Silver State 50K Race Report… my hometown race!!
Friday night before Silver State 50K I stood over the stove pouring brown rice pasta into my yummy little tomato sauce/chicken concoction while having a glass of wine. In my mind, I was only cooking dinner to serve to the two runners racing a 50 miler in the morning- my husband, JB and our friend, Tim Olson. I even scaled down my portion as I thought the likelihood of 1) getting a babysitter was not favorable and 2)my runner body seemed a little beat down from Miwok only two weeks prior. As we ate dinner and enjoyed a casual evening, the thought of not running Silver State 50k, which was in my backyard afterall, just worked on me little by little. I made a phone call to my sister, who after hearing she would need to be to my house by 6:00am, reluctantly, but sweetly agreed to watch Eva. I told her I promised I would be home by 1:00pm which would give me about 6 hours or less to run the race and drive home.  Okay, what had I done? Did I really need to go race again. Yes, it seemed I did.
Morning came, Eva and I were up early as usual and I hurried to get myself to the race. I arrived and signed up with only 2 minutes to spare. I found my new running friend, Gretchen Brugman, who I just met at Miwok and said a quick hello. We both agreed our legs were tired from Miwok and then off we went as the RD told us “Go!!” I settled in to a nice pace and saw that rain was threatening in the distance. After I shook my legs out for about 4 miles, I realized I didn’t feel all that bad. I looked down at my Garmin and found I was moving at a decent clip, so onward I went. As the real climbing towards Peavine began, the better I felt. Climbing is kind of my comfort zone and I can usually catch up or pass on the hill. I just got into the zone and did exactly that.
I won’t bore you with the details of every aid station, mileage, what I ate,ect. Mostly because I don’t really remember it all. I just ran that day and pretty mindlessly at that.  I turned up my music, tried to keep a steady pace, drank my water and enjoyed some new trails. What I do remember is how I used my pseudo-jedi mind tricks to get over the fact that my body was hurting at times, not nearly recovered from 11hours at Miwok. I think I realized after all these years that I can push pain out of my mind even if only for moments at a time.  I enjoy overcoming the lows and just riding out the highs.  At least this was the case for this race.
I crested the last hill and saw Rancho San Rafael park in the near distance and just pushed to get across the line. Someways back a few people had told me I was running as 2nd woman and so I was hoping that would be the case upon arrival at the finish.  A 5:15 finish time and yeah, good enough for 2nd women and 7th overall. My dad and JB were waiting for me with an ice cold coke (I was hoping for a beer) and I was all smiles, happy to be done. I quickly got in the car and got home by 12:45, where Eva was squealing in delight.Â
Only 6 weeks to Tahoe Rim Trail 100 and so time to ramp up training just a bit more in hopes the lows will be even  fewer and the highs will be really high.
That sweet finish line
