Trail Quake Half-Marathon Recap

I was out of bed by 4:30am, busy getting dressed, eating a bagel with banana, and going over my mental check list, for the 48th time, of everything I could need for the race.  After forgetting my garmin at a race last month, I was super paranoid I'd forget something incredibly important again and not have anyone to save the day.

We were gone by 5:25am and on our way for our hour and a half drive to Saratoga, CA.  The race didn't start until 8am and I wanted to get there by 7am, when bib pick-up started.  

I'm excited and Zuriel is secretly tired

Small group of 'half-marathon hikers' about to start (30min before standard half-marathon started), how cool is that?

In eighteen words:  I completely underestimated this course and did not have a clue of what I was getting myself into.  No joke.  Now on to more pictures.  The following are a combination of my own professional phone-picture-taking skills in addition to the 'volunteer race photographers'' skills.  I took a few shots of the scenery the first few miles, then felt I was putting my safety at risk once I realized how much concentration I had to put on the terrain and not holding onto my phone.  It was definitely a trail run in every sense of the word.

After the first quarter mile we hit our first hill climb and almost immediately, every single person was walking.  I don't know that this photo even does the 'steepness' of these elevation climbs justice.

I swear there were some parts I could practically put my hands in front of me and crawl up.  

But I was too embarrassed, so I refrained.  This is about the time I started thinking my time might be slower than I had anticipated.  It was a good reminder that I was not trying to PR, but would most likely score a nice PW {personal worst}, and I was whole-heartedly okay with that.

Remember how I joked about there being cliffs??  Surprise, surprise! 

I considered cropping out 'mr. hat happy with the extra tight man-spandex' so you could get the full effect of my intensity and concentration, but the picture is just too great the way it is.

I wish I could have run with a video camera, maybe then you'd get a better idea of just how beautiful and earth-y it all was--it definitely wasn't the city/suburban scenery that I'm used to.  Don't take these pictures for what they are, otherwise you'll only imagine some old, unimpressive forest and miss the beauty of it.  Guess you'll have to take my word for it.

I believe this was the first downhill after over three straight miles of an uphill battle.  My calves and lower back were harmoniously singing praises of relief.

 This was just past the 9-mile marker, almost to the last few miles of a very steep downhill, quad-tearing, shoe-skidding adventure.  The 64-year-old man behind me was a friend I picked up about mile 7.  We chatted during a couple miles of rolling hills before I lost him after an aid station and picked up the pace.  He helped distract me from my muscle soreness as he told me about his 40 half-marathons and 80 full marathons he's completed.  He's my hero.  When I asked if he had run this particular course before he said, "No I definitely haven't, this is the hardest half-marathon I've ever run, and I've run 40 of them!  This is one of those races you just try to finish, you don't run for time!"  Amen veteran runner, amen.

 This is just under a mile from the finish line.  There was a half-mile of no forest before we weaved back into the forest for the last quarter mile to the finish line.

 

See that couple crossing the finish line behind us?  I found a close up of them while browsing through the race photos...

Awesome isn't it?  I wonder how long he was carrying her..?

 Like my dirt tan-line?

 I was excited when I found out I'd be receiving a second medal for placing 2nd in my age group.  But I was mostly laughing because I knew there must have been only one other person around my age.  I checked, there were four.  Score.  I was 1 minute and 20 seconds behind the girl who beat me in my age group and almost 20 minutes ahead of the girl who placed 3rd in our age group.

The race had the most intense and exciting course I've run to date.  There were many areas where the trail was too narrow to fit more than one person, making it impossible to pass anyone.  There were many areas that were so steep, all you could do was walk and pray it would plateau soon.  Aside from running on dirt, these are things that made this course different than any other I've run:

  -the patches of rocky areas that were only safest to walk through 

 -stretches of windy and zig-zag turns you had to stop and walk the corners of

 -a fallen tree completely blocking the path so you had to climb over 

 -areas that fallen trees were partially blocking the path so you walked around it

 -a few areas of bushes to literally push yourself through

 -hundreds of tree roots sporadically dotted the course, random boulders and wet patches to leap over

 -hearing a guy tell someone {as we all walked up the longest, steepest hill} how in the last few times he had run this same course, there was a person or two who had torn their calf muscle from all of the steep uphill climbs--um, ouch.  Now I'm literally, rather than unreasonably, nervous my calves are going to explode for real.  Oh and my ears popped several times from the elevation change.

