What the Heck is This Race?

Last June, i came across a post on Facebook. Two friends of mine had the idea to run this 81 mile- 3 person mixed team race; and they were looking for 1 more person.   To me, it sounded cool; epic even. I had plenty of time to train; I’ve done 50 miles previously; so i knew 81 miles divided by 3 people should be a cake walk.  That's when they were quick to correct me. This was a team race; and we would run all 81 miles together as a single unit. That means sharing all the highs, all the lows, and all the potty breaks associated with a race that traverses a vast array of southern California desert and mountains.  This race wasn’t a relay; so I was going to be running the whole 81 miles, (or 132 Kilometers) with the people around me, counting on each other to succeed. Oh, and these miles, are almost all uphill.

To See Race Photos: Click Here: 

Course Map- Running from Right to Left

Time Leading up to the Race

How the heck does one prepare for something like this?  I'm from Minnesota, while my teammates are from California.  It’s icey, cold and snowy here until mid April. Meanwhile, this race i'm signed up for indicates i am to prepare for 100+ degree temperatures.  Also, if you hadn’t noticed; i'm a ginger, i melt in the sun! I don’t acclimate; i burn. So to prepare… i just hit the gym; specifically focused mostly on a combination of doing Yancy Camp, and some additional stair master and incline work.  If this race did one thing for me, was it added exercise consistency I suppose (I'm always more motivated when i'm signed up for a race that could literally kill me if i don’t prepare). 

With spring on the horizon i knew i had to find a few longer races so i did one marathon (on a ball field that was shoveled)  called the ‘Sandlot Marathon’  . This was more of a training race focused on mental fortitude. Nobody wakes up and says, 1,540 left turns on my marathon please! Or, OMG this race has 385 aid stations!   ...but it turns out; the event was a lot of fun! I also did a spring trail race (we still had 6” of snow on the ground) that was 50K in length to not only stretch out my distance running; but to see how the winter training had affected my heart rate at and overall endurance.  To prepare for the heat i did absolutely nothing, hoping my fitness and living in the forever unpredictable Midwest climate was sufficient.

2 Weeks Out

Crap! we lost our female teammate due to unforeseen life opportunities that happened to arise.  (all positive good good stuff; but this meant she had to choose ‘Adulting’ over ‘Running with the Clydesdales’).  In a panic, we started to ask around. We probably even asked you, if you are reading this. My teamate John got ahold of Tracy, a wizard on the pottery wheel, and on any ultra course.  She was half my size, almost twice my age, could carry 4x my weight; and was a veteran experienced ultra runner. With badwater 135 and many others in her back pocket, she was a perfect replacement for this team of misfits.  Just like that, we were again good to go.

Day before the Race- First Time Meeting in Person- Palomar Mtn Lodge.

1 Day Before the Race

“OMG i'm going to die, and the Desert is hot, did you know it was going to be this hot? Am I getting sun burned standing indoors?  Why didn’t i lose weight for this. Why is it so dry out? I hope i don’t poop my pants! OMG we have to wake up early. Did Molly make me sign a wrongful death waiver cuz im gonna die?  Oh, look; Tracy brought me easter candy!”

Random Art - Visited Borrego Springs Prior to Race Check-In

To be honest….I  really tried hard to identify what my ‘A’ races would be this year, and this was one of them.  Leading up to the event I was mentally preparing for weeks; knowing it was going to be hot, long and hard (....that's what she said).  I physically and mentally felt very ready.  I wanted to go into the race with really only one goal; and that was to try to enjoy myself throughout, no matter the race outcome.

