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September 5, 2006
The Grand Teton Trail Marathon
Sometimes I wonder how I have been blessed with such an awesome, lucky, superb, outstanding life. I pondered that thought over and over this weekend, and I'm unsure if I'll ever come to a conclusion. Until then, I will fairly recognize this gift and, quite literally in this case, run with it.
The Teton Trail Races were held this weekend at the Grand Targhee Ski Resort, which is planted on the east side of the Teton Mountains, just below the Grand Teton, the range's most prominent mountain. Here, the mountains protrude abruptly into thin air and the canyons dig deep into the earth. The area is rugged and wild, laced gently with just a few signs of human existence. More like, this part of the world, thank goodness, has been left alone by humans, a place for that which is wild to be free.
The Teton Races consist of a 100-mile, 50-mile and marathon events that travel through trails at the ski resort and elsewhere in the adjacent Targhee National Forest. The ultra-distance races began on Saturday morning, and lasted until they were finished. The marathon was held on Sunday morning. The marathon course was rugged, steep, and challenging. There was nothing easy about it, but also nothing impossible either. I loved every minute of it.
I entered this race with very open and undefined expectations. In short, I merely wanted to go out there and work as hard as I could given the conditions and my level of fitness. The one thing I went into the race with was a good plan for hydration and nutrition, as I suspected that I would be out there for a long time.
When the race started at 7:00 on Sunday morning, it was a fine, supa-fine morning. The sky was clear and the temperatures perfect for racing. The first 3 or so miles of the race features an 1800 feet or so elevation gain from the base of the ski resort to the mountain's summit. The climb was steep, and most people alternated running and hiking, depending on the trail's grade. I climbed to the summit steadily and in control. My legs and lungs felt perfect, and I summited as the second woman. I was within 50 yards of the first woman for the whole climb, and I believe I pressured her up the hill. I kept seeing her sneak glances at me as we climbed. I was confident that I my presence was making her work hard, and I hoped this would fatigue her quickly. As we reached the summit at 9800 feet above sea level, the sun was climbing over the mountains and it was an outstanding view. I believe I summited at around 38 minutes into the race.
I took in the scenery in snatched glances as I began the steep downhill back to the ski area base. Mostly I watched the first woman literally disappear below me. That woman had some serious downhill running skills. I dared not keep up, as I had been warned by more experienced trail runners that the downhills are what will trash your legs first. So I treaded lightly, taking soft steps in long strides down the hill. This uphill and downhill overlapped for much of the way, so I got a good view of just how close the third woman was behind me. Despite the mental pressures of her behind me and downhill running girl flying off into the distance in front of me, I managed to continue running my own race. I sipped about 10 ounces of Gatorade from the water bottle I was carrying and ate a Gu on my way back down the hill. The third woman and I arrived into the base station of the ski area at the same time. We were now about 7 miles into the race. I think I arrived here at about 1:10 into the race.
During the race, we passed through this base station several times, so we were allowed to keep a drop bag of sorts there. I kept a small cooler with bottle refills, Gu's, and a few assorted snacks. As I passed through the base station, I swapped bottles for a full 16 ounces of Gatorade, 2 Gu's, a baggie of powdered Gatorade, and a baggie of chocolate-covered espresso beans (Incidentally, I trained a bit with these, and now I have found that chocolate-covered espresso beans are THE BEST long distance racing snack. I'm a believer!). I left the base station just moments behind the woman I came into the station with, which put me in third place for the women.
There was a moderate climb for about a mile as the trail clmbed from the base station over a ridge. This whole climb was runable, albeit at a slow pace. During this climb, the woman in front of me climbed with great strength, and I spent only a short time trying to maintain her pace. I reminded myself to run my own race, and she promptly disappeared in front of me.
Once I crested the ridge and she was out of sight, I ran the next 8 miles all alone. The first 5 miles of so was a steady descent through Teton Canyon. It was a gorgeous portion of the course, I loved it. Here, I sipped Gatorade, ate a Gu at some point, and munched on espresso beans. I began to feel fatigue in the muscles in the top of my butt, those muscles that do stabilizing on descents. Besides this, I felt strong and in control. The course empties out of Teton Canyon at a paved road, at the next aid station. I have no idea what my time was when I flew past this aid station. However, I was still well-stocked, so I simply did the mandatory check-in and headed on.
The next 2.5 or so miles was a steady climb on a paved road. This was my most unfavorite portion of the course. However beautiful the views were with the mountains in full view all around me, it was tough running uphill on pavement. During this climb, some guy caught me and subsequently passed me a few miles later. I also began to feel the first waves of fatigue in this section. Despite this, I was buoyed by the fact that the one of the women who was in front of me (the speedy downhill woman) was now back in view and at a reachable distance.
