Silver Falls 7 Miler

 

I have joined the crazy people.  

One week after doing the Dia de los Muertos Endurance run I had signed up to do the Silver Falls 7 Mile race.  

What was I thinking?

My feet were still trashed from the week before.  I had been wearing sandles all week because of all the blisters.  I was not sure how I was going to wear shoes and hike on trails for 7+ miles!  I lost the entire toenail on Friday on the toe that had the epic blister the week before. Yikes!

We left on Friday afternoon with the travel trailer to spend the weekend at Silver Falls State Park.  There was a big storm warning and it was a very windy drive up to the park.  We got there early enough to be able to get all set up while it was still light which was nice.  

We drove back to Sublimity to have dinner with Josh and Wendie (partners in hijinks and shenanigans) to have dinner.  A fun dinner with lots of talking and laughing, as usual.  Then we headed back to the park to settle in for the night.  

The wind had settled down but it was absolutely pouring rain.  I love the sound of the rain on the trailer!!

I woke up about 1:00 am because my C-PAP machine stopped working.  I didn't realize until later it was because there was a power outage.  At the time I thought it was a problem with the machine or the outlet in the trailer since our track lights were still on in the other side of the trailer.  

Once I woke up I realized I had a pretty bad headache.  Then my stomach started feeling awful too.  Not a fun time.  I finally got up and took some Advil to help with the headache.  That's when I realized that the microwave was off and the power had gone out.  The lights were on because they were drawing from the trailer battery.  

I went back to bed but had a hard time sleeping because I felt so crummy.  I finally managed to get back to sleep for a couple of hours.  

When I woke up my head felt better but my stomach was still not feeling great.  

Between the blisters on my feet and not sleeping well with an upset stomach I wasn't feeling very confident about being able to do this race.  

We had two friends who were starting the marathon at 8:00 am so we decided to head over early so we could say hi and cheer them at the start of the race.  

It was a little drizzly but not too bad of weather considering how much it rained the night before.  But there was water everywhere!  

Joe's bib number won a raffle so he let me pick out the prize and we got a really cool picnic backpac with a growler included.  Can't wait to use it on some of our adventures!

Getting ready!

It wasn't long before Joe was starting the 7 miler.  He was in the 9:00 wave.  The rest of us were starting in the 9:15 wave.  

Joe waving at us from the other side of the crowd!

Last time I saw these crazies until I finished the race!

I still wasn't feeling good but I figured I would start and see how it went.  If I felt like it just wasn't working I was pretty sure that I could get someone to give me a ride from the North Falls (a couple of miles into the run) back to the South Falls parking lot.  

We got going and my friends took off.  I started out slow but felt pretty good overall.  I was able to trot a lot of the Rim Trail.  Then when I got down to North Falls I decided to keep going. 

All in!

North Falls

I was able to run different parts of the trail and was moving along pretty good considering how wrecked I was just a week before. 

Lower North Falls

As always, no matter the weather or time of year, Silver Falls State Park does not disappoint.  The water was raging because of all the rain and the falls were awesome.  Full and loud!  Lots of yellow leaves on the trees.  It was gorgeous!

I was making pretty good time and started thinking that maybe I could finish in less than three hours, which all things considered would be pretty amazing. 

Then I got to the lower South Falls. 

I love this waterfall because we can walk behind it and it is the closest to the water of all the falls you can walk behind.  

I also don't like this waterfall because once you are past it, you have to walk up a bunch of stairs.  

A lot of stairs!

A ridiculous amount of stairs. 

One Hundred and Eighty Five steps!

I know this because I counted them.  

Every single one of them.

I trudged up them very, very slowly. 

All the aches and pains that I had last week came roaring back.  

My hip got pissed off, my knee hurt.  I could feel all the blisters on my feet.  

The stairs are a weird thing because they are really hard but also I know that they mean I am getting close to being done.  

Basically there is the South Falls to get around and up and then Nutcracker Hill to go up and back down to the finish.  

But those are two really big climbs when you are hurting.  

Five miles done and a little over two more to go.  

I can gut out two miles.  Right?

Now here's the weirdly cool part.  I hope this makes sense. 

I was so done. 

But kept going.

AND I didn't question it. 

I wasn't mad about where I was at.  

I wasn't crying because I was fat or slow.  (I was crying but it was because everything hurt, lol.)

