I’ve been hearing about Bandera 50K for years now from fellow runners. Oh, and yes, by the way, all runners out here in the southwest seem to be ultra runner types. And if they aren’t, they’re considering it. Or their SO is one. “it’s a beautiful course, and in the cowboy capital of the world! The best race director, great aid stations….” I’ve always resisted – it’s another flight, I’m not made of money, and it’s just after our annual drive to and from WI. ‘Sides, 50K is a long way. I’m not an ultra runner. Marathons are long enough, who needs to go sticking another 5 miles onto the end? And since my marathon PR as of Nov. 2008 was 5:13, why bother doing something that would take me forever.
Weeellll.
The CIM marathon on Dec. 7th went alright. I got a huge PR, and went under 4. (3:53) I’m slightly disappointed that I didn’t finish under 3:50, but… I did discover that I don’t much enjoy running in large, or even semi large crowds. I couldn’t hear my feet hitting the pavement, or my breath. I felt kind of thrown and anxious the whole time. I tried to stay with the 3:50 pace group, but I was (in retrospect) way too concerned with them. We went out too fast, and it was really stressing me out. (I knew I disliked living in the middle of lots of people; turns out I also don’t want to run with a crowd.) I hit the half marathon mark at 1:53:30 with them. This is only a minute and a half off my fastest half marathon time… hmm, maybe its time for some half marathon racing… Anyway, back to the point. Where was I? I felt good until about mile 15, then the top of my right foot started to hurt – had to stop and adjust my shoe twice, and yadda yadda yadda. In fact, I did training runs of 20 miles faster than I ran the first 20 miles of the marathon. Hmpf. The last 5 miles were fairly uncomfortable, but nothing specific, just achiness. Anyway. Wish I’d gone faster. I do not, however, suffer from a desire to go back and try that marathon again.
So, suddenly, doing my first 50K on Jan 10th sounded kind of appealing. A trail run – guaranteed I’d have some parts with no company out on the trail. I was sure I could finish. And it might not even take me forever. Plus, I had a southwest voucher burning a hole in my pocket. I’d already talked DP into it in the month prior to CIM as I was musing about it. (She was very easy to convince. Which didn’t prevent her from accusing me of talking her into something completely nutz during the training she did.) Lots of company is good when you’re attempting something for the first time. I threw my running shoe in the ring. I think there were 13 of us.
Between the marathon on Dec. 7th and Jan 10th, I ran a total of 4 times and a total of 20 miles. Ooops. See, it was icy in Wisconsin while I was there for two weeks over Christmas and New Year’s. I did get some skiing in. I did one of my favorite things – running New Years Eve and then running on New Years day. I strained or bruised my heel on the New Years Day run. Another ooops. I thought about dropping out of Bandera, but a quick cell conversation with DP convinced me to wait a bit before canceling, which was what I wanted to hear. And sure enough, 4 days later, my heel though a little stiff, didn’t hurt. Mostly, I was really looking forward to Bandera.
I did, however, neglect to finish packing until the morning I left. (I’d only been home a week since the Wisconsin trip, and I wasn’t even fully unpacked from that. In fact, I’m still not.) And I woke up late. So I threw a lot of crap in my bag, including my fancy new Moeben sleeves that are patterned like a giraffe. Left out: my water bottles and my toothbrush. But I made the flight, and K directed me to a tri shop outside of San Antonio where I picked up some replacement water bottles. Packet pick up in the dusty park was smooth. The course talk was excellent. The spaghetti was pretty good. The hotel room was funny – a herd of airbrushed deer graced the walls
– it was funny until I hit the bed. Hard. *sigh* 5:30 am rolled around without me risking a wink of sleep. I didn’t feel too nervous, not really. This isn’t a race, it’s a “just finish” kind of thing for me.
These kind of moments, I love that I have a fortune from a fortune cookie that says, “You have great physical powers and an iron construction.” Not a fortune, but still awesome. And, you know, THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR AWESOMENESS.
Back to the story. I’m a little sleep deprived, so bear with me.
