Life is either a daring adventure or nothing: Tahoe Rim Trail 55k

As the Tahoe Rim Trail 55k approached, I knew it wasn’t going to be the race I had originally set out to do. This training cycle was a bit of a mess. I suffered a pretty major flare up of my autoimmune at one point which set me back several weeks; I was barely able to swim and bike let alone do any running. That was May and I didn’t even break 100 miles. After I started to improve from the flare up, I was hit with overwhelming fatigue that I didn’t think was related to the autoimmune and after some labwork, it was discovered my ferritin levels were in the toilet. That cost me another couple of weeks with half-assed training; there was no running and hiking was all I could manage. I only ran 114 miles in June; not what you want when training for a very difficult 55k. I was just starting to get my energy back and feeling better when my foot issue from last year reappeared after an incident while walking our dog. I don’t recommend sprinting in Birkenstocks. My last “run” which was really just power hiking took place June 29^th; there would be no more running, hiking or anything other than some swimming and cycling until race day on July 20^th. Hardly what I could call solid training. But I kept up the cycling in hopes it would maintain some level of fitness so I could at least start the 55k and see what happened. My coach was great in helping me maintain my positive outlook and I found that as race day approached, I had no anxiety or nervousness like I usually experience. I had no expectations of how race day would play out. Admittedly, it was kind of nice J 

Twinning on race day!

My biggest supporter who makes things like this possible for me <3

I didn’t tell anyone that even with the injured foot, I had set some goals for this race. I didn’t even tell my coach. Keeping it to myself was a big deal as I’m an oversharer and like to tell the world what I’m doing…lol. I had no idea how my foot would react to so many miles and hours on race day so I didn’t want to put it out there. My goals were simple: C goal would be to finish under the 17 hour cutoff time/not DNF. B goal would be to finish under 13 hours and I thought this would be my "real" goal. And my A goal, which I didn't think possible, was under 12 hours. I’ve never really thought about DNF’ing a race in the past but it was certainly in the back of my head with this one. My plan was to take it one aid station to the other, rely on my trekking poles for support and just keep moving forward as my foot allowed. I was getting regular massages and having her work on my bad foot while also doing aggressive PT. The foot felt about 65% better on race day and I hit that start line with a positive outlook.

"...and thought she be but little, she is fierce..." 

TRT offers up some serious hills even in the 55k

The starting line at Spooner was filled with electricity, encouragement and an overall feeling of joy. I gave up my bib for this race in 2016 so standing here three years later filled me with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. The first tears of the day were shed. I would later find gratitude in every uphill and downhill of the course, every “great job” from the other runners and every hug from a volunteer. Finding Helena just prior to the start was a gift. I knew from our previous encounter that she was planning to hike most of the race (and that woman is one hell of a hiker, by the way!). So our plan was to stick together until we hit Hobart, check to see how we were feeling and take it one aid station at a time. As we crossed the start line, I tried out running to see how the foot was feeling. North Canyon Road is pretty flat and goes for almost a mile so it was a good opportunity to see how running affected it. I can’t say there was NO pain but it was very minimal. This gave me hope that I might actually be able to finish the race but I also knew I needed to rein it back in for now. I would later find out that running wasn't going to happen. As we hit the start of the first incline/hill, I slowed to a fast walk. We had many miles to go and running up to Marlette would be stupid. Chatting with Helena as we hiked up the singletrack, I watched my friend Sandra disappear. I had a feeling she would be gone fairly early in the race so it wasn’t a big deal. She was so well trained for this race and so well prepared; I knew she would have a great day.

A few miles later, we hit the lake and turned right towards the climb up to Hobart. Stopped for our first bathroom break and I saw folks had their poles out already (the race instructions said not to use poles until the Hobart AS). Helena said that one of the race folks the day prior had said it was fine at that point since the road opened up and it was no longer singletrack. I knew my poles would be my saving grace so I removed them from my quiver and got going. We hit Hobart and I was immediately offered a shot….lol. I politely declined but said I would love a shot of Coca Cola! Then this guy showed up...hahaha. Thankfully, there was no need for Mr. Blister Buster this early in the race. 

We had a few snacks then headed out for the climb up to the Marlette Saddle. The views were amazing and at this point, I shed a few more tears of gratitude and joy. How lucky and blessed I was to be doing this! I was so thankful that I didn’t take a DNS for this race. I would have been robbed of this beauty. Helena and I were having a great time getting to know each other and the runner in front of us was chuckling at our stories. We came around the corner and were hiking up the ridgeline when we saw the race photographer. Helena yelled back for me to come up so we could get a photo together. I scurried up the trail and we struck a pose for the camera with Marlette and Tahoe in the background. Shortly after this, we hit our first patch of snow. Hard to believe it was July and we were having to trek over decent size fields of snow. It made for a gorgeous contrast – the green trees, blue skies and then blinding white snow.

