirt and left there for whatever miles it would stay with me before melting. It was glorious! At this point I felt like any clothing changes were just a waste of time. We had plenty of time before cut off, but we had certain people we had passed that we just couldn't let beat us. A few silly photos and we were on our way. No waiting for FGC - she had to catch up. I recall thinking holy crap, I've done 41 miles! Only 10-miles to go and I hurt but I don't feel like we are going to do anything other than make it with time to spare. In my training there were back to back runs where you'd do 10-miles the day after a long run. I did a self check and knew that I had done 10-miles feeling not too far off from how I felt right then. My legs were a bit lead like again from the longer stop... but just keep moving continues to play in my head.
