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 :)

Some of the Sand I emptied from My shoes At the Hotel

 

Our Awards (I filled mine up with the Extra Sand From my Shoes)

Thank you for reading. Have you done any Ultra Marathons? Which one would you recommend we do next?

Monument Valley Race Weekend Part 1

It has taken me some time to get off the high of completing my first ultra race.  It had been months of training through the awful Canadian winter. Long runs back to back in snow storms and ridiculously cold temperatures.

I was fortunate enough to have two awesome ladies train with me and guide me through the entire process. They are both experienced ultra runners who kept me going, even on days that I just didn't want to make another step.

We flew into Las Vegas and picked up our rental car and drove 7 hours to Kayenta. Monument Valley sits between the Utah and Arizona border. During the drive, our clocks kept switching back and forth from the time zones, which I found amusing. The drive the breathtaking and the pictures do not do justice to how magnificent the view were.

Driving Hwy 59, Hurricane Utah

My buddies had done some ultras in this region, so they were able to explain to me what I was seeing and also take photos for me while I was driving. We made a quick stop in Glen Canyon to take some photos as the sun was setting and I also had never seen a real dam this big before.

Glen Canyon

Glen Canyon Dam

We made it into Kayenta in pitch darkness and passed out from our LONG day of travelling.  We got to get a real sense of the area once we woke up and looked out our windows. We were in Navajo Nation and in a very small town. There were only a few hotels, 1 grocery store and a number of restaurants. The views were none that I had seen before.  We were in the dessert surrounded by many random monuments. It was as if I was in a movie.

We were able to get a sense of our race setting as we headed to Monument Valley for bib pickup. 

Bib pickup was inside Monument Valley National Park and was quick and simple. After dropping off our bags and picking up our bibs, we took a look around the visitor centre. We bought some race swag and took in the incredible views and snapped some great shots before heading back to the hotel to rest up.

A tradition Navajo Hogan for the Ceremony

We decided to go back to a local restaurant in town to rest and  grab some food.  I had heard a lot about the Navajo Fry bread and was dying to try some.  We went to Amigo Cafe, a spot that we had gone to for breakfast but had a limited menu at the time, so we went back in search for Navajo fry bread. The photo below shows our pre race feast.  Our waiter, Chandler turned out to be a runner and running the 50K race with us the next day.  He was working hard serving all the runners that had come in for supper and giving us tips of the area.  If you're ever in that neck of the woods, I highly recommend the restaurant and calling up Crawley's Monument Valley Tours. You will not be disappointed

Mmmm, Fry Bread Taco

With our bellies full, we headed back to our hotel for some sleep.....

Ultra , Why Not?

I had met a wonderful group of running moms a few years ago and started running with them on and off early last year. At first, I was afraid to run with them as most of them are experienced runners, Boston qualifiers with tons of races under their belts.  I had a lot of self doubt and didn't want to be "that" slow one, or the one that they had to wait for.   But we all had a few things in common, the love of running and love for our family.  When I first met them, we were all training for a range of distances from half marathons to ultra marathons. I was inspired by their many stories and found myself wanting to run with them.

I spent this past year training with alongside them. I was training for my full and they were training for 100 miler and 100 km races. We spent many runs together chatting and getting to know each other. It had become my therapy to meet with these women from all walks of life and just run and forget about all that was going on in our busy lives for that couple of hours we were out for our long runs.

My 2016 racing season did not go as planned. I spent many days after my fall marathon thinking about all that went wrong and how to do it better for 2017. After a few weeks of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to try something new.  They were nothing but supportive when I asked if they would be interested in running my first ultra marathon with me. I had heard all about their previous races and was just dying to try something new. They were both experienced trail runners and had done a few ultras in the past, so I knew that I would be in good hands.

My buddies had given me a criteria for me when I was looking up races. They did not want to train in the Canadian summer which meant I had to find a Spring race, no races that are just in the forest,  they wanted something with breath taking views and nothing in Utah. We decided on the Monument Valley 50 Mile Race for 2017. I have days where I'm super excited, but most days I try not to think about it, because I am freaking out.

So tomorrow we start our training. ....




Thanks for reading...

Have you ever run and Ultra Marathon?

If so where?

Any Tips for this Newbie??