so here's my story of the white river 50, which i suppose i can tell as a weekend of hugs. (apologies in advance for typos, blatant errors, or faux pas.) the first hug was a surprise: from nyloco, who got off the plane i was about to board after his time in sacramento. he said his hood to coast team (which includes muddy girl) needs one more member, but the more i think about it, the more impractical it seems for me to join, unfortunately. then came 10 hours of flying, changing planes, and public transit in seattle before landing in the arms of my daughter and her boyfriend, and then into their spare bed for the night.
fast forward to the prerace dinner, where we ran into my good friend yassine, who moved from ithaca to portland a year ago and has been putting his footprints on the nw ultra scene ever since. it was great to reconnect with him (with more hugs), as well as recent DC->portland transplant, amy sproston, who i had met at the bull run run; with them was pam smith, who placed well at western states this summer. still, and although it was still light out, it was after the pasta dinner that the stars came out: tony krupicka, scott jurek, and meghan arbogast (who had just finished 2nd at western states) were all there and ready to run. to put this in perspective for non-ultra folks, this was like knowing you'd be lining up at the start line for a marathon one row back from ryan hall and colleen de reuck.
race morning it was 45F and clear when my daughter drove me to the start from our nearby campground and gave me a hug before going back to bed for four more hours. in the meantime, i watched the fast folks pull quickly away on the mile or so of dirt road that let the field of ~250 spread out before settling into the beautiful network singletrack that we traversed for the rest of the day (with the sole exception of miles 37-43, which was an unrelenting downhill dirt road full of sharp pebbles -- the only less-than-pleasant, albeit fastest, part of the course). throughout, the footing was great and the views unsurpassed -- whether close in of the forest or expansive of mt rainier or waaaaay down the cliff to the start/finish area. the first of the two big climbs was fine, with only a few short sections that were too steep for me to run. once on the out-and-back narrow, cliff-edge singletrack, the frontrunners began coming back at me, which made for pretty hairy running, even though everyone was being polite and careful. first came anton, then young up-and-comer dakota jones (19 yrs old) right behind (he eventually faded 15 minutes from tony, but retained his number-two spot. then another lone man or two, and then scott followed by yassine just a few feet back. no hugs this time, but we exchanged big smiles and greetings -- and i let out a "go scott!" for good measure, too. it was exciting to see yassine in such company, and as it turned out, the two of them traded places throughout the day, with scott ultimately finishing three minutes ahead of yassine in just over 7 hours, in the fourth and fifth positions, with greg crowthers in third.
as for me, i didn't really know my position at this point in the race, because there was the option to start an hour early for those not in the USATF competition. i came up behind a friend from southeast pennsylvania who had started early, and she said i was in sixth, and assured me of it when we again met after the turnaround, but in the end she was off by one -- pretty damn good counting nonetheless. once back in the woods and past the two-way traffic, i concentrated on motoring downhill without stressing my body. even though i was behind my goal time even then, i think i was on an appropriate pace for the terrain and my fitness. in fact, the only obvious mistake i made was not to fill both my 10-oz hand bottles before the 5 miles of downhill switchbacks to the 27-mile point. by the time i got there, i had stopped sweating and knew i had better tank up, so i did: two cups of water, two gels, two filled bottles, and i was on my way. the volunteers at all the aid stations were terrific!
then came a mile of flat trail before the second hill. much of this one was out in the sunshine, continuously uphill, and only intermittently really steep. it was a bit frustrating because it seemed as though i should have been able to run more of it, but the previous 30+ miles of up and down were beginning to take their toll on my legs. as i kept pushing forward and upward, i resumed sweating, which was good, although painful as it stung my eyes. my focus was to only hike when absolutely necessary, to catch people when i could (note that other than early starters, i hadn't traded places with any women after about mile one!), and to drink in the beauty of the cascade mountains.
when i reached the aid station at the top of this climb, filled my bottles, did a quick body check -- A-okay -- and started down the road. i passed a few men going down and another few at the aid station at the bottom, and realized that i'd have to cover the final 6.5 miles in not much more than an hour to hit my new goal of 9:15 (the prior 50+ women's course record was 9:45). of course, 6.5 in an hour is really slow on a gently rolling old-growth-forest trail, but it took an all out effort to achieve, and i appreciated the company of a man who credited me with pulling him, although quite obviously he was the one pushing me.
then, of course, there were lots of hugs at the finish, plus a good long soak in the white river's glacial waters, which surely has helped with a swift recovery. today's my third day off, but, home now, i'll hit the trails again tomorrow -- nice and easy.