Tushar Half Marathon Recap

It was my second year running the UltraAdventures Tushar Half Marathon. The race is most participated in by runners racing the 100K course but I'm content with seeing the mountain while still enjoying it :)

I left town Friday afternoon and when I arrived, the skies were thankfully blue, with only a few dark clouds far away. Last year it stormed before and during the race and was a muddy mess.

My friend, Tia, invited me to stay at her sons cabin with her and her husband; she was also running the half marathon. The view from the cabin was stunning! A straight shot of Mt. Holly out of vaulted windows, through an aspen stand and across a wildflower meadow. The cabin itself was gorgeous as well and would have fit right into the Parade of Homes.

We ate the pasta dinner at the Eagle Point Lodge with our free meal ticket and were not too impressed, but we did get to visit and catch up, and I also met up with my main training pals, Tom and Candice, who I had convinced to give this half marathon a try.

After dinner and chatting, we headed back to the cabin and stayed up late playing Jenga and talking. Before bed I ate half of my next-morning breakfast PB&J, given the barely-sauced pasta had already burned off.

In the morning Tia was up and ready before my alarm even went off; she said she couldn't sleep.
We both were still debating whether to take trekking poles with us during the race (it had been the source of much research, discussion and self-debate for both of us leading up to the race). We both decided they would be too cumbersome coming back down the hill. I ate my sad half  PB sandwich ate my celery (it calms my nerves and tummy) and drank half of a protein shake.

At the start line it was plenty warm and I didn't even need my arm sleeves; the tank was enough. Candice and Tom showed up on the countdown. I had been pretty nervous for them. We didn't get a picture together and I was sad about that while starting the race.

The first quarter mile of the race is down a wide but rocky dirt road hill. Then it cuts left back up along the ski lifts and starts its incline. We lose Tia right away. At a mile in, an old cabin is the first noteworthy landmark and its beautiful with the green, treeless mountain behind it.

Tom is first and I'm trying to keep up with him but also thinking that he should slow down because he doesn't know about the big miserable climb he has ahead. We lose Candice and look back. She yells at us to go ahead, that she's not going to try and keep up.

The trail continues to climb through wildflower meadows, switchbacking and skirting the treeline.

It crosses one stream, and then another. The trail is pretty rocky and requires coordinated steps and hops from one unstable rock to another. Me and Tom are already working hard, really too hard; I can hear him gasping and so am I. At about mile 3 I mention to him that the middle half of this race is the hardest and he should save some for that. He slows down a little, but not much.

We continue through the trees, always climbing, power hiking on the big hills. I think Tom is really surprised at how difficult it is to actually run up here!

We finally get to the aid station at about mile 4, which is right along Big Johns Flat road. I'm not really in need of anything by then but I know I won't be back to this aid station until mile 8 when we hit it a second time, so I eat a pretzel and a two inch piece of nutella/tortilla wrap, ya know, just so I don't get hungry.

The course turns up onto Big John Flat road so we enjoy running on packed dirt for awhile, even though it is still going uphill. At mile 4.6, I see the exit from the roadway, up onto the big, evil, no-good, very-bad hill. The trees stop here, everything above is just pure grass and rocks.

I tell Tom "here we go!" The trail flags and signs turn us right, and straight up. Straight. And we have to walk. No, we have to take 10 steps and stop to gasp. But its ok, because so does everyone else. Everyone. No one runs here. A quarter of a mile takes forever. And when you look back down the hill, you see everyone either taking slow, uphill baby steps, OR they're stopped with their hands on their hips, trying to breathe. There are runners coming down the hill toward us, but they are the 100K'ers, on a loop of their course that is different than ours but crosses paths. They look at us in pity, they know what it feels like. Most of them call out 'good work' or 'good job' or 'baby steps' or 'it'll be more fun coming back down.'  I also see the 75 year old man ahead of me.

I'm losing Tom. He's gasping; we're probably at 11,500 ft now and I know that he has no elevation training under his belt. He's stopping more frequently and taking longer to start again. I move on without him but keep checking behind me to see where he is.

I chat with a nice guy from L.A. who is here with his girlfriend running the race. He's dripping sweat and his face is green but we have about the same uphill pace so we stick together and keep chatting about him backpacking the Toiyabe and Toquima Mountains and my Antelope 55K Race. 

My L.A. friend just behind me, Tom further back

I look back and Tom isn't even within sight. I've forgotten how tough this uphill climb is. I can tell when I push too hard because I start getting a little nauseated. Thats my cue to back it off a bit. I pass the 75 year old man but not very much; he can move!

At mile 6 we reach the peak of Delano, YAY! I spend more time than I should, a full 10 minutes probably, taking pictures and watching the 100K'ers come up the back side of the peak.

When I finally turn around to head back down, TIA surprises me by being right there! I spend more minutes stopped; we get a photo together and when I ask her if she has passed Tom or Candice, she mentions that Tom is pretty sick and keeps throwing up. I feel really bad.

I turn back down the hill and can see my L.A. friend way ahead of me. I make him my target (a fun race tactic) and start chasing. I meet Tom and Candice a little way down the hill and he's very pale. They're still on their way up so I wish them well and apologize to Tom and then start my chase down the hill again.

