‘MY FIRST TIME’

As I sit here in my room, with my lap top, on a day quite the opposite of what the weather was like for the Bluff—it’s hard to believe that it’s just been three days since I completed my very first Ultra Marathon Distance Race!!! I can’t help but want to replay Sunday over and over again in my head, because I had such a GREAT experience…and now it is just a memory.

(First I would like to say that Shellygirl and I  took a casual run up and over Bluff Head Tuesday evening…mainly cause we were in search of my long sleeve black shirt I had taken off just past where the photographer was positioned on race day. We couldn’t find it, so if anyone knows the whereabouts of it give me a holler! Oh, and Shellygirl found a pink and black ribbon still attached to a branch—so she took it as a souvenir and tied it on her rearview mirror!) Now back to me and my memorable first time……….

Race day morning I found myself parked, unknowingly at first, in between all of the military crew. Which was quite the experience in itself listening to all of these men and a couple women saying, “Yes, Sir!” every other 5 minutes in conversation. They were all asking their Superior Officer what “the plan” was going to be for their race strategy. I thought this was funny sounding just because it was coming from none other than military personnel. After filling my handheld bottle with half water and half purple G2 Gatorade, and then taking a sip from it, I walked into the school passing by Iggy, who was the first recognizable face and cheery greeting of the day—lucky for me!!  I wouldn’t say I felt nervous walking into the gym to pick up my race bag…I’d say I felt more like I was in a dream frame of mind—where everything was just surreal. But, then after I walked back out and headed to the Porto-potty and got a whiff of what it had to offer (YIKES!)—I came to….and saw more and more familiar faces all with their bib numbers on and the reality started sinking in…. “What would it be like going beyond 4.5 hours of running???!!!!!?”

As I made my way into the Pre Race Info briefing…I quickly found my bud Shellygirl, for she had told me a few days before that she was going to be wearing purple shorts! As I stood near Ultra, Lefty, Suds and Forrest, listening to the RD, Suds said to me, “Feeling young there, huh?!!” And as I looked around…..it didn’t cross my mind till he said that, cause I think I just get swept away in being in an environment with older experienced trail runners, it actually makes me feel safe and I like it a lot—as silly as that sounds. Sooo, thanks guys for all being born in the 1940s, 50s, 60s, and 70s!—And El Toro, you just look old!! Just kidding!! Ha.

So, as we all walk out of the gymnasium and into the beautiful sunny autumn air I do some fist pounding, high fiveing action to my fellow Bimblers, and proceed towards the end of the group of runners lining up…one being that I am not a speedster, two being that I didn’t want to get trampled on, three I did NOT want to start out too fast, and four…that’s how I roll!!!

As we made our way around the field I got to check out all the runners ahead of me, I was probably 10th from being last..But it didn’t bother me, because I was running my own race and wasn’t going to let ego and that nonsense mess with my head. I did though bring and carry my headlamp in my hand, cause I still had no clue how long I would be out on the course for and wanted to be safe than sorry!

Going out to the first Aid Station was the most crowded part of the race, I saw several people with tights/pants, long sleeves and jackets on, and I for one was thinking I hope they can take those layers off later on, cause it was making me hot just thinking about it! At aid station #1 I thoroughly was uplifted and enjoyed the cheering and ringing of the cowbells as I reached my first pit stop….it made me smile….I dropped off my headlamp, drank 2 cups of soda and topped of my water bottle with Gatorade and proceeded onward. The next section of the course I found myself getting a compliment from a fellow female runner who kept going past me at times and then falling behind me at other times….she said, “You have a great even pace”. I said, “Oh”…And just smiled, because I wasn’t doing anything in strategic form—just running!

            With about 3 miles to go before reaching Aid Station #2 I found myself running with a pack of 5 people. One of them wound up being Ultra’s friend, who hadn’t ran more than 20 miles before and two men from Pennsylvania, Tom and Bill,  who I would wind up running with till reaching Aid Station # 3. At the Bluff Head though, I stuck to the soda and grabbing more Hammer gels, which I consumed every hour on the hour.  After passing the photographer positioned at the vista on top of the Bluff I was getting pretty warm with the sun and it reaching midday and the temps rising more….so I made the decision to take off my long sleeve and place it on the side of the trail, not really knowing whether or not I would see it again—but I just didn’t feel like tying a very sweaty saturated shirt around my waist till the next aid station!!!!! Sorry Bimble for “littering” with my shirt!!!!!!! At this point in the race I had noticed that I was getting some stinging sensations on my sports bra under line are—I knew that this meant that I had some major horizontal slice/slash mark wounds goin on, and when I just so happened to look down at my shorts, I noticed my white bib number was now a light pinkish brown red, due to the blood from my sports bra wounds making it’s way down the shirt with the sweat and going onto the bib. GROSS….I know!!!

