I felt better after doing the 50 miler than after running the marathon last year. Crazy. Don't get me wrong... I was very tired and sore. I had indegestion and really couldn't eat well or sleep well the night after my run. But overall, not too bad.
I took off running for 3 days and on Wednesday, went and worked out with Rich at the gym. I told him of my hurt knee but it was feeling a little better. We did some leg work and did some sprints on the treadmill. I should have told Rich no and refuse and listen to my body and not him, but I am dumb and didn't. My focus had turned to the 100 miler and wanted to get back on track with training. The next day my knee really started to hurt again... it did not get better the next few days after that either. It was hurting even when walking so I was scared it was something major. Again, I should have recovered more. I was getting a lot of recommendations to go get it checked out by doctors but really didn't want to go down the surgery road.
So, basically, I took about 1 month off from running knowing that this really shot my chance at the 100 miler... at least for this year. I would try running like 3 miles here and there when my knee was feeling good, but at about 3 miles everytime it would begin to hurt again. I was getting very frustrated! Any runner would know this feeling. Well, eventually I was able to run 3... then 4, 5, and finally I got up to 7 miles. This was good since our scout troop was going to be hiking King's Peak Aug. 10-13. Well, we did it last weekend!! King's Peak is the highest peak in Utah at 13,500 elevation. We backpacked in (my backpack weighed 44 pounds) for 9 miles to base camp. We then summited on Friday (12 miles total that day... it was tough with the last part really steep, just bouldering with no real trail to follow) and then backpacked out on Saturday. So, a total of 30ish miles. I kept waiting for my knee to act up, but it didn't. I am very glad! We saw a few runners while backpacking down and a few when we were summiting... after getting back, I found that there was a small informal run up to King's Peak that runner's were doing in 1 day. I also found out that a runner named Davy Crockett (funny eh?) did a double King's Peak in 19 hours. Probably the first to do this.... almost 60 TOUGH miles in 19 hours. Started me thinking it would be fun to run that too... not a double, but just the 30 miles in the same day. We'll see.
My future: Since my 100 is shot this year.... I'm looking for a shorter race this fall- either a 50k or another 50 miler. Maybe I'll do Antelope Island 100 in March... there's also another 100 in May of next year.
Also, I get the Ultra Runners magazine and was really looking foward to get the issue with the Squaw Peak 50 miler, my first Ultra Race, results. Well, there was a mistake and they put in the race results for last years race... I was disappointed. Well, I emailed the editor and she said they were going to republish and asked me to write a short blip about the race to be included. So, looking forward to seeing that.... I am now published ;)
Here's what I summarized for Squaw Peak 2011 race:
Due to 300 - 400% of normal snow pack, this year’s race was done on an alternate course due to washed out roads/trails and the inability to get volunteers to certain aid stations. The changed course was an out and back, so it was good to see the leaders coming back as well as say hello and give encouragement to other runners. The course was just as tough, if not more tough, than the normal course and seemed to add 30 to 60 minutes to past runner’s normal course times. There was over 12,000 ft. in elevation gain/loss. Another item that was tough for runners was the hot temperature on race day. Race day saw one of the first warm/hot days of the year and became tough for some runners due to their lack of any heat training prior to race day. There were 195 finishers and 38 DNF’s. One of the finishers, Bill Peck, broke his nose coming down Rock Canyon somewhere between mile 6 to 11, but went on to finish.
Lace 'em Up! Chainsaw
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