Episode 43: Cocodona Mile 75 to Mile 176: The Long Middle

Mile 75 to mile 176 — and this stretch had everything.

In this episode, I'm taking you from Whiskey Row through Watson Lake, across Fain Ranch, up and over Mingus Mountain in the dark, down into Jerome, across the Verde River, through red rock country, and up the Hangover Trail into Schnebly Hill. We cover 18 hours of puking, a sodium crisis caught mid-climb, dirt naps on cold ground, hallucinations that were equal parts terrifying and fascinating, and the moment my mind couldn't push my legs any faster and I had to accept that moving forward was enough.

In this episode:

• Leaving Whiskey Row still sick and the GPX file that sent a small crowd of us the wrong direction
• The low point at Fain Ranch and the one time I asked Greg out loud: can I do this?
• Courtney showing up early and hitting 100 miles for the first time
• Mingus Mountain in the dark, sodium awareness, and a descent that humbled me
• Jerome, the Verde River crossing, and 26 miles with Kat through red rock country
• Hot dogs with extra mustard, hallucinations, and the longest dirt nap of the race
• The Hangover Trail at mile 160+ on no sleep and Kristen talking me through every single step
• And the thing I keep coming back to: find your people. And when it's their turn, show up in the dark for them.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey y'all, welcome back to Dirt Nap Diaries. I'm your host, Brittany Illson, Trailrunner, Women's Trailrunning Coach, Hype Woman, and Professional Overpacker of the Midrun Snacks. This show is for the everyday trailrunner that runs training on real life legs and real life time. You've got work, relationships, laundry, pets, a group text that never shuts up, and maybe a big goal sitting quietly in the back of your head that you're not totally sure you're allowed to want. You're not out here chasing podium spots. You're chasing finish lines, sunrise, and maybe a little sanity. This podcast is about trail running, but it's also about navigating life. The hard seasons, the joyful ones, and the ones where everything feels like too much. So let's get into it. Alright, y'all. I just had a dog run in here, and you probably heard that. Um, but uh not much of a personal life update. Still recovering. Um, feeling better and better though. I actually last night, I think I had my first night of really good quality sleep, so about two weeks out from Coca-Dona. Um, but it felt good to actually sleep. Um, naps are lessening a bit, but I'm still noticing some fatigue in the middle of my day. Uh, totally normal. Nothing's like, hey, this isn't right. So um, everything is feeling better. We actually, Greg and I had signed up for the Sierra Vesta Summit Challenge that they do. That's down in southern Arizona in the Wachuca Mountains, and it is beautiful. Um, so we'd we'd done the three, we've done the three summits before. You can do one, two, or three. A few years ago, we did it um together. Uh, and then we'd signed up for it. And I think when we signed up, I was saying, oh, that's about three weeks after Coca-Dona. It'll be fine. Uh, Memorial Day feels early this year, so um, it was actually two weeks after. Uh, we decided to still go down and uh, you know, just go out and see what happened. I told him I was like, hey, you know, I'm reserving the right to pull the plug at any time. Luckily there are outs along the way, so you don't have to do all three summits, which we knew about. Uh, and I don't have much of an ego. So what what it led to is, you know, we got we did one and a half summits actually, and just, you know, took it easy uh and made sure I didn't overdo it. Made sure Greg didn't overdo it too. He is um starting training. We do we do Mountain Blanc, by the way, in July, but he uh he he's starting some training too, so it was good for us not to overdo it um because there's no point to it. There's no point in pushing yourself so hard that you set yourself back, guys. So that's my little lecture right there. But it was a beautiful day. That was just yesterday. Um, and like weather was great, and again, we just took it easy. Um there's there was no point in pushing, it was just something today to enjoy. So what I did notice though is a couple of things that were still like I got little niggles still. Uh it's really just the left foot ankle Achilles area, which is what I've been doing PT on for quite some time now, and it's so much better than what it was when I first started the PT. But um the uh that's just the spots I'm still feeling it. But I will be starting my ankle mobility and strength PT uh this week. So hopefully that just helps with some of the stuff. I will probably end up going to see Megan Slave in my PT um to get just everything, make sure there's nothing that's like just maybe need loosened up a little bit, uh, maybe just needs a little needling to get to be able to do like full range of motion for those movements. But outside of that, I was really happy with um how everything felt. Today I just feel my hips a little bit, which makes sense because it was a lot of climbing. But um, yeah, pretty normal compared to what I just did. I still have another fairly easy week of running next week. The last couple weeks have been optional runs. These weeks are not technically optional, but I also know if I need a day, I need a day. So um, yeah, but outside of that, just back to work uh and doing the things that I do. So life is returning to that normal status. It feels weird because I'm still living in the Cocodona haze. But um, yeah. So all of that said, um, we are going to get into the second recap for um Coca-Dona 250. Again, like I've got these all outlined, I've got these all written down. I I've got it set up for three episodes. I may get into this and realize holy shit, this is gonna be too long. We're gonna have to do a fourth episode, whatever. But so just thanks for following along, but we are gonna pick back up at Whiskey Row, which is mile 75. Um seven, and we're gonna take you on a little trip through part of this course again. Um, so uh got into Whiskey Row again. That's where uh I could see crew, so I got to see Greg there with the van. Um I did try to actually lay in the van and sleep, which is really one of the first times I realized it's probably not for me to sleep in the van. Or if I sleep, it's gonna be even shorter than what I would like it to be. So, but everything feels shorter than what you like to be when it comes to sleep doing this kind of thing. Um, but got all taken care of. Uh, and Greg walked me like towards uh basically what the direction I needed to go to get out of Whiskey Row and Prescott and then keep moving. Uh so uh it was it well from Whiskey Row, they actually had a new aid station this year, which was Watson Lake, which I believe was about uh it wasn't too far away compared to what it was um the last year because they did not have uh an aid station right there. But anyway, last year doesn't matter, does it? So um Whiskey Row left from there and and headed out towards Watson Lake. Actually, when I was out there, and I cannot remember the guy's name, but he was a guy I was leapfrogging for a while, and we ended up like just talking and chatting and walking and jogging through that section. Uh, but like where Watson Lake is also where the dells start. So before I got to there, you know, I had a pretty easy um, it was pretty easy to get from Whiskey Row to Watson Lake. So Whiskey Row, it was a probably about five miles of road, which is where I switched to my Mount to Coast H1s, by the way. They are hybrid shoes and they are my favorite trail shoes right now, slash road shoes. They can run on both and they run on gravel very well too. So Mount to Coast H1s, I do not recommend shoes um and you just buy them and they work for you, but I do recommend you try them on and see if they do work for you because I love them. Um, so left that. There was only about two to three miles of trail between Whiskey Row and Watson Lake, and it was mainly gravel trail. So another reason I I chose those shoes to wear because I didn't need super grippy trail, the T1s that I wear for them, so the trail shoes. Uh so it felt really quick. Those short sections, because we have sections that are 15 to 20 miles sometimes before you see crew or aid. So when you have a single-digit uh section, it does feel a lot quicker um than the rest. So get there. Um, didn't still not have a pacer. I believe I said last week, like at Whiskey Rose where I was allowed to pacer, I did not plan a pacer for that section. Uh part of it is because I was like, I hate inconvenience people and seeing if they'll ask off work. And the other part was like, this is gonna be in daylight, and I really want to make sure I have people in place for nighttime and for the hangover trail. So pacers allowed, still solo, um, and then got to Watson Lake where crew can be. So, so Greg was there. Um, I believe I ate a little bit of ramen there, but what we found out what was really working was bananas. Um, because I was still having some stomach nausea. Um, I still wasn't my stomach hadn't quite turned around yet. But uh, so I ate a lot of bananas and I took one with me um on the go. Uh, and then when I left Watson Lake, it was a very it was a pretty quick stop there. Um, didn't didn't need a lot there. I was feeling okay enough that I was like, I want to get moving and get to Fane Ranch because that was a little bit more uh mileage in between aid stations. So um Fane Ranch, so from Watson Lake to Fein Ranch, first of all, you go through the Dells. Um I need to post a picture of that. I don't think I have yet. But it is it, it is a lot of slick rock. You can see Watson Lake in the background. It's actually very, very beautiful. Uh, it's kind of a weird little section because you are following dots for the most part on slick rock. So there's white dots that mark the way. You can also see their little um glow-in-the-dark light things there because when people do that, the people who get there at nighttime, it's very hard to see the dots. So you're actually following like glow stick-like things, little light things, which