Last year this was my toughest race, both mentally and physically so I thought the experince would last me for at least a few years. Then I started to hope I would be out of town this weekend...not to have to decide whether to sign up or not....once I figured out I would not be in Italy in early Jan  I started hearing this little voice in me telling me to go for it again...such a push over that I am ..I gave in.

Bridle Trail 50K  in a local park with high horse traffic therefore a lot of mud..starts at 3pm so first 2 laps with daylight and last 4 in the dark. 

The weather this last week had been quite rainy, particularly on Friday but  on Saturday morning we were surprisingly blessed  with some sunshine and mild temps.  With a 3pm start I even had time to be at work for a bit  ,but I just wanted to make sure to be at the park early enough to get parked as close as possible so I went with plenty of time to spare. This "trail running festival" draws a lot of people particularly for the 5M ,10M and relay races, high school XC runners and lots of young folks. Usually only about 70/80 people sign up for the 50K solo which was my race. I saw lots of the familar faces of the local hard core Ultra runners, the young and fast ones who , without fail always pass me half way to the finish. I was hoping to find someone to run with this time but I soon realized I'd have a  long lonely run in the night ahead of me.

The first lap was to try to memorize the course and the hazards...very runnable dry trail until we got to the single track portions which were quite muddy, no standing water anywhere so I managed to keep my shoes clean and dry. ran the 5.2 miles in about 55:00.

Second lap  I shuffled along at about the same speed until I started to realize it was getting quickly dark. We had a bit of delay at the start, probably by the time we were on our way must have been at least 3:20, which meant that at my rate of speed I would need that light before the third lap...good thing I had put a flashlight in my belt.. bad thing such flashlight did not work when I tried to turn it on...I slowed down and proceeded to finish the lap in the dark.

Armed now with headlight and a new flashlight and having stripped down to shorts and tee shirt  I resign myself to my solo run....I'm not really fond of the darkness...nor of trail running ..so this was a challenge with myself.

I have to admit  that once my eyes adjusted to the light or lack or it, and I was running on the better part of the trail I started to feel quite comfortable  out there , I had my music on  and all my focus on avoiding a turned ankle of a spill in the mud. 

On the last two laps the front  part of my ankles started to hurt and my toes as well were screaming at me during the downhills....I tried to ignore the pain and the realization that I will probably have a couple of black toe nails  very soon. .. within a couple of hundred yards from the finish I passed Mel , one of the MM institutions, he had one more lap to go .

At the finish line I was greeted by my whole family !!..Mel came into the aid station a couple of minutes behind me to refuel to head off in the dark to make the midnight deadline. I got to introduce my kids to him , he's a real inspiration...at age 77..I told him that ,had my family not been there, I would have run the last lap with him...

My Garmin time was 6:52...within 5 minutes of last year time. So I think I learned 2 things about myself: first ,I can run faster in bad weather...I guess trying to get out of it.....and second a running buddy is vital to stay motivated in such conditions!

Mari, next year...come over ...we can break 6:30 for sure..

Thanks for reading....this was supposed to be much shorter...sorry!!!   

Francesca    

private e-mail to posie.

 that was sweet of francesca to invite you to next year’s Bridle Trail night time mud run. She’s also a gem for posting such a sanitized version of this year’s running so it wouldn't bring back all my bad memories getting lost, hypothermic, etc.  when I did it.  Watch out though, next thing, she'll have you doing the morning Nookachamps half mary too with all the snow geese and trumpeter swans up in Skagit before running in the dark with all the, . . whoops, she didn't mention Bigfoot either did she?

However, before you get to thinking that it’s the kind of fun run she described, please make sure you find out why, if this year was so much better than last year, dea’s finish time was 5minutes slower.  Also, maybe a photo of her (or anyone for that matter) who claims to have run through the horse manure in the night wearing “shorts and a t-shirt.”  ji ji that's for sure.

Sadly, similar hallucinations afflict many ultrarunners and eventually can become reality  too but, considering franci’d only run one marathon back in the oughts and NO ultras at this time less than two years ago, I just didn’t expect  it to happen so soon to her.

 If you have to give in though, then maybe at least invite her to some training run this year to help get ready for it such as White River 50 mile, Western States 100 mile, Badwater 135 mile, Sahara des Sables, Gobi Desert, Antarctica, Mt. Everest, Moon, etc.

;

ps francesca - nice try trying to get back-up from Mel but don't forget to tell posie that he's the one who thought it was normal to run 300 times around the local high school track to celebrate his 75th birthday (to say nothing of running the Yakima River Canyon Marathon  the day after he fell off a ladder and broke three ribs!).!

I started hearing this little voice in me telling me to go for it again...such a push over that I am ..I gave in.

 

..I told him that ,had my family not been there, I would have run the last lap with him...

 

 

Yes that's you, a push over!

So you would have done one more loop with Mel....amazing!

Glad it was not too poopy this year and the temps were a lot higher think.

Someday I'll come out for the 5M, but that's it, I'm no pushover you know!

 a local park with high horse traffic therefore a lot of mud..

 Uh, I hate to break the news to you but what the horses leave behind is not "mud." 

It takes a special kind of person to head back out there--in the dark--after having had such a difficult race last year.  You are one tough woman.  And as Tet points out, you make it all sound so mild...and normal!

Hope those ankles and toes have recovered.

 

 

Mari, next year...come over ...we can break 6:30 for sure..

 

Francesca    

 Of course I will be there with you next year!

Of course we can brake 6:30 minutes thanks to your expert hands!!!

I sure love this report and made me want to be there...horse poop or not