Sunday, April 22, 2007

Spokane River Run 50k


The Spokane River Run was today. Since it was right here in our own backyard, we didn't have to pack or prepare the night before. Rather, David and I just woke up a little earlier than usual, made the short drive to the Northwest side of Spokane, met our usual group of people we run with on the weekends, and had a great time on this spectacular trail.

You can read about the details in the picture captions of my album. But, I'd rather express here the emotional side of running this race. You see, I am soooooo thrilled to have run this trail race without an inkling of an ankle problem! Well, an inkling maybe...but who cares about that; it's feeling fine right now. I deliberately didn't wear a brace; I didn't spend 15 minutes taping it up. I just slathered on a thin layer of Hydropel, put on my double layer Wright socks, donned my Montrail Hardrocks (for the first time since Western States 2005!), and ran on the single-track trail, which was sometimes smooth and pillow-like on my feet and joints and sometimes covered with rocks that looked like glass shards.


I had just a couple of intrusive ankle-spraining PTSD thoughts, but I was able to quickly banish them from my mind with deliberate positive thoughts: "No, Lisa, your ankle is strong. You will not turn it. It's handling beautifully, gracefully. It will carry you through these rocks and roots." And to my surprise, it worked! I really did feel confident out there on this sometimes quite technical trail. That is something I thought I would never get back. I thought the ankle scarred my body forever, and when I was over that, I knew I still had the demons in my mind to overcome. True, I ran Chuckanut, which is a gnarly trail, but I did a lot of cautious walking and "tip-toeing" through many of those sections. Here, today, I RAN. Maybe not fast....but I RAN nonetheless. I once again experienced having to focus on the trail, plan your next steps, and becoming one with the dirt and rocks and roots. I can't express how thrilled I am to experience the confidence that I used to have doing that. It's so difficult to put in words, but I know that you trail runners out there know exactly what I mean!


Running on a trail itself will be good for my body. I have a nice long run in and my recovery will be swift. There are no aches and pains like I get from running the roads. Very nice....

The Men's winner was Jesse Stevick from Spokane in 3:34:19.
The Women's winner was the fabulous Nikki Kimball from Bozeman in 3:59:13.
All Montanans kicked butt! Running on rocks is what they do best. Dang they're good!

Here's the link to my photo album, which includes preliminary results.

9 comments:

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

Well Done Lisa & Great Pics!!!!

YOU'RE ANKLE IS STRONG!!!!

ya the pavement here is gonna get old for me....might have to buy a home in the mountains so I can train on the trails a few months a year--LOL ...

Bob why did you buy this log cabin?, well did u see that trail...that's why!!

OH I see, why the Helicopter? well because I am scared of the woods --LOL

Olga said...

Yee-haa, Lisa! Way to go, Ankle!! Good boy you are! :)
And di you see who's name is next after Nikki's???

Very happy for you, and that you can run long more affirmed and recover easy, and that you can go to trail races and add them up to your choices, and that you had such a great time.

kelly said...

Great job, Lisa. I thought of you throughout the day and am so happy to hear that it went so well. Keep it up!! Badwater is approaching!!

Lisa B said...

Thanks Bob, Olga & Kelly.

But Olga, did you see that Nikki's finished 100 minutes ahead of me?? I'll have to ask her if she was looking over her shoulder for me. :) She said she got a nice race schedule coming up including WS (that's YOUR competition, Kelly!) and Mount Blanc.

It was a small race, which was part of the reason it was so peaceful on the trails.

My body feels fairly "normal" today, just a little tightness in that left leg, but the SI joint is fine. Ankle feels a bit stiff/arthritic, but it's effectively 100%, nothing remotely close to painful.

Hope y'all had nice weekends!

Kendra Ralstin said...

Lisa, oh, bliss and yay. An inkling is FINE... it shows your leg is normal not bionic. I could so sympathize with every word you said. In fact, can I just cut and paste your comment into my blog? >:) The wholel gaining confidence, being worried that the ankle had sort of defined you for life, still feeling it but knowing it wasn't the same bad original pain, etc. You know what, idiotic me, I thought the river run was more of a road race. I am so glad you took the photos you did to disabuse me of THAT notion. It looked beautiful! Everything and everyone looked great. The aid station family was so cute. Okay enough effusive blatherings! :) I'm so happy 4 u though!

Julie B said...

Yeahoo Ankle! I'm glad it is strong and tough again, just like you.

Tony C said...

Nice to hear such a good report on the ankle Lisa. I'm so happy for you. It makes 'running' so much better when things start getting back to normal. And wearing trail shoes on a "trail" run probably felt good too - ha! *tc

Lisa B said...

Thanks Kendra & Julie. And congrats Julie on your phenomenal McNaughton run!!

Question for *tc: How's the WATERSHED PRESERVE 12 HR TRAIL RACE? I'm trying to decide between this one and Bishop 50 miler for a long distance BW training run. They are same weekend. I don't need the heat of Bishop yet, tho would LOVE to run in the heat. WP is logistically easier and would save me airfare. I see you are running it again. Any input? (I'll post to your blog too.)

Lisa B said...

*tc - oh yeah, and the trail shoes helped a lot!! much better!