to me I do not want to do, but I'm glad they do it for the people who would be there at night. But it seems kind of crazy, actually. I cannot imagine going through that section at night and not getting turned around a little bit. Um, but you follow these white dots through through the dells. You can see the lake. Everything is super, super cool looking. Um, I even had somebody interview me for Kokodona Chronicles. You can see it on, I think, episode five for them on YouTube, but they just talked to me. There's this guy. So I'm run, I'm jogging forward on these, these, these slick rock and like making turns and and all these things, and that's already like technical enough. The dude who was interviewing me who had his camera pointed at me and was running backwards and sideways without tripping and looked much smoother, I thought, than I even did. Because I remember like, dude, how are you doing? How are you not falling? Like, this is not a place where people can just move backwards or sideways on. He's like, This is what I do for my life. He's like, This is what this is my job, you know, and I've been doing it for a long time. And it was it was really cool to see. And I know it's not really part of like he wasn't racing, but like for me, people are out here at like capturing moments, whether they're taking pictures or or video. And um, he was just talking to me and interviewing me and running backwards down the dells. It was, it was, it was cool, but it also helped me get through that and get get kept me out of my brain of like, oh my gosh, maybe I should be moving slower or faster. I just kind of chatted with him. So that was just kind of I don't know if that's a neat experience, but like it was just like, oh, okay. Um, but you do you so you run through the dells, you know, you're in that little Watson Lake area. There's a whole loop you can actually do out there um that families like to go do because it's fairly flat, it's not super technical. So if you ever get a chance, go go do the Watson Lake loop. Um, but uh so got out of that and was heading towards Fein Ranch. So what I remember from that I will mention last year, when I paced Ashley last year for this race, it was pouring down rain by this point. And it was funny because we had left a different aid station, it's no longer there. I think it was called Ironwood. That's the one I was thinking of earlier. Um, it's like, hey, our the the person, the other crew person was like, hey, like it's gonna rain, but it's not gonna be for two or three hours per the weather report. We're like, okay, cool. So we left the ironwood that time, and then whenever we were crossing through like the Fain Ranch, and Fein Ranch is private property, by the way, like it's a ranch. Um, it literally started pouring down like 10 to 15 minutes later. I mean, it was pouring and it was nasty, and it was just everything was muddy and just gross. So that's how I pictured Fain Ranch before I started. And I knew it had been dry, so I knew we were gonna be fine. But as I did Fein Ranch, like, or headed towards Fein Ranch aid station, it was so much better. Like, no mud sticking on my shoes. Um, I was I was able to to walk jog through that whole section. Um, you also hit a little bit of road again, which is why I also use my H1s. It was not technical, but again, more road. And for me, trail shoes do not feel good on the road at all. So having those H1s was amazing. Um, so but it is. It feels like it feels like cross country. I did not ro run cross country as a kid. My school did not have cross country, but when I see cross-country matches, this is what it kind of reminds me of. Just longer than the three miles they run um in high school for that. I think it's three miles they run. So, um, but was able to just like keep moving, and then I was feeling really good, and I was like, okay, you know, we're gonna get to I'm gonna get to Fane Ranch in just like 20, 30 minutes, great. And I don't know what happened. I had downloaded the new GPX file for the course um on Sunday night before the race started to make sure I had the most up-to-date version, and it directed me to not where the aid station was. Um, and there had been orange flags, and AirVipe uses orange flags, by the way, to point you. And when I was running, there were orange flags going to the right. And there were a couple people actually being behind me too, not right behind me. They didn't follow me, but they had followed the orange flags, and I was like, I finally yelled, I was like, guys, like there is no aid station here. They're like, what? My GPX file says so. So I'm not gonna blame Air Vibe for the GPX file. I have no idea what it was if I downloaded from the wrong spot, but either way, the GPX file that I had and they had was wrong. There's other people confused out there. There's probably about seven or eight of us out there that were confused. And I was trying to call Greg because I knew he was at Fane Ranch. I'm like, something's up. And eventually we get back to where that those orange flags were. And if you looked across the road, there were orange flags pointing to the left too. And when we looked at the orange flags we had followed, they were for like a gas line or some kind of line. So like they were orange just like air vibers. Air vipas say air vipa on them, but you when you're running, I'm not gonna lie, you don't notice what they say. You see orange flags. And then the other ones actually did say, like, I don't remember what it said. It said like line below or or or something of like that. So it was very frustrating. So that I could tell like that was one point where like I'd already been like not eating a lot. Not I I'd actually been eating okay, but like I was struggling with dry heaving and just like not feeling well, that it really got in my head. I mean, it was like I could have been at this aid station freaking 45 minutes ago, and I'm not there yet. And then this aid station, you actually go past it so you can go underneath the road. We're right by a highway at this time, like go underneath the road to get to the aid station. Um, so maybe that's a cool thing. I don't know. I know at the time I was very, very frustrated. I was getting down, and I just wanted to get to that aid station and and sit down and and and sleep for just a little. Like I was like, I I need to sl I could just I just felt like I needed to sleep. So again, still solo, you could have a pacer, but I was solo, so finally get um to that to that aid station, uh, which felt like it took eternity. And uh Greg was there waiting on me, and uh I did, I actually did lay in the van, and I think I s that was the one time I actually slept a little bit. Um not much, but I got a little bit. Um, but my legs were very much so throbbing. Um it was not comfortable to lay down in the van. Um I actually woke up, and when I woke up, I started puking then and dry heaving, and it felt like all that I was puking was stomach acid, so it just it didn't feel great, and I was at a I was at a low. Um I was like, I know I need to eat, but like I have puked up everything I think I have in me at this point. Uh so anyway, so we're there, and I did start, I believe that's where I had another banana and some ramen. Uh some of this is kind of it's all blurred. I ate a lot of ramen and bananas. That's that's the that's what got me to the finish. Uh part of what got me to the finish. But uh we're sitting there and I'm definitely I had just puked and I am just feeling just I I remember this is the one time I did ask Greg. I was like, can I do this? And he said, Yes, you can. And but it was the the one time I actually verbal verbalized that out loud of like that was the time I had the I don't say there were no doubts throughout. It is a very long race, and you start thinking, what the hell am I doing out here? But that was a time when I was like, What's go like can't can I do this? Um and then Courtney of all people, she was gonna text me or text me, she was going to be pacing me from the top of Mingus Mountain, which is Fane Ranch to Mingus Mountain camp, and then down to Jerome. She was gonna, we were gonna do, I was gonna meet, she's gonna meet me at the top and run me down into Jerome because that is a very technical section. It's very frustrating, there's lots of rocks. You think you're getting a great downhill, and for most everyday trail riders, it is not a great downhill. It is, it is rocky, it is technical, you know, you're you're you're sleep deprived um at this point. But uh Courtney texts Greg and he she had asked him, she's like, Um, does Britney want me to start at Fane Ranch? Because she was driving already. And Greg's like, Do you want Courtney to uh to pace you up Mingus? And I was like, Courtney DeWalter, if you don't know who that's, that's one of our E Lake runners. I knew she wasn't asking him to pace me. Um, but then I I laughed and I said, yes. Um and he's like, it's gonna be about a 40 minute wait. Um, so here's why this race is great, and because of where I was at at time, I had the 40 minutes to wait. So I used that 40 minutes to keep resetting and keep trying to eat more food, making sure everything was packed, um, just like getting everything that I could inside of me and then like have just being ready to go when she got there. So it worked out really well in that instance. Like I was not planning on stopping for any longer than I had because I already slept and I was like, it's time to go. But I felt like mentally, like when Courtney volunteered to pace me up Mingus and down, like that was like, yes, like that is what I knew I needed. Um, Greg had also been keeping up keeping all my pacers updated and even some friends updated on like how I was feeling and what was going on. So it was more just like, okay, like we know she's been puking, we just have to get her up to Mingus, get her eating again, and then get her over Mingus and keep her moving. So um, but she got there. We made sure we had all of our mandatory gear. This was a mandatory gear check, which is the full cold weather gear kit. Um, and it's you know, a puts a puff jacket, it's a beanie, it's gloves, it's headlamps because