Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Cle Elum Ridge 50k race report

When I signed up for the Cle Elum Ridge 50k in August, I knew this course profile fits me more than any other race around (maybe as much as Western States). 16 mile long dowhill, I was going to kill it!

Cle Elum Ridge 50k (33 miles, 7000 feet of gain)


Of course I made my homework reviewing the list of women signed up on the ultrasignup.com website. I didn't see any names that could make feel worried.

However the closer the race day was getting the more my expectations were falling. First of all my mileage has declined dramatically since May-June (from 70mpw to 40mpw). Then Nikolay has broken his leg (3 metatarsal bones in the right foot) and I started climbing gym workouts to increase strength (just to hang out with him more, because he couldn't climb, but could do all the pull ups and ABS, etc). This almost immediately affected my climbing abilities and I started progressing fast in bouldering for the first time in the last almost 3 years since I started climbing. I felt lots of psyche for climbing that of course took some off my running. I still managed to run 4-6 days a week on a lower mileage, and had few long and slow running weekend adventures including getting lost alone in Alpine Lakes Wilderness, hiking out on a different highway, hitchhiking for an hour in the darkness and getting my ride to that campground in the police car. Lots of summer fun :) I originally planned to train for the run to the top of Mt Si (4 miles, 3500 gain), but I actually only visited that trail once since Western States, that of course didn't affect my performance at that race positively and I placed 6th out of 11 females, that made it my worse placement ever. Female winner time was 0:59:49, against my 1:11. I told you I suck in uphill running, didn't I?

Fortunately for me Cle Elum Ridge is a very different race than Mt Si, it is not only very long uphill, it is also a very long downhill! Of course it is just a 50k and there's  always a bunch of fast ladies, who can do it better than me just because of plain leg speed. I always pass people at the end of the races, the longer the race is, the better I place, and 50k may not be just long enough. Well, I show up and we see how it goes, that was the plan.

We as usual decided to camp at the race start location, drove there Friday night to find a campground full of RVs, dirt bikes and empty beer cans in the firepits. This location apparently is a very popular motocross destination and it promised us a lot of dust, mud and bad breathing conditions during the race and very probably a very bad sleep the night before. However the bikers who camped near us were not even close to being that tough as they first looked like. They listened for some soft rock not very loud, drank their Budweiser near the fire, and around 8pm got into their RV and left. Till 1am apparently, but I haven't heard them coming back as I was sleeping. I had a good sleep between 8pm and 6am.  Taking a warm sleeping bag was definitely a good idea, the night was cold but I was very comfortable.

The morning was cold, Nikolay who cancelled his race (obviously because of still being in the cast), traditionally announced that he is not too jealous that I am running and he is not and continued to sleep, while I was getting ready. Standard procedure: apply Asics Chafe Free on my feet, apply Bodyglide on the bra area (to avoid bloody bruises caused by chafing), get dressed (though it was super cold and the forecast was for 30% rain I decided to run in RaceReady shorts and white short sleeve Scott shirt, but use warm Asics arm warmers for the first part of the race and drop them at the first aid station), had my morning coffee, chocolate and avocado rolls, picked up the bib, left the drop bags, and was ready. I didn't warm up, though usually I do before short races. As usual all my pre-race anxiety was gone completely, I was psyched, and ready to race. The only difference with my normal pre-race morning was that I decided to run with the iPod, I usually use iPod only in one race in the whole year - during Seattle Marathon that is the only road marathon  and actually the only road race I do. Nikolay woke up in his sleeping bag, said that I should win this one (I wasn't so sure about that), or at least place top 3. The race start wasn't too far from our tent, but the distances feel different when you are on the crutches. So I headed to the start alone, figuring that I was late for the pre-race briefing done by Candice Burt, the RD.

Missing that briefing was the reason I did not realize that the start was common for both 25k and 50k, I only noticed that all the bibs were red, and decided that probably 25k will start in a different wave (usually different distances have different colors of the bib numbers assigned). Later I realized that the start was common and only after the finish Nikolay pointed out that 50k bibs started with 7, and 25k with something else. I lined up in the third people line from the beginning, noticing only one girl starting ahead of me. Not competitive race, here we go.

First we had to run for about half a mile on a pavement to spread before going to a trail. It was pretty funny, because I actually led the race for about 1 minute or so after we started. The girl ahead of me backed off immediately after the start, and leading the race from the most beginning felt weird. But it didn't last long. Soon women started passing me, and though I counted 3 on the pavement, after we moved on the trail and the uphill started women were passing me again and again, so I stopped counting. After 5 miles or so I finally warmed up and started passing people. In events like that one (small, not competitive, easy to get in) there are usually many inexperienced runners, either running their first trail race or first ultra, who start out too fast and back off soon. I passed many, and figured that now I must be in the top 10 women for sure (reminder to the readers that both 25k and 50k were running together at this point). The uphill was not steep, there were many runable sections and amount of hiking I've done was smaller than usual. Also tapering (like for real, not like before the White River) made good for my uphill legs.

First aid station was at mile 9, and there was a girl ahead of me who was very persistent in not giving up her position when we were climbing steep uphill huffing and puffing. I was surprised seeing that kind of stubbornness in ladies racing for the top 10 spot (and it's not even Western States ;)), myself I didn't care much. It was still a very beginning of the race, and I was moving steep uphill. I was sure I can pass her on the downhill, and maybe few other girls. Top 5 seemed a very reachable goal, top 3 possible too. My iPod died before I even reached the first aid station, just after 1.5 hours since I started it. Since I never run with the music it didn't bother me much, and I dropped it at the first aid station. I started with two water bottles, but decided to only fill one starting from the first aid station, as two were definitely too much. I kept the empty water bottle with me for the whole time, just in case it gets much warmer (and it didn't). I also dropped my arm warmers here, and picked up several honey stingers from the drop bag. The next drop bag would only be at the mile 25, and since I eat nothing but honey stinger chews I needed to carry all my food with me. I saw that stubborn girl leaving the aid station like a minute or two before me. Whatever. I used the bushes for the first and only time during the race (thanks to my guts for getting stronger!) and kept going. I soon started seeing that girl again, but wasn't worried about passing her. We reached the ridge soon and the terrain flattered, but the trail was not nice. I was very rocky sometimes, sometimes it had a deep ditch in the middle made by water flows, and in many segments it had a lot of holes made by motorcycles sliding in place. I didn't like the trail, but I am a good technical runner (when the trail gets bad), and I can do well on rolling terrain if I find a rhythm. Somehow I found it. And I didn't let it go till the most end of the race.

Steep uphill started, and soon we entered the second aid station at mile 14.5. I topped my water bottle, saw the same girl leaving ahead of me again, but stayed longer to get rid of the trash in my belt pockets. Soon I was running again, and though I've never lost the sign of that girl for long starting from before the first aid station, that in about half mile from the second aid station I finally passed her. She looked tired. I felt great.

Not longer than in another half a mile I saw another girl - tall skinny in a long pink socks, she was running with some guy with the hiking poles (he was either training for some European races, or made a really bad choice of the race to try his new poles). I passed them quickly, but only 5 minutes later or so they both passed me back. Fighting for top 5 position, nah. Whatever.

I've almost always seen them both ahead of me. And then finally at about mile 16 the downhill started. It was awful - steep, technical, super rocky, slippery and dusty. I saw the girl in pink socks being visibly uncomfortable, running very carefully and slow. Her friend with the poles looked even worse. Well... They had no chances on that downhill for sure. I passed them like babies, and disappeared in the dust =)

The steep downhill wasn't very long, but I passed a lot of guys on it. No sign of a single woman. At this point I was pretty sure that I am already top 5, and very possible fighting for the podium position. When I reviewed the list of women running I haven't seen many familiar names. But I saw one local woman in the list who is a very strong runner, especially on a shorter distances, like 50k (and runs road marathons pretty darn fast), I also saw her passing me on the first uphill about 3 miles into the race, and I never seen her again. I knew she was signed up for the 50k, so she definitely was ahead of me. _At least_ she was ahead of me, I was not sure how many other women I miscounted.

I kept running fast, the downhill wasn't steep, it was flat or rolling terrain, but I found my rhythm, so I was flying. I passed some guy, but he decided to keep up with me and when I asked if he wants to pass me back, he declined and said he liked my pace, he said it was comfortable and fast at the same time. Soon we reached water only aid station at mile 21.

- You are in first, aren't you? - he said.
- No way, at least [that local fast women] is ahead of me.
- Weird, the girl you passed before, volunteers said she was in first at the first aid station. Probably they miscounted.
- Yeah, they surely did.

That talk gave me a boost, and now I knew what my next goal was. I needed to catch and pass that girl ahead of me  :)

In just a mile from that aid station we passed a river crossing and Glenn Tachiyama. Getting feet completely wet reminded about Western States. They've never been dry there for the first 60 miles.


Creek crossing, mile 22-ish.


We kept running with a good pace, hiking only the steepest and running all smaller uphills. Soon I heard the last aid station and saw people cheering. One of them called my name, and I saw Gavin Woody (he is incredibly fast and does all the various crazy running, biking and climbing shit I can only dream about). He looked very surprised!

At the last aid station I got honey stingers from my drop bag and left very fast without waiting for my companion-pacer. He soon caught me again, asked how I felt. I said I that I was feeling great and only little bit worried about last uphill that was still waiting for us. He was still not sure that there were other girls ahead of me, and now I started being suspicious too. We had 8 miles to go.

