Shannon & Pam, after months of training, officially became ultrarunners with finishing Way Too Cool 2010 (3/13/10). They continue to run the long distances as they continue to challenge themselves physically & mentally. This is where they post those triumphs and also their tribulations.

May 22, 2011

Three for Three - Shannon

I did 3 races in 3 weekends and finished all 3.  I have no clue how I ended up doing 3 races in 3 weekends, but I did.  Yes I'm pooped!

April 30th - Apple Blossom Trail Run

This was a 9 mile run through private orchards in Placerville, CA.  I decided to do this run this year (2nd annual) because I wanted the chance to run in an area that you can never run on your own, plus it was for a good cause, Hope House of El Dorado County.

My favorite part of the whole course
This ended up being a much tougher race than I had anticipated.  It was a cross country event.  We ran on pavement, dirt, grass, and whatever else you came upon, which meant some "blind" running was involved.  The altitude was about 3000 feet and there was quite a bit of climbing out there.  I primarily ran by myself, but I really enjoyed it once we were done with the first loop.  That's when we got to run through some forested area (see pic above) and then the apple trees with beautiful blossoms.  Oh so pretty.


The worst part of the race was, I developed my very first blister ever on a run -  AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH - with one week before my Wild Wild West Marathon.  Not happy.  Sadly, I didn't know that I was developing a blister (never having had one).  I thought it was a rock in my shoe.  So I stopped and took my shoe off, losing time, only to discover I had a blister. 

I finished in 1:51, 11th of 12 in my age group, 34th out of 39 overall (female).  Hey, at least I wasn't last :)
There are NO pictures of me during the race.  I guess the photographer got tired of waiting for me to come through or something.  There's only me at the start line - Boring.

May 7th - Wild Wild West Marathon

You can read about this fun experience in my previous post

May 14th - Dirty Secret Trail Run

This was the 1st race Pam and I have done together since last summer.  WOW! The ONLY reason I decided to do it!  Plus it was on a portion of trail that I had never been on, so...............  This was a 10 mile run in Cool, CA.  It too was a for a good cause - Project Fit  a program to bring running to young kids after school in the Sacramento area.

Shannon, Angie, Pam
We started the race with Angie, who is Mindy's sister (my running buddy at Wild Wild West).  She is coming off an awful injury and this was to be her first race.  She of course, did awesome.  Never saw her after we started until I crossed the finish line.

The turtles back together again!
I guess my legs were a lot more fatigued than I had thought and the climbs were really hard.  So I didn't do so hot and couldn't keep up with Pam after about 6 miles.  Oh well, it was pretty and I enjoyed it!

Ed and me
The best part was having Ed Walsh come down the hill to run me in for the last .1 miles.  Ed, too, has been out of running for a while, and he's coming back with a vengeance! 

In our age group, Pam finished in 2:07, 18th, and I finished in 2:11, 21st out of 27.  Angie is in the younger age group and she finished in 1:48, 13th out of 43.  Dang she's fast!

And my buddy Ed, who did the short course, finished first in his age group!! He rocks!


FTR girls rock the Dirty Secret!
I'm done with races and long distance running for a few weeks.  I will be doing a 10 miler in late July, but my next big race (and last for the season) is at the end of September and official training for that doesn't start for another month.  Yeah!  So I'm basically taking a month off (of course there will be some runs in there) and I'm going to focus on weight training, nutrition, and cycling - cause I got me a new road bike!  Oh yeah - I'm excited.  You can check it out on my other blog - As The Turtle Turns.

Stay dirty!

