Beautiful Bighorn

My favorite view on the whole course.

It's a little over 48 hours post race. I'm not at all sore which makes me feel I have done my training right. My performance at Bighorn lets me know I have done something very wrong. I messed around with my florinef and too much florinef is what I'm thinking the culprit might be. Anyone have any experience with too much florinef?

Anyhow, enjoy the pictures of the beautiful course!

Before the start in Tongue River Canyon

A very big hill that is even bigger than this picture can show

Marie, me and Leslie at the top of the first big hill

The volunteers were so fun and enthusiastic. This is just one of the signs they had posted at Upper Sheep Creek Aid Station.

Beautiful

This is the same spot where the video was taken from. Gorgeous!

A view of the Tongue River from the Narrows. The sound of the river was incredible. Loud and roaring.

Footbridge Aid Station. Cold already and it was only 7:30 pm. Some of you have summer in June! Parts of Wyoming and Idaho get very, very little summer.

Another mud pit

Awesome volunteer who packed in the aid station, see the horses in the background?

River crossing. The race directors put up a cable for us to hold on to.

Wow, I look like a cow in this picture. I am wearing the tiara Heather sent me and pointing to a flag of Mike Ehredt's. I am on top of the snowy pass last Thursday as I left for Sheridan.

Snow and ice on the way to Sheridan. Scary driving!

Foiled again at Bighorn

Lots of writing, pictures and video when I get home and get a better internet connection.

Thanks to my husband for putting up with me in my pursuit of seemingly unattainable goals like this one. Thanks to Meara and the other women of Teton Valley for running with me. Thanks to all of my wonderful friends who have sent me emails, texts and messages via my forum and FaceBook.

I don't know where to start. I didn't finish the race. I barely made it to 38 miles. It was a very disappointing performance. I don't know where I went wrong. I'm not at all disappointed with the race or upset that I'm here, just that my body didn't respond the way that I had hoped.

This race is incredibly well run. The race directors are very enthusiastic, the goody bags have great stuff, the volunteers were AMAZING and the whole town seems interested and excited to have racers here.

Race day was gorgeous, not too hot or too cool. Right before the race started, I was fortunate enough to see many people I recognized including a friend from Estes Park that I knew 20 years ago! As soon as the gun went off and the race started, my hands swelled up very, very fat. I was unable to really exert myself right from the beginning. I was unable to run much and did a lot of walking right from the start. From miles 13 - 18, gut problems were brewing. By mile 18, I was dry heaving. From mile 26 - 31, I felt much better. From 31 - 38, it was a death march and I was very scared that I would not make it to an aid station. I vomited, dry heaved and slept on the side of the trail. At mile 38, I was eventually able to get a ride out to my car.

All that bad stuff aside, the course was STUNNING! My new sublingual hydrocortisone worked nicely although it dissolved very slowly, almost too slowly for me. My hip felt awesome and aside from my stomach, my body felt great. Even after 38 miles, I am not sore anywhere but my shoulders. Lack of soreness leads me to believe my training has been adequate for the conditions. My clothing was appropriate (I stayed warm enough when the sun went down) and I never ran low on water.

I'm not sure what I did wrong. I don't know why I was so sick. I've done runs of equivalent distance and time at home but have not ever had nausea. I awoke race morning with mysterious dark circles under my eyes. Today is "migraine day", the usual day I get migraines in my cycle. I don't know if either thing has anything to do with my terrible tummy performance?

Should I do Swan Crest if it happens (there's some controversy and permitting problems so the race may not happen)? It's very rural, I guess if I do it, I should be prepared to spend the night out in the woods.

The time has come

I've made it to Sheridan safely. When I left Driggs yesterday, it was 33 degrees and snowing. Temps dropped to 23, it was snowing, and road dangerously icy in spots. By the time I got to Sheridan, Wyoming, it was sunny with blue skies, temps in the 60s and a fierce wind. It's nice to see what spring looks like right before the first day of summer! The trees down (at 4,000 feet) all have leaves and flowers in people's yards are blooming.

I registered yesterday and got checked out by medical. Everyone gets checked out by medical. I hand medical an NADF emergency protocol form and permission to give me a shot. They were very attentive and remembered me from last year!!

In the motel lobby, Jim and Elaine struck up a conversation with me and we ended up going out to dinner together and then we walked around in downtown Sheridan.

Because my husband was unable to pace me, he did not come to Sheridan with me. It is a strange feeling to be flying solo. As a result of him not coming, I tried to be very meticulous with my preparations. My hope is that the index cards I printed out to remind me of things will serve as a second brain. I'm trying something new during this race, sublingual HC made in a troche form by my compounding pharmacist (thanks for the great idea gal on addisonssupport.com).

This is the very first time in the near decade I've had Addison's that I'm a little resentful about Addison's and the meds. As I was trying to plan out what meds I would take and how I would remember to take them, I was angry and thought, "Why me? This is such a pain in the ass!!" My next thought was, as usual, "Damn all those healthy people who are wasting perfect health that they take for granted by eating themselves to death. Who are sitting on the couch when they could be mowing the lawn or throwing a ball with their kids without any medicine adjustments or having to carry things around. Damn the lazy overeaters!!!"

Anyhoo, I'm out to breakfast right now. In 1.5 hours, I will leave for Dayton where the prerace meeting is held and the race will start. I'm nervous as hell. Feeling pretty good despite the big circles under my eyes. I bedazzled my shirt and arm warmers last night so I'm ready to go and sparkle.

My only goal for this race is to finish. The weather looks like it will be perfect. The trail will probably be very muddy and quite snowy in spots. I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be. If everything works out, I should start today at 11 am and finish tomorrow before 9 pm.