Run Rabbit Run!

[Pablo]

I have to mention that I had a cold going into the race so i wasn't at 100%, which I'm pretty sure slowed me down but I still finished with plenty of time before the cutoff and actually I think I ended running a negative split from the turn around. Woohoo!!

So here's the play by play from aid station to aid station:

Start to Mt. Werner, 6 miles - So it starts at the base of the of the ski resort in Steamboat Springs and then goes up seemingly endlessly. It started on some single track trail then veered off onto some access road for what seemed like hours, although in reality it only lasted for probably a couple. Oh and the base is around 6600ft and the Mt. Werner aid station was at around 10,400. The fact that it was dark to begin with helped a lot because you couldn't see what was next. What a great warmup!!

Mt. Werner to Long Lake aid, 6.5ish miles - Now we get to do some mountain running!! Nothing but single track for this entire section. Ahh, good times. Since it had snowed the day before there was still snow, but it froze over night so it was good and crunchy and somewhat slick. The trail went up and down and around through some beautiful trails. This part was fun! Once at Long Lake, I got rid of my jacket, filled the handheld with succeed, and ate some food and left. The volunteers were making themselves bloody marys and it was only 9 or so in the morning, totally unfair!

Long Lake to next aid station (don't remember the name) 7ish miles - Now we get down and dirty. What starts off as a gentle slope gives way to some gnarly downhill running - lots of rocks and roots and steep as hell. This is super fun, my kind of running!! Of course got to save the quads so I couldn't go too fast. Finally I get the bottom the trail flattens out a bit and takes a turn on to a forest access road and, almost out of nowhere, the aid station appeared. Fill the hand held, eat some food and go.

Next aid station to Rabbit Ears (the turn around), total 25 miles - I follow the forest access road up for a couple of miles where it abruptly ends and we get to do some bushwacking to get to the next section of the trail. I ended running with a couple of people from MI for this whole section which was a pleasant change. Although I ended charging ahead because I'm a bit faster on the downhill parts. AFter what seemed like an eternity, I make one more turn through the woods and the turn around pops into view, and that was exciting. Although just before I got there, there was a fork in the trail, both leading the same place, and I started down the wrong one. So everyone starting yelling for me to go back and go the other way unless i wanted to ford the river with no rocks to cross. Naturally I heeded the advice, didn't really feel like getting my feet totally wet. This was the only part of the race with any kind of spectator access and my mom was there which was very uplifting. I sat down for a couple of minutes, shed another shirt, refilled my handheld, filled my water, ate some more and took off.

Rabbit Ears to Next aid station, 6ish miles - Heading back wasn't too bad until I got to the spot where the bushwacking began. It was a little more difficult to do this going up hill but overall not terrible. I came up behind another person and scared the living piss out of her because she though that I was a mountain lion at first. But I ended running with her for quite some time. This woman, Anita Fromm, is tough. She did the Double Badwater crossing earlier this year so it was cool to pick her brain a bit. Otherwise this section was pretty uneventful except for the rotting big horn sheep carcass on the side of the road. That was cool. Like before, filled my hand held, filled my water, ate some more (I love fig newtons!) and took off.

Next aid station to Long Lake, 7ish miles - Now I'm entering uncharted territory as I have never run this far in my life. Actually that happened in the last section but this is where I started to feel it. My feet were starting to get sore and the gnarly downhill that was so fun on the was out came back to haunt me. Steep and rocky but up. Ooh that was tough! But it was nice to have some company. Afterwhile, it finally leveled out enough to do some running and then Long Lake appeared. These were the guys that were drinking bloody marys earlier and i couldn't resist a shot of PBR. I grabbed my head light, filled my hand held, filled my water, ate some more and, once again took off. Pizza and beer would become my rallying cry for the rest of the race since that's what was waiting at the end.

Long Lake to Mt. Werner, 6ish miles - This is what I consider the "dark period" mostly because my feet were so sore that I didn't want to run much and my company, Anita, became afflicted with stomach issues and so I had to continue sans company. So it was just a lot of hiking mostly uphill through some really nice single track. There were not very many downhills so that made it even longer, but finally light shone through and thus appeared the Mt. Werner aid station. Woohoo!! Filled my handheld, filled my water, ate some more food and took off.

Mt. Werner to the finish, 6ish miles - I stayed here a bit long and the two from MI caught up so we all proceeded to start the last run down to the finish. I just kept thinking "pizza and beer, pizza and beer". I had to take a few walk breaks because my feet were super sore, but my quads were actually in really good shape so it was a bummer that i couldn't just bomb down the whole thing. But at about a mile from the finish I got back on the single track and just took off probably running somewhere between a 6 and 7 minute mile pace and didn't stop until I got through the end. Just a little bit before the finish I started thinking that I was actually going to finish a 50 mile race and started to get a bit choked up which made running difficult because i had a hard time breathing so i had to get that under control. It was a strange feeling because i don't normally get emotional about things, but then again this isn't a normal race. Go figure.

So in the end it took me about 13.5 hours to finish; well within the 15 hour time limit and I finished before it got dark, so I think, for me, it was an awesome first try. I also put it my perspective in that I've only been running for a couple of years so that's pretty awesome to me!! A few things I learned:

1. I am never wearing a backpack with such a large water capacity (3 liters)!! It got heavy and my back got super sore. I'm either going to use two handhelds or get a waist pack.

2. I've discovered that I don't need tons and tons of Salt Stick caps; I only used two out the 800 or so that I had packed. I found that Gatorade and Succeed worked really well.

3. I'm not going to plan on eating gels the whole time because they start to taste really gross after drinking a lot of gatorade. And, the aid station had tons of good stuff.

Last thoughts: I have to thank some people (think the Academy Awards here): my mom because she is my fan club, Anita, Bill and Marit because they put up with my questions and were awesome company. I can't wait to try this again!!! I don't know if I'm ready to do 100 yet but I'm definitely going to do at least two 50 milers next year.

Oh, and the AFtermath: My legs are pretty sore right now, and I feel pretty tired. But otherwise no problems. I got a small blister on my heel that developed in the last five miles of the race. Arrgh!! All in all, very good times!