Before I talk about this year's race, let me explain my history with Masochist.
The first year I ran was 2012. This happened to be the year of a few major things-first, the course was completely changed so about 7 miles of the race was different than it had been. The first half took out several miles of road and added some single track, and the second half added the out-and-back to the summit in the Mt. Pleasant loop. Second, superstorm Sandy came through a few days before the race and dumped about a foot and a half of snow on the second half of the course. The race director noticed the front runners coming out of the Mt. Pleasant loop (mile 39ish) almost an hour behind the typical times, so the race was extended by 30 minutes for the first time in history. Sadly, sunset was not extended, and I had turned in my light early in the race so I ran the last four miles in the dark, with no light...and crossed the finish line about 15 seconds over the new time limit. I talked the race director into letting me keep my finishers shirt (he did try to take it away, lol) and was determined to come back stronger next year.
The following year, there was thankfully no snow, and I trained harder and was able to finish the course in 11:51, narrowly dodging the cutoffs along the way. (At Salt Log Gap, I ran past the aid station, thanking the volunteers-while they tried to pull my pacer from the race. Needless to say I picked up the pace for the last few miles.) I declared the race conquered, swore I would never run it again, and during the 2013-2016 races I crewed/paced/aid stationed and thoroughly enjoyed not running. I'm not exactly sure how I signed up for this race. Can you accidentally register for a race?
I did train hard for this race. I met my goal of seeing every part of the course (except for Porters Ridge to the finish) at least twice, and five runs of 20+ miles, four of those around 25 miles. During the week I did speedwork and hill sprints consistently. Although I didn't get quite as many midweek miles as I would have liked, my long runs were on point, and I was optimistic that would be enough to carry me through the race, especially since so many workouts were in unseasonably hot and humid conditions. And I love data, so I figured out what time I had arrived at each aid station last time, and made a chart with the cutoffs, my 2013 time, and a very ambitious goal time that would get me to the finish in 11:30. Truthfully I didn't think I could make that time but I probably could beat my previous time.
Race Morning
On race morning, I was VERY nervous. I woke up many times with every sort of runner's nightmare-there was snow on the course, I overslept, I was wearing the wrong clothing/shoes, etc. I was so nervous that I lost half my breakfast and really couldn't eat any more, so my breakfast was mostly two Dr. Peppers. Not awesome. Elizabeth Rosser and I met Melissa Early and Mary Scruggs at 4:30am. They had agreed to crew us which was awesome. We piled in and drove to the start, stopping for coffee along the way, arriving around 5:40. We saw the busses pulling in so Elizabeth and I dashed to the port-a-potties before the lines got insanely long. Just in time! We talked to our crew about what was in our bags and what we thought we might need. I tried to eat a little more but I was so nervous my stomach was in knots. We checked in, chatted with other runners, and pretty soon it was time to gather at the start line. I asked the stranger next to me, "Do you ever have a moment where you question all your life choices that led to you be where you are at this point in time?" I don't think I have ever been so nervous at the beginning of a race.
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| The amazing crew-mobile |
The Race
Off we went around the lake in the camp, and quickly we were on Pera Road. I was feeling good and ran hard on the road. It's so hard to judge because all those speedy people are zipping on ahead, but I felt like I was running hard and well and making good time. Except for the times I'd have to wait for congestion (single track around the lake, making the left turn from the road) I was doing about a 9 minute mile pace on the road which I thought was pretty good. Made some small talk with the people around me but mostly, I focused on running strong.
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| Race start (photo from Eco-X) |
My goal was to run the first almost 3 miles, until we crossed the last creek and started to climb, other than when traffic made me walk or walking through the water crossings. I made that goal! I climbed steadily, did a lot of walk/run intervals, and pushed myself. I tried to eat some nuts but my stomach was still churning. The nerves didn't really settle down until much later in the day. The weather was beautiful-cool but not chilly, and aside from the occasional misty drizzle it stayed dry in this section. About a half mile from the first aid station I took a grand superman-style fall and scraped up my knees, elbows, and stomach on some rocks. Luckily nothing that would stop me from running, just made me a bit skittish on the downhills later in the day. (The next day I was amazed to see some fist-sized bruises on each knee and several other places on my leg, so I guess I fell harder than I thought.) I came into the first aid station excited to check my time because I felt like I was running so well and thought I might be at my ambitious goal, beating my previous time by 3 minutes....nope. I was a minute ahead of my 2013 pace. That was kind of disappointing but I decided to be happy that I was at least a little ahead and focus on that.
