Beacon Rock 50K

You simply can't pass up a race that is held in the Gorge. It's just one of the most awesome places to run on earth. James put on another whopper. I guess if you're going to run in the Gorge you would expect it to be brutal. The Beacon Rock didn't disappoint! 4 bit climbs. Two times to Hardy Ridge and two times up Hamilton Mountain. I got a bit over 8,000 feet of ascent.

My left glutes have been racked for quite some time. I am waiting for them to adapt. Seems they're taking their sweet time. Runner's aren't known for their back ends. Generally pretty flat and under developed especially the lower glutes. Along with the glute hamstring tie in. If you run in the mountains or on lots of hills the medius and maximus are usually strong. The lower glutes get ignored in the running process. Mine are no different! However, biking especially MTB makes the lower glutes and upper hamstring work like dogs. My dogs are barking and they have been for months. It's a slippery slope of thrash and recover but not quite 100%.

After the 6 hour ride with it's grunt like terrain my lower glutes, piriformis and upper hamstrings were racked! I been living on a softball and a foam roller. They were just coming around on Friday. When I say coming around I mean I could walk and run without flailing dramatically. I feel like an old dog who has bad hips that curl under their hind quarters.

On Sunday at the start of Beacon Rock I felt pretty good. Mostly rested. After about 1 mile I knew it was going to be bad butt day. Climbing was pretty easy but any downhill was not so much fun. The lack of length in the tight glute/ham tie in area made descending rough. After a slow 25K where I took 2 Advil I considered calling it day. I did the normal mental battle for about 1 mile into the turn. I quickly left before my mind could settle on a decision. For the next 2 miles I grimaced and still considered turning around. I really needed this long hard run though. I ran into Esther who was just so positive and lovely. I chatted with her for a few minutes and left feeling better about life in general. Her upbeat demeanor was encouraging. Further up the trail I ran into Melissa who said, "Ronda, so good to see you and you just a beautiful as ever" I almost fell apart. She said, "You always brighten up the trail and are such an inspiration". I held back tears. I was so moved. What a nice thing to hear. A very generous compliment but I took it. After that I was completely uplifted. My butt still hurt really bad but I stopped dwelling on it and began to move better. When someone calls you an inspiration it's best to try and live up to the title and not waste it. I started thinking of who inspires me. It's a pretty good list and that helped me get over myself too.

Moving past the "uhggg" when is this going to end into a more positive mental space makes almost everything better. It's the true battle in this sport. It's what keeps us coming back. It's the perfect schooling in the power of decision. Though uncomfortable and sometimes painful moving through is many times better than not. All in all this was a great training run. Hard, humbling, slow but rewarding at the same time. Darin and Micheal had stellar runs. Amy opted for the 25K and won it. Beast had a great day out there too. I really did well with my post race stuff. I made sure I hydrated, ate really good, took an ice bath and slept as much as I could. Since my cardio wasn't taxed I don't feel as bad or tired. My glutes will be on ice all day, in the car, in a chair and any time I can sit. Hopefully I can get them repaired enough for the TOE 50M this Sunday. The Test of Endurance 50M MTB race with 8,700 feet of climb. This will be my last event before the Leadville Marathon on July 2nd.