Leona 50 Miler Race Report

We drove to Cali Friday afternoon and headed straight to packet pick up.  I have this weird pet peeve about having my bib the day before and everything laid out, pinned, drop bags labeled, etc before I go to bed the day before race day.  I was surprised by how chilly it was, but this time, I was prepared-I brought six panchos.  I really think I have a mild form of PTSD from Old Pueblo!

Just turned on the trails-a mile and a half in

After an easy night, we tucked in early and race jitters forced me to take some Benadryl before bed.  We woke up the next morning and I put my game face on.  I was not going to have an OP repeat if I could avoid it, even though there was the little nagging thought in the back of my head that said, “You can’t do this, you can’t finish anything….”

I packed my two friends, Sue and Michelle, and strapped their faces to the back of my hydration pack-they were supposed to join, but couldn’t because of an injury and an illness, so I decided to take them with me in spirit.  At different points, I found myself talking to them and pretending they were encouraging me when I needed it  J

The first couple of miles were road, which totally threw me for a loop because I was expecting all trail-I should’ve read the course description better!  About two miles in, I heard this pounding over the sound of my headphones.  This confused me because I KNEW my heart wasn’t beating that loudly-I was settling into my groove and running with ease.  I turned the corner and there was a guy dressed in a bunny suit beating a bass drum and signaling the first aid station.  I knew I wasn’t hallucinating because it was too early on in the race, so I stopped and took a picture with the crew.

The Energizer Bunny!

Shortly after I left the first aid station, flakes started falling from the sky.  I couldn’t decide if they ashes from an old forest fire or if it was snow.  Just in case, I threw on one of my many panchos.  My hands were freezing, but my body was warm, so I wasn’t too concerned as long as I stayed dry.  It did end up being snow and it snowed from miles 3-6.  Thankfully, it melted as soon as it hit the ground, but it was enough to give me flashbacks.  I came into the mile 8 aid station feeling great, but my feet had started bothering me.  I started out in Hokas, but switched them out at mile 8 for my trusty Cascadias.  I kept rolling my ankles with the thicker soles and really needed my “security blanket” shoes.

Sue, Michelle and I at mile 17

The next nine miles were filled with beautiful scenery-there is nothing more beautiful than the PCT!  Around mile 16 my stomach started grumbling and not in an “I’m hungry” sort of way, if you know what I mean.  By the time I got to the mile 17 aid station, I was making a beeline for the trees.  After going to the restroom and packing out, I went back over to the aid station and chatted with the crew for a bit.  One of them told me  the most amazing idea…  I have yet to try it, because it would probably backfire for me, but they said that girls can pee standing up like a guy if they wear skirts because it covers everything.  If anyone has tried it, please let me know!

Somewhere between 17 and 26

I breathed a sigh of relief because I had met the first cut off in plenty of time-I was actually way ahead of schedule…  When I reached mile twenty, it was a major wake up call.  In my normal races, mile twenty signified that I only have a 10k left.  Even with my 50ks, it meant I only had an eleven miler left which I could justify with the gazillion times I had run eleven miles in the past.  At Old Pueblo, by the time I reached mile twenty, I knew I wasn’t going to make it to the end so I didn’t have the intimidation factor.  This time was different.  Twenty miles meant I had thirty miles left.  I wasn’t even half way done.  That’s when that stupid little voice in the back of my head started coming back telling me I wasn’t cut out to be an ultra runner and that I should just quit.  If anyone had run passed me at that point, they may have thought I was going crazy between talking to that little negative voice and the Sue and Michelle faces strapped to my back!

Mile 27-nothing like Coke mid-race!

The only way to handle my brief schizophrenia moment was to speed up, which almost ended up with my falling down the mountain before running full speed into the 27 mile aid station.  I was so far ahead of schedule that Chris almost missed me! 

Leaving the mile 27 aid station

This view kept me going...

Miles 27 to 39 were probably the hardest for me.  Thankfully at this point, I made a friend on the trail.  There was this guy from California that was a few years younger than me and had finished Ironmans on multiple continents.   The one thing that he said that stuck out to me was that this race was harder than any Ironman he’s ever completed.  This shocked me since the Ironman is a symbol of ultimate endurance.  He further explained by saying that at least with the Ironman, you have the bike and the swim to vary things up a bit-it’s not completely running on trails with 9000+ feet of climb over sometimes treacherous terrain.  He still didn’t fully convince me because I would never have the guts to do an Ironman and am in awe of my friends that have, but I thought it was a different perspective.  

There were some really sandy points along this part of the path where there was a couple of feet of sand and then the side of the mountain, so it was really scary.  I remember stepping, my foot sliding and me yelping, but I made it across as quickly as possible.  By the time I got to mile 39, I was seriously Miss Cranky Pants.  I sat down for ten minutes in a chair before I had to get up and move to make the cut off.  Chris was amused at my crankiness, but I think the amusement was masking concern.  I had slowed down a lot and he had been waiting awhile at that aid station…  He hadn’t known while he was waiting that I had found a person to chat up and make sure I didn’t die J

Definitely cranky at mile 39

They shooed me out of the chair and we had to haul it to the next aid station in order to make the next cutoff.  Once I realized I was in the clear, it became my mission to just not be last.  This resulted in me hauling it the last mile and a half and clocking a sub-nine minute pace-I have NO IDEA where that energy came from because I felt like my legs were going to fall off.  It probably helped that the last mile and a half were back on the road and I’m a much faster road runner than trail runner.

I ended up finishing in 13:03:41-sixth from the last and under the cut off.  Not bad for my first 50 miler, but no, I’m not tempted to run a hundred miler (yet)  Fifty was crazy enough!  My final thoughts on the race:  It was extremely well organized, the aid stations were fully stocked (even for the back of the packers) and I was very impressed overall.  I would definitely recommend it for anyone wanting to conquer that fifty miler dream.