Already my watch mileage and the official mileage chart were disagreeing, so it became apparent that my 2013 time would be more helpful in predicting how far the aid station was. I ran/walked the climb and then ran hard on the downhill, passing several people. Strange because I honestly think of myself as a better hiker than a downhill runner, but during this race I was being passed on the uphills and passing people on the downhills. I came into the Dancing Creek aid station focusing on my footing across the creek so as not to fall again and look up to see the photographer. This is why I never get good race photos, lol. I am terrible at spotting those cameras until it's too late. I came into this aid station a minute or two ahead of my previous time and it was pretty clear that barring an incredible second half, I wasn't going to be making 11:30. So I started ignoring that time and looking at my 2013 time as a "time to beat" and focused on that.
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| Coming in to Dancing Creek |
For several miles Scott Jurek and his friends were leapfrogging with me, which was entertaining. They all shared stories about the Barkley or "the second AT thru-hike" or setting speed records...I have no idea why they were running way in the back with me but it was amusing to hear all their stories. They sure didn't seem to be working as hard as I was to be keeping the pace and all their banter was a welcome distraction.
The rest of the first half was much of the same. I kept trying to eat. After my nerves calmed down by around ten miles or so it got easier and I was able to eat a few pickles, potato chips, and pb&j sandwiches but nothing really substantial. Most aid stations had familiar faces with enthusiastic greetings, which was wonderful. One personal highlight was that Dr. Horton was at an aid station in his truck and a lady was talking to him about how she was having a hard time...he pointed at me and said, "Stick with her, she knows what she's doing." It's possible he meant someone else but I decided to ride the confidence boost and assume it was me...very flattering. I am not speedy but I almost always get the race done.
Coming into Irish Creek we were told that the Reservoir aid station had mistakenly set up an extra mile or more up the hill. I was glad for the heads up because these kinds of surprises mess with me during the race. As it turns out, it was actually kind of nice because lots of crews (mine included) were at the original aid station location, and then there was a small aid station breaking up the long climb up from the reservoir.
I was worried about that climb. Both training runs I did on the first half were nearly 80 degrees with 95% humidity and that climb was brutal. We'd be running strong and then the last mile or so to the top was just....hard. The weather was much cooler and I was counting on that helping me out. I had also promised myself that all day, even when I thought I couldn't run, I could still run while I counted to ten. It wasn't so much about trying to gain a few seconds as it was about keeping my legs stretched out and mentally proving to myself that I wasn't done yet. So all the way up this hill, whenever possible, I was pushing myself to run for short bursts. It actually helped a lot to see that I was stronger than I thought I was.
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| Coming in at Long Mountain Wayside-halfway there! |
I rolled into the Long Mountain aid station at 5:38, a full seven minutes faster than I had my previous two times running this race and 22 minutes ahead of the cutoff. That was a great feeling! I still had some life left in my legs, my crew was there to meet me, and this is where Bethany joined me to pace me for the rest of the race. Until the week before the race I didn't think I would have a pacer so I was so grateful when she was able to come. We started off up the hill. It was long (it always is) but the time passed by much more quickly chatting with Bethany and eventually we did make it to the top. Mentally that's a huge landmark in my mind because the longest climb is over. I was also excited as we passed by the Buck Mountain and Wiggins Spring aid stations to see that I was still well ahead of the cutoffs. Still, it was really Salt Log Gap that I was worried about and I wanted to keep pushing hard to get out of the loop with time to spare.
On the way up to the loop it started to get pretty chilly, and it was raining harder. As we approached the loop we got a cold hard downpour and that just made the sweat run right into my eyes and my eyes burned so much I could hardly keep them open. I was so thankful Bethany gave me her glove to wipe my eyes with. It seems small but it's one of those mental moments where I was just having a really tough time and the relief was an immediate gift. At the loop I was able to get my jacket on and Melissa grabbed my warm hat out of my back. I grabbed a warm potato and headed out.
