jay ultimate xc 2008

I did this race in 2007. You’d think I would remember. No, I didn't. I didn't remember how hard, how utterly painful, how insane this race is -- yet I finished with a smile.

Crista, Brenda, Mike, Michael, Rich, Mark, Cara, Erin, and I all have been training for this race with long trail runs almost every weekend. Shawn and Jeff were supposed to run but pulled out due to injury; Dennis had his thesis to focus on. We rented a large mansion to spend the weekend in running heaven/hell.

Saturday morning we woke up at six to focus on fueling, hydrating, and eliminating. The house was an insane buzz of, "I took care of business!" "Does anyone have any sunscreen?" "I can't find my lube."

We drove to the start, and somehow, Cara (who was taking care of business) got left behind at the house. When I realized she was not there, Trevor sprinted to his car, sped down the road until he saw Cara who was jogging/walking. “I was sticking my thumb out,” she later told me.

The start was slightly chaotic, as all races are. Running to the bathroom, last-minute gels, water, stretching. And we lined up…and we were off!

Knowing how everything is so narrow, I went out hard. Shortly after the start, there are lots of single-track trails, where it’s difficult to pass people. I had fun on the hills, pulling myself up on the rope, falling in the first few miles facedown – but pulling myself up, laughing. In the beginning, people who don’t know any better try to avoid the mud. I plowed through, knowing it would only get worse.

Early on, there was a good deal of brook running. Luckily, the brook was shallower than I remember it to be last year, and I knew how to run. I focused, looked straight ahead, and stumbled through the brook. I lost a lot of time, as usual, but tackled it in a better fashion this year.

We had to pull ourselves up into two culverts. The first was rather long, the water rushed through it and it was totally creepy. When I climbed out, I caught up with a guy ahead of me. “What a mindfuck,” we mused. The second one was really high up and it was hard to pull yourself up into it. This guy behind me said, “Want me to help you up?” but I wanted to try. I succeeded.

At aid station two, I changed my socks (dry socks felt great!), ate some food, and Trevor refilled my water bottles. I kissed him goodbye, and ran to the ski mountain that my boyfriend skied down last winter. When I got to the steep incline, I began walking with a guy who worked for Smucker’s. We joined two Jay vets and talked about how much tougher it seemed this year. It was incredibly steep and we grew out of breath just walking this hill. Towards the top, there were all these rocks we had to climb on, and I ended up having to pull myself down the last part. The aid station at the top had oatmeal cookies, and I refilled my water bottles before my descent. I ran at a good pace until I heard someone screaming and apparently I missed the turnoff. I’m good like that. I ran the 100-150 meters back and went down the steep mountain.

When we got to the bottom, we entered woods, with some crazy, windy trails and lots of mud. Good times. I fell in the mud, and was covered with mud. Pretty revolting. As I ate my sports jelly beans, I was covering them with dirt first. Mmmm.

We ran back in the brook, and again, I focused at my own pace. We went in and out of the brook multiple times during this race. When the rocks are small, it’s easier to run. When they’re big and flat, I would take my time. Sometimes I would stop, not sure where to step next, and when I lost my momentum, it made it harder to keep going. One guy told me, “Just pretend you’re a kid again,” and I tried to, but ran my race. I didn’t run faster than I felt comfortable in the brook.

I ran on various trails, meeting all sorts of different people – talked with a guy who spent some years in LI about the beach, recognized someone else I ran with last year, met other amazing people. At mile 19, I made the cut-off but by less time than I did last year. The race was tougher than I remembered. Trevor was at nineteen. “Don’t let me do this race again,” I ordered him. “Don’t!”

He laughed. “You said the same exact thing last year at this aid station!”

Hmmm. I stuffed another salted potato in my mouth, and sucked down some Gatorade. I gave him a kiss and ran off. There was a steep incline into a meadowy part, exposed to the sun. I remembered a chat I had last year during this part with a runner who told me he arranged his family vacations around his ultras; his family was shopping in Montreal while he did his ultra.