We passed many guys, and still no sign of a single girl. It was weird, because I was moving really fast, I must have caught someone already. Unless they were moving even faster. Or unless.. I was leading the race. At some point we passed another guy who was walking and visibly struggling. He was very disappointed to hear that I am running 50k, not 25k, seems like he did not expect to be passed by a girl at this point. It was even more suspicious. I turned back to him and asked:

- Have you seen any other girls ahead of me?
- No, I think you are in first.
- OMG.

That was an interesting feeling. I've never led a race before. I've never won a race before (unless we count Tiger Fat Ass 25k as a race, but we don't). I changed the gear and dropped both that guy and my pacer immediately. Being chased for the win was new for me. It made me eat more honey stingers for the distance than ever ;) But I felt great. My legs were super strong. And I was running uphills now.

This last section felt very long. There wasn't a big steep uphill, there were many little ups instead. Every time when I wanted to see a finishing downhill, there always appeared another hill. I knew my watch wasn't right about distance, and I knew the race was longer than 50k, so I wasn't sure when I should expect to see a finish line finally. I was passing slow 25k runners now, they all cheered on me, especially women, who said  "first lady, way to go!" and stuff like that, that was very inspiring. I was sure I built I good gap on that girl in the pink socks considering how non-confident she was on the technical downhill, but I didn't know how good she was in the rolling to flat terrain. That's where I suck, not as much as in uphills, but still a lot comparing to pretty much every good marathon runner. So, I was trying to run away from her.

After what felt like a marathon, but wasn't really more than 8 miles since the last aid station I finally reached the dirt road that I guessed was my finish line. And it was. I made sure to trash my quads on that last section flying, and soon I crossed the paved road, saw many people cheering and the colored flags, turned to the bridge, and past the finish line. I finished in 5:55, 1st female, 10th overall. Second place woman finished in 6:11. The fast local women I was chasing all the second half of the race finished 4th in 6:33. No ideas when I  managed to pass her.

Nice medal for the overall win of women's race


I wasn't tired at all, my legs were still feeling great. I was amazed how good I felt and how easy walking seemed comparing to other finishers. I am definitely a 50 to 100 mile person ;)

Winning the race is awesome. I clearly realize that the race was not competitive, and even comparing with 2011 performance of the female winner Shawna Tompkins my win is still a very average result (in 2011 my time would still be good for the second place female, but Shawna finished in 5:12! that is the whole 43 minutes ahead of me!!). I am happy that now I am able to be competitive in the local races, but I can easily count at least 3 girls only in WA state that I have no chances of passing in any race ever. Local races usually attract runners from BC and OR, and here I am completely screwed as especially Oregon is known for producing super human mountain runners including the whole US 100k team.

I decided to close year 2013 of trail racing on this positive event of winning my first trail race.

I am going to concentrate on bouldering competitions season in next few weeks. Then my main goal will be beating the 3:20 time mark at Seattle marathon on December, 1. I feel that 3:30 is a very possible result for me, but I want to work my ass off in the next two months, that's why the official goal is 3:20. Yes, it means lots of speed work... :)






Monday, July 29, 2013

White River 50 miles race report

White River 50 Mile Trail Run
                July 27, 2013 - Crystal Mtn WA, 
                327 starters, 286 finishers - Clear,Temp in 50's & 60's
                9200 feet elevation gain, 9200 feet elevation loss
                Male Course Record  Sage Canaday 6:16:10 (2012)
                Female Course Record  Susannah Beck 7:32:12 (2008)



I had a hard time deciding if I should go for it or not. When you finish a race and you finish it well you immediately want to sign up for another one. If you finish not well, you want to sign up for another one even more to get a revenge.

White River 50 was my first 50 miler a year ago. It was the race where I qualified for the Western States. There was a lot of drama involved on the pre-race day, and the day after (when I flew to Russia - 6 hour flight to NY and then 10 hour flight to Moscow - at 6am after finishing my first 50m just 13 hours before). I finished in 10:33 qualifying for Western States (you need to run a selected 50 miler within 11 hours to qualify).

Kolya has signed up for the White River 50 long time before Western States and I was waiting. I was for some reason sure that after WS I will end up losing interest in running and everything related like it happened after finishing my first marathon. But it appeared to be the opposite. The week after Western States I felt happy and not worrying about anything. The week after that I started feeling confused because everyone was asking what's next and I didn't know. So I started looking for 100 milers I can run in autumn. Found few but didn't like any of them (all good 100s happen in summer!), lots of 100 involve running in laps (no way I am not dropping after the first one!), low elevation gain (can you imagine a 100 with 6,000 feet elevation gain?), really boring environment and other stuff I don't think I can survive for 24+ hours.

So at some point I found myself singed up for the White River. I had only one training week between Western States and the White River, because I took one week completely off, the next week running a little bit plus going to Enchantments run that I really love (and it was Nikolay's first Enchantments, I soaked his excitement of seeing this pure beauty for the first time), one week of really good running including my first EVER speed workout on track (8x400, 2x800 - I didn't survive more :( ), mt Si hike and climbing mt Rainier on the weekend (Emmons Glacier - 5,000 feet on the first day up to camp Schurman, and 5000 feet to the top on the next day and 10,000 feet down the same day with backpacks). And the next week I kinda tapered and ran the White River 50. I knew I've probably done "too much hill work" with Mt Si and 10,000 climb up to Mt Rainier the week I was supposed to be tapering for the White River.

But I decided that it's all fine because:
1. I wanted to climb mt Rainier this year (that was my third year in a row climbing it, but only second successful summit) and it looked like a good timing in regards of weather and route conditions. Last year we went up the Emmons route on the last weekend of summer to find it completely destroyed and not existent that together with crappy weather was the reason we turned around less than 1,000 feet before the summit.
2. White River was not my goal race.
3. I felt really slow (even on downhills) during mt Si climb, and Glen suggested that White River will be good to shake my legs to get back to shape after a 100. My post 100 recovery experience is (was) zero, so I decided that I should better listen to what people say.
4. I knew that even though I may not be in the top shape right now, I can still easily break last years time of 10:33, just because my current "not the top shape" is much better than my last year's top shape. I actually printed out splits for 10 hour finish.
5. I expected to be slower on uphills, but if Western States didn't kill my quads, then nothing can. I was sure I can still bomb the downhills. Anyways as I remembered from the last year the uphills at White River were very steep, and I expected many people including myself to hike through most of them.
6. I am drinking beer and I am not vegetarian anymore, that meant that I could finally enjoy the post race BBQ party that I missed last year!

Since I was not going to run the WR for so long, I didn't book the campground as I did last year. And nobody did, just because they don't care about stuff like that (I am the responsible one here, the one who usually gets it all covered, but not this time!). The only choice was to camp at the start, at the free campground with no water and apparently very limited bathrooms access. But it was an okay campground, we've camped at places worse than that. We arrived early this year and there was no drama involved before we setup the tent, had the dinner, met Andrey and had one more beer (that made it 3 total for pre-race day.. but it was okay since I was drinking wit and lager, not 5x IPAs as before the epic failing Gorge Waterfalls). Suddenly I felt a striking pain in my neck and it was so bad that I started screaming and the tears started running from my eyes immediately. Nikolay looked at my neck and found a yellow jacket who apparently has got trapped in my jacket and finally decided to bite since there was no other option to get out. It was so painful, that I decided that either this is the first time in my life I was bitten by a yellow jacket, or the yellow jackets bites in Russia are not painful at all. Even the next morning it was still painful when touched. So, the pre-race drama was still there, I really can't do it without any.

As soon as it got dark we got into our sleeping bags and woke up at 4:30am. There was a very long line to the porta potties, and the start was delayed to let everyone finish that business.

White River 50m Elevation Profile


I like WR course because it starts with a long flat section that allows to warm up before going up the first hill. I usually feel bad then I have to start the race with climbing. We started all together (me, Nikolay, Andrey and Slava), but somehow again got into the too slow group. I try not to start in a faster group because I don't want to start out too fast and then struggle (and I am really good in that, as it has never happened so far..) and I don't like lots of people passing me. But it is the second time in a row when  I should have started a faster group. 3 miles into the race and we were running in a group led by a girl who was crazy slow and didn't let anyone to pass (because people running just behind her didn't ask her to, and for us it was a long line of people before we get to her). At some point I got nervous and passed everyone, but the group before us was already way too ahead. I quickly reached the first aid station, topped my only almost untouched bottle with the water (I filled it with Roctane brew before the start), and headed to the longest almost 8 miles section to the next aid station.

I decided to run WR with one handheld and Salomon Advanced Skin belt because my water consumption was about 1 and 1/3 of a bottle per 7 miles at the Western States, and though Washington was in a heat wave with temperatures reaching 90F almost every day throughout few last weeks, it was not even close to 104F we had at Western States. Also that 8 miles section between aid stations one and two was the longest (others were less than 7 miles) and it was in shade. I've never raced with Salomon Advanced Skin belt before, but I went for 6 miles run with it few months ago and Nikolay used it when he paced me at the Western States and he was very happy with it. So I decided to give it a try since I didn't have enough space in my skirt pockets and handheld pocket to carry all I need (honey stingers, vespa, toilet paper, salt caps, and lipstick). Unfortunately the belt did not fit me well anymore (I lost an inch or two in my waist line after the Western States), so it was bouncing up and down driving me crazy especially on the downhills. Smells like shopping!

