Javelina Jundred 100k

I was really nervous heading into this race because this distance offered uncharted territory for me.  I had one fifty miler under my belt, but 100k included twelve miles further than that-almost a half marathon longer than any distance I ever attempted!  The pressure was even greater to finish because this race was on my home trails and friends would be there to cheer me on, expecting me to perform well.  This was also my first race with a coach and I wanted desperately to meet the times/goal he set for me.  Packet pick-up was rather uneventful minus my brain repeatedly telling my heart, "You're going to die, you're going to die, you're going to die."  We went for my standard steak and potatoes dinner and crashed early.  That night I dreamed of storms with freezing rain and toenails ripping off-typical ultra runner nightmares, right?!

Sunrise at Javelina Jeadquarters

We arrived at the start right after the 100 miler runners took off (they had a 6AM start).  I got settled in, my pack ready and wandered around talking to friends, trying to calm my nerves.  The beautiful sunrise did help ease the tension a little  :-)

Goofing around pre-race

Mile 20-ish

Fast forward to 7AM and we were off.  My coach gave me a pacing plan broken out in five mile increments, which made the miles go by faster-as long as I could think of five miles at a time, I was golden.  The first lap was pretty uneventful.  I met some interesting people from California and Texas and chatted them up for a bit trying to pass the time.  I knew I had a lot of mileage ahead of me and just tried to maintain my pace and run conservatively.  Towards the end of the first loop, I began seeing all my buddies running the 100 miler heading back the other direction on their second loop.  This washing machine loop setup was great, because I was able to encourage people and vice versa throughout the entire race.  I finished the first loop right on time according to my pace plan, got through the checkpoint and carried on my merry way.  I wanted to bank some time if at all possible before the sun was in full force.  I maintained pace on the second loop as well and ended up PR'ing my trail 50k time on the same course as my previous Personal Record.

At the 50k mark

I hiked the first part of the third loop with an older lady that was heading out to volunteer at the aid station for 21 hour shift.  She was a fellow Marathon Maniac and successfully distracted me with her tales of traveling for marathons.  I am currently working on my fifty states and she had already done that once and was working through them a second time.  I picked her brain about the best ones to do in the different states and the two miles passed quickly (yet, slowly since I was hiking).

Just a marathon distance left

After I left her at the aid station, I started running again, but the sun was just too much.  I began hating myself, hating life and wanting to succumb to the heat by passing out.  After stumbling a few times, I decided to walk some.  I eventually got to a bench in the middle of the trail and sat with three other runners-all of us not wanting to continue.  There was no shade and that bench was the only relief we had from the brutality of the desert.  After four or five minutes, I got up at the same time as another guy heading in my same direction.  We stayed together for the next seven or eight miles.  Lance from Glendale was actually an Arizona native attempting his first hundred miler that day.  This meant I was catching up to and passing Hundos at this point.  Sadly, that made me feel a little better about my own misery.  Lance was struggling and we were only in the 30s-40s mile range.  We traded stories from our different races and kept up the small talk for awhile until I decided to pick up the pace as the sun fell behind the mountains.  I kept telling myself that if I could just make it to Javelina Jeadquarters, Chris was pacing me the last lap and knew he wouldn't let me DNF.  Poor Lance tired of hearing me repeat that (trying to convince myself it would be okay).  When I left him, I only had a little over one lap left, but he had three more plus a smaller loop to go.  I checked the results the next day to see how my new friend did and he ended up taking a DNF.

The sun was brutal

My friend Don, the pregnant cheerleader

Mile 39.6 and yes, I had a Sam Adams

I had another reason for picking up the pace-My headlamp was at Jeadquarters and I started chasing the sun, trying to make it back before dark set in.  With only 30% battery left on my cell phone, I knew relying on my flashlight app was risky at best.  At this point I was clocking 10:20s on trail, 40+ miles into the race.  The hiding sun eased the torture just enough for me to go all out in my effort to make it back before dark.  If only the sun could stay hidden, but not disappear....  My luck ran out about three miles from Jeadquarters and I ran a mile by phone app until I got to the next aid station.  Thankfully, one of the people working the station had packed their headlamp in case a runner needed it and loaned it to me until I could get to Jeadquarters.  I eased up on my pace a tad on that last mile and a half, trying to conserve my energy, and finished my third loop with a new sense of determination.  Now that the sun was down, I could do that lap one more time.

