Course: Headlands 50 Mile course, running through Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Mt. Tamalpais State Park, etc.
Distance: 50 miles
Start Time: 7 a.m.
Duration: 12 hours, 52 minutes, 41 seconds
Weather: mid 50's to mid 70's, fog, clouds, sun, heat ... hard to encapsulate 13 hours of weather into a few words
Headlands 50 Mile Endurance Run
Race morning started cool and foggy, just as expected. Compared to the hundred degree heat we’d been having in
Everyone seemed really excited, but I was starting to get a little nervous, and the energy around me was making it worse, so I spent the last few minutes before the race sitting in the car just relaxing and gathering my own thoughts. In the days leading up to the race I had been focusing on how grateful I felt … grateful that I have the physical ability to attempt this; grateful for the friends who were there with me sharing in the experience; grateful for the support of my family and friends as I pursued this goal. And so just before the race, I said a little prayer of thanks. Then I got out of the car and went to line up with everyone else. The race started on the road right by the beach and promptly at 7 a.m., we were off!
Race Start to
After about ½ mile we turned onto the road for more winding uphill … I took this section pretty easy, knowing that I needed to let my lungs warm up. This would be a long day, and my lungs needed to last as long as my legs. The hills here sloped upward pretty gradually, so it was easy to get into a nice stride and just go. I could see Henry way up ahead, looking strong as he navigated the hills. Part of me wished I could catch up, but I knew I needed to start out at a slower pace.
Pretty soon I heard someone call my name and looked up to see Meredith on the section of road above. She was obviously off to a great start, so I gave her a cheer and continued on! Having so many friends out on the course and crewing definitely gave me things to look forward to along the course. Even though I expected to be running by myself most of the day, I knew I’d see friendly and familiar faces along the way.
I did make some conversation during the couple of miles on the road … Kim, who was going for her 1st 100 mile finish after a DNF at Umstead, and Carol, who told me she was the final finisher (within the cutoff time) in last year’s 100 miler. I would see both of these ladies several times on Sunday as they finished their races.
After a little bit of downhill on the road, it was back to the trail for a short downhill, and soon I made a right turn onto the jeep road. At some point in this section, (and my very faulty memory can’t remember exactly where) the trail narrowed to single track with lots of growth on either side of me. As I was running along by myself, I looked down and saw a small hole, and a little furry face staring up at me. It was a small groundhog, and as soon as he saw me, he popped right back into his hole! That cracked me up and put a nice smile on my face.
Soon after that, I hit the first big climb of the day, again on the jeep road. I was having fun, but was already a little bit intimidated by the climbs I knew I’d have to face throughout the day. I was hanging steady, but really looking forward to some downhill. After about 800’ of climb, I got my wish. The trail began to descend, and I just let it fly. I kept myself in check just enough to keep up a conversation with the fast guy running next to me, but otherwise I just let it all go, passing all sorts of people on the way down. The smooth terrain made the downhill run so sweet! I knew I had to be a little bit careful not to trash my quads this early in the race, but I also thought I deserved to have some fun after making it through that first big climb. As I ran, I focused on lifting myself up, in order to lessen some of the pounding impact on my feet. This was all something I had practiced in physical therapy and during the hill repeats I had done on Ladera Norte and
At this point I was having a blast, but I had no idea where I actually was on the course or what sort of pace I was keeping. I knew there were a lot of people in front of me … I certainly wasn’t last, but I thought I was near the back of the pack. That was okay, as my primary goal for the race was just to finish. I had created three different time goals with associated pace bands (just to give me some focus and motivation), but ultimately the finish was the only thing that mattered. So while I didn’t mind being toward the back, it worried me a little. I knew I’d get pretty tired later in the race, and I didn’t want to find myself in cutoff trouble. Turns out that wasn’t a problem at all.
The section from
A note about my drop bags for the race: Since this was my first 50 miler, and the race was in unfamiliar territory, I had made detailed lists for each drop bag - what to use at each stop, what to take with me - everything I could think of.