At some point I had to use the bushes and when I jumped out of them I saw Nikolay and Andrey with the group of other guys, so I joined their group for the fun. The flat section turned into a steep climbing soon, that's there first Andrey and then Nikolay let me go. I remembered the first uphill as a very steep from the last year, I was surprised there were so many runable sections. It didn't fit my strategy of mostly power hiking the uphills and charging the downhills, but I didn't want people passing me, so I had to run. I ended up with hips started hurting just after aid station two, kinda too early considering that I still had a lot of ups to go. I blamed mt Rainier for that, lots of hill work and no rest. My race preparation strategy has always been "it's better to overtaper than to overtrain", and this time I've done the opposite. Not smart!

Soon the incoming traffic started. The good news was that the leading men (Maxwell Ferugson and some other guy) passed me approximately on the same spot where Ellie Greenwood passed me last year. Either they were moving slower than the last year's leaders or I was moving faster. Actually the both facts were true.

I got to the top already when I saw the first gal and eventual winner Ashley Arnold (whom I did not recognize as I've never actually heard about her before). Amy Sproston was behind with about 5 minutes between them (she will drop at some point). Then there was some other unknown (to me) girl, and then (for those who don't know - fifty two(!) years old) Meghan Arbogast. She looked the most relaxed and confident comparing to all top girls, and she was the only one who responded on my greeting and "good job, Meghan!". She would eventually place second, and she really is a great inspiration for women of our sport.

Then the traffic split, so I had no ideas what my standing is at the moment except for that I am for sure is not top 4 :) I passed Glenn Tachiyama hoping that this time I will look good on his pictures (and I did not :|)

I am not sure why my face always looks that ugly when I run, but at least my legs look ok.
 got to the aid station 3, where I topped my water bottle and got more Honey Stingers from the drop bag. I checked the 10 hour splits and found that I was almost on 10 hr pace, only 10 minutes behind. I knew that the big downhill is coming and downhills is where I can make up a lot of time. I climbed uphill passing men, then at some point a girl running with a guy passed me and she was the only girl who would pass me during that race. I caught her 3 miles later on the downhill to pass and to never see her again.

The downhill stretch has finally started, but my hips were hurting so badly that even downhills felt hard. Also I've got a pain in my feet that was very weird, never had it before. I was in pain mostly from the second aid station till the end of the race. I knew that muscle pain cannot be serious, so I ran fast. The voice in my head kept telling me that I am running too hard for my current state and shape, but I thought "whatever, it is not my goal race, so I will either kill it or burn out and walk for the whole second part of the race". I was close to the bottom of the hill when the pain in my pinky toe started. It felt like... blister. "What the hell?" - I thought, - - "I DON'T BLISTER". As well as I don't fall and don't puke. That was all true before I started training for Western States, e.g. before I started running more or less seriously. First I started falling. Now I've got a blister. This way I am getting to the puking point some day :( Well, at least at this point I was past the half of the race and haven't fallen yet.

To tell you the truth I was thinking about dropping off all that downhill. It was not because I was in pain or I had a blister and stuff. It was because the mile 27 aid station, the Buck Creek is the same as race start and race finish. It is the place where our tent was and our car was. Dropping off at this place is so convenient!!! Apparently this race DNF rate is very high for the 50 miler (about 12%) and I believe that the Buck Creek aid station is to be blamed for that!

I've got there knowing that I need to take care of my blister first of all. I had a drop bag there with a blister kit, when I took off the sock I've seen a detached skin on the pinky toe, but no bubble. I saw nothing  to pop, so I just applied the bandaid above it and changed the sock. Some spectating old woman was annoying me while I was doing all that with questions like "how do you train for such races?" - "I run" - "how many marathons did you finish?"  - "four". I knew by the sound of her voice that she was disappointed with this number, but I had no desire at the moment to explain the difference between marathons and ultras. I guess they all the same for her. I saw a girl who I passed at the downhill and I wanted to leave before she leaves. And I did. Fortunately the blister, stupid marathon buzz and seeing another girl made me forget about dropping off. I noticed that on that aid station I lost all the time I gained over 10 hour pace and now was actually 15 minutes behind..

There was a short flat section passing the campground, and then the second big hill started. I looked back once just before the uphill start and saw that girl from the aid station. She almost caught me on the flats :( I have to add speed work to my training, my flats are even more disappointing than my uphills! The second hill was either steeper than the first one or I just was more tired. I power hiked almost everything on that hill. It also started to heat up, and though I might have lost my pre-Western States heat acclimation, I've got experience and mental readiness for the heat that are much harder to lose than 2 extra liters of plasma in the blood. I looked back one more time and I happily realized that I lost the sight of that girl.

I passed the 32 mile aid station there they offered the ICE water and it was awesome. Now I only had the last 5.3 miles section of uphill and then it is all down! I found that I actually was now only 5 minutes behind 10 hour pace now and it raised my spirits. I passed another girl on the next section (twice, since I had to use the bushes again), but I still had no ideas what my standing is. I knew that if I break 10 hours top 10 would be very close. Last year I placed 18th with 10:33.

The top of the hill was hot. I remembered that first we will cross the dirt road twice (the one everyone's running down after reaching the Sun Top), then I will see Glenn Tachiyama, and then the Sun Top aid station, mile 37 and the top of the last big hill of the race will be just around the corner. I seriously started having Glenn Tachiyama hallucinations after crossing the dirt road for the second time.. But then I finally saw the real one, and was so happy that this is all going to be over soon!

I checked my splits on the top, and I was 5 minutes ahead of 10 hour pace! Now I knew that 10 hours is in my pocket because now there was a 6 mile downhill dirt road section, and then 7 miles that looked more like uphill on the profile but I remembered them as rolling and mostly flat from the last year.

People hate that dirt road section. It is steep, not technical, very hot and very dusty. There is also car traffic that makes all the dust to get into the air, producing poor visibility and not exciting breathing conditions. I remembered last year we ran down this road with Maxim (I met him at the Sun Top AS where he was begging the volunteers to let him drop off there, but they didn't let him, explaining that he still had like 5 hours to finish before cut off - e.g. he could walk the whole way and still finish, so we ran down that road together, there I left him at the last aid station trying to beat 11 hours and qualify for WS) and it was not that bad. This year it felt hotter and dustier, but that probably because I was alone now. I passed few men, but didn't see a single women on that downhill.

At the last aid station I finally got rid of that Salomon Skin belt that was bothering me for the last 9 hours already, I've only got my water bottle and two Honey Stingers in my skirt pockets for the last 6.6 section of what I remembered to be rolling hills.

I started running to the finish on probably the best trail of the whole course. The terrain is very gentle and rolling. It does look like an uphill on the profile, but it doesn't feel like that. I would say that the terrain is very close to Cougar Mountain there I mostly train, except for the trail is much softer and less rockier. I also remembered from the last year that this section passed really fast for me.

Very soon I saw a girl running ahead of me. Hunting mode on. She was running really strong and at some point I started feeling that I should give up and let her go. I think she saw me too, that was the reason why she was running both ups and downs. I did too, because I tried to catch her. Finally I found a longish downhill section and caught her. She asked if I wanted to pass her and I confirmed. Now I had to run away, and she was hunting.. Fortunately at some point I looked back and found that I somehow was able to drop her.

Then I saw a group of TWO girls running not together, but against each other. One passed another, and I passed her too on the uphill (that's kinda unusual for me :)). One more left, and she gave up soon.

Now I started feeling that this 6 miles section should end or I will reach my breaking point. My water bottle was empty. It was the first time I ran out of water today and it happened on a very shady section. Soon I saw a group of three people in Seattle Running Club shirts who were going the opposite direction.

- How long is it?
A girl looked at her watch.
- About 2 or 3 miles.
- OH NO!
- Don't worry, you are running strong!

C'mon, my water bottle is empty, there are at least three girls chasing me and I have another 3 miles to go! CRAP! That's where I saw the fourth one. She was the most stubborn one, and I couldn't even close the gap for 10 minutes or so, so I was very surprised when she just stopped, stepped off the trail and let me go.. I opened the pack of Honey Stingers and just forced myself to swallow them without even much chewing. That didn't feel good without water, but I had to survive these last two miles and try not to let all four girls I have just passed to pass me back.

For some reason I don't look too much in pain here, but I actually am. Photo credit Takao Suzuki.


I was looking far ahead trying to see any familiar places (but it all looked like forest, you know) and figure out how long more to go, when I tripped and fell. Bloody/muddy knees and hands. Awesome. Not longer than half a mile after the fall the trail finally ended and I was on the dirt road! The volunteer was there.

- Where is it?!!
- About one fourth of a mile up the road!

I remember how I sprinted the last mile at the Western States after running for 99 miles and 23 hours. I tried to do the same but I couldn't. I left it all on these last 6 miles today. I slowly passed the finish line trying to make up a smile on my face for the photographer, but I am pretty sure it looked more like a pain grimace.

Eric Sach from Seattle Running Club was there to give me an ice water bottle that was the best prize ever considering no drinking for the last 3 miles and a pack of Honey Stingers stuck somewhere in my throat.

- You are the fifths lady!

the volunteer informed me. My official time was 9:36:54, against last year's 10:33:47.

