In case you didn’t see my previous post about how horrible this trail 50k was, appropriately called Mountain Madness. It was Madness in the Mountain. Literally. But enough with the spoilers.

 

Getting ready… the place is gorgeous, and leaves are changing…

 

 

Did I tell you how I am the reincarnation of McGyver?? No, not McGruber!!! My grandpa would fix anything in the world with a hammer and nail. My dad will weld anything. Me, I am duct tape specialist, just like McGyver.

 

 

My shorts looked bulky because I had like 7 gels in there.. and they were totally necessary as we got so lost we couldn’t find any of the Aid Stations for 5 hours… I also packed my camera in that arm band.

 

The Start…

 

 

The Course…

 

 

First fall at Mile 4

 

I fell on some rocks and hit my knee and my forehead, and scratched my hand and legs… I couldn’t move (or speak English) for a bit and Blaise had to pick me up. I felt SO stupid!

 

Fall #2, a bit after Mile 8. Feel free to laugh, I totally look like a clown! Or an elf!

Funny either way!

 

I fell right on my face this time, arms up, and hit my lungs and ribcage pretty badly. I also bruised my left shoulder that has been hurting from the past weeks. My thighs got bruised and scratched again. It was scratch on top of scratch, with dirt and crap on it. Sexy.

 

Glad I had the camera though! Hahahaha!

 

After my second fall, my whole left side was really hurting, ribs, lungs, and the same shoulder that got squashed in my fall earlier this month. When I run, and had to breathe harder, it was really painful. I just wanted to reach an Aid Station, but we were completely lost…. and had to keep going for 5 hours until we made it out of that maze… It was really really frustrating, because I wasn’t sure I was ever going to make it out of there, I could barely breathe, and we really had no clue where we were or what to do. I was in too much pain to even think straight. I started getting nervous that I would not be able to keep running for long, even with the lung/rib pain. Also, I just had 1 bottle of water for those 5 hours… Blaise was pretty upset too at how badly the trail was marked, but we were traying to do our best to stay calm and get out of there. I do remember screaming things like “I hate Nature” and/or/even “I hate running” at some point. And I was prettified of running there. I was on the edge of a meltdown for 12 very slow miles.

 

I did entertain myself with PhillyRunatic’s thought that every other race would be a disaster. So, Staten Island last weekend was great, this was the most horrendous mess ever, and NYCM would be OSOM. Right? The other thing that kept me happy was that I hand’t rolled my ankles (yet) or that I really hadn’t put on much mileage on. It’d be easier to start the taper.

 

I have to admit, I felt very stupid. This race was definitely not for me. It was too technical and I didn’t have enough balance with one crippled arm, hence all the falling. Also, it was really bad organized and I would never sign up again for a race with this kind of support. The tape we were supposed to follow was either non existing or confusing! We would get to a place where the trail would have three branches and there would be tape in two of them or in none of them… What do you do?? In most bifurcations we would see not one indication of which way to go!! And I am usually amazing with directions!!! Apparently, the race organizer was running around marking the course right when we were out there, he knew it was not marked and still let us go in there! That was a bit too late to try to fix the problem.

 

At some point, I hit the “Back to Start” button on the Garmin, but I think it was basically re tracing my run, which was the really long way back. Still, thank Pre for technology in the middle of the woods!!!!

 

After we finished, I had a few hours to kill before my team mates were finished so I talked to everyone there. Everyone. I wanted to find out if all trail races were like this, so technical and so badly organized, before I swore them all off forever. Everybody said the same thing: No, and NO. This course was really hard for most people, not the best idea to start with this one. Also, everyone got lost. Everyone. We had started all the way at the back of the pack, so we had no one to follow on top of it all. Most people fell, but everyone there had been lost. That’s the part I am upset about. Fine, I couldn’t go on because I was all banged up, but Blaise should have been able to finish this. It was really not cool. I would not sign up for anything like this again. You are warned if you do.

 

Having a functioning arm to balance would help, yes, but not knowing where to go and where you are for 5 hours is just something I wouldn’t want to do again.

 

The last of the pictures, back at the finish, trying to cross my legs, not easy!

 

Sunday I woke up with overall chest pain, a very sore neck (??), and very swollen knees and thighs. This is what my legs looked like the day after.

 

I might re-attempt the last long run tomorrow, though my lung/ribs still hurt. We ended up with 20 miles on Saturday but half of it was walking. Blaise is now looking for a 50k for redemption. I have no pride so I am indifferent. I mostly feel totally stoopid for falling like that. It’s quite ridiculous. I was really embarrassed. But oh well, it can’t always end well, right?  Oh yeah, I had an amazing Sunday to compensate!