 -skidding on the downhill and trying to stop/slow down, especially during the final 5k, because it was that steep 

 -stopping at mile 11 for a girl who had fallen, busted her knee open down to the bone and was waiting for medics to come.  I offered what little medical advice I could to her and her friends waiting with her, then continued running when they reassured me they'd be fine and someone was on their way.

-seeing several runners at the finish line with bloody scrapes all over them and feeling lucky I didn't fall

 -The aid stations were awesome.  Each station had water, sports drink, orange slices, banana chunks, watermelon slices, pretzels, skittles, gummy bears, bite-sized cookies, m&m's, salt capsules, and gu gels.  Who said you couldn't please everyone?!  I had two cups of water and watermelon slices at every station,  banana chunk at one station, and pretzels at two stations.  

Just to give you an idea of the intensity of the course, I finished this race exactly one full hour {down to the second} slower than the half-marathon I ran May 5th {while slightly injured w/shin splints}.  And the elite runner who took first place for women at this race set a new course record of 1:55:15, six minutes slower than the half-marathon I ran May 5th. 

By the end of it all, I felt excited and so glad I was able to experience my first trail race.  The environment felt nothing like a road race, but it still emanated the same type of energy, excitement, and accomplishment of one.  My calves and lower back were tired and sore from all of the uphill while my quads were tired from the downhill.  But what I noticed most afterwards was how tired and sore my feet felt from running on rocks at random areas of the course, they felt all beat up--no wonder they make specific shoes for trail running, news-flash.  I thought my body handled the run very well considering I was sick throwing up just a few days before the race, wouldn't you say?

I'd love to do another trail race, maybe one with less elevation gains, but I'd love to do another one.  So far I'm loving the racing options California has to offer!

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Ever think you know what you're getting yourself into, only to be sorely and severely mistaken??

 yeah I'd say so
Any trail runner experts out there?  I need advice.  I don't know what the hay I'm doing.

Done being sick, just in time for my next race

...tomorrow.  The words hooray! and help! immediately come to mind.  I'm extremely excited to be in the race atmosphere again, but I'm also anxious/curious about running this particular course.  I won't be trying to PR {set a personal record}, so I'm not worried about my time...but I've never done a trail race before!  There are more rules {i.e. if you wear headphones, you can only have one ear in and if you drop trash outside aid stations, you're DQ'd} and runner etiquette {you have to run single-file for a lot of the race and have to say "on your left" when you pass} to remember, there are no bathrooms on the course {only at the start/finish lines}, it is easy to get 'lost' or off course if you're not paying attention to the markers, and you have to watch out for wildlife and environmental hazards {potholes, fallen trees, branches, cliffs--jk}.  All this focus and concentration on 8 millions things besides running could either work for me or against me.  Let's hope it's all team Natalie and I don't stress myself out.  I do that?  Also, the weather forecast says 'blazing hot'.  Yeah, it's supposed to get well into the 90s, what the what.    

The week started out rough and yesterday I felt the closest to normal I've felt since Sunday.  Saturday I noticed I felt more tired than I should've, especially for getting enough sleep most of the week.  Sunday I felt extremely tired the entire day and then Monday and Tuesday were spent throwing up {and the joke is, I never get sick, so I was pretty disappointed and totally blind-sided by it}.  

It was unexpected and I think I was most disappointed when I realized I wouldn't be running those days.  When I woke up Monday, I immediately put my running clothes on and noticed feeling pretty dizzy doing so.  Then I grabbed the dog to let her out, and while waiting for her to do her business, I had that 'oh my gosh I need a toilet to throw up in' feeling.  Worst feeling ever.  My plan was a 5-mile on Monday, 10-mile on Tuesday, 6-mile on Wednesday, 3-mile on Thursday, a 2-mile walk on Friday, and a 13.1 mile race on Saturday.  

But instead, this is how my Monday was spent:  fruit/vegetable juice, water, gatorade, and saltines while sitting on the couch, unless I was taking a trip to the bathroom to vomit.  Gross.  Tuesday, graham crackers and half an apple were added to my menu, but my booty was still planted on the couch whenever possible to avoid dizziness and nausea.

