Stats
Finishing time: 31:45:28.23
Overall: 83/85 (finishers), 83/190 (total starters)
F: 13/14
AG: 2/2
DNFs: 104
DQ: 1
Elevation gain: 11,000 ft – 12,500+ ft
Gear
- Tank top
- Shorts
- Injinjis
- Other run socks
- Altra Superior 5
- Buff (a second one in my pack to help prevent/manage chaffing)
- Trucker hat
- UD vest
- 2 soft flasks (1 water, 1 Skratch)
- COROS Apex 2 (which died around mile 70)
This race is deceptively brutal. Like my friend Amanda says,
“this race will eat you, chew you up, and spit you out.”
3 reasons why I think this race was so hard
1: the technicalness of the trail.
2: the trail weaves around a ton, which messes with you mentally because you know that you’re weaving around and feel like you’re not getting anywhere at times.
3: hills. The course is “rolling hills” and some are steep. I used trekking poles for the last two “short” loops, my legs were shot after the two long ones.
During these hard efforts, I was feeling really glad that I increased my strength training, especially upper body, while taking time off from running leading up to the race.
The trail was gorgeous, waterfalls and gorges. A lot of ferns. The woods were dense.
I wish that I could have enjoyed the scenery more because I knew that I was missing seeing stuff, but I had to look down a lot.
Mohican Adventures
The Mohican Adventures Campground is located across the road from the start and finish, and the end of each loop goes through a corner of the campground.
Our camping spot, which was on top of a hill, was less than one mile to the start. There were also bathrooms, equipped with showers.
Packet pickup and the pre-race meeting were held in a large picnic pavilion next to the start and finish on Friday evening.
After packet pickup, my husband and I walked about half a mile to eat dinner at a small restaurant. Once we were stuffed, we walked back to the pre-race meeting.
Pre-race meeting
At the meeting, RDs and staff were introduced and they discussed the course markings and signage. They also recognized the dedication of runners who return year after year and incredible performances.
Hanging on the pavilion wall were banners with runner’s names and course records.
Race start
At the start line, I stood near the back because I didn’t want to go out too fast and I wasn’t sure how well my foot was going to hold up. I had some sort of injury and hadn’t ran in 3 or 4 weeks.
I was using a Black Diamond headlamp and a fun toy T-Rex headlamp. I carried the T-Rex as a handheld.
No one saw that I had it, but I like having two lights sometimes on a dark trail because I have trouble seeing with just one.
Mike, one of my local run friends, found me and stood next to me. We chatted for a little bit. After the race started, we were together until the single track trail.
My mood was “off” for most of the race. Usually, I talk with everyone. Aid station volunteers and fellow racers. I was quiet and focused.
Another thing that was off was that I didn’t have as much fun as I normally would. It had nothing to do with anyone or anything, it was just how I was feeling.
I knew that I was meant to be there doing the race and I had the best support from my crew, pacers, and so many other people.
Since I was feeling “off,” I was slightly concerned. It’s not something I’m used to, so I reflected on my “whys”.
I was wearing my soft, warm Hyner Trail Challenge hoodie under my vest. Overdressed, but it was 46° F out and I hate being cold.
The only issue that I had with the hoodie was that when I was ready to take it off, it didn’t stay in the bungy strings well.
Over the miles, I had to feed it through the side of my vest as it was falling out.
Your “whys” are important
I wanted to continue to build that 100 mile resume (for a Badwater 135 application) and continue to sharpen those 100 miler skills and strategies.
As an assistant run coach and Success Coach for my running coach’s (Coach Kyle Kranz) clients, I felt some pressure to perform well.
– To perform well for my own mindset and mental wellness coaching clients, as well! I just felt like more eyes were on me through my work with Coach Kyle.
I have to display that I practice what I preach. It builds credibility. It also shows people what race strategies and approaches might work for them.
Friends, family, and clients told me that they believed in me, that I’d finish the race. I carried that with me all day.
On top of people telling me that they believed in me, I also knew that people were praying for me, especially because I was recovering from the foot injury.
Those prayers were all answered.
Seeing Stephen, Katie, and Amanda having a fun time and staying on top of things was also helpful. I was going to stay in the game for them.
Another thing, I wanted to finish, so that I didn’t have to do the race ever again!
Check out my list of reasons why I run here. Challenge yourself to write your own list to keep in your back pocket for races.
The Enchanted Forest and tree climb
Heading down into the Enchanted Forest, you take a wooden staircase. It is up high and you can see the forest floor below between the steps.
