My Intro to Ultras at the McDowell Mountain Frenzy 50km

 

 

It has taken me almost a week to sit down and write my race recap. Before this race I thought for sure that I would want to sit down as soon as I had finished the race and share it with my friends and family. That wasn't the case. I wanted to keep this one to myself for a bit longer because this was the completion of a very long journey of many hours of training. I wanted to let it all soak in before I shared it...

In January of this year I decided that my long term running goal would be to run an ultra marathon. I chose to start at the 50km distance and I chose the McDowell Mountain Frenzy. I chose this race because the Coury brothers of Aravaipa Running always put together a well run race, you are guaranteed a good course and the volunteers are always amazing. I had also chosen this race because I wanted to run in the cooler winter temperatures. So after months of training and building my base the big day was finally here. My goals were to finish in sub 7 hours and to finish as one of the top ten females.

Jeremy, Bren and I arrived in Phoenix on Friday night at a decent time and we were all able to get to bed at a good time. I woke up at 5:00am to get dressed and head out the door to meet my mom who was picking me up. Bren had also woken up around this time much to my husband's dismay. : ) When I made it down to my mom's vehicle I saw that my sister Ayla was in there and was going to spend the day with us. Sweet!! She had woken up at 4:00am, which anyone who knows Ayla knows that she does not wake up at 4:00am. But there she was sitting there ready to support her big sis! We stopped at QT and I grabbed my oatmeal, banana and coffee and we were off.

We arrived at the McDowell Mountain Regional Park competitive track staging area around 6:45am and my race didn't start until 8:00am. I was relieved that I would have plenty of time to check in and relax. Thank you, mom!! At the check in I saw my good friend, Amanda, who was volunteering. She is always full of positive energy and I was happy to see her and tried to absorb as much of that positive energy as I could!! I also had the opportunity to chat with my new friend, Erin, who is a bad ass on the trails and an experienced runner that I look up to. It was around this time that I saw my friend Nate checking in. We had trained together quite a bit for this race and it would be his first 50km as well.

Amanda and I on a training run on Pemberton Trail a few weeks before the race. Photo credit: Amanda Hughes

The race started at exactly 8:00am. I had positioned myself in the middle of the pack on purpose. I did not want to go out fast and I knew if I started there it would force me to run slower than I wanted to. I had been told by a couple of veteran ultra runners that if I thought that I was running slow at first to slow down some more. Nate and I ran together right from the start. We ran on the Escondido trail for a while before we blew through the Escondido aid station at mile 6.7 and turned onto the Pemberton trail.

Photo Credit: Aravaipa Running

 

At one point I spotted Erin ahead of us and I had a moment of sheer panic because as soon as I saw her I was thinking that I must have gone out too fast. The trails were very runnable up to this point though and the climb was so gradual that it didn't bother me at all. I felt good so I just kept doing what I was doing and hoped that I wouldn't pay for it later. Nate and I were still running together at this point and we came up to the Granite Tank aid station at mile 11.8. I knew that we had 10.5 miles until the next aid station so I refilled my water, grabbed a snack and off we went.

The miles were going by quickly and we maintained the same pace that we had been up until around 30km where we began a steeper climb. It was at this point that Nate slowed down to walk. I love to climb and I was feeling good so I pulled ahead and continued on without him. I climbed for 3 miles and the trails were starting to become somewhat technical. I thought for sure I would see Nate any minute but it was Erin who was gaining on me. As soon as we got to the top and I saw the descent I knew this was where she would pass me. I am still working on my downhill running and am not confident on downhills yet. As I started the descent I stubbed my left big toe on a rock. O.M.G. that hurt! I kept running but I continued to look down periodically at my shoe because I expected to see blood seeping through my shoe. It was that hard of a hit. Yowzers!

Yes, you are looking at my toe. I think that I might actually lose the toenail. That would be a first!!

 

I shook it off though and just kept going. By the time that I reached the bottom of that descent Erin had passed me and my IT band had started to act up on the right side. I had expected this though because I had been dealing with that issue during the last month of my training and was mentally prepared for it. What I did not expect was that my left IT band would start to hurt when I climbed because I compensating for my right one. I have learned with long distance running that something unexpected will almost always happen that will throw off your plans. In fact, you can almost count on it. So I accepted that I would be entering what is often referred to as the "pain cave" and would stay there for the remainder of the race. I kept telling myself to keep moving forward.

The trails in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve ran us through some beautiful country and as always I was in awe of the beauty of the desert. I headed into the Dixie Mine aid station at mile 22.3 and I grabbed the cup of Mountain Dew that I had been waiting for all day long. I had actually been looking forward to that cup of Dew for weeks and it was as good as I had hoped!!  I ended up spending a bit too much time at that aid station joking around with the volunteers while I refilled my water and grabbed a snack. The volunteers there gave me an extra cheer because it was my first ultra. Just another example of how kick ass the volunteers at these races are. : ) 

I only had 9 more miles to go and I was still feeling strong even though my IT bands were giving me fits. I figured out after a mile or so that if I ran the downhills and flats and walked the uphills I could still move along at a decent pace. That is what I did for the next 7 miles or so. Myself and another female runner kept passing each other back and forth for awhile which was nice because we could chat for a minute or two before one of us pulled ahead.

I remember going past a lot of jumping chollas at one point and trying not to step on the dropped stems on the trail. I have seen and experienced the carnage firsthand. Photo Credit: Aravaipa Running 

I ended up stopping at the Gate aid station at mile 27.5 even though I hadn't planned on it and grabbed another cup of Dew. I was tired and hurting but ready to wrap this thing up. I took off from the aid station and after a bit I noticed that a female runner was gaining on me. We came to the top of a climb and I looked down and saw that her and a male runner were definitely closing the gap between us. We were about 2 miles from the finish line and I decided that there was NO WAY that I was going to let her catch me and pass me no matter how badly it hurt to run fast. I did not know what place I was in but I knew that I would not forgive myself if I was in 10th and she took my spot. I was going to fight for a top 10 female spot.

I gritted my teeth, tried to open up my hips and picked up my pace. It turned out that the last part of the course was a really fun part of the course because it had swooping turns with some short steep climbs and descents. I was able to put some space between us on that part. I remember chuckling to myself because only in a trail race would you be climbing up a hill having to use your hands to help you at mile 31. Once I was at the top of that last hill I heard my mom and sister cheering me in and I saw the finish line. I finished in 6:08:58 and was the 7th overall female. Hot diggity dog!!!!

Overall my race went awesome! The weather was near perfect with overcast skies and  temperatures that ranged from the 50's to the 70's. My nutrition and hydration were spot on. I felt strong even when I had to modify my pace. I finished faster than I thought that I would. I ran a PR for my 30km and marathon times. Finally, I have officially crossed into the ultra running community and it feels as good and welcoming as I had imagined it would.