it's nighttime, all of that. Uh so we're still technically at this time, we're still like in Fane Ranch and prep private property before we start going up Mingus, uh, which I believe is for service, by the way. Uh, but like, and when we were doing that Fein uh ranch section, the first hundred mile uh point came up. So like the fur it had a mark say, Hey, you're you're 100 miles in. Um, so I got a picture by that sign, but that is where I hit 100 miles for the first time. So the 100 miler I had signed up for and raced, I DNF'd, so like I hit 100 miles for the first time. But also, and I forgot to bring this up like in Whiskey Row and Watson Lake, like when I saw Greg and when I talked to that guy, I was like, every step's a PR right now, every single step is taking me further than I've gone before. And that's what I started focusing on because like you can't it's very hard to focus on the enormity of what you're taking on. So it's good to focus on those those small things that are happening. Um, so it was crazy. Like, so 100 miles in, um, get a picture there, and it was so nice to be with Courtney and to have somebody there just talking to me, uh, making sure I got that picture at that sign, you know, and just and just keeping me moving. Um, so this is and for all these who don't do not know, I love climbing. I'm cool with flat running, I'm cool with like downhill running, but I love climbing. Um, so that's why I was looking forward to Mingus, and it went really well. Um, I had told, oh well, it's funny too, we were talking to people on the way up because there were still some people on there, like, how is this really? And I was like, I just said I don't think it's as bad as what people make it out to be. It's a heck of a lot easier than anything we've already done, including that first section of the race and then going to Camp Kippa up Mount Union is cra is is is for me was was was hard, hard. And this one just seems like so much less to me. What I realized I should have prefaced that with when I was talking to these guys, especially was like, I love climbing because I love climbing. And as there are some people who do these climbs and they don't like it as much, so it's not does it it seems harder or it's not as fun for them. Um, but either way, Courtney and I crushed that section going up Mingus. I mean, we moved so well together, we talked, we laughed. I did take a dirt nap um before we started the climb up mingus because I was just feeling I was feeling tired, so I laid, I don't even know if I took a dirt nap, but I laid down at least for about five minutes. Basically, for the whole time I had Courtney, I would lay down and I would say, let's set an alarm for 10 minutes, and I was normally up before anything was said. So sometimes I would doze off, and sometimes just like laying down, closing my eyes, and five minutes later I was ready to go. So that's where I started seeing like dirt naps were definitely gonna be what I needed um to keep moving forward. Um, but it was good. The one thing I did start noticing though is um I was peeing a little bit more, and again, that's where I mentioned this in the last episode, but definitely like this is where I realized like my sodium was off. Um, I don't think that was why I was puking just because of when it was and I wasn't having that issue at that time. But um I was just like, man, I am actually peeing quite a bit. Like this is a lot for what I'm doing. And it happened as I was going down Mangus 2 into Jerome. And I was like, okay, like this is okay, but what I knew is I just needed some more sodium to help out. Um if you're wondering what that what what it what it feels like, and it could be other things too, by the way, but when you know your body's been doing things, you kind of you you learn a lot. Um, and like I was peeing frequently two or three times an hour. Uh my pee was completely clear, was was a sign, and like I I had to go. Like it wasn't I wasn't like gonna pee my pants, it was like I gotta go. Like, um, and that just like okay. And I I mentioned it, I remember mentioning it to Courtney. I was like, I have a s there's something off with my sodium, and we need to get it figured out. So, but we just kept moving. There's nothing you can do really, like we gotta get it figured out, but there's nothing else you can do except knowing like if you have salt, like to take in salt. So um when I did get up to Mingus, like it was I it was dark. Um, Greg was there waiting. It was uh it was nice to get there. It was about that it was around the time that like Ashley got there. Some of my first sections that I hit myself were when Ashley hit them, so I was very familiar. As it got further in, I definitely got slower than she did. So like it was a different time of day when I was hitting things, but either way, um, get to the top of Mingus, and like I my stomach is finally, I know it's good. It was back, it was back, and I ate a lot of ramen. Uh, we got all my stuff switched out. It was chilly up there, so like we made sure to do as much as we could inside. This is an inside aid station, which is great. Uh, it is it's like a little camp up there. Um, I don't know if it's like Boy Scout, Girl Scout camp, or just like they have summer camps up there, but uh was able to get quite a bit of food in me, chill out just for a little bit. I got to pee in a running toilet, yay, and wash my hands and brush my teeth with running water. I was brushing my teeth so much, it was ridiculous. But with all the carbs and stuff you take in, all that sugar, it just sticks to your teeth and all the electrolytes. Um, so what I did what I didn't think about at Mingus though was that I needed to be taking in more scratch than tailwind. Uh I was use I can use tailwind by the way, I don't have a problem, but normally when I run my runs, I do tailwind and scratch. Uh, and because the race hydration was tailwind, for me it was just easier. Let's just fill the bottles with tailwind and keep going. But it seemed like uh I just wasn't getting the sodium that I normally get. Um so part of it might have just been how they dilute the tailwind. I'm not saying they weren't following instructions, by the way. That's not an accusation, just more like how they dilute it might have been different than how I diluted my tailwind when I was in training. Um so I might have had more sodium per like liter of water that I was drinking or half a liter of water. Uh so but I didn't think of it at that time. It was actually later that I was like, we gotta switch to scratch. And then I can supplement with tailwind if I have to, and you guys aren't there. But like we've got to start filling my bottles with scratch. Uh, but there I did get I did get a lot of ramen, got some salty goodness in me, and that did help um somewhat. So didn't sleep there. They had a shower there, I think maybe. I didn't shower there, uh, but got out of there fairly quickly compared to some of the other stops I had had. And then from there we leave and we go down me. Which, like I mentioned, it's like, oh yay, downhill. This wasn't yay downhill. Like this was a lot of rocks, and it's nighttime, so it's headlamp stuff and all and that. So we did knew we would get a sunrise somewhere as we were going down, but like at this time it was dark. So lots of rocks, you know, taking taking your time, just getting to picking your way down. Uh, and you know what? The sun did come up and it did get better, but it was you could still see all the technical pieces of it. So, but you could also see it was really cool too when we were out there. Um, we could look back whenever we saw headlamps on, you could see people coming down Mingus. You could see their headlamps just like dotting the way down. You could see where there were switchbacks. It was it was a really cool thing. So one piece of advice I could tell you, and this is for any race too, but especially like the longer ones, like look make sure you're looking around, like just see what you're out there doing, what you're accomplishing, what other people are out there doing too. Um, for me it boosts, boosts myself um somewhat, and it's just it's crazy to actually think of what you're taking on when you're out there and how many people are out here, you know, working towards that finish. So um, but yeah. So anyway, we are heading down um to Jerome. Jerome is where the Sedona Canyons 125 starts. And I was actually hoping to catch the start because last year Ashley and I did get to get to um, we didn't get to the start, they had just started. So that was that was just kind of cool because like we could see them take off. But um this year I was a little bit later. So did not. Uh, and it kind of for me, I'm glad I had done I'd paste it last year because for people who didn't know, it kind of looks like the eight station's there. And the eight station is not there for us. It is it is just the start of that Sedona Canyons race. Um, and I knew that, which was fine. But when you go into Jerome, it is it takes a little bit uh longer to get there because you're on road, there's some road climbs, which are a bunch of bullshit, let me tell ya. And then you have to go like down a little bit, and then you go back up a little bit. And this year they were not letting crews park at the aid station, uh, which was new. They were parked below the aid station. So is there's a little bit of a cluster. That is, I feel like the the one part the only piece of that race that had some rough logistics that was not understood. Um, Greg had parked our van in one spot, he was there in it, like it's he hadn't d he hadn't walked away from it. And they when I right when I got there, like two seconds later, I was taking off my shoes, just trying to like chill out because I needed to change my shoes, and they um and uh they made him move the van. And then because they're like, you can't park here. And then so he moved it. Luckily, a sp a different spot had opened up, and then all of a sudden, 10 minutes later that they let other people park where he was parking. So I don't know if the city talked to somebody, but it was a very weird kind of thing. And as a runner, when I'm