In the fall of 2015, I ran my first official ultramarathon race in Hillsboro, Wisconsin on Wildcat Mountain at the Driftless 50k Trail Race. This was a quick decision for me as my husband was headed to Wisconsin for a business trip and I said I would tag a long if I could find an ultra: I signed up on Tuesday and raced on Saturday.
As we neared the site, I was anxious about the stories Derek’s friend shared the night before: He shared about his concern of his wife running alone because of mountain lions and bears in the area. I looked down as we spiraled along a curvy road to the race start and I was sure that I saw some big black bears. I was freaked out and told Derek that I thought I saw bears and I couldn’t run if I did that I would be too scared. So he turned the Jeep around so we could go see the “bears”. Well the bears ended up looking alot like black cows: We got a good laugh out of that. We arrived at that the start line and packet pickup. It was a rustic site, where we could pick pretty much where we wanted to camp. We decided to set our tent right beside a bubbling river which was peaceful all night long.
In the early morning, I arrived at the start line with anxiety and excitement. I met Amy, a nurse who was an experienced ultra runner and decided to run along with her. She shared of the several races she had done. So we started off at a pretty slow pace, I wasn’t quite sure how fast to run as this was my first ultra trail race. Prior to this I had ran a 40 mile ultra run with my friend Teddy so he could run 40 miles prior to his 40th birthday: We created our own path and ran it alone from Kalamazoo, Michigan to South Haven, Michigan. So this was my first experience actually running an ultra distance alone and racing. I was surprised when we started out and within the first mile, everyone started walking up the hills. I had read about this strategy, but being the competitive person that I am this was a difficult mindset for me to adjust to, but being inexperienced I decided it may be in my best interest to follow their lead. After awhile, Amy told me I was holding back too much and I should run ahead.
I took off feeling strong and confident: My husband, Derek was my pit crew and had brought along his bike and drove our jeep so he could ride ahead and meet me at the aid stations. Not knowing what to expect with cell phone coverage we purchased two way radios to stay in contact. I quickly discovered I had no cell phone signal or two way radio signal. So as I ran along the trail I watched closely and carefully so as not to lose my way. The trail was randomly marked and I worried I had missed turns as I ran along. It was fall so there were leaves covering the ground and the landscape was beautiful. As I ran along I remember coming to a stream crossing and wasn’t sure if I was still on course. The further into the trail the more difficult the terrain became. I took a few hard falls from tripping on roots: I remember laying on the ground after having the wind knocked out of me from my fall not sure if I wanted to get back up. So in the back of my mind my entire race I thought about what Derek’s friend had shared about animals: He said that the mountain lions were in up in trees. I had to keep my focus on my footing and didn’t have time to look around to see if I was being stalked by a wild animal. Luckily I didn’t have any wild animal encounters along the way.
The course was challenging with narrow trails, streams and muddy areas. There was a place I had to sort of crawl up and another that I went slightly into a cave-like area. I stopped a few times on the course to take in the beauty and snap a few shots.
The race proved to me that I could finish an ultra and helped develop my confidence. I finished first place overall female and 6th place overall. Running this gave me the bug to do more: I was hooked and proud that I accomplished this on my own.
Good story. I’ve never heard of anyone being attacked by a bear or lion during an ultra. But a mule deer gored a runner once at one of the western 100 milers, Leadville or Wasatch I think. And one year at Devil’s Backbone 50 miler (MT) a runner trying to drop out was repeatedly chased by an angry bull moose. I don’t think the moose managed to get him at all, but he had some serious injuries from running into and falling out of trees in his escape. And another year at DB 50 a gal had to retreat and wait for other runners to help drive a lion off the trail.
But my favorite animal story was one year near the start of Elkhorn 100K a dog jumped off a porch and started running with some of the leaders. It stayed with them for most of the 100K. It was a super hot day over (100F) and towards the end the dog collapsed, so someone loaded it in a pickup and took it to the finish line. They laid it in the shade, on ice, and after a bit it got up and walked (walked!) home.
It was probably an irrational fear, but of course it stuck with me during the race. Thanks for sharing your stories. They are always great:)
Enjoyed reading about your first ultra. Blogging about them will take you back and bring those memories to the forefront again. Great recap, Loretta! 😊