Sometimes Things Don't Go As Expected

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This year I haven't done much racing and it's been kind of nice just running and enjoying myself.  I did Two Oceans Ultra Marathon in South Africa in April.  For fun weekend getaway I signed up for a trail 50k in Lake Tahoe.  I am not much of a trail runner but I looked at race photo's and this didn't look like it was very technical.  Looks can be very deceiving because I did it last weekend and it was extremely technical.  A few months prior to the race I had a pretty bad fall on a trail and gashed my hand pretty bad.  Since I am a massage therapist it put me out of work for about a week.  I decided to stay away from trails and just run the road but still wanted to do the race in Tahoe.  I figured I had the fitness and if the trails were easy I would be OK. I trained on roads before for a 50 miler in San Francisco that was on mostly gravel trails.  This run in Tahoe turned out to have very technical trails with lots and lots of climbing and rocks and roots on the trail.  I was so worried about falling again I mostly hiked the trails. I ran when I felt comfortable enough to run and honestly I felt great I could have ran if I had more confidence on the trail.  Since I wasn't doing much running I thought about stopping at mile 20 and calling my boyfriend to come get me.  I got past that thought and talked myself into finishing the 50k even though it was extremely slow.  I was glad I decided to finish because that last 10 miles was some of the most scenic miles of the entire course.  They had a butterfly invasion so butterflies were everywhere and it was amazing!  It was really beautiful and I'm glad I stuck with it and finished even though I mostly hiked 31 miles instead of running.  We had 4,600 feet of elevation gain and topped out at almost 9,000 ft.  The elevation didn't bother me and I didn't get winded at all but I did have a headache most of the time I was in Tahoe.  I noticed the same thing when I was in Flagstaff which was about 7,000 ft.  Everyone is affected by the elevation differently and apparently I get headaches.  I'm not sure if I was up there longer than a few days if it would get better but I seemed to have a headache the entire 3 days I was there.   Lake Tahoe is a beautiful place and I would love to visit again.  I don't think I would ever do this race again but if your into trail running it might be for you!








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