Divide 200 (Race Recap)

Castle Mountain, Alberta, Canada

Friday, September 12

200+ mile attempt #12

Weather - a bit of everything

Preface

I signed up last fall, after years of talking about it. (I was picked 11th in the first year lottery and then opted to bow out, for example). It's been a weird and hard year. I missed the deadline for being able to withdraw for a partial refund, so the week before I DNF'd at Summit I posted my bib for sale in the Divide Facebook group. After a few weeks I didn't have any takers so I finally decided I would show up - but for the first time without any expectation of a buckle. Divide 200 was going to end up being whatever it ended up being - AS LONG AS I WAS ENJOYING MYSELF. I booked my flights and coordinated my travel with my Paul, and off I went to Alberta.

Race Morning

I had unfortunately not had the greatest sleep. It had taken me a really long time to fall asleep. Between normal race day nerves and the VERY last minute gpx change, I had just stayed up much later than I had planned. I ended up getting up before my alarm. Headed upstairs to get coffee and then began the morning ritual of getting dressed, getting my pack ready and force-feeding myself. In totally random, bizarre and unexpected news - I ACTUALLY INTENTIONALLY ATE A BANANA. I FINALLY got the new gpx sections downloaded into Gaia, all while hoping I didn't delete things I needed when I tried to get rid of the old information. Loaded the routes into my watch and with about 20 minutes until the start - walked over to the start line to use the bathroom multiple times and do some pre-race pictures. 

Start to West Castle Road (Miles 0-7.95)

Since I had been at the resort for a few days, I was already familiar with the first mile of the course. I wasn't sure how long the course would be "flat and fast," but I decided after the first mile I would do intervals until the first aid station. I had also made the conscious decision to take a selfie at every mile marker. I should have also taken a forward facing picture at every mile, but I didn't.

ANYWAY, the first few miles were a bit slower than I expected and I felt every single pound of all the weight I have gained in the last few years. 

Even though I had walked this section multiple times, I still took a picture. Just beautiful.

I was quickly running out of steam and really was just concentrating on moving as fast as I could. I finally was turning off the main road onto a section I had not seen yet. So the (minor) climbing begins!

I was not sure where I was in the pack. I knew that Ana was behind me, but I had no idea if we were it. I had to pee and risked pulling off in the bushes - thankfully no one came up behind me.

I remembered that Paul had set a soft goal of doing the first 8 miles in 2.5 hours, and it seemed like I would be able to do that, even as the trail got more technical. I had long stopped my fixed intervals and worked on just running whatever seemed easy.

After a few miles I finally got up to two runners. They were moving briskly, but not running. I passed them both, although we were pretty close together.

Suddenly we see people cheering and what looks like an aid station??  Turns out that I had missed YET ANOTHER important piece of information at the pre-race meeting - apparently they were unable to get across the bridge and to the location where the first aid station was SUPPOSED to be, so it was at less than 5 miles in... I decided to grab some snacks and top off only my front bottles with LMNT. The volunteers mentioned that there would be water to filter at the creek where the aid station should have been.

West Castle Road to Font Creek (Miles 7.95 to 22.9)

I was trying to catch up to Ken and Lisa, the two runners that I had come into the aid station with.

I took the below picture and realized ... I DON'T HAVE MY POLES!!! UGH - I had to run back towards the aid station. I remember I was screaming "I left my poles at the aid station" and Shep ran them up to me. So annoying and I hoped that it was going to be the only backtracking I would be doing.

I also discovered in this section that my Garmin Messenger was not working. I tried to send Ben a message to let him know about the aid station change and my poles and I could not get it to go through. It was my understanding that these messages would go through the InReach, which I thought didn't require cell phone service (we had none on 99% of this course).

After moving pretty quickly to try and catch up, I could see Ken ahead of me. He was walking but his pace seemed faster than mine. Even with running here and there I couldn't ever quite seem to get up to his speed.

I kept seeing little grouses running along the trail. They reminded me of bunnies - darting all over the place instead of just running into the trees.

It was finally starting to feel steeper to me. Getting warm and trying to move quickly.

Still couldn't seem to catch up to Ken, but I did meet up with Lisa. We talked for a few minutes and I noticed she wasn't using poles. She said she would start using them when it got "steep" and I was wondering when that might be. She stopped to use the bathroom and get her poles and I never saw her again the rest of the race.

When we arrived at the below sign, everything got more nuts. I was now knee-deep in the beefiest climbing section of the race, heading to La Coulotte Ridge.

