I’m doing *what* on Saturday??????
| July 31, 2014 | Posted by Melinda under Event Report |
I’m not at all sure this is a good idea.
Most of the time whenever I’m going to do something wild and adventurous, I’m a little scared, a little trepidacious – but underneath it all is a conviction that I really can do this if I just keep my head down and keep bull dozing forward.
I’m not at all sure that is true in this situation.
This morning I had this conversation with a friend (identities hidden to protect the innocent).
Upon realizing that the fifty (Cool Moon) next weekend just wasn’t going to happen (or at least happen easily) due to clinic scheduling conflicts – and at best I would know the night before whether I could do it….I made a decision to find a semi local trail race that was something between a marathon and a 50 miler for *this* Saturday.
Being the lazy sort, I texted a friend on the drive to school
After considering the choices, I weakly said…..
Let’s do a quick detour to afore mentioned elevation map.
I swear, if endurance rides published their elevation maps, we would probably *not* do some of the rides we do.
Being an out and back 50, the whole idea of “I’m not really doing a 50, I’m doing 4 loops out of base camp and I can quit anytime”, doesn’t really apply any more.
I tried to reassure myself.
I did some math
And I didn’t allow certain inconvenient truths slow me down
(Update: no one will trade with me)
and in the end……..
The purple is me. The orange represents the additional loops the 100 milers have to do.
I’ve got a crew (thanks Funder!), the blessing of Matt, and a semblance of a plan.
- Pack and go grocery shopping tomorrow night (Friday night)
- Get up at 2:30 or 3ish am Saturday morning and drive to San Francisco for a 5:30am packet pick up. Parking is 1/2 mile from the start.
- Walk the uphills, try not to trash my quads on the downhills.
- FINISH
- Get out of the city before I have to start pulling over and taking naps.
- Make it at least as far as Davis before I really have to crash. Sleep at the hospital if necessary.
- Be at the hospital at 8am Sunday ready for a 12 hour shift.
- Start my farrier rotation Monday morning…
I might very well crash and burn. This is the first time I have not been able to visualize the full distance that I’m riding or running prior to the race. Every time I try to think about running 50 miles, I feel like my mind will implode. Even riding 100’s, I’ve always had a stalwart conviction in Farley that she could make it. This is a whole ‘nother ball game simply from the stand point that my mind is sorta rebelling against the idea I’ll still be upright 45 or 48 miles in.
It seems utterly ridiculous to try and anticipate what I want from my crew beyond 35 miles. Â At 35 miles I’ll be done right? What do you mean I’ll still be moving forward and have hours left to go?
After Saturday, even if I don’t come away with a finishers buckle, I will:
- Know more about myself than I did.
- Have a better understanding of what I need to do at my next 50 (next opportunity comes in mid October probably).
- Probably NOT feel like I’m missing out by not riding Tevis this year on my perfectly sound and fit horse next weekend.
- Have a really good story.
Heads up: Since I’m working a 12 hour shift the day after, am still on rotations in the clinic, AND finalizing the details of the wedding (Late August!) I’m not sure I’ll be able to post more than just a photo and whether I finished after Saturday.
I’m hoping if there’s a good story, I WILL tell it here eventually (*cross fingers*), but in the meantime,  I give FULL permission to Funder to publish *whatever* she wants after this event, no matter how whiney or ridiculous it makes me appear.
Wish me luck. My hope is to finish in under 12 hours, but because of the monster hills, I’m not putting any pressure on myself beyond finishing.
See, you had faith in your wonder pony, but *I* have started (and finished!) 100s without believing Dixie and I could do it *or* understanding the distance. You don’t have to have the whole run in your head to do this. Aid station to aid station!
It’s gonna be epic. Like you said, it’s less elevation than the RnT, and *you* did the vast majority of those hills on foot. It’s an out and back, so you won’t be too tempted to quit. And it’s so pretty! I’ve looked at this run before, multiple times, and thought “if only this were shorter, or a *ride*, so I could do it.”
You’re gonna be GREAT.
Your conviction that I can do this seems a bit misplaced, but perhaps you will be as cheery at mile 40ish when I feel like death? and not be fazed when I burst into tears and declare I am done? And send me on my way with some sort of fizzy beverage and the promise of goodies if I can just get to the next aid station?
I can imagine this conversation now.
Mel: I quit
Funder: OK. Fine. Run back to your car.
BWHAHAHAHAHA
Good luck!
Funder is a good friend. You can totally trust her to tell your story and cast you Ina good light.
BAH ha hahahahahahaha!
I can trust her to give me menthol laced butt cream at mile 25 and assure me it will feel “great” in “just a few minutes” as I stand there unable to breathe or make a sound from the incredible pain. 🙂
I ran some of these trails at my half in March, Tennessee Valley aid is at a boarding stable, you run basically through the yard. Down to Tennessee Valley on your out loop is a great place to make time, just watch for the loose surface in some areas – it’s easy to see but will put you on your arse! Have a great run, can’t wait to hear about it!
“Keep going! You have to, if you quit now it’ll be a really lame blog post!”
Heavens, we can’t have that…….”I was tired so I quit” is far less interesting than “I should have quit 10 miles ago but decided it didn’t *really* hurt ’til I was puking.”
Have fun! I’m looking forwards to hearing the verdict afterwards. 🙂
That elevation profile is DIABOLICAL!
Have a good run. 🙂
I got back into cell service after my ride this weekend to find the first nearly dozen things in my facebook feed to ALL be from Funder with updates on you doing what I could only assume at the time was a last minute race! I “liked” them all and looked forward to hearing your side of this crazy decision! Only you, Mel, only you! Badass.
Quick update! I finished!!!!!!!!! And managed to run even up to the end. Felt way better than my 50K….just had a really great day. I then managed to survive sleeping in the locker room and doing a 12 hour emergency shift in equine med yesterday………so just now getting around to putting stuff together for posts. It’s going to take me a couple of days – but just so you know, I finished, I feel great, Funder was awesome, and I still can’t believe I ran FIFTY miles (much slower than Farley could have done it, but it was also a tougher trail than most of our fifties are). Tata for now – Got to get back to my farrier rotation!!!!
[…] week, after extensive planning and tapering, Mel decided to run her first 50. I happily announced that I’d come crew for her, which basically consists of handing your runner […]
Folks – this is funder’s post on this SF50, which she crewed for me!!! Check it out.