1 hour from Palm Springs, CA
We arrived at Pathfinder Ranch the day before the big event to pick up race stuff and move our things into the bunkhouse/murdershed. Did I mention it snowed? The combination of pink blossom trees and snow showers is weird and beautiful. I instantly love the little ducks in the bathrooms. We then drove 20 mins for a 'relaxing' pre-race night at the Cahuilla Casino. Our room is so clean and warm. As usual I have a deep feeling of impending dread.
That night we also watched our first ‘
Gary video’. He recorded 5 motivational shorts for us, sometimes along with all the preparation and training you need some magic. Gary is the magic, he’s also Scottish and swears creatively which ticks all my boxes.
Race day 1
The next morning - Thursday - is dark and cold. Our rental car, a white Chrysler Pacifica, is all loaded up and ready for action. I get horribly nervous before events and this is going to be the longest one yet. There are 72 hours ahead of us and my goal is to finally hit 100 miles and earn that buckle. I may have suggested we just drive to Vegas instead.
We arrive in plenty time to organize ourselves for the start. We have a lower (bed) and upper (storage) bunk each which is really amazing. I'm still planning to spend as little time as possible in here. One of the nicest features is two lovely cooked meals a day in the cafeteria. We have breakfast with our soon to be fellow runners. We even meet another Alberta runner - Jon - and have dinner with him and Kim the next two nights as well.
We clump together in the brand new night aid station (with roaring wood fire) with the RDs, who are possibly the most awesome group of humans ever assembled. Ed (Jester) appears to my right and all is well in the world. We chose this race because Ken and Stephanie used to put Jackpot on and we were super excited to run one of their events again. We get an extra bonus of Lee, Lori, Rosemary, Shawn and the best volunteers ever. Honestly saints, every single one of you.
I haven't seen the course yet but I'm already finding everything quite beautiful. The start/finish is around Lied Lake. We have a group photo there (which I still need to find) before heading for the start arch. Oh lord it's happening. IT'S STARTING.
We start by going back through the bunkhouses and pink blossom trees. I feel like absolute crap for the first two laps which is not overly surprising to me since I'm shit at race starts but we're here for a while so there's no point thinking about it. Right now the course is unfamiliar and strange but I think we'll be getting to know each other quite well.
Pathfinder is a working ranch and we have some beautiful company.
I have a couple of favourite bits although these rocks are at the side of 'the beach'.
The sandy, sandy beach.
This section ends in the forest, that's my most favourite part.
The pinecones are HUGE. This is 10 miles. Now this particular pinecone has brought me great joy, obviously. My Inknburn top matches the blossom/snow theme quite effectively. Maybe that's why I'm so happy.
The first part of the day involves a 6.5 hour running stretch leading to chicken sandwiches at 3pm. Following that, another 3 hours of running then dinner at 6pm. Run - FOOD - run - FOOD - SNACKS - run (repeat).
We had to go to the British shop and pay a fortune for these (suspiciously small) Fredddos but it was nice to have a bit of Ultra Challenge UK with us. It fit nicely with the frog theme which we will find out about later.
More friends on the course, the two fuzzy cows are at the end of Kitty Lane. Except I haven't named it that yet. I'm doing run/walk intervals and things are going decently well. At 15 miles I stop to re-tape my feet and change socks. I plan to stay on top of the possible blister armageddon this time. As always the early miles in a long race feel sooooooo slow to me.
I would like to look at all this beautiful scenery (perhaps perched on a rock) but instead I'm usually looking at my feet in the sand and walking into the same tree branch over and over again.
During the morning I put our Giant Eagle cooler bag out with snackies on one of the nice benches by the blossom trees. It works well until a squirrel gets involved. Tufty chews right through the bag and that’s the end of my personal aid station (and my Trader Joe scones).
Chicken sandwiches at 3! We made it to the first goal.
The forecast is for rain/snow showers throughout the day but we are lucky and they always pass to the side of us. The wind picks up so jackets are frequently grabbed out the car.
I'm so happy to see Josh (Run it Fast) who has been a friend and ultra running instigator for many years. My bib must be inside my jacket, oh the nightmares I've had about going out without it.
I reach my distance goal of 32 miles before dinner, and dinner is fantastic. Alberta Jon is leading the race at this point. The 48 hr and 100 mile runners have now joined us with their races starting tomorrow.
After dinner I plan to keep going to midnight then have a break. It's even colder now so the big winter coat is deployed.
My feet are checked and happy, bib is on, coat is on and off we go. I am doing the night parts with Kev. He is 6 miles ahead of me in distance. This is when we discover the frogs. The entire area around the lake is full of them singing to each other. I switch off my music overnight so I can hear everything.
There's a lovely warm bathroom by the finish arch. Seems like a good idea to take a selfie in it?
At 11pm this amazing pizza happens. It's so cozy and warm in the dark. The decision has been made that I (therefore we) won't stop at midnight as I want to reach 50 miles before having a break.
‘Roaring Fire’ aid station is new at night this year and my god it is beyond fantastic. We spend far too long there talking to Ken, listening to Tony's awful jokes and enjoying the food and company. It’s one of these special still places that exist outside of space and time.
It's so pleasant in the dark doing laps. I am loving the Runderland soundtrack of owls, coyotes and frogs oh my! I think Runderland might be a BLU version of Narnia.
I reach 50 miles by 2am so we decide to have a break as per the schedule (my awesome ADHD schedule). We enter our lovely vehicle and attempt to put the heating on - it won't start. The bloody car won't start. It is absolutely freezing (-4) and we are shivering too much to deal with it. Right, into the murdershed it is. It then occurs to me we were lucky to make it to the race at all before this happened. Yikes.
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