My First Sunmart
50 Miles
I was originally signed up for the 50K. I had been training since September and I was progressing very well. My training was kind of hit and miss until I started running with Bob Botto. Our first run together was 20 miles at Huntsville. My friend Carla Rowland and I had decided to go there for a run when we noticed an email from Bob looking for someone to run with that same weekend. He was planning on going 30 miles, and I decided to get real aggressive and I said I was going to shoot for 20 miles. Little did I know who I was talking to. He said he would run with me for my 20 miles, and run with me he did. He knew the trail like the back of his hand. We did 2 loops of 10 miles each. Of course I had no intention of doing the second loop once I had all the pain of the first loop, but Bob seemed to read my mind and he knew every excuse I had before I even voiced it. When the 20 miles was over, I told Carla, "That guy Bob is a real pro." I couldn’t believe he had convinced me to do something that difficult and I liked it. Two weeks later I was doing the Rocky Raccoon 25K with an incredible PR. It was my 3rd year in a row doing it and this time I did it in 2:50:30. Woo Hoo!
I kept running with Bob and he kept making me go farther and faster and I was having a blast. For the first time, I believed I could actually do the Sunmart 50K. I began to believe something else at this point – I believed I could quit smoking. Yes, I had been smoking since I was about 12 years old, and, yes, I have tried to quit a million times throughout my life. I’ve tried the pills, patch, gum, etc. But somehow, now I just knew I could quit – cold turkey. I set a date of November 6. Bob said he would act as my sponsor. I didn’t think I really needed a sponsor, but I figured that if he wanted to do it, why not? We planned a run on November 7 out at Huntsville. So I quit smoking on November 6 and ran 30 miles on November 7. I was on top of the world.
My next long run was 20 miles about 2 ½ weeks later on November 23. It was such an easy run that I decided to change my Sunmart goal to the 50 miles instead of the 50K. I wanted to challenge myself. Bob signed up for the Sunmart 50 miles also. He said he was going to run whatever I ran and make sure he got me through the Sunmart. How cool is that? Having an experience runner go the whole way with you on your first 50 miler.
Carla and I made the very unwise decision to camp at Huntsville for the Sunmart. We froze. We set up camp on Friday, then headed back to the host hotel for the pasta dinner and package pick-up. I was so excited to see how much really cool stuff I got in my package, and the meal was great. Bob met Carla and I there and we sat with the Trail-R-Trash group, David and Lori and Harry and Randy and Bruce and Kevin and several others. We saw Mariela from T-Rex and it seemed like everyone there knew Bob.
The guest speaker was so inspiring! The speech that Lorraine Moller gave was full of really true statements about running. I loved the part about each long run teaching you something new about yourself. I was really looking forward to discovering a new part of me. Remember when she talked about Mercury, the guy with wings on his feet? Well, I decided right then that Bob was my Mercury and I had no doubt that he was going to get me through this race. I should point out that ever since I made the decision to go 50 miles, people were questioning my sanity. Everyone knew that the longest I had ever run was 30 miles and only once, and they really felt like I was under trained for this. So, I had to keep believing that I could do it against everyone else’s convictions.
Bob camped with Carla and I, and we were all up around 4:30 grinding coffee beans and trying to get our drop bags organized in the dark and in the cold. I had not slept well and I had not properly hydrated. We piled into Bob’s van and drove over to the start of the race. We found a place for our drop bags, got our chips on our shoes, had a quick breakfast and wished each other luck. Carla was doing the 50K, so she didn’t start until 7:30. Bob and I got into the crowd at the starting line and waited for them to say, "GO". I was freezing cold and wearing tights and a fleece headband and I had on 3 shirts and a pair of gloves. Harry from Trail-R-Trash came over and gave me a big hug and wished me luck. David and Lori were waving from the sidelines wishing me luck. Bob was talking to several people he knew in the crowd with us. I looked at them and noticed that everyone around me was so fit and wondered what I was doing with such a professional looking group. I saw Morgan Lusby and Larry Lindeen and Rebecca Watkins and Mariela Botella, and Bob’s doctor who was running with his wife and so many wonderful and interesting people.
We started slow just like I wanted, but it took no time at all to warm up. I already wanted to shed one of my shirts after about 2 miles. I thought this was going to be great. I really prefer running in warmer temperatures and I hate running in tights. I don’t remember a whole lot of the first loop, but I remember getting back to the drop bag and running over to the port-a-pottie to take off my tights and put on shorts. I felt okay, but not as good as I thought I would. The first loop had taken 2.5 hours. I was stopping too many times at the port-a-potties and that was eating up a lot of time. It was, unfortunately, unavoidable. This continued throughout the race.
We started the second loop and it didn’t take long for me to realize that I didn’t feel good. I decided it was mostly mental, knowing that I still had 3 whole loops to run. This was the hardest loop. Not even halfway done and already hurting. I tried to get away with walking more on this loop because I was tired and it was still cold out. The sun never came out and I was starting to feel chilled to the bone. I would walk until I heard Bob say, "Okay Kelley. Run." So I would start running – if you can call it that. The jeep road was the hardest part and I was walking a lot there. Bob was starting to get cold because we had been walking so much. I felt really bad because he could have been going twice as fast and now, because of me, he was getting cold. I gave it one big burst and we ran long enough for him to get warm. I told him that I felt bad because people would look at his race time and think he did so poorly, but he assured me that when they saw his name next to mine, everyone would know what he had done, i.e. help Kelley through her first Sunmart. Bob could tell that I was having a tough time and he kept encouraging me to eat and drink and telling me that it was going to get better. He later said that he, too, had a bad second loop. That hot chicken noodle soup at the aid station by the dam was a real lifesaver. Once we got to the long bridge I began to feel that the second loop was almost over and was really looking forward to the third loop. I kept thinking that if I could just finish the third loop I would have it made because I could crawl the fourth loop if necessary. We finished the second loop 5 hours and 15 minutes into the race. I was disappointed at the amount of time that was passing.