Started running at sunrise, still running at sunset

Chris was ready and waiting to pace me for my last lap.  For the first mile, he caught me up on all the College Football scores of the day, providing a desperately needed distraction.  I couldn't believe that Florida had massacred Georgia and A&M and TCU had barely escaped losses.  No wonder my ESPN app had been going crazy with alerts all day!  About a mile into the loop, Chris's headlamp died.  I replaced the batteries the night before, so it must've been the bulb.  We got to the aid station where the girl loaned me her headlamp on loop three and I asked if we could borrow it for the remainder of the loop.  Much to our relief, she said yes and we carried on.  At this point, Chris was practically skipping and I cursed him under my breath.  What I would have given at that point to feel like I had fresh legs!  I hit the fifty mile mark and realized I PR'd my 50 mile as well-by thirty minutes.  This gave me the boost of confidence I needed to add a little pep in my step.  I realized Chris was aware that I was behind schedule and how much that bothered me and he was really goading me because he knew I could gain back some of that time-he had more confidence in me than I did at that point.  We ran/hiked until we got to the next aid station.  After that, I ran most of the way in, passing people left and right.  It seemed I was one of the only people actually running that last loop.  I counted 21 "kills" (Ragnar terminology) in my last five miles.  I know some of them were pacers, but it still made me feel good to know that there was some juice left in my battery.  Chris kept up the pep talks, pointing out any changes in the terrain to keep my clumsy self from tripping.  About two miles out, I started choking up.  It hit me.  I was going to do it.  I was going to get my first buckle.  I started rambling on about how thankful I was until a hiccup stopped me in my tracks.  I couldn't allow myself to get too emotional, because that would just lead to an asthma attack and then I would have to be carried in.  I pulled myself together.  Chris asked if I had another 250 yards in me and I said, "yeah....  it just won't be pretty."  I was right.  I crossed the finish line in 15:32 and that's when the waterworks let loose.  I started crying and I kept repeating "I buckled, I can't believe I buckled!", hugging everyone around me until the announcer said, "I think Amanda is excited that she buckled."  Ooops!  I was called out in front of the entire Jeadquarters for my abundance of enthusiasm.  With the remaining 8% of my phone battery, I took the picture below with me and what I've started referring to as "my precious":

I buckled!!!!!!

Hypnosis Night Run Race Report

Pre-race with my fellow INB ambassador, Kimberly

I signed up for the 60k with butterflies in my stomach-I knew it was going to be a tough one with the heat and distance.  Especially with my last year's race haunting me...  It took me six hours to finish because I got sick to my stomach fourteen times-I was determined not to make that mistake again.

The course consisted of two loops-a 10k loop and a 15k loop.  The 60k runners would complete the 10k loop three times and 15k loop twice, alternating between the two.  All day prior to the race, I rested and drank electrolytes in preparation.

Sunset on the Trails

The race began promptly at seven.  The first couple of miles, I felt fabulous-taking my time and stopping to take pictures of the gorgeous sunset.  My feeling was, if I was going to be out there all night, I might as well enjoy myself.  As the sun began to set, I turned on my headlamp...  only, it wouldn't turn on. I went to change the batteries, but it took three AAA and I only had two.  I figured two fresh batteries was better than none and it turned on.  From there, I took off and was feeling great for the entire 10k loop.  I figured if the rest of the trails were as easy as this, then I was golden!

Mile three selfie before sunset

I passed through the start and took off on my first 15k loop, all smiles.  Shortly after starting into the longer loop, my light began to flicker.  I chalked it up to the two batteries having to work overtime and continued.  The fresh water in my new Orange Mud pack tasted so fabulous that I accidentally chugged it, leaving me with one 24 oz bottle to last me another four miles.  Typically, this would be fine, but it was still 100+ degrees outside and I was sweating profusely.  Right after I put my Orange Mud pack back, I noticed something scurry across my path.  It was the cutest little field mouse and I felt horrible because I was certain it would be snake food soon.  By mile ten, my headlamp was dead.  I started to panic and kept going, utilizing the flashlight on my phone.  This was slow-going because I was too afraid to run with my phone in hand on the trails-I am a klutz and knew if I ran, I would be replacing my iPhone screen for the third time.  It was right about then that Chris caught up to me and thankfully, he had an extra battery for me, so my headlamp was restored to full brightness.  This side of the trail was significantly more technical than the 10k loop and seemed like it was a constant uphill.  Not long after my headlamp was restored to full brightness, I ran out of water.  At this point, there was still three miles to go before the next water stop, so I hiked with Chris and piggybacked off his hydration pack.  I was too scared (based on last year's experience) to exert any more energy than necessary to get me to the water stop where I could refill.  This was poor hydration management on my part.  I shouldn't have chugged the water and I should have utilized the bungee cord in the middle of my pack to secure an additional bottle.  Lesson learned for next time!  It seemed like forever until we reached the water stop and in the meantime, Chris kicked up a large scorpion in my direction on accident and we saw a gigantic tarantula that moved rather quickly and freaked me out to no end.  By the time we got to that water stop (almost eight miles between the stops), we decided we were throwing in the towel.  I could do that 10k loop all night long, but there was no way I was going to attempt the 15k loop again.  I refilled, felt refreshed and took off running.  Averaged sub 10's on trails for the last couple of miles, crossed the finish line and signaled that I was done.  I grabbed a beer from the cooler and waited for my love to finish shortly behind me.  I would say that even though I dropped down to 25k, this race was a success because I finished strong and did not get sick.  Sadly, I can't say that others had the same.  We passed a couple of runners that were miserable and sick and one of our dear friends suffered that same fate.

