Fire Fest 100 Miler

I've been waiting a whole year to be able to write this post! I decided toward the end of 2023 that I wanted a big goal for 2024. Something that kept me focused and working hard all year; something so big it scared me a little bit. I decided to sign up for a 100 miler. I did some research and picked the Fire Fest Ultra. I wanted a fall race, I wanted it to be in a state besides Idaho, and I wanted good weather. I told Mark what my plan was, figuring he'd crew and pace me, but he said he would run it too. What?!? I couldn't believe it! It's not that I didn't think he could run one; I had no doubt he would do great, I just didn't think he would ever want to do one. This is the guy that swore he's never go past a 50K, and then each time he did, he swore it would be his farthest distance. I signed us up right then and there so he wouldn't have time to change his mind. We run crazy stuff all the time, so people may be surprised that a 100 miler would be such a big deal for me. I have had problems with the discs in my back since I was a teenager, but they have gotten a lot worse as I've gotten older. Some of it is hereditary, but a lot of it is from all the running I've done my whole life. I've done a lot of pavement pounding. In 2012 my back got really bad. So bad that I could barely function. I had a huge disc rupture, and by the time we finally figured out what the problem was, I had to have surgery to remove all the stuff that had squeezed out and was sitting on my nerves. I've had a lot of problems since then with bulging and rupturing discs. The doctor told me my long distance running days needed to be over. Clearly I ignored that. 😁 I wasn't about to give up running. It's my sanity. I just switched from mostly road running to mostly trail running. Each time I would push to the next distance, I would have a small rupture and would have to get a steroid shot, or take a few weeks to a month off. I always tried to keep a positive outlook on things and was just grateful I could still run, but I also wanted to continue pushing my boundaries. In 2020 I ran my first 50 miler, and I remember crying in the last few miles because I had done something I thought I'd never be able to do. I was so proud of myself! I was learning to become very in tune with my body, and realizing that I could navigate this. That race opened my mind to the possibility that I could do these long distances, but I would just have to train a certain way.

I made some big changes in 2024 in preparation for this race. In January I cut almost all sugar from my diet, cautiously started weight training (which is something that has caused a lot of disc problems for me in the past), started taking ice baths, eliminated ibuprofen completely, etc. I had instant results! I could feel my body, especially my back, and my mind getting stronger. I knew I wasn't going to maintain a no sugar diet for the rest of my life, but I wanted to prove to myself that diet plays a way bigger part in our physical health than most of us realize. I think our society is so ridiculously over medicated, and I wanted to see if I could help my problems without medication. One month was all the proof I needed! I made a 28 week training plan specifically geared toward me, and the specific needs of my body. In hindsight, 28 weeks was too long. Twenty four weeks would have been perfect. We got really burned out the last month, and I feel like we peaked a month too soon. March started our official training. We had lots of amazing adventures, and it's always fun to repeat runs during the training cycle and see how much stronger your body is getting. We were super dedicated and zeroed in on this goal! Training for a 100 miler takes a lot of time and energy. It consumed our weekends, and we had to sacrifice a lot of other things. We didn't get nearly the amount done on the farm as we wanted to. We missed group runs, events with friends, and I even missed a trip to Boise to see Mason, Bailey, and Nora, because I knew after a long training run, it wouldn't be a good idea for my back to sit in the car that long. It was all worth it!

Our longest training run was Rim to Rim to Rim at the Grand Canyon a month before our race. Mark rolled his ankle coming down the north rim, and ended up with a high sprain. He tried to keep running on it the following week, but quickly realized it was a lot worse than he initially realized. He visited our physical therapist friend, and she helped him a lot, but he couldn't run at all the 3 weeks leading up to the race. Then I strained a muscle under my ribs, and I couldn't run for two weeks before the race. We were a mess! Not a single problem all through training, and then this happens at the worst possible time! It was a huge mental blow for us! We have a couple amazing friends that have both run 100 milers, and they helped us keep our spirits high. They each had to walk a huge portion of their races and were still able to finish before the cut off times. Talking to them helped us a ton!

Race weekend was finally here, and what an awesome adventure it was! Our race was an hour outside of Las Vegas at Valley of Fire State Park. We knew my back wouldn't be able to handle sitting for a 9 hour drive before and especially after the race, and we knew we couldn't fly our whole crew down there, so I came up with the idea to rent a motor home. That way we could lay down on the drive, and our crew would have a place to sleep, with a bathroom, and all the amenities they'd need while we were running. It was so awesome! We left our house on Thursday and got to the race late Thursday night. We pulled in, and went right to sleep. We had all day Friday to get our spot situated, talk to our crew about what we'd want and need during the race, check in, get our gear ready, look around the area, and relax for a day before we started. 

