50K Number 2: Mission Complete

This past weekend, I ran my second 50K.  Now that I've done two, I can officially qualify myself as an ultrarunner! (At least in my book.)  I wanted to take more pictures this time to show you what kind of "trails" are involved in these races...but that plan didn't work out very well.  So I'll just tell you the story instead. 

It all started Saturday morning.  At 5:30 AM. The sun was not even up for the first hour of running. It was chilly, but nice. The first few miles were a pretty steady pace up the first mountain. But around mile 12, I almost blew out my knee.  Through a lot of praying, some very proper form, and what I can only say was God's grace, the pain went away and I was able to keep running.  The area was beautiful, but dangerous. Sometimes the trail was nice and wide like this:

And then I came across this:

That is the other side of the trail.  Across the river.  And those rocks?  Not enough to cross without getting completely soaked.  Nothing like a solid extreme trail run.  Unfortunately thats the end of my pictures for the race.  Because shortly after this, it started raining.  Then thundering. Then sleeting.  Then HAILING!  It was ridiculous!  And so so cold.  Several people got mild hypothermia.  I either did or got very close. I could not move my hands, which were already swollen from the altitude.  I sprinted for a while just to stay warm.  Which was not done in proper form, and hurt my knee again.  Even having grown up in Wisconsin, I have never been so cold in my life.  The 3 1/2 mile mountain climb at mile 23(ish) was followed  by the final 5 mile stretch downhill.  By the time I got there, it was done raining, but the trails that started looking like the top picture were now a minimum of 3 inches of mud.  My shoe started out looking almost new, but ended up looking like this:

EWWWW!!!!!

With two miles left, a wonderful lady gave me a pair of socks a friend had given her for my hands. That small act of kindness and layer of protection helped so much.  It is also a perfect example of just one of the many acts of kindness showed on the trails.  As much as we are racing against each other, all the runners support and encourage each other.  It truly is a community. 

In the last mile, I started minorly hyperventilating, just because I was so exhausted and needed more oxygen. (Don' worry, it was in control in less than a minute.)  I finally crossed the finish line after 9 hours, 20 minutes, and 12 seconds.  I placed 325 out of 354.  Very close to last, but thats okay.  At the end, my sister, (who finished two hours ahead of me) threw a sweatshirt on me and got some food in me, and I finally started feeling again.  I'd like to give a shout out to my sister here, who really helped me believe I could become an ultrarunner and waited in the cold weather for another two hours for me to finish the race.  Without her and my husband pushing and encouraging me, I would never have thought I could move myself over 30 miles with only my two (very calloused) feet.  Every step, every freezing moment, every stab of pain was 100% worth it.  I pushed my body beyond its limits and found that I am capable of so much more than I ever imagined.  And I can't wait until my next race! 

PS.  The good thing about the freezing rain?  Much faster recovery time, since I basically took an ice bath while running...

Oh! Plus I got some pretty awesome shorts and a shirt. :)