Last Saturday was WR, a 50 mile race that starts and ends at Crystal ski resort (more or less). It is an awesome course and since I started running ultras this is one that I really wanted to do. Friday night Matt, Julie and myself headed to the start area, set-up camp, and went to the Snorting Elk for the pre-race meal. The RD was giving a briefing during the meal that both Julie and I agreed did nothing to calm our pre-race jitters. So, after shoveling in our fill of spaghetti we high tailed it out of there without listening to the full breakdown.
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Pre-race meal |
Back at camp we met up with Julies boyfriend Jon and the rest of the Oly trail runners. We visited for a short while before everyone decided to hit they hay to prepare for the long day ahead of us. I woke-up shortly before my alarm with a start, I was in the mist of a dream that I missed the race start by an hour and had to rush around to get started. Thankfully it was just a dream.
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Julie and I with Herb.
I was hoping if I stood close enough some of his experience would rub off. |
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The Oly ladies |
The initial miles ticked off pretty quickly, I felt good and figured I should go with it. I generally eat every hour and I stuck with that, but I added something new this time, I took salt every hour as well. During races I tend to get a serious case of sausage fingers, this really helped with that problem.
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Early miles. Feeling good. |
I cruised into the Corral Pass aid station (~17 miles), got some food and quickly got back on the trail.
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photo credit: Glenn Tachiyama |
This is where things went south. All of a sudden my achilles started to hurt. I honestly can't tell you what happened, things were going smoothly and then all of a sudden, well, it wasn't smooth. Every time I flexed my foot I cringed in pain, something was wrong, very, very, wrong. I had 10ish miles until the next aid station, I told myself I would get there and reassess my situation. Those 10 miles drug by, it became more painful to move with each step. I was reduced to crab walking down rooty portions of the trail to avoid flexing my foot. The worst part was that aside from my achilles issues I felt awesome.
I was busy throwing my own personal pity party when fellow Oly runners Kris and Heidi passed me. They stopped to ask how I was doing, I told them my issue and they suggested I drop at the next aid station. I had already came to that conclusion on my own, but hearing it from another person(s) cemented it. Which brings me to the conclusion of the WR 50 mile for me, I DNF'ed at around 27 miles. It sucks, I am not happy about it, but I think it was the best choice. I could barley walk, it didn't make sense to continue, especially since I after the race I was headed to meet friends to do a bike tour from Jasper to Banff.
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Dragging my sorry self into the aid station to drop... |
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WR fail. Guess I will be back next year! |
1 comment:
Oh bummer! I hope the bike tour went well though. I've been stalking your blog since the last time we talked since I knew you had all of this planned. Sounds like the best decision but still frustrating I'm sure.
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