I finally have some time to write about Zane Grey (even before leaving Arizona, I starting preparing for the H1N1 flu virus situation that my colleagues back home were handling - the news of this international flu outbreak became evident during this trip.....my other life is supervising the Communicable Diseases Program at Washington County Health and Human Services).
In a nut shell, this race was hard. REALLY hard. I had no idea. It truly felt like running a 100 miles. Maybe I wasn't mentally prepared for it. The rocks. Rocks. And more ROCKS. There were stretches of the course that there wasn't a trail. And there were long stretches of "trail" that was basically overgrown grass with rocks underneath. One was lucky not to tweek an ankle or knee. Then the number of downed trees one had to jump over. Did I mention the rocks??
It became evident about half way through the race that I wouldn't be running the R2R2R run the following day.
To be honest, I think I went out way too fast. Also, I wasn't fueling properly. This was partly due to the fact that I ran out of water 10miles from the 33 mile aid station. I had let a volunteer fill my 2liter hydration bladder at the 17mile AS. I know for a fact I didn't suck down 2 liters of water in 1.5 hours. Thankfully Trevor gave me one of his water bottles that had about a cup of water left. Thanks buddy, I owe you one.
Trevor and I remained together up till AS #3. He pulled away and the loneliness settled in. I wouldn't see any one for lengthy stretches. I turned on the I-Pod to pass the time.
The last miles were a blur. I caught up to Trevor. We ran (I should say walked) to AS #4 (mile 44) together. We both had a bad stretch between miles 38-44.
I took off from the mile 44 AS feeling re-energized after downing a number of rice krispie treats (the only thing that seemed appetizing). The last stretch went by relatively quickly - running with some one else always makes the time go quickly.
I crossed the finish line in 16th place at 11hr 28 min. Upon finishing, I had no intent on participating in this race again. However, the pain in the knees and hips have passed, I'm looking forward to running it again. Maybe not next year, but soon.
2 comments:
How soon the pain is forgotten. You'll definitely be back to do it again. At least when you finish Big Horn in a month, you'll know you'll have 100 reasons to feel tired!
Of course you'll be back! It's fun! Almost as much as Bighorn is going to bring you:) Beautiful WY, I am going to miss it this year!
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