Hellgate 2010

[singlepic=6993,280,200,,left]

Since Dec 12, 2009 I have been awaiting this event. I asked Mr. Bimble to put Hellgate on the upcoming events list… 364 days until Hellgate. There had been multiple times throughout the past year when I thought going back was a brilliant idea and multiple time when I thought going back was a miserable idea. Either way I knew I had to go back. Knowing full well it is tough to train all year long, I had a longer break from running at the end of the summer than I anticipated due to a string of multiple illness going through my kids and myself. I think this proved quite beneficial as I felt like I was stronger in my training than I had been in a while. I had several great training runs and felt really good, HOWEVER the DNF last year loomed heavily!!! We all know about the mental aspect of the race… need I say more.

Spending the last week with nervousness as overwhelming as making me nauseous we packed our stuff into the car and drove south. Knowing that a large part of my DNF from last year was due to not enough sleep the night before, we left much earlier on Thurs and got a decent sleep before the rest of the drive on Friday. We arrived at Camp Bethel and with the buzz of all the other runners the tension significantly increased. I did feel much better than last year and that helped settle me a bit. At the pre race dinner I was being teased by El Toro and Mr. Bimble because Karl Meltzer was sitting right behind us and I am a big fan of Karl. I overheard something and decided to prempt whatever plan was in the works and went over to introduce myself. We talked drop bags, crews and the importance of sleep. It was pretty exciting 🙂

Then it was off to the bunk room for the pre race briefing. After emails all week stating aid stations 1-4 would be closed and crews would not see their runners until approx mile 28. The good news was that aid station 4 was open, which is also the first cut off point, I missed last year, hence the DNF. I was glad that Forrest would be able to be there… extra incentive to be there in time!! After a couple more hours of sitting around it was time to go. The furious drive to the start, prayers, and the National Anthem and we were off. No looking back it was time to take on Hellgate.

In training for this I had realized that I would have to climb hard and run everything else. So, I worked on strengthening not only my uphill running but also my downhill running. It worked. I was able to run uphill SOMETIMES, but mostly just hiked up as hard as I could and ran everything else, full out. I took downhill like I never do and lucked out with no falls, twists or pains. As my worries about cut offs subsided, I just ran harder. Usually I have stories about the people I met and conversations, fun times on the trail but this time I just put my head down an ran. I wanted to get this done. And done it is. Although I have no intention in being a repeat offender, I am totally behind getting other Bimbler’s, particularly female Bimbler’s, to go to Hellgate. It is a Special Race.

*****BIG THANK YOU*****
To Forrest: Thank you for helping to get me through the Gates of Hell and back. Thank you for crewing me throughout the race but especially at the last 2 aid stations when I was VERY grumpy, and maybe not so nice. Thank you for trying to find chicken nuggets. Thank you for driving me and El Toro.

How to Know when you are in Hell, Out standing items from Hellgate.

1. The first thing you notice when the light comes up is the pee all over the road. As male runners find it easy to pee “on the run” there are dribbles of pee all up the road. No male seems to be able to move to the side of the road for emptying the contents of their bladder, thus I had to move around it because walking through it really was kinda gross.

2. There is something in my eye, blurring my vision, driving me crazy, through 2 aid stations each time Forrest kindly checks my eye and pronounces it clear of items.

3. All there is to eat at aid stations is snacky items and you are craving a 3 course meal!