Pictures never do it justice, but this was rocky and REALLY steep. I kept looking behind me for Lisa and she was nowhere to be seen. Was also wondering where Ana was. I knew she would catch me once the climbs got beefier, but I still did not see her.

I was very quickly remembering the advice that 2024 finisher, Rachel (aka "the real 300") gave me. When it gets really steep, try just counting to one hundred and taking short breaks. 

After a tough climb that never seemed like it was going to end, I could see out of the trees what looked like a slide path and a trail. Ok, I guess we are going up that. I had still been trying to chase Ken, and by the looks of it, he was already starting the climb to the ridge.

Nothing about this was scary, although from a distance I could see how it could appear dangerous.

Onward! Into some trees and thankfully, course markings were absolutely phenomenal. There were definitely times that I was unsure how on earth anyone who wasn't following flags could possibly know where they were supposed to be going as the "trail" was very faint.

Dr. Seuss flowers

Every time I took a short breather I was looking back to see if anyone else was even behind me. And honestly, where was Lisa??

Looking back at the trail I had been on just a short while earlier.

At some point, I was pretty sure that I could see Ana - she looked like she was moving really well and I knew it would only be a matter of time before she caught up to me.

Puff puff, breathe. Without being at a super high elevation like in Colorado, I couldn't really tell if my inhaler was helping me, but I will say that I felt "normal" out of breath and not fighting for my life out of breath - so this is a good sign for things to come! The trail here was so so so steep. 

We appeared to be following a ridge line and would occasionally make a (to me) nonsensical shift into the trees and bushes. It was SO pretty and SO hard. Somewhere in this section I *finally* caught up to Ken. I asked how he was doing and he said he was in rough shape. I passed him and didn't see him again either. (Found out later that he ended up going BACK to the first aid station to drop).

Sections like this were the most dangerous for ME. Being short, it was really tough to get up the rocks. I had to toss my poles up and climb up, all while hoping I didn't fall backward.

I was working REALLY hard to just take short breathing breaks and to NOT sit. That has been an issue with me when I am doing a tough race. 

I didn't get any pictures of how we started the descent of the ridge, but it was definitely a little sketchy. Again, mostly because of my height, I had to toss my poles and jump down, which I never like to do.

Seemingly, before I knew it, Ana had caught up to me and just walked right past me like I was standing still. Maybe I was?

It seemed we were FINALLY going to have a descent after a TON of climbing. I thought I could see someone in front of me?!? It looked like it might be Andrea, but there is no way that could be true because she is so fast! Turns out, it WAS Andrea and I decided to dig deep and see how long I could try to keep up with both her and Ana.

If you look close you can see Andrea (left) and Ana

At some point, Ana dropped both of us on another climb. I appreciated that Andrea stayed with me (or maybe, I stayed with her?) The climbs were so steep and at one point Andrea shared some salt tablets with me. Normally my salt/electrolyte game is perfect, but I think we were in this section for so long and the amount I was sweating, combined with feeling hot... I was cramping a bit. The salt did bring me back to life! I haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with Andrea on the trails and it was nice to have some time to get to know her a bit better.

We were moving pretty well and we finally managed to catch up to Ana and her new friend, Francis. At some point we felt some light drizzle. Ana said she was going to stop to put on her poncho, and I decided to do the same. Not more than 15 seconds later did the skies open up and we got DUMPED on - then it turned over into hail! 

We were in a very exposed section of trail and it was coming down hard. The hail was nearly dime sized and quite painful when we were getting pelted with it. 

Ana stopped because she also wanted to put on pants but Andrea and I kept going since we figured she would catch up pretty quickly. The trails were completely saturated at this point. We were on single track that was just catching all the rain and hail. No point in trying to avoid any of it.

I'm glad I took my phone out for a video of the hail. This was truly crazy! Like the storm we had encountered the first year of Summit, it seemed to last absolutely forever. We joked how it was going to be a good story and "trauma bonding."

FINALLY, it seemed we were close to an aid station!!! We saw a bunch of blue jugs by the river and I was like, oh my god, did they pull the aid station like when I ran Fat Dog and are we actually going to die out here? Thankfully, it was just a tad down the road.

According to Andrea, we were doing really well on time. We didn't want to stay at this aid station long. First issue became that my inReach wasn't working, so Lance (who I would get to know better later) had to get it reset. That means that Ben was probably flipping out all day because I showed still being at the resort! Had to refill all my bottles plus get some real calories. Even trying to re-pack everything I ended up being behind everyone else. I swear I was moving quick?? 

