8 hours 35 minutes is a good night's sleep, a full day of work, a plane ride across the country.....or a 50 mile race on foot. When I put it that way it really puts it in perspective how weird I am. :)
We left on our girl's weekend for Nash Vegas on Friday afternoon (Elissa, Mandy, Laura, and myself). We headed to the race "expo" to pick up our packets. It was amazing that we got in and out of the expo as quickly as we did with the crowds. I think it took us 3 minutes total including getting in and out of the car. It reminded me a lot of the Chicago Marathon expo (minus merchandise, crowds, lines, food and motivational speakers). Then it was off for dinner. As I have mentioned before, we are creatures of habit and we always eat Chinese food as our pre-race meal. All the stars need to be in alignment before this 50 mile jaunt so naturally we head to Pf Chang's and a little ice cream to follow. I am pretty sure this goes against all of the rule books.
Alarm went off at 5:30am and I now know why Chinese food and ice cream are not on the same list with pasta and potatoes for your pre-race meal. All of our stomachs, those running and not running, were churning. Thankfully, after a cup of coffee and some food we were ok. We got to the race about 15 minutes before the official start time, dropped of our drop bags in their appropriate bins and prepared to start. That is when we met up with Elissa's friend Ashley from Knoxville (who Elissa has ran a few marathons with in the past) and our new friend Will of the East Nasties. Ashley was doing the 50k (smart girl) and Will was in it for the full 50 miles. Will belongs to a running group in Nashville who call themselves the "East Nasties." This runner's club started with a few people from east Nashville that did a van relay and the van smelled so nasty that they became the "east nasties." The group has grown to over 170 members! I think 6 or 7 east nasties were on the course and many of them were volunteering along the way. Kuddos East Nasties!
So at 7 am we took off. Immediately we realized that people from Tennessee have a skewed perception of "rolling hills" and "trails." The first 16 miles of the course was hill upon hill upon hill. It was a really pretty course, crossing lots of bridges and through some really pretty wooded parks of Nashville. We maintained an 8:30-8:40 pace the first 16 miles which was too fast considering the hills and the fact that we still had 34 miles to go. At this point Ashley and Will were still our running buddies. Our drop bag was not at mile 16 like it was supposed to be. The aid stations were well stocked so we were ok, but we were concerned that we may have lost our replacement shoes.
Mile 17 started the trails that we totally weren't expecting and the hills just kept coming. My ankles and achilles were not ready for the instability and I had a few aches and pains that I haven't experienced on the roads. There are some positives of trail running. First and foremost, they are surrounded by woods so endless bathroom possibilities. This beats a porta-pot anyday! Here is where I slip a Bibbity Running skirt advertisement in too, skirts are the ultimate easy access when nature calls. As much as I wanted to disprove the theory, trails are so much easier on your body. When we first started on the trail I thought it was miserable because my stabilization muscles were not ready for this. After a few miles though I could tell such a huge decrease on the impact on my lower back and hips. I may see a trail run in my future (did I just really say that????)! Mile 21 was slightly stressful because our drop bag was once again missing! I nicely (ha!) let the poor volunteer know that I was slightly concerned. Elissa would describe this the same way I'm sure as she kept apologizing saying "we know it's not your fault" to the volunteer. We said a quick prayer that 3rd drop station was the charm and our bags would be there. Ashley's turn around was around mile 23 and we kept on going with Will just a little ways behind us. We later learned that he was the smart pacer. :)
I can't exactly remember when we got back on the paved greenway but it seemed like an eternity. Switching back and forth between the pavement and the trails made me all too aware of the changes in impact. I know we were on pavement at mile 25 because the race began here. The sun was beating down and we began to run to downtown Nashville. Mile 25- 36 were by far the hardest for me. I looked over at Elissa (at this point she was on my left because I could only turn my head to the left because of a muscle spasm in my right shoulder) and she was bright red. Who would have thought mid-October that we would need to prepare for a sunburn? Not only were we both getting burned at this point, we really started to feel the effects of dehydration. I remember turning around at mile 31 to head back and asking Elissa "do you think I'd just get hurt or would I die if I threw myself down that hill into that fence?" This was probably my low point :). We continued on the levee to downtown Nashville from mile 31-37 and then hit the trails again. The one thing we kept repeating as the sun beat down on us for 12 miles was that we would be in the shaded trails for the last 13 miles. WRONG! Just because there are trees does not mean there is shade. My rock began to soften a little at this point. My rock being Elissa. She was feeling horrible and her exact words were "my quad muscles are ripping from the bone." In my mind I was freaking out at this point but remained calm for her. I really have never seen her in pain before so this really scared me. The recommendation of stopping was thrown out there and....BAM....she was back. She looked at me as if I just asked her to eat her first born child or something. Holding back tears she continued forward. The trails on the way back were not marked very well so we ran a little out of our way and met up with another weary looking runner who redirected us. You can imagine how happy we were at this point :). Elissa decided to voice how elated she was about her sunburn, dehydration, the bad trail markings and her quads. I think she felt better after she vented this to the all confused, barely moving runner. Our motivation now was "the bridge." The last mile was a straight up climb to a bridge that then proceeded to climb even more and then you had about 1/4 mile to the finish. The reason we were excited about getting to the bridge was not just the finish. It was because there was no way in Hades that we were running up that mountain! Yes our reward to get us through mile 47-49 was that the faster we ran there the sooner we got to walk! It sounds slightly ridiculous to run that far and then wimp out and walk the bridge. If you would like to meet me at that bridge sometime we can talk :). Will kept reappearing and then falling back behind us. Until the end where he conquered the bridge and finished 2 minutes before us. I wish there would've been some competitive bone left in me to chase after him but I think I said "look at him go....go Will.... I am walking!" We climbed the bridge and then approached the finish. I remember saying to Elissa "I don't care if I walk through the finish....I just want to finish this!!!" She concurred. Well....that didn't happen. We heard the people and the cheers and we full out sprinted across the finish. It really amazes me as spent as you can feel how you find it in you to sprint across the finish. I remember the speed, crossing the finish line amazed by our time, and then falling to my knees and puking. I will never forget the spectator that was sitting just feet away in a folding chair from where I finished and she looked at me and said "Great Jo......ewwww." Yeah, "ewww" was an understatement. I just smiled because I had been wanting to do that for about 20 miles!
I will have to admit, this was the ugliest race and finish I have ever completed. It's nice to blog about a wonderful race experience with great memories and an amazing finish. Sometimes though that's not the case. This was the toughest thing I have ever physically experienced (and Elissa will report the same). In the next breath, though, I am still so glad I did it and wouldn't trade it because it was a huge test. It tested our strength and mental toughness in a way I have never experienced. I saw so many lone runners and I have no idea how you run something like this by yourself. There were times that we needed to encourage each other, make the other one laugh, or simply yell at each other. I cannot imagine this journey solo. We are really pleased that our time was only 2 minutes behind our Chicago 50 because Chicago was much easier. We finished 4th and 5th (or just 4th because once again we crossed together) female overall and 19th out of 70 overall 50 mile runners.
After the race we headed to Hard Rock Cafe for some burgers. I dreamed about a burger from mile 25 on....which is weird because I rarely eat red meat but it was ALL I wanted! We then decided we needed to "go country" and get some boots to remember our journey. Thanks Mandy and Laura for the fun weekend and thanks Elissa for going jogging with me. :) Also thanks to the pack for the training! We have news for you though.....be prepared for some major hill work and some trails in the future! We were inspired by the "East Nasties" and may have to start a distance running club called the " 'Villedge Idiots " :)