Wednesday, I was bound and determined to go for a run.  I had to wait a few hours after being awake for my stomach and bowels to chill out, but after eating and patiently waiting, I finally got to run.  It was warm and my body had to work harder, but it felt awesome to run again--I hadn't run since Friday.   Although I was wearing my garmin, I avoided checking my pace so I would run strictly according to how my body felt.  I finished 5.1 miles and was pretty hot and kind of weak by the end, but my legs felt real good.  My average and max heart rate during the run were 20 beats higher than normal, but that was to be expected after being sick.  Once I got home and cooled down with water, gatorade, and standing in front of our window unit, I felt better.  I was also determined to eat more than saltines and graham crackers this day.  I was so happy my stomach didn't have any complaints about my chocolate/banana/peanut butter/protein shake as my post-run 'refuel'.  

I think I'm officially done being sick and am getting my strength back.  Yesterday I only ran a few miles before realizing I started my run much too late into the day to be  hero and run in the heat.  I felt parched after 2 miles and then admitted to myself that an 8-mile wouldn't be such a great idea.  And now today, I'm about to take Tina on a long walk to keep my legs loose and put a couple more miles on them.  Wish me luck on my race tomorrow and I'll try to keep myself as hydrated as possible today.  And I'll start memorizing the course map so I don't get lost and accidentally run into a bear cave.  

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Who else hates 24/48 hour stomach bugs?  Hopefully everyone I am sure.  

Do saltines help your stomach?  What are your stomach bug remedies?

Provo City Half-Marathon Race Recap

Let this race go down in history as our first road race together--just me and him, him and me, running and sweating side by side.  How romantic.  Let it also go down as the roughest road race in my racing history {in my rookie history of 5 races} to date.  And no, luckily I didn't get sick and throw up all over the place.  And no worries, I'm not looking for a pity party, I just want to record it all so I can remember/learn from it.

Saturday morning {May 5th} began around 4:10am with us slowly crawling out of bed.  We quickly ate and put on our running gear.  Once I was dressed, I jumped up and down while shaking my head to wake myself up and get excited to run.  Bet that's an interesting mental picture.  Z stared blankly with a "you're crazy baby" look on his face before laughing at me and mumbling about how he wishes he was still sleeping.  The race started up Provo canyon, so they had the runners take buses up to the start, with the last bus scheduled to leave at 5:30am.  Don't look so excited babe.

We got in line to wait for the buses at 5:00am.  And it was around 5:18am that I realized I forgot my garmin...too bad I can't run a race without that cursed blessed watch.  So I immediately began to panic and told Zuriel we had to go back for it.  HAD to.  He {lovingly} said "Yeah right, you go back, I'll see you at the finish line".  Ha ha...basically I would be cutting it pretty dang close if I ran back to the car, drove to my grandpa's house, grabbed my watch, drove back, and searched for parking, all in 12 minutes before the last bus was scheduled to leave for the start line.  Honestly truly, I wanted to cry.  Then I had the brilliant plan to call my sleeping brother and his 9-month pregnant wife...and then they came to my rescue.  In my defense, they were sleeping 10 feet away from my garmin, they were my best {and only} option.  I ran out to meet them before the 'road block' signs and they handed me my watch.  I owe them something real big for that.  

Once we got to the start line, the sun started coming up and I waited in line for 30 minutes to use the bathroom before the race started.  You totally wanted to know that piece of info, I just knew it.  I had exactly enough time to wait for the bathroom, check my bag into 'gear check', jog to the start line, and scream with excitement before the gun went off to start the race.  I also had enough time to snap this shot of and quickly cheer for the marathon runners starting their race, I was excited for them.  The marathon started at 7:00am with 247 runners and the half-marathon started at 7:15am with 1,103 runners.