This made me feel dizzy, so I held onto the railing as I carefully made my way down.
There is a great view of Big Lyons Falls.
After a very technical half mile or so hike through the bottom of a gorge, I got to the part of the race that I was most looking forward to… The tree climb.
It’s called the tree climb because you climb the roots of a tree, like a ladder, to get out.
I watched YouTube videos of this climb and the videos don’t do it justice. – This section is also in my YouTube video.
It is steep and a bit high. If I ever return to the park to do some hiking, I’m definitely going to do that section.
It was more fun than I imagined, and it seemed like everyone else was loving it, as well.
Also, if you are a short person, like myself, you will be okay climbing up the roots. I was able to do it by myself.
Heading into the race, I wasn’t sure how far my legs would need to stretch to make the climb possible without needing a boost. It was all good.
After climbing out of the gorge, you go over Little Lyons Falls, and can see people doing the tree climb.
Shortly after the gorge section, you come out of the woods and go towards the dam. These stairs are the next thing to welcome you. No worries, though, there is an aid station nearby.
Stephen, Katie, and Amanda
Katie was my first pacer to jump in. We covered some distance before it got dark, which was a part of my plan.
I have a tendency to tank at some point of the night during 100 milers, so I wanted to cover as much trail as I could, however I was doing a brisk ultra shuffle.
Stephen has been supportive throughout this whole journey. The training, watching Ember, everything.
During the race, he crewed. He said that I was really low maintenance and didn’t really need him there. That I could have just used a drop bag.
I didn’t use a drop bag. I didn’t really use my crew until the third loop.
Stephen helped me get things like water and food. He updated run club friends back home. I appreciated that he did that.
He told me how nervous he was that I was so close to the cutoff times. He kept checking the “live” tracking over and over again to see when I’d cross the timing mats.
Thank God for Amanda. She’s an awesome, badass woman. She had to turn into Correction Officer Amanda and crack the whip on me for hours.
She was Dead Fucking Last (DFL) at last year’s MO100, so she knew exactly what I needed to do to meet the cutoff times.
She watched our pace like a hawk and would tell me when to give more.
As far as mindset and tough love goes, she told me a lot of the same things that I usually tell myself. This was extremely helpful because my brain was done for the most part.
Amanda reminded me to eat and drink. Maybe more like ordered me because I was her runner and I was going to “get that damn buckle”.
She told me that I was fun to pace and that I listened to her.
I fed into Amanda’s energy and could flip a switch into thinking, “I’m going to show her what a tough ultrarunner I am.”
I proved that and I think that I showed myself how far I’ve come, even just since last year’s 100 miler.
Drama at an aid station regarding the cutoff time
We had a bit of a scare, well, maybe Amanda wasn’t worried, but I was and would have flipped out if it were true…
I had to push very hard to make it across the timing mat at the Hickory Ridge AS.
My feet touched the timing mat with about 3 minutes to spare. There were a few runners ahead of me and behind.
That aid station was torn down early for some reason.
The captain (I’m assuming) was just about to get into his vehicle, when he told the group of us that we missed the cutoff time coming into the aid station, and that weren’t going to make the cutoff time at the finish.
The other runners looked at him after trying to talk to him about the situation of the aid station being torn down and that we had missed the cutoff. There was no talking to him.
He tried to convince us that the RD wouldn’t count our finish and that he was trying to save us from having to complete the last handful of miles.
From an ultrarunner perspective, when there is about five miles left in a race and there is still enough time to finish, you go for it. You risk it.
We worked our butts off to get to that start line and then worked just as hard to get to mile 95. There was no quitting.
Amanda and I figured that he must not have been an ultrarunner because he didn’t seem to know what he was talking about.
Amanda took over talking with him, as she let the other runners and myself keep pushing ahead. We didn’t have time to waste talking with the man.
While we were off ahead, Amanda talked with him about the cutoff time at the aid station and pointed out that we all crossed the timing mat with minutes to spare.
The man tried to argue the timing with her, however, Amanda continued to explain that she was in this position last year with the same timing mat, and she was allowed to continue on after just making it.
She asked if they could call the RD and sort things out, so they did. The RD agreed with us, saying that everything was okay, and that we should continue the race.
Team work makes the dream work
Both Katie and Amanda said that they would crew and pace me again because we were a good team.
Katie was uplifting, sweet and loving at night when I was sleep running. She was like a cheerleader and counted the number of steps that I needed to take to get to the top of a hill. That was a new approach to me.