I walked on the paved road out of the aid station, and before I reached
The next couple miles were fairly flat, but it was nice and shady, and I knew I had plenty of climbing coming soon enough. After crossing a fire road, I was directed onto the Dipsea Trail which would take me over
That’s exactly what I did … and this section turned out to be one of the most enjoyable parts of my day! There were some hills later that made me feel like I needed a lung transplant, but the climb up
Up ahead of me, I saw Noelle and Brian, and then I saw Henry on his way out of the aid station. Sweet! Not just to see familiar faces, but to know that I must be running strong if I wasn’t all that far behind Henry (and Gabe, who had just left as well). After a quick “hi and bye!” with H., I went back to the picnic tables, where Brian and Noelle had already pulled my drop bag. I gave them my bottles for refilling, switched my packets of Salt Sticks for a baggie that would close, got some more oranges and Coke, munched on some potato chips, and put on some sunscreen (Unfortunately this was not my spray sunscreen, and it turned out I missed some major portions of my back and neck. I also didn’t give my scalp the usual spray down.). Seeing friends and being taken care of gave me a major energy boost, and after mugging for a few pictures, I set off for the Bolinas Ridge out-and-back. I was now behind the 11 hour pace (as expected) but still well ahead of the 12:30 pace, so I was pleased with how things were going, and more importantly, pleased that I still felt good.
Pantoll to Bolinas Ridge
It was now definitely getting warmer, and the sun was out in full force. There were nice wooded sections at either end of the 6.5 mile (13 miles total) out-and-back, but otherwise it was unrelieved sunshine on the trail. Right from the start the views were spectacular, and I stopped to take a few more pictures before I decided that I was done with my photography for the day - getting my camera out was just too much of a pain. I didn’t care about how much time the short photo stops took me, but they interrupted my momentum, and I needed that to keep going. The amazing views continued the entire length of the ridge, but I decided they’d just have to live in my memory.
During the wooded and shady section, I got behind a runner who was keeping up a good but reasonable pace, power walking the uphills and running nice and steady on the rest. I was going through an energy lull at this point, so I tucked in behind him and let him pace me for a bit. That was an interesting thing that I noted during this race … the ebb and flow of my energy level. I had felt so energized going up
But not for long ... I came around the next curve, looked ahead at the next section of ridge, and saw Henry! I was catching up to him! That alone pushed my energy surge even higher. I wasn’t really concerned with passing H., but if I could catch up, then we could keep each other company for a while. I was also a little bit worried … As much as I wanted his company, I suspected something might be wrong in order for him to have slowed enough for me to catch him. That “something” turned out to be some pretty serious chafing … and that’s all the detail I’m going to give. In any case, pretty soon we were running together, and the company definitely perked me up. For the rest of the way along the ridge, we alternated pulling each other along, something we’d done many times in training runs. It felt very familiar, making the time go by faster and the pushing me through the tired spells.
The run along Bolinas Ridge was also where I got to see other faster runners on their way back from the Bolinas aid station. This entire section was narrow single track, so there was a fair amount of stepping on and off the trail to let other runners go by. This was a little bit tricky, given that the trail wound through a pretty steep ridge, so it was all hill on one side and all drop on the other, with tall grasses on either side. I had heard this spear grass could be painful, but thankfully it was never a problem. And honestly, I was tired enough during some of this that I didn’t mind the short breaks I got by stepping off for the faster runners. Pretty soon we saw Meredith, who looked great and happy and we chatted very briefly before heading in our separate directions. Not long after, we crossed a section of paved road, and ran into Olga, who was waiting to meet Larry on his way back. Henry and I stopped for a quick picture, and then ran on. We passed Larry just a few minutes later, and he seemed to be in good spirits.
After that, the trail got a bit tougher, as it started to angle more steeply into the hillside … and some eroded sections were downright dangerous! This definitely slowed our pace a little, but thankfully this section didn’t last long. Pretty soon we hit an intersection and turned left into the woods for the last mile or so to the aid station. I was pretty thankful … the heat had really taken its toll. I was almost out of water and having trouble eating enough. We climbed for a while and then rolled through the downhill into the aid station. Gabe was on his way out, and we commiserated for a moment about the tough course and unrelenting sunshine on the ridge.
