Post Raccoon DNF

Elite members of the Jenster Fan Club have died holding their breath waiting for my Rocky Raccoon Report.  RIP elite members!

Those who are only mostly dead or not dead yet (and feeling better) probably saw so many reports and videos on the Raccoon thing that you either think I reported and you missed it or you just assume you missed it and dont care. Either excuse is acceptable.

The rest of you are thinking “WHO THE EFF ARE YOU AND WHY WOULD I CARE?” Well, I’m Jenster. This is me:

(Im only adding this so my profile pic on the main page isn’t lame ..but I worked it into the story well, didn’t I?)

and you care because you should be working or cleaning or doing something productive right now and you’re looking to waste some time.

The truth is, I dunno if I’m going to write a RR report. Every time I start it feels wrong….because that race wasn’t about me at all. Sure, I finished a 50 Miler…and I guess that’s kinda cool…esp since it’s my first and only (as of right now). But when I look back on the experience…it just feels like something fun Linnea and I did to pass the time as we got to see the amazing hundo runners tackle their monsters.

I might get around to typing something about it someday. If you plan on holding your breath don’t forget to make a cool tombstone http://oregontrailtombstone.com/

So….what have I been up to Post Rocky?

Well, it turned out the annoying cough and sore throat I had at Rocky was bronchitis. And for some reason flying after doing a 50 Miler with bronchitis leaves you susceptible to an ear infection. I didn’t know people over the age of 8 got those.

Of course, I felt like junk when I got back from Tejas but I waited a few days to go to the Doc, who promptly told me I was an idiot and pumped me full of meds. A week later I decided to prove I my idiot status by doing a trail marathon…up and down a mountain.

Pilot Mountain Payback – 2/16

I thought this race would be fine since it was trail. I figured I could take my time meandering up switch backs and everything would be ok. The fact that I was still on antibiotics with a crazy sensitive stomach that made me not want to eat anything didn’t concern me. The multiple stream crossings in the freezing temps didnt concern me. The fact that I would be climbing over rocks while still having minor balance issues from the ear infection didn’t concern me. Oh yeah, and the fact that I finished a 50 miler earlier that month….wasn’t a factor at all.

I. Should. Have. Been. Concerned.

This first 8 miles was a typical rolling trail. It was about what I assumed I’d see for the entire race…I figured once we started climbing the mountain, it’d be on trails just like this…only with a ton of switchbacks

Typical cushy, rolling hill of the corridor trail

I was pretty sure I was dead last coming through the 8 mile aid station. The marathon people that were just ahead of me turned around with the heavy half…I pushed through, noticing but not caring that I hadn’t eaten anything during the race…and hadn’t filled my water bottle.

Mountain I have to climb is in the background

The mountain trail was a lot different than the rolling corridor trail. It was rockier…and instead of switch backs we seemed to just go straight up. Pretty much every pic here was preceded with “You’ve got to be effing kidding me”

You know hills never look bad in pics…

There was a forest fire here a few months ago…It was surreal and kinda sleepy hollow-ish

The far blue marker might as well have been at the North Pole…

When the trail started looking like this I stopped taking pics and put my phone away…I needed my phone in my spi belt so I could hopefully reach it if I fell down.

The large rocks were unexpected….and balancing on top of them made me realize just how much an ear infection, even if you’re almost over it…can effect your balance. At this point I knew that I wasn’t getting back down the mountain…and if I tried I was going to invite serious injury.

View near top…once the trail stopped trying to kill me.

Entrance to the trail of death

As I neared the top of the mountain the single track popped out on a bridle trail. Um….maybe we could have taken those trail up instead??

Told you it was trying to kill me

At the top of the mountain I DNF’d. I was officially the last person through…through we had to wait a long time because not everyone made it to the check point. Apparently people didn’t realize once on the bridle trail we had to keep going up. I might have DNF’d but at least I didn’t cut the course!

I’m ok with the DNF…I’m pretty sure in this case it means Did Nothing Fatal…because coming down, although less technical from what I heard, would have been asking for injury…and I had way too cool of a spring planned to waste it injured.

Not the most challenging profile ever…but enough to try to kill me in my weakened state.

I was a bit disappointed on the drive home, but ok. I was more annoyed I missed out on the mileage so I told my friend Melissa I’d run with her for the last 10 miles of her road 50 Mile training run. It was another borderline DA move…but it turned out ok. More than ok, it was fun.

Smiles all day long!

Up next pacing at the Columbia Marathon….Hold your breath!