Sunday - Race Day - the first 35 miles

Start Line- Salton Sea 

Getting up at 4AM is surprisingly easy when you can’t sleep anyways; as the nerves are set in, you have been in taper mode; and the sooner you start; the sooner you can hopefully settle into that running zone.  As we arrived to the Salton sea around sunrise, i took some pictures; bashfully weighed in at 236 pounds (Like i said, double the weight of Tracy, and likely a contender for top race Clydesdale.). I guess they weigh you in case there is medical issues so they can figure out if you’re dehydrated; or if its an electrolyte imbalance.  Pretty smart! We towed the start line and took off. The Salton Sea was a lake created by an engineering mistake that once was a California tourist destination. The lake has been slowly evaporating since, while getting saltier and saltier; eventually killing wildlife and making it an undesirable place to venture. You could see the old shore line, maybe ½ mile for where we started in dry salt beds.  After running through what was once a thriving town, now looking more like something out of a Fallout game we headed out of town and away from the dead fish smell. With that came the Sun and the heat with no shade to be found.

This is where John’s race (our race) started to have struggles.  The dry, dry air, with the heat of the day, and the hot sun reflecting of the roasting pavment sucked water and salt out of his body faster than he could put it  in. Pint after Pint we drank water, tailwind, electrolytes, supplements, pickle juice and food, yet he was cramping and having issues from the heat of the day. This is where our pit crew saved our race for the first time.  We had to take a break, cool him down and try and correct his levels, or the race would be done. Like magicians, they worked magic resurrecting John from beyond the grave, so he could continue to run towards Palomar Mountain.  I personally, drank a ton of fluid and took a ton of electrolyte supplements and still almost didn't take in enough. The desert in moisture vacuum; it's very tough to stay ahead of. While all this was going on, we were also trying not to get murdered by cars. 

Outskirts of Salton City- Colorado Desert

As we approached mile 35 and the first time cutoff we found out 2 things.  One, my GPS was giving us a bit of extra distance; so we weren’t as close as we thought we were; and we were against the clock due to the need to go slow and take breaks in the heat.  I had my doubts if we were going to make it; as it's impossible to pick up pace when the heat was dictating our pace. As we got closer to the Borrego springs resort we could see the driveway, and knew the timing station was ¼ miles up the drive.  Looking down at my watch, we had about 4 minutes to get there. I knew it was going to be nearly a photo finish to the first time cutoff (now 8 hours and 56 minutes into the race). As i yelled to John, ‘We need to run if we want to make the cut-off’ he turned on the juice and propelled himself along with Tracy and I up to the resort.  As we blazed past onlookers giving us doomsday style updates; we reached the race officials checking in with a whole 1 minute and 20 seconds to spare. We were allowed the privilege to continue; with less than 2 minutes on the clock; as the group at the back of the pack. 

Leaving Borrego Springs - Miles 35-40

A short rest at the resort to recover some fluid; we were off to the next checkpoint and cutoff.  This was 11 hours into the race; and roughly 5 miles from where we were. We took our time attempting to recover from the ‘rush’  and prepare for the big climb we had ahead. We used each other to block the wind and ‘draft’ as we had a very strong headwind to conserve some energy.  Approaching the Hell Hole Canyon hiking trail; we had a whole 9 minutes to spare; the problem was, we had to be ‘on the trail’ in 9 minutes. That left us frantic again; filling water, finding coats, hats, gloves, headlamps etc. everything we needed for the off road hike/climb of the desert mountains.  With race staff yelling, ‘Gear Check’ we headed over, showed our gear stepped on the trail, took a quick photo and began our ascent. I loved this upcoming part of the course, it was a beautiful desert mountain hike. 

Miles 40-50 - Hiking in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park 

I love climbing mountains, i have the legs for it; and it was finally getting cooler.  As we continued upward and onward we actually made up a lot of ground. John was finally feeling better; more in his element, using his strong legs to climb.  Tracy, the rock star she is; was always ahead of us; as we kept scrambling to keep up on the steep climb through the desert trying to avoid all the plants and creatures that wanted to hurt us (including one very angry rattlesnake); up almost nearly 4000’ of vertical over 9 miles.  This portion of the trail takes teams between 3-6 hours, we did it in less than 4 ½ which we felt pretty good about. As sun set on the mountain; we no longer hand intermediate timing cutoffs to worry about; except for the final one at 28 hours. Things were looking up.