WOW! I just wanted to drink really. The sixth girl crossed the finish line just one minute behind me. It was a hard RACE. I felt like I was racing not running for the first time in my life. Mentally and physically it felt harder than Western States.

I ran to the car to change and to find my iPhone. I was worried to miss the finish of Nikolay, Andrey and Slava. Fortunately I had enough time :)

Andrey and Nikolay finished together, and we did not wait for long for Slava to finish, since we've got Andrey, and the keys from the car where the cooler with beer was.

Cold beer, BBQ and relaxing in the sun - I missed you all!

My track
Results















Friday, July 12, 2013

Seems like one week is not enough to recover from 100 mile race (oh, really?). My legs are slow, even downhills. The climbing injury I've got during tapering is getting worse, now pain is almost permanent and it is spread all over my right leg (from buttock to calf).

I am also still drinking WS style - finished the bottle before 3 mile mark on mt Si ascent! But I am not sweating that much as at WS (really, at low 70ties), not sure where the water goes. Probably I just carry it all the way up to the top. Stupid!

I signed up for the 4 mile fun run (with 3,500 feet of gain) in September, and in order to not place last(!) I need to cut at least 10 minutes of my current ascent time, woohoo! Let's see what is possible over the month and a half. Uphills is my anti-talent that's why it is so tempting.

Also I decided to give track workouts a try. I like everyone else have a high school emotional trauma related to the track, but I am a big girl now.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Signed up for White River 50m. Maybe too soon, so I will not be expecting much from it. It is just the last opportunity to run more than 50k this year, and I like to run more.

Also decided that I will change my training a little bit now. My "zero speed work" training works good for 100s, that's already proved. I want to improve on shorter distances too, and maybe even PR at Seattle Marathon in November. I am probably one of the smartest runners out there, just a very slow one. If I fix that, everything can happen.

Yeah, I kinda feel competitive now.

PS: Pam Smith ran most of the uphills at WS this year. I just can't imagine doing that. Need to promise to myself to start running more uphills, and hike less. WS may be a downhill race, but somehow great uphillers tend to win it (Tim Olson, Ellie Greenwood, Pam Smith).

PPS: this looks good.. http://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=19389

Thursday, July 4, 2013

2013 Western States 100 race report

I still feel overexcited, and looks like everyone around just add more and more into this feeling. It's better than Christmas, Birthday or anything else :)

Since lots of people are asking me not only about the race day, but about everything else I will start from the most beginning.

Historical Intro

I think it all began in 2010 when I finished my first road marathon, one year after moving to Seattle from Russia (I work in software industry, and my company moved me here to help local folks selling and implementing our software products on US market). I trained really hard for that marathon, and surprised everyone and myself by running it in 3:40:something.

Finish line of 2010 Amica Insurance Seattle Marathon, Nov 2010
After the marathon I immediately found something new - rock climbing. I started going to climbing gym, got completely hooked and forgot about running, limiting it to maybe few miles 1-2 times a week. In spring 2011 I started going out to local mountains, bagging peaks and doing lots of climbing and mountaineering stuff (including climbing Mount Rainier with the guy I met two weeks before on another climb!). Really I met lots of amazing people during this period of my life! Including the one who would eventually become my husband.

Climbing in Joshua Tree, February 2012 


Somewhere in between Maxim Kazitov (then complete stranger) contacted me over the facebook and asked me if I ever wanted to try a trail race. I said I will think about it, was not really going to. He, however, was persistent and few weeks later contacted me again asking if I ever wanted to participate in orienteering event. Apparently he and his friend were a team in rogaining events (I had never even heard the word rogaine before), but due to his daughter's birthday Maxim had to skip the one in few weeks, and his partner was really upset. At this moment I was already comfortable going out to mountains with people I don't know, so running for 12 hours with someone who will do all the map-and-compass-stuff sounded pretty fun for me. It was my first experience running on trails in WA state and in the US (well, there were actually no trails as orienteering allows to run between points directly, you don't have to use any trails or roads). I ended up with 8 blisters and several fortunately unsuccessful attempts to sprain both of my ankles. The most surprising thing was that I liked it. 

When Maxim again (did I say he was very persistent?) asked me about a trail race and said that today was the last day to sign up for $X, and tomorrow the price was going up, I decided "what the heck, I will give it a try" and signed up for Capitol Peak 55k in Olympia, WA. I injured my knee while rock climbing 3 weeks before the race and was barely able to walk, so I spent that time planning and buying trail running stuff, not really running. On the starting line of 2011 Capitol Peak 55k I was wearing trail shoes and trail running backpack. I was ready :) That race was pretty interesting experience in regards of the following things:

1. You don't just have to run all the way, it is even good thing to walk sometimes.
2. There are lots of muscles in my legs and each of them can cramp separately or at the same time with all others.
3. You can place 4th women on your first 50k ever and practically off the couch, just because there is a very small number of women running.

Finish of 2011 Capitol Peak 55k, got the cup for being 1st woman in 20-29 age group

Rock climbing was still a huge part of my life, and I became the off the couch trail runner. I signed up for events, promised that I will train, but never actually did, ran in the middle of the pack, promised that I will definitely train next time, signed up for the race, never trained,.. you've got the idea. If you didn't, here is an example. Last time I ran before Orcas Island 50k in February 2012 was Seattle Marathon at the end of November 2011, with one 3 mile run few days before Orcas. Last time I ran before Chuckanut 50k in March 2012, was Orcas Island 50k in February 2012, with one 3 mile run few days before Chuckanut.

Meanwhile Maxim became a true ultra runner by completing Pine to Palm 100 in September 2011. I paced him for the last 36 or 38 miles and was totally impressed by all the runners (it was also the first time I've seen Tim Olson running, amazing uphiller!).

Finishing 2011 Pine to Palm 100 mile endurance run


When Maxim won the 2012 Western States lottery I immediately offered to pace him myself. He couldn't resist, and I don't think he had any other choice anyways. So he trained hard, and I was rock climbing. Few weeks before the race I studied the website, learned about raffle and purchased 10 raffle tickets online. Just because I like lotteries and spending money to different useless shit, not because I was hoping to win or wanted to run Western States (at this point I had never even run a 50 miler, and only completed four trail 50ks and three road marathons).

Winning the WS Raffle and Qualifying

Basically we were enjoying the sun and nice weather at the 2012 pre-race meeting, when they announced that I am one of the lucky seven 2013 raffle winners! Of course it was a shock. I was planning on running my first 50 miler in one month (and the plan was to start training for it, but you know...), and now I not only had one year till my first hundred AND my first Western States, I also only had 3 months to QUALIFY for it. Even raffle winners have to qualify. If you don't or just don't want to run, you can give your ticket to any pre-qualified runner. Fortunately the 50 miler I was planning on (the White River in WA) is a WS qualifier. "Fortunately" because I quickly figured that almost all others are already sold out. The White River looked really hard, lots of elevation gain and new distance for me. I wasn't confident I can finish in 11 hours. I found another 50m that was not yet sold out (Dick Collins Firetrails 50m in California) and looked easier and signed up the same day. 

Next morning we woke up and Maxim had a great day at Western States finishing in 24 hours and getting that beautiful silver buckle. Such an inspiration! Also I had a chance to preview the last 38 miles of the Western States course. And to see what is possible on these last 38 miles (Maxim was 8 minutes behind 24hr pace around Auburn Lake Trails Aid Station, but was able to build about 5 minutes buffer before the finish!).

Maxim at the finish of 2012 Western States Endurance Run


I started training for the fist time since 2010 (when I trained for my first road marathon), but my training consisted of one short 6 mile road run in the middle of the week and one long ~20 miles run on a weekend. Anyways much more than before any of my other ultra! 2012 White River was a blast and I finished in 10:33, qualifying for Western States on that first attempt.

Me and Maxim on the course of 2012 White River 50m trail run


It became real now. I didn't really train and was not sure till the last moment if I wanted to run Dick Collins Firetrails, but I decided to go for it and though the terrain and profile were definitely much easier than the White River, I felt awful, probably because it became really warm (for Washingtonian, I think it was high 70ties at most) and I kinda suck in heat.

2012 Dick Collins Firetrails 50m trail run


That was another big thing about Western States. It is a hot race. The temperatures in canyons can reach 110F (43C). I have not good relations with heat. As I mentioned before I ran 4 road marathons. 3 of them were Seattle marathon in November. It has a big hill (well, "big" for the road race, it is all runable) at the end and usually it is in low 40ties during the race. All 3 Seattle marathons I ran in around 3:40 time (last two off the couch of course). The fourth one is Chicago marathon, known as the flattest marathon in the Universe. I ran it in 4:04. Because it was high 70ties during the race! Now you see what my relations with the heat look like. As Glen Mangiantini said when I explained him my relations with the heat - You will love Western States! I knew I will. And it was the scary part.

Training

2013 quickly approached and I decided that I will start my Western States training on January 1, 2013. One of the decisions was to hire an online coach. I wasn't thinking a lot about it, I read an interview with Karl Meltzer on irunfar.com and decided that he was funny and it would be great to work with someone like him. He also likes beer. I contacted him just before 2013 and we decided to start on his training plan from the most beginning of the January 2013.

With Karl Meltzer on the day before 2013 Western States Endurance Run start


He was the first person ever (including myself) who said I can do 24 hours at Western States.