(I may be getting this slightly out of order; I apologize but my memories are foggy.)

More brook running. More suffering. But…the beaver swamp!

Last year, the swamp had high grass and some mucky ground, but nothing I remember as too horrendous. This year, the grass was high (2-3 meters high, or more) and the ground was…well, it was somewhere below water. You were walking through mucky mud, water up to your waist, sometimes even chest, pulling yourself up onto chunks of grass, running, walking in mud. Somehow I ended up passing people here; some people were really freaked out and hated it, but it was easier than the brook (no rocks). I just tried not to think about water snakes. People did see leeches, but luckily, I did not.

After I got out of the stream, I may have run more in the brook. We ended up getting to the river, which last year I swam across. This year, I was beat and pulled myself across with the rope. I stumbled out, told the guys, “I’ve never been so happy to see you.” I ran ½ mile to an aid station, meeting a lovely French Canadian woman, Mary. At the aid station, my boyfriend was there, again to fill my water bottles. I inhaled two cups of organic blueberries from the organic blueberry farm whose property we were on, changed my shoes and socks (I had at least ½ cup of dirt in each shoe), ate some pretzels, oranges, drank some Gatorade, kissed Trevor, and left.

Of course more uphills, and I slowly pulled myself up the hills. The energy was sagging in those around me. We were tired. I was glad there was no more brook running…but there was definitely more mud…lots of it.

It’s funny – the last 9 miles (from mile 24 to the end, 33) are probably the easiest. True, there’s a HUGE sand dune, lots of hills, uneven footing, bushwhacking, and there was a ridiculous amount of mud, but no brook running or mountain climbing. I ended up meeting this really rad runner from VT who highly recommended the VT 50 miler (which I’m doing next) and ran with Mary. We were all running together, and people told us about cut-off points and we were worried about friends. Suddenly, we saw the lake. “We’re almost there!” Mary took off but then yelled back at me, “We’re finishing this together!”

We finished strong, in just over 8 hours 40 minutes. I felt a little depressed at it being slower than last year, but you can’t compare, and I was happy to have finished. I was mostly sad that some of my friends didn’t make the cut-off point.

Still, it was a fun race – I had a blast. Sure it was hard, and yes, I did tell Trevor I wouldn’t run it next year…but I have this feeling like I probably will!

bad news first

i ran the jay ultimate xc this weekend...it was a lot of fun and i'll post the full race report later. some of the negative things about it first:

• increased difficulty -- steeper route to the top of the mountain, shorter cut-off point -- this meant that a lot of people -- approximately 70 out of the 290 that started -- missed the cut-off point -- many by mere minutes. six of these individuals were my friends.
• less grub at aid stations. the aid stations were missing some of the things they had last year, such as pretzels, gummy bears, m&ms, and other things. cookies, sweets dominated the aid stations. i didn't take in enough calories.

those are my main complaints. i'll write a full report soon. t is ready to throw a broom at me, so tonight i must focus on cleaning. but sometime this week, i'll give you the full story, plus photos!

p.s. i'm still in pain!

jay

i finished jay. hard. tired. rejoicing and relaxing with a lovely glass of riesling. will update more soon.

p.s. signed up for the vt 50 miler -- my first!

so nervous!!!

i prepped so much but i still hope i'm ready for the challenge: the jay challenge ultimate xc!

intro to drop bags

i'm creating this entry, making it specific to the jay ultramarathon. i've used drop bags twice, both for ultimate xc races (so i was covered in mud, water, and absolutely filthy), but here are some suggested items to include in a drop bag. this may or may not be applicable to all races.

so brenda, others, here you go!

