The Rut 50K: Own The Result

The Rut 50K spit me out on the other side loving life, a little bruised and battered and, most importantly, with a few new tricks up my sleeve. The lessons learned from that epic mountain race were plentiful. And if I had to pick the most important lesson it would be: Own The Result.

I came 21st  female on the day. Twenty females were stronger than me over the rugged 31-mile sky race. Period.  I fought hard, I dug deep, and I crossed the line in 21st position.  Does that define me as an athlete? No. But it is important to give credit where credit is due and 20 strong females out-raced me on that day in some of the most beautiful and technical mountains I have ever had the pleasure of traversing. 

                                                             

I have raced 65+ long course events: 21 full Ironman evens,  42 half Ironman events, multi day cycling races, snowshoe races and a few ultramarathons.   I've had results I am so proud of and I have had the chance to battle it out with my competitors and myself for championships, podiums and many, many 4th place finishes.  (The importance, irony and frustration of the 4th place finish will be saved for another blog - don't you worry!)

An amusing fact is I have yet to have the "perfect" race  so I stopped searching for the perfect race.  I won Ironman Lake Placid 2014 - a race that saw me hustle 3 times to the port-a-potty in the last 15K. My strength as an athlete is I value the 'sufferfests' and tuck away the learning lessons. 


To me, the best athletes cramp, crash, bobble nutrition, toe the line slightly under-cooked or with a little niggle and still come out on top. The best athletes will always #suckitupbuttercup 

                                                      

-The Rut 50K humbled me, shaped me, made me cry and laugh hysterically.
-It taught me that racing fast down hill takes a tremendous amount of eccentric training.
-It takes a lot of deep breathing and carefully placed footsteps to traverse an extremely steep and technical ridge line without peeing yourself.
-It is nearly impossible to eat your planned nutrition when heart rate is maxed and you're running in the clouds. 
-I now know that the muscle fatigue induced over the last 10K of a 50K race is exponential but racing side by side ( for the first 13 miles) with your best friend ( Ryan ) is absolutely priceless. 

I want to say THANK YOU to the The Rut for mentally tearing me down and physically tearing nearly every available lower leg muscle fiber.  Thank you for gifting me a hefty dose of altitude sickness, scaring the sh!t out of me on your stunning and terrifying ridge line. I raced my heart out, I owned the result and I am coming for you in 2019!