First 50 Miler!

A flat, chat course…Hmmm…sounds good after doing the mountains. That’s how I went into the Blue Springs 50/50. This is a Lou Joline special. It’s very low key with enough support to get you through it. You have the option of starting at 6:00 or 7:00 am and you can run a relay, marathon, 50K or 50 Miler. Everyone runs the same route – north 4.5 miles and back then south 4 miles. You do a combination of those to meet the distance of your race.

I chose to start at 6:00 am. That way I’d have plenty of time to do 50 miles. Cheri is there to help and Brent has come to see me off – isn’t that nice! My instructions were to run a 12 minute pace for the first 40 miles then I could do whatever I felt up to after that.

I began running with a woman named Tina who was trying to get a qualifying time for Western States. She had no watch or GPS and so she decided to hang with me for a while. I was also without my GPS. It wouldn’t come on! Cheri called her husband to bring me hers. It was dark and cold. We were told there were mile markers every mile and so I checked the time as we left. When we reached 12 minutes we walked for a minute. There was no mile marker. Hmmm…Did we not see it in the dark? Oh well on we went.

We almost got lost the second time we stopped to walk. This time we saw the mile 2 marker just after we stopped. We were at a bridge. Apparently someone had taken the directional arrows that were put out. Thankfully there was a guy just behind us that knew the course. He pointed us in the right direction and off we went. At this point another woman was with Tina and me. She was there because I was the only one with a headlamp as well. Don’t these people every run trails? Why would you come out to run in the dark with no light? The guy at the aid station had a cowbell or something like that. He started ringing it loudly as we came in. I checked my watch and I was pretty much on schedule for time! Woohoo for me!

Back we went to the start. Pretty uneventful. Tina talked about moving from Berkley to Columbia. She works for the university. And she talked about there not being any hills there! She is used to the long, sustained uphills of the Bay area. I simply listened. Well, kind of, it’s more like zoning out. I’m starting to approach the distance where my mind settles into itself and I just cruise along!

I stopped at a bathroom on the way back and Tina continued on. She really wanted to make her qualifying time. I just wanted to finish! When we got back to the start Cheri had her Garmin for me to wear. Yippee!

The next section is 4 miles to the south. It’s really flat except for a couple places where it dips for water to flow. Those spots are also concrete and not gravel. After crossing them a few times you can feel it. I get to the turnaround (Mile 13) and cruising along in my own little world that I almost didn’t hear my name. Karl is at the aid station. He checks on me. I’m fine.

Back to the start – 17 miles done. I take my jacket off to run this round; Cheri helps me take me it off. It gets stuck trying to go over the Garmin! Cheri is also helping me out with fuel. She exchanges my bottles each time I get to the start. Out for another round on the north route. Again, uneventful until I hit a soft spot in the gravel. It was like the ground gave way under my foot. This is about mile 21 – shortly after the turnaround. By mile 23 I can feel it. My knee is starting to hurt. I get to the start and keep going. I’m just past half way!

Cheri runs up to tell me how Amanda is doing at Marine Corps. I said something about me knee and she offers to get my strap from my car. I’m not sure how far I got when a voice says “how long has your knee been hurting” as Karl hands my strap to me from his bike. “Since mile 23” I say. Then explain what happened. He rides with me for a while and then goes off to check on Trish and Karna who are doing the 50K and started at 7:00.

When I see him again I’m on my way back. This is lap 4. I’m just over 30 miles with two laps to go. The three out and backs on to the south are all running together in my head. Karl stays with me for most of this leg. My knee is starting to hurt…bad. He asks me if I want something for it. If you know much about me you know I know NOTHING about pain killers! He rides off and meets me at the start with ibuprofen and acetaminophen. (I think??)Hopefully one of them will work. As I start back out my hip flexor is getting bad. It’s taking the beating from my knee. Karl rides up and offers to help stretch it out. What a sight that must have been if you were on the road. I’m standing on a bridge on Hwy 78 with my hands on the bridge and Karl has one leg bent at the knee while pulling my leg up behind me! He sends me on my way and meets Trish and Karna again. They should be on their last lap.

After I walk it out for a little bit (and the meds start working) I’m running great again. I’m even maintaining a pace about 30 seconds faster! Woohoo! The next time I see Karl I have 12 miles to go. From this point on, he pretty much stays with pushing when I need, letting me cruise along when I’m fine and pulling me when I don’t think I can take another step. Whichever it was, it was always the right mix of humor and encouragement to get me through.

The 50 mile course is set up so that you so that you go north then south, then north then south, then south, south. On one of the last three trips to the south I said “I’m about bored with this course.” It’s an easy course and it’s flat but 4 of the 6 trips from the start are to the south with the last 3 in a row. For me it was very boring. I needed something to take my mind off of how far I’d gone and how far I needed to go. I needed something to “look at.”

When you have finished the race you get a Lou Joline special medal – this one is even round! Overall though, it was a great day with good weather. Would I do it again? Probably!

I have learned that even though you are running when you do something like this you do not accomplish it alone. Thanks to Karl & Cheri for all their help and to Brent for coming out to cheer me along.
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