• clean socks. i'd say include this for any ultra, if there is a chance of stepping in a wet puddle. a clean, dry pairs of socks feels amazing.
• clean shoes. changing my socks and shoes after the river part felt amazing. it was so nice. haven't you ever been in the rain before, cold and freezing, and maybe you start to get used to things...and then you get inside and you realize how much it sucked outside and how much better it is insane? word.
• body glide, vaseline, lube for your tootsie. your feet will be gross, in and out of rivers, streams, mudpits...someone recommended using body glide and i have no recollection of blisters. i probably had one or two, but nothing that prevented me from running.
• a towel. this will be good to dry your face and clean your tootsies free from any debris.
• food! this is SO impt. i stashed extra gels, extra jellybeans, along with peanut butter on a bagel and pretzels. i had a bite out of each of the latter two, but it was great. i'm starting to become a big believer in "real" food during competition.
• change of clothes. i didn't change my clothes, but i could see how it might be useful. i still plan on including a change of clothes in my drop bag, just in case. what if something chafes you? you rip your shorts on a sharp rock? or you just want to feel dry and fresh b/c you were so crankily wet.
• face wipes/baby wipes. i haven't used these, but other ultrarunners recommend these for quick freshening up.
• sunscreen and bug spray. you probably sweated both off at this point, or they washed away in the stream. reapply to stay cancer-free and anti-bug.
• plastic bag. i'm going to do this from now on. if you remove your muddy shoes or socks, everything else in your bag will be tainted and gross.
• ben gay, tylenol, endurolytes -- i can't tell you what to use, but if you ever use things like these, put them in your drop bag.
• hat, sunglasses. if you don't start the race wearing them, you will probably want it.
• beverage. maybe you want a specific kind of gatorade at some point during the run -- drop it in.

final drop bag (for post-finish line):

• towel (there are outdoor showers -- you will be showering in your clothes, but a towel would probably be nice for after)
• soap
• comb/hairbrush (us long-haireds need it!)
• deodorant (if you want to talk to anyone who didn't run)
• flip flops (this is HEAVEN after a long race)
• food (there will be food at the finish line, but maybe you want a chocolate bar right when you're done. put it here.)
• change of clothes. think comfy: t-shirts, shorts, yoga pants, whatevs.
• face wash
• cell phone (so you can brag after you've used all of the above)

good luck, jay runners! we're all gonna rock this course!

my first ultramarathon!

i finished my first ultramarathon--the jay challenge. it was only 7 miles beyond a marathon, but it was a million times harder. the day felt so long and so hurt and so crammed, yet it was (for me), only 8 hours and 39 minutes of running fun.

running it (see photo, from left to right) was cara, me, erin, rich, dennis, and mark! fun fun FUN!

the race began by running up a steep incline and a rush into the woods. cara warned me that you had to go out FAST or you'd get stuck behind slow people once things went single file. we ran fast up, and then got to a part where you had to pull yourself up with a rope. it went steep up and really steep down, on windy trails with bad footing. i was running at a decent pace, including through muddy, muddy trails. my shoe ended up getting sucked up by the mud early on and my sock got muddy and then i put my socked foot back into my shoe and it was quite gross. still, it was kind of fun. people were backing off, but i knew i would be muddy--and thrived. "yay!" my leg kept sinking into the mud, and i quickly had mud above my knees.

then the brook section. we ran in brooks for a total of around 3-4 miles--and it was SO hard. i can't even say that i ran in the brook. i stumbled through them, grabbing onto rocks and sliding around. i smacked my legs and knees, cursing the slipperiness of the rocks and the rapidness of the water at points and the steepness of waterfalls--yet i welcomed and thoroughly enjoyed the coolness of the water, which, as cara and rich had promised, soothed my aching calves. i was exhausted quickly, and the brook twisted and turned and if i had seen where we exited the brook it would have been SO demoralizing--it was that far. i got passed by SO many people, it was hard for me to bear it.

as i exited the street, i told myself, "you are not strong in the brook; that's okay. you are strong at running. you're not exceptional at uphills and find downhills challenging; run as hard as you can wherever it's flat." and so i did--that was my strategy. my main goal was to finish uninjured and i was fearful of an injury if i went out too hard in an area where i wasn't full comfortable with racing--like sprinting through the brook.