just trying to like, I need a minute to like chill out and like get my head right, it just felt like a lot. But outside of that, like all the logistics of that race are pretty darn tight. So um, but it's just it just is just to look into a runner's brain who's been out there for 123.8 miles-ish. Um everything feels a little bit harder. So when they're asking you to move and they're they're talking to you about these things, and then they let people park there, your brain's kind of like, what the fuck just happened here? But um, either way, got to Jerome, more ramen, more bananas, um, got my feet cleaned, uh, put on I don't think I don't know if I changed out of my H1s or not yet. I don't think I did. I think I still had my H I think I ended up wearing my H1s more than I thought I would. Um because of like they're just they were just more confident in me. But either way, the shoe change doesn't matter. You will change shoes when you do longer races, you'll figure out what you want. Maybe some people wear the same shoe the entire time. I believe there were several people who wore H1s the entire time. So um, but I really did want to get in and out of there. This was a solo section for me, about eight and a half miles or so, um, from uh Jerome. And then from Jerome, we went to um Dead Horse. So uh, which uh just another aid station. You're gonna hear all these aid station names, you're probably not gonna remember, but what I do recollect, like seriously, like when I got to Jerome, I was just like, oh my gosh, Courtney was with me for so long, 20 plus miles out there, through like me, you know, getting tired, but also the fact that she brought such a boost to me that we crushed going up Mingus. Going down was a lot harder and a lot mentally harder on me, and having her there made a world of a difference. Um, to be able to have that um that like that that that boost, that that feeling of like I can do this and I'm going to do this with the support that I've asked for, and they're gonna be here. Um, and that was a big deal. So anyway, I did have to say goodbye to Courtney at that at that time. But um, which is okay. It's okay. Like she did I it was it was so great to have her out there. It was just sad to see her go because I was like, I'm not gonna see her again for a while. Uh, but um, I like I said, I wanted to get moving again because Jerome um to Dead Horse was it's just where it was I knew it was gonna be it was actually gonna be fairly easy. It's a descent out of uh Jerome. There's a little bit like I was warned a whole bunch about this descent, and it it is kind of gross. Like there was some glass bottles that were broken. It was more of like this, like almost like a per people's backyards, like you could see houses, and it was really chunky, but it wasn't as bad as what had been played out to be, so that made me feel a lot better. Like I was like, okay, like this was played out really hard, but like it's not that bad. And then from there you keep running, you actually get some like soft trail, and then you get to Clarksdale and it's road again. And it's not road for long, but it is road through through Clarksdale, and it was cool because this is where I saw some of like how the communities actually like support this race. Like a couple people had left bottles of water out. Um, somebody had actually put a sign out that said Rachel won, so it was really cool. Like they were actually even following the race and they knew who had won it, and that it was a really, really big deal. So that was cool, and I don't even know what time of day it was. There was a few people who like waved and cheered, but there weren't a lot of people. It's a very small town too, but there weren't a lot of people out just hanging out. So um, but yeah, but then like we jumped back in and it felt I I I don't know if I was actually in Dead Horse Ranch State Park or not. I just know I kind of like entered into a park area um and I knew I would get to uh cross the Verde River. Uh so but this was a nice this is a nice soft trail. Like this is the trails we don't have in the Phoenix area. We have rocky trails, we have technical trails, our feet are always working. Um, and this was like a super nice just single track and flowy, and I really enjoyed it. Um and then we get to that, I say weeks, there's a couple people around me, to the Verde River crossing. And I think it was about it was about knee deep for me. I'm 5'2, y'all, so not very tall. Um, and it felt so good. Like there was a lot of people um in the Facebook group, there's a coconut Facebook you're asking, like, should I should I like take off my shoes? Should I bring um like water shoes to wear? And this is not like a river that you're crossing that is um, you know, miles, a mile wide or anything like that. Like you can go through it very I mean you can go through it in like five seconds. Like it's not a hard river to go through. And this year it wasn't running. Last year, because it was raining, there was more right dangers to that. Just running more and more. This, no rain, no anything. It was cold. Um, and you could just walk across. I didn't re- this is actually the time where I think I realized my ankle was swelling. Right now I can't say yes, that's what I was thinking, but I remember it felt so good on my left foot just to like have it in the water. So I stood in there just for a little bit, not too much, because I was like, I'm making really good time and I feel great. Um, and then so like then, and there's a little beach there, so I was making sure not to get like sand all in my shoes too. But uh went through there, and then that's when I noticed too, I think at that time where like the vegetation started training, change changing more. Like we had uh it was more like I felt like I could see more cottonwoods and there was just more like green vegetation that I'm used to, but also still like this barren look. I don't know if you guys have seen like I call it kind of the mid-desert. Um, maybe most people call it the bit mid-desert, I'm not saying I'm special, but uh the vegetation starts to look different, and there's still like it still looks barren, but like different kind of bush and shrub and and things like that. So that's where I really started noticing that change. We go through so many different ecosystems, like when we're in Arizona, especially during this race, that it is cool to look around and see all of that. Um so from there, um, I was like, okay, like we are getting close to the dead horse. I knew I was close to dead horse. I knew I was moving, I mean, I was moving, so it was my fastest section. Um not that I was racing to be the fastest, but it just felt really good to actually have that lane leg turnover and know I had that leg turnover. Uh so made it in. I was almost there, and just before I get to the like actual aid station, I see Jeremy. Um, hi Jeremy. Uh I do I work four peaks events. Um namely triathlons, but there's some there's some uh road races I work for them. But he had come out to say hi, which I Greg had told me he was gonna be out there, so it was a nice CM. So he jogged, jogged it in with me. We we joked because as he was coming in, the volunteers are like, Great job! And he's like, Thank you, thank you for his quarter of a mile run in. Um he says three eighths now, so anyway. Uh, but it was nice, like it was so good. I being a local here, it was nice that people couldn't come out and say hi, and seeing Jeremy at that, it was about 133 miles in. It was just so nice, you know, past the halfway mark, um, and just seeing him there, and I actually beat Greg there. And this is not a complaint, this is just what happened. Like, he had to take Courtney back to her car because she started pacing me earlier. So instead of parking at Jerome and just like driving, and then Greg was gonna pick her up and take her to the top of Mingus, she had stopped at the bottom bottom of Mingus and actually like her car was there. So because of how quickly I made it through, and he had to take her back um to Fane, uh Fine Fane Ranch aid station, like there was just a timing issue. It was fine. I got to sit, like I ate some food from the aid station, I drank some stuff, so not a big deal. And then and then Greg and Kat Kat was there because she was pacing me at that section, so that was getting a pace that's where a pacer was joining me. Um and then Greg got there and we got everything changed out and got all my my bottles and everything ready. Um, and I do not remember, I don't even know if this point if I was if I was drinking more scratch. I I want to say it was here or the next piece where I realized I need scratch, like I need to have more sodium in me. But there was somewhere in this area, and it might have been this aid station. I was like, now we have to we and I had scratch in the van, so we we started filling filling my bottles with scratch instead of just tailwind. Uh so that was for me, like there was no trying to sleep at this one. It was daytime. I knew it was gonna be warm. Um, this is a very, very exposed section of the course. We go from Dead Horse to Deer Pass Aid Station where there is no crew, and then to Sedona Posse. Um, so after having a nice run through there, I did think I would be able to run more than I did, but it was just warm. And I had told uh, I don't remember who I was talking to the other day about this, but this was the first time my mind could not push my legs to move faster. I've always been like, my main brain's been like, okay, like just move the legs a little bit more, and I can always get them to move just a little bit, even if it's a shuffle. I've always been able to like increase that speed somewhat. And this is the first time where it was like, you're moving forward, and that's what we're gonna do right now. You're we're not our legs are not moving any faster. Um, that's just what it's gonna be. And you kind of have to accept that. And I'm not saying don't ever try to push yourself in these instances, but there are times whenever your body is just like, no, like no, we're moving you forward, and that's what we're giving you right now, and be grateful and accept