A DNF and Ribbon Anxiety

Greetings,

Here I am post training run yesterday and contemplating my upcoming marathon and yikes, doing my taxes! Yesterday I ran at the Marin Headlands with fellow ultrarunners, Buzz and Brad. Originally I was going to be doing just roads for a while. My next three races coming up are definately road races. Then with my focus more on the big price this year, Bighorn, I decided to build some hill strength.

Since my last post, I managed to DNF at Woodside and then I added the Sequoia 50k two weeks after that so I could still get a long run in before the marathon, even if it's on trails. Miles are miles and again, the big prize is not finishing the marathon. Woodside was a little discouraging as I was looking forward to it. In the end, it wasn't my day. Looking back, perhaps I went out a little too fast thinking I could hold on. Then, stomach issues kept me more on the side of the trail than actually running it. A bad case of the Fuck-its came over me and that was it. At 18 miles I waited for another runner's friend to pick him up and I caught a ride back to the finish.

Sequoia turned out to be just a perfect day for running. My experience a couple of weeks before had left me shaken. I really approached the run as a training run but once the number goes on the shorts, the mind set changes, even if slightly. One thing I didn't want to do was just take my time and walk up the hill at the beginning of the run. What kind of training is that? I wasn't out to wear myself out early but still, I could walk up hills or even walk some flat section later. So I sort of scrurried up the hill, like a field mouse. Eventually Brad was there on my tail after about 4 miles. With him was a guy named Ray, from Berkeley or Concord, I'm not sure which. No offense to anyone in particular, but I hope its Berkeley. I was taking my time for the first 8 miles. This is pretty much when I fell apart at Woodside. I got through that part then tried to maintain a pace I felt comfortable with.

Sequoia truely is just a beautiful course. I was having a good day. I made the decision to only carry one water bottle. I probably could have used two. We were about 2 miles from the end of the first loop and yet we haven't descended enough. One just knows its coming. Then the aid station just 1.7 miles from the start/finish. After that it's almost all down hill and some techinical downhill at that! The section took a toll on my unconditioned quads.

The second loop is only 20k. At the beginning of it I sensed I was in trouble. The last downhill took more of me than I anticipated. I really wasn't going fast either. So I told Brad my strategy would be one of walking 5 and running 5 minutes until I sufficiently recovered. One guy was passing us saying come on guys this sections flat, you gotta run. He would later finish after us, getting off course somewhere. My strategy worked and I was able to keep moving.

Eventually we encounted a big pile of ribbons on the trail. Apparently ribbon bandits had already swept the course and left ribbons in a pile. Those bastards! What is it about seeing ribbons on a trail which causes people to do foolish things? If anyone reading likes to do this, consider, there are people on the trail who haven't run this course before and are going miles and miles in a direction away from where they started. It dangerous for them if they can't find their way back as they may not have enough water or clothing to stay out long. Why do they do this? Because they paid their money expecting a marked course. I hate this subject. If I catch anyone moving or taking down ribbons, I'm going to squirt you with my water bottle. I encountered a few on the trail suffering from what most certainly would be called, in a clinical setting, ribbon anxiety. I'm sure there is even an ICD-9 code for it. It's the feeling one gets when running on trails for more than 5 minutes without spotting a ribbon. Self doubt creeps in. Am I going the right way? Should I go back to where I spotted the last ribbon? Will I run out of water? Will anyone care? It's aweful. Poor bastards.

I managed a finish at Sequoia; in 6 hours and 24 minutes. In the end, my hill training needs some work. It's early in the year (excuse 1.) We had a week a really hard rain (excuse 2.) In the week since Sequoia though my daily runs have felt good. My legs are strong and currently healthy. Bring on the Napa Valley Marathon!