Washoe Lake off in the distance; it was neat to see from a different perspective

The next section was a gradual downhill into Tunnel Creek. I was enjoying the downhill but my brain registered quickly that it meant we would be coming back UP this later. It was here we encountered the first leaders of the 55k. Very cool to see these fast men and women pass by like it was nothing. Helena and I joked that you could tell the fast folks – they didn’t carry hardly anything. One guy passed by with a small handheld and bag of Cheez-Its. That was it…lol. As we got closer to Tunnel Creek, you could hear the party atmosphere. And it was definitely a party! Tons of tents, volunteers, food, drink, ice, cheers, signs and spectators. I was offered snacks by this young man who was volunteering J

It was time to head down to Red House. Yay! I remember thinking how bummed I was that I couldn’t fly down the hill. One of my favorite parts of trail running is bombing down hills and especially ones that are a little technical. There were sections of rocky areas that required your full attention. But I was trying to nurse the foot and didn’t want to piss it off so I was conservative. I remember seeing the faces of the folks coming UP the hill and chuckling because I knew that would be us in a bit. Definitely a climb! It was at this point my friend Katie texted me to see how I was doing. I was touched that she was reaching out to see how my foot was holding up. That meant a lot to me.

Two ginger runners - it's been a pleasure to train with her this year

Right about here I am trying not to think about what lives in this water....lol

We hit the bottom of Red House and after going through this eerie section that was a bit overgrown, the trail opened up. Up next was a big, muddy watercrossing. On the sides of the mudhole, you could avoid most of the water but what is the fun in that?? Helena and I charged through the water and it was here I picked up a hitchhiker on my leg – a leech! Ick. I screamed and whacked it with my pole which flung it off into the bushes. The next water crossing was much prettier; it was a clear and cold creek. It felt great on my feet. We then tucked in behind the only other person on the trail, a gentleman from Auburn. Helena and I were hiking along, chatting when all of a sudden, the man stopped and yelled “BEAR!!”. I started looking up the hillside in both excitement and terror. No bear. Then I realized the bear was on the trail in front of us! Oh crap. And it was a cub. A young one. While I was really excited at seeing a bear so close up, I was also nervous about where momma was hiding. All three of us were clapping our heads and yelling at the bear but he just stood there, staring at us. It wasn’t until we made forward progress that he suddenly bolted down the hillside. Very cool experience on the trail! 

Truth in advertising....lol

We came around the bend to see Red House….woohoo!!!! This was almost halfway through the race and so far, my foot pain was a steady 2-3 out of 10 which was really manageable. Helena wanted to change her socks so while she did that, the volunteers cooked up a quesadilla for me and I washed it down with a cold Coke. Best tasting quesadilla ever! The theme of Red House was disco and I didn’t hesitate to take a photo with the volunteers.

It was kind of weird to see this big AS out in the middle of nowhere; Red House feels very isolated. We headed out after probably 8-10 minutes (yes, I was spending a fair amount of time at the aid stations….lol). Once we hit the nasty climb out of Red House, I was anxious to get back to Tunnel Creek. This would be about 18 miles or so into the race and the home stretch. I wanted food, ice in my sports bra and a hug from the volunteers. The climb out of Red House sucks. No way around it. It’s steep and it got warm. I’m pretty proud of how fast we made it out of there. It was just one foot in front of the other while keeping my head down. I didn’t want to see how much farther up we had to go! When we started to hear the noise from Tunnel Creek, I was elated. We were almost there!

Tunnel Creek AS

We hit the AS and I realized I hadn’t finished my one flask of fuel that was supposed to be consumed by the time we hit Tunnel. So I quickly finished it up and then poured my concentrated Infinit into the flask and had the volunteers top me off. My fueling system was working great; I will be using it for any future ultras. I nailed my calorie intake; I never had any nausea or feelings of hitting a wall. I felt really good, both physically and mentally despite the nagging foot pain. We headed out of Tunnel Creek and it was a relief to see this sign.

So happy to see this sign!

The climb back to Hobart was a long one and we took it mile by mile. Loved seeing all the strong 50 milers and 100 milers passing by with smiles and encouragement. About a couple miles out of Tunnel Creek, my foot pain suddenly became worse. While I was a little disheartened, I was also grateful that it waited until miles 20-21. I started to really use that left pole heavily to keep as much weight off my left foot as possible. This worked well until I developed some awesome muscle spasms on the left side of my back from leaning so much on that pole. It hurt to take breaths with the spasms. We stopped for a few minutes while I tried to get my back to relax. As long as I didn’t use my left pole, my back felt better. But that led to worsening foot pain. Oh well, we really were in the home stretch. I knew if we could get to Hobart, I could finish regardless of how crappy I felt.