Maybe it was a promotion he starts his email to every newcomer with, but I was hooked :)  I never myself before that considered that I can do 24. I knew I can finish for sure. But 24 looked like something only front packers can do. Maxim is a much stronger runner than me, and it took a huge effort from him to finish just few minutes before 24 hour cut off in a cold year. Promotion or not, but it made a big difference for me motivation wide. My goal now was not just to finish, but to try to finish in 24 hours. 

Karl built a training plan for me around the trail races that I wanted to participate in this year - Orcas Island 50k in February, Chuckanut 50k and Gorge Waterfalls 50k in March, and Miwok 100k in May. I was also planning a Grand Canyon double crossing (Rim2Rim2Rim) in April that is 40+ miles distance. I liked that my weekly mileage wasn't high (40+ miles/week), and even my weekend long run was never longer than 20 miles. Of course I had races to be used as long runs. Orcas Island was a first sign of how well my training was going, I finished 11th women in 6:29, that is the whole 30 minutes improvement of my last year's off the couch time on a harder course. I also started feeling well on a mountainous terrain. My uphills were getting better (though still pretty slow), but my downhills became really strong. Nobody has passed me on a technical downhill at Orcas or any other race since then.

Finishing 2013 Orcas Island 50k trail run


 It was a good sign, Western States is all downhill, isn't it. Chuckanut was too flat for me, and since running fast on flats wasn't really required for the Western, I decided not to care about it. Definitely if I want to improve on a flatter courses in future, I need to do some speed work.. some day. Also Chuckanut first uncovered how bad my GI problems were. If I wanted to do well at 100, I needed to find a different way to eat during and before the races. Gorge Waterfalls was a total disaster, and it was completely my fault. Try to imagine the most stupid way to run a 50k race? What about about having 5 pints of beer the night before? I was hangover, I wanted to sleep and my stomach felt really bad. The day after Gorge Waterfalls I decided to quit alcohol till Western States finish.

In April we went to Grand Canyon to run ultra classic Rim2Rim2Rim (going from South Rim down to the Grand Canyon, going up the North Rim, and then going back down and up the South Rim in one day). It was a great 46 miles 10,000 feet adventure, we went in a relaxed pace and I felt good. I liked that even though it was hot at the bottom it wasn't too bad.

North Rim of the Grand Canyon, April 2013


My last race before Western States was Miwok 100k, and I planned to use it as a training to run in the heat. I had a lot of stuff to test, like crew with the ice box giving me ice water baths, ice bandannas, and other various ways to cool down. The course was shortened to 60k due to fire danger, and though I was disappointed I didn't get a chance to run any race longer than 60k this year, at least my heat management training went well. Though it was only high 70ties during Miwok, it was a huge improvement since Chicago Marathon 2011 and Dick Collins Firetrails 2012.

After a week of rest after Miwok, Western States training finally started. It meant starting course specific preparation. Western States is 100.2 miles, with 18,000 feet (5.5km) of elevation gain and 23,000 feet (7km) of elevation loss. When people say "it is all downhill" there is actually a sarcasm in their voice (that is hard to recognize when it's written). There's still a lot of ups. More than I've ever climbed in one day.

Western States 100 elevation profile (right to left)

Though Karl Meltzer said:

1. Run as many downhill miles per week as you can. You must be able to get to the Foresthill with your quads not trashed.
2. Western States is a hot race. Deal with it. (That's exactly what he said - "deal with it").

And I started the plan execution. After a long search for local downhills I decided to go for mt Si (4 miles up, 4 miles down, 3150 feet of gain, 3150 feet of loss). Few months ago I read Scott Jurek's "Eat and Run" where he described how he trained for his 7 Western States wins doing mt Si repeats, and I decided that if it worked for Scott Jurek, it will work for me. I headed to mt Si few times a week, doing a 1 or 2 hikes up during the work days, and double hikes on weekends. On the downhill I ran as hard as I could trying to trash my quads. On the last week before tapering I did double Mt Si on Saturday and a triple on Sunday. Last two weeks before tapering I was gaining and loosing more than 20,000 feet per week with about 60 miles of distance (still pretty low distance comparing to most people training for 100s, but a lot of climbing and descending). I was already a really good downhiller (and my quads are huge!), and I think my uphills improved a lot. If I didn't become faster, I  definitely gained lots of endurance being able to go up and down for long time without getting tired.

With the second point of the plan,  I started learning heat training materials from Badwater Ultramarathon website. People run for 135 miles in 130F (57C) in the Death Valley, if I follow what they do, I can survive 100-110F in the heat of Western States canyons easily. I got a 2 months membership at 24 hour fitness in Bellevue, close to the climbing gym. I spent 5-6 days a week sitting in the sauna at 160-180F for one hour. First I was not able to stay in the hot room for more than 25 minutes in a row. Slowly I improved to 30, 35, 40 and finally 45 minutes. 45 minutes was according to the Badwater website the sign that you are ready to beat the heat. Basically my body learned to process the liquids fast (I drank two full 0.7l bottles during these 45 minutes - that's a lot of water for untrained body!) and to sweat a lot (the body cools down while sweating). I also started running overdressed, using long sleeve warm shirts and long black pants when it was sunny and hot (though we don't get a lot of that in Seattle..). If it was raining and cold (and we do get a lot of that in Seattle!) I was wearing additional layers on the top. I never used air conditioning in my car even when it seemed really hot. And if you ask - no, we don't have air conditioners at home here in Seattle! As a test, during my first week of tapering I went to Yakima (the hottest place you can find in Washington state, just two hours of driving from Seattle!) and run 15 miles on the road at high 80ties. I felt good, though it was windy there and I wasn't sure if it can be a good test of my readiness.

Tapering and Getting Injured

I started tapering 3 weeks before the race. I know lots of people do stupid stuff during tapering. Apparently I am one of them. Though I didn't run much, but I decided that tapering is a great chance to come back to climbing. Have you ever seen that sign in every climbing gym and on every climbing gear that says "Climbing is dangerous"? Yes, it is. It started with some guy falling on me from the bouldering wall and landing on my ankle. It hurt so bad that I was thinking that everything is permanently damaged and I will not be recovered by the race in three weeks. Of course I made a huge scene out of it, pretty sure everyone in the climbing gym thought I broke both of my legs in seven places (it's an old Russian joke about 7 places), hands and probably every other bone in my body. Next day I ran 15 miles painless, though the ankle was swollen and colored fancy. So I went to the climbing gym again, and this time I did it myself, while trying to make a tricky right leg mantel, I felt a pain in my right buttock.  I took 3 days off running hoping that it will go away, and though it has never gone away (I still feel it), when I ran on the 4th day, it felt good - because finally I was rested. The pain spread from my buttock to the knee all over the back side of the leg. I decided to spend the rest of the tapering sitting on the pack of ice. By the start of the race day the pain was only in my buttock, and it was now so familiar to me that it felt pretty much normal and didn't bother me. And guess what - I didn't go climbing since that accident! I got smarter, too bad it happened too late :)

Pre-race week

On the weekend before the race we packed two huge bags with racing food and gear and headed to the airport to catch the flight to Reno. The plan was to spend 5 days camping in South Lake Tahoe and exploring local boulders, and then move to Squaw Valley where I booked a room at the Village hotel. My second pacer and my crew would join us on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday before our flight I check the SLT weather forecast and it was not nice - it was going to rain Sunday to Tuesday around lake Tahoe, and pretty much everywhere in Northern California. For Nikolay it meant no bouldering and for me it meant screwed heat training. Sitting in the tent for two days wasn't a nice opportunity, so Monday morning we packed and headed to Bishop where the weather forecast looked pretty awesome, not in regards of bouldering opportunities, more heat training wise.. Fortunately for Nikolay the camping we stayed at in Bishop was on the shore of the river, where (in the river) he literally spent the heat of the day, bouldering in the mornings. As for me - I waited for the hottest time of the day, put my race cloths on, and went for 5-8 miles run on the exposed dirt roads of Buttermilks and the Pleasant Valley. Finally I was satisfied with my heat training and knew that I can deal with the heat. Just like Karl Meltzer said.

On Wednesday we moved to the Squaw Valley. It got much hotter on Thursday and the weather forecast for the weekend was scary. They promised 100F on Saturday and even hotter on Sunday in Auburn, CA (the finish line of the WS). Usually the canyons are hotter than Auburn, that meant 105-110F in the canyons?

We went bouldering, and I stupidly forgot to apply the sunscreen, getting the sunburn all over my back, hands, shoulders, and legs. Awesome, just in time for the the 6th (they predicted the 6th first, then it turned to be the 2nd..) hottest race in 40 years of WS history!

That evening I attended a clinic about WS trail, and two good advises I heard there were:

1. "Some guys go away with the singlets, but I prefer my shoulders covered". Good advise considering my recent sun burn. I returned to the hotel room and counted the number of my white tech shirts. Three. Good enough. I also spontaneously bought white Mountain Hardwear arm sleeves for hot weather. They were good addition and were easy to remove during the race if I don't like them.
2. "Before going up the Devil's Thumb take a left turn on the trail before the swinging bridge and take a good refreshing swim in American River. After passing the bridge, there is a spring with potable water, good idea is to top your bottles there."

Oleg and Natasha arrived on Thursday, Friday morning Nikolay headed to Reno to meet Kate, while three of us went for race registration and medical check. They measured my weight (with running shoes) and I was 131.1 lbs (59.5 kg). With my shoes and cloths on it was an okay weight. Now I just needed to make sure I stay within 3-5% of this weight during the race.

