Last weekend was the Black Hills 50 miler. It was Josh’s first, and self-proclaimed LAST 50 miler. The drive to Sturgis, South Dakota took us about 7 hours with several stops along the way for food, bathroom, and brain breaks. The Black Hills were covered in black skies, and I thought about the poor 100 milers getting pounded by the rain and hail (their race had started that morning), and I was glad to be dry and warm in the car. I did pretty well until the last hour or so when the rain started pouring down and the road began winding through the canyon, and then my brain was cooked.  By the time we reached our hotel I crawled into bed and napped for an hour. Eventually I had to drag my butt out of bed so we could head to packet pickup.

We ran into a few friends at packet pickup, but I let Josh do all the talking, and I was pretty anti-social.  About 10 people from my coaching group were up there for the race, some doing the 50 miler, some doing the 50k. They all planned to head to a brewery to grab a beer and food, but there was no way I was up for it after the long drive. Luckily, I had anticipated feeling lousy and had brought food for dinner. Josh and I ate in the room and then he headed out to join the crew while I stayed at the hotel. I texted with a friend and quite honestly, I spent some time feeling sorry for myself. I told my friend that I wondered why I bothered coming to races with big groups of friends, because I don’t get to hang out with them. While everyone is off socializing, which is the entire reason for all of us going to do the same race, I’m alone in my room. If I wanted to spend more time alone in my room, I could do that without the 7 hour drive, and I wouldn’t feel so terrible! So the truth is that while I spend a lot of time trying to be positive, the fact is that some times I’m really pissed that I can’t just have my normal life back.  But, it is what it is. I can’t change it, so I just need to get over it.

Saturday morning began with a much too early wake up call. The alarm started beeping at 3:45am. Yay running! Coach Cindy’s husband had offered to drive us to the start line in Silver City, so we didn’t have to catch the 4am bus. I was incredibly thankful for the ride because it meant we didn’t have to get up even earlier, and because an hour-long bus ride with a bunch of people wasn’t going to put my brain in a very good place. It was much easier in a quiet car and we reached tiny Silver City with plenty of time to stand around in the cold before the 6am start. We were to follow the Centennial Trail all the way back to Sturgis.

About a week earlier, the race director sent out an email with the final information and updates. In that message he said they had seen very little moisture in the area, and all the creek crossings were dry. I was pretty happy about this for two reasons – the first being that it is always better to keep your feet dry if possible and reduce the chance of blisters, and the second being that I still have trouble with water crossings. All of this changed however in the days leading up to the race, when Black Hills received FIVE INCHES of rain. Two days before the race, the crossings went from dry to high, and so did my anxiety. Moving water can be very disorienting for me, even if I am on a bridge. Being in the water is much harder, as the current tests my balance. I sent a message to the race director to get more information about the crossings and found out there would be 5 crossings of the same creek within a 3/4 stretch of the trail, near mile 32, but there would be ropes to help at all the crossings. I decided that if the crossings had ropes, I would not need to bring my trekking poles, and the ropes would be enough.

The race started out slowly. It was immediately single track and everyone plodded along like ants in a row. It was hard to find good spots to pass, and so I just settled in and told myself it was good to ease into the day. After a few miles I managed to break away from the group I was with and settled into my pace. Just beyond the second aid station the trail became very muddy and I slowed down considerably. The last thing my brain needs is another fall, so I tend to be pretty conservative in bad conditions. Even with the slow down, by the halfway point I was still ahead of my planned 12 hour pace, but getting nervous about the water crossings to come.

When I reached the first crossing, it wasn’t so much a crossing initially, as it was the creek flowing down the trail. It was hard to navigate the water without looking down, but looking down at the water can give me vertigo. Finally I reached the actual crossing, grabbed the rope, and took a few deep breaths before inching my way across the cold knee-deep water. I faced upstream and kept my gaze above the water. There was a lot of self-talk, telling myself I was okay, I was not going to drown, everyone before me had made it across. At the other side I had to pause for a minute to collect myself, stop shaking, and slow my breathing before continuing down the trail. The 50k runners had reached the water crossings before the 50 milers, and by the time I got there, the ropes were down on 3 of the 5 crossings, which was super awesome. Getting across these crossings wasn’t pretty, but I did it. Anyone around me would have thought I was a crazy person, but luckily there was no one there to hear me talking to myself. I would take one step and pause telling myself to take a deep breath. Then another step, pause, breathe, find my balance.  I lost quite a bit of time navigating that stretch. The deepest pocket I hit on any of the crossings was about mid-thigh, but mostly it was around knee-deep.

With those water crossings behind me I was feeling proud of myself, and although I was no longer ahead of pace, I was still on pace for a 12 hour finish. The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. Overall the course was gorgeous, the volunteers were friendly, and the aid stations, though not great, were adequate. I would’ve liked to see more food options, but it is a small race, and I wouldn’t let that stop me from recommending it to others.

As I came in towards the finish, friends were cheering and Josh jog/limped towards the finish line to get a photo. I was so excited to see him and hear how the day went. Though I wasn’t there for his finish, friends were, and the photos capture his “joy”. Never afraid to be vocal about his discomfort, Josh groaned and moaned about his feet, and expressed lovely vocabulary when asked if he was ready to sign up for another ultra. It cracked me up, and I loved sharing the experience, and yes the pain, of his first 50 miler. The fact is that as fit as he is, half of his training was on the bike, and it is all the miles of running that strengthen your feet. But, he still finished 8th overall in 10:42, and I was so proud of him! I ended up finishing as the 10th woman in 12:25. Although I didn’t make my 12 hour goal, I did finish at a lower average pace than my goal, and would’ve sped things up earlier if I had known there were two bonus miles. So I guess technically, I did finish 50 miles in under 12 hours, the race just happened to be 52 miles.

We waited for the rest of the URT crew to finish, shared stories about the day, and I was happy to finally be able to be a part of the group. Then it was back to the hotel for showers, pizza delivery, and bed!

As part of my ongoing keto experiment, I had checked my ketones twice a day for a few days before the race, pre-race, post-race, and the following two days. I had no measurable ketones the morning of the race, and they only went up to 0.5 after the race. By the next morning they were no longer measurable. My ketones did not rise significantly after 50 miles, and this confirms that my post-race cognitive improvements are not due to ketosis. It might have been easier to simply check this before I dove headfirst into my keto experiment, but it was interesting regardless. If you want to know more about this I have two posts about why I tried the keto diet for a month, and what happened.

With the beautiful Black Hills behind us, it is time for a little rest before we continue to train for the Wonderland Trail Circumnavigation in 5 weeks.