Font Creek to Beaver Mines Lake Road (Miles 22.9 to 43.2)

Andrea, Ana and I all headed out together. Francis was still feeling sick (he had been puking basically since the race started and was trying to get some calories in him before heading back out). Both of the girls had done this section before and said that it was non-technical for quite a few miles until the water drop at the base of the climb up and over Whistler and Table Mountain. I was feeling pretty good in this section that we seemed to be moving well and that two of the hardest sections of the course were going to "soon" be behind me.

This was another really pretty section of tree-lined dirt, and like I was told, not technical at all. It was so nice to move easily!

Andrea in front and Ana

We had all added layers at the aid station since it was chillier after the rain/hail and we knew that we would want layers for the climb. Plus, it wasn't going to be long before the sun set.

The miles were going by pretty fast in this section. We were all really happy that Francis managed to catch up to us! He still wasn't really able to keep food down well, but he was moving well and we hoped he was turning a corner. I was the first to pull out my lights as we were heading into thicker trees. We came upon a search and rescue vehicle and they just were checking to make sure we were all doing ok before heading up the mountain. We got to the water drop, all ate something, topped off. And then off we went up the big climb.

For whatever reason, maybe because it was dark, these climbs didn't seem as bad. I definitely got hot with all my layers on and at some point I had to take my jacket off because I was sweating so much. We had a few really fun miles in here - specifically when we were playing the "gratitude game." It just made time go by pretty quick and the four of us just had a good time.

We finally got to the time of Whistler and ended up a bit more spread out on Table Mountain. Took a few breaks here and there. I was thinking I would be relieved when we finally got to the downhill, but holy crap, this stuff was really technical and steep. I must've slid on my butt at least two dozen times - fun for me since I was the line leader.

Francis ran ahead to the aid station and the three of us straggled in after him. Ana and Andrea both had crew meeting them there. We had arrived around 5 am, which was a lot later than we had hoped. We loaded up on calories and the three of us headed out together.

Beaver Mines Lake Road to Syncline Group Camp (Miles 43.2 to 55.7)

Dumb mistake here after leaving, we were trying to follow the instructions from the volunteers and we went the wrong way on the road. Luckily at some point Ana insisted that we were going the wrong way, so we headed back. Ugh, I did look at Gaia, but it was confusing because we WERE on the trail, just going back to where we came.

The beginning of this segment was still on dirt road and pretty tame. Andrea got a bit ahead of us at some point again, although we stayed pretty close for at least a few miles. Long enough for her to give me a 5 hour energy at some point, which really helped as the sun was coming up and I was fighting off being tired.

Soon we were in the trees and it was SO green - like being in Hawaii or Jurassic Park or something. I really liked this section. Other than it being pretty, I don't remember a ton in this section, although I was with Ana the whole time?

After a very small section on the road we were at the 4th aid station. Seemed like we were never going to get here. There was actually a couple of other runners there when we arrived, which was a first. We hiked in and got some food and I finally tended to the blister on the bottom of my right foot. DUMB DUMB DUMB that I didn't do something when I first noticed it in the previous section. I hoped that putting a bandage and some rock tape would keep it from getting worse. Changed my shirt and headed out - Francis was still sitting there trying to get calories in, but we just couldn't wait for him :(

Syncline Group Camp to Lynx Creek (Miles 55.7 to 67.4)

Off on the road again. 

We moved onto some double track and it was feeling really warm so I took my pants off and had Ana attach them to the back of my pack. Saw some guy go by us that we were SURE must have been from a different race? He was actually running, and we... weren't. We were moving pretty well through here, but it was definitely warm.

On to the next aid station! I was looking at the road going up and I was grateful that we didn't have to go "all the way" up the road. Little did I know... Ana's friend from last year was volunteering and I remember just eating whatever we could and filling up since we were not expecting to have anywhere to filter after leaving.

Lynx Creek to Coleman Polish Hall (Miles 67.4 to 86.7)

Well, once we left we DID have to go all the way up the road. It was HOT HOT HOT and there were a decent number of ATVs and other vehicles driving around that were kicking up dust. Thankfully, I had my buff to help.

And then the climbing started. We had to go up a very rocky, steep climb. There was a photographer there - interested to see what those pics might look like.

SO STEEP. Ana definitely dropped me on the climb, but she did hang out a bit and wait. I did my best, I just need to figure out why I'm still not good at this. I guess I just need more practice. 

After nearly two full days, I was able to get one bar of service - to which I did my Wordle (can't mess up that streak), a quick Duolingo (same) and get a text off to Ben so that he would know I was still alive. 

From here, it appeared that we were not going to have as much climbing. We were on a less technical road, and thankfully, it was partly in the shade, which helped a lot.