            Running with the two men from Pennsylvania till I got to Braemore Preserve went by pretty quickly, because we were talking the whole time. And I have to say that I did enjoy coming out onto the road to cross the street to get to aid station #3…I felt very “cool”, having cars drive by with puzzled faces just looking to see who and what was coming out of the woods next!! This is when I have to agree with Shellygirl and say that being called a “freak of nature” isn’t that bad! Ha! At this point in the race I was still feeling totally good. I met up with Suds and ran with him for a few miles…he stopped for a second and hugged a big lonesome pine tree amongst all oaks—I wish I had a camera at that moment !  It was nice to be running with him for a bit—we gave each other some positive words and then each of us went t our own pace. By this time I was catching up to and passing a lot more people –probably 8….one girl who had to of been round my age asked if I was doing the full course or the relay. I said full, she also said that. And I told her, “Go, Us!” and she said, “Someone’s gotta do it!”.  The runners who I passed did say to me that I looked strong— I got this feedback from many people along the way. I really did feel great out there, so I guess it showed—cause I was actually happily surprised with just how awesome I felt, almost as if “nothing could get in my way”. 

            With Rennes’s Way approaching I was asked by two of the volunteers if I was the girl who was allergic to bees cause there were lots of them at the aid station I was told. So, I think my heart skipped a beat or two after I heard that cause the last thing I needed was for a stupid bee to sting me and then that would have been the end of my chance at finishing the race! So, as I approached #4 I told the volunteers I was “the bee girl”—they knew I was coming apparently. So, I thank whomever it was who informed them of this! I cautiously got my cups of soda and some oranges and a potatoe, refilled my water bottle and headed out, Bee Sting Free !  

This next 8 mile section of the course was the longest feeling. And I was by myself the whole time in running it, and I didn’t see anyone around me ever. The part where the course goes back to how we started on the stick was confusing, I have to admit. I actually stopped at the paper plate which pointed left and hesitated if I should go right cause I saw pink ribbons in that direction. And I actually thought, “Could someone have turned the plate left to play a really bad joke on everyone?!” But, after 30seconds of hesitation I went left and luckily I saw more pink ribbons…even though I still was cautious as to if I was correct and that I was going the right way! Around this time was when I would be hitting running time I had never surpassed before (like 5hours)—and  that fact kind of scared me for a few minutes….especially cause I was alone and my mind then could easily start to second guess myself. But, I would tell myself several times, “Danielle, you are doing good, just keep it up”. I noticed that my hands had gotten swollen quite a bit—which did make me a little uneasy feeling, but again, I did some positive self talk and it reassured me that I was okay.

I really was looking forward to seeing the Border Stones in cause I knew from there that it wouldn’t be so much longer to the last aid station. As I passed them I think my pace became quicker in anticipation of knowing that I had to turn somewhere down the path in a couple miles…but it turned out that I would miss this sharp left turn off! I had been running and started to think, “this doesn’t seem right”, then I looked around for pink ribbons and didn’t see any….but I thought, “welll, I’ll just go a little further”—then, I started to go down this long hill and I saw this pink ribbon really far in the distance, but it was at this gate and where a paved road was, so, I ran to the gate and realized it was just someone else’s pink ribbon and said, “F*ck” out loud, and then I started sprinting up the hill and running faster than I should of—and kept thinking that I had messed up my whole race now that I did that 7 minute off course bit. So, I then had to tell myself to start thinking positively again, because I didn’t want all this negative pissed off energy to mess up the rest of the time!

As I was about half of a mile away from #5, I caught up to Bill, who I knew hadn’t past me before I got lost, so I was pleased with how I was able to sort of get back to where I was at before the “mishap” . At the final aid station I was full of energy and ready to just really push it till the home stretch. Bill said I should go ahead of him cause my pace was quicker than his….I did, and never looked back. I TRULY felt like I was flying through the woods, and was again amazed at how I could still be running and appear to be strong at it!! I passed  few hikers who clapped as I ran by, and I just kept thinking, “Im getting closer and closer—Wowww, Im almost done!!”. And as I could start to hear the road I shot up one more steep incline, and saw the road crossing and sprinted while smiling to the end…..and I honestly could say that I felt GREAT and just SOOO satisfied with my performance. I had expected for my knee to hurt me (since I had hurt it while running the Hartford Marathon) but it never did…and I expected to “hit a wall”, but I never did…..I guess what this experience has taught me is that I should start really believing in myself more, cause I never really give myself enough credit for accomplishments at times….and I guess I should!!

I really enjoyed hanging out after the race with friends and watching others finish. All in all it was as close to a perfect day as it could have been for me THANKS!!!