Bigfoot Day 2

When they woke me up I was a little groggy, but it wasn’t too hard to get up. Once up I headed over to the aid station to fill my water bottles and have some Coke, then it was back on trail. I had hoped to be on trail @ 1:00am, but instead I didn't leave Coldwater Lake until almost 2:30am. The first steps after waking up were... Interesting... Picture a new born foal or a fawn, legs splayed and all wobbly. That was me, balancing uneasily on my feet and trekking poles. After a few labored steps I was I able to get a stride going. After I was warmed up, I found could actually jog along pretty well!

The trail after aid station went along a lake and was well maintained. I was able to put on my MP3 player and cruise along, until I came up on a guy that seemed disoriented. He wanted to make sure we were on the right trail, because he hadn't seen a dragon in a while. I looked at the route on my watch and it showed us on course, so I pressed ahead. After he mentioned it, even though I had a GPS saying I was on track, it did seem like a very long time since I’d seen a dragon, the affectionate name given to the clothes pins and reflective ribbon by the course markers due to their resemblance to a dragon of the firebreathing variety. After over a mile of jogging along the lake, the dragons were generally every quarter mile, I finally came to a pile of dragons that had been removed from the trail and dropped. Someone had messed with the course, but my GPS steered me in the right direction again!

A special Dragon that was machined out of Aluminum and given to the course setters

After the lake we came to a turn in the trail where it went left over a bridge, but a sign said that down an embankment on the right was the last water for over 13mi. This was also the start of the longest sustained climb of the race. I slid down the loose sand to the river and filled my bottles & Camelbak, then I started up the climb. It was a nice section of single track that passed through the trees with my headlamp lighting the way. Eventually it opened up into a high meadow just as dawn was arriving…  Then the meadow gave way to a trail that climbed along the side of a ridge. My feet were sore at this point and I realized that I should tell Emily I was running about an hour and a half behind pace, so I found a clean place to sit on the edge of the trail, sat down, and messaged Emily.

I arrived on the ridge just after sunrise and saw some amazing single track laid out in front of me. There were some places where the trail had eroded away and it got technical, but it never felt unsafe… I would say that this 7mi stretch was one of my favorite sections of the entire trail! Being above tree line just after dawn gave my inner meteorologist a little gift too… A marine layer covering all the damp green valleys to the Southeast of St Helen's, but Windy Ridge was holding it back from the arid plains of the desolation zone. The clouds spilled over Windy Ridge, but finding no moisture on the other side faded out.

I moved down the trail continuing to enjoy the views of Mt St Helen's, Spirit Lake, and St Helen's Lake all the while looking for the Out & Back to the summit of Mount Margret. Hoping that every large rise in the trail would have a sign on it, saying out “Out & Back”. When I finally saw got to the sign I was surprised. It was so… Mellow! The trail sloped up gently and within one switchback I had gained the top. I was fearing a killer hill, but as it turns out I had already climbed all the vertical on the ridge. The “turn around here” sign was placed on a flat spot with the actual benchmark about 15ft of scrambling above. As I arrived Steven was just stowing his camera and he said that I would need to make the scramble up and get the full view! Never one to pass on a great view, I began climbing and to my surprise my legs didn’t feel too heavy. They went where I asked them as I negotiated the climb. Once on top I had an even more amazing view than before! Steven was right, that it was totally worth the effort. I took a panorama picture and a couple of Mount Adams, which was visible for the first time at this height. More important than my legs getting me up to the benchmark, they were able to down climb it!

After the Mount Margret Out & Back it was effectively all downhill to the Norway Pass Aid Station(mile 66).  This downhill was great! I was able to just relax and let my legs turn over as I ran down the mountain. I could see the road way below me and knew the aid station was there… I was half expecting to see Emily, but as I arrived in the parking lot she wasn’t there. We had discussed meeting here, but I had received a satellite message from her saying that she would “meet you at 11” with no mention of which aid station. That time was based off the pace chart I made up pretty much out of thin air and it said that I would be at Elk pass(mile 75) around 11am. I figured that since I had told her I was an hour and a half behind she had just elected to go ahead and meet me at Elk Pass.

Not finding Emily here I just treated it like any other aid station and began taking care of myself with the help of the volunteers. I had developed hot spots on the balls of my feet, so sat down and took care of my feet with a foot care kit I had on me. The kind lady working the aid station offered me a grilled cheese which I gladly accepted. After an hour I left and headed off to meet Emily at the next aid station!
 

The trail climbed briefly out of the aid station, but then began descending down thru the trees to a road. It was interesting being down in the trees after having spent the whole morning above tree line. It also felt a little less like a desert and a little more like the Pacific Northwest. A fellow competitor had actually asked if the race was going to leave central Nevada and come back to Washington. The previous day and the morning’s landscape was definitely more arid than I would have thought this part of Washington could be!

Once we crossed the road we were on some nice dirt bike/ATV trails that just kind of rolled along on the shoulder of a mountain, but the climbs never got too steep. It was good trail, but I just wanted to get to Elk Pass and meet Emily! I pushed on as quickly as I could, picturing how wonderful it would be to finally meet my crew. I knew that I could sit in a chair, have an Ensure, drink a ginger beer, and take care of my feet.

I had assembled a pretty comprehensive kit for Emily to carry around. It included items for everything from chaffing, blisters, pain, sleeping, clothing, and contacts. I knew that I wanted to have all of these items, but wasn’t sure how to transport them between stations that wouldn’t be cumbersome or difficult for Emily. She was being so helpful already I wanted to make it as easy as possible for her...

