Sunday, May 15, 2016

#MedalMonday: Not My Medal and a non-ultra runner's #PCT50 Recap!

Happy Monday!  This is going to be a good week!  I can already feel it!  So this last weekend, I had the pleasure of crewing for my awesome, awe-inspiring BRFs - Jenn & Vanessa!  They ran the PCT50 (yes, 50 freaking miles!) on Saturday.  They have trained so hard for this and now, they have done it!


You may remember this isn't the first time I have been a part of Jenn's crew!  I am old hat at this crew thing.  You can read last year's recap here.  But this year was even more fun!  On Friday night, the three of us headed to beautiful Pine Valley and grabbed burgers and a beer at Calvin's Restaurant.  Really good beer selection by the way!  Lagunitas, Manzanita etc!


Oh and my bunless turkey burger was yummy too!  That is called a fry frenzy.  Really!


We went to bed after ALOT of giggles.  So many my stomach hurt.  Woke up in time to hit the start at 5:00 a.m. and pick up bibs etc.


I made sure they made it off to the start okay and headed back to the Pine Valley Inn Motel to catch some more sleep.  I wasn't asleep long when it was time to go meet my Jenny for coffee and breakfast!  If you can, head to Major's for their Turkish coffee.  So yum!


GREASY but delish!  Then Jenny and I headed back to the start line to start the 6.4 mile trek to the last aid station where I was meeting Jenn and Vanessa and she was meeting Sean.  The 6.4 miles are mostly uphill but beautiful.


We had fun taking our time heading up the mountain.


We took lots of pictures (duh!).


There were some really cool rock formations...


We didn't take a picture of the baby rattler Jenny saved me from.  I almost passed out!  She had to remind me to breathe!  And finally we headed up to the aid station run by Boom Running.


These people were so much fun and love the sport of running.  Mike, the founder of BOOM, won the Whoo's at El Moro 50K the weekend before!


We met some PCT thru hikers and I asked them a million questions.  So interesting.  I also love Ultra aid station food.  In fact, Ultra runners demonstrate every way to eat a potato.


If you have never eaten a boiled potato dipped in salt, you haven't lived!  It wasn't long before Jenny and I were trying to coordinate our jumps for pictures at the aid station.  We couldn't quite get in sync.


And soon, our awesome friend Cindy headed up to our aid station in second place OVERALL!  In fact, after the TLC she received at our aid station, she went on to win FIRST PLACE.  Overall!  Men or women!


We saw fellow Orange Mud Ambassador Paul, who ended up finishing in the top 10 or so.  


And then it was time for Jenny to leave me so she could go pace Sean for the remaining 6.4 miles.  They are seriously the cutest.  You should have seen his face light up when he saw her!


Then Jenn came in to the aid station followed closely by Vanessa.


It was much hotter on the course than expected and they were getting to the point where they just wanted to be done.  So we headed out to finish the remaining 6.4 miles.


And then I ran ahead to the finish line so I could capture their moment of glory!


They are completely 100% amazing!  They earned those medals and then some!


And then of course, we needed a picture of the three of us.


And I had a little surprise for them in the car.  Well, it was a gift mostly for me.  HAHA!


What a completely awesome day!  Inspiring and awesome!

And finally, I am linking up with the Weekly Wrap hosted by HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin and also with Megan!  I am also linking up with #MotivateMe Monday, hosted by Run Mommy RunFitness Cheerleader and Running Rachel.  I’m also joining up with Marathons & Motivation and Ilka’s Blog for Sunday’s Fitness & Food Link-up.

So have you ever run an ultra race?  Have you ever crewed for one?  You must!  It is a blast and so rewarding!  

As always, I wish you Happy Feet,
SD Mom

13 comments:

  1. Great recap! It was great having you there for the last 6 miles! Helped so much to take our mind off the misery!!

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    1. Hey, don't take away that hard earned .4 from me! ;-)

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  2. What an awesome day, congrats to your friends! Whew 50 miles makes me tired just thinking about it :)

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  3. 50 miles! I would die... but I'll take the food. :D

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  4. 50 miles is crazy good! Unbelievable achievement! Congrats to everyone in this post! I always see Jenny's fun posts on Instagram. This scenery is just beautiful! Thanks for sharing such a fun posts with us! Truly inspiring! Pinning, tweeting and stumbling!

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  5. That sounds like such a cool experience! I'd love to help out a friend like this someday.

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  6. And I complain that it would take me too long to run a marathon!

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  7. I love that you got to support your BRF's and you got to spend some quality time with the PCT! Sounds like a great race.

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  8. Wow! 50 miles is very impressive. What an incredible accomplishment. It was so sweet for you to go and crew for your friends. I know you wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks for linking with us SD!

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  9. What am I missing about all the potatoes in ultra running? That is some serious miles too! Looks like you had fun being part of this support system for your friends!

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  10. You are such a great friend for being part of the 50 mile crew like this. Mad props. I want a boiled potato dipped in sea salt...now. Sounds so good.

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  11. Congratulations to your friends on their 50 miler! What an amazing accomplishment! They are so lucky to have you for support.

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