Sunday, September 27, 2009

A Successful but Miserable Vermont 50 km

Today I ran the VT50, 50 km race for the first time ever. It was the most miserable ~12 hours I have experienced ever!! The race started in the rain, and finished in the rain. The course was trail (which I dislike) and there were so many hills! But alas I feel this EPIC battle in which I won made me stronger and overall was positive.

Also, I was lucky enough to meet up with my friends at the race and during the race I saw lots of friends from the VT100 including the Race Director Julie Hutchison. She is so SWEET!!! And gave me the best hug at mile 15 when I was starting to struggle.

I am not sure if I will ever return because this year (and apparently every other year) it rained and made the course so muddy. This made it really slick and the entire time I struggled to stay on my feet. While I did not fall, I did crash into a few tree's and stumbled well over 100 times. And I pretended the course was a slip and slide and would walk up one step and slip backwards 4 or 5!

My post race shower was nearly 1 hour and I am not convince I am clean. But it is good enough because I am exhausted.

9 comments:

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

Tammy good job to get that mud fest completed!

You are strong, recover well and DRY Up!

AFib Runner said...

maybe I have read too many race reports, but the one hour shower seems like the craziest part of your report. I think i would need a chair for that.

joyRuN said...

Sorry about the misery but congrats on the finish!!

Carolina John said...

wow yea that's tough. i thought my road bike race in the rain was challenging. trails in the rain? no thanks.

TonyP said...

Miserable is too kind a word for this one. It was great to see you guys again.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Good job toughing it out, sister!

Can't wait to see the race pix, where you'll be smiling, of course, just not quite as wide.

Tell the truth: There's no "off" switch on that smile, is there?

Jimbo said...

Well done for toughing it out - many of the reports I have read say it was brutal out there.

Look forward to the photos :)

Congrats again

Jim

CTmarathoner said...

wow --I read the thread on kickrunners and the VT 50 this year just sounded miserable!! So glad you made it thru without killing yourself. I got a taste of that mud at escarpment trail run --13 of the most miserable miles I have ever endured; yet some like it...I do hope that it works for you to try it again, but I agree, it's iffy.
good job Tammy --I would have taken a one hour shower to (with chair)

Jamie Donaldson said...

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger (and cleaner)! Congrats!