A few days before the race a call went out for a volunteer for the Dog Valley aid station on the 50 m course they needed someone for @4 hours with a truck . I volunteered Brian who would just be sitting around worrying about me falling in the rocks . Friday I went over on my lunch hour and picked up the supplies for the aid station. Brian would be the assistant and he was with an experienced runner , Cathy , who would be the captain . Brian had never been to the area where the aid station would be and it turns out Cathy had never driven there either .
The weather was nice on Saturday the high was to be around 80 but Peavine is 8,229' so it could be 10 degrees cooler up there . I know the saying "Nothing new on race day " but I ordered some S!caps and they came on Thursday I put them in my pack along with the Endrolytes . This was going to be a long supported run for me not a race , I figured I could give them a try if I started feeling bad . My training has been poor most of the spring I can give many excuses from the broken toe , to Brian's surgery , to the knee problem but there were plenty of days I could have been running and didn't . I had not run more than an 18 mile long run since October but I had been consistent with my low mileage .
Off we went, I would know pretty quickly if the knee was going to give me trouble as it had been on climbs after the first couple miles everything started to loosen up and I felt like it would be ok . I walked through the rocks above Evans Canyon , just didn't want to fall or smash my toe . Got to the top a little slower than I expected but that was ok . I did not run crazy down the back side like so many do , I went old lady slow . The fun thing about being slow is I get to see the front runners coming back. I am always impressed by those runners who are for the most part are very friendly and always have a positive comment .
Once I got down on to the flatter road I saw a guy holding a girl by the arm , as I got closer I saw the dirt on her shorts . I stopped to ask if she was ok as she turned to me I saw she was not . I have seen a few victims of Peavine of the years she was by far the worst , she was blood on both knees down to her ankles and both hands . They told me they were going to try and get to the next aid station , which was at that point @1.5 miles , I was concerned they wouldn't be able to get her out from there very easily . When I got to the aid station they were already prepared for her . I found out later from Chris who had volunteered as a roving ATV support person she was hurt as bad as it looked , poor girl .
The rest of the loop was uneventful I was swapping back and forth with a young couple who it seemed should have been much faster , they finally dropped me . The climb back up to the top was horrible and my lack of training was pretty evident . The first place 50 milers caught up with me here , 1 and 2 were only about 40' apart . I thought I wasn't going to get up the stupid thing and had to stop a couple times . Finally only a 1/4 mile from the top Chris and Lon come by on the ATV's Chris says - I've been looking all over for you , I told him he should have been looking at the back . For the first time ever thought when I got to the aid station I would sit down for 5 minutes and rest . I got to the aid station feeling like ass , drank some coke and some GuO2 ate a gel did not sit or even stay long. The young couple who should have been well ahead of me were still there , I asked them how it was going she told me she had to change socks . We started down together me going old lady slow , her going old lady slow and the young guy galloping down then waiting for her . It became pretty obvious something was wrong with her feet . I asked her and she said yes they were pretty bad , I ended up dropping them and I saw them later at the finish .
I had taken a S!cap at 3 hours taking the usual Endrolytes at 1 and 2 hours . I felt good metabolically even though I was eating more gel than usual I did eat the Perpetuem solids I had with me regularly . I really think the S!caps made a huge difference and I'm sold on them . I got to Ridge View pretty much when I planned Chris and Lon were there , Chris yells to me where have you been ? I told him I'm on schedule . They had icy drinks there for some reason I drank two - old horsewives tale never give a hot horse cold water , let me tell you it DOES cause colic . They told me it's all downhill from here , I told them, you lie ! there were a couple small climbs left . I got the worst cramps in my gut from the cold drinks I had to walk down the part I normally run down like a teenage girl . Finally they started to pass but by then I was nearly to Hoge road . Once again Chris and Lon were there and Lon joked they would send the course back up Peavine next year because of my whining ( paraphrase) I told him I would just volunteer then so I could heckle runners .
I was only 3 miles or so from the finish I called Brian , he had just got back and unloaded the truck , he would be waiting for me . I was fully out of gas because of my very poor training so I walked a good bit of those last three . I did manage to run across the finish in 8:17:4x . I had hoped for 8 but realistically thought anything between 8 and 8 1/2 would be fine . I felt fine after , felt good the next day . One small blister on my left heel . The race as usual was well supported , very well marked and I had a great time . Like I say every year I will not do it again but then I do . I did tell Brian next year he can do it and I'll volunteer .
Brian's Story - He was to meet Cathy , who it turns he had met once at a training run last summer , at the start and head out to the Dog Valley aid station . Brian had been up Dog Valley road before but only to Truckee and never into the wilderness , he was under the impression Cathy had been there before . They needed to be at their site and set -up before 8:30 they were mile 23 on the 50 mile course . Cathy had never driven there before, had a Google earth map but not the forest service road number they needed . They ended up driving close to 80 miles around lost with no cell service . Finally they had some service Cathy got a hold of someone who knew where they were and where they needed to be as well as the road # . Brian said if they had not gotten the # they would have never found it . They arrived at 9:40 missed their first 3 runners and literally jumped out of the truck and unstrapped the water for the 4th runner . Brian was fully stressed out, he can be anal about time , set up and organization , he said he would have never driven up some of the roads they went on in any other situation . He felt really bad about those guys who did not have an aid station . His experience was not as positive as mine but everyone at the race was very nice and truly grateful for his help .
Peavine Peak from @mile 22 on the Silver State 50/50 course
I would highly recommend this race to anyone - it is hard enough to suit anyone one with lots of climbing, some elevation and a big long downhill . It is well run by experienced runners next year will be it's 28th version . The weather is usually nice there are some great views from up top .
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