Lone Star 100 KM

As I drove closer to El Paso last Friday morning, I began to get excited as the mountains came into view.  I had an absolute blast running the trails in Franklin Mountains State Park last November and I was looking forward to doing it again.  I originally signed up to run the 100 mile race but after scoring a Did Not Finish at Brazos Bend 100 and remembering how tough the course was, I decided to step down to the 100 km race.  Despite the excitement, I was also very nervous about this race. 

I got to run those mountains!

I picked up my packet on Friday and went into town to check into the hotel and pick up a few things at the store before going back to the park for the race brief.  Rob talked about the runners that had started their 200 mile and 200 km races two days earlier and how excited they were to see us join them on the course and share our energy with them.

Flat Chip was ready!

He also went over the conditions and warned us to plan for colder weather than was forecast.  He said it was one thing to experience the predicted conditions at the base of the mountain and a completely different thing to get hit with a 50 mph gust of wind near the peak of the mountain.  The wind chill was making it feel more than 20 degrees colder.  The water at the Mundy’s Gap aid station had frozen overnight and the runners had their water bottles and camelbacks ice up while they were on the trail.

When I went back into town, I stopped at a store and bought a thick pair of fleece jogging pants to wear at night.  I felt pretty good about the other clothes I brought but I rarely wear more than a pair of shorts over running tights on my legs.  I packed two drop bags at the hotel. 

I got to the park early the next morning and dropped off my bags.  I was dressed in running tights and shorts with a long sleeve base layer shirt.  I had my new Trail Racing Over Texas Ambassador shirt and a light windbreaker.  I put on a thick, cotton hoodie to stay warm before the race and kept my hydration pack next to my drop bag until I was ready to go.  At the last minute, I decided to start the race with the hoodie and figured I’d stash it in my drop bag at the first aid station 1.2 miles away. 

The race started and we quickly turned into a congo line over the first few hills.  The trail was mostly rocky, steep single track up and down the first few hills, so there was a lot of hiking.  At the first aid station, I dropped off my hoodie and continued as the crowd thinned a bit.  I came back into this aid station at four miles and topped off my water bottles and grabbed some peanut butter crackers to munch on.

The trail brought us back to the start/finish line a few miles later and then we crossed the road to start the climb to the peak of the mountain.  We used the same trail I ran for the King of the Mountain race in November.  It included a long stretch through a scree field that I slowed my pace through.  Then it took a steep climb to a ridge before running up to the Mundy’s Gap aid station.  From this aid station, it was a up and back down along the same trail, so I began seeing 100 mile runners and the faster 100 km runners on their way back down.  I saw a lot of running friends and it gave me a nice boost every time I passed someone and exchanged a “good job”.

Bro, Do you even Fonzie, Bro?

I posted a short video to Facebook at mile 10 and joked about only having a double marathon remaining.  I was feeling good at the time but I was ready to be working my way back down the trail so I could get some running in.  There was a photographer at the peak and he got some amazing shots of all the runners as they approached.  Once we made it to the top of the mountain, we had to grab a summit band and we could sign in on a book, if we wanted to.  I wrote #ChipMadeMeDoIt and my bib number and sat down to enjoy the view for a couple minutes.

 

I worked my way down the mountain back to the Mundy’s Gap aid station and refilled my bottles again.  I kept one water bottle for just water and was mixing Nuun into the other.  At every other aid station, I switched to a 50/50 mix of Gatorade and water to get some extra calories without getting too much sugar.

From Mundy’s Gap to the East aid station, the course is very runnable and I got into a good pace.  I fell once at mile 18 and hit my knee hard enough to break the skin and bleed without damaging my running tights.  I began reminding myself to pick my feet up and watch where I put them down.  To keep my feet underneath me, rather than overstriding.  I still kicked enough rocks to build my own mountain after the race, but I didn’t fall again. 

I’ve learned that my legs really control everything.  When they start to cramp, everything goes to crap.  Between the East and West aid station (miles 19-26), I began to feel an ache in my legs and the cramps started.  My entire legs will lock up with solid pain through all the muscles.  I took a salt tab and kept moving forward, hoping the cramping and pain would get better but during the 15-20 minutes, I was in a bad place mentally.  By the time I made it to the West aid station, my legs felt a bit better but I still hadn’t recovered mentally and was beginning to worry about how I’d feel about my second loop as I got closer to finishing the first.

At the West aid station, I met up with a 200 mile runner and his pacer/safety runner and a 100 mile runner.  I knew the pacer from several races in the past and knew the 100 miler as another TROT ambassador.  I stopped to chat with them all and I knew that no matter how hard I thought my own race was, I was going to finish it.  Ace spoke about his own battle in his race and he was still smiling and exuding confidence and strength through the fatigue.  His pacer was excited to see him through the rest of his fifth loop.  I wished Ace well and told him how amazing he was and I left the aid station feeling much better. 

I stopped about two miles later to take another break and eat one of my Quest bars.  I was passed by a few runners, including Ace, as I lay on the ground, enjoying the clear sky and gentle breeze.  They all checked on me to make sure I was ok and I tried to give them all visual clues as they approached that all was good, but I’m sure seeing a fellow runner just racked out on the ground in the distance is a scary sight.  But, I was actually feeling really good and just enjoying the day.

When I made it back to the last aid station before the finish line, I stopped at my drop bag and changed my shoes.  The trail was rocky and my feet were sore.  I was wearing a an older pair of Altra Timps that I’ve had for a while and pulled out my newer pair in hopes the cushioning in them would feel a little better.  Otherwise, my feet were holding up well.  I wore a pair of XOSKIN toe socks, which have become my go to socks for racing all distances, and I had no blisters, or even hot spots, the entire race.  I finished my first loop and checked in at the aid station for some hot food.  The volunteers made me a bean and cheese quesadilla and refilled my water bottles for me.  My watch read 34 miles exactly when I got there.

