Waldo 100k: Big Highs, Bigger Lows, and The Beauty of Failure.

To preface this, I know technically I did not fail at this race. I did in fact finish and that’s all that matters! However, I failed in the sense of not reaching any of my personal goals. I went into this race with high hopes, peak fitness, and feeling hungry to chase something that wasn’t too out of reach. I took a huge swing, big risks, and ultimately it turned into a big flop. And guess what? THAT’S OKAY! In fact, I’m actually happy about it. Might sound silly, but the lessons and time alone out there suffering taught me more than any race win or course record ever could. So here’s what happened…. 

I was having the race of my dreams until I wasn’t, which feels like ultra running in a nutshell. We’ve all been there. And if you haven’t been there yet, don’t worry, your time will come eventually. I would rather take big risks and fail than to not try at all. Sometimes you don’t know your true potential until you just go for it. This was that day, and as usual nothing went to plan. 

The Race

If you’ve never heard of Waldo 100k, its a pretty low-key race in central Oregon that has been going on for the last 24 years. Technically it falls under the “old school ultras” category which I LOVE. What does this even mean, an old school ultra? Technically it’s a race that has been established for 20 years or longer but continues to hold a strong foundation in the community/grassroots vibe. This race especially is only permitted to have 150 runners, that will never change, so you are guaranteed to not feel like “just a number” in some of these larger sponsored races.

The course boasts 11,000 feet of elevation gain across 62.5 miles in a single looped route. It  features two major summit climbs with epic views, and 6 lakes that you run by. There are aid stations every 4-7.5 miles, offering wonderful support from volunteers. The fun part about the “old school vibe” is that the race has several other competitions that don’t require you to be fast. My favorite being the “wet waldo” competition — First male/female to finish who has jumped (fully submerged) into all 6 lakes. Kinda silly, but oh so fun! 

They also have the “Show us your Waldo” competition. Which really only means who has the best attitude or appreciation toward volunteers and the race. This one the volunteers get to vote the winner for !

The course met all of my expectations and then some. It was a beautiful day, phenomenal weather, and well supported in every way. It’s too bad I was racing too hard in the beginning to really appreciate the aid stations for the first 44 miles. One of them was 7eleven themed and had a slurpee machine!! 

So What Happened To My Race? 

After every race for myself or my athletes, I like to evaluate everything that went right, wrong, where we felt strong, weak, and what we would do differently next time. This applies to both the training and also race day execution. So lets’ begin with the training.

Honestly, I wouldn’t change anything about the training I did leading into this race. I truly felt I was at peak fitness and the strongest/ fastest I have ever been in my life (Coros even confirmed this). My peak training weeks before the taper was in the mid to high 70 mile range, with 10k-12k feet of elevation gain per week. I felt strong, fast, fit, and capable to come crush this race. 

This happens to a lot of people, you just don’t always know how your race will unfold. You could have the perfect training and then have everything go wrong in the race. It happens. We learn. We grow. We move on and try to improve. 

What I would change is this — after what happened out there during my race, in retrospect I would have intentionally been out here 2 weeks before the race to both acclimate but also train more on the course. I believe a combination of the higher altitude (Topping off at 7,800 feet) and dry, dusty trails did me in with my lungs. But now I’m getting ahead of myself.

Race Eve

Nothing particularly special about the night before the race. I took the whole day off for rest, arrived at the motel ten minutes from the race headquarters, did some work on my computer, checked in with athletes and ate my carbs throughout the day. Nicole Arrived an hour or two before bib pickup. I made my dinner at 5pm, a massive bowl of rice, plantains, and vegetables with teriyaki sauce. I had one more rice ball for good measure afterwards.

We went to bib pickup, got my goodies, stayed for the pre race meeting, then headed back. Bed time at 8:30pm. 

The Start

2:30am wake up call is way earlier than I’m used to getting up for a race, I didn’t like it, but I got my butt up! Two pieces of bread (no toaster) and a banana was my breakfast. This time in the morning is too early to really have an appetite. You know what it’s also too early for? Going #2!! I tried several times to get to the bathroom, to no avail. So I prepared myself for the inevitable. I packed a butt wipe to take with me on the trails. 

Miles 0-26

These miles weren’t particularly memorable. It was early, I was feeling good and absolutely CRUISING on those trails. The first climb was 1,000 feet but was over fast, then we had 5 miles of smooth downhill. These trails were non technical and fast, I was having a great time but never felt like I was pushing too hard. My paces on that first downhill was in the 7:40’s. Nothing crazy. I do remember for those first two hours in the dark, seeing the dust in the air reflect off my headlamp from the runners in front of me kicking it up. I didn’t think much of it.

Somewhere around mile 7 or 8, after the first aid station, I was piddling around my belt for a gel and fell on the trail. Not abnormal for me. I scraped my knee but landed on my hands. I got myself up and kept cruising. An hour later, I looked down and thought my pinky really was hurting, and was getting swollen. After the race we realized I broke that finger. HAHA!!

I kept marching on. I was the first woman to summit Mt Fuji— right at sunrise. I got to view Waldo lake and surrounding peaks. It was absolutely surreal. I let out a howl when I got up there, just a nice “WOOOHOOO “ which was pure stoke for life at that point. Feeling good and loving it so far!

