Culmination

A year is a long time to be working towards a goal - espcially when there’s so many individual milestones to be met along the way. In 2018, when I first started thinking about taking on the Transcendence Series, I knew it would be huge. It’s been four years since the last person finished. Only one other women completed the challenge set forth by the Human Potential Running Series. Six races - spread out across the year, six different courses providing different challenges. One 100 mile race, one 100k race, one 50 mile race and then three 50k races. I had a solid plan - with some backups if needed - but in order to survive the year I would need everything to work perfectly.

Dreams start when we sleep, but require the work of daylight to achieve. 

The original plan was simple. 

Stories 30 hour in February. With that being the first event and coming off my recovery from a busy late fall season, I was hoping for the 100k. I was concerned about the weather for that race. February can be dicey weather for running in CMSP. Death mud could derail any attempts for long miles. In 2018, at the inaugural Stories the longest anyone ran was 67.28 miles. So my backup was to get that minimum of 50 miles. 

Tommyknocker 12 hour in May. This was to be a 50k attempt. It was another timed race and I was fairly confident about the 50k distance. Plenty of women had gotten 50k of fun up in White Ranch. I just needed to be smart with my effort. 

Last Call 50 Mile in July. That was for plan A. I’d wanted to do that race since it was announced. Midnight start, seeing the sunrise over the mountains, another shot at the 50 mile distance. This is where things got interesting... My plan B if I only got 50 miles at Stories was too take on Silverheels 100. It was sooner then I wanted for a 100 mile race and the possibility of not finishing was high at that challenging event. If that happened, everything was finished. 

Sheep Mountain 50k in August. As tempting as another shot at that 50 mile was, it was not in the cards. Sheep Mountain was after the 50 mile (or possibly the 100!) and I didn’t want to put two 50s so close together. So it would be the second of the three 50ks.

Sangre de Cristo 100 miles in September. This was the big challenge. The race that drew me into the Transcendence series. I’d originally eyed the 100k there, but when the 100 mile race was announced? That was it. I knew where my first 100 mile race would be. Hopefully I would be ready for a 100 mile race come September! Of course, if things defaulted to Plan B, this would be the 100k. Assuming if I’d had to go to Plan B, I had also finished Silverheels!

Sawmill 50k in December. Because of some possible mountain bike races, this was to be the final 50k. It was also the final race to complete the series! Nothing like cutting things close, especially with trying to do a 50k in Golden in December. Getting up there could prove to be more a challenge then the actual race! 

So what really happened? Obviously there were some changes... it’s October and I have reached my goal - the culmination of my year long journey. There were times along the trail that I questioned both my ability to keep going and why I’d even decided to attempt it. Every time though, I found something to keep moving. One foot in front of the other, focus on the small pieces - not just the over-arching dream. John’s words always echoed “don’t F*ck up though.” Be smart, be steady - both at the races and during my training. From when I decided to attempt the Transcendence Series until the time I reached that final finish line I had to be smart.

Dawn on Stories Ultra

Stories Ultra - 100.7 miles  - this was a dream race. Will I ever recapture that magic? I don’t know. I do know that I reached 100k long before I though I would and I still felt good. So why not? Why not just keep going? So I did. I kept going all the way to my first 100 mile finish. The longest race finished on the first race of the series. There were some low points and I was hurting at the end, but I earned my Teddy Bear buckle. Now I jokingly say that I “accidentally” finished my first 100! 

Tommyknocker 12 Hour - 34.38 miles. The race that almost wasn’t. Snow and mud forced a postponement of over a month. Luckily, the new date was on a day I could still race - even if it was the day after a mountain bike race! Of course, time goals mean nothing when the race is dictated by little balls. My own goal was to reach my 50k distance. To let go of the expectations and just have fun running. In the end, I loved Tommyknocker. Hard and honest, but fun and random. 

Last Call 50 - 12:27. There is something about the brilliant stars in the darkness of night and the sunrise brightening up the dawn. I saw all of that and more at Last Call. I gave into the mountains and accepted the challenges thrown at me. The challenges forced me to rise up, apply the lessons of every other event. I made some rookie mistakes, but those mistakes were  lessons I needed.

Sunrise at Sheep Mountain

Sheep Mountain 50k - 6:52. Another day of lessons! Between pacing and a cranky stomach to the hail storm in the last miles, Sheep Mountain threw a lot at me. I welcomed the adversity, knowing that there is no better place to face the challenges then on a course I know. I was still humbled by Sheep Mountain, but I was ready for it this time. I knew what was coming and approached it with the respect it deserved. That brought me to the finish line with a smile instead of a grimace. 

Sangre de Cristo 100 - 32:33. I could have dropped down to the 100k at any point before the start of the race. That would have been the safe choice. After all, the 100k was “only” 8 miles more then Last Call! But I have never played things safe. I have found the hardest races I can and then dove in head first. Why change now? Sangre was the challenge that I sought. The race tested me in every way - mentally, physically, emotionally. I was not the same person who started that race some 32 hours later.

And finally - Indian Creek 55k - 7:10. With the mountain bike race date changed, I was free to do the Fall Classic. I jumped at the chance for the original Human Potential race. No better place to finish then where it all started, right? With Indian Creek only three weeks after Sangre, I knew better then to race. The time didn't matter. The place didn't matter. All that mattered was getting from the start to the finish, thanking all the volunteers and cheering on everyone I met. And winning the costume contest... When I go all in, I go all in! More on that later.

Six numbers, six awesome awards, one shot glass and two belt buckles. The story of my year

Over the next month, I'm going to reflect on the things I learned at each event and how chasing this goal changed me. It was a bigger challenge then I anticipated for many reasons. It was more then just completing six different races - and the logistics around all six races. It was allowing myself to recognize the adversity I faced was different then what the runners around me were dealing with. It was being present in the moment, with the hand that I'd been dealt, learning to manage both my expectations and the reality of what was happening. I discovered that while the race is important in moment, the finish time or placement doesn't matter much past that weekend. People don't care about your time - they want to know about the experiences on the course. There was the balance between the desired training and realities of what I could actually manage - as well as what was fair for Nick. I was the runner - the one covering all the miles, but Nick was also there for five of the six races - supporting me. He gave up long weekend rides to sit around at a race venue, waiting for hours for me to appear from the woods. I wouldn't have been able to do this without his support.