Halfway hair, don't care!

When I got back around the first small loop and back into the start/finish line area, I changed some of my clothes.  I put on a dry base layer and dropped my short sleeve t-shirt.  I added two medium weight pullovers with one quarter zippers and put my windbreaker over that.  I added my cotton hoodie and pulled the fleece joggers over my tights.  It was already dark and I was using my headlamp to run.  Within a few miles, though, I began to overheat and worried I’d worn too much.  I tied my hoodie around my waist and unzipped the windbreaker.  A short time later, I rigged my hydration pack straps to hold up my pullovers and ran several miles with just my baselayer shirt covering my belly and lower back.  I’d have taken off the joggers but didn’t really have a place to store them.  This helped keep me cool while being prepared for dropping temperatures and higher winds as I closed in on the peak again.

When I left the start/finish line for the last time, I ran up alongside another TROT friend that I’d yo-yo’d with during the first loop.  We took on the scree fields together in the dark and continued up to Mundy’s Gap.  This was the first 100k for both of us and we chatted all the way up the mountain.  When we got to the peak, she grabbed a summit band, wrote in the book, and started back down the mountain.  I told her I wanted to enjoy the view for a couple minutes and I lay down again to look at the stars through the clouds.  That only lasted a short while as the wind and weather made me start shivering. 

On the way down the mountain, I caught up to Shawna when her headlamp battery died and she was stuck in total darkness.  The trails can be dangerous during the day with full light.  To try to descend in the middle of the night without a light source would be terrible.  We shared the light of my headlamp back to the Mundy’s Gap aid station where she was able to borrow some light sources from the volunteers there.

I’d been fantasizing about a catnap for about an hour at that point, so I decided I’d refill my water bottles, get something to eat and then set a 15 minute timer and lie down.  I knew I wouldn’t make it that long as it was still cold but it felt good to get off my feet for just a few minutes.  Also, one of the volunteers had his dog there and she came over and destroyed my face with kisses (I’m sure at that point, I was sweating pure salt crystals).  He came over to drag her away and apologized and I hit the timer button on my phone and told him it was just fine and joked that she had exactly 15 minutes to stop.  I was up and moving again in less than 10 minutes and had to pull my hoodie back on for a mile or so to warm back up.

I caught up with Shawna again and we spent most of the rest of the race running together with brief instances of me running ahead to the aid station so I could enjoy a sugar free Red Bull while she made shorter stops and continued on alone until I caught up again.  I kept constant track of our pace and how much we had left and I’m sure I drove her crazy with my constant updates on how we were on pace to finish under 24 hours if we kept a certain pace from any given point. 

We got to the final aid station with just 1.2 miles to go to finish and I refilled one water bottle and then dropped my hydration pack off with my drop bag.  I carried just my phone and that water bottle the rest of the way.  That last section of the trail was up over several hills that in the outbound direction were hikable up and runnable down.  On the way in to the finish, though, it was some steep climbs up and very slow going down over rocky sections of the trail that sometimes I had to use my hands to get down through. 

We walked almost the entire way in the dark just wanting to finish safely and feeling sure we’d make the sub 24 hour goal I had set for myself.  We crossed the finish line together and got a picture of us high fiving at the end.  It was an amazing feeling to be done and I was so glad that I’d had a friend there to share the experience with. 

My trail family is one sister bigger.

Lone Star 100 was the longest distance I’ve completed as well as the longest time I’ve been in a race.  There were times well beyond mile 50 where I was surprised by how good I felt.  It was exciting and inspiring to see all the runners on the other races on the same trail.  Between the November races last year and this one, I have more miles in that park than any other park in Texas and I love it.  They are tough, tough miles but I feel stronger for having survived them.

I got to meet a lot of the TROT Ambassador team face to face for the first time and it was a lot of fun to get to know them all a little.  The trail running community is an amazing group of people that celebrate each other and everyone’s accomplishments. 

The volunteers for this race were amazing.  At all hours of the day and night, they were ready to refill bottles, cut up fresh fruit, cook hot food, and offer anything else within their power to help the runners.  The Mundy’s Gap crews had to carry up all the supplies by hand and carry down the trash because there was no other way to get things transported.  They braved the weather and wind to be there for the runners.  The El Paso Team RWB Chapter provided most of the volunteers and they were the model of the Eagle Ethos.

Trail Racing Over Texas put on another truly incredible event.  Right before I left the start/finish line area for the last time, Rob came up to me and asked where I was and how I was doing.  When I told him I’d just completed the first small loop of my second lap, he told me he was proud of me and that I would finish this race strong.  He listened to what I told him about how I was feeling, and he offered me advice specific and relevant to what I’d said.  He then gave me a hug and sent me on my way.  Rob is an amazing race director because he is an amazing human being.  He puts on these events so he can give people the opportunity to push beyond limits they might believe they have, all the while telling them they can do it, and then celebrating their accomplishments.

This race was scary for me.  It was my first ultra since Brazos Bend 100 and I’d been nervous about it since December.  I paid attention to my body and only had a couple low moments.  I felt strong through most of the race while I kept up with my nutrition and hydration.  I’m still overjoyed that I fell only once.  I will lose at least one toenail but that’s what you get when you spend half the race kicking the little pieces of the mountain that is kicking the whole of your ass. 

Run Hard.

Be Grateful.

Celebrate Love.