I haven't posted in a while, mostly because we've kept busy running!
We ran the Silver State 50 miler last weekend out by Reno. Everyone was afraid the course was going to be snowed in, seeing all the snow on the West side of the mountains... but the snow thins out a lot on the East side, Reno side. So we could see snow along the trail and it made for a gorgeous view of the mountains in the distance, but we didn't have to trudge through it.
It was also our first run at real altitude - 4700-8200 feet. Which made the first 4-5 hours pretty rough for me, in addition to having to be at the start line at 6 while only getting like 4-5 hours of sleep due to waking up at like 3 a.m. from pre-race adrenaline. I was breathing pretty heavily during that time until I got acclimated.
The first 8 or so hours in general were rough. I had a few short-lived sections where I felt good, but on the whole felt low energy and my muscles felt full of lactic acid. Then around mile 30 we hit a nasty downhill and my knees just got shot, particularly my left. Ugh... I was felt sooooooooooo beat and frustrated and in pain. I gingerely walked some of the steeper sections, and hobbled the rest of them. And I knew that after that, we go back up to the 8200ft summit the second time, and then 10 miles of donwhill to the finish. It was not looking good.
Finally we hit the 34 mile aid station, 1 hour before the cut-off!!! Compared to Mt. Diablo which we hit 15 minutes before cut-off. So we were still making really good time and pace, much better than Mt. Diablo (which was way more brutal, by the way. I decided that terrain is a much tougher challenge that being at high altitude). We were doing about 13 minute miles, which is really good for us for this sort of terrain and distance.
Well, I took my time at that aid station. And some kind soul gave me two ibuprofens. I later found out that ibuprofens are actually really bad during running because they're hard on the kidneys which are already in overdrive from processing all that water, gus, and other junk. But it made my knee pain go away and that's all I cared about. The last 16 miles I surged. I felt GREAT. I never had a race or a long run where I felt better towards the end than the beginning... but that was it. I just got into a rhythm and felt like I could keep going.
Sarah had the opposite race. She was having the run of her life, literally, for the first 2/3, and then ran out of steam as I surged. So she supported me when she was feelin good and I felt shitty and vice versa.
Also, I have to give special thanks to the race organizers and the aid station volunteers. The course was amazingly well marked. Not only was there a ton of flags, but also there was chalk powder arrows! And at intersections, they even crossed out the wrong way, with chalk powder, and wrotee "NO". Classic.
One of the best moments of the race was at mile 40 aid, after climbing back up to Mt. Peavine. We decided to change shoes. And I miraculously found a pair of clean socks in my drop bag which I was perfectly willing to put onto my filthy feet. Well, one of the volunteers was like "Oh, don't you want to wash those first?" As if it was a perfectly normal thing to wash one's feet on top of a desert mountain at mile 40 of an ultra. Well, apparently it was, as she handed me a bucket of water with a sponge, and then dried my feet off with a paper towel and gave me vaseline to put between my toes to prevent blisters. Pure bliss.
The race felt very personal and I got more of a sense of the community. I think because this is Reno's big race of the year.
We finished in 12:47, well before the 14 hour cut-off. I feel good about our progress, about our ability to run together, help each other, and overcome problems and adversity as they arise.
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