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
Great job out there. You killed it. Oh and by the way, thanks for not mentioning how your husband dropped out at mile 34, and is now taken the title of Drop Bag away from Mr. Hal Koerner. Well hopefully he can try to redeem himself on a little race with a fitting name called SOB 50k.
Another awesome run Jenna! Congratulations. You are a true inspiration. Balancing all you love in life.