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Taking a short hike to loosen up the day before we started.

Valley of Fire

These ladies were the BEST! We couldn't have picked a better crew!

Jenn and Mat had to work on Thursday, so they drove down on Friday.

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We were the three running the race.

We had a beautiful sunset on Friday night!

Jenn-Tricia-Mark-Joyce

Joyce was our crew captain. She was the ultimate decision maker, and in charge of everything as far as crewing and pacing went. We wanted her for the job for so many reasons, and boy did she deliver! She was absolutely amazing, and went above and beyond. More about that later.

They had a major course change the afternoon before. They changed it from a 16.7 mile figure 8 course that we looped 6 times, to pretty much a stupid 18 mile out and back that we grew to despise. Then we had to finish off with 10 more miles on the same out and back. So the sheet we made for our crew to keep tack of our pace and goal times was now basically irrelevant. It was so frustrating!

The race started at 6:00 on Saturday morning. We all slept in the motor home, except Mat who slept in the back of Jenn's car. We went to bed early and got plenty of sleep the night before. 

I had been so anxious, so I was so glad it was finally time to do this!

The start line!

So grateful we had this year long journey together!

Lap 1: 

I felt pretty good. My legs were sluggish, but that was to be expected after not running a single step for 2 weeks. I was pretty confident that I would warm up and run out of that heavy leg feeling. We didn't use headphones to listen to anything the first lap. We just took that time to study the course and figure out where we could do most of our running, and where the power hiking sections would be.We soon found out that the course was nothing like we were expecting, and not in a good way. It wasn't the long gradual ups and downs that we were counting on; it was like the Kelly Canyon rollie pollies on crack. Basically a series of short, very steep, up and downs that went on for miles (and we had to do them both directions). When I say steep, I mean we couldn't even run the downhills. Much of the rest of the course was quite technical, and I knew it was going to be a lot slower going than we had originally thought. I wasn't worried, I never shy away from hills. That's actually my strong point. I just changed gears and got myself in a good headspace for this adventure. I was able to run most of the first loop, just a bit slower than I had hoped for. I was still able to be well below my goal pace and bank a lot of time for later in the race, which was the plan. I didn't need to stop at any of the aid stations along the way, and when I got done with the loop, my crew was so efficient, that I was in and out of there in 3 minutes!

The sun started peeking over the red mountains on our first loop.

The last mile and a half of the lap was this very technical slick rock area. We knew this section would not be fun later in the race. 😅 Mat was waiting there when we were finishing up our first lap, and got some fun pictures of us.

Lap 2:

The second lap was weird. I was feeling all the little aches and pains that I didn't expect to start feeling until after mile 50 or 60. Nothing major, I was just a little worried about how that would play out for later. It also got super hot. I ended up having to stop at a few of the aid stations I was planning on skipping, just to fill water. It was a lot hotter than expected and that took a toll on a lot of the runners. I typically do fine in the heat, so I just kept trucking along. When I finished the lap, I told my crew I was feeling a bit stiff. I took Ibuprofen (my first of the entire year), ate a sandwich, and Steph suggested that I have a Zip Fiz. Such a good call! This was my longest time in the aid station (10 minutes). I needed to take the time to go to the bathroom, get more substantial food in my body, and get my night gear ready, since I'd be ending the next loop in the dark.

Lap 3:

This ended up being my favorite lap! I felt fantastic! My stiffness went away, and between the sandwich and Zip Fiz, my energy level was great; I still had a lot of run in me. I  put in my headphones, jammed out to some fun music, and went for it. I was trying to get as much of this lap finished as I could before it got dark. I knew that when I finished this lap I'd be over half way done too, so that was a good mental boost. I was about 3/4 of the way done with the lap when it got dark. That's when I realized that we couldn't see the ribbons in the dark. I caught up to a 50 miler, and she asked if she could stay with me because she couldn't see a thing. Her headlamp was dim, and she was nervous that she couldn't find the ribbons. We stayed together until the split where she went to the finish, and I did the little loop part at the end of the lap. It was a little frustrating because the trail was technical, and so she was afraid to run in the dark. I didn't want to ditch her, and I was having trouble seeing too, but I still felt like I needed to run while I had it in me. Once we separated I had a long stretch of 'wash' I had to run through. I could not see the ribbons, but I knew if I just stayed in the wash I couldn't really get lost, so I tried to run as much of this section as I could. It was pitch black, and I was totally on my own. I was just running along hoping to heck I didn't fall. 😅 I finished up the lap in good spirits, but really worried about how I was gonna find the ribbons on the next lap.