It was perfect temperature, starting in the high 30’s I think, and topping out about 55. The 20 mph wind made the start a bit cool. Hanging out in the warm car was nice, but perhaps not the best thing to do. I overdressed a tad, leaving on a long sleeved shirt over my short sleeve and giraffe sleeves. There were too few port a potties, so I used the woods, and still missed the start by about 15 seconds. I intended to run with DP for the first 6 miles or so, but she was not inclined to use the woods and was still in line when the race started. Off I went. I had a few pangs of guilt for leaving my bud behind. :(
I could talk about the course a lot, but really, every other word would be about how rocky it was. Big, small, embedded, loose, you name it. I twisted my left ankle about 5 times in the first 10 miles descending on loose rock, and twice it really hurt. It swelled a bit, and I had to walk much of the section between mile 14 and 20. Maybe about half of it. Too bad, too, as that was a flatish section. I definitely hit a low section here, as my legs weren’t too tired, but it really hurt to run. K, who was still dealing with a stress fracture in his foot, was volunteering at the aid station at 10 and 20.
On his advice I ate some salty food, and drank more than I would normally – probably saved me from bonking. It was reassuring to see someone I knew out there. At the aid station at mile 20, I re-laced my shoe, giving my ankle more room to swell, and that helped the pain immensely. Ok, maybe the Tylenol someone handed me helped too. Another runner stumbled into the aid station and accused me of “really blowing right by” him back there. I think he was thinking of some other giraffe wearing runner. I had a couple of horsey encounters. In two cases, they startled me, not the other way around. Made me miss Sabrina, my black horse that died this year.
After about mile 23, I started to feel pretty good. I had a really pleasant realization that 1. I was going to finish, and that 2. I hadn’t actually been all that sure about that fact to start with. Sure, the foot/ankle still hurt. But I had a cold coke from my drop bag at the aid station at 26. MMMMmmmm. Cheetos, too. And a wedge of cheese quesadilla from the chef manning a griddle at the aid station. No kidding. But mostly it was about the coke. And the last 4.5 miles, I felt really good. One more nasty descent with 2 to 3’ step-downs in the trail with a bit of scree just for fun… pass the guy with the accent whining to his friend about how tired he is… then ½ mile on smooth jeep road to the finish. I sped up and felt really good at the finish, and in my crazy brain, the thought floated “hey, you know, I bet I could go 50 miles. Even 100K. I feel pretty good. ‘cept for that ankle.” I did not, however, say that out loud because I was in a crowd of ultra runners, and they’d have me signed up for the next 50 miler out there before I could sit down. I finished in 7:01:42. Would have been nice to be under 7, but I’m not fussy. I came in 17th woman out of 44, and 78th overall out of a field of 141 people. Wow, that’s not bad.
S herded me from the finish, suggesting that I get right into dry clothes if I had any. He was so right – the wind made it cold once I stopped moving. I wish I’d brought more to change into at the finish. I need some track pants. Maybe I can buy some online, I hate shopping. Talked with Geekgrl, J, K, K, A, J, A, and lots of others about the race (mostly about the rocks). As I had walked and kept my effort pretty low, I was feeling really good, while others who turned in awesome times were anticipating the soreness that was to come. DP came in while I was eating some soup and a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich at the finish (the hot food was sooo good). She did awesome and finished smiling, tho her IT band was hurting. Two of our group, F and B were doing the 100k. We saw the nutters off for their second lap (ok, I only saw B, F had come and gone while I was still out there) and went into Bandera for food and fun.
We proceeded to an excellent bbq joint (Busbees)
– the brisket was the best I’d had in a long time. The pecan pie was disappointing, however. I love pecan pie. I really wanted dessert, I mean, come on, I ran 31 miles. Gimme some Coke and a piece of pie already. From there we walked - some of us hobbled – to a bar that promised a live band. K & K did some nice two-stepping once the band started. 
They drank beer, I drank a lot of water. I was starting to feel the effects of no sleep and a 50K, so we turned it in at ~10:30. The bed was still hard. I actually successfully slept about 5 hours. We ate at a little Mexican joint (I had eggs and toast, but prickly pear burritos were available) and then drove to San Antonio where we walked around the Alamo, and down along the river walk before our flight.
Most memorable parts:
Coming out of the low point with resolve.
The sotol garden, the view from ice cream hill. The sunrise, orange broken by clouds over the hills, good feelings and bad feelings.
Talking with Louie on the course, first as he passed me, then as I passed him.
Feeling like I could go forever with 2 miles left in the run.
Being handed a card while sitting at the finish that said “Go Dave” by dave’s wife. He’d attempted the 100K two other times, and had never yet left for his second lap. This time, he headed out. That’s perseverance.
