Alice in Runningland: Monument Valley 50 Miler Race Recap

Alarms were set and I was ready to go! It was my first ultra marathon. I had spent the last 4 months of the Canadian winter training and couldn't wait to get it done. I was nervous and excited at the same time. I felt comfortable knowing that I was in good hands. My two run buddies are both experienced ultra train runners and would be sticking with me to the finish. My buddy Laura had all things mapped out for our race from what goes into our drop bags, to our nutrition and well as a map of the routing, times and cut offs of our race.

It was a half hour drive in the dark into the start line in Monument Valley Park. We drove in the dark with anticipation for the sun to rise and to get going. There was a bit of a back log getting into the park as we could see a line up of tail lights from quite a distance. We parked the car with 5 minutes to the 7 am start. We quickly rushed to the port of potties and met back at the start line to realize that the 50 miler group had just started, my buddies and I looked at each other and took off to catch up with our fellow racers. The first section was 4 km to the East Mitten Aid Station. It was a great way to start surrounded by many runners like a beginning of any race, all trying to find our groves. The sun was just starting to come up. I was lucky to have a photo taken of my buddy and I with some other runners at this section.

Photo Credit: Jack Jewell Photography

We ran into the first aid station, showed them our bib numbers and headed straight out to the next check point, the Three Sisters Aid Station about 7 kms away. Most of what we had run was on a single track hard dirt road. This section followed washes until we got onto the main road, Valley Drive which we stayed on, until we got to Three Sisters Aid Station.

It was a quick stop for us to take a quick pee and move onto the biggest climb of the course, up Mitchell Mesa. There had been a change to the course and we were going to be climbing the Mesa at the beginning section of the course which I was happy to get out of the way. Our legs were still fresh and spirits high.

Navajo Guide on horseback guiding us up the Mesa

It was a 15.5 km climb to the top of the Mesa. The sun was starting to come out and as we were making our way up there were already people making their way down. We are also coming up on people running the 50km race as they were doing this loop in the reverse. It was a single track heading up so had to stop along the way to let the speedsters coming down pass. It was a nice and steady climb up with shear drops so I was cautious with my footing. The views from the top of the Mesa were incredible. We stopped to take some photos, grab a quick drink and turned around to make our way back down to the Three Sisters Aid station.

Top of the Mesa

It was unreal. I was trying to take it all in, but it seemed like it was going by so quickly in slow motion. I was feeling good as we were about 3 hours into the race. It was nice to go down the Mesa and see the amazing views of Monument Valley.

Running down the Mesa

We headed straight back to the 3 Sisters Aid Station to refuel. In my head, I had thought that we would be resting at the aid stations, but that wasn't what my buddies had in mind. I came into this race with no expectations and was just following along with what I was told to do. We pretty much ran into the stations and the tasks were divided among the three of us. One was to refill bottles, the other was to grab our drop bag and take out our nutrition and whoever needed to use the potty or change went as quickly as they could. The aid station was fully loaded with volunteers cooking up all sorts of great food. There was bacon, eggs, pancakes, cooked potatoes, ham, veggies, and so much more. It was an amazing spread of food, but there was no time. I grabbed a few slices of bacon, chugged down some Tailwind and maybe some eggs. We changed our socks and used the poop/pee tents. Time was ticking and there were cut offs that we had to meet, so off we went onto our next loop.

Perfect view of us coming into 3 Sisters Aid Station

Walking towards The Arches

Next was the Arches Loop which was about 9.5 miles. This was another picturesque loop with a LOT of sand and view of the Totem Pole and other arches. There were other runners on course with us still, especially when we reached the Big Hogan. We all seemed to stop here to take photos and empty our shoes. We could not escape the sand. It was like fine talc. The sand that was in between every crevasse of your feet. We finished the loop and ended back at the Three Sisters Aid Station for the last time. We were about half way done at this point and I was still feeling alright. I think I had already taken 6 Advil's by this time along with a few caffeine pills and salt capsules. I had been carrying Hammer Perpetuem in my bottles and drinking them along the way, making sure they were empty by the time I reached every aid station. My friends were also carrying electrolytes and nutrition. We always made sure we were drinking and eating along the way checking up on each other.