A few days of thinking and I came up with an idea to get a 24 shoe closet organizer from Bed, Bath, & Beyond. It offered pockets deep enough to stow all of my items and could be rolled up like a ground mat and stowed in a Mountainsmith cube and easily carried. This seemed a much better way to transport my supplies than boxes or plastic totes and it got compliments from other racers.

 

As I came into sight of the aid station I looked around for Emily, but all I saw were friendly, helpful volunteers. It was now after 3pm, 4 hours later than my pace chart had predicted, and no Emily. Where was she? Did she think she missed me and moved on to the next one??? It was at this time I realized my First HUGE mistake… I never told Emily my Bib #! She had no way of knowing where I was. I sat in a chair and tried to figure out what had happened. I was in a funk and the volunteers could see it. They offered me, food, medical attention, shade… All they wanted to do was help, they would say ”what does she have? We can get it for you.” I told them a couple times that I just needed Emily and they didn’t one of those. It wasn’t so much I needed anything as I needed to rendezvous with my crew for the first time.

I paced over to the adjacent lot where other crew vehicles were parked and realized my Second HUGE mistake, I didn’t know what her car was! She had borrowed her parent’s car when she drove me down on Wednesday. Now I couldn’t tell if her car was there and she was just laying down sleeping while waiting. I walked around looking in every car a couple times just to make sure she wasn’t there. After an hour of checking the cars and finally letting the aid station people help me with food and some ginger ale I decided to push on. I sent Emily a satellite message “I’m runner #52. I am leaving Elk Pass at 4:10pm. Got Slowed down a lot after I texted. I hope I meet you at some point. Please text if you get service” I felt so bad and had fears of continuing to miss her thru the rest of the race, but I needed to move…

It took me a few more minutes to get everything buttoned up and ready to shove off... Just as I was about to leave I saw a blue Subaru Legacy drive by with pointy German Shepard ears in the back seat and Emily was driving! I RAN out into the road and waved my arms and whistled as loudly as I could to get her attention!!! The car had pulled over and Emily got out and looked back at me, we had finally connected! She turned around and pulled into the aid station lot.

It turns out that Emily was at mile 66 at 10:45am and I left that station at 11am. We were both there at the same time for 15min and I didn’t know her car and she didn’t have my number, so I must have ran right past her on my way out! Then she asked them if I had come thru, but without my number they couldn’t tell her for sure. This meant that she had waited until sweep came thru and they closed the aid station. Then she packed up and was moving to the mile 89 aid station and the road drove by mile 75. She said she saw my hat as she drove by and then my standing in the road arms waving…

Once she had the car parked Emily was amazing. In no time at all she had the chair ready, a cold Ensure followed with ginger brew, my change of socks/shoes/clothes were all at my disposal. Anything that needed attention, she was on it. For a person that had never crewed, or been at an ultra she had a great sense of what was needed. As lucky as I felt at this point to have Emily it would pale to the gratitude I would feel in the coming nights.

The shoe organizer worked great with everything right there according to plan. Of all the items I had in it though, my full foot care setup with foot powder, tincture of Benzoin, and Strength tape and a sterile blade was my go to item. I had learned earlier this year the importance of foot care while running an 88km race that was run concurrent with a 48hr, 72hr, & 888km event. The terrain was difficult with many muddy and wet sections that took a toll on the runners’ feet. The competitors that went the furthest all spoke of the importance of taking care of your feet! I had known this academically, but having had a chance to see it firsthand made it real. I took this lesson to heart and although I did get blisters at Bigfoot, by lancing, taping, changing socks frequently, and using gaiters I never let them get critical.

I spent 50min with Emily taking care of everything and then I was ready to tackle the next section. I headed up a hill, thru a meadow and up one side of a ridge and then went thru a gap, turned around and went back on the other side of the ridge. The trail would sort of pass along on one side of the ridge then pass over and back for awhile. At one of the crossovers I was given a great view of Mount Adams at sunset.

After sunset the trail descended pretty much the whole way down to the RD9327 aid station at mile 85. Going down the hill I felt a few drops of rain hit my face and arms. I was concerned that it might rain and I would get caught without my jacket, so I tried to cover the remaining 3 miles as quickly as possible. The rain never materialized, but it did motivate me.

When I got to the aid station there were cars parked along the roadside, but luckily this time I knew which car I was looking for and it was right at the head of the line. I shined my light in and rapped gently on the window with my trekking pole trying to wake her, but not the large German Shepard laying next to her. Thankfully Emily woke right up and Winston did not. Once she crawled out of the car it was the same amazing caring and attention. She set me up with fresh batteries, got me my beverages and then set up my sleeping bag in the tent for my second night’s sleep. While she was setting up my bag the 2 guys working the aid station were great. They were very friendly and had amazing chili. They also offered to let me charge my InReach and Headlamp battery while I slept, so I would be ready to go when I woke up...

Before I went to bed I took some Advil, brushed my teeth, and rubbed Aspercreme on my legs. That made everything feel pretty good and I was quickly asleep with a wake up call arranged for an hour and a half later. What I got wasn’t really sleeping, so much as closing my eyes and then opening them 1.5hrs later groggy and screaming in pain, because my hip flexor has decided to cramp when I made my first move. Once I was finally up though I was surprised at how much better I could move compared to the first night. After putting my shoes on I could walk with ease…

When I walked outside the tent everything was wet… The only real rain of my race happened while I was warm and dry in a sleep tent.

I checked in with Emily and made my way over to the aid tent. The volunteer asked me what he could do to help and asked if I wanted some eggs? And bacon. And hash browns! I told him that sounded amazing and asked for a full plate!!! I gladly ate that and had an energy drink....

Now, “rested” and fueled by caffeine and an amazing breakfast I was ready to take on the next section of trail, or so I thought…

I was in to Day 3 now!