Flatrock 50K

I don't know where to begin with my report of the Flatrock 50K. It was the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life.It tested me physically, mentally, emotionally. On every level I was pushed to my extreme and think it was just a sheer act of will and foolish stubbornness that helped me finish.

I had my race outfit all picked out. I was going to wear my black BARA shirt and my red shorts. I woke up at 5am because I wanted to have coffee, eat and then wait a half hour and take my Vespa packet because after I took that I was not supposed to eat again until later in the race. I walked down to the staging area from our campsite which took about 15 minutes to find they had not made coffee yet. Since we had to be back ready to go for the 7 am briefing I decided to forgo the coffee, head back to camp and get my stuff ready. 

             We had to jog first about 1/2 mile down the road to get to the start line. It was supposed to rain and storm but the rain hadn't started yet although we saw some big, scary lightning strikes which were calming and all...haha....but when we were at the start line right before the gun went off the rain started.

               I had my red DINO hat on but pulled my Buff on over it so it would cover my ears and the back of my neck. The rain was driving and the wind didn't help. It pelted us as we ran down the road, across some grass and into the trail. 

             The trail....how do I describe this trail adequately? I don't have words really. It was almost unearthly how beautiful and brutal it was. Right away we were climbing up and down these huge stone formations. The rain had made the rocks slick so I had to be completely focused the entire time. There were very few runnable parts. It felt more like rock climbing than running. In fact I really didn't run most of the race. I slogged, climbed, stumbled down these rocky embankements, crawled under and over trees and slip sliding all over with the wet mud. And I was so stressed from the very start about making the 10 hour cutoff or even the 4 1/2 hour cutoff at the 15.5 mile mark. From the very first aid station I asked them..."how is my time?" They assured me it was fine although I knew it wasn't. My miles were taking 20 minutes or more. Every aid station I asked them....they were so nice! I didn't really know the mileage because I only have a heart rate monitor and not a Garmin so it doesn't tell mileage. I would pause it every now and then to check how much time had passed since the start. So stressed!

(SOME PICTURES OF THE TRAIL)

Finally after ages and ages (around 4) I started to get closer to the turn around. By now I was booking it over the rocks, trees, sliding through the mud and giving myself constant pep talks to keep me going. 

        I thought many times about quitting at the 25K mark. It was THAT hard. People started coming back since it was an out and back and they all said the same thing: "Eric has extended the race cutoff an extra hour! You can make it but you have to book it" I was booking it as fast as I could without taking a tumble on the slick rocks or falling in the mud. I was glad for my core work. I think that was the only thing that kept me upright. That and dumb luck. I was getting very chilled now as i had to walk so much and couldn't get any speed going to warm up so I was hugging myself while I went. The rain went on and on. I ran into other runners who said "It's only 2 miles!"...."It's 1 1/2 miles to the turn around"...."It's getting close. Eric extended the time."  I thanked them and kept slogging ahead.

       I finally reached the turn around and really thought about quitting. I was chilled to the bone, already sore and pretty much DONE with that trail. 

      But I thought of how much I had worked for this. I thought of how many saturdays I had given up to long runs, how many things I had to give up to make sure I got my training in. I thought of all those dark mornings when I didn't want to run but I thought. "I am going to run an Ultra". Then I thought of my clients, those wonderful young people who look up to me. I am a role model for them. I had told them all about this. How could I go back and tell them "It got hard so I quit?" I don't want them to take that route. They have years of trials ahead of them and I want them to remember me as someone who kept on even when I wanted so badly to stop. I wanted them to think of me as someone who had met my goal.

        At the turn-around they helped me take off my muddy socks and shoes and got out my dry shirt and I stripped off my wet one. My fingers were so numb I couldn't tie my other pair of shoes so they did that for me. They took my bib off the other shirt and put it on my new shirt and helped me swap out my hydration pack for my belt. I also got to take my next Vespa and grab fresh gels and fruit rollups to eat. I was so happy for the help I hugged the aid station lady! And I hugged Christy and off I went. 

     As soon as I hit the trail of course it was slop and my new shoes were soaked and muddy right off the bat. The Concordias are nice shoes  but they are kind of heavy and the mud had started to dry so it became that mucky stuff like glue. Every time I hit the mud which was most of the way I would add on more mud to my shoes which felt like 10 lbs. per foot. So I would stop, grab a rock and scrape the mud off to lessen the weight. Then I would continue on, the mud would get on them again and the whole thing would start all over again. It had stopped raining which was nice. I was glad I changed my shirt and was feeling better that I had an extra hour to meet the cutoff because I knew I would need it!

            This trail race really challenged me emotionally. I am not afraid to admit I burst into tears a couple of times because of sheer frustration and exhaustion. But I just went on crying for awhile, admitting and allowing those feelings and then i would stop and feel a bit more cleansed. I passed the 20 mile mark and the aid station people there were happy to see me back. "You made it!" they said. I asked the lady how I was doing and she said you have 3 1/2 hours to go 10 miles. Okay!  Here I got that OMG moment. 10 more miles! Wow! Okay. I thought of all the reasons I had to continue and just kept going. After awhile a man and dog came up behind me. He was the sweeper for the course because I was the last one and they were sweeping the course to check for any problems. His name was Fernando and his dog's name was Miles who was a pretty black lab. He helped a lot. He talked to me about my family and things...asked me about my work and what I did for fun. He told me I was doing fine, making good time, keeping walking to a minimum. That really was needed for me as I got more and more tired. Then about 4 miles until the finish line I came up to a guy who was struggling. It turned out his name was Ryan. I decided to pass Ryan so I wouldn't be last. Then I came to the last aid station and there were 3 people there! I passed them too! Then there was another guy (who later I found out was named Bill and he had done this race 7 times in a row!) And I passed Bill too! So wow! I had made 5 "kills" in the last few miles. I kept on going, passed two more guys and then came up to a rocky part where I ended up getting a bit off course which made me panic as I knew the time was running down. Tick Tock! Fernando and Miles suddenly appeared and helped guide me back. Of course the people I had passed had gone the right way so then it was me and the sweeper again. But he was the sweetest guy! He just kept up a constant stream of encouragement saying I was doing great, I was inspirational, think of those kids, you can do this heather, you are doing fine.

            Now we hit the road!! Oh my god was I glad to get out of those woods! I saw the road down to the finish line. Two cars passed me honking and one guy leaned out a window giving me a thumbs up yelling "Finish strong!" I kept on going, hurting, proud, so much a mixture of feelings. Then I saw someone and heard Christy yelling "Is that Heather?" I waved back and was so glad to see my friend!! They were yelling at me "One minute to cutoff! You have 1 minute!" So I don't know where I got it from but I wanted to qualify. I had worked too hard to be off by one minute. So I sprinted, passed Ryan and came in at 53 seconds before the 11 hour cutoff. Oh My God!!! I was an ultrarunner! I had done it! 

           Christy came up crying and I was crying and all I could do for a bit was sit there and cry with exhaustion and emotional exertion and disbelief I had been ablet to do that! Fernando came up and gave me a hug and I thanked him. A bunch of people came up and congratulated me and the Eric Steele came over personally and said Congratulations and gave me the prettiest belt buckle. Christy was so sweet too! She said "What do you need? I will take care of you." Which made me feel teary all over again. That night Christy and I sat and she made a big fire and I was happy. One of the veterans said of all the 50k's he had done this was the hardest. He said "If you can do this you can do any 50K."

I am ultrarunner.

Severely muddy trail shoes.. One for the out and one for the back