You might really appreciate the Robert Frost perspective but you’ll still have to burn a hole in your toenail

I may have overestimated my love of trail running.

That’s what I muttered to myself for 30ish miles of the 50k last weekend.

It was an incredible experience. I give it 9 out of 10 toenails. No really, I’m losing my big toenail. Which is not unusual for endurance runners.

We started in the dark; turns out running with a headlamp over rocks and roots is a skill in itself. One that should be practiced. Intentionally. Unfortunately, not one I considered in my training plan.

I did run onto the heels of a guy who stopped abruptly in front of me. But he was stopping to take a picture of the sunrise and it was well worth it.

When I hit the 14 mile mark I couldn’t believe I wasn’t even halfway. At 20 miles I felt very proud. At 22 miles, I felt very done.

I didn’t stop at the aid stations as I was carrying enough water and food to be self sufficient. Before the start Hubs asked me if I had enough fluid. I did some quick water math, “well, let’s see, one time I ran 15 miles but it was a total time of 5 hours and I shared my water with Remy and didn’t run out. So figuring I’m doing twice that distance but not twice that time and I don’t have Remy with me I think I’ll be good.”

*frown*

The second to last aid station-with 12 miles left in the course-I decided to stop and soak in the experience. I meandered over to a table and took an oreo, I thought about sitting down, then a lady looked at my bib and said, “oh hey, you’re in 4th place.”

*sigh*

Now I have to run, don’t I?

I took off with the overly optimistic thought, “I’m going to catch third place,” when in reality I should have thought, “don’t get passed by 5th place.” Immediately I was passed. Top 5 is still pretty great. Things went downhill from there. Literally. It was 11 miles downhill to the finish and if you think running uphill is hard you should try downhill because your quads and your toes will never forgive you. At one point there was a little stretch of an incline, I was bent over hiking when I realized my surroundings were not familiar. A cell phone tower appeared in front of me, weird, I didn’t remember that from the morning but it was pretty dark. Hmm, lots of chain link fencing… have I wandered back into the Water Authority lands..? No, but I had wandered. I couldn’t bear to turn around because what if I was wrong and this was part of the course? I didn’t think I could physically trudge back uphill and I sure didn’t want to go downhill for no reason. Then I realized a cell phone tower probably meant signal so I pulled out my phone and sure enough I had gone completely off track. It was only a half mile all said and done but half a mile in that condition might as well be 100.

I did finish, a few more women passed me and I almost laid down on the side of the trail but the last mile was mostly flat along a road and I was able to open it up and cross the line with a scrap of dignity.

I ended up in the top 10 women and went 7 hours 42 minutes! I achieved 3 of my goals, and am really happy with that!

Hubs was waiting with a camp stool and peeled my pack, socks and shoes off me. My toes were not in a good place. Since then I’ve had to burn a hole through the nail of my big toe because it was so swollen with fluid underneath. You have to be in a pretty dark place to willingly press a glowing red paper clip against your nail but I’m happy to report it did provide immediate relief.

He asked me what I would do differently, as in supplies or training strategy. Truly, mostly out of sheer luck, I was really happy with my approach. My clothing was perfectly warm and not too hot, my snacks and fluid were well balanced. The only things I really lacked were chapstick (holy moly was the wind whipping at the peak) and the ability to power-hike quickly. I was pretty fast on the flats and downhill but every time there was a steep incline I would get passed. There is a real skill to walking quickly and apparently it’s not one I have developed.

While this event was something I really enjoyed and I probably will do another in the future, it didn’t light my competitive spirit, for which I’m actually quite grateful! I don’t know if I have the energy for another arena of competition. I found a lot of joy on the trail, I loved the woods, trees, views, rocks, wind, and all the beauty of nature. But I also found myself missing my regular training runs through the woods with Remy. I realized I can be just as content doing a big endurance effort on my own and the fact it was a race didn’t add or subtract anything for me. I think I’ll keep my competitive edge honed for triathlons and let this exist as an enjoyable hobby.

I loved the community and the group mentality of the trail runners, I also loved being a complete stranger in a new arena. What a privilege to do something totally new!

As one of my running friends often quotes when we’re out on the trails:

"Two roads diverged in a wood and I-
I took the one less traveled by, 
and that has made all the difference."
-Robert Frost

I combined that with the wise words on choosing joy that another friend told me before the race:
“I choose joy on the trail, and that has made all the difference.”

Also, electric blankets make all the difference, maybe even moreso than joy. We put them under our sleeping bags for the night in the tent and it was so cozy. Then Hubs hit a new level of sherpa when he dragged my whole bed out of the tent so I could lay in it while he broke down our campsite.