—Shawnee Hills 2023: the Year of the Flood—

Lap 1: 35.x miles 

I felt fresh and relaxed as I started. I was running with a former teacher and wrestling coach from DC. Our significant others had the same name. We were both pacing the same, and he was good company as we made it through the first lap. 

I had bug repellent lotion, spray, and four different mosquito bracelets. Still, a hornet stung my left ear within the first 10 miles of the race. The bugs were not as bad as they had been, but they kept returning, and I am still so itchy today. 

         We were in 3rd and 4th during the first lap and were taking it easy, not pushing the pace. We got turned around twice but quickly got back on the right path, both paying attention to the spots that were not clearly marked. And we let other runners pass us, and I kept drinking nonstop. I could not empty my water bladder, which was so heavy. 2 liters might have been too much for this race. At the end of the second lap, Jason started getting lightheaded. Navigating through the rocks and stones seems never-ending on the back half. I changed my socks and coated my feet with baby rash cream, but the rocks kept cutting up my feet. 

Reflecting on the race this morning, I thought I was over it. I thought that I had convinced myself that the story made it worth it, but I am still feeling amazing, which makes me a little angry. My skin is still irritable because of all the bug bites, and the bottom of my left foot still has a blister, but that’s the only way I can tell I even did an ultra this week. This race was supposed to help me relax, but now I feel like I need to find another one to do soon to reach that goal. Maybe the full moon is a factor? 

Lap 2: 35–67 miles (2 p.m. — midnight) 

Jason and I pushed it on the first part of this section, remembering that this was the easiest part of the race. We were both feeling the heat, and I had not peed in hours. I was also not hungry. I kept not getting food at the aid stations, but I found one that had delicious vegan muffins! I got a little bag of them each time I passed it.

I also kept eating snow cones! There were two that had a snow cone maker, so that was helping me stay cool. Jason was feeling the heat too, which forced us to slow down a lot on the back half. Once we got to the part where you climb up on your hands and knees, we were both breathing hard when we made it to the top. 

Jason’s feet were also getting destroyed, and he spent some time getting his right foot bandaged up as I continued to change socks and reapply ointment. The bugs were also driving me crazy. I kept feeling that there were bugs on my calves, but part of that was all the mud and dirt that was caked on them, but there were bugs too. 

I was so happy to see the sun go down, hoping that would finally cool this race down some, and for a while it did. I was happy it was going to rain some to make the ground a little easier to run on.      

Lap 3: 67–75 miles (midnight-2 am) 

         Jason was feeling better, and we were both cruising through the first section. It was dark, but we were on the final lap! We started telling sections of the trail goodbye as we passed them. We got to Trigg Tower and went the right way afterward, so happy to not make that mistake again. But then it started raining. It was already raining some, but it was small showers.

There was a section I couldn’t see, and my watch was hard to see in the rain and the dark, so I stopped to look around and saw two flags at the top of the hill. I went up there and couldn’t remember which way to go, so went the way that made sense.

Jason wasn’t sure, but I saw that I ran into someone, and we talked a little, but it was hard to hear what he said in the rain. I thought he confirmed we needed to turn around, so we did, and then it felt like for sure we were going the wrong way.

I kept hoping to see the end of the double flag sections, but it never came. I saved my current activity on my watch and reset it, so I could go back to the course and get better directions, but my watch just died after that. It first said I would have 2 hours of battery life, but it just died! So frustrating!

I kept thinking we should turn back around, but Jason seemed to want to get back to the aid station to refuel and maybe find a bigger group, so that’s what we did. It was raining so hard at this point that we couldn’t hear each other talk and were struggling to see.

Lap 3: 75-82 miles (2 -6 am)  

 

         It was good that we got turned around because it put us in a bigger group, which made it a lot easier to not get lost. One guy gave me trouble for stopping to pee. They all seemed like they were in a good mood and determined to complete this race. I was happy we found them, so I could take a break navigating. With my watch blank, it seemed pointless to consider going off on my own.

