I Can Run for Miles and Miles and Miles and...

Actually that's a take off of the one Who song I really hate.  Since I had a blast with all the miles (or very nearly all of them), maybe I could have found a better fit.  Any hoo...Saturday, Mindy and I set out to run the UltraXtreeme Badass, which consists of the three Bradbury Dirt Series run back to back.  I guess the weather could have been better, but not by much for mid-August.  I don't think it was even 60 degrees when we started out.

Dora and her friend, Sue, joined us for the start.  The race description of the Scuffle says it's, "A mix of single and double-track trails with a few rolling hills, a great introduction to Maine trail running".  Well, it was the perfect introduction to our long event.  With easy chatter, the six miles of the Scuffle just flew by.  A quick stop at the cars, and we were all off on the Breaker.  Sue was pretty sure she wasn't up for a full lap, but figured she'd hold up for the Boundary Trail.

I'd say the pace was very relaxed, but that's what we wanted.  We walked the steep part of the Boundary (right after the opening leading to the Connector), but as a game plan, not out of necessity.  Some where soon after that, Jim and Ryan, out marking the Breaker course, "hid" behind the trees to "scare" us as we went by.  A little banter, but we kept moving.  At South Ridge, Dora and Sue peeled off to head to the summit and then down the Summit Trail.  It was funny to run into them when Mindy and I headed up the Summit (again a strategic, maybe necessary, walk).

Ah, the Tote Road always is such a relief after the climb.  We ran into more TMs, Ian, Jeff, and Joe, marking the area where some Boy Scouts were replacing the bridge on the course.  Fortunately, there was very runnable, hard-packed mud along side of the demolished bridge.  They cheered us on and we marveled at Joe and Ian out after their recent epic adventure (read the 100 MW accounts).

The first lap finished down the Switch Back.  We enjoyed the fast running and complimented ourselves on the job we'd done with Ian cleaning up the trail.  Back in the parking lot, I ate a HS Waffle.  Yum.  I think I had some Coke and replaced my empty fuel belt bottles with full ones.  Jim and Ryan, finished with their course marking duties, decided to join us on our next loop.  Again, having fresh blood revitalized our run (not that we needed it, but it did give a boost and help speed away the minutes).  Jim left us just before the Summit Trail, while Ryan finished the Breaker with us.

Coming down the Terrace Trail, I realized that my shorts were starting to chafe.  Not long after, I announced I was changing my shorts as soon as we got back to the lot.  And I did, also slathering on lots of Vaseline.  Ryan gave Mindy not so gentle hints to eat and drink more.  He was very cute.  I ate some of my PBJ that I cleverly (I think) thought to salt.  It was pretty good.  I put a GU and a HS Waffle in my belt along with three, full 8-oz bottles of diluted Gatorade (thanks for opening the bottle and helping pour, Ryan : ). 

I was surprised how fresh I felt as we headed out onto the Bruiser, 15+ miles done.  I was in the lead and asked Mindy to make sure I didn't, out of habit, skip the Island Loop.  No worries, we both saw it.  I remember thinking, "this isn't so miserable to warrant skipping all the time."  Now I was able to use all my mile landmarks that I know from the Bruiser (yes, I know I have a Garmin, but it's easy to forget to look at it and I can only read it if the lighting is right where as the big rock is very noticeable and means 3 miles in).

Sometime around 22 miles in, I noticed our normal conversation had dropped off.  We were both just running.  I'm pretty sure we started focusing on the trail and our effort.  Somewhere around Porcupine Poop Rock, I stubbed my toes really hard into a large root.  Mindy complimented me on staying upright.  Poor toes : (  I did it again, not more than a mile later.  Ugh!  Concentrate.

Even though the weather was pretty perfect, the heat and humidity of the day was at its highest.  I was nearly out of drinks.  Mindy kindly shared what she had with me.  Fortunately, Rick had come to the park to watch us finish.  I was able to call and ask him to bring Coke and water to the head of the O Trail.

We both did a little cheer when we turned to head up the Snowmobile Trail; it's one of the "we're getting there" places.  Same at the top when you reach the rocky ledge to turn off onto Ginn West.  Yay!!!  Then a little cheer turning onto Fox West : D  But it was somewhere here that my next root encounter turned more painful.  This time I went down hard and my calves and hip flexors decided to cramp big time.  Ugh!  Mindy was very patient; the time taken getting me moving again added to her time on her feet.  She also wondered how we didn't trip on that exact spot almost every time - it just looked like a place to fall!  Thank you, Mindy ; )

I managed another fall in the same way.  At least that one wasn't painful in itself, just the ensuing muscle spasms.  I almost think out of sympathy, Mindy took a little digger soon after.  We were both now pretty dirty.  It's amazing how the trail sticks to sweaty, sweaty bodies.

As we approached the O Trail, we heard Rick cheering for us!  I cheered his care package.  I immediately went for the Coke.  Mindy emptied one of the waters into her hydration pak.  Rick could only find the carbonated flavored Poland Spring Water at E &L's.  I put the water into my fuel belt bottles.  Rick gave us some very sad news; E & L's was closing early.  It didn't look like we'd make it before it closed.  Oh well, we were gonna make the Xtreme Badass and that's what mattered.

I'd like to say that the O Trail was nothing.  It was actually less horrible than I expected, but my calves decided that any steps up were cause to cramp.  When I could run, we went pretty fast.  Mindy was doing great.  She is so gonna be all over her 40!  Linda had called during the run and planned to run the O backward to meet up with us.  We had just about 1.5 miles left of our adventure when she ran into us.  It was pretty slow going due to my calf spasms, but then the landmarks that meant we were nearing the end of the O started appearing.  We could hear Rick cheering us again!  From there we ran it in pretty good since there were no more ups for my calves to protest.  Done!!!

I think Linda took off pretty quickly, but Rick, Mindy and I hung out at a picnic table in the park.  E & L's would have been the best recovery, but we did OK.  That was Mindy's longest run ever, just slightly.  I mean she was 3rd woman at the Stone Cat Marathon one year, so it's not like it was that much longer, but with difficulty points (thanks to the Breaker), this was quite a feat, which she handled with relative ease.

I think somewhere along the course I decided I'd just be volunteering at the Breaker on Sunday.  Sometime during the night I was sure of it.  When I woke up Sunday, I was only pretty sure I'd be not running.  Still, I packed like I was running....