it. And that's what I did in these moments. Not that Kat and I didn't jog at all, but it was definitely more hiking um than I had even anticipated in that section. But it was also very beautiful as we started getting closer and closer to Sedona. So it was enjoyable. Um, but we were out there quite a long time together. So I want to say we started together. It was around 133 miles, and we went to about, I think, 159. So probably close to a marathon, if not a marathon out there together. So, but left like dead horse. Um, there's really not much to say about the next section. It was very exposed, fairly boring in terms of the trails I normally run. Nothing bad about that. Very barren looking. Like I said, you can see some different vegetation, but pretty barren. Um, they have these really big cage, what I call them caged cairns, where instead of just like four or five rocks stacked up, they're actually in like wire things. And there was a lot of them for a very distinct trail with no other trails around. So super interesting. And I remember that from last year too, thinking, why do they do all this work whenever it's a well-defined trail and there's really nowhere else to go? But it's what they do. So Sedona or close to Sedona. I don't even know if Dead Horse and Deer Pass are actually Sedona or what it is now that I say this aloud. Hmm, something to figure out. I think Deer Pass is definitely Sedona, but um, so anyway, as you hear my tangents as I think through these, because I still am processing, y'all. I have not processed all of this yet. Um so we do uh we just we just kept going out of Dead Horse towards Deer Pass, and as we're getting closer to Deer Pass, the sun is starting to set, and it was it was beautiful. Like the sunset was actually very low-key, nothing exceptional, I would say, about the sunset, but Sedona itself is gorgeous, and you start seeing the red what rocks, and then you start seeing like other stuff around, it's just a very beautiful, beautiful area. Um, so we're just Kat and I are just walking and talking and running and then hiking, and then you know, we're just doing our thing because this is what Kat and I do when we're together. We gossip, we laugh, um, we don't get to talk verbally enough to each other. So I think it always gives us a lot to talk about when we actually see each other. Uh so we're just moving. We're just moving towards Deer Pass and we get there, and I was stoked because last year they had hot dogs, and this year they had hot dogs. And that's what I've been thinking about was hot dogs. I don't know, if you guys don't like hot dogs, that's too bad, but I love hot dogs. So um, but the first one they gave me, I I like I love mustard, by the way. Um, and it's very salty, so that's what you need. But like we we we put they put a normal amount of mustard on it, and I like extra mustard. So the first one I just stuffed down, and the next one I was like, can I have extra mustard please? Like a little kid. Um, and they did, and then I got it all all over my shirt. So uh, but I also got that off my shirt and I ate it still, uh, the mustard. So uh just trying to clean myself up. But uh it was like, it's so funny when you think about things that you look forward to when you're out there, and mine was definitely a hot dog with mustard. Um, and we chatted. I think Kat said she had four hot dogs. I can't remember now, but pacers get to eat out there, by the way, they should as they should, um, if the race says it's okay, because it's a hard for them, it'd be hard for them to carry enough food for them to like make it through these sections, too. So both of us were stoked about our hot dogs. Um, so we left in joyful spirits. I will say I did not stay joyful throughout the whole entire next section. Um, so deer pass to Sedona Posse. We knew like the temperature was gonna drop, uh, which we had our cold weather gear, so that's fine. Uh it was gonna be dark, uh, so we had headlamps. Um, so all of that we were ready for. And we knew that as that sun goes down, it is very difficult on people who have been out there for a while. And not just people pacers too, even if pacers have been out there for a very brief period of time, as the sun goes down, your body is used to settling. It is used to going to sleep, you know, all of these things that go on whenever it is nighttime, and we weren't going to do that because we were going to keep moving. Uh, so there were several times for dirt naps throughout this section, um, and we actually had one long dirt nap, which is where I got the most amount of sleep. All the other, now that I'm thinking of this, all the other van sections where I had tried to sleep, it was it was maybe dozing off. There was no actual sleep. So interesting. I thought I had slept at Fein Ranch, but I did not. I just laid down and could not sleep. So um, anyway, back to where we were at. So we're going from Deer Pass to Sedona Posse. This is where if it was in the daytime, it would have been so, so, so pretty. Um, but instead I was in the headlamp for the most part. Uh, so we're we're uh moving through this section, and I knew there was a section where we had to go right and it wasn't well marked. And Aerovipa normally marks really well, but for some reason the spot I knew, I was like, cat, I know there's a turn coming up, and I know it's not well marked because it wasn't last year, and it wasn't, and I don't know why. Sedona definitely is kind of like Scottsdale in some instances where it has certain rules um that you must follow, whether they're arbitrary or not, and it could have to do with how they could post things up and all of that. So, um, either way, she did cat catch it. Like she she had her headlamp ready and and she caught where we're gonna turn, but we took a break before we because it was gonna be a climb that we actually just s laid down and looked at the stars. Like it was so dark and there's not light pollution where we were at. We just looked up at the stars for I don't know, five to seven minutes. It wasn't a long time, but it was long enough to give me a little bit more energy, and it was cool. Um, so from there, um, from Deer Pass to Sedona Posse, um, I believe it's over 3,700 feet again. Um, that's what I have typed up. I'm pretty sure it was more it was a little more than that. Um, so you are you're just climbing, and you're climbing, and you're climbing some more, and then you start to go flat on like you get to the top of the climb and it's flat, and you just start going through, just weaving through where the where the trail is. Um I did have to stop a couple times throughout. There was at one point um I started stumbling and kicking rocks and slurring my speech a little bit, and Kat knew I needed to sleep, but where we were at, there was nowhere to lay down. And when I mean nowhere, I mean there was like sharp grass and just rocks. Like it would not have been comfortable, and had I laid there and gotten up, there would have been just probably like spines and stuff sticking out of me. So she's just like, we have got to find a spot for you to lay down, but you can't do it here. There's just no way. She's like, we need to get to the water drop. So between Deer Pass and Sedona Posse, it's a long enough distance that they drop water in one spot, and it's right by a school. I found out it's right by I didn't know it was a school, but it's right by a school. Uh so unfortunately, because of where we were at, like we started we had to do the descent before I could even lay down. So we took that very slowly just because I mean I was I was starting to hallucinate. Things were happening in my brain at that time. Uh, you know, kind of scary and also cool. It's and maybe it's weird that it's scary cool, but it is. Like, I knew I was hallucinating. Like you I knew I was like, no, this isn't real. But you can't control. I'm I would get close enough because something would look like a person, and I would go to grab it and it'd be gone. Um, so it's definitely a weird state to be in. Plus, I was just so freaking tired. Um, and again, the rot the kicking of rocks, trying to stay upright. I would say that was the most when I look back, I was felt not in not in danger, but the most most danger of falling. Um there were other times I was tired, but that was the time where I was just exhausted because I hadn't slept. I think I'd probably slept maybe 10 or 15 minutes since Monday morning, and now it's early in the morning, I believe on Thursday morning even. Like it's like one o'clock in the morning, maybe midnight. So like Wednesday into Thursday. Uh, and I was just I was just going downhill. Um, I could just I could feel it. Uh so anyway, we make that descent, we pick our way down, and we finally I'm like, and we finally get to kind of a flat and we're weaving like throughout the trail, and I'm like, this water drop has got to be soon. And I had enough water, so like I didn't need the water I needed to lay down. Um so we actually get there, which was fantastic, and we see this little like s it's a school. I didn't know it was school, like I didn't know it's school, but it's closed, of course. Uh, and we get there and Kat just sets me up to uh sleep. Uh she s we moved a couple times, like we were in uh we were in like a little the entryway so the wind wasn't with us so I could stay warmer. Um, and we did that for a little bit, and then my my legs were just hurting so bad that we ended up having to go out onto some sidewalk and then propping my legs up. There's actually a picture of her. She had wrapped me up in her emergency blanket so I could get warm and get some sleep. I look like a little mummy. Um, but my feet are propped up because we were hoping that would help. My legs just feel better. And then um uh they just didn't feel better. Uh Kat ended up like massaging my shins and my calves. Um, and that was super, super helpful. This is what pacers are out there for many things, and one thing was that, and it helped me at least sleep, and she thought I slept about 30 to 40 minutes, so my longest sleep I had had. Um, and it was just oh, it was it was much, much needed. Um, but then so then from there I was