I was so looking forward to refueling here, and then one of the volunteers told us they were almost out of ice. He gave me a little bit in my bottles, and I went to get water… at which point he said they were almost out of water too! And then he tried to tell me I couldn’t fill my bottles! I had to hold my tongue at this point. While I didn’t want to be selfish and sabotage anyone else’s race, I also knew there was no way I was going to make it all the way back to Pantoll unless I had two full bottles. Even then I was going to have to be careful to make my water last. So I just filled my bottles anyway, feeling a little guilty but also knowing I didn’t have much choice. And then of course, one of the volunteers realized that they had a whole case of bottled water right at the other end of the table! Frustrating, but at least I no longer felt bad for filling my bottles.
I drank some Coke –there was plenty of that – and helped myself to an orange slice, at which point I learned I had just polished off the last of the oranges. I was really on a roll!
Bolinas Ridge to Pantoll
Finally, we decided we’d loitered at Bolinas long enough and headed out for the trip back across the ridge. We passed fewer people on the trip back, but there were definitely still plenty of folks behind us. I saw some of the people I’d run with earlier in the day, and hoped they would make the cutoff at Pantoll. Henry and I weren’t in any danger, but some of the runners behind us could have had some trouble, especially since it was still very hot and sunny on the ridge.
This section was kind of a slog … the cambered part seemed to go by more quickly, but I was overheated, and really felt like these miles were taking a lot of effort. Still, I forged ahead on the rolling hills, running when there was a nice downhill or flat section, and power walking the uphills. Sometime after 3 p.m. (about 8 hours into the race), we came to the wooded section of the trail that signaled the end of Bolinas Ridge, and pretty soon we were running into Pantoll, where lots of familiar faces were waiting to greet us! Gabe was there, along with the crew of Janice, Noelle, Brian, Simon (Noelle’s dad), and Josue.
We spent a bit more time at the aid station this time around. Simon poured some lovely cold water over my head, which immediately cooled me down and made me feel infinitely better. And then I did something I have never done in a race up to now …. I sat down. And it was great.
I cleaned off my legs, which were filthy, and changed socks. I drank some Coke and ate some cantaloupe. Noelle asked me what else I wanted to eat, and I told her I was fine with the cantaloupe, at which point she noted that my entire bowl of fruit was giving me all of about 25 calories … point taken. I had definitely not been eating enough for the past few hours and I needed some calories. So Noelle got me some pretzels, and I munched on those while Josue took my bandanna and filled it with ice for my neck. Eventually Henry and I decided we’d better get going if we ever wanted to be done. We left the aid station right at 4 p.m., 9 hours into the race, with 15 miles left to go.
Pantoll to
Of course, Henry still had another 50 miles to go after I got finished, and while I loved having his company, I didn’t want to hold him back. The next section was mostly downhill, so it was a chance for him to make up some time. We’d already agreed much earlier that if either one of us wanted to run faster and go on ahead, that person was free to leave the other one behind. Up to now it hadn’t been an issue. Earlier, on Bolinas, I had been the one pulling Henry, but he hadn’t had trouble sticking with me. I hoped that I could keep up with him through this section, but with all that downhill I wasn’t sure.
About ½ mile after leaving the aid station, the trail split off from the way we’d come. This next section was as much downhill as the way out had been uphill, descending nearly 1,500 feet over a few miles. My feet were hurting and my quads felt a little iffy, but my determination to stay with Henry as long as I could took over and I pushed myself to run as much as possible. I couldn’t hammer anything, but I could at least keep up a steady pace and not walk much. Henry was also encouraging me the entire way, telling me what a great job I was doing … I didn’t feel like that was true, but I appreciated it nonetheless.
After a while, the trail turned into a series of narrow switchbacks, with vegetation on either side. I had heard this was where I needed to be careful of poison ivy. I had a poison ivy wipe in my Pantoll drop bag, but I had of course forgotten to use it. Oh well, I wasn’t going to let it slow me down. I just ran down the center of the narrow trail and hoped for the best (as it turned out, I got a miniscule breakout, but nothing of significance). I knew from my time in the Guads that I could handle these switchbacks, and right as I thought that, Henry reminded me of the same thing! I had had so much fun on those switchbacks, and so I just went to the same place in my mind, leaned into the hill and let it fly as much as my quads would let me. This was fun!