Lap 4:

I can honestly say that I didn't have any time during the race when I got down in the dumps mentally, or even had the slightest doubt about finishing. But I did get frustrated for a while, and this was the lap that happened on. This is also the lap I think most people probably DNFed on. That means Did Not Finish. The marking for the night was terrible! We literally could not see the ribbons, and there were a ton of intersecting trails on the miles of hills. I had Bailey pacing me until the aid station a little over 3 miles in. Then she stayed there while I kept going. She was really sick, so she was going to wait there for me and join me again on my way back through. Within 15 minute of leaving her I got so lost. It was pretty scary, and it happened 3 times! I would find a ribbon right where a bunch of ATV trails intersected, but I couldn't see the next one. I would go a ways down one path, not see a ribbon, and turn around. Then I would pick another path and try that one. At one point I couldn't find my original ribbon, and that's when I got pretty nervous. I wasted 15 minutes doing this, and I was definitely not the only one. The lead runner got lost by 6 miles! Jenn got off by 1.5 miles. It was so frustrating! It took a long time, but I eventually made my way back to Bailey. It was nice having someone help me scout for ribbons. She headed back up toward the finish and I did the little loop part on my own. I was by myself in the pitch black again going through the wash. It was part creepy, and part exciting! When I was with Bailey I was mad and was ranting and raving about how horrible the markings were and how much time I had waisted. I had cut into a lot of the time I had banked up, and it was too early on to be doing that already. Ugh! I was so mad! She helped talk me down, and once I left her, I used the last loop to get in a good headspace again. I stoped worrying about time, and just focused on enjoying the journey. By the time I got finished and back to my crew, I was good again. In the last mile of the loop, I saw a headlamp bobbing off in the distance, nowhere near the trail. I yelled to see if it was a runner. The guy made his way to me, and luckily I knew this area pretty good in the dark. He was the pacer of the lead runner, who was a crazy fast elite marathon lady. This was her first hundred, and she was flying. Her pacer ended up not being able to keep up with her, so he was making his way back and got really lost. He was basically just wandering around in circles. Toward the end of this lap I started getting really weird pain behind my knee, right where my leg bends. I knew the possibility of getting through a 100 miler without any issues was slim to none, so I picked up Joyce as my pacer, and we carried on.

Lap 5:

I knew this was my last full lap, and that was a good feeling, but I also knew that I didn't have much run left in me. Joyce got me running as much as she could through the non technical parts, but my knee pain was getting really bad. It was the downhills that hurt the most. We ran off and on for short stretches through the washes, but it got hard to lift my left leg. I was too scared to run through anything rocky for fear of not lifting my leg enough, catching my foot on a rock, and falling. Joyce noticed that I was actually faster just power hiking, so that's what I mostly did from this point on. It was so nice having someone with me helping me find the ribbons through the confusing part. I realized when I finished this lap that I hadn't been eating or drinking. I had kept up on it really good through the rest of the race, so I wasn't really worried. It wasn't like my stomach was revolting, I just didn't feel like eating or drinking much at this point. We were literally only with our crew for 4 minutes at the end of this lap. I just wanted to keep going and finish the stupid out and back. 

Mat and Jenn got separated while he was pacing her, but we saw him out on the trail and he snapped a quick picture.

The sun was finally coming up after a long night! It was a good feeling knowing this was the day I would be finishing.

Final Lap: Out and Back

Joyce kept pacing me for the 10 mile out and back section and I was glad she got to see some of the course in the daylight. She took some pictures too, which was nice, because that wasn't even crossing my mind at this point. I just wanted to be done! Funny story about this part. Joyce and I almost made it to the turn around point when I realized I probably needed to charge my watch to get me through the remaining miles. I pulled out my charger and realized it was the wrong one. My watch didn't have the right cord for that one. I panicked! I was so stressed that my watch would die and it would never say 100 miles! Ahhhh! We tried calling Mark and Steph but their phones were on airplane mode. We tried calling Jenn, because she was close behind us and we knew we'd be going by her on the out and back. She didn't have her charger with her. We called Bailey and Mason who were crewing back at camp. Mason was getting ready to pace Mark on the out and back, and Bailey was sick. Mason decided to run my charger out to me, and Bailey would start on the out and back with Mark until Mason could get back to him. He flew! We looked up and I said, "Is that Mason. No, it can't be, he couldn't have made it down to us that fast." We looked closer, and it sure was Mason. He seriously ran so fast to get my charger to me. It was amazing! It was fun seeing Jen and Mark on this part too, knowing that we were all on our last section, and we would all be finishing soon! Once we passed Mark, Mason went with him, and Bailey turned back with us. Joyce wasn't sure if it was legal to have two pacers with me, and she wanted me to finish with Bailey, so she went ahead to the finish line and Bailey stayed with me for the last couple miles. It's so crazy, because at mile 99 I made a comment about how good my muscles still felt, and how good I was still moving (minus my knee), and then by mile 99.5 my muscles were revolting! I started cramping in my calves, and everything started to hurt. Crazy what a half mile can do. 😅

My goal was to run across the finish line no matter how much I was hurting. I did it! It wasn't pretty, it wasn't long, and it was mostly just a shuffle, but I did it!