I was so glad to be starting the third loop. It really seemed to help my morale. This whole race was shaping up to be much harder than I thought. Luckily, Bob started telling me stories in the third loop and I did feel a little stronger. At this point he had to make me eat. I would see all of the food at the aid station and the thought of eating it was just awful. He would stop and point at the potato and say, "Kelley, Eat!" So I would dip that thing in salt and put it in my mouth and it was SO gross. My favorite part of the trail was coming, the switchbacks just before the long bridge and yet I could not run. I was beginning to feel dizzy and I had to take my hat off. I was a little confused. I was thinking that I had to go to work the next day, and then I asked Bob if it was Saturday or Sunday. His response was, "Uh Oh". He knew I was in trouble, but we just kept moving forward. He told me a story about how he ran a long run one time and when he got to mile 37 there were some girls there dancing so he started dancing too. I said that I wanted to dance at mile 37. He said when we finished our third loop we would be at mile 37 and I could dance then. I got a little stronger and ended up running most of the third loop. We saw Thorbjorn Pedersen, who was heading out for his fourth loop when we were finishing our third. I was feeling really strong and happy. I was looking forward to our "reward loop". I felt like I would finally have a chance to walk some and not be so concerned about time. This was a happy time. We were pulling clothes out of our drop bag and bundling up for the fourth loop. We grabbed our flashlights, drank some Ensure and took some electrolyte pills. They played some perfect dancing music and we danced. It was a magical moment. At that moment, Chris Rampacek came by and he took our "one more loop to go" picture. He was already finished with the 50K race.
I really thought I had time to kill in the fourth loop and planned on doing a lot of walking. But as we got into the trail, Bob was calculating when he thought we’d be back and it was entirely too close for my comfort. I had not come this far and gone through all this misery to NOT finish in time. I set my mind to run as much as possible. It was really hard and I was not smiling at this point. I asked Bob how I was going to make it another whole loop? It just did not seem possible. He just said I was doing good and looking strong and that I was going to make it. By the time we got around to the dam, the chicken soup was not hot anymore and it was getting to be dusk. I remember just pressing forward. My new mantra "constant forward motion". When we got to the "bench" that signifies the beginning of the downhill, we made a decision to run the whole way from the bench to the long bridge. Bob said that if we did that, we just might get to the bridge before dark. That sounded good to me, so off we went. I kept a nice steady pace and just kept going. When we got to the switchbacks, there were several people there. We began passing all of them. I heard someone say, "Wow, I wish I had her energy." I heard Bob say, "She’s on a mission." I heard someone else say, "She better be careful." I just kept going and going and going. Next thing I knew we were at the long bridge. What a beautiful reward. Less than 4 miles to go and it is ALL OVER!!! We started to take a short walking break, but then I felt like we were running out of time so we kept running. It was hard, in the dark, to stay on the trail but we managed and next thing you knew we were at the last aid station. The uphill portion out of there seemed unbearable. Once we got past the hill, I just aimed my flashlight at the ground and started running. Running at night was really fun. I noticed that the concentration level was a lot higher because you could only see the roots and obstacles for one step at a time. Also, there was no more anticipating a hill. I just kept running because I didn’t know I was going uphill. I noticed we had picked up a tail. There was a guy running behind us. I almost missed a turn in the trail, so I stopped abruptly, then Bob stopped, then the guy behind us fell down. I heard it all but I did not look back. I only cared about looking forward. At that turn in the trail, Bob got in front and started running. I just followed him. We ran and ran and ran. I was hurting, but more than anything in the world I wanted to finish. Finally, there we were at the curve in the trail and I knew that we had only two more turns and an uphill and we would be at the Interpretive Center. I was getting so excited. As we passed the Interpretive Center and headed down the last stretch, Bob said something about me doing a fast sprint at the end once we hit Glory Road. I remember saying that was impossible, but I sure would be happy when we got there. Well, we made our left turn and we were now on Glory Road. I could see people on the sidelines cheering us in. I couldn’t help myself, I just started running faster. There was a group of people in front of us and suddenly it felt like they were just going way too slow. I went to the outside to pass them and when I kicked it in gear to get around them it felt good. So I went for an all out sprint. Bob was right there sprinting with me. The crowd went wild. Everyone was yelling and cheering and telling us how great we looked. We sprinted a long, long way. It was a full speed, full sprint. I grabbed Bob’s hand and we raised them together as we crossed the finish line. The cameras were flashing and it was a moment I’ll never forget. Of course it was really corny because it’s not like I was winning the race or anything. But I was winning against the voice in my head that kept telling me to quit.
I didn’t cry or anything like I thought I would. I was just happy to be done. I understand now that I was undertrained. I did bite off more than I could chew. But I finished! What did I learn about myself? My mind is stronger than my body. What would I change about the race? Can you say HOTEL!!! The next couple of days were pure agony but I survived. I’m not planning any 100 milers but I WILL be faster in next year’s Sunmart 50 miler. I love the people that do trail running. I am officially an ULTRA runner. Thanks to all of you who supported me in my training and in the run. See you out there.