If you're lucky enough to be in the mountains, you are lucky enough.

When something bad happens, you have three choices: let it define you, let it destroy you, or let it strengthen you.

Monday, September 25, 2006

RDL 100

I struggled to the finish line in 27:35 thanks to my wonderful crew Jorje who wouldn't let me stop and took great care of my blistered feet and patient positive "been there know how you feel" pacer Rick who never got angry at my blistering pace of 3 miles per hour on the second 33 mile loop.
Now I need a rest from these kind of things, mentally and physically. I had a good time overall though. I had a nice easy run from start to No Hand bridge at mile 26, good climb to K2 and Cool fire station, "mean walk" (Catra's term who saw me keeping up with runners while walking) while soothing my stomach problem between miles 30-36 and ran well and happy with dancing to my tunes between miles 40-60 with energy (secretly hoping I might break 24 hrs and passing a lot of people), then stumbled over rocky section stubbing my toes as the night fell (and lost 3 toenails) and twicked my poor hamstring, as well as completely ruined my feet with same problem I had at WS100 this year.
The rest was a "one foot in front of another", and "I love to run but don't like to crawl", and " there is no question I will finish, but does it change who I am?". My boys (Jorje and Rick) were great and I did my best to be happy untill the last 5 miles when I broke into tears from mental and physical struggle over not been able to put my feet down, quivering muscles and shin pain from altered steps and simply not enough training. But then again, I am a cry baby.
The race is wonderfully organized, Norm Klein is a character, people are the greatest, volunteers are perfect with butternut squash soup at mile 83 (where I took 15 min nap), lots of friends (old and new), funky huge awards (don't laugh, I was the only one in my age group, you figure the rest). The course is easier than WS yet not as easy as I expected (for some reason). It had 2 mean climbs and lots of smaller ones, but mostly it was dust eating up your feet and rocks finishing it up. Temps were mid-90s during the day and it was pretty cold at night - at least at the rate I was going and because I stopped fueling (lost 7 lbs at night after staying on top of it the whole day). My IBS plaqued me for a bit too, but I didn't pay much attention to it (a few visits to bushes and a couple of Immodium took care of it eventually).
Sick fun, what can I say. Preparation for this kind of things is important. I am happy with final result as I promised. Thanks to all.

I am done for the year. Need to take care of multiple injuries and be back to been "only a mom and a wife" by family request. May be they are onto something.

p.s. I didn't mean to be so short, I wrote an email from work to some of my friends and simply copied and pasted it to the blog. What I really want to stress is that people surrounding me in my life are simply THE BEST! George Velasco, who I had only met for the first time this June at SP50 where he crewed Lisa Smith-Batchen, jumped into offering to crew for me at wherever I choose to in 2 minute flat - as he does with all his friends, and what a crew he is! George finished his own Grand Teton 100 3 weeks ago after a long streak of DNFs (yay, Jorje!) and just came back from crewing/pacing another friend at AC100. Since he had been struggling with a hamstring injury since January, his questions always felt touching and knowingly embracing. George made it to EVERY SINGLE aid station, no miss, with a whole "spread-out" of foods and drinks and first aid kit and ice, and what saved me this time (at least for as long as it was possible to save anything) were his Compeed bandages and his own 2 new pair of socks. He cleaned my feet and patched them every time I saw him. And he always had a chair ready, a blanket at night, never got any sleep and the hug I got at mile 97 was priceless.
Rick Gaston, who also is "newly developed friendship" kind of guy, is no less impressive. He is a friend of a friend Jason Arth (another heart-touching story, by the way, a story of my life - met once in 2004, emailed to crew and pace me at Miwok-2005, and here we go, a relationship for life) - and I've met him for the first time this April at AR50, where he came with Jason to crew and pace me, never saw me live before. It only took us a quater of a mile to feel like we grew up together. Rick had finished his first WS100 and 3rd 100 mile race this summer, after a great season, yet plauqed by blisters for half of the day there and turning into a survivor mode (as you see, he is intimately familiar with what I was going through). Rick fed me gels while crawling those 33 miles at night with me (time on your feet is worse than just miles, trust me on that), told me stroies, listened to mine, shone light when my headlamp was half-dead, praised my ridiculous efforts of walking faster, agreed of "asphalt better than trails" concept (at that particular point of my life) and waited patiently for my pee-stops every 15 minutes.
They did all of that without any age-group awards, medals, self-worth stuff or recognition in an Ultrarunning magazine. They are heroes, not me. I am just selfishly enjoying my friends:)
Hobbling around today as my feet, ankles, knees and shins are all swollen in. But hey, as they say, it will last for a couple of days, while memories will last forever!