Amanda was tough love and pushing to make up for lost time and to get me to the finish.
Friends and women in ultrarunning
The ultrarunning community is fantastic. My race started off with Mike and a guy who I shared miles with at Burning River 100 said hello as he passed.
Later, I ran into Brandon and Emily.
I know Brandon from doing Baker 50 miler and through my friend, Aimee. I know Emily through Badwater.
Emily and I stuck together for a few miles, until the course split. She was doing the shorter distance and got to go to the right. I had to go towards the climbs. Lucky me.
As we hung out, we talked about women in ultrarunning. Particularly how our bodies change throughout our lives, how it impacts our bodies, and how we overcome and adapt.
We talked about pregnancy and menopause. We also discussed proper training and rest to fit the needs of our bodies, while still being effective.
It was a beneficial conversation, one that I feel that ultrarunning women should be having with each other. I’m grateful for having a friend like Emily.
Critters
- Baby snake
- Tiny Blue moths
- Chipmunks
- Squirrels
- Giant spider
- Daddy long legs. They were everywhere!
- Big black ants. They were also everywhere.
- 2 baby opossum
- Millipedes
- Black newt
- Snail. Katie rescued it off of the trail.
Fuel
- Hammer gels
- Spring Energy
- Watermelon
- Oranges
- Bananas
- M&Ms
- PB&J
- Grilled cheese sandwiches
- Vegetable broth
- Rice noodles
- Perogies
The weather was hot, so as I was passing Big Lyons Falls on the second long loop, I stood underneath it to cool down. The waterfall is a highlight of the race.
Night time adventure with Katie
My brain shut off at some point. I felt like a zombie robot, but every once and a while, tried to enjoy Katie’s company.
I was exhausted by mi 60. Seeing other runners sleeping and dropping out of the race at the aid stations made me want to quit, but I never brought it up to anyone because feeling tired and hurting aren’t real reasons to quit.
Specifically, at one aid station, I remember it being like a mini ultrarunner war zone.
Runners were laying around, and I sat down on a bench next to another runner, who was in bad shape and falling asleep while sitting up.
My crew was working quickly to get me what I needed, so we could keep going.
Katie and Amanda were trying to get the attention of the runner sitting next to me, but it was difficult because he was too far gone. He ended up dropping right there.
We heard the conversation between him and an aid station volunteer. Katie and Amanda invited him to come back out onto the trail, but he really wanted to be done.
I ran about 20 miles completely asleep. I don’t know how I didn’t fall.
At one point, it rained. The rain felt good and didn’t seem to mess up the trail.
(Warning: Gross toenail picture)
Lifting up my toenail on a rock
In all of the craziness of the race, I only tripped six times total, and luckily stayed upright the whole time. Staying upright is always a goal… yay for staying upright!
The lowest part of the race was at night, with Katie when I was really tired, and I tripped over a rock.
I didn’t see the rock, but my right foot found it. This was the same foot that was injured prior to the race.
Through God’s grace, smacking my foot off of the rock didn’t bother the previously injured part of my foot, but it did lift up my big toenail.
I suppose that when I trimmed my toenails before the race, I didn’t trim them close enough to the event and it caused them to grow just slightly too long.
When I kicked the rock, I yelled and cried in pain as I caught my balance. I might have also said a few swear words.
Through tears, I yelled back to Katie that I could barely see the trail. I was crying so hard.
Katie, who always tries to see the bright side of things, in a chipper tone, says to me, “but you’re still running above the cutoff pace!”
The contrast between our moods was day and night. It is comical to look back at it. “Get me out of this misery!” my brain told me.
Climbs in the second half of the loops
Mental strategies
- Broke the race down into chunks:
- All day, all night, and part of the next day.
- Long loop, long loop, short loop, short loop.
- Aid station to aid station.
- Power up this hill.
- Get over it, it’s just a hill.
- One of my pacers reminded me that this was only a short period of suffering.
- Positive self-talk
- You’re fine.
- Your clients are watching.
- Recalling “whys” and support from everyone.
- You’re not quitting because everything hurts.
- You’re not stopping until you reach the finish line.
- If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
- That would be stupid and you would be weak if you dropped out with only 50k left (what I told myself when I wanted to drop, but literally couldn’t find a real excuse).
- Reflected on all of the training and preparation for the event. You put in the work, now it’s time to earn your buckle.