Medical the day before 2013 Western States Endurance Run


Kate and Nikolay were back and we took a tram to the top of the Squaw Peak, the one we were going to climb tomorrow morning to start the race. It was beautiful but too freaking hot day. My crew of course didn't loose their time off the office :)

My crew having drinks on the top of Squaw Peak


During the pre-race meeting they told it is going to be one of the hottest years in WS history. Even the pre-race meeting was awfully hot. And here was the third advise:

- AJW, what do you do with your splits table when it gets really hot?
- Throw it to the window!

It was all said. I decided that I was not going to push for 24hr finish. I decided to take good care of myself, "deal with the heat" and see how I'm doing at the Foresthill. If I am close to 24hr pace I will go for it (section after Foresthill is a very easy terrain, I read a report of some girl who built 1 hour above her pace at Foresthill on that section! I mean she was 1hr behind 24hr pace, but was able to finish just few seconds to spare before 24. Fantastic effort!). If not - finishing in such conditions is good too. I knew that Western States fits my running style well - it is a lot of downhill, and I am a pretty darn good downhiller. It is also a lot of ups and very small amount of flats. Just a perfect race for me on a perfect day. The day though was not supposed to be perfect and I just wanted to finish my first 100 and I wanted to finish strong. My crew was in Squaw Valley and I wanted to make them proud. I also wanted to experience the oldest and the most prestigious 100 mile race in the world and to have fun while doing it. With growing number of lottery applicants it might have been my only chance to ever run it. I was not lucky with the weather, but you know what? Western States is supposed to be hot! "Deal with it".

After the pre-race meeting, we went to sishi place for the pre-race dinner (well, it was about 3pm at this point, but my plan was to go to bed at 8pm, I can call it a dinner). Sushi place for pre-race meal? Yep. I monitored how my GI was doing over the last year experimenting with food (at this point I'd been vegetarian for one year already) and found that my stomach get stressed during running if I eat wheat the same day or the day before. I found that the best pre-rum meal my body accepts with happiness is either baked potatoes, or vegetarian, preferably avocado rolls (white rice with veggies not formed as a roll would work too, I guess). So, no pasta and pizza parties for me before Western States! The fancy sushi restaurant in Squaw Valley didn't have avocado rolls, but they had 3 other vegetarian/vegan options and though they tasted weird they definitely looked harmless for my GI. And to feed not only my body but also my soul I had a small coffee gelato, that was amazing (considering high 80ties in Squaw Valley). I specifically avoided all caffeine containing drinks and food during the last few weeks before Western so if I feel sleepy at night I can start taking some and it has a stronger effect on me. That gelato was an exception, because there's nothing better than gelato with coffee flavor!

Carboloading with coffee ice cream


After the dinner all my crew (except for Maxim who was still on his way to Reno) met in our hotel room for the crew training.

Crew meeting


My crew consisted of my husband Nikolay (ultra runner since this year - finished his first 50k and then few more and his first 50m by that time), who was also pacing me from Green Gate to finish, Maxim, the one to blame for all this (see the beginning of this report), who was pacing me from Foresthill to Green Gate, also my friends Oleg, Natasha and Kate - people who were going to experience all the behind the scenes of the big ultra marathon event for the first time in their lives.

Nikolay was the most experienced in crewing and pacing, Maxim though in ultra running for the most of us all had never apparently crewed or paced anyone before. The other three did a great job learning the theory :) Since some aid stations are really hard to access the people were split into two crews:

Crew #1: Nikolay, Maxim, Kate
Crew #2: Oleg, Natasha

And in the beginning they were going to split aid stations with Crew #2 going to Duncan Canyon (mile 23.8) and Dusty Corners (mile 38), and Crew #1 going to Robinson Flat (mile 29.7). Then, they should have met at the Foresthill (mile 62), and go to Michigan Bluff (mile 55.7) all together in one car. At Foresthill Maxim will join me till the Green Gate (mile 79.8), though everyone will hike down to the river crossing and meet me at the Rucky Chucky Far aid station (mile 78.1). The plan was then to hike all together to the Green Gate, where Nikolay will keep going with me, and all others will pack and head to Highway 49 aid station (mile 93.5). Next meeting point will be the finish line in Auburn (mile 100.2).

My crew was instructed on what to do, what to ask me at the aid stations, how to cool me down with ice and water, what to help me with and so on. Just in case I also prepared them that 100 mile trail race is not a glamorous walk in the forest and included phrases like "pop up the bloody blister", "throw up all over your shoes", first they looked concerned and even scared, but after few glasses of wine they were brave again and ready to roll. The gear was split between the teams, they got the final instructions and left to spend at least few more hours in the beautiful area of the lake Tahoe.

It was about 7pm, I prepared my race cloths and gear, showered, had my last meal (the "Muscle Milk" strawberry shake, milkless) and went to bed a little before 8pm.

It didn't feel like I was sleeping, because I had lots of thoughts in my head but I definitely was not awake, probably somewhere in between. I heard how Maxim arrived and woke up to greet him, I woke up to check when race registration starts (they don't give your the bib and chip the day before, you have to get it in the morning, where they also take the weight for the last time). It all went pretty well, because I knew even though I don't feel like I am resting and sleeping I actually am. Until around 9:30pm when some fuckers one floor above started to watch football and drink beer with their windows opened. They were VERY LOUD, and some bitch was screaming like both of the football teams tried to hug her after the touch down. We had a kind of a backyard door going just under their window, and I tried to make them notice me yelling "excuse me!", but they couldn't hear me. Nikolay went out, picked up a rock from the floor and threw it to their window. One of the men sitting on the sill finally noticed us, and went out on the balcony. I explain him that I have a race tomorrow and have to wake up at 3am, and asked them to be quite and close the window. He said - "Okay, we can close the window", and they did, but it was not very helpful. I waited for 10pm+, when I thought the quite hours started at the hotel and went down to the lobby. I explained that to the hotel personnel, they were very polite, apologized a lot and said that actually the security is already on their way to that room, as other guests complained too. They said good luck tomorrow, I went back to the room and it was QUITE. I fell asleep immediately.

The Race Day

I woke up at 3am, showered, dressed, drank about half bottle of Gatorade, and at a half of Hummer energy bar. I didn't really want to eat.

Morning before the race


Oleg called, they were ready. We all met outside and went to pick up my bib. I weighted 130 lbs, 1 lbs less than yesterday. It was cool outside, and we stayed inside the building. Glen Mangiantini came by to say hello and good luck. He was going for his third WS finish. He looked confident, he always does.

Not sure how I looked, but I felt fine. Focused. I had a plan and I was going to execute it well. And the plan was to survive the heat and to finish strong.

At 4:50 we left the building and headed to the starting area. There were lots of people. 408 were initially registered for the race, 385 have started. Only 277 will make it to Auburn within the 30 hour cut-off time.

Now all 385 with their crews, pacers, families and friends gathered at the start line.

Last good lucks, last see you at Duncan Canyon or Robinson Flat, I moved closer to the starting line, still staying behind, 5-4-3-2-1-the horn, and we were running. I crossed the starting line at 5:00:15, not as bad as Chicago Marathon, but still. Lots of people!

When people speak about Western States course they usually divide it into 4 parts:

1. The High Country - Start to Robinson Flat (mile 29.7)
2. The Canyons - Robinson Flat to Foresthill (mile 62)
3. California Street - Foresthill to the River (mile 78)
4. Home stretch - River to the Finish

The last two parts are considered to be the easiest on the course. Also for people going with 22-27 hr pace the sun goes away when they get to the California Street and till the finish, some amazing running can be done on these last two sections. All right, I just needed to save my legs on the 62 miles of a rugged mountainous terrain at 100-110F, sounds like a plan, doesn't it.

The High Country

The course starts with the big climb to the Escarpment gaining 2,550 feet in the first 4.5 miles. I read for many times that only sub-18 hr finishers and people who like to drop off at the River run up that climb. I didn't feel like running anyways, I was not warmed up yet. I tried to make a steady hiking pace, looking around, enjoying the last cool hours of the day. I met Oleg with his camera and waved.

Beautiful morning in Squaw Valley


Opened the pack of Honey Stinger chews, and started eating and drinking (I started with the handheld filled with water, and another empty water bottle in my waist pack). Passed Gordy Ainsleigh who completed the Tevis cup within 24 hours horseless in 1974 and this way started the whole 100 mile foot races tradition. Closer to the top passed Glen Mangiantini who was talking to someone (he always does). Spoke to the girl from Calgary, she was excited for me to run my first 100 at the Western States. We were at the first water only aid station just in time for 24 hour pace (as you can see I didn't throw away my splits table, just decided not to think about it much). This time I filled both bottles - one with water, another with GU. The last uphill (almost scrambling) started and I saw Maxim with his camera on the top. He complained about mosquitoes, made some pictures and headed down when I passed him. It was a beautiful morning.

