I guess I didn't do my homework very well on the Zombie Runner Half. I skimmed the details, decided it wouldn't be such a big deal, and signed up. I hoped to run a personal record (PR) and get under 1:40.
Do you see how steep those hills are? And how many of them there are? Because I didn't. This is the race course elevation profile. I guess I saw the 300 ft mark and decided that a 300 ft increase in elevation wasn't that big of a deal. Somehow I failed to notice the steepness. What happened? I may never know.
What doesn't show up on that elevation chart is that each one of those sharp increases is a long, steep set of stairs. That's right, stairs. It was a trail run (which I also didn't realize) and there were stairs built into the hillsides.
It was dark when I got there to check in and collect my bib number and t-shirt. Of course the start was in a flat area and I had been thinking about what I wanted to try for for my pace. I decided the whole point in having a race in the middle of my training plan is to go hard and see what I could do, so I decided to do just that.
At the start, a group of us took off ahead of the main crowd. I noticed I was the only girl in the front group and it remained that way for the two flat loops around the lagoon. After two loops, we headed toward the Golden Gate Bridge. I was pushing pretty hard because, what hills? As we neared the bridge, we turned up a ramp....and then right onto a long steep flight of stairs. Sweet Jesus. I passed a couple people on the stairs because, gee, this must be pretty much the only hill. I fell in next to Orange Shirt (a guy, they were all guys at this point).
(First set of stairs-photo from a previous year)
Orange Shirt and I jockeyed around for miles, with the lead group ahead of us a little and the main crowd far behind. We took a downhill under the bridge and then back up more stairs and along the road a ways. I looked out towards the large rocks out by a point in the ocean. We veered off the road and down an incredibly steep flight of stairs.
Orange Shirt took a lead on me after awhile and I tried to push back the fatigue. As I came around the corner, I saw our pink flagging along a small trail in front of me, but Orange Shirt and White Shirt (who kept stopping to take photos) had turned left at the road. I faltered a second and decided to take the trail. It was soft sand. As I popped out, I was greeted by ladies at the aid station, who said I took the right way, the guys had gone the wrong way. I took a GU and two small cups of water. Off we went.
We ran along another section of soft sand and then up some more stairs toward a road. We stopped and looked around when we lost sight of flagging, but then saw it again and headed up the long, winding road. White Shirt disappeared somewhere at this point. He either fell back or forged on ahead of us, but Orange Shirt and I continued to yo yo back and forth between who was taking the lead. I was getting nauseous so I let him pull ahead of me a few feet.
We dove back onto the trail and around some old ruins of bath houses or something. It flattened out a little so I opened up my stride. I started gaining on Orange Shirt again who was gaining on White Shirt. There was a Blue Shirt in there somewhere too.
And then...MORE STAIRS! What the hell? I muttered under my breath. The next several miles were nothing but upstairs and downstairs, it was crazy. It's this gorgeous trail that meanders from the bay out along the ocean with lots of green and trees....but my god I don't think it was built for crazy people to actually run it.
I conjured up a picture in my head of the elevation chart and decided that must be the end of the uphills and it is all downhill from here. See...definitely failed to study the picture. I came around a corner to meet with a steep drop down a bunch of stairs where I could already see Blue Shirt running up the next set. Ignoring the sound of footsteps behind me, I swore out loud. This is like the Great Wall of China!
(Another photo from a previous year...different set of stairs)
By now I was thinking I might not PR on this course.
Up ahead, the lead runner was coming at me. What?!! We have to go back the same way?
I don't know people. Usually I study the course like you wouldn't believe. I know where all the water breaks are, what sort of electrolyte beverage they're serving, the mile markers for all the major hills...I just can't tell you where all of this went wrong. And then I wondered, how far can mental toughness alone take you? I decided I had already gone too fast to hope for some splendidly paced run. But I was trailing just behind the lead group of guys and still had yet to be passed by a woman who had been smart enough to pace herself better than I had.
By the way, the other day I was looking at last year's results and saw how "slow" the times were. I could place in this thing! Why are they all so slow? Because this is an obstacle course from hell! This is definitely not somewhere you go to PR.
I turned down another long, winding steep hill and the guys on the way up kept saying "good job" and "nice run". It occurred to me: I held the lead on the women. I took a cup of water and a cup of electrolyte drink at the bottom of the hill and started back up. I heard a noise above me and saw the second place female coming down. "Good job!" she said. Not far behind her were a couple more girls, all of them giving encouragement. One said something about way to keep up with the guys. Holy crap I'm in first...and I'm dying.