The loop is always fun because of the out and back. I saw lots of familiar faces. The summit was all fogged over so no great views today, but thankfully our training runs were gorgeous so I still remembered what it looked like. On the way back down I was nervous about the wet leaves and slipping on the rocks, plus I was oscillating between being nauseous and hungry. Bethany was so encouraging and kept trying to get me to eat. I was having a tough time though. My legs actually still felt really good, I was just so systemically cold and tired. I'd barely mustered 200 calories of solid food all day and that was obviously taking a toll. I clearly need to work on fueling.
We finally came out of the loop and I was now almost 12 minutes ahead of 2013 me, still 20 minutes ahead of the cutoffs. That was a tremendous relief. I knew for the next 4+ miles, we'd be on gravel roads so footing wasn't an issue, and I had plenty of time to get to Salt Log Gap. I remembered running this section in 2013, not being able to walk because it was so close to cutoffs and feeling so trapped by that. It was an awful feeling. This year I walked sections and relished it. I didn't really care that I was losing time, I was so excited to have the luxury of walking when I felt tired and dizzy and the road went uphill.
We rolled into Salt Log Gap well ahead of the cutoffs and I gleefully passed the busses for the hike up to Forest Valley. That mile felt more like ten because I was so tired, but Bethany kept me staying positive and I was happy to be there with plenty of time. At the top, we filled up our bottles since it was now the last aid station and we were on our way.
The next 4.5 miles or so of single track was tough. After a training run, I described it as "very pretty and mostly runnable." On race day, I would have described it as "One very long, rooty climb that seems to go on almost forever until you run down for a few minutes to get to the creepy camper and then climb a hill that's almost completely vertical." I know it's not actually that bad, and the wet leaves were not as treacherous as I expected. I was just so very tired by then. We made it up and over that final, impossibly steep climb, and what a relief that was to know all the toughest climbing was behind us. I started looking for the sign to the AT which lets me know it's about a mile to what would have been the Porters' Ridge aid station. We ran around for so long I was just about convinced that they had cut it down when we finally saw it. On the one hand, I was glad to see it, but on the other, I was secretly hoping they had removed it and we were closer to the aid station. Initially I had hoped we'd hit the aid station with a full hour to go, but we were a few minutes behind that pace. I wasn't sure exactly how far it was to the finish so I was nervous about the time but there wasn't anything to do but give it my all the last few miles.
Finally, we hit the dirt road and started running downhill. My legs felt far better at this point than I expected. Of course they were tired and sore, but I was able to run at a decent speed without anything buckling or cramping so that was exciting. I kept thinking, isn't there a gravel road somewhere? Oh my goodness I thought we would never get there. I was ridiculously happy to see each landmark on the way down-the gate, the gravel road, the fish hatchery. Bethany would tell me we were almost there and I kept asking her if she was lying, lol. I was so happy to see that highway, I would have hugged it if I could. She kept reminding me that my kids were waiting, but I didn't really think about it until after we crossed the road. I had no idea where we were going, and it was getting dark, plus it was very foggy and still raining off & on. We ran through a muddy field and crossed some sort of bridge and then there was a big white tent. My family was right outside the tent, and I heard Clark call out my name as I came through. Lots of friends were inside waiting and cheering. The next few minutes were a little bit of a blur. I was so exhausted and still a little out of it but so happy to be done and excited to have beaten my previous time, which was just icing on the cake.
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| My family waiting-my daughter's sign was my favorite award! |
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| Finished! |
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| Melissa, me, and Mary (my crew!) |
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| Me and Bethany (my pacer!) |
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| Family photo at the finish |
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| I love her sign! |
I am so grateful for all the people who came on training runs with me, for Melissa & Mary crewing me, for Bethany pacing me the second half of the race, for all the encouragement from aid stations, for my family's support and willingness to wait at a cold and damp finish line to see me come across. The running community is what makes this such a great event and I'm so grateful to be a part of it.
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| Sporting our new LUS finisher jackets! |