Helena leading the way

We hit Hobart AS feeling good. I loved seeing my PT and his wife (who is also a physical therapist) Tammie there. It definitely gave me a second wind. So did the hugs, smiles and encouragement from them. I decided to switch out my socks at this point and add more lube to my feet. I had been putting more weight on my right foot to baby my left foot and it was resulting in extra friction that I’m not used to. Peeled off the Injinjis, slathered my feet with generous amount of Squirrels Nut Butter then slipped on my Balegas for the remaining 10 miles. Sitting felt wonderful and I didn’t want to leave Hobart….lol. We were there for probably 10 or 15 minutes; I wasn’t kidding when I said we spent a lot of time hanging out at the aid stations! Tammie had to shoo me out of there. More tears of happiness fell as I said to her “I’m going to finish this thing!! My foot is killing me but I don’t even care anymore…I’m going to finish and maybe even under 12 hours”. 

Approaching the Snow Valley Peak AS

Climbing to Snow Valley Peak was gorgeous!! I didn’t even mind the uphill at all and it was actually a lot less steep than I had anticipated. The views were breathtaking once we got up there. We stopped for a few minutes to take some photos and just soak in all the scenery. As we headed down the slope to the aid station run by the Boy Scouts, they came up to greet us and take our flasks. I enjoyed their aid stations a lot! It was nice to see so many young men and women volunteering their time on a Saturday to help keep us moving along. We left Snow Valley and I knew at that point that no matter how bad the foot got, we were going to cross the finish line.

Boys Scouts of America Volunteers

As we started the descent to Spooner, I was again hit with a feeling of sadness that I couldn’t run down that section. It was exactly the kind of trail I enjoyed flying down. I did try to run at that point but didn’t get far before my foot reminded me it wasn’t happening. I won’t lie – that section to Spooner was ridiculously long and after a while, my mind was over it. I wanted to be done. My body felt great (aside from the foot) but mentally, I was ready to see the tent at the finish line. Helena had to use the restroom again so while she darted off trail, I sat down for a few minutes. I texted my husband to find out where Sandra was at and if she had finished. He said she finished a few minutes prior. I wanted to know exactly what the mileage was on the race since I had seen so many different stats; her and I had the same Garmin. He texted back “34.6” and my heart sank. While I hadn’t told anyone what my goals were, my “A” goal was under 12 hours and I had been doing calculations based on a 33.5-34 mile race. Crap. That meant we had over 4 miles still to go. Ugh.

We quickly got moving after I told Helena about my goal time. She encouraged me and said we were going to accomplish it. That last aid stations took FOREVER to appear and when it did, the volunteer running it said it was 1.7 miles to the finish (I would find out later on it was closer to 1.5 miles but still a looooong way to go after hours of hiking). I looked at my Garmin and didn’t think there was any way I could cover that distance in the amount of time I had left. I didn’t even stop to fill up my flask even though I was completely out of water at that point. I didn’t have time. So dying of thirst a little….lol….we took off, hiking as fast as we could. There is one point in this last stretch where you see the tent on the right but you veer off to the left. All I kept thinking was “NO!!!! We need to go back that other way!!” I hadn’t come all this way to miss my goal by mere minutes. Helena asked if I could run; I said I would try. I was hobbling along with 30 second intervals of what resembled running before the pain in my foot would get too bad and then we power hiked. I’ve never walked so fast before in my life. We came into the finishers chute and I was crying, both from gratitude and pain. I crossed the finish line in 11:56 and was in disbelief that I WALKED 35.1 miles in that amount of time. I had said earlier in the week that if I came in under 13 hours, I would be ecstatic. So to get a sub 12 hour finish time on an injured foot and walking….that was more than I ever could have hoped.

Still a bit surreal that I earned this plaque

For years now, my mantra has been Grit, Gratitude and Grace. I finished the Tahoe Rim Trail 55k with all three - grit in getting it done, gratitude for the experience and ability to even be out there and grace for myself in that it wasn't the race I originally wanted. Ironically enough, I am actually thankful for how it turned out because I was able to really enjoy every minute out there and not be so focused on "racing" it. My actual moving time was at least an hour less than my overall time because of the chatting with volunteers at aid stations, stopping for tons of photos and pausing frequently to just appreciate what was in front of me. I sincerely would not change a thing that took place on race day. Grateful for every step that moved me forward through 35 miles of beauty, camaraderie and community. While I savor this experience and reflect on the past weekend, my mind is already wandering to what's ahead. I told my coach that the mountains seem different now, as though they are a part of me. And her response "those mountains are a part of you now. And you are a part of them". She is so very right.