Somewhere in here on the Willoughby Ridge, there was another photographer? 

Views here were really incredible and expansive. 

At some point Ana found a log to sit on so she could get the rocks/pebbles out of her shoe. I figured I might as well see what the blister on the bottom of my foot was doing. Let's just say, it didn't look wonderful. We had just started down when Ana said she needed to completely fix her feet and I should just head on without her and she would catch up.

This section was incredibly rocky and I decided I needed to fix whatever what was going on with my foot before too much longer and since Ana was an unknown distance behind me, I figured I could stop and do it quickly. I sat down on a rock on the side of the trail and could see that the blister had gotten even bigger. I decided to take a safety pin and pop it to get some of the poison out and then hoped to re-bandage. It was nasty, juices spraying everywhere. Unfortunately, I had done all this through the bandage and the liquid caused the band aid to lose it's adhesive. That's when I realized I did NOT have another big one! I kept squeezing to get the juice out because I wanted it as dry as possible before attempting to fix it again. I screwed up when I was cutting around some of the skin and was left with rawness... on the bottom of my foot. Ana came up and saw what I was doing and I let her know I was still going to be a minute so she should continue. Now, I'm feeling rushed. I did the best I could to re-bandage and put on one fresh sock, figuring I could wait to change my other sock at the aid station. By the time I gathered up all my garbage and went to head out, I had no idea where (and how far ahead) Ana was.

I tell you what, this foot stuff HURT. REALLY stupid of me to get behind on foot care and to mess it up so bad. It didn't hurt any more to run versus walk, and I *really* wanted to be with someone else, so I tossed in one ear bud and did some actual running.

First not smiling selfie after f'ing up my foot

I could not BELIEVE how quick I was moving and still not catching up to Ana!!

Every time I would get to a turn in the road I would hope to see her bright pink shirt, and then FINALLY after probably two miles (maybe more) I caught her. Geez, that was stressful. 

I think Ana actually caught me waving my poles and screaming her name, lol

We were moving pretty well and got in some good conversations to make the time go by quickly.

Trying to figure out how far out we are, we see lights!! Ana turned on her phone and realized we had multiple bars of service. She called her husband and I called Ben. It was nice to actually talk to him after not having any contact. We were only a few miles out and I am glad that I had downloaded the new routes, because it seemed completely different.

There was one small bump in climbing and my left leg completely locked up. I had to take a full packet of LMNT and dump it into the few ounces of water I had to try and fix it - it seemingly did the trick and we listened to a podcast on the way to the aid station.

On the road before we turned off we saw a sign that said one mile to aid. YAY!! I had taken random caffeine pills from Ana miles back and we both hoped that we would still be able to get a nap in since this was the one and only indoor aid station.

We arrived around 10:30 (?). The plan was to get as much ready as we could and then nap for about 90 minutes before heading out. 

I actually slept!!! The cots were comfortable and warm. The hardest thing for me was that I had developed my 200 mile cough and it took probably 15-20 minutes of hacking up a lung before I was able to get to sleep. 

... to DNF back in Coleman

I woke up and immediately did my Wordle and Duolingo since I wasn't sure when we would have service again. 

I came out of the sleeping area to hear Ana say "Rebecca, do you have the brain capacity to listen to what Marc (her crew) needs to talk to us about?" I said sure... he proceeds to say something to the effect of "there was someone MAULED BY A BEAR on the race course but there is a re-route in place and everything is fine now."

I was like WHAT THE FUCK? Like I have been awake for about 12 seconds and now I have to process that someone almost got murdered by a BEAR??!

My mind is spinning and suddenly the promise I made to myself "do this until you're not having fun anymore" came to mind. I know Ana is a much stronger hiker than me and we don't exactly have a ton of time to complete this course. How am I going to feel when I am alone in the middle of the wilderness if I am tired and stressed? I expressed these feelings to Ana, but without a lot of time to make any decisions I told her I would head out with her and think about it.

Since it was around 1 am at this point, and COLD, we had put on allll the layers, including puffy coats. Marc had brought us big coffees, so walking out of the aid station, trying to be fast AND drink a giant coffee wasn't necessarily working out well. 

I am wondering how much further I should be going and what I should do. I asked Ana if we could talk about it for a few minutes. By now we had moved out of town and were on a somewhat groomed trail with lots of trees. While talking things out, I came to the conclusion that I didn't think that I was going to feel comfortable out on the trails, especially if something could/might happen. Whether or not that is rational, we got to a saloon style door/gate and I told her I was going to go back to the aid station. She said she would be fine to go on, so she did.

