So I joined Colleen and Lori for our 2nd annual Red Hot 50 K and Susan planned to run the 33K and help us with the finish line shuttle. The forecast was threatening rain and snow. I packed my drop bags like I was in Leadville. Starting the race is a low grade hill. Last year I was able to run pretty much the entire hill. This year I have been having hamstring issues (Stiff Ass Syndrome) and I just couldn't move it. I thought about it, tried to work it out by stopping and stretching on the redrocks, but resolved myself that I just can't expect to come into a race with minimal preparation and perform. I am blaming my SAS on skiing but that is a whole other discussion.
So, I shifted into cruise and continued to enjoy the day with the only goal of finishing. Oh, and I started out with Perpetuem which I haven't been able to stomach since my violent puking sessions at Leadville, and it went down great!
The weather turned out to be ideal, a bit breezy at times but no precipitation. From ~mile 5 to AS 4 at mile 22 I ran alone, hardly a person in site. The people at AS 3 and 4 even told me that I was the last runner.... I didn't care as I was having a great time and my hamstrings were starting to work for me. Before AS 4 I started to see signs of Lori and Colleen - Cheetoes on the route- and I saw Colleen in the distance, her purple coat stands out. Right after AS 4 I heard this pathetic cry from the bushes and it was my friend Deb. She was running the 33K and was..... well..... in the bushes a lot. She didn't look too good and sounded wiped out and was moving slow. Her husband was running the 50 K but I told her that the AS people thought I was last. I just didn't feel good about leaving her, so we walked together and caught up on life. You may remember in a previous blog that Deb was the first Ultrarunner person that I met (we were both nurses in the burn unit 1989). I must say that I was completely ok to walk slowly with my friend, I would have been ok to get to the ne
xt AS and DNF with her and ride back to the finish line in a jeep. However, after ~30 minutes here comes another runner. At first we thought that he was running sweep, but he said that there were ~6 runners behind him. We looked and looked and thought that we saw her husband Lee and so Deb released me to run. I was pretty cold by then and so I was happy to start....of course that meant getting the SAS warmed up too. When I got to AS 5 I warned them about Deb and asked, well pretty much told them that she needed a ride. My SAS then turned to left IT band tightness, which was a bummer but not too bad as I discovered the technique of "skiprunning". Skiprunning can be used with unilateral IT band tightness (when it hurts to bend that knee on the downhill). It works best on uneven terrain when you can pick a high spot for your running good foot and a lower spot for your screaming skipping foot. Also, it works great if you only do this for the last half mile of the race as I am sure it is not a good long term solution.
Susan, Colleen, me and Lori.....why no photo in our running gear or outside in the beautiful area around Moab, don't know
I finished the race in great shape, well everything above the pelvis and below the knee. I had a great day and overall the day flew by. My time was slow, who cares:
1. I helped out a friend
2. Endurance wise I felt great
3. I ran 50 K (33 miles) with minimal training and an awesome ski season
4. I can stomach Perpetuem again, and FYI string cheese is my favorite trail running snack.
5. Peter had a great Valentines ski day and got up for dawn patrol on Sunday for a fabulous ski tour (as documented by his video of Dave blasting thru a slide path of deep fluffy powder - yes it hurts that I wasn't there)
6. Sophie won 3rd place at the Science Fair! very proud of her. Now she gets to go to the all Catholic schools competition. And, she had a fun sleepover and ski day with Haley.
