Why did I want to do this?
It was a beautiful day at Baker Lake and the Baker Lake trail twisted along through miles of shade and trees and gorgeous views of Mt Baker but I was disturbed by two things. One, I had been running for 5 hours now and I was still in the woods. I was not even to the 29.3 mile point where the trail emptied out onto the road. It appeared someone had added extra miles to the trail in the time since I had run out on it 4hours and 40 minutes ago, really, that was the only explanation. And two, and even more disturbing than trail lengthening hooligans, what kind of person would voluntarily run for over five hours in the hills? Really voluntarily, like her coach is in the Bahamas and doesn't have any control over what she does voluntary. For that there was no explanation.
The Baker Lake 50k starts at the Kulshan campground in Concrete, WA, runs up along the road for 1.75 miles and then runs the entire length of the Baker Lake trail and back. It is probably a very nice trail for hiking, even I enjoyed it on the way out, most of it, but not the last few miles. I didn't enjoy those because I was looking at my watch since it got to around 2:15 wondering when I would get to the halfway aid station and turn around. I thought I had been moving pretty well and though the trail had been up and down it had not been up and up like most trail runs. But it was still a trail and I got to the aid station finally at 2:28. I paused for a minute to drink something yellow and refill my water bottle- all 20 oz of it strapped to my hand.
Really I should say something about my water bottle since it took me about an hour to pick out. At REI they have water things that go on your back, your stomach, your sides, your hand and pretty much everywhere in between. They have 8 oz bottles and 10 oz bottles and 12, 16, 20, 32, 40, 70 and everything in between. The 10z bottle is light but says it is good for runs of one hour. Huh, where is the five and a half hour bottle? Ooh it costs 99 dollars, hmm do I really need this water stuff? I'm not thirsty standing here in this store for the past hour. Last trail 50k I did I didn't take any water at all and that didn't end well even with like 4 or 5 aid stations, this one only had one. I obsessed for about an hour in REI over which one would be the least annoying and figured they all would be. But then being thirsty is very annoying so I sucked it up and bought one that goes around your hand, maybe it is time I became more like all other runners.
The bottle didn't actually annoy me that much which is saying something because as Joel said - "you are easily annoyed," but then he would think that because he is easily annoying.
Now for the way back. I had been worrying too much about the downhills on the way out knowing they would turn into uphills on the way back. Really you are supposed to do the opposite. But for the first time in my life they weren't as bad as I was remembering. I was running very low on water though on the way back. I started rationing it, only taking a little bit every 20 minutes. Good plan except if the way back is taking 20 minutes longer than you would have thought possible! I started to get very nauseous and a little delirious- like I coulda sworn I saw the road- it was there down in the river! Finally! Luckily an even better solution to my hydration needs came along in the form of a guy with a big jug of water who offered to fill my water bottle up just because. Hmmm, are you thinking what I'm thinking? Flirt with the guys around you and get them to give you their water! That's the best option yet.
I only fell once though I almost fell probably twenty times. There were a few logs and trees to climb over and the trail was very twisty and turny- all of which add up to slowness in retrospect. I like twists and turns because they hide how far you have to run and you can hope that the road is around every corner. It wasn't until 5 hours and 9 minutes.
I feel like an imposter next to all these people that actually like trail runs. Yes they are pretty and when I don't know that I am running 10+ minute miles on them I like them too. That four and a half hour run I said was 30 miles at cougar mountain, haha, it was probably like 24! When I come into finish in 5 hours and 24 minutes it seems unfair that that was only a 50k. For that much time and effort I want something cool like a 60k or something. And yes, I do think the trail was a little bit long, though not as long as I would think. I saw on numerous web sites the length of the Baker Lake trail being 14.3 miles which when added to the 1.75 mile road start becomes 16.05 miles and 32.1 miles total- which is a whole extra mile, or at trail speed like 10 whole minutes! But if I had been running on the road I could have driven home already and be taking a nap right now with some pizza instead of just crossing the finish line and wanting to throw up.
I have to do a better job of remembering