I've never been that girl. I've seen them at my races, when you see the really fast guys blow by you one after the other, heading back in the opposite direction toward the finish. And then you see that one girl. The one girl that's hanging in there with the lead guys. And then quite a few more guys will go by before you see the next girl. For the first time...I was that one girl. People started shouting at me "You're the first female!" "First girl!" Everyone would grin when they saw me because they knew. A few people held up their index finger as I passed, too breathless to say a word, number one. It was the strangest feeling.
This continued on for several miles as I ran by the main crowd on my way back towards the finish line. I kept wondering how I was going to endure going through all those stairs again. A group of girls coming at me started screaming and cheering me on, like I was representing women everywhere. I smiled and waved and the guys in the group gave me the thumbs up. I kid you not, I got goosebumps all over. Well now what? If you fall out, you let all those people down. No stopping to poop, no bonking, you're going to have to hold the lead.
It was weird that I suddenly felt so obligated to not let these people down. I wondered how far back that second girl was. Orange Shirt had taken quite a lead on me, but Blue Shirt was up ahead about to hit the worst set of stairs on the entire course. He stopped to walk. I bounced past him until my quads seized up, and then just tried to maintain something of a stride. Up at the top, Orange Shirt stopped to walk. I pressed on.
As I got to the top of the stairs, the road was only a slight hill, so I tried to stride out. Orange Shirt was running again. We started passing the 10K runners who had started after us and already turned around. One guy shouted "That was the last hill, it's all downhill from here!" "Thanks!" I shouted, although I knew better. There was one more, albeit shorter and less steep as we came out from under the Golden Gate Bridge again.
By now the public was out and about, and this was not a closed course. I nearly ran a guy over on a sharp turn and nearly missed the course. 2 miles left, and it's all downhill and then flat. I kicked it into gear, passing the 10K runners, shouting "On your left!" or "On your right!".
Back to the initial stairs. I tried to take them down as fast as possible. I got to the bottom and two course volunteers pointed me to where the trail started back again on the other side of the road. "Thank you!" I yelled. At the entrance to the trail, a group of cyclists where just getting started on their ride. One was mounting up and starting to pedal but talking to his buddies. He didn't see me and his trajectory was going to collide with mine. I was not going to slow down at this point.
"HUP HUP HUP!!!!" I yelled as I rounded his front tire, putting my arm out to keep him from hitting me.
"Look out!" "Oh shit, she's in a race!"
I peeled around the corner and headed out onto the flat. Maybe too fast. Nausea was taking over and I was spending more time with my eyes closed than open. I just wanted to puke. Less than a mile to go, Orange Shirt was barely visible...Blue Shirt was still somewhere back behind me, and not a single woman had caught up to me.
I just need to finish! Like always, my drive to be done and able to stop was battling with my need to slow down. The trail narrowed and people blocked my way, including a woman on crutches. Crap. I started yelling early. "On your right! On your right!" I flew by them and saw a couple with a stroller up ahead. "On your left!" "Sheesh!" I heard someone say.
I flew around the last sharp corner before the finish line, taking it wide around another stroller, but then had to jump some rocks to get back into the finish chute. I crossed the finish line at a 1:45.46. Not a PR, but had I known what the course entailed, I would not have expected one.
A volunteer handed me my finisher's medal and I started to stop running. Keep moving. I told myself. You ran 15 miles last weekend, you can run another half mile. I slowed to a jog and jogged around some picnic tables for a couple minutes, then went and mingled with the other runners around the snack/beverage table.
Everyone was congratulating me on the run, making sure I knew I was first. We joked about the hills and shoved food into our mouths. I jogged a little more and walked a little. The second place girl came in and we chatted awhile.
As results poured in, the race director handed out awards. Since I was first overall for women, I got a ceramic coaster, as well as a medal for being first in my age group/division (females 30-39) and everyone gets a finishers medal. I don't know for sure, but I finished overall/overall (guys and girls) 15th out of 208.
Everyone had seen my face and knew I was the first female to finish, so people kept coming up and talking to me. It was such a weird experience.
I might even do it next year...but I'll be sure to get some hill training in before hand.
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