22 comments:

Rick Gaston said...

You know that last mile, on the levy when the Compeed on the ball of your right foot came off and the pain became so intense you had to stop for a moment...then you got it back together hobbling down the path on your heels, crying and breathing like you were having a baby and still smiling through it all...I thought that was your finest moment. "Everything is going to Sh*t but I'm still coming in!" That was you. Good job.

tryathlete said...

"Blistering pace of 3 miles per hour..."

Nice to know you didn't lose your sense of humor!

Well done Olga. Enjoy the "off" season!

Unknown said...

Glad to hear you made it in. Congratulations on another 100 finish and enjoy your rest. I got your e-mails as well.

Anonymous said...

while I'm disappointed that I won't get to see you in November, I understand, and hope you enjoy taking some time off. ((hugs))

Sarah said...

Enjoy your rest, Olga! Congrats on your finish and award! You deserve it. So what if your only competition was yourself. Maybe there is something symbolic in that.

Sick fun...I like that. : ) I hope you can make it to the pre-Portland marathon meet-up Rob arranged.

Thomas said...

Enjoy your time off, and recuperate, it looks like your body could use some rest. Of course you'll come back to running.

Oh, and congratulations on finishing yet another 100 miler. The rest of us can only dream of such an achievment.

Travis said...

Fantastic job this season. I really enjoy reading your posts. I hope that time off is well spent "recooping." I start training for my first 50 this week. Its blogs like your that keep me pushing! thanks!

Love2Run said...

You continue to amaze us! Enjoy your well deserved off-season, it's the best running season of all.

ps. nice article in the latest Marathon and Beyond on the RDL 100

Anonymous said...

I'm not an ultrathoner ( or even a runner for that matter), but I just wanted to say , that I think what you did.... is totally amazing!

Congrats

Backofpack said...

Yay Olga! You are one tough Mama. You give me hope on the toe nail thing. I lost partials this week -half on one big toe and 1/4 on another. I was worried about running on them because they are a little sore, but I'll think of you and stick it out! Enjoy your rest and hope to see you next week.

Miki said...

a rest well deserved I think. congratulations for slogging it through.

Jack said...

You certainly have my respect and continue to be inspirational despite your own humility. Enjoy your rest!

Wes said...

Holy crap, Olga! If you are a big cry baby, then I want to bawl like a new born infant! Time to fall back to some place safe and comfortable while you plan for the future. Good luck. Enjoy your family and rest.

Donald said...

Wow Olga. Great job again. You're amazingly tough in these events.

Now take some rest, girl! And there's no way you can out-eat me. But have fun trying.

Jessica DeLine said...

Your blistering pace comment had me thinking for a minute then gave me a little laugh :)
Enjoy your break!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on finishing another 100. Sounds like it was especially hard on the feet. Sorry to hear about the toe nails. Ouch. The plan to rest up for a while sounds like a good one. Let the multiple injuries heal. The only thing that could make this report better would be a picture at the finish to prove that you kept your promise about smiling :)

seagull junker said...

Olga,
Nice to see you there at Rio. You are always super strong and I admire you for that. Great job. Hope to see you soon at the next race. I had fun even though I too struggled for 30 miles or so. See you soon.
tom riley

Ryan said...

Simply Superb! Way to finish the year off strong...you’re one tuff mom!!! Enjoy the extra time with family & have a good break!

Ben, aka BadBen said...

Heal yourself and have some fun for the rest of the year.

D said...

Great race report. Congratulations. You are one tough cookie!

Sarah Elaine said...

You are an amazing woman. Please do not ever call yourself a cry baby again. I admire your drive, your dedication and your strength. You have your heroes and I have mine -- you are one of mine.

Enjoy your time off running. You deserve it!

Well done.

seagull junker said...

Olga,
You were right, the race was well organized. I noticed you didn't say anything on how well the trail was marked/or not. Enough said. We know how it was. Get well.
tom riley