like, okay, like I woke up and you know it took me a minute, but I was like, okay, I can do this. And we start walking towards like where the trail at because the trail, there was the connector, like there were the school was kind of the connector, the school parking lot was the connector to the other trail. And we get there and I'm like, I need a minute, Kat. I was like, my contacts are so dry that everything is blurry and I can't see. I was like, I'm fine, I'm awake, but I can't see and I don't have any eye drops on me. And she didn't either, which was fine. Like, neither here nor there. I I have daily contacts, so I throw them out every day, so I rarely need eye drops. But um, I just kept blinking and I was like, nothing is happening, everything is blurry. Um, and because of how these rest of these aid stations are set up for the most part, your crew is fairly close by, even though it takes you forever to get to them. Um, so Greg actually brought out my glasses. Like we I took my contacts out, and Greg just dropped my glasses there and went back to the crew spot because I could not see and it would have been dangerous. It was dark, first of all, but it would I mean that would have been just dangerous to take off, just to be stubborn to not have glasses. So from there, what was the what was the what did I learn for overnight races? If I don't have my glasses on already, make sure they're in my pack. They don't weigh that much, they don't take up that much room. So for any of you who wear glasses and contacts both, um, and if you ever have contact issues or the you know they just get dry up over time, um, make sure to have your either a spare pair of contacts on you too. I don't like to put a spare carry of contacts when I'm out there just because my hands are dirty and there's not always a place to uh wash them. However, if you'd happen to have some wipes and stuff, which I have too, um, and you can put them in your eyes, that's great too. It seems like when I do wipe my hands with those wipes, though, it when I put contacts in, my eyeballs burn. So options, but just a lesson. I'm always gonna have my glasses on me um now, whenever I have something overnight like that. That way, if that happens again, I'm prepped. Um So yeah, there. Pro tip. But again, I don't even remember right now. I do not have this mileage here, and I probably should. It might make this podcast a little bit better. But uh we uh had to go from that water spot and then get to Sedoni Sedona Posse. Um and that I knew that one and I knew the maze that it took to get out of there, and it feels like you're almost like in a vortex. And if you guys look up Sedona and Vortex, you're gonna get a lot of hippie stuff. It's kind of fun, but it does feel like you're just kind of going back to where you came from because it feels like it's like a circle, like not even switchbacks, but like a circle before you get out into the community. So it's a very interesting. I'm not explaining it well, but I've only done it at night both times I've been out there, and it's just weird. And I was hallucinating again at that time, not badly, if that makes sense. The first time it was like, I am so tired, I'm seeing things. This time it was just more like, holy crap, it looks like there's two ships crossing in front of me. I'd get there and they'd disappear. Um, so but like it wasn't as hardcore as the other ones, and eventually it kind of went away. So I don't know, I don't know why they go away without sleep, but they went away. And we make our way out of this little maze and we get into a small community. Um, and then we just start heading towards Sedona Posse. So now we're actually in Sedona, in the town, in the city, whatever you want to call it, and we're on sidewalk and concrete, uh, and we're just making our way there, and there was some jogging at that point. Yay, yay for jogging. Um, but it was the road felt a lot harder than it normally does, like harder on my joints. So, but we got there, we got to Sedona Posse, and there were people there for me, not just Greg, which was great to see. Um, and I wish I could remember when he did this. Greg actually put, um, because when he, if somebody's going to meet him at an aid station, they're like, Where are you parked? And he's like, I'm a white van. There are a lot of white vans at these things, guys. There are a lot. So he actually put a stick figure picture of me, yes, it's me, on both sides, and it said Brittany Olson, number 90, because that was my number out there. So he he could differentiate his white van that had yellow tape. It was yellow tape too, you know I love yellow. Um, yellow tape with my name on it and all of that. So when when people were like, Where are you at? He's like, I'm in the white van with the stick figure of Britney on it. They could they could find me. So anyway, that happened a few aid stations ago, but I just thought of that because like I saw the van when I came into Sedona. I was like, Oh, there's the van with me as a stick person. Uh so but get to Sedona Posse. Um, and this is where some uh uh pacers had actually changed just because of my timing. Um so the pacer I was picking up was Kristen Johnson. She was not planned to pace me at all. Um, but Kat had found her and found that she was available to do the hangover section with me. So she was at Sedona Posse. Um my dear dear friend James was there um to cheer me on. He had started the race and had some serious knee pain and had to drop, but he is just the guy who wants to cheer everybody on um as a positive force out there. He was there with his sister Sue who had been crewing him. Um, so they were there. And then on top of that, Suzanne, um an athlete I'm not coaching now, but have coached in the past to her first Ultra. Uh, she had volunteered at Sedona Posse around the time that I was supposed to be coming through per my spreadsheet that didn't go according to plan. And she had waited, I was there at like three in the morning, and I was gonna get there before, well before then, just so you know, she her shift ended at seven, I believe, and she waited till that three in the morning when I was there, uh, coming in. So like I got to see her too. So this is the kind of support and love I felt out there. I'm explaining these parts like hopefully well and why they're important because this is hard, and people do this race pacerless and without crew, and that's super fantastic. Um, I chose to do it with support, and not only did I get I get the support that I had asked for, I got more than that. And on top of like the support, it was definitely like the love that I felt that was out there, you know, not just um not just like I said, the plan, but like everybody who came out and came together, the text messages that were sent out to make sure I had a pacer in the sections I needed, the hangover section, which is the next one, is where I needed somebody because I'm scared of heights. And I had did that and I had done that section during training, and I had frozen and cried twice there. So I was very nervous and wanted to make sure I had somebody who solid out there who could get me through that. Um, so but this is where we did. I did have somebody else that was going to pace me at that time, um, Julie, who I'm sure would have been fantastic, but due to timing, it didn't work out anymore. And and Kat was able to get Kristen to come out um and communicate with Greg and all of that. Like all of those things were happening in the background, and me being type A and liking to control these things, I had no idea they made it all so smooth. So it's it's a big deal to have crew and pacers that can work together like that and keep keep everything together. So, but anyway, lots of support there. I really hope I'm not missing anybody that was at Sedona Posse. I think I think that was that was it for that. Um, but so we get started. It's still nighttime. It's still so like I ate there. Um took me a minute to get it just from then on out took me a little bit longer at each age station to get me going. Um, not a little bit longer, a little bit longer than I'd planned at each age station. And some was a lot longer. But uh, we take off um through Sedona. It's like I said, still dark, have headlamps. You hit road in the beginning of this, you go by a river, um, and then eventually you do get into the part where you're about to go up the hangover trail. This was different than what I had trained for. So the hangover part of the trail, like that hangover trail was exactly as I had done, but getting to the hangover trail was much different than what I did on my training run. So either way, um, it was dark for the most part during that part, so I don't really I didn't really see a whole lot, but I did get a Sedona sunrise, which was amazing. Um, but as we were winding way our way through, we were just chatting. Um, and it was good chatting. We were laughing, we've known each other for, I don't know, a year and a half at this point. Um, I want to say it's a year and a yeah it's probably coming up on two years this summer, now that I say it. So probably close to two years. Uh and she had me play a game that uh she was gonna help uh she was gonna help James out. She was gonna pace him. So they had played a game in the car, and it was you, it's a famous person or a famous character. Uh, you give the first and last name, and then the next person, the person has to name somebody that has a first name that starts with the first letter of the last name of the person you just said. Yes, that's what I was doing out there in my sleepy state. Um, but uh we did that and it was fun and we were laughing and it was like we would think one would be too hard, and all of a sudden we'd come up with one and it was like, good job. So it was funny and silly and just an overall good time. But I was I was really happy my brain was still working at that point um to be able to even do that. Um and I was happy that like Kristen thought, hey, let's try this game out and let's do it. Uh so but that was before we got to the height heights, by the way, which is what I was most scared of. But like I did take a couple little