MS50 Race Recap! 20K Version.

So. From my bajillion Facebook posts over the past few days, I'm sure you have gathered that my brother and I ran some kind of insane trail race this past weekend. That is a fact jack. I have officially been inducted into the trail racing family (most definitely not the trail racing hall of fame). It all started a few months back when several Resolute Running team members began chattering about signing up for the Carl Touchstone Memorial Mississippi 50 Trail Race  in Laurel, Mississippi. I, being extremely susceptible to peer pressure, thought this would be a good mid-winter goal race to keep me training. And, bonus, my brother decided he wanted to sign up for the 50K to have a winter goal as well. I was super excited to have a fun adventure with my brother. Life is busy for both of us and it is rare that we do anything with just the two of us.

If I'm being perfectly honest, my training has definitely suffered this winter. I haven't been a total waste of space but I haven't been very consistent either. Typically having a race on my calendar keeps me pretty honest but something about the cold days, erratic weather and business around selling our house just had me super overwhelmed about getting things in.  Actually overwhelmed is putting it nicely - I have downright hated running many a day this winter. (Or every day).  But I digress.

Months turned to weeks, weeks turned to days and days turned to hours until race time. I sent a semi-panicky e-mail to Coach Alex early in the week confessing that I wasn't sure if I was ready and he assured me that it was only 12.5 miles and to just have some fun and not worry too much about the rest. After all, this race self advertises to be a "relatively easy course and a good first 20K/50K/50 miler with a course featuring soft dirt trails and pine needle paths" (straight from the horses mouth).

Friday rolled around and my crazy brother had been in DC for work and was flying back to ATL to drive to me in Birmingham and then we left together for Laurel, MS. I really don't even know how he did all of that in one day - I assured him he was bonkers about 700 times on the 2.5 hour drive. We stopped in Meridian at some super random pizza place he Yelped that was part of a Subway?? I was a little suspect at first, but the pizza was literally hand-tossed and, I thought, super delicious. We ate way too much as we laughed about where we were and what we were doing. We finally arrived at the hotel and promptly crashed with our alarms set for 4am to pick up some RR teammates to head for the forest bright and early. I, not surprisingly, barely slept. Curse of the race day nerves. I can't do it. I always toss and turn all night. Sigh.

The very dark, early morning drive out into the middle of the Desoto National Forest was a bit unnerving.  There is nothing - and I mean nothing - out there. Except probably bears. And werewolves. Against all odds, we actually did successfully find the start, manage to park in the woods without hitting a tree and get all checked in. The 50K and 50 milers went off at 6am so I had two hours to kill until the 20K went off at 8am. I stood at the start and sent CWH off with a hug and a wave and then went back to the car to hang out. And by hang out I mean eat a Cliff bar and chug a Red Bull. Oh, and take picture of the very beautiful empty forest at first light.

Around 7:45 I ambled over to the start line where I met up with the other RR ladies who were running the 20K with me. Here is where the obligatory "We're so tough, we run trails" photo was taken.

From left to Right: Yours Truly, Amy, Carrie, Becca and Lara

Around this time some of the 50K and 50 mile runners were making their first loop and we noticed a disturbing trend: muddy shoes.  And by muddy shoes I mean mud up to their knees. And I, in my infinite naivety, still thought "I'm sure most of that is avoidable." Ha. I decided not to take a change of socks - mostly because I couldn't figure out where to put them. It wouldn't have mattered.

Mile 1 was great - and fast for me - under 12 minutes. Around mile 2 I started to realize that, yes, there really is going to be mud. Lots of mud. I began by following the runners who were tip toeing their way around the worst parts but there was a traffic jam at every mud pit and it became tiresome and time consuming.  It became evident that this was not going to work and so I said screw it and tried to make a pass and go straight through the mud. Except my shoe got sucked off. Sucked OFF people. Like shoeless in a pit of mud. Helpless. For a few frightening moments I wondered if I could even find my shoe again. Thankfully, I dug it out. I liken it to this memorable scene from The Neverending Story.

If you don't believe me about the mud, here is a picture of Carrie on the course (I can't believe I didn't take photos of this stuff!) Carrie looks thrilled, no?

This pic makes me laugh out loud every. time.

Aside from the mud pits there were also creek crossings. Yes, I said creek crossings. The deepest was maybe knee high and I got to where I kind of enjoyed those. At least my shoes got washed off and I got cooled off every now and then. Most of the course looked like this though. It's not that I minded getting dirty, I just was sorely unprepared to expend so much energy slogging through this stuff.  Were people actually running through that? I guess so. After the first shoe incident though I was much more wary of trying to run through the unknown. I did my best to expeditiously navigate but basically it just really slowed me down and I tried to make up some time where I could on the service roads and "nice" trail.

Despite the challenges and my less than stellar winter training, I didn't really have many problems until mile 9. I just died. The gel didn't take. I was thirsty and accidentally grabbed HEED instead of water at the turnaround aid station. I can't say it was the HEED for sure, but about halfway through the out and back portion of the race my stomach had some pretty severe cramps and even when I was walking I just could not get a very good breath. Some days you got it and some days you don't I guess!

I can absolutely say that my favorite part of this race was sharing the course with some AMAZING runners. Everyone was so encouraging. Several RR people passed me on their 50K or 50 mile loops and really helped me along with their smiles and kind words. I can't even wrap my brain around running that course 2 or 3 times (!!!) like they were all doing. AH-Mazing people.

My least favorite part was never seeing my brother out on the course. I thought for sure he would loop me but he never did! He finished in the top 10. TOP 10. His first 50K - 32 miles in the mud and he absolutely KILLED it. But he did confess that it was the hardest thing he's ever done - Ironman included. That should give you some indication of the effort required to complete this race.

I was super happy to just finish. I'll just say that for my first trail run I was very proud. I know I could do it faster next time. I ended up finishing in 3:12ish. Considering that my half marathon PR is 2:45 I feel like I put forth a worthy effort for sure. It was all worth it for this.

I know I should wrap this up, but it's my blog and I'll say what I want to. I must add that I am continually shocked at what I am capable of doing. And not just this race. After my Las Vegas half marathon, I was so poorly trained that I could not walk for days. I have already, this week, put in a 4 mile recovery run and a 5 miler - with relative ease. It should also be noted that I have PR'd a half marathon, PR'd a 10K, run my first 15K and my first 20K all in the past 5 months. So while, yes, I have hated running at times, I'm so glad I have these moments to look back on. I sincerely could not have done it without the inspiration and training of Coach Alex and the great people of Resolute Running.

I encourage you all to step outside of your comfort zone, push past the moments of self-doubt, set aside the excuses we all have, and Just Do It (in the words of Nike)! Go out and do something you never thought you would, or could, and I promise you - that even if you fail - you will have made a great memory and learned how strong you really are.