Being first female to Fuji also mean that as long as I finished the race - I won a patagonia puffy vest with the waldo 100k logo embroidered on it. (You also get this vest if you win the race, but there’s a big difference between winning the first 12 miles and winning the whole thing. Just you wait and find out how my day goes…) 

Miles 26 - 46

I could tell I was slowing down a bit on the downhills. For some reason only the downhills though, which is when I “should” be cruising. Uphills still felt strong, but I was slowing down as you do in an ultra. I accepted it, and just kept fueling and trying to keep up. I could just tell that the legs were not keeping up the way I was before. Did I go out too fast? It sure didn’t feel like it in the beginning, and looking at my heart rate it wasn’t particularly a higher effort, but I suppose so. 

Mile 35 was when I got passed by the woman behind me and chasing me. That definitely hurts the ego a bit, but we keep moving forward. That’s when I knew I was for sure slowing down. “DAMNIT…” I thought! 

It was a risky game to go out in the lead for such a long race. I normally never do this, but I felt confident and good and it didn’t feel like my effort was that much higher. But I now it best — it’s always better to do the chasing than to be chased!! 

As I got closer to the mile 44 aid station that’s when I really felt myself slowing down and starting to feel “weird”. What’s that mean? Well I didn’t really know until it got to the extreme end of things.I felt like my Raide waist belt was fastened way too tight and was restricting my lower abdomen. I felt like I could not take a full breath in, and it generally hurt. As soon as I got to that aid station (Where I saw Nicole for the last time before finishing) I immediately took it off and asked to just go with my handheld bottle and to put all my remaining gels in my shorts pockets.  It was hot outside but the heat wasn’t bothering me. I told her I was starting to feel like shit and kinda wanted to walk it in. She told me oh hell no. At this point I was still in second place, but I really didn’t give a shit anymore as my health just felt like it was declining.

I left the aid station jogging, but slowly. Two miles later my downhills are 10-12 minute miles and are feeling way more difficult than they should. I then get passed by Maddy — who went on to finish second place! I encouraged her, and at that point I began to walk.

Miles 46-62

These were excruciatingly painful. When I made it to the mile 50 aid station I stood there for a few minutes, ate potatoes and chugged water. The handheld bottle wasn’t enough for these sections with how slow I was going. So i made sure to chug a bunch before leaving an then ration it as best I could.

After the mile 50 aid station you have the final climb up to Maiden peak. It’s like a sucker punch to the face. 2,300 feet in 3 miles in the heat of the day. I felt my soul leave my body on that damn climb. It took me near 2 hours to summit. I had my watch face on the screen to show my elevation gain left in that segment, and every 100-200 feet up I had to stop, sit on a log or a rock, and gasp for air. I quite literally could not breathe.

I stopped probably 20 times. I laid on a rock. I cried. I wheezed. A sweet angel out there had an inhaler that she let me use and then prayed for me. It helped for maybe an hour.

Eventually and very slowly I made it to the top. From there the last 10 miles are mostly downhill with some small rollers. It was a slow death march to get to that damn finish line. Toward the end there are some tiny 20 foot hills, even those were knocking the wind out of me. Absolute insanity.

with 3.5 miles left to the finish line I finally had had enough. I was exhausted from the early wake up call and felt sleepy. I had no more fucks left to give, and decided to lay down to take a nap by the lake. Silly for being “only” a 62 miles race. This is normally a common occurrence for a 100 or 200 mile race, “dirt naps” they call them, but I didn’t care. I wanted to shut my eyes and go to a peaceful place for a few minutes.

Ten minutes go by and then someone sits next to me, asks me to get up and to go finish. He was someones pacer and was out on his own adventure as his runner was already good to go to the finish. He offered to pace me the rest of the race. I told him I was just walking slowly and he was okay with that. Phil Evans if you’re reading this — you saved me!! YOU THA MAN!!

My pity party was now a party of two. though I wasn’t really a pity party, I was just miserable. This race really taught me to suffer better. I will say, it was lonely as hell out there and that was the worst part. I was thankful to finally have someone to make conversation with. Phil was awesome!! 

We chatted and he brought me into the finish line. Craig Thornely made sure to hype me up on the speakers, which I really didn’t want the attention, but accepted it. I got my finishers hat and see Nicole and a few friends who waited on me!! 

Every ultra is so different. Every experience is so unique. You come out of all of them with a new perspective on life. Sometimes you suffer a little, sometimes you suffer a lot. I can say this time I suffered a lot physically. Mentally, my mind was in a healthy place. Even when things were hard, I never felt sad or that I was struggling any personal battles. Often these long races bring out all of the emotional turmoil we might bury under the rug. I’m thankful to be in a good place in my life right now, and nothing was really bothering me besides my physical ailments. 

Sometimes you crush the mountain and sometimes it crushes you. In my case, I experienced BOTH! A swift and smooth beginning to a hard fought end. I’m thankful for the whole experience, even if it was a bit embarrassing. Nobody really cares though except you. So at the end of the day, follow what’s best for you, run your own race, embrace the suck and still try to have fun and soak up the whole journey!!

I find that ultras parallel with life — you get as much as you give, and sometimes it still kicks you in the ass. But thats kinda the point. Don’t give up on yourself and keep chasing those dreams!

I would rather take big risks and fail than to not try at all. Sometimes you don’t know what your full potential is until you just go for it. Sometimes it doesn’t workout and thats okay, I may not have gotten what I came for out there, but I made the most of it and learned a whole lot more of what it means to endure and suffer better out there.

Sweet Deezus