Antelope Island 50 Mile Video
Antelope Island 50-Mile Run
March 21, 2015
Pre-Race Thoughts
In 2014, I watched a video of a local elite trail runner,
Janice Cook running the Antelope Island 100 mile run. I watched it at least 20 times and a small
ultra-running seed was planted. I was beyond inspired. I started doing research on ultra running and
the local trails became my new playground.
After talking with a few trail-running buddies, I decided in
January 2015 that I wanted to run the Antelope Island 50 mile race. I knew I would be in way over my head, but I
had to start somewhere.
Many running friends accompanied me on long trail training
runs. All of the trails included a lot
of elevation, which was foreign to me. I
struggled on these runs and doubt would fill my mind. One of my dear training friends, Kelli
Stephenson, was a wealth of knowledge.
She was full of constant encouragement, advice, and believed in me 100%.
A week before the race, my original pacer had a sudden
injury come on. Being a runner, I know
that these injury events are never planned.
I wasn’t stressed and planned on running the race alone. Kelli (who had previously committed to
volunteer at the race and couldn’t be my pacer) continued to encourage me to
find another pacer. Every day she sent
me a text asking if I had found a replacement.
I figured if Kelli was suggesting it, I had better do it.
Matt Clark, a local ultra runner agreed to be my pacer last
minute. I knew he would not put up with
any tears, whining, or thoughts of quitting.
I had to bring my A-game.
I had some major anxiety at the beginning of the week. The biggest culprit was the fear of the
unknown. I had run 31 miles before, but
was terrified of the last 19 miles. I
knew it was going to be a mind over matter situation, but I wasn’t sure how
strong my mind was going to be. I
finally calmed down by the end of the week.
Race Day
I woke up at 3:00am, got ready, and drove out to the
island. I saw Kelli before she headed
out to her aid station. I appreciated
her kind and encouraging words. I saw
Janice Cook, the gal who inspired me by her movie. She was running the 100-mile race again and I
was filled with another dose of her inspiration.
I put my drop bags in the designated spots and headed to the
start line. It was still very dark, but
I saw a lot of familiar faces. The race
director yelled out “run you fools” and we were off. The first several miles were on a single
track and it was just a long line of runners running/hiking.
I was overcome with the peacefulness of the island. The lights from the city and the headlamps
from the other runners were majestic. We
finally came to the Elephant Head aid station (mile 5.5) where Kelli was
volunteering. I handed her my headlamp
and proceeded to an out/back bluff. The
sun was rising and it was beautiful. I
saw Kelli again, then started to climb the long set of switchbacks. Another long line of runners hiking.
We finally got back to the Elephant Head aid station (mile
15). Kelli filled up my water bottles
and opened my GU packet while I took a big swig of Coke. I was nervous as many runners I knew that
were slower than me were way ahead of me.
But I kept recalling the advice I had heard again and again…go out slow
and then go slower. That advice served
me well later on.
I ran with a fellow named Brandon for several miles. It was really nice to have someone to talk to
and keep my mind occupied. We headed
back to the starting line and filled up water bottles at the aid station (mile
20). My IT band was starting to bother me
at this point. I’ve never had problems
with my IT band before and was not sure why it was acting up. The pain would come and go through out the
race.
I eventually left Brandon around mile 23. I started the East section of the island and
this turned out to be a very long and lonely section of the course. I passed several runners here and felt very
strong. But I would also go for miles
without seeing anyone. This isolation
has a tendency to play mind games. I
kept telling myself to just make it to the next aid station (mile 25 and mile
30).
I would meet my pacer Matt at mile 33. My main goal was to
make it to him. I was very fast at all
the aid stations – just filling up my water bottles. But planned to take a few minutes at The
Ranch aid station. Matt filled up my
water bottles while I used the rest room, washed my face, switched out my visor
and put on more glide – 6 minutes total.
I was so grateful to have Matt pacing me. The isolation on the way out to The Ranch aid
station would have been even harder to deal with alone. We picked up Mike Rice along the way. We definitely took our walk breaks and were
thankful for the cloud cover and breeze.
By mile 40, I was really starting to struggle. My legs were extremely heavy and I would have
bouts of IT band pain. I keep looking
for the aid station tent at mile 44. I
happened to see an orange porta potty way out in the distant and was starting
to get discouraged. Then Matt pointed
out a blue tent just around the bend. I
had a renewed energy that I didn’t have to go way out to the orange porta potty
and started to pick up my pace.
We could see the finish line, but we had to take a small
detour around a small mountain. This
section was definitely mind over matter.
There were large boulders on the trail and my legs were not stable
enough to run over them. This section
included a lot of walking. The sun had
come back out and I was trying to hang on for dear life.
We finally finished the detour around the small mountain and
took a dirt road to the finish. This
road took forever to run. I finally saw my
daughter Annie’s pink sweatshirt! She
and my son Carter ran with us for a while and then I could finally see the
finish line flags.
The emotions of crossing that finish line were overpowering.
The process of conquering my fears during the last 20 miles was manifested at
that very moment. There were so many
strangers cheering for me….genuinely happy for my accomplishment of running 50
miles.
I was overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers through out
the day; the volunteers at the aid stations, other runners, and
spectators. I was so grateful for my pacer
Matt. I would have walked a lot more if
he was not there. Because of him, I ran
2 hours faster than my goal time. My
family was there cheering and supporting me….everything is wonderful when they
are around.
If there is anything that I learned from this experience it is
to not have regrets. Prepare sufficiently,
surround yourself with experienced people, prepare for failure knowing that it
will get you one step closer to your goal, and then just believe.
It took a whole tribe of people to get me to the starting
line and finish line. Because of them, I
had miracles.