Runners emptying Sand out of their Shoes

Stopping to Strike a Pose under the Big Hogan

The next section was 7 miles from the Three Sisters Aid station to East Mitten Aid station. This section had the least amount of sand, as in the dry talc sand that would seep into every inch of your shoe. We were running down Valley Drive which is a main road which cars drive down so the sand is hard and packed down towards the visitor centre. We make a sharp turn right before we even make it close to the visitor centre. This will take us towards the North Window overlook and then follows what's known as the "Marlboro Trail" around City Butte towards Artist Point then drops and follows a drainage that parallels Valley Drive to the East Mitten Aid Station. I was happy that my feet had a break from all the sand in my feet and my calves were happy that I was able to actually run on a firm surface. We changed socks again grabbed some warm food, refilled our bottles and off we went.

Horse Trails

This second last section was 7 miles to Brigham's Tomb. We were all in good spirits as this section was fairly flat, but we could see some very dark threatening clouds overhead. This section is down a dirt road and then follows horse trails to a junction we here there is a slight climb up to the aid station. At this point in the race, there were very few runners left on the course with us. There were monuments all around us as it was flat all around for parts of this section. I was in awe of how beautiful the land was around me and trying to take it all in while trying to keep moving. I knew that it was unlikely that I would be back to this area again, so I was mentally taking photos and locking them away in my memory. We kept joking to each other that we had to pick up the pace because the dark clouds were getting closer and the winds were picking up. We pulled up our buffs when the winds blew to help us from eating sand for dinner. I was sure that we were going to get caught in a horrible rain storm, but we lucked out and stayed dry. With Brigham's Tomb in sight we made the climb up to the aid station. It was super windy as this aid station was exposed to all the elements. I remember trying to sit down on a chair to change my socks and the chair was blown over by the wind gusts. This was our last aid station. We changed socks, put on an extra shirt and grabbed our head lamps. I grabbed some turkey and make a sandwiched, wolfed down some pickles, took some more Advil and rolled out of the aid station to the final section of the course. We only had 9.5 miles to go.

Still Smiling

Dark Clouds Moving In

Trying to Outrun the Storm

9.5 miles, which is about 15 kilometres was all that was left for my buddies and I to reach the finish line. We could normally run15 kms in our sleep, but we had already run 40.5 miles. I just wanted to be done at this point and this last section seemed to never end. The course runs along horse trails and skirts around the stagecoach formation. I felt like we were going in circles, my stomach was starting to feel funny. Thank goodness for the Pepto Bismol that my friend shoved into my mouth. The worse part was that we were back to running in sand..... lots of sand, including a 200 foot climb up a sand dune about half way to the finish line. I was so done with sand. I never wanted to see sand again. We stopped a few times to empty sand from our shoes. I could see that the sun was starting to set and my buddy yelled for me to pick up the pace and that we were going to finish before dark. As dusk was settling in, I was finally able to make out the main road and eventually saw the finish area. We picked up the pace and forged ahead towards the finish line. We make it off the sandy trail and onto a gravel road past the back of The View campground where finishers were camped out cheering us in. My buddies grabbed each of my hands as I could hear the cheers and our names being announced and we ran across the finish line.

Finishers!!

I had done it ! My first ultra. I was finally done. I just wanted to sit down. We got our finisher reward which was SAND....ahhhh. I grabbed a Navajo Taco and tried to eat it before jumping into the car to head back to the hotel. No one had told me how awful you would feel after an ultra. My gut hated me. I had taken more Advil's and caffeine pills in that race than I had taken in a year. I had survived on gels, chews, and fluids for the past 13 hours and all I wanted to do was to throw up. I don't think any of us got much sleep that night, but we were done. Until the next one :)