breaks before I think I took one break actually before we got to the hangover trail. No, I think it was two. It was two. I'm lying, two, um, before we got to the hangover trail. I don't even know the mileage of the hangover trail. I have never looked that up, so it's not even somewhere like buried in my brain. But for me, it's it's is it's a bunch of just slick rock, red rock out there. There is a little bit of scrambling. The scrambling for me wasn't the hardest part because like I felt like I was on solid ground enough. It was there's a couple spots that you get closer to the edge, and that was on my brain. Um, so before I start, I actually did not cry on this section at all, um, which was a surprise to me because heights. Uh, but I also had Kristen there just like talking to me, like when I needed to take a certain step. If if she could tell like I was feeling some kind of way, she'd be like, okay, you're gonna like put your foot here and your hand here. Like this is where like you're gonna scramble up, and these are the little notches for you to go up. So she was very good at having a calm voice and telling me to um contend, like showing me tell help me continue up without me having to think too hard about where my hands and feet were going because she was giving specific directions. So again, I don't know, some of you may have never had a pacer or aren't or haven't done an ultra where they allow pacers, like they are so important in so many ways. Uh, and a lot of it is for that mental relief. Yes, they can help fill fill up your bottles. Yes, they can make sure you eat. Um, but they're helping, they're helpful in helping you make those decisions too. Um, and I needed that out there. I was so tired. I was terrified. I'm I'm still terrified of fights. There's no was about it. Um, and the you there is some scrambling. There are parts where you have to find handholds and footholds. And, you know, this is Thursday morning. I've been moving since Monday morning. I mean, this is a long time to be out there and being able to do this. You know, I'm over 160 miles at this point. Um, so having someone out there is fantastic. Um, so but got through like the hard parts of it. And it is kind of a weird place because, well, it was getting warm again because it's very exposed. Just so you know, it's it's still exposed here. The sun was up. I'm glad I hit it when I did in the morning, or it would have been even hotter. Not a bunch of running um through the uh red rock area like where we're walking on. And it's a weird little like zigzag as you're coming down to to get off the red rocks and get onto a trail and get to Schnebly. Um, so it's kind of weird. Um, and it's it's runnable, but it's a weird runnable. Um, so we just we took our time like hiking, making sure I was comfortable because I was still I was tired enough that it felt kind of weird moving on those rocks like that. Um, so kept moving. Eventually, there was definitely a drone behind me for quite some time. Um, just kind of by, I mean, just you know, that's what they have drones out there all the time because especially at that time of day in Sedona, it really makes sense if you're gonna get coverage in certain spots. That is one spot to get it just because of how beautiful it is. Um, so there's there's a drone. I don't know, maybe they said something about me. I still need to look through race footage um to see where the heck I appear. I don't know when that's gonna happen, but I would like to have all those memories. Um, I feel like somebody told me they had some of those and I don't remember. Hmm. Oh, Catherine. Hey Catherine, I think that's you. I need to give you a text. I'll do that. Uh note to self. So um, but yeah, so we're walking and then we get to where I know that the climb is starting. There's another climb coming up. It's kind of a bullshit climb, but I also was like, I have to go to the bathroom and I have to go now. Your your whole like bathroom cycle is very off when you're out there. At least mine was. So that was a fun time. And by that point, you're not able to squat like you would like to. Things, the feet start to fall asleep if you're squatting for like any period of time. It's just an awkward thing, and there really wasn't much of a place to hide because it's pretty barren out there. So anyway, got my business done. Uh, Courtney had left me with these little wipes. Um, these are amazing, by the way. I need to order more, but they look like they're in just a little container. I don't know if any of you have had had like noon hydration tabs. They look like that. It's a clear container, though, or and um it's got little, it looks like little white tabs. It almost looks like Tums, um, if that helps. But you put some water on them and they turn into wet wipes. Um, so Courtney was the savior there in terms she left me with a whole thing of them. And they were nice to use for wiping things down, and especially in those situations, but also for like just when you're out there sometimes. I hate having sticky hands, and a couple times my hands got so sticky, I could just put some water in it from my from my bladder, like from my bladder hose. I would just like drink some water and spit on that thing, and it would turn it into just a wet wipe, and I could wipe off my hands and get them on sticky. Like, I could wipe off like even my face when I was out there for a while and I wasn't gonna see crew for a bit. So I don't know what those things are called. I'm sure you could look up like dry wet wipes, white wet wipe tabs, and you could find them, and they are super cool. So highly recommend um getting some of those because they will fit in your pack easily. You could put them in your car, you can put them anywhere because they don't activate until they're wet. So, especially here where it's super dry, it's nice to have that option. So, just another pro tip there. They were amazing. Um, and I still have some, so I owe Courtney quite a bit. Uh, but you know, went out once I finished my business, we started that climb and it is it was warm, it is tough. I remember doing that climb much stronger in training, um, but we still got through. We did it um having Kristen there just talking to me. I did take a minute. Um I did not take a dirt nap, but there was a part where the there was a lot, there was quite a bit of shade from the rock and where it was sitting, and I laid down on cold dirt just because it felt good. Like to be on cold dirt, not the dirt, but the coldness. But stayed there for a little bit, not long, but just enough to get some energy going, and then went up to the top where they had another water drop. Um, and uh did fill up well, I did need water, so filled up some water there. Um, and then there was actually a tree up there, and it was really not the most comfortable spot to lay, but I did take some time there. Um, I was tired, guys. That's all there was to I was tired. I did not envision taking that many breaks in that short of period of time in certain spots, but I did. And my pacers were all there being super supportive, making sure I was moving again. Um, this next section, there was some shade, some exposure. I say next section, but after this water drop until Schnebly aid station, there was gonna be all this. And I remember being there and we're walking and whenever I get up, I'm pretty sure it was when I got up from this nap, I don't think, or it wasn't even a nap, it was a lay down, but I'm pretty sure when I got up was when I told uh Chris and I was like, I'm gonna have to have Greg like really wipe me down. Like things are starting to itch in weird places. Um I I need I need to be actually wiped, wiped down, like completely. Um, because I'm it's I'm starting to feel just it's gross, itchy, stuff's happening. She's like, I will make sure Greg knows. Uh so that's another thing these pacers did, like before they would get to Greg, they would text because sometimes they were like, Do you what what do you want to have Greg to have ready? What kind of food? And they could give him at least a heads up on what I need. Sometimes it wasn't food, sometimes it's like a bath, right? But it was things that like they could give him information proactively, so when I got there, we could be ready to like do whatever it was that I needed in that moment. Um so this was a little bit of a grind, and I remember doing this in training too, and it just when you're this many miles in, everything's gonna feel harder. So we did a little bit of jogging, um, mainly hiking, and then when I saw the started seeing the van and started seeing where the aid station was, like I ran quite a bit harder. Um, it seems like when I'm getting close to something like that, I can normally move a little bit more. It happened at the finish too, but like I was able to, I could see the van, and I was like, that is where I want to be. Like, I am going to get a bath there. I am going to like be able to chill for a minute. I'm gonna be able to eat. And as I'm running towards the van, I actually see um Amanda and Heidi are there. Um, both are my athletes, both are my friends, um, and they had been there waiting on me just to be able to give me a hug. So um get there. Kristen jogs me in, um, get some hugs from Amanda and Heidi. Greg had actually grabbed a cantaloupe, and holy cow, that was amazing. I stuffed my face with some cantaloupe. He actually, if some runners had come in after I had left later. Um, he told me about this recently, and he's like, he just like they looked like they were wrecked, and they they had gotten too much sun, and he offered them coke or coconut cantaloupe, and he's like, they just devoured it. So, um, but anyway, like I was the same way. I it was so good, so juicy, and I love cantaloupe. So I had that like right away. Talk to Heidi and Amanda, but what Kristen did as a pacer, which is a pacer on crew, which is awesome. She's like, hey guys, like she wants like to be cleaned really quick and wants to be able to lay down for a bit very quickly so she can leave here. So part of what it is is when you're out there as a crew and page, sometimes it's about keeping things or it's it's always about