The course was so pretty!

Lots of knee pain, so just walking at this point.

I had officially hit my farthest distance.

The finish!

Bailey captured my finish. I had to count to three and say 'Go!" out loud to get myself running. 

😀😀😀

I don't want to write about Mark's race, because he lived it and knows how he felt, so maybe he can come back and add to this post. I will say he had Mason pace him for a lap, then Steph for a lap, and then back to Mason for his final out and back. He had lots of ups and downs along the way, but actually finished really strong. Neither of us had any problems with all the original stuff we were stressed about. His ankle was great, my back and muscle under my ribs were fine. We never had to deal with any stomach issues. All in all we had a really smooth race!

Mason pacing Mark to the finish.

He finished so strong!

The three of us finished 5th, 6th, and 7th overall. Jenn and I made the podium as 2nd and 3rd females. Idaho represented very well. I think they had 41 people start the race and only half finish. Only 22 runners finished! That's nuts! I think the huge DNF rate was due to the heat, and people getting so lost through the night. I'm so glad the three of us were so mentally strong and could push through all of that.

I was 2nd place, which was a pleasant surprise, but there was no way I could step up on that podium. 😂 

Tricia: 28:23:28

Jenn: 28:37:51

Mark: 29:49:11

Way to go Idaho!

Our Crew:

I need to take a minute to talk about our amazing crew! They were phenomenal! I had to mostly walk the last 20 plus miles, and I still got a really good time, and placed. It's not because I'm super fast, it's because I was in and out of the aid station so fast. I never once sat down durning the race. I didn't have to because our crew was like a well oiled machine, and had every little detail taken care of. I would come into the aid station, hand them my pack, and a few minutes later they were handing it back with everything I needed. We had a list of things we needed for each lap, and what we needed charged in between, and they had every bit of it covered. They went above and beyond, and we will be forever grateful for each of them! I truly think races can be won or lost in aid stations! That little bit of time you spend there adds up so fast. Mark likes to take breaks and regroup. It helps him to be better on the trail. They knew that, but still only let him sit for a certain amount of time, and then they got him up and moving again. That's how Mark was able to beat his goal time by 11 minutes.

The whole gang
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So grateful for Bailey and Mason. They drove 9.5 hours each way, left Nora overnight, got zero sleep, Mason paced for over 30 miles, Bailey was sicker than a dog, all to support us! They are the best!

So proud of us!

I'm a 100 miler!

I'm still in awe that he agreed to do this! He kicked butt!

Here's the bling! A finisher medal and 100 mile buckle, and my 2nd place award.

The aftermath:

I was wrecked and very useless! I finished, sat down for just enough time to let my muscles revolt, and then I could hardly move. I went into the motorhome bathroom to try to rinse myself off and change clothes. I got super light headed, turned white as a ghost and almost passed out. I had to have Bailey come in and help me get my pants on because my knee was so bad I couldn't even lift my leg an inch off the ground. It just got worse from there! 😦 This is where Steph and Joyce were phenomenal! They drove the motorhome back so Mark and I could sleep. I had to have help getting into and out of the bed. I seriously could not move on my own. We got home at about 1:00 in the morning, and Joyce spent the night at our house, and helped us unload and return the motorhome the next day. She was a lifesaver, because like I said, I was useless! Sawyer and Amanda came out on Monday night to help us take care of the animals, and cook us dinner. In the next few days my muscles recovered just fine, but my knee and shins were so bad. We're over a week out, and they get better each day, but I'm a little worried about my knee. It's definitely better, but not good by any means. I hope I didn't injure it. I'm giving it another week and hoping it continues to improve. Both of our shins bruised and were swollen and painful, and that's the only issue Mark has left. He recovered really well! We're gonna take it pretty easy for the next couple weeks, and then really get back to it after the first of the year. We both go a little stir crazy when we aren't exercising. We're gonna switch things up this winter and focus on different things besides running far. We're just excited to start moving our bodies again.