         We hit a section where it is easily knee-deep, and the water is moving fast in some places. The other four guys want to hook arms and walk slowly through it. I went off by myself, but Jason and I linked arms at the end, and I am glad we did. I would have fallen in the water otherwise, but I still felt confident that I would have been fine if not soaking wet, I was ready to have to do something closer to swimming. I didn’t think a race like this could be canceled. How bad could it be?  

         When we got to the next part, I realized we were already at the section where the paths diverged. I have no idea how I got turned around before; it seems almost impossible now. I am leading now because I am getting impatient with how methodical the group is when crossing these dangerous sections. In the next part, there were rocks and some fast-moving water, but I mostly still ran and leaped across the section, The group was making sure not to fall and playing it safe. Jason and I stood and waited, not wanting to get lost, but I just kept thinking I wanted to get to higher ground now.

         When I got to the section where we had to turn around, it was insane to look at. It was easily fifty feet wide and three feet deep. I didn’t realize we were going to have to cross it first, so I started climbing up the hill, thinking that was the only option anyway. The more I climbed up, the harder it was to keep moving up, and when I turned left, the water was still wide and moving quickly.

         I kept thinking that the trees placed throughout the water could be used to move across it, but no one else seemed interested in my idea. The group looked at me like I was crazy and told me how deep they thought the water was and how I would likely fall in, and no one would be able to jump in and go after me.

         I still wasn’t able to process this, and I said. Does anyone have a rope? If I had some rope, I could tie it around my waist and then tie it to a tree, jump in, and go after a tree. Once I made it to one tree, I tied that end to the tree, got the other end from the group on the shore, and did it again.

         One person mentioned that no one had rope, and they thought I was insane. I just didn’t get why we were giving up. We talked and agreed that we weren’t giving up, simply strategically going back to an aid station to see if we could run it backward. I wanted to believe that was possible, but at the same time, it seemed like we were done when we started heading back.

         We ran into another runner and convinced them to go back with us. When we got back to the aid station, they told us to wait there.  

Lap x: the Rescue 

        The aid worker counted us and then called back on their radio to report, “Seven runners.” And then he went back into the RV to give them the update. No one spoke as we all looked at each other and waited.       

        “The race has been canceled and everyone was told to go back to Camp O. 

I am trying right now to see if we can get a bus to take everyone back, but everyone at Camp O is trapped because a tree fell in the road.” 

        Everyone we knew was most likely trapped at Camp O and couldn’t get here. One of the guys that we were there with asked if it was okay if he had his people come up in two trucks to pick everyone up. The guy said that was fine if they weren’t trapped at Camp O. 

        I started getting cold and went inside the RV and sat for a moment. The aid worker was making ramen and told us about a guy who got hyperthermia not too long ago. 

One of the guys was making a phone call with the camp Wi-Fi and got the trucks heading up. It didn’t take long for them to get there, but it quickly became obvious there wasn't enough room. First, we talked about jumping in the bed of the truck, but it was still raining. 

        They moved stuff around and piled it into one car, leaving me and four other people to cram into the back seat of one of the trucks. I shared the middle with two people, and there was one at either end. 

        I put my face in my hands and breathed in the fabric of my gloves. I wasn’t in the best mood. I was asking about the other people. They said there were two other people out. I thought back to the two guys who passed us when we were going the wrong way. 

I suddenly had to pee, but we were all so crammed in that I couldn’t think of asking anyone to move. I was thinking we would get back soon, but we passed the camp and had to turn around. 

        The tree might have been there, and we would have to wait, but by then it had been almost an hour, so we figured it would be moved. When we made it back, I went to the bathroom and found my dad. He seemed in good spirits, considering. He said he knew to wait at the camp. The lady who gave me the 100K buckle kept saying she was so sorry. I asked her if everyone had made it back, and she said they had, so I stopped thinking about people still being lost in the rain. 

  

      We started driving back home early, and I was still in shock from processing what had happened. In Shawnee Hill tradition, I got an Impossible Whopper with no mayo and an order of fries with no salt for the car ride home. I’ll be back next year.