I really like running downhill. Especially on unstable, rocky, slippery terrain; its my strength. I'm able to make up a lot of time and I catch up to my L.A. friend and pass him. Then I notice a girl in a blue shirt ahead of me. I haven't seen any other girls ahead of me so I feel competitive and make her my next target. At the bottom of the evil hill, at the junction of the Big Johns Flat road, I catch up to her and pass her but once we're onto the road, I can't shake her off and I'm working really hard.

We make it back to the aid station, about mile 8.5, at the same time and I notice that she's going to stop to refill her water bladder. Mine is one drink before empty but, gosh dang it, I want to give myself a little space to stay ahead of her! I grab a pretzel, a swig of coke, guzzle a cup of water, and I get out of there.

Who's ahead of me on the trail now? None other than Mr. 75 year old man. He's wearing khaki cargo shorts (not even running clothes), white tube socks, a cotton tshirt, and dirty old white tennis shoes. I catch up to him after a few minutes and I just have to ask, in my most calm sounding gasp, "Whats your secret?" He laughs and says, "Well, lets see. Don't give up?" He asks me what my secret is and I'm gasping for air so he answers for me "Healthy eating. Plenty of exercise." He says he trains on the hills behind his home. He's amazing! I want to be him someday.

I pull ahead of him a ways and look back to see the girl in the blue shirt behind me. I can't run any faster so I concentrate on keeping my effort at 99.9 percent. The sun is out and its pretty hot. I take my last drink and get that panicked feeling when you're out of water but don't know if you're really thirsty or not.

Should I drink it?

Its about mile 10.5 and I am having to stop and walk on perfectly level ground. This makes me angry. That big evil hill takes it out of you. I run, walk, run, walk. Keep looking behind me. She's not gaining so she must be pretty tired too. The clouds cover the sun and that helps a lot.
It's mile 11 and I see the cabin within sight. The girl with the blue shirt is no where in sight. I'm all alone, both behind me and ahead of me.

I see the ski lifts and the big dirt hill and I know I am NOT going to be able to run up it. I power walk as fast as my nausea will let me. I want to be able to run across the finish line. I get to the top and hear cheering. I run but its really slow and heavy. I cross and am so grateful its over!

3 hours 34 minutes

The next runner across is the girl in the blue shirt, two minutes after me. Tia comes in at 3:53, Tom at 4:04, and Candice at 4:16.  The winning female ran it in 3:07. I'm 5th in womens, 12th overall. It's fun to know where you place. What can be achieved. I enjoy the race.

LeBaron 2017

Brrrr! is the perfect way to describe our trip to LeBaron this year!

It was our first time tent camping at LeBaron (our second time altogether; the first at Boulder Mountain a few weeks earlier), and we weren't quite prepared for the cooler-than-normal temperatures. It was cold at night (high 40's/low 50's) and chilly due to cloud cover and rainstorms that rolled in every afternoon. There were hardly any bugs this year and no dust to deal with at all, thanks to the rain, but it wasn't muddy either. Just perfect!

The girls really enjoyed camping next to their cousins, Hayden and Paisley, in a camp just inside the entrance to Woodcutters Road. To make up for not camping next to the lake we took a daily walk there, once to fish with "Uncle Kory" and another day to fish with the Hooks. Kory's son was friendly to the kids and helped them learn to cast and watch for a fish.

 

Of course they had a treasure hunt organized by Grandma. She had them take turns at finding the pieces of paper at each stop.

 The strawberries were plentiful and quite large this year so the girls spent quite a bit of time picking them whenever they saw an opportunity.

Jocelyn and Hayden spent quite a bit of time making paper bag puppets and rehearsing "shows" to perform for everyone. They called each show "Stage 1" and then "Stage 2" for a second show, all the way up to "Stage 4" for the last show. It was really cute and they were proud of their performances, even assigning 'seats' and making a welcome sign. Jocelyn crafted a bird mask and baby bird for one of the performances. She is so creative.

One afternoon they found blue glitter which ended up leading them to ..... a cookie tree! They were beyond excited about that.

They spent the rest of their time playing with Hayden's stomp rocket, picking wildflowers, throwing balls to the dogs to fetch, and talking about the deer leg they found behind a pine tree and how it must have gotten there and what must have killed it.

Jocelyn made her own slingshot out of a y-shaped stick and her rubber bands. She practiced shooting rocks with it but it was pretty tough to master!

Millie and Paisley really enjoyed playing with each other. They blew bubbles and chased each other in their own little game.

Since we were tent camping we had no toilet. They hadn't quite mastered the art of the squat so Dad built them a "forest toilet" out of an old stump that was soft in the middle. He used his axe to finish hollowing it out, made a toilet seat out of smooth round branches, and a nice stone step to get up to it. It sure made life easier!

Our tent was really too small for the 5 of us so we were on a sort of sleep rotation in the tent. The first night, Mom slept in the hammock, Dad outside on the cot, and the three girls in the tent.
The second night Mom slept in the tent with Millie and Ivy, Dad on the cot, and Jocelyn in with Grandma. And the third night, Ivy was in with Grandma, Dad on the cot, and Mom, Millie, and Jocelyn in the tent.

The girls enjoyed each having a night with Grandma, I think, individually.

Dad took them on four-wheeler rides and was a burro for Millie on walks.

I almost decided against camping at Lebaron this year, just to change routine, but I'm really glad that we kept tradition and went this year. It was enjoyable!