Way back in November, the gang started making plans to do the Zion Ultras in Utah. We had people at the 100K, 50K, and half-marathon distances. We made all the travel plans and started training. At the time, it seemed so far off; when the weekend finally arrived, it seemed almost unreal.
The five of us who were signed up for the 50K, Nate, Tim, Myung, Mikki, and I, lined up at the start on Sunday morning. Karri had finished the 100K in the night with Carrie pacing her the last twenty miles, and Amber, Theresa, and Josh were set to do the half-marathon an hour after us. With Amber, Theresa, and Josh cheering us on, we took off:
The first six miles were on dirt roads that we'd done a shakeout on a couple of days prior. Myung, Mikki, and I pretty much stuck together during this portion, and we were feeling pretty good. After the first aid station, we headed into Gooseberry Mesa still together. Here the terrain became very rocky and technical, which I tend to be more cautious on, so I fell back a bit.
The trail was marked by white dots and pink flags, and sometimes it was hard to tell where you were going. For example, at one point, I saw a pink flag on a rock and took it to mean that you were supposed to go around the base of the rock, but when I started doing so, there was no trail there. Someone told me I was supposed to go OVER the rock. Okay then! The following things happened in no particular order:
1) I started up a hill that was an out-and-back and crossed paths, first, with a woman who was breathing quickly, almost like she was hyperventilating. Someone asked her if she was okay, and she said yes. Then I crossed paths with Myung, who said something like, "It's scary up there, Molly." It was, in fact, very high with a steep drop. A lot of people were stopping to take pictures, but I didn't even want to mess with my phone, so I headed back down.
2) At a couple of points, I had to use my hands to help myself over rocks, and at one point my knees were down on a rock, too. I had debated the "shorts vs. capris" question the night before, and I was glad that I had chosen capris so that my bare knees weren't down on the rock.
3) I came upon a permanent trail marker that said something like, "Difficulty level: Extreme," and a guy running near me said something like, "As opposed to what we've been doing already, which has been a walk in the park?"
4) A couple running together asked me what mileage I had on my watch. I said 13.8. They said they had the same, and asked if I'd seen an aid station; they said there was supposed to be one at (I think) 12.7. Then I ran into another girl who said that she was pretty sure there wasn't another aid station until mile 17-point-something. It turned out it was somewhere between 14 and 15. I used the port-a-potty, filled my water bottles, grabbed part of a turkey sandwich, and headed back out.
I continued on Gooseberry Mesa and had thoughts like, "Is the whole race going to be like this?," and "Holy crap, how long am I going to be out here?" The terrain made for slow moving. Then I hit another aid station that took you back out to the dirt road. There, I could finally get moving at a decent pace, and I started picking people off again (A LOT of people passed me on the mesa). I wondered how far ahead Myung and Mikki were. There was a crossroads where you turned left, and that's where Josh, Theresa, Amber, Karri, and everyone (those who had done other distances or were there to pace or watch) were cheering. Amber ran out to me with a bag of food and asked what I needed. I said I was good and took the left turn. I continued to pick people off and started crossing paths on an out-and-back with people who were heading to the finish, including Nate.
I headed into Grafton Mesa. At the aid station there, a volunteer told me that I would do a 5-point-something-mile-loop, come back, and then head back on the dirt toward the finish. On the loop, I crossed paths with Mikki, who was somehow behind me now (she later said I had passed her at the aid station going in and hadn't seen her). Also on the loop, things got technical again. I had to use my hands a couple more times to pull myself up. Also, at one point, some sort of spiky plant got caught on my capris, I cried out, and the dude behind me pulled whatever it was out for me. There was a HUGE hill at one point, and I said aloud, "You have got to be kidding me." Whatever mileage the volunteer had said it was, my watch had it at more than that, and as my water dwindled, I started thinking things like, "How much further?" and "I want to be done with this."
Finally I made it back to the aid station. I caught a glimpse of Myung just leaving, but I badly needed to fill my water bottles, so I didn't try to catch up to her. I headed back out to the road and started on the final dirt stretch to the finish. The course took us again past the crossroads where you had turned to go towards Grafton Mesa, and where you headed towards the finish. The gang was still there cheering and going crazy, which gave me a boost. Also, there was a dude in a grim reaper costume stopping anyone who still had to go to Grafton Mesa; they had missed the cutoff and would be "reaped" from the course. But for those of us who just had to go to the finish, he high fived us, so that was something, being high fived by the grim reaper. I headed toward the finish. Amber and Karri were there to cheer and take pictures. Myung had finished about five minutes ahead of me, and Mikki finished about five minutes after, so we were all really close despite having separated. We all took some group pictures and headed back to the Air B&B.
So, it was by far the most challenging course I've ever done and probably ever will do. Though time goals went out the window pretty early on due to the terrain, and though there were times I was cursing the heavens, I, as a whole, felt good-- no injuries, no feelings of nausea, etc. Two days later, I am back in Omaha, still tired and sore, but as a whole feeling pretty good. Though I at one point thought to myself, "a half-marathon would have been plenty on this terrain," I'm glad I did it. As always, shout out to the awesome running crew from Omaha, who also kicked ass at their goals over the weekend. We have the best group ever.
