No matter the challenge, just believe in yourself people. Don’t let doubt be the challenge that stops you.
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After my 50k in August, I gave myself about two and a half weeks off and then decided I wanted to start training for the Lithia Loop Trail Marathon that my boss, Hal Koerner puts on the first week of November. My training started back up slow, but within two weeks I was already running 6 days a week and averaging 30 to 40 miles a week. My training was primarily focused on the long runs, spending more time on my feet rather than workouts and speed.
Four weeks away from race day, I caught a nasty cold and had to take a whole week off from running. Even though this cold mentally created challenges for me up until race day, I managed to find enough motivation to get myself up and out the door. I dedicated Sundays for my long runs, Wednesdays for the weekly Rogue Valley
Runners group run, and Tuesday/Thursdays I waited for Cole to get off work so I’d have someone to run with. It’s tough getting out the door, especially when you’re tired and can think of a million other things that we could all be doing. It was more fun for me to run with friends, so that’s what I waited to do.
Leading up to race day, I had a couple of solid long runs. Two three hour runs, and my last long run before race day was three and a half. I felt pretty good during all of these runs, but I was never fully satisfied when I was done. I would finish a run and would immediately start to stress about all the other things I needed to get done. There was a constant battle with my inner-self to not let myself down, to not be disappointed. It’s easy to go online and look at how fast all my other friends are and tell myself “I used to be that fast”.
I would come home from runs and would immediately start to compare myself to other people; digging myself into a hole of negativity.
The week before the race, I asked Cole what his advice would be to go into this Marathon. He told me to just run and not focus on anyone else. As hard as that is, he had an amazing point; stop comparing yourself to others and just let your body do what it wants to do.
The night before, I had no idea how to run this race and basically just wanted to finish. With a little experience, Cole mentioned I should run the first 10 miles painfully easy and try to run the whole thing. I thought it was silly at the time. All of my long runs consisted of some power hiking… aka walking. If I got tired, there would be no push. I honestly had no motivation to power hike because of the excuse that I couldn’t be fast enough.
My alarm went off at 6am, two hours before race time on Saturday, November 4th. It was a chilly morning, but slightly overcast. I woke up with energy and spunk. Coffee was in the french press to satisfy four thirsty humans at the crack of dawn. White mochas were made for all except for myself; just a simple cup of black coffee. I started my dancing session in the kitchen and Mom couldn’t help but come and boogie with me.
We drove over to the Lithia Park around 7:30, took a couple pictures, said hello’s and good luck’s to friends and before I knew it, we were taking off up on the first mile of 26.2.
The first 8 miles of the race is all uphill. I found myself running with someone almost the whole way up. For the last four, I interchanged my position with two pals of mine, Brian and Dez. We spent the single track together. I tagged along to their backsides and let them pull me up the final stretch of uphill to the Horn Gap aid station. I was having trouble getting my gels down. My gel was also slightly frozen and chunky which immediately made my stomach queasy. Sound appetizing, right? I took some coke and finished off my gel that I started a mile earlier.
Leaving Horn Gap, I gave myself some settling in time. I plugged in my headphones and turn on my ‘Lithia Loop Jams’ playlist. If you want to check out what I enjoy listening to during my runs, you can click here!
https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/jocelynschmidt5/playlist/4WCO34NTv1Vks64uw8VFuf
I felt oddly comfortable settling into the flattish miles on top of the loop road. I know my pace started to pick up and my stride felt long and strong. I passed by Dez and Brian, but we later met up at the mile 14 aid station. As silly as it sounds, I was singing. I let my heart sore and the words fly out of my mouth and my hands raised in the air when my favorite Christian songs came on. I was listening to music, but I was surrounded by silence.
There were no distractions, no relationships, work, homework or school, training; it was just…running. Every day leading up to race day felt like a constant uphill challenge with myself and the days seemed to drag on. But the race went by within the blink of an eye.