Hiking up the Escarpment, first miles of WSER


We were on the top soon, and a 7 mile long descent was waiting for me. I was looking forward to it, ready to shake my legs. Soon I realized that it will not be easy. There was a very thin single track without abilities to pass people. And there were HUNDREDS of people on that single track going down with ridiculously slow pace. Believe me I know the difference between taking it easy and going uncomfortably slow. To make sure you understand how slow it was, when I compared my splits after the race my pace on this section was the same as during climb up to the Devil's Thumb, and Devil's Thumb is considered to be the steepest climb at the Western States! I was mad. But there was nothing I could do. When I saw a place reasonable for passing, I passed. But immediately there was another group of slowly going people ahead of me. There also was a lot of water on the trail. Literally the springs were going through the trail using it as the water flowing channel. My shoes got wet for the first time and never dried out till the Foresthill (even though I changed them twice before Foresthill). The trail was very rocky and very technical, that would never slow me down as I love rocky and technical, but I was behind a long line of people who definitely were not that excited with huge rocks on the trail. I was only 5 miles on this section and already 15 minutes behind 24 hour pace. Fuck it, I thought. Never again signing up for the event big like that one.

Just about a mile or two before the Lyon Ridge aid station (mile 10.5) the trail widened to a dirt road, and usually not a big fan of dirt roads I was happy to finally start passing people. I approached the aid station, filled both water bottles (water + GU), and they offered a shower. There was an volunteer spraying water on the runners from the hose attached to the car. It was not hot yet, but I asked him to spray my head. And it was awesome! I thanked him generously, and he said "Nice smile, young lady!" That completely changed my mood and I was happy again!

Next two sections were probably the most beautiful on the whole course, we were passing the high country with exposed ridges. The sun was up, it was not hot yet, and it was great. I was fast hiking uphills, flying the downhills and felt good. The Red Star Ridge was the first aid station where I had a drop bag, I applied the sunscreen and took off one shoes because I seemed like I had a rock in it. That was also the first aid station where I asked to put the ice in the both of my bottles as it started to heat up.

I headed to the Duncan Canyon aid station in a great mood, I was going to see my crew (Crew #2) for the first time! The views were amazing. Lots of burned trees reminded me of Leavenworth. Lots of spring crossings, flowers, not too many people now (even though we were on the single track again, everyone was moving with a comfortable pace and it was easy to pass when needed). I was surrounded by men and seemed like they liked to run behind me better (at least nobody passed me when I asked them to). Probably there's something inspiring for the men to run behind a girl in a skirt :)

I arrived to Duncan Canyon (mile 23.8) at 10am (10 minutes behind 24 hour pace) and my crew was there, they washed me with the ice water, Natasha made me the first ice bandanna of the day (I would get one at every aid station before Bath Road,as it dried out really fast), I picked more Honey Stinger chomps from them, and leaved.

Talking to volunteer at the Duncan Canyon AS


It was a long gradual descent to the Canyon now, I was flying. Very soon we reached a creek that was pretty deep, I guess that was the Duncan Creek, and I saw people just bathing in it. I said, what the heck, it looks fun and my shoes are wet anyways, so I did the same (though I was not hot at all). Few seconds later I was running again, at some point I didn't notice the big rock, stumbled on it and fell. I was all wet, so the dust immediately turned to mud on my cloths, little bit of blood on knees and left hand, but nothing too bad. The next spring was close, I stopped for a moment to clean the wounds and kept going.
The uphill to the Robinson Flat was gradual and felt easy. I wasn't tired at all at this point.



The Canyons

I arrived to the Robinson Flat (mile 29.7), and was weighted for the first time since the race start. 132 lbs, two pound up from my starting weight today, but still ok. I hadn't peed so far since I started. I was gaining weight, it was not significant at this point, medics were not worried, but I was a little bit. I picked up my drop bag with dry shoes, saw my crew and they took good care of me, cleaning my feet, helping with shoes and cooling me down with ice.

Nikolay gives me a sponge bath at Robinson Flat


Kate made me new ice bandanna, my feet were finally dry (not for long..), I picked up my water bottles (I stopped drinking GU as soon as it got hot, as that sweet stuff was not tasting well in the heat) and headed to the Miller's Defeat aid station. It was a little bit up first, and then long exposed downhill. I was still doing really good "dealing with heat", everyone around was running strong too. I arrived to Miller's Defeat (mile 35.3) at 12:28, just 3 minutes behind 24 hour pace. They apparently were almost out of ice, but the volunteer put the ice into both of my bottles, though he initially said he can only fill one. No ice bandanna for sure, but I took a sponge bath there with the cold water. Good enough!

There was a long dirt road section to the Dusty Corners aid station, and I just kept going. I had to make a pit stop in the forest. I arrived to the Dusty Corners (mile 38) at 1:10pm, 15 minutes behind 24hr pace.

Applying sunscreen and cooling down with ice under my armpits at Dusty Corners AS


Crew #2 was there, the procedure repeated, this time I also filled my bra with the ice, make it at least size C. It was not really necessary as the next section was very easy terrain and very shady. I arrived to the Last Chance, got weighted again (132lbs), and headed to the famous Western States canyons. Man, that descent to the swinging bridge was steep! That was the first time I realized I am going to loose my toenails. I was running and passing people, but my toenails hurt! My quads were in a great shape btw. Soon I was at the swinging bridge, as advised I took the left turn before it and jumped into the river! It felt good! Not loosing a minute, I was out, crossed the bridge, topped my water bottle in the spring, and started the Devil's Thumb climb. It was long and steep. Steeper than mount Si for sure. I made a pit stop and peed for the first and for the last time today. At least I knew now that my kidneys were working. The climb up Devil's Thumb is 1.8 miles and it gains 1,800 feet. I started passing people. I was not tired. Mt Si repeats paid off!

On the top of Devil's Thumb they weighted me again, and finally I was loosing weight (I think I was about 130 lbs at this point)! It was 3:22pm and I was 7 minutes behind. They had ice cold wet towels there and it was nice to sit in the chair with that towel on me while I was checking my foot. There were a lot of people struggling with heat at this aid station, but I was just fine.They gave me a Popsicle, I took of the shoe and what seemed to be a rock in the show was actually some kind of skin fold. Like because of being wet for so long, the skin on my feet became bigger and it folded somewhere between my big toe and others. The medic guy asked me if I had a dry socks coming, and I said - Michigan Bluff. It was the next aid station, good enough. I put my wet sock back on, thanked the volunteers and headed down to the El Dorado Creek. That descent was not that bad as the one before the Devil's Thumb, but it still was very steep and my toenails were screaming and hating me. The river came soon, and there was a small aid station, where I got a sponge bath, ice in my bra, topped the water bottles and soon was off to the climb to Michigan Bluff, where my crew was waiting for me.

I was now past mile 53, and it was a new territory for me. I read a lot of articles for 100 mile virgins like me, and they said that miles 60 to 85 are going to be the hardest. That's why probably they were not hard for me ;) My back and my left shoulder (that I injured few months ago while running hard downhills with two handhelds, that's why I was going with one in my right hand and with a waist pack) started to hurt. My buttock was hurting all the time since the race start, but since I was for the first time in a miserable situation I started feeling bad about it. Actually that pain was NOT worse than the pain I experienced during my previous 50k or 50m races. And I was already far past that. And that pain did not slow me down for sure. It was just overall tiredness in the body. But my legs were SUPER STRONG and there was no heat factor!
I was happy to see my crew at the Michigan Bluff, they now were experienced and knew what to do.

Entering Michigan Bluff


My shoes were changed to the dry ones again.

Crew at work



I asked them for Ibuprofen, but apparently they've forgotten it in the car. Oleg brought the medic guy and he started asking about what hurts and stuff, I immediately felt better and nothing was hurting anymore ;) I said see you in Foresthill and headed out of Michigan Bluff with lots of people cheering and asking me to smile, so I faked some smiling and running for a while, and Oleg was taking pictures.

Leaving Michigan Bluff AS


Last canyon was waiting for me on my way to the Foresthill. I read that many people underestimate Volcano Canyon, but it can actually be the hottest one. I didn't underestimate it as anything on that course, I had my ice bandanna, bra full of ice, two bottles with the ice water and I didn't feel hot. The descent was very nice and gradual and I ran it easily, the ascent was probably easy too, as I don't really remember it. I didn't notice how the time and miles passed and I was at the Bath road aid station (mile 60.6), just two miles before the Foresthill. Unlimited number of people can join the runner on that 1.4 mile stretch between the Bath Road and the Foresthill. I saw Maxim who was ready to run, with his pacers bib on, and his camera ready. We started ascending the Bath Road together, chatting, and I was feeling better. Soon the uphill ended and I saw Nikolay, Kate and Oleg running with his huge camera. They joined me and we made a great pink, blue, orange and white team arriving to the Foresthill at 6:52pm, 7 minutes behind 24 hour pace.

Entering Foresthill with Maxim, Kate and Nikolay


I needed to see a foot guy to take care of my skin fold. I headed to the medic tent after I was weighted (I think at this point my weight was still about 130lbs), the guy looked at my foot and said that there was nothing to pop up. I said that it was painful and we can try at least to separate the parts of the skin in that fold it should make it better.

Fixing my foot at Foresthill


He applied the tape I changed the sock to the clean one (I didn't change the other one), thanked him and headed to my crew. I asked for my baked potatoes, but was rejected, I was told that only after the river. I was told that at this point I was the 20th woman, and I said that it will be just too funny to place top 20 at Western States.

California Street

We quickly packed and headed out. Second year in a row we were running with Maxim on the California Street, this time I was wearing the white bib and he was wearing the yellow one. It felt good to recognize the trails and we picked up the pace and were flying passing the people, the heat of the day was completely gone.

