So if you read the comment on the last post, you may be wondering what happened yesterday.
Brian had been sick all week, but felt really good on Friday and decided he would indeed be able to do the 13.1. I had been convincing myself to just go ahead and run it by myself all week, but was super relieved that he'd be with me when he decided to run in. It's an extremely difficult climb to the top. It really is just straight up the Mt., and I didn't want to be doing it alone. We've done longer races, but I've yet to do any race that challenges me as much as this Diablo half.
So the race started, and the first mile was fine. Second mile, Brian would fall a few steps back, then catch up, then fall back a few steps....I had been asking every few seconds if he was ok, and he kept saying he was ok...and then that changed to I dont' feel right, then to I'm dizzy, then to I'm not going to be able to do this. He ended up turning around at the 2 mile turn around for the 4 mile race, which is no joke by itself, here's the elevation profile for the 4 miler
Now I had a decision to make. Do I turn around with him (when I'm struggling he always says "we do this together or we don't do it, this is our thing together that we do and if one of us can't then we both stop") or do I keep going.....and if I keep going, can I make myself keep climbing to the top?? Last year there were moments that if he hadn't been telling me to keep moving I would have just sat down. We also had a the big, yearly congregation picnic later in the day, and also the Walnut Festival Parade in Walnut Creek to attend after the picnic. It was really tempting to turn around with him and call it a morning.
But we live in a place where I see that Mt every day. We live in the neighborhood you drive through to get to the start of this race. For the past year every time I see Mt. Diablo from a distance and can really take in the size of it, I have the thought "I got to the top of that with my own two feet!" I know how good it feels to get to the top. And I really, really wanted to do it again.
Brian really wanted me to keep going and would have been upset with himself if I had stopped because he wasn't feeling well. While I was trying to figure out what to do, NTL asked what I was going to do (and stood waiting for an answer until I told him to keep moving, he and Mrs. were doing the 10 miler this year and I didnt' want to slow him down while I made up my mind).
I decided to keep going. There's really not that much to say about the climb. It's crazy hard. It's all uphill, but some sections are super steep, then you'll have a runnable section, then steep, lots of it is exposed and it was already warming up. I tried to stay with the ladies in front of me who were doing the 10. I tried to convince them it's a shame to stop at the 5 mile turn around when you can go another 1.5 miles and reach the summit, but they weren't buying it! ( i may have forgotten how much steeper that 1.5 mile climb to the top is than what we were currently climbing :) A bit over half way up the climb to the 5 mile aid station I came around a corner and saw NTL and Tony (Endorphin Dude) just as they turned a corner. NTL is a very strong climber, so knowing I had made up some distance and that I had him in sight gave me hope that I was not doing too bad. Now, if he tells me later he had been off in the bushes for 15 minutes or veered off course to chase a tarantula to get a picture, that'll change how great I felt to have caught up to him! Anyway, I tried to just stay close enough that I could see that group as I rounded the corners, and managed to hang on....but boy was I shot when I came into the 5 mile aid station!! Oh, I should mention that just before the aid station, Mrs. NTL came flying at me bombing the downhill like a pro. She looked so happy and solid!! I wasn't coherent enough to get out the camera and take a picture, but it would have made a great one!
So again I had a choice to make, keep going to the summit, or turn around and do the 10 miler. NTL was there again to ask me what I was going to do, and I told him I was going to keep going, that if I had to I could walk it. I drank a ton, had a potato w/salt, and headed out a few steps behind Endorphin Dude, again with the goal of just keeping him in sight. I'm glad he was about 20 feet ahead of me.....as we made our way through a campground, he passed a garbage can and scared 2 raccoons who sprang out of it and ran across the path.
The first 5 miles was fire road, but leaving the aid station, the 1.5 to the summit is single track. Beautiful single track, mixed with ugly technical rocky sections where it can be hard to tell there is a trail. There was a steady stream of runners coming down at us, and I welcomed each one as an opportunity to stand for a second off the side of the trail and breath. It may not have been pretty, or fast, but I did get to the summit! And again, it was totally worth it!! It is so amazing up there, you can see forever, and you get a good look at what you just did! You climbed 3,420 ft for fun!
Wendell had put the rubber bands at the very top deck of the observation tower, so you had to climb stairs to get your rubber band. That's so the RD knows you did indeed go up all the way to the summit. Endorphin Dude was coming down off the tower as I went up, and that was the last I would see of anyone I knew. He was doing the 26.2, there was also a 50k, so there were lots of runners on the mt, but once I got back down the 1.5 miles from the summit to the aid station, i wouldn't see another runner until I finished. I again drank a ton and refilled my water bottle, ate 3 peanut m&m's, and started down the mt. There's about 3 miles of steeper downhill, with the last 2 miles being not so noticeable (or helpful) downhill.
Somewhere in here I texted Brian and asked for the girls to run out the bottom and run it in with me, finishing was going to be a struggle. I know that bottom 2 mile section well, and I knew as soon as I didn't have gravity helping me down the mt it was going to get rough. I was swelling pretty good, I had let me watch out 3 holes already and it was getting tight again, my fingers were looking pretty sausage like (not sure why I was so swollen at the end of this thing, haven't had that happen before). With about 1.5 to go I saw Emma coming at me. She helped distract me through the last little bit. If it was downhill, I would run, but if it was up or long flat sections, I had nothing left. My lower back was really sore and I would stop and bend over to relieve the pressure, but then when I stood up again I would almost pass out, and then it would pass. I few times I was sure I was about to throw up, but nothing happened. It was not pretty.
And then I finished. I must have looked like poo because the 2 ladies who had done the 10 miler who I had tried to convince to go to the summit because you are so close and it's just another 1.5 mile climb....they were at the finish line and laughed and said "look at you...you who tried to convince us to keep going up because it was so close".
So, it was not as planned, and I was scared to keep going w/o Brian, it was difficult, it hurt, and I'm pretty sore today....but two years in a row I've summitted Mt. Diablo on my own two feet! And then went to a congregation picnic and ate 2 plates of potato salad and cornbread casserole like a champ, and then propped myself up in a chair to look awake during the parade. : )
I'll do a picture post separately since this is so long.
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