3 DAYS OF SYLLAMO-ARKANSAS--MARCH

3 DAYS OF SYLLAMO-ARKANSAS--MARCH

While in Loveland, CO a friend of mine (Ryan) provoked me to sign up for Three Days of Syllamo.  Syllamo is a three day stage race (50km, 50 miles, and 20km) that is held in the Syllamo Ranger District of the Ozark Mts in Arkansas.  The race took place mid-March.  I hadn't raced since early December and had taken the essential rest my body deserved.

I signed up for the 50 mile and 20km races (day 2 and day 3).  BAM!!! I had something to train for other than the usual "I'm training for life" running schedule.

I had one month until the race.  My goal was to strengthen my core and prevent the back pains or back tweaks I sometimes have towards the end of races or long runs.  I also worked very hard on strengthening the muscles that support my knees.  (Effort in both areas paid off 100% at the end of the race.)  I was also fortunate to be able to run a few times with friends (Ed and Wendy) who live on the front range. 

Brad finished his job in Colorado and we headed back to Arkansas a week or so before the race.  We went on a run near Petit Jean Mountain with my buddy Deb.  It had to be the most humid day in Arkansas so far this year and I felt like I had weights tied to my legs. 

Eventually race weekend came up and I was mega chipper about it!   I wish I had more photos some friends took throughout the race but I don't. Only finish line video footage of me talking 1,000mph...

Day 3 (~14 miles) Brad, me, and Ryan

After the race I was asked to write up a report and send it to the local ultra running group's newsletter (Arkansas Ultra Running Association [AURA]) about the race.
I've pasted it below:

Three Days of Syllamo – Stage Race

 

Three Days of Syllamo had always been planned as Two Days of Syllamo for me.  Excited to be back in the Ozarks, I headed up to Blanchard Springs to watch my friends start the 50K race on day 1 of 3.  By the end of the day I witnessed more frustration, anger, and disappointment from runners who struggled with unexpected heat, dehydration, sickness, and being lost (off-course).  These mini-horror stories did not amplify my positive psyche.  “Whoa,” I thought to myself, “this is going to be rough tomorrow.”  The next morning I rolled out of the tent, crammed food in my mouth, dropped off the drop bags, noted words at the pre-race meeting, and still had enough time to think about the race jitters.  I love the feeling of being nervous before a race.  It is exactly the same feeling I have learned to embrace when presenting my work to an audience of dubious scientists.  As soon as the sun came up, an hour into the race, I sprained my ankle and felt that horrific pain and adrenaline rush.  I kept moving.  With this being my first 50 mile race my only goals were to finish before 12 hours and run conservatively the first half and give it everything the second half.  At the second aid station I introduced myself to the Peytons and ate a delicious piece of St. Patty’s Day cake that was green!  I also noticed that a woman blasted through the aid station while I was flapping my mouth!

“Uh oh” I thought.  I was feeling competitive and needed to get going.  I caught up and passed the woman who blasted through the aid station.  Little did I know she would run directly behind me for the next 9 miles.  We hustled through this section, hollow after hollow, and then she blasted through the Cripple Turkey aid station while I knew I had to eat.  She was gone.  The next section went from road to trail, back to road and then an obvious, hard turn to the right onto the Ozark Highlands Trail.  There was a barrier (log + lots of blue flagging) in the road directing runners onto the trail.  For some strange reason I jumped that barrier and flew downhill on the road and eventually realized the guy behind me was no longer there.  I ran back uphill and hit my low point.  I thought over and over “Duuude!! That was so stupid!”  Finally, I started seeing the people who were on their return trip (out and back course) and I became stoked.  At this point, I realized I was 4^th woman and I knew I was going to see my pacer in a few miles.  A very strong-willed guy named Corbin passed me before mile 30 and we talked about how we felt at the moment.  He said the most amazing and neurotic thing, “My feet hurt pretty bad, and it’s motivating me to run faster.” and he ran faster.  I picked up Brad (boyfriend) and we ran like crazy to Barkshed trying to ‘close-the-gap’ on the woman in front of me.  In this long section (~ 9mi), we were able to pass many people struggling with the heat.  Each time I reached the bend in a hollow I wanted to stop in the shade for just a tiny bit of relief from the sun and heat.  As I approached Barkshed I could hear Deb, my friend and next pacer, and I started running faster.  Deb was ready to run!  As I left the aid station, I noticed the 3^rd place woman in front of me and she insisted I pass.  Brad and I had closed the gap. 