Lesson from this race:  Don't attempt an ultra in Phoenix in August-take it easy and enjoy the sunsets, critters and your mountain playground  :-)

Vertigo Night Run-31k Race Report

Wearing my favorite InkNBurn tank!

All week I debated on whether or not I should upgrade to the 63k since my long runs consisted of 34 total miles this weekend.  Finally, I decided to just stick with the 31k, which ended up being a blessing in disguise with the crazy weather that hit towards the end of the race!

Shanna, her mother, Karen and myself

I had been looking forward to this race for months because one of my Kingman buddies was coming in town to run it and it's always fun to see Shanna-even if it was only going to be for a few minutes because she is SOOOOO much faster than me on trails :-)  We got to the start line half an hour early and mingled with our friends for a bit before taking off.

Chris and I pre-race

The course consisted of three 6.5 mile loops with one aid station at base camp and one about four miles in.  I ran the shorter distance last year, so I was familiar with the terrain and the technical portions of the course.  I specifically remembered there being one steep climb before coming to a pass and then a very technical portion on the back side of the mountain before everything leveled out (for the most part). 

At shoes-to-the-trails time, the thermostat read 105 degrees-proper hydration was going to be key for pushing through this race.  7:30pm and the 31k runners were off!  I tried to bank as much time as possible on the first portion, knowing I would slow down when I came to the climb and the subsequent technical part.  I felt like I was flying and was in a great mood, singing to myself and enjoying "playing" on my trails.  As always, I found myself in awe of the beauty of the desert as the sun was setting against the mountain backdrop.  I've lived in Arizona almost two years now and I don't think that scenery will ever get old!  I actually ran up the entire climbing section of the course on the first loop-all of the hill work I have been doing in my training is evidently paying off :-)  I almost fell on the back side of the mountain and decided to slow down to navigate the rocky terrain.  When I caught myself, my left hamstring went into a spasm from which I never fully recovered.  Thankfully, the "runner's high" masked most of the pain until post-race!

Lightning strikes in the distance

On the second loop, we started seeing lightning off in the distance.  I was in such a good mood that I just kept thinking, "Look at the fun light show!" and not really considering that it could be headed our way.  When I got to the end of the second loop, I found out that a lot of people had dropped out of the 31k, citing problems with the heat and not wanting to go back out in a potential storm.  I shrugged the concerns aside and took off on the third loop.

When I realized my Garmin was paused-oops!

About three-quarters of a mile into the third loop, I looked down at my Garmin and it said 12.95 miles.  It had been on 12.95 miles for roughly ten minutes of running and I KNEW I had been moving-turns out I bumped it at the aid station and had paused the Garmin without realizing it.  Oops!  I took this opportunity to walk for a few yards, refuel and check my phone.  I'm glad I checked my phone when I did, because there were multiple dust storm warnings as the clouds (both dust and rain) were looking more and more ominous against the stark backdrop of the night sky.  Lightning strikes were getting closer, so I picked up the pace.  When I reached the aid station, they provided me with a zip lock bag for my phone and iPod, as rain was becoming an imminent concern.  Not even one hundred yards past the aid station, the rain started.  It was then that I panicked.  Thankfully, my reasoning overtook my initial instinct rather quickly, but there was between thirty seconds and a minute that I couldn't breathe.  I started having an asthma attack, panicking because I thought I was going to freeze to death-remnants of Old Pueblo mental scars.  Once my brain convinced my body that there was no way to freeze in 100 degree rainfall, I took off again-this time, with a sense of urgency as the need to outrun an electrical storm was rather pressing.  Wind was stirring up dust everywhere and lightning was crashing right above my head.  I thought to myself, "I'm not near as cool as that runner at Hard Rock-if I get struck by lightning it won't be in the news so I better hurry it up!"  Flying through those last few miles, splashing in the mud, I listened intently after every lightning flash to count the seconds between the flash and thunder-trying to judge how far away the lightning actually was.

View from the mountain on the third loop

About a mile from the finish line, I came across the "sweep vehicle" that was headed backwards on the course to check on all of the runners.  They let me continue.  I passed multiple people that were headed back out on the course to check on their friends and loved ones that were still out there.  The last group of people I passed told me that the finish line was already torn down-such a set back was not going to keep me from finishing!  Evidently a huge gust of wind had come through, messed up some of the tents and forced the race directors to make the call to cancel the race.  Thankfully, they let me email my finish time, since I finished the final loop and it will still be recorded.  It was definitely a smart call on the part of Aravaipa Running-lightning is not something to mess with!  Great race as always-fabulous help at the fully stocked aid stations, medics onsite for those struggling with the heat and injuries and another finisher's mason jar on my shelf :-)  Maybe next year I will attempt the longest distance (hopefully sans-lightning!)

This was taken at 12:30 at night, but it looked like daylight with the lightning