I ran the Tahoe triple in 2007 and in 2008 I signed up for the "Super" Triple. You run a marathon on Friday, a marathon on Saturday and then Saturday at midnight you run the whole 72 miles around the lake. Well, because of my Achilles issues in 2008, I was able to postpone my entry until 2009. When I emailed the race director he said I could sign up for any race - WOW just the out I was looking for. I haven't really been putting in many miles and didn't feel in shape so I opted for just the 72 mile Ultra around the lake.
Robert and I headed up to Tahoe on Thursday. We arrived late in the afternoon. The weather was warm. Unseasonable warm for Tahoe.
Friday we decided to hike to Eagle lake. It's about a 2 mile hike and it was beautiful!
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Matt, Sarah and Connor drove up later Friday evening and we had a nice pasta dinner (more carbo loading..). On Saturday morning we decided to watch the bicyclists finish their 72 mile race around the lake. They were flying. We got to Zephyr Cove just in time to watch the winner cross the line.
Here's my photo as he whizzed by:
(I shouldn't give up my day job huh?) We drove up to Spooner parking lot so I could stash some water. I figured I would be needing a refill about that time. If I figured right, I would hit there about 4-5 hours from Pope Beach. We also stopped at a vista and Connor did some rock hopping.
On Saturday, after watching the bikes, we headed to the expo. We ran into Les Wright, the RD and he informed me that the 72 mile ultra race was officially "cancelled". Due to some permit screw up on his part, Cal-trans and NDOT (Nevada department of transportation) denied his permit for the ultra. He said he would give us full details at 4 p.m. At 4 p. Les informed us, "it was a free country and if you wanted to run a 46 mile warm-up before the marathon, it was your right". The other options offered, were: 1. Run the marathon 2. Refund your entry fee 3. Roll it over until next year Since I had already rolled over the previous year and I didn't want to just run the marathon, I opted to do the free country bit and run the 46 mile warm up! The Start: Robert dropped me off at Pope Beach at 9:50 p. Surprisingly, there were between 10-15 people gathered for the 10 p. start. At exactly 10 p., we took off. I started out running with 3 guys from the bay area. At Round Hill, one of the guys, named Chris peeled off. He was the "crew" for a guy named Ben Balstar. Chris said he would look out for me since I was crewless!! I arrived to Spooner lake and found my hidden water. It was very, very dark so Chris held a light so I could refill my hydration pack. I didn't see what time it was because I didn't really care. By now, we were pretty spread out along the road. I ended up running alone for the majority of the 46 miles. My stomach started revolting shortly after that. I'm not even sure why. It wasn't hot, I had been drinking enough fluids, I took some salt although I wasn't really sweating because it was chilly outside so I'm clueless as to why it felt awful. When I got to the Vista where Connor had been rock hopping, I barfed. It was gross!! Immediately after, I started drinking and TRYING to eat but nothing sounded good. When I arrived to the turn for Incline Village, Chris was waiting for me. He said he would see me at the finish since Ben was running fabulously. He wished me well and was off. It's amazing how many nice people there are out in the world! When I arrived into Kings Beach, it was bright because of all the neon signs for the casinos. I was on a walk break and a young man came from one of the casinos. We exchanged hellos and then he asked me what I was doing. I told him I was running around the lake and then he said, "What the hell for?" It was very funny. He too, wished me well and told me there was a 7-11 about 2 miles up the road since I really needed a Sprite to calm my stomach. I found the oasis in the desert and bought some sprite. It tasted very good!! I continued to drink but hadn't really eaten anything in sometime. When I was about 7 miles from Tahoe City, I looked at my watch. I was making pretty good time. I new I would arrive earlier than we had planned so at 5 a. I called Robert and told him to meet me at 6:30a. not 8 a. like we'd planned. It took forever to get to Tahoe City. Here I come down the street.
I was surprised to see Sarah and Connor had joined Matt in dropping Robert off. It was a very nice pick me up and mentally I needed it. They also brought some ginger snap cookies which tasted great. I was also happy to drop off all the gear I'd been carrying. Robert and I started off. I was pretty much toast. I thought the walk 50 steps, run 50 steps thing would work and it did for awhile but eventually I just ended up walking. Robert tried to make me feel better by saying how nice it was to walk so you could really take in the views. I made Robert carry my water bottle, I've never had anyone "mule" for me and it was nice. Finally, I arrived at the turn into Pope Beach. Only 1/2 mile left. Robert left me at this point because he wanted to hit the $2.00 beer booth. I saw Matt, Sarah and Connor and then the finish line. Yea!!!
I ran the 72 miles in 15:40:26, "unofficially" of course!! I can now check this off my list of things to do before I die!! Run fun... |
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