i changed my socks at aid station number two, and chomped on some pretzels and gummybears. i began running uphill, as long as i could, until i began walking when it got too steep. i ended up chatting with different runners, as we huffed and puffed (while walking!) up the steep mountain. it was SO difficult and at times, i struggled just to keep walking. everyone was walking, even the guy that won (not that i necessarily saw him as he was so far in front of me!).

at the top of jay peak (which is a place where people usually ski, not run), t met me and filled my water bottles. i drank some gatorade, ate some shot blocs and salty pretzels and oranges, and gave a kiss and began running/stumbling downhill. i'm a bit fearful of downhills, so i ran/stumbled/walked rather conservatively, and enjoyed the solitude. cara told me it was a spiritual experience for her to run this race, and it truly was. i enjoyed running alone and felt so amazing.

at the bottom, it was more running through the woods, stream running, and i was utterly exhausted. at one point, i had to scramble up a steep dirt incline and smashed my knee against a tree root and my knee started bleeding. another runner, seeing me in pain, helped me up the hill--"here, hold this tree, and hold my hand." i thank him, whoever he is, again. the runners at this race were beautiful, beautiful people.

the brook running continued, being hard. the trails were narrow, muddy, and often i was bushwacking. i still have the scratches all over to prove it. two sections of brook running later, we ran more, swam across a stream, and came to a river with a rope. i refused the rope and backstroked across the river, laughing, panting. it was the hardest thing i've done, but SO fun!!!! i also ran through a beaver section where the ground was mucky mud below my feet and the grass was chin-high. ugh!

at the next aid station, i changed my socks and shoes, ate some lots of blueberries (yum!!), took electrolyte pills (thanks mark!), refilled the water, and knew that the last was the easiest (besides the sand dune!). i ran uphill for what seemed like forever, chatting with a guy from AZ who arranged his family vacation around his ultramarathons! yay!

t met me again at one of the final aid stations where i gorged myself on salty potatoes and gatorade. next time, i'll try heed. less than five miles...

the five miles were fairly easy. muddy, windy trails and i kept going. and going. i was passing all these people who were walking--we were almost there! i had a chance of being under 9 hours! i was going to finish! i was beyond thrilled!

i passed the race director--he told me it was had taken him 32 minutes to walk to where i was running--which meant i would def beat 9 hours! i was so happy!

it began raining and lightning and thundering. "i am finishing this thing!" i ran as fast as i could, though i was exhausted.

when i came towards the finish line, i began to get a little emotional, and tears filled my throat. i raised my arms, running slowish down the hill (the grass was slippery from the rain and it was a downhill and the last thing i wanted to do was slide on my ass down the hill to the finish!) to my friends cheering! i did it! i survived the jay challenge in 8 hours 39 minutes!

...and i'll be back next year!

jay challenge

i'm running the jay challenge this saturday. wish me luck--i'm SO scared!

jay challenge

if you want to see the insane ultramarathon i plan on doing this july, check out the jay challenge.

oh, and for the full effect, click on this map, and click on the yellow circles for the pictures.

here's a description from the website:
The Marathon is a 31.5mile, mostly off-road, run. The race starts by climbing 4,000 feet over 9 miles to the summit of Jay Peak. Then racers head downhill for 4 miles, descending 2,000 feet on Ullr’s Dream ski trail, continue on a series of trails through the woods connecting to Wilderness Village back road, and through Jay Village. Then racers will cross fields and rivers, follow a deer trail, and run in a brook. Yes, in the brook, for about 3 miles. A bushwhack and beaver dam leads to a swim across a 50-foot river, (aided by volunteers and a cable), and then racers will reach aid station # 6. It is advisable to re-fuel and rest at aid station #6, because the worst mud hole in the world is yet to come on the last eight miles of the course!

yikes! i can't wait. i am already training, and already excited!