I think I walked down for about 30 seconds and then stopped and thought "am I doing the right thing?" Ultimately, I don't know if I did or not, but at the time, it seemed like the best thing for ME, and even now,  I'm not "really" having second thoughts.

I got just a tiny bit down the trail and heard all sorts of noises in the woods. Of course that "validated" my decision. I kept turning around and finally saw bright lights. I'm thinking, "is that Ana?" - when in fact it WAS another runner. Only it was the first place guy that was like 60 miles ahead of us, lol. I was in town so I had service and even though it was the middle of the night, I called Ben so he wouldn't be worried when he got up and saw my tracker not moving.

Upon returning to the aid station, I told the volunteers why I was back. Even after handing in my trackers, I will say that they did make a half-hearted attempt to assuage my nervousness. I still didn't want to be out alone, and even if I *had* gone back out - I would've been miles behind Ana. This is what was released on Facebook that I saw after stopping.

Thoughts:

• I had absolutely zero expectations. I just wanted to enjoy myself and see a beautiful area. In that regard, it was a success. I wanted to spend time with friends on the trail - also a success.
• The race was relatively expensive, but I can say without a doubt that they do NOT spare any expense on runners. The swag was great, aid station food was amazing (wish there would have been coke at the second aid station, but otherwise, no shortage of things). And of note - the medical and search and rescue presence is HUGE. They were all over the place! I can say with complete confidence that you are being looked after in this event.
• The bear. Ok, that was scary. Here is the link to the full news article released after the race. There were other runners that saw wolves, cougars, coyotes, etc. YOU ARE IN THE WILD HERE. I knew that, and maybe with more people, or if I was really wanting this as my goal race, I could have worked through all those mental struggles. At the end of the day, I don't want to get attacked by wildlife on the trail. 
• This course is hard, hard, hard. 
• Completed 90.5 miles at an average pace of 28:03 (that includes breaks)
• Total ascent in those 90 miles of 17,468! Mile 36 of this course measured 1,425' of gain. That is STEEP.
• Am I disappointed about going home (again) without a buckle? Sure. But I did figure out some things that are gradually getting me closer to being successful. Inhaler made a big difference. Continuing to use Mucinex also helps a ton. 

Gear:

• UltrAspire Zygos 5.0. I opted to skip my "beefier" waist belts and just went with the UltrAspire Element. I used two 800 ml flasks in the front with straws and a Katadyn fliter bottle. At the last aid station I had filled up that bottle, only to discover that it had a hole in it. Luckily, I had actually put a spare bottle in that drop bag, I don't normally do that. 
• Garmin Enduro 2 - I charged at the aid station while I was sleeping, I think I had about 40% battery when I put it on the charger, so it definitely would have lasted what I did without a charge.
• Random - Goodr sunglasses (didn't use that often since it was overcast), Leki poles, $1 poncho from Amazon (I got a box of these before Summit and they are AWESOME), Kogalla light strip and Anker batteries, Petzl headlamp.
• Clothing - Two different rabbit sun shirts, Patagonia 8" Maipo shorts, Stance socks, Topo UltraVenture 2 (I really think it was the purely all the rocks that caused the blistering), Zensah high neck sports bra (which is now discontinued - waaaaaaah), Patagonia R1 Techface hoodie ,  REI rain pants, my favorite Tahoe 200 hat. Of honorable mention that I hardly used - Mountain Hardwear Ghost Whisperer jacket, Bula fleece lined hat, Smartwool glove liners, OR sun gloves.
• Nutrition - LMNT Raspberry. Wonder if my electrolytes got all jacked because I was still just doing 1 packet split between two bottles & with using 800s instead of 600s maybe I was not getting enough salt? I actually had to get salt pills from Andrea more than once. I packed a ton of random snacks and came back home with most of them. The aid stations had a ton of snacks to take on the go, so I used those a lot.

Random Notes:

• I applied Salty Britches ONCE at the start of the race and NEVER reapplied?! I don't think this has ever happened in a 200 mile race. I had zero chafing of any kind.
• I never once took a nap on the side of the trail - or napped at all for that matter (outside of the planned rest at CP6). I got a couple caffeine pills from Ana and then of course the 5 hour energy from Andrea. It was weird going all the way through that first night without resting, but I never actually CAN sleep that night so I think everything worked out. For next time, I guess I should carry emergency things like that? I haven't carried any sort of caffeine for a few races now, but sometimes this incredibly long stretches without aid are just too much when I'm tired.

Final Thought:

• The biggest question of all - would I do it again? Hmmm.