When I got to the mile 14 aid station, I was starting to get frustrated with my nutrition and had hardly drank anything. Luckily, they had chicken noodle soup which was SO amazing and warmed my soul! I spend a couple minutes here and I was met up again with Dez and Brian. I plugged my headphone back in and found myself on my merry way.
HK (Hal) had mentioned earlier in the week that mile 15 to 19 were probably the toughest. At this point of the race, we had just gone downhill for about 4 miles and this section is somewhat flat with the last 19 leading down into the Four Corners aid station. Luckily during this time, I ran into some friends of mine, Rich and Manuel, who I was able to snap a quick picture with. I had no idea where the aid stations were, so when I turned a corner and BOOM, there were friends I was immediately filled with happiness and energy all over again.
The route into Four Corners was tough, but I knew once I got there the race was almost over. I had marked the course the day before with Cole and knew a the aid station was a mile from where the mile marker 19 was. I knew my good friends Joe and Michael were at this aid station and I tried to pick up my pace so I could make it to see them. Miles 15 to were definitely the toughest and where I experienced my slower paces, but once I saw the gate to Four Corners, I knew it was time to wrap up this race.
My friend Michael filled up my soft flask with water.
We three took a picture together and I flew down the loop road. I felt fast and strong. I loved seeing all my friends out on the trail cheering for us crazies. I dropped a couple sub 7:30 miles and didn’t even realize I was moving that quick until I analyzed my race later that evening. The final single track trails consisted of a trail called Caterpillar, Red Queen, and Bandersnatch. All trails that I had spent endless time on training on just thinking about this moment. I knew this would probably be one of my last runs on these trails before I graduated from school in December. I started to get all choked up as I ran into the last aid station before the finish at the White Rabbit parking lot. I exchanged hugs and thank yous and bolted down Red Queen.My friend Michael filled up my soft flask with water.
Of course, the slowest song on my playlist from Tim McGraw & Faith Hill came on and even a couple of phone calls interrupted my music as I was trying to capture all the strength I had left to make it to the finish line. I ignored the distractions and the next song that was up was Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me do” from her new album Reputation. I passed two folks coming down the single track and felt some serious hamstring cramping with only a mile and half left. I yelled out in pain and found myself doing a hike sprinting thing up the final baby climbs.
Going into the final mile, I twisted my ankle as I stepped onto the road. I guess my body wasn’t used to the road after running on the trails for over 4 hours. Speaking of time, I had no idea what time or pace I was actually running. All I knew was that I was just over two hours right before the halfway mark.
The pavement hurt, but I tried to move as fast as I could and not cry the rest of the way in. I’m just an emotional human being who appreciates the art of running. There is nothing wrong with that! Sure, I could have shaved ten minutes off my time if I hadn’t stopped for hugs and pictures. But for this race it wasn’t about the time.
A couple weeks before, I had mentioned to Cole and my parents that a sub 5 hours would be nice, for my body’s sake. My 50k took my just over 7 hours and I reaaaally was not wanting to run anywhere near that long. I ended up finishing just over 4 hours. I came down the last mile and had glanced at my watch and was overwhelmed with how soon I was about to finish… and how fast.
Sometimes, when we get to the start line of a race we turn to our friends and say, “wow! I can’t believe race day is already here!” For me, race day couldn’t come fast enough. I was dreading my training runs and would push them off until the very last minute. The actual race itself went by so much faster than I thought it would, even after saying hi and dancing around on the trails for four hours.
As over dramatic as it sounds, this race really brought some life back into my running bones. I felt incredibly loved by friends and family and felt Jesus’s arms wrap around me when I was alone on the trail. The fun part though, is that we aren’t ever really alone. I started that race with 85 other folks and finished with those trail brothers and sisters. It wasn’t just me out there, it was me and all my friends and family to look forward to when I finished and that’s something I need to continue to remember as I progress forward in my ultrarunning career and well… just life.
Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/1261354929
Youtube video a friend of mine made of the race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjy-u8fsd34
jocelyn schmidt 