May 11, 2011

Wild Wild West Marathon 2011

 Can you say brutal?  This was an extremely tough, but gorgeous run.  It's nothing like the Sierra Nevadas where we have beautiful tree cover, soft pine needled dirt, lots of streams to keep us cool, etc.  This is the high desert, wide open, lots of sand and rocks, etc.
 The race started in Tuttle Creek Campground.  It is very unformal start, our start line was a line drawn in the dirt.  I love these kinds of races.  Our starting elevation was 5100 feet.
 I was so happy to have Mindy start the race with me.  Her mom lives in Independance, which is only 10 min away from Lone Pine.  Her mom was awesome.  She picked me up at 5:30a and took my battered body home that afternoon.
 When you start the race you basically climb for 8.5 miles, so there is a lot of walking.  The sand was really bad during this time too.
 Here we are after a climb.  We thought we were done (with the climbs), but apparently not.  We got a little tease of a downhill then wham we had to start climbing again.  Well apparently, there was some ribbon play on the course and a lot of us took a wrong turn (with ribbons showing us the way) up this hill (that's Mindy right up ahead on RHS).
 Luckily we didn't go ALL the way to the dead end, other runners determined that we weren't on the right path and started heading back down.  Some even crossed over the wild terrain to get to the correct trail.  This little detour took us out of way 1.5 miles GGGGRRRR.
 Here we are at the highest point of the race 6500 feet.  The road on the LHS is the Whitney Portal Road, the road on the RHS is Hogback Creek Rd and that's the way were going.
 After peaking at 6500 feet, you start a 6.7 mile decent.  I believe this is where I began to struggle.  The elevation was wreaking havoc on my lungs and I was having a hard to taking in a deep breath.  My legs were feeling like lead.  By mile 12 I could no longer keep up with studette Mindy.  I proceeded to struggle the rest of the way.  My feet really started to hurt and I just couldn't get the oxygen my lungs wanted.  Not to mention the heat was starting to pick up and we were totally exposed.
 Here I am at mile 20 of the race.  I felt like this skeleton (dead) by mile 20, especially when my watch said I only had 4.5 miles to go, but in reality I still had 6.2.  I logged my marathon (26.2 miles) as being finished at 7 hours 19 miles.  I really really struggled after that.  I couldn't run anymore, even though it was fairly flat.   I believe the last mile was the hardest of them all.
 When I got within a tenth of a mile from the finish I started running and Mindy got it.  My dad did too, but I don't have those pics yet.
It was awesome to have my mom and dad at the finish.  Mom made me a sign that says I'm a Trail Turtle Goddess.  I think that might be the name of another blog I'm considering starting, which would be about other things in my life besides running.  Not sure yet, I have a hard enough time writing this one. :)


Started at 5100 feet, peaked at 6500 feet, finished at 3700 feet, 7 hours 48 minutes, 10th out of 11 in my age group (didn't finish last - woo hoo).  Mindy finished 7 hours 7 minutes and 8th in our age group.

So as tough as this race was Mindy and I both said we'd do it again.  We had considered the 50k for next year, but after, we both said no way on the 50k, but yes on the marathon.  However, some sand training is definitely in order.  Plus, I need to wear shoes not so well ventilated.  I have some awesome trail shoes designed for quickly drying after going through water, well that wasn't a good thing when you're in a lot of sand.  I did have to stop several times to empty my shoes which cost me time.  Next year, different shoes.  Plus I need to deal with my foot issues before I do this one again.  But it's definitely on the calendar for next year.

Thanks again to Mindy and her mom (Mindy for running with me, her mom for driving us to the start line at 5:30a), my mom and dad (for driving me all the way to Lone Pine and back - they're awesome), my aunt and uncle (for letting me crash their pad) and for my training partners who did the distance with me when needed, Ralph and Lisa.  Hugs to you all.

For more pics, click HERE.

FYI - I did the Apple Blossom Trail run (9 miler) the weekend before the WWW marathon and developed my very first blister EVER.  But the blister was no longer an issue for the marathon, thank goodness.

This weekend I'm doing the Dirty Secret Trail Run (10 miler) with Pam.  I just realized that I'm doing 3 races in 3 weeks.  Ya, I'm done for a while after Saturday's race.  But I'll post about it and the Apple Blossom Run too later.

Stay dirty.