Once the pavement climb was over, the course re-entered Teton Canyon and began climbing up it again. At this junction, about 16 miles into the race, there was another aid station. At this point, I had drank all 16 ounces of Gatorade, so I emptied the powdered stuff I was carrying into my bottle and filled it with water at the aid station. I still had one of my Gu's, and I grabbed another fromt he aid station as I powered through, as an emergency ration should stuff hit the fan in the next climb. The visible woman in front of me caught sight of me as she was refueling at the aid station. She made quick work of the aid station and set off on the trail a short distance in front of me. I can't recall what my time was when I went through this aid station.
I felt truly fatigued on this climb back up Teton Canyon. It lasted about 4 miles (in addition to the 2.5 miles of pavement climbing that we had just done) and climbed perhaps 1500 feet. Much of it was runable, and some of it hike-able. Mentally, I began to hit a lull, realizing that there were still many miles to go. Though I was feeling physically and mentally challenged, I began to catch sight of 3 people on the trail in front of me, 2 guys and the aforementioned girl. It seemed that they had packed up together and were pushing each other along. I made up the distance between myself and them very quickly, and I decided to initiate a powerful pass, hoping that none of them would go with me. I passed hard and kept surging up the trail. I surged hard for about 5 minutes or so before I got up the courage to sneak a glance behind me to see who was there. No one was within sight, I had successfully dropped them all and put myself back into second place, all while I thought I was tired. This buoyed me mentally, which buoyed me physically, and I topped out of Teton Canyon pretty quickly. From there, it was a 1 mile or so descent back into the base station of the ski resort. On this portion of the race, I ate a Gu and drank about 8 ounces of Gatorade. I arrived back to the base station at around 4 hours into the race, at about mile 21.
In the base station, I swapped out for a full bottle of Gatorade and 2 Gu's, and headed back out for the final 5 or so miles of the race. This portion of the course was the least steep. In fact, it mostly rolled along through the hills of a wide basin. The trail was somewhat difficult to follow, and I wondered a few times if I was going the right way. By this point, it was starting to get warm, and there were only sparse aspen groves in the basin for shade. I began to feel the heat, and so I drank a fair bit of Gatorade. During this part of the race, I was tired but I forged forward. At one point, two dark figures caught my attention off to the right, and I turned my head to see a mother moose and her calf. I was nervous as I was close to them and mother moose are infamous for charging in protection of their calves. However, they only stared and me and I stared at them as I went by. I also ate a Gu with only about 3 miles to go in the race. I'm not sure why, because I knew I was doing okay. Somehow, I felt that the heat and fatigue might make me feel bad. It never did, and the Gu didn't seem to hurt anything either.
I came into the finish line at the base station of the ski area at 4:56-ish, finishing second among the women. I felt fatigued, but happy, very happy. 5000 feet up, 5000 feet down, and 26.2 miles forward through the Teton Mountains. Not too shabby of a day.
In the aftermath, my butt muscles are shot. They are going to need some recovery time. I'm sore and stiff, but able to move and function. I also purpled my right big toenail, but I was shown a way to drain the fluid from underneath (Ultrarunners have an abundance of information with regards to thing like this!). It is taking diligent work to drain the fluid from beneath that toenail 3 times a day, but it relieves the highly uncomfortable pressure and perhaps I might not lose the toenail afterall. Oh well, if I do, sandal season is over and the snow might fall anytime now. Hah.
What's on tap this week? Recovery, recovery, recovery. After that? There's more.
Posted by Meghan at September 5, 2006 8:30 PM
Comments
I really enjoyed reading your race report. We just traveled through yellowstone and the tetons on vacation. I had no idea the trail races were scheduled. What a beautiful and amazing place you have to train and race in.
Posted by: Ginger Breadman at September 6, 2006 1:00 AM
This was an awesome race report. I am so inspired. And I am so excited for espresso covered coffee beans! Cool tip!
Congrats on working hard and surging past that pack like it was YOUR JOB! THAT is tough.
Posted by: Audrey at September 6, 2006 7:57 AM
Think about working light weight/high rep squats into your training regime going forward. They will work your butt muscles that appear to need work. Rest well. Smile. You done good, Meghan!
Posted by: duncan at September 6, 2006 12:19 PM
Congrats Meghan! Hope the recovery goes well!
Posted by: Beth at September 7, 2006 1:13 PM
Meghan,
I loved your race report, I am training for this race and what you wrote inspired me to continue training hard. I am so excited for the race and look forward to trying out the espresso beans!! : ) thanks, and good job!!
Posted by: Jared at March 14, 2007 12:06 PM