The switchbacks went on for a while, but like all good things, they had to come to an end, and eventually we ended up in a field, which led to a little bridge, through some weird construction yard, across the road, and then a bit more trail until we ended up back on the road that led into the Muir Beach aid station. At this point, I don’t remember what time it was. I had slowed down considerably, but I was still running, and still well ahead of the race cutoff. More importantly, Henry hadn’t left me behind on the downhills, so I couldn’t be doing too badly.
I still wasn’t eating enough, but I had some more fruit and Coke. Muir Beach also had a plentiful supply of ice, so I was able to put ice in each bottle and in my bandanna, trying to bring down my body temperature that had gotten a little high during the Bolinas Ridge out-and-back (It also turned out I was pretty sunburned, but I didn’t find that out until after the race.). We tried not to stay too long here, although I was really apprehensive about the next section. I remembered how much downhill there had been on the way out, and I knew that meant I was going to have to make up for it with some serious uphill. But after getting through the last section, I was feeling a little more confident, so we set off at a run.
The first couple climbs weren’t bad. I was tired of course, but these climbs were relatively gradual, and I just tucked into my steady pace and focused on my breathing and everything was fine. There was also some downhill in between climbs as we headed around to the coastline, so I got to pick up the pace here and there. When we got to the steps, I didn’t really slow down much - just kept up my steady pace until we were at the top.
The views from up here were just incredible! This whole section had been somewhat foggy in the morning, so this was the first time I got to see the coastline in all its glory! Henry and I stopped for a minute and he was telling me that this was where he saw the whale last year. As we were admiring the view, we looked down, and I couldn’t believe it! There was a place where the current was stirred up and as we looked closer we saw a tail diving in and out of the water! It was a whale! I was so glad I got to witness it! We just stayed there watching it until another runner caught up to us. We pointed it out to him (other witnesses are always helpful) and then we were off again.
This next climb got pretty steep, and I guess the excitement of the whale got me moving a little too fast because the next thing I knew I went from breathing hard to not being able to get air in at all. I stopped and bent over and started to hyperventilate. The runner behind me stopped to help, and Henry turned around and came back down the hill. I managed to calm down and get my breathing back to normal, but I had to take the next section really slowly. That’s the closest I’ve ever come to having an asthma attack, and it was scary (actually, I guess it probably was an asthma attack, just not a really severe one).
The rest of this section still had some good climbs. I ran as much as I could whenever I hit flat or downhill and just tried to be really careful on the steep uphills. Once it leveled off some, I felt better and even managed to run again, but this section really took a toll on me. Henry suggested we try to pass the handful of runners we could see on the hills ahead of us. Since Henry and I had met up on the trail back at mile 25, no runners had gotten past us (except for the guy who helped me when I couldn’t breathe), so I was encouraged enough to try, but wasn’t sure how much I had left.
As we got closer to the aid station, I remembered the really tough short uphill that I had encountered on the way out of
Janice and the aid station volunteers were there, and Henry sat down in a camp chair to rest. I sat down across from him, and immediately just started sobbing. Janice knelt down and hugged me and just let me get it out … these tears had been coming for 5 loooong miles. One of the volunteers tried to encourage me by telling me that I was almost done and not to stop yet (or words to that effect). Janice told him I wasn’t quitting. I just looked up with a confused expression and said, as if it should have been obvious, “I’m just crying, I’m not stopping.”
With that out of the way, I ate a little bit, drank some more Coke, and refilled my bottles. The temperature was dropping and the wind had picked up, so I put on the wind jacket I had ditched my first time through. I also took off my waist belt, figuring there wasn’t anything in it I needed for the last 4 miles, and that I might feel better without that extra weight (anything to motivate me at this point).
As we left the aid station, I told Henry I was sorry we weren’t likely to make it to the finish in under 13 hours. I knew he had 50 miles left to go, and I didn’t want to be dead weight … and I was feeling like dead weight, even to myself. But he told me to just keep going and that I was doing fine. I didn’t believe him, but I still kept pushing.