- If I finish, I never have to do this race ever again.
- On the last loop, I would tell myself that you never have to do this hill again.
Home stretch and golden hour
After leaving the final aid station area, you are directed through some grass and then down along a stream.
This is a steep and rocky section, but it is very short, just be cautious to not roll an ankle. It goes under the road and snakes its way to the finish line.
I could hear the announcer on the microphone, and there was a crowd of people cheering me on when I finished.
They were all there watching the golden hour and eagerly awaiting the final runners.
If you are unfamiliar with the golden hour, it is an emotional and inspiring part of ultrarunning. It celebrates the people who were out there the longest and who battled so hard to finish in time before time ran out.
Finish line feels
Crossing the finish line and seeing all of my friends there felt amazing, I almost cried. I’m grateful for their support and friendship.
Katie took off my shoes and socks for me. Removing my toe socks became a toenail reveal party, ha ha!
Everyone was watching as she pulled one by one, and we anticipated how each toe would look. They were all good except for the one that I badly stubbed.
After sitting for a while, I began falling asleep. My friends were all having a blast and drinking beers around me, and were just watching me drift in and out of sleep.
Mike asked Stephen and I if we wanted a Great Lakes IPA, which we’re free. We did.
After opening mine, I took a sip and was drunk. I sort of felt like throwing up, but I just closed my eyes and dozed off for a minute or two.
Final thoughts
By the end, I was so tired of eating the same snacks all day, which was mainly sugar and fruit.
I slept the entire 2 hours and 45 minutes drive home and Stephen ordered us Thai food for dinner, but I wasn’t ready to eat, my body was recovering.
Months and months of hard work and paying attention to the tiniest of training and preparation details…
And then, running all day, all night, and part of the next day, as everything came together…
Dealing with everything that the race through at me…
The highs, the lows…
Having to construct negative splits after the legs were more than spent, in order to earn my buckle. It all feels like a dream.
This sport never gets easier, you just get stronger throughout the journey to be able to do more.
Recovery and Heaven’s Organics products
Post-ultra, I like to take about a week or so off from running. I incorporate easy yoga, walking, and upper body workouts into my rest week.
I also like to use CBD salve, CBD sports lotion, CBD tincture, and THC gummies from Heaven’s Organics. – These products are usually a part of my daily routine and race training, as well.
Ultrarunner, would you like to improve your mindset and mental health, so you can perform better?
If you are interested in working together on stepping up your mindset and mental wellness around racing and life, reach out to me.
You can potentially unlock your ultrarunning potential.
I’d love to hear about your goals.
We will look at problem areas or where you’d like to see improvement, set a realistic goal, and then put those steps in place.
– I work with ultrarunners all over the United States who want to dial in their race mentality, mental strategies, and overall improve their mental wellness.
— My coaching services are fully on the mental side (I have a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a Master’s degree in Counseling, and well over a decade of experience working in the mental health field. Coaching is a non-clinical service).
HERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT I CAN HELP WITH
- Improve day-to-day mental wellbeing.
- Build better habits.
- Incorporate mindfulness
- Learn emotion regulation strategies.
- Set challenging, yet attainable goals.
- Discuss motivation
- Address body image thoughts or concerns.
- Talk about you! Who are you, besides a runner or athlete? – parent, sibling, entrepreneur, community member… What else do you do, and how does it impact training for races or vice versa?
- Coping with injury and setbacks.
- Juggling priorities and time management.
- Are you actively trying to find a mental health professional? I can assist!
- Are you searching for a running coach? I can provide pointers on how to go about finding someone who’s a good fit and what questions to ask the coach when interviewing them for fit.
- Mental strategies and mindset for racing.
- Training and race day visualization.
- General worries and race day concerns.
- What might you do if you encounter a problem during a race.
- Building trust with yourself.
- Improving self-care, self-esteem, and self-compassion.
- Knowing when to push yourself and when to be kinder to yourself.
- Why’s and meaning behind what you do. Passion. Using that as support and drive.
- On top of talking, I do provide resources and homework.
I hope that this paints a picture of the good stuff that we can work on together.
Contact me if you have questions or want to schedule.
Related articles
My Temptation 200k Pre-Race Questionnaire
Run a 50 Miler for Your First Ultramarathon!
Race Day Visualizations (Etsy store)
Burning River 100 Race Report 2023
Oil Creek 100 Race Report: My 4TH DNF at this beast (2022)
Baker Trail UltraChallenge COMPLETE! (2023)
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