At this point, I was so tired of the heat that even the shade from a tree trunk was sweet relief for a moment.  At the last aid station, I had still not seen the woman behind me and so I chatted a moment with an old grad school friend working the aid station and crammed food in my mouth.  Between this aid station and the finish, I noticed a mess of turkey feathers.  I commented to Deb about the feathers and suddenly there was a third voice that said “Oh yeah, I noticed those this morning.”  I turned my head and realized I had been caught.  Two steps later, without saying a word to Deb, I was running as fast as I could and we did just that until the very end.  I finished in 10 hours and 33 minutes!  I feel very fortunate to have people in my life who were able and willing to have fun and pace me out there on Day 2.  I only had one complaint in my head the whole day-no real potato chips at the aid stations - only Pringles.

The real challenge was putting on my running garb the next morning in the misting rain to run ~14 miles on Day 3!  Day 3 was pretty rough for me.  I had an insatiable hunger the whole time.  The tough runners who completed three days of syllamo are so burly and such an inspiration!

DAY 1:  Photo by Katie Childs (Race Photographer)

DAY 2:  (~ mile 30) and DAY 3: (~ mile 13) Photo by Katie Childs (Race Photographer)

Front Range SnickSnack

JANUARY-FEBRUARY--2013

We left Arkansas for North Carolina at the beginning of January after having just travelled to Arkansas a couple weeks prior for the X-mas holiday season. 

TWO MINUTES after arriving at our home in western NC, B-rad received a call for a job in northern Colorado.  Holy what.  We packed our belongings up that night and left for Colorado the next day, after having just arrived on the east coast.  Sigh. ..but what a great opportunity this was going to be to check out a new place and chart some new territory. 

A short stint in Loveland, Colorado presented itself when B was offered a new contract opportunity.  Fortunately, these days my job allows me to travel and work (with the internet).  Immediately upon arriving in Loveland, CO we headed out to find the closest trails to town.  Quickly, I found the Round Mountain Trail located in the Big Thompson Canyon (Big Thompson River) that lifted ~1800 feet in 4.5 miles. The reward is not a view at the summit, but the relentless steepness in the last .5 miles that makes the heart pound.  I love moving in the uphill direction on foot as fast as possible.  Fortunately, in my world of trail running, the front range of eastern Colorado did not receive a ton of snow over the past two months and even the mid elevations were easily run-able.   

Loveland turned out to be a slow, sleepy, family town with excellent access to a handful of things that kept me very busy. In the evenings we would hit up the ‘rock’ climbing gym called Inner Strength and wear the body out.

One day I decided to hike up to Chasm Lake.  Chasm Lake is below The Diamond on Long’s Peak.  I drove up to the trail head via the Big Thompson Canyon and Estes Park.  After about two and a half miles of snow-packed, uphill movement I was completely knocked down off my feet in a gust above tree line.  The gust front was pushing 40-60 mph wind gusts above tree line and I became adrenalized.  The beautiful halo of misty clouds over Longs Peak in this photo above (about two hours later) would never have lead me to believe that I couldn’t stand on my own feet up there. 

In the first few days in Loveland I found the Devil’s Backbone Open Space.  The Devil’s Backbone is simply a spine of rock outcroppings stretching a mile or so.  This trail actually traverses across the buttes and hills that stretch from Loveland north to Horsetooth Reservoir in Fort Collins (~15 miles).  On this first day out at the Devil’s Backbone I realized I wasn’t able to run a particular hill that was steep, but not too long.  BAM! I had my first goal.  Perhaps coming from sea-level was going against me, the fact that I had been resting and not running much, or maybe the nice cushion I packed on during the holidays was dragging me down a bit.  All the same, I accomplished the goal of running up the damn thing with ease.  I know that I have to attribute al ot of my ‘running up hills with ease’ to a machine.  Never in my life had I trained on a treadmill.  I had access to a treadmill located in our HOA (neighborhood) that I could freely use anytime.  First, I discovered that no matter WHAT, the treadmill is extremely boring.  So, I went for the best workout I could get – I set the vertical gain to the highest setting and cranked out up to 5000 ft of vertical gain per session.  Even with this horrendously monotonous resource under my thumb I still wanted new trails outside.  I found a trailhead near the Glen Haven/Drake, CO area and found an equally amazing trail that meandered ~2000 ft vertically in ~5 miles.  I became extremely adrenalized out on this trail because of the remoteness and the feeling of being stalked by a mountain lion.  I know it sounds ridiculous to be ‘afraid’ and that the actual chances of even seeing a mountain lion are extremely low.  I took it upon myself to read the most recent reports published by the local governing agencies...hunting mountain lion regulations, population densities, geographic range in the winter, and human-lion incident reports.  I was doing every unadvisable recommendation perfectly.  I am a small human, running alone, running in their lower elevation winter range/habitat, and running really fast when I thought about being chased.  I did not become a snick snack.