keeping things moving forward, but keeping things like as the runner needs them. So if I say I need something, but then there's something distracting me or keeping me from that, a lot of times what they will do is they will help make that happen. And sometimes that's making sure, hey, you've got a couple minutes, but this is what she needs right now. Sometimes it's going to grab something from the aid station, sometimes it's going to a convenience store and getting something like sometimes it's stopping at a fast food place because you have a craving. But that's what they do out there, and it's really awesome if you can't tell. Like, it is so cool. So she made sure just to say that. Um, that being said, like seeing Amanda and Heidi was such a boost to um out there, just for people to come out um to say hi. Um, they were both volunteering at Muns, by the way, which is the aid station after Schneebli, which I'm not talking about today because we're almost at an hour, but they were they were gonna be working that one too. But like them being out there to say hi, to give me a hug, to say they're proud of me, all of that meant so much. Um and throughout this whole time, and I know I've mentioned too, like I would take my phone occasionally out of airplane mode and text messages would roll in and DMs would roll in, and I couldn't read every single one, but I could see the names popping up, and I could see you're doing great, keep moving. Like, oh my god, like you're you made it so far. So throughout this, on top of all the support in person, that was just absolutely amazing. I had all of these like DMs and texts too. So, like I keep mentioning the support because for me, without that, I don't know if I would have finished. Um, I know I can say, Yeah, I would have, I would have just had to like have a different game plan and all that, but I had extra support, again, more than what I asked for. And even to get to this point, and Schneebli Hill is about 176 miles in. Um, that is like I can't imagine doing that without those people that I had there that were pacing, crewing, and then the ones that were just saying hi, and letting me know how much they love me and how proud they were of me. Like, that was just huge. Um, so that was Schneebli. Once everybody left, like Greg had put up all the we have um window covers for our van, um, which is fantastic for many reasons, but like I was like, I have to get wiped down completely. I'm sorry, it's probably gonna be gross. I don't know what you're gonna see because I haven't bathed. I'd been wiping down, by the way, it's different places. I had dude wipes, I had different body wipes. Like, it's not like I was just completely not wiping down, but when you know, like I said, I was starting to itch in some places, and I was like, this isn't good. We gotta get clean, clean. Um, so Greg got that on her. Yes, I'm being very open right now, but like, um, and it helped. Obviously, I changed my clothes then too, had got on a clean pair of shorts, bras, shirt, sock, shoes. Um, but he made sure like he got me as clean as possible because it was get just getting uncomfortable. Um, and you're already uncomfortable out there, period. You don't need random spots like that bothering you. So anyway, chilled out for a bit there. Uh, and then we went to the um medic tent before I started because I could feel like I was getting some hot spots. And this is where I forgot I said something. This is why, guys, I'm still processing. When I saw Jeremy at Dead Horse, I looked down at my foot, and that's when I noticed it was swelling. Um, that left ankle, it had swollen, and it was just getting bigger and bigger and bigger every single like section, it seemed like. No pain, but eventually what happened is I couldn't move my toes hardly at all, and then after a while my ankle was hardly bending. And the one pain that I would get occasionally and this is random, I think I might have had pains there five times throughout this entire time. From I believe that was Wednesday morning or Tuesday morning. Wednesday morning. No, it was Wednesday morning. I just said it was Wednesday morning. So five times to have pain for until Saturday morning, but where my shin and like my ankle connected. That's where I had like I would ever once in a just get a sharp pain and then it go away. So um, but that that whole into the whole one reason I'm bringing that back up. First of all, I forgot to mention that's when my ankle started swelling was at dead horse. Uh, but and um when what was it, what it was causing? It was causing my I guess my right foot to work more or to do more or press harder on the ground, whatever it was, because I was getting some hot spots on my right foot. Um, I do not typically get blisters, and I knew with the 250, obviously anything can happen. You are out there a long time. Things can rub in different places, you can change your gait, things swell up like my ankle. But my feet actually never got that bad. But I did have, I could feel the hot spots, I could feel a couple blisters, and I was like, let's just get taped by the medics and just just you know get this done. So I went there, they did a fantastic job. Um, they can they're not allowed to pop blisters, I believe it's some due to like infection. So they give you something to pop your own blister and then they will wrap it up. So uh had a lot of wrapping on my foot. They did wrap one spot on my left foot because my left big toe looked like there was like a blister forming underneath it. Um I think that's why we did it. But outside of that, my left foot, outside of being huge and swollen, there was like hardly any hot spots there except that one on my big toe. The right foot still didn't look bad, but that's where most of it, and it was it was mainly because it was probably working harder. Um, so they also, when I was sitting there, they had some kind of bean and noodle thing at the aid station, I was like, and they were like, and even the EMTs were like, oh my gosh, no, these are so good, you have to have them. And I was like, I don't know. And then Greg brought me them and I freaking scarfed them down. So like again, my appetite, it came back um not Tuesday night, but really at Mingus Mountain. So it was Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, uh, that it came back, and ever since then it started getting better and better. So I was able to eat that. I did have Greg at uh Greg had added salt to almost everything by the end of that race, it helped out a lot. Um, but ate that while they were fixing up my toes. Um, and then, you know, from there, it was time to head out on a solo section. So from Schneebly to Muns. Um, I was all by myself, but we are over an hour, and we are not going to get to that today. Ah, I know, I know. There's so much more to come. Um, but that puts us up to about mile 176. So we still have, because it's not what at 150, it is 153 miles or a little over that. So we have over 75, 76, about 77 miles still to cover. Um, but excited to talk about it. I don't know, they're more might be more hitting me in opposite orders and different orders as we go, so who knows? But one more episode at least. Um, I am throwing this out here too. I am going to do this, um, put this on my Instagram. Maybe send out you can probably send it out in my newsletter too that I'm gonna do like uh a QA podcast. So I will have people give me their questions and I will answer them um on the podcast. Maybe I'll even do an Instagram live with some of it too. But just giving, just letting you know, um, you can reach out to me. Um I all my contact information is on this podcast um in the show notes. So if you do have any questions you'd like addressed or you're just thinking about, uh, or just whatever, you know, shoot in my way. And I do plan on doing an episode that has that answers all those questions. So outside Of that, let's let's just close this like this section up. So this was um again, this went from I'm really trying to think where I started. This started at Whiskey Row and we went all the way to Schnebly um and Flagstaff. So um it was 18 hours of puking, a mountain in the dark, my body that wouldn't sleep in a bed, but would sleep on the ground for like five to seven minutes at a time and would get back up and start moving. Um and then Courtney showed up, it didn't fix everything. Of course it didn't fix everything. Nothing can be not everything can be fixed, but it lifted me instantly. Like, and that's what I needed in that moment. That's what I needed fixed in that moment, and it it helped so much. Um did a solo section, and then Kat carried me through 26 miles of red rock country with with laughing, conversation, gossip, and the kind of company that makes me like feel like these hard miles are a gift. Um, because I have these people because of hard miles that we've all we've ran together. So it's a gift. Um and then I had Kristen who taught me through every step of a height section um that I feel like has no business being on a course at mile 170 with the legs I had. Um, but like again, I feel like just having her out there was a huge, huge gift and full of so much gratitude. But that's what I keep coming back to in my head is you can prepare for everything. You can have a spreadsheet. I did, I had that plan in a spreadsheet. Um, and then the race gives you 18 hours of puking, a mountain, a river crossing, red rocks, a ledge that scares the shit out of me and many other people, and then you have people who show up and say, I've got you. And those are the things that actually get you through. So find your people, and when it's their turn, show up in the dark for them. Thank you so much for being here and spending time listening to the second recap of Coca Donna. If you love this episode, make sure you download it, follow the show, leave a rating or review, share it with a friend. It really helps this show reach more and more people, and that's my goal is to grow and help as many people as I can. So, now go move your body, drink some water, stretch your calves, and if you're listening while running, loosen your shoulders. You're welcome. Good effort, positive attitude.