Then we were off!  The first 9 miles were basically downhill.  Which initially sounds ideal, right?  Better than the entire race being up hill, that's for sure.  However, I was still healing from shin splints that had started the week before {side note: downhill makes the shin splints much worse}.  Zuriel on the other hand was ecstatic about the downhill because his injury he received the week before felt better on the downhill--lucky duck.  He strained his achilles during a 10-mile run the saturday before race day...  Needless to say, our 'goal time' for the race was kinda sorta thrown out the window.  {this is us super excited to start the race} 

We were both going to be happy and satisfied if we both finished the crazy race...it was a little sad, a little romantic, but mostly just sweaty and intense.  We started out feeling great, with the beginning miles passing quickly.  But, this was the roughest race for me, remember?  So mile 1 for me, felt awesome.  Naturally I'd feel awesome, it was only the first mile.  But hello mile 2 marker, thank you for suddenly making me feel miserable.  Basically Z was {unexpectedly I might add} feeling fantastic and wanting to take advantage of all the downhill action by getting in some fast miles.  I was trying, I really was, to keep up and fly down those 9 miles, but my shins just would not let me.  I was frustrated.  And we had both thought I would be the one pacing us, with Z and his gimp ankle trying to keep up.  It was the complete opposite, and I was so glad Z didn't get impatient but was instead encouraging me the whole way.  My lower legs felt like huge weights, but I ran as hard as they'd let me.  

On top of the crazy shin splints, my bowels weren't so happy.  A port-a-potty break was mandatory just after mile 8.  A mile later, I about stopped again for the bathroom.  But then something magical happened.  Once I saw mile marker 10 ahead, I caught a second wind.  All of the sudden, my shin pain literally dissolved, my bowels calmed down, and my mental strength decided to say hello again.  Almost simultaneously, Z looked over at me with this tired look and told me it was getting hard.  I smiled back and told him "Well good because I feel awesome.  Lets do this, let's finish hard".  Now it was my turn to return the favor and encourage him the final three miles.  Just before mile 12 Zuriel said he didn't think he could keep it up for the last stretch.  I told him to remember why we signed up for the race...that this was more than just a race for us {I'll write a separate post as to why}. 

We pushed ourselves the final and longest {it always seems that way} mile and TRIED to cross the finish line holding hands, but some guy kept getting in the way.  No joke, he and Z were throwing elbows the last ten feet.  We walked through the finisher's shoot, with medals placed around our necks, and grabbed some water, bananas, then got in line for the finisher's breakfast--french toast.  We didn't think our stomachs would be in the mood for french toast after a race, but turns out it was just what we needed.  It was delicious.

We waited in line for massages...and it is always worth the wait.  My calves must have been doing a lot of compensating for the tightness in my shins because they were so incredibly sore.  Thank you masseuse lady for helping me realize just how tight they were.  After the post-race fun, we met up with a couple of our friends and Zuriel's sister for breakfast {his sister and one of our friends had run the 5K and did awesome}.  I know we had just eaten some french toast maybe an hour ago, but it was time for a full breakfast.  I hadn't had Magleby's before, but they provided the french toast after the race, so we knew if we went for a full breakfast later--they wouldn't let us down.  Here's to a egg white spinach omelet, potatoes, and english muffin with good friends.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed running this race with my husband by my side the whole way.  Except for the last two seconds, crossing the finish line, when he got caught behind mr. competitive elbow thrower.  We should buy one of the finish line photos for the visual memory of it.  

After Magleby's breakfast, stretching, foam rolling, and showering, we went to lunch with my brother, his pregnant wife, and our family friend Max.  It might seem like our meals were unnecessarily close together, and that may be true.  I have no comment except that we ate when we were hungry.  We also had received coupons in our race bags for a 'buy one, get one free' deal, so we couldn't pass those up now could we.

Running, food, relaxing, food, and now time for relaxing.  We couldn't relax too long before needing to head up to Salt Lake to meet up with friends for a cinco de Mayo party--it was May 5th afterall.

Since meeting Zuriel, we have celebrated Cinco de Mayo together every year, we could probably call it a tradition now.  But being out of town for this holiday for the race, we couldn't throw our usual party of carne asada fajitas with fresh guac, pico, tortillas, rice, and tres leches.  Luckily, our good friends were throwing a party of their own and we got an invite {thanks!}.  Complete with pinata and virgin daiquiris.  

It was an enjoyable weekend of intense running, delicious food, and fun times spent with good friends. We were sad to have to go back to work Monday.  Also, I wasn't the one who's skills tore the pinata apart...us girls left that part to the boys.

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-How did you celebrate your Cinco de Mayo?  Even if you're not hispanic, when there's an excuse to celebrate with food and friends, you gotta take it.

-What was your 'bad race'/'bad run'/'bad hair day'/bad anything experience?