I started out pretty well, up the switchbacks out of
Pretty soon I came to the turn onto Old Springs Trail. This section of trail was different than the way I had come that morning. I knew the race course deviated going into the finish, so this gave me hope that I was getting nearer to the end. Of course, I wasn’t done climbing. This next section was steep and I had to take it slow, so slowly that a runner we had passed a few minutes earlier got in front of us yet again. I was frustrated, but just tried to keep going forward as well as I could. My determination was soon rewarded. Next thing I knew the trail sloped downhill, we passed the last runner in front of us, and then we hit the paved section that would lead to the finish. Henry let me know we had a couple miles to go, and it was all downhill. I looked at my watch, and realized that if I got moving, we could still break 13 hours!
I’m not really sure where it came from … whether I just didn’t care at this point if my feet hurt … whether it didn’t matter if I trashed my quads … whether I’d had this energy in me all along … I have no idea. All I know is that as soon as we hit the pavement, I took off running … really running!
At several points along the way I could see the finish line way down and off in the distance, but we were still pretty far away. We wound around the hills some more, and ended up back on a section of trail, which promptly turned uphill. Aaaarrrggghhhh! I groaned, but I could see the flag where the trail turned to the left and then flattened out, so I just kept running. I was so close, and there was just not going to be any more walking! This section was so weird, across the road, back onto trail, across some weird concrete building slabs, through a tunnel … I just kept running.
Then I came to the steps, steep and rocky, and all those one-legged exercises in physical therapy came back to me! I went even faster down the steps, running like my life depended on it! The bottom of the steps came back out on the pavement, and as we rounded the curve, I heard people shouting my name down at the bottom. I was so close, and I just kept running down that hill, turning into the parking lot and past the orange cones, running faster until I finally crossed the finish line! Henry was right behind me, and Meredith immediately pulled me into a big hug, and I was smiling and laughing and trying to breathe and I started crying all over again. 12 hours, 52 minutes, 41 seconds! I had done it!!! … I had run 50 miles!!!
I was immediately enveloped in hugs and congratulations and everyone at once asking what I needed – at least that’s how it felt. Prior to the race I had assumed I would be far enough behind the 100 milers that I would be finishing by myself, with the other runners, crew and pacers back out on the course. I was so wrong! Noelle, Brian, Meredith, Janice, Gabe, Simon, and Josue … they were all there! And of course Henry, who ran the entire last 25 miles of my race with me. I won’t veer into Hallmark territory here … I’ll just say that it made the whole experience of my first 50 miler that much more special.
There was so much more that happened into the night and the next day as the 100 miler continued, but those are stories for others to tell. My story ends here.
So what did I learn from this experience?
As Mary Schmich said in her now famous column, Wear Sunscreen. Forgetting to spray myself down at
- Wearing road shoes was definitely the right decision. The trail was not at all technical, and having the extra cushion over all those miles saved my poor feet. It’s probably not something I can do in most trail races, but it worked great here.
- I need to figure out how to eat more when I get hot. This has been a struggle for me since my first ultra at Palo Duro last year, and I still haven’t gotten it figured out. I do okay in training, but in the race, I just can’t handle much solid food. Fruit went down great – oranges, cantaloupe, bring it on. I drank 1,000 calories of sports drink, which is probably how I managed to get through. Coke and shot blocks I managed fine. Gels, forget about it. I got a few pretzels down, but it was an effort.
- This was the first time I really experienced major waves in my energy level, and it was helpful that I noticed it early in the race. I would go through tired periods, but they always passed and were followed by energy surges. This helped me mentally later in the race, when I could tell myself that the fatigue would ease up. And even though I was tired, it did ease up periodically, and I would have bursts of energy where I felt better.
- The hill training I did cannot be overstated. I started working on running hills back in mid-February, and I never let up. The trip to the Guads (the best training I could have gotten in terms of the dealing with long climbs), hill repeats on Ladera Norte, Far West, and Smokey Valley (the best training, period), and running hills whenever I could at Bandera, the Greenbelt, Ken’s, etc. The hills were still a challenge in the race, but my hill-specific training left me both physically and (maybe more importantly) mentally prepared.
- Sometimes you just need a good cry.
- Inspiration can come from unlikely places. The mantra that got me through this race is a silly line from
And so I did.
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