Climbing the Trail- Hellhole Canyon 

Miles 50-60 - Down Hill, Fog and Wind

It was pretty awesome to see the Yeti statue as we crested the hill in Ranchita, CA; not only was it roughly the 50 mile marker; but it also signified a break from the uphill as we had a long easy downhill ahead.  We checked into the timing table, where the volunteers were dressed like the KGB (well, at least their hats). I was feeling goofy (from 15 hour of running), so addressing them as ‘comrades’ seemed like a great idea.  As we checked in with our new comrade friends, we had a few laughs and were awarded fictional race bonus points for creativity. After the required Group photo with the Yeti, we once again were off running.

What surprised me compared to earlier that day, was how much cooler it was.  With temperatures around 40 degrees F, and it being windy and foggy; if you weren't moving you could get very cold quickly.  Tracy, a warm blooded runner looked like she was going to freeze to death nearly wearing everything she brought. John and I on the other hand welcomed the cooler temps and just added a few layers to remain comfortable.

21 Miles to go - The Entire Balls of my Feet have Blisters,  and i'm Falling Apart

Earlier that day, whether the heat, or our pace, or the dry air; i do not know; but for some reason i developed blisters on the balls of my feet.  I've never had blisters here; and never have had problems running 30+ miles in the shoes I bought. However, on this day, I did. Giant painful blisters, under my callouses; which with around 23 miles left; i felt a ‘pop’.  This pop was followed by a sharp pain in my left foot of which was so intense i couldn't put my foot to the ground. I had to yell for my teammates to stop for a moment; so i could explain what was going on. The blister popped under my skin, and the fluid was causing my foot nerves to freak out.  In order to keep moving, i used my trekking poles much like the ‘Shiny’ Singing Crustacean crab from Moana crawling along aggressively, clinking and clanking on the tar each step in an attempt to continue forward. 

Upon reaching the Van, our Crew worked their magic.  Molly dressed my feet, Sally covered me in blankets as so i wouldn't freeze; and Julie gave me a sandwich with a ton of delicious mustard.  It was a long break, and a needed break that without; i wouldn't have finished.

The Final Grind - Less than 10 miles to go

At this point, we have been awake and running for about 24 hours. The last 13 miles of the race was all up hill, climbing Palomar Mountain.  I like to say it was glorious, but it was nothing more than an uncomfortable, slow, painful grind for all of us. We all were brought down by different race factors; but still were moving as a team.  The sun was starting to peak on the horizon, although its beauty was contained due to all of the cloud cover. In past races i've completed the sunrise has given me an energy burst, but here due to the gloomy clouds and drizzle; it did nothing but allow me to flip off my headlamp.  It was breezy, and it was raining. As we continued our final ascent of the race paying careful attention to the clock to make sure we would make the 28 hour cutoff we knew we were getting close and likely would make it. Our crew quickly passed off some cinnamon rolls less than a 5K from the finish, made sure we were good to go, continued to provided words of encouragement and kept an eye on our ever fading pace.

Ready to be done- Palomar Mountain 

As we made the last turn of the race, with 1 mile left and about an hour to do it; we knew the finish line was within reach.  As we approached the cabin where the official finish line was located atop of the stairs; we heard cheering from our crew team, and other teams.  Over a speaker we could hear that we were in fact the DFL team (Dead Fucking Last) finishing in 27 hours and 20 minutes. I have never been more excited to come in last place in my life.  All other racers still left at the lodge cheered as we crossed the finish line. It was an amazing experience, that couldn't have happened without the team we pulled together. Thank you to everyone involved.  It was Awesome and epic all for a buckle and a memory.

Additional Facts:

• With our finish, we are still internationally ranked in the top 30 teams of 2019. 

• A full third of the field dropped out.  

• I burned over 14,000 calories during the race.

• I ate over 3000-4000 calories during the race.

• I took over 150,000 steps during the race.

Finisher Swag