I was digging deep and making it work.  

Because I know how to do hard things. 

And there was a moment on the trail, as I was walking along all alone, not questioning the craziness of what I was doing or that I could finish.  

There she is. 

That woman who does hard things and goes after shit.  Sets goals and pushes though pain.  

There she is. 

I've missed her. 

That was huge.

She's not all the way back yet.  But this is the first time in almost three years that I could even get a glimpse of her.  

That was thrilling.  

South Falls

Joe was waiting at the top of the South Falls and I'm not gonna lie, it was huge to see him.  I hurt so bad and was so glad that he was there to encourage me for the last little bit.  He walked with me over to Nutcracker Hill and then was waiting for me as I made my way back down. 

I didn't get under the three hour mark.  I was actually significantly slower than last year. But since I had horrible sleep, bad headache, upset stomach and trashed feet and muscles from the adventure the week before I will take the finish as a win.  

I didn't give up. 

I didn't get mired down in all the things I couldn't do. 

Instead I was stoked that I had done a hard thing when my body was not really in shape for it and already wrecked from the weekend before.  

We had a great time hanging out at the finish line talking to people, meeting dogs and just having fun. We were waiting to cheer our friend Troy over the finish line of his marathon.  At one point Joe and Josh went to get something to eat and while they were standing there, Troy walked up.  Oops.  Major fail! lol  

Me and my favorite guy.

Getting some birthday love.

Just walking in the rain.

Post Race Shenanigans

Joe, Josh and Troy.  Three of the best men I know!

We headed back to the trailer after that and worked on getting cleaned up and having an early dinner.  The shower felt amazing!

Cheryl came to join us for dinner and brought her Solo stove.  That was awesome!  We had a nice warm fire to sit around and talk and laugh.  The rain held off for the entire evening so we were able to enjoy being outside the entire time.

It got to be aournd 6:30 or 7 (I'm not exactly sure) and I was just done.  lol  

I headed to bed and got all snuggled in.  It was lovely to stretch out.

The next morning we got up and got ready to head back to the race to volunteer.  It had been raining pretty steady for most of the night.  So we made sure we had all our rain gear on because standing in the rain, getting soaked isn't fun. 

Sunday is the Half Marathon.  Joe and I were volunteering at the 3 mile aid station.  It's a fun one to do.  It's near the start line so it's easy to do and everyone is still smiling and doing well.  

We got to our spot and met all the other volunteers.  It was pouring rain.  Because of concerns about the timing mats, the race was going to start all at once instead of two waves.  That way if there were problems they would be able to track how long people took easier.  

The race got going and it was still raining hard.  

We had some time to finish getting the aid station set up and cups filled with water and electrolytes.  

And then it started snowing!

Big fat snowflakes!

 It was crazy. 

Then it started sticking to the ground!

Next thing we know, the ground is covered in white and it's still coming down.  

The runners started in pouring down rain and now were dealing with snow!  Wild!  

They are going to be able to tell that story for forever!!

There was this time I did a half marathon in the snow!  On a trail!! 

Once we had all the racers through the aid station we helped clean things up and then headed back to our trailer.  

We had left our pop up canaopy up and the awning to the trailer out.  Snow was not something was on our radar. 

Josh and Wendie had knocked some of the snow off when they got there to pack up their stuff.  So glad they did!  We might have had some broken things if they hadn't.  

The BEST people to have adventures with!!

It took a bit to get the snow off of the slide and the awning so we could close things up but we got it done and headed home in the snow.  

Heading Home!

For the second weekend in a row, we unloaded the trailer, put up things in the garage to dry and then crashed.  

Adventures are exhausting! 

Shoutouts!!

Big Shoutout to Run Wild Adventures.  As always, we had a great time and loved participating and volunteering.  You all do the best job organizing an amazing weekend!!  Thank you for all the work you do to make this work for us!

Thanks Gary!  

Josh and Wendie!  Once again, thanks for a wonderful weekend!  You both are amazing and I'm so thankful to have you in my life! You both ALWAYS encourage and believe in me, even when I don't believe in myself. 

And of course, as always, Joe.  Thanks for waiting for me at the top of South Falls with food and encouragement.  Thanks for getting me going up Nutcracker Hill and being there waiting for me at the bottom.  You are my rock.  I love you!