The
2012 racing season is officially underway! This weekend I had the
pleasure of racing the Capitol Peak 50. My legs and my mind were strong
and I took first place in the women’s race with a time of 8:55.
Josh, Jenny and yours truly the morning of the race!
The race is held in the Capitol Forest outside of Olympia, Washington.
https://capitolpeakultras.com/Race_Info.html
Lucky for me this is my training ground and I am intimately familiar
with the course – I even helped mark 16 miles of the course the weekend
prior to the
race! John Pearch is a fabulous race director for the event and
receives ample support from the OlyTrailRunners group that I train with
regularly. I train at the forest just about every weekend and there is
one climb in particular I love running in the forest.
So much so that I’ve acquired a bit of a “reputation” on this climb
that no one can actually stay with me. I laugh at comments made by my
training partners, but as you will see – this climb became the race for
me last weekend.
My first main goal race for the year is the Bighorn 100 on June 15th.
This 50 was a stepping stone of sorts, I wanted to run strong and gauge
my fitness for the 100 but I didn’t have any time goals per se. The
weekend approached
with my attention focused elsewhere. I hosted 5 runners at my house
for race weekend so I spent the week of “rest” cleaning my house and
preparing to feed hungry runners! I wasn’t sure which would be more
exciting – all the friends under one roof or the
race itself! In hindsight it was probably a blessing to have something
else to focus on during the week and keep my thoughts away from the
race. It kept my mind fresh and engaged the day of the race.
The morning of the race felt like a big
reunion. I saw so many people I knew and spent so much time chatting
with people that I didn’t have time to even think about the race. I got
to the starting line about 3 minutes before “go” time.
As we all headed off, I started moving up the pack as I knew we had
about 400 yards before we hit the singletrack. I settled into a rhythm
pretty quickly and was well-absorbed in each moment without much thought
about where we were going. Since I train
in this forest I know this course very well. I didn’t even think about
the course – I know it better than I know anything else. Looking back,
I see how much stress that removed from my mind. I didn’t have to
think about where we were going or what was coming
up. I know virtually every undulation in this course and never gave it
a second thought on race day.
The
race started easily and without incident. I was in my groove and
feeling strong. I got tripped up by a stick about 4 miles into the race
and almost went down on my face. I had my wits about me, though, and
was able to catch myself.
Several guys behind me remarked that it would have been a spectacular
fall. Good thing I avoided it! I breezed through the first aid station
and saw a few people I knew – shedding my gloves as I’d gotten pretty
warm. My average speed was about 9:57 up to
this point. I was looking forward to the climb to the peak and left
the aid station quickly. The next 5 miles are almost entirely uphill. I
love going up hills and powered up the climb easily. My pace slowed a
bit but I felt strong and passed several people
on the climb. The first time through the Peak I saw several of the
local trail runners who gave me great encouragement. The course then
does a 5 mile loop and comes back through this same point and I again
took off quickly to tackle this section. The loop
section begins with a downhill and a rolling part, which passed
quickly. I ran into a friend I met last year at Capitol Peak and he is
great company. He proved to be a great encouragement throughout this
race and I’m glad to have run into him again. The
section ends with a hellacious climb up what is affectionately known as
“The Grunt”. It is steep and about a half mile long. The trail is
riddled with large rock boulders which make the footing difficult. I
hiked this section, and for the most part that
was the only time I walked during the entire race.
At the peak for the second time, I learned I was In 2nd
place. The competitive fire had been lit. I didn’t know how far ahead
of me she was, but I set off in earnest. At the Wedekind aid station 5
miles later (mile 24), I
saw the leader as she was leaving the aid station. I swapped hydration
packs at this aid station – switching to another that was pre-filled
with food and drink. I set off on the out and back section a minute or
two after the leader. This out and back section
was my low point. My stomach wasn’t handling the gels or waffles too
well and it seemed worst during this section. I knew I needed to get
more calories and originally planned to eat a sandwich here but I just
couldn’t stomach it. I began taking in more
electrolyte tablets in an effort to balance my lack of food and hoped
the feeling would pass quickly.
At the turnaround point (mile 29) and
Club Oly aid station I picked up my friend, Bill, who was going to run
with me back to Wedekind. This was a great distraction for those 6
miles and he did a great job encouraging me. He definitely
caught me at the worst and I wasn’t very talkative. I saw the leader
at the turnaround and I knew I wasn’t gaining on her but I wasn’t losing
ground either. At every sighting my desire to win grew stronger. Bill
kept telling me to just let it go and enjoy
the race whatever the outcome. Great advice and very positive – but it
just made me realize how much I wanted the win. I got back to Wedekind
(mile 35) and knew the next section was all downhill. I took some
chews with me and hoped I could get them down
before the final climb. I gained some ground on the leader on this
downhill and at this point I decided to wait to try and catch her until
the last climb. I ate my chews and rolled into the Falls Creek aid
station (mile 43) feeling confident. The FOCF volunteers
told me she was just a “few minutes” ahead of me. I knew the climb
ahead and was ready to make my attack. After all, this is “my” climb –
the one I’d earned a reputation for climbing well!
I caught the leader about half way up
the 3-mile climb. After the pass, I put my head down and ran my heart
out. I knew there was a possibility she’d catch me again but I vowed to
just run as hard as I could and hope for the best. I
never looked back until I was about a half mile from the finish and I
knew I had it. I came up to the finish with a huge grin on my face and
shared the finish with all my friends who were there to watch. Even my
husband was there, which was a complete surprise.
It was a glorious moment to win in front of so many people I knew.
Last year the Capitol Peak 50 was my
first ultramarathon and my second trail run. I finished in 10:08 last
year. I’ve certainly come a long way. Now I know these trails and I
PR’d by almost 75 minutes. My 8:55 is the 9th
fastest time by a woman on that course in the history of the race. I’m
very excited about not only the year ahead but beyond! After all,
going after it is the only way to get it!
Special thanks go out to John Pearch for putting on a top-notch race. Also to all my peeps in the OlyTrailRunning group - especially Herb, Dave, Melissa and Dave, you really helped me along the course! To the Club Oly runners at the C2000 aid station - Andy, Cherry and Bill... you made me smile. To Bill for running with me when times were tough. To Jason and Jenn at Wedekind (and for the weekend), you two rock! And to Tasha, the woman I passed on the hill - thanks for pushing me to run faster.
I had an awesome training run last weekend, one of the final prep weekends before the Bighorn 100. Saturday was a 39 mile run around Capitol Forest in Olympia - climbing everything and anything that went up. The run had about 7,500 feet of gain - so nothing too horrible but definitely a good training run in the forest. Josh joined me and we had fun running both Capitol Peak and Larch Mountain several times. I felt awesome and easily could have run plenty more. A good sign for Bighorn! 