Climbing up the California Street


 Before Cal-2 aid station I turned on the headlamp and the flashlight. California Street is a very easy running and I felt awesome. My legs were strong, I wasn't hurting and Maxim kept me entertained.

Dark hours



We passed aid station after aid station, and finally reached the river. I was weighted at 128 lbs, loosing 3lbs since yesterday, time to keep up on drinking.

Last year I was super excited to cross American River. I asked lots of stupid questions, like how cold it is, how high it is, and so on. This year it wasn't that fun, but it was very refreshing. My crew apparently has just descended from the Green Gate few minutes ago and they did not expect us that soon. I was at Rucky Chucky Near (mile 78) at 10:26pm, with 14 minutes buffer for 24 hour pace! I changed the shoes, helped by my crew to apply the anti chafing cream. They told me to head up the road while they are packing the stuff.


Crew at work after American River crossing


Home Stretch

Three of us (myself, Maxim and Nikolay) started hiking up.

Climbing up from the river to the Green Gate AS



 Maxim left us at the Green Gate and we headed to the Auburn Lake Trails aid station. While running Nikolay told me about all the warm posts on my facebook timeline, about lots of people cheering on me and monitoring my progress. I was happy that finally I was on time for the silver buckle and all the people believing in me will not be disappointed.

Amazing cheers from Hawaii

We reached Auburn Lake Trails aid station (mile 85.2) at 00:20am (30 minutes buffer). There was a medical check and they asked me what is my name, where I am from and such to make sure I was not delusional. They asked how I feel, and I said "Tired!". They said it is normal for the person who just ran 85 miles, and wished me good luck saying that now I am definitely going to make it to Auburn.

Remember about miles 60 to 85 as the hardest for the 100 mile virgin? In theory after mile 85 you start smelling the barn and lots of people speed up here. Well. Mile 85 is where I actually started feeling tired. Like for real now. And I saw all the people who started smelling the barn, because they started passing me. I think I was low on calories at this point, so I took some time of easy pace to eat the whole pack of Honey Stinger Chews. Nikolay did a great job to not let me stop or walk even on flats, we kept running all downs and flats, and fast hiking all uphills. I was tired so I was kicking the rocks all the time trying to fall, but I never did. I made sure Nikolay felt the tragedy of the moment producing plaintive moans. We arrived at the Brown's Bar aid station (mile 89.9), there was loud music and lots of people, I refilled the bottles and we left soon. I now had 40 minutes buffer, though these 5 miles between ALT and Brown's Bar were very hard on me.

Then there was a long uphill to the Highway 49 where I would see my crew for the last time.

Crew trying to get some rest at Highway 49 AS


It was long and painful. I stepped on rocks a lot, tried to fall, moaned, but kept hiking. We arrived at the Highway 49 (mile 93.5) with 50 minutes buffer and again surprised my crew who were expecting us much later. I dropped my waist pack here, as did not need the second bottle anymore, and I didn't think I would need more than two packs of the chews. Without wasting any time we left. See how much fun it is for the crew to spend the sleepless night driving for 2-3 hours between aid stations and hiking long miles with lots of heavy stuff just to see your runner for 30 seconds? ;)

I smelled the barn now. We quickly hiked up the short hill, passed a runner with the pacer, and flied down to the No Hands Bridge. Somewhere at this point the skin fold now on both of my feet started hurting really bad. My nose started bleeding just before No Hands Bridge and I was so worried that medics at the aid station will delay me or pull me off the race, so I used the whole roll of toilet paper to stop the bleeding. Fortunately it stopped soon. Of course I moaned  a lot to make sure my pacer knows how bad I feel. But if it did bother Nikolay, he did not show that at all. No Hands Bridge (mile 96.8) passed by.

I remembered that last section too well from the last year. It was a freaking uphill all the way to Auburn! Actually there was a mile of a very slight uphill, almost flat first, and Nikolay forced me to run it. Then we started hiking up. And that uphill was endless! Fortunately there were no rocks on the trail to kick with my poor toes.

Finally we reached the last Robie Point aid station (mile 98.9) and saw Maxim. Robie Point to the Finish is when any number of people can pace runner. A volunteer at the aid station said:

- It is 3:40am. Just in case you care.

I didn't. But my Gestapo pacers did.

Maxim: You know what, you have a good chances to finish under 23 hours!
Nikolay: Yes, that's what she is doing.
I: Fuck off.

The asphalt started.

I: Why the fuck are we running uphill??!
Nikolay: Because you can!

Few seconds later:

I: Oh crap. Let's fucking do it!

And I started running. With the road marathon pace. Uphills, flats and downhills. We passed the runner and his pacer. We passed people cheering on us. Last downhill, turn to the left.

Entering Auburn, CA


Placer High School track. They announce my name and some stupid "about myself" stuff I wrote long time ago. Oleg, Kate and Natasha, yelling.

Finish. 22:55:26. 61 overall, 12 woman. 12 woman at the most competitive 100 miler in the country and probably in the world, in the second hottest year in 40 years of this race history on my first 100 miler ever!!! How does that sound?!

Finishing 2013 Western States Endurance Run


After Race

I was immediately weighted and I was at 131 lbs again. My starting weight exactly. I sat in the chair for some time cooling off my feet in the ice water, while everyone was running around, making pictures, facebooking and such. My head was empty, I was just sitting there with the stupid smile on my face. This road to Auburn, only 100.2 miles long, it took me and my family the whole year.

Ice bath for my tired feet


I almost puked in the shower, but washed, and dressed into the WS shirt and skirt (it is my tradition to wear the race swag after the race and never even try it on before I finished). We decided to sleep on the grass in the stadium. It didn't take long before the sun went up and started burning my face. I woke up and I felt fresh. No symptoms that I felt in the shower. I still didn't pee since that climb up the Devil's Thumb. I was suspecting kidney failure, but I was feeling good. It didn't take long before I started feeling like using the bathroom. No blood in the pee. I was dehydrated, but my body was healthy.

I ate the breakfast and it went down well. I wasn't hungry, but I could eat and drink. I had a big blister on my left heel, and two of my toenails were black. I went to medics tent and they popped the blister. The foot guy said that my feet look perfect.

It started to heat up really quickly and people were still finishing. Running for 23 hours is hard. I can't imagine what it means to run for 30 hours.

Everyone gathered under the tent for the award ceremony. Tim Olson did it again, Pam Smith became the first women. She is a familiar face too, she regularly wins local races in OR and WA.

Pam Smith and Tim Olson, 2013 Western States champions


Karl Meltzer placed 10th, it means he can return the next year. Good job, coach!

Karl Meltzer, M10


I've got my silver buckle and I was proud.

Receiving my silver buckle award



We headed back to Reno and slept all the flight missing free drinks after sleeping on the floor at the airport. Home, sweet home.

Bed feels good.

With my award


Stats

100.2 miles, 18,000 feet of elevation gain, 23,000 feet of elevation loss.
108F in Auburn on Saturday, the second hottest year in 40 years of Western States history.

385 started
277 finished
95 finished within 24 hours
108 dropped off with various issues or didn't make the cut offs
52 women finished total
18 women finished within 24 hours
Results

Gear and Food

Cloths:
White Headsweats cap (got it at Miwok in swag bag)
Tifosi shades (never used them, but they were with me all the way from Squaw Valley to Foresthill)
White cotton neck bandanna
White SCOTT short sleeve shirt (got it at White River, never changed during the race)
Mountain Hardwear Way2Cool arm sleeves
White Under Armour HeatGear sport bra
Salomon EXO S-Lab Twinskin skort
Lots of Asics running socks
3 pairs of Pearl Izumi Trail N2 shoes
Dirty Girl Gaiters

Gear:
Two Ultimate Direction bottles
One UltraSpire handheld (I do not like UltraSpire bottles, but I do like their handhelds, so I used US handheld with UD bottle)
UltraSpire MBS Waistbelt consisting of Cell connector and Synapse core
Suunto Ambit GPS watch, first generation (died around Bath Road AS)
Black Diamond Storm headlamp
Fenix LD20 180 lumen LED flashlight

Food:
About 24 packs of Honey Stinger Energy Chews, various flavors
One VESPA every two hours
Two pieces of boiled potatoes at the Robinson Flat aid station (I had nothing else from any of the aid stations)
One S-Cap between each aid station during hot time of the day and 1 or 2 total at night
One GU Roctane gel in the beginning of the race
3 or 4 bottles of GU Roctane drink
Lots of ice water (I was caring two water bottles during hot time of the day and usually emptied one completely and just started another one before I got to the next aid station. The rest of the water went on my head).

Conclusion

It was a text book run for me. I've done everything perfect (except for maybe getting into that long line in the beginning, but I am not sure if this is avoidable at all). My heat acclimation and heat management was great, I had never felt hot! My fueling was perfect, I had zero GI issues. My pacing was good - my quads were in perfect shape till the finish line in Auburn. My mind was bright all the way, I didn't sit (except for shoe changing), or spent too much time anywhere. I took care of the issues as soon as they appeared - the skin fold in my foot was fixed pretty much immediately and didn't bother me much since then (though it got painful at some point, but not for long).

My crew and pacers did a great job taking care of me and making sure I make it to Auburn in a good shape.  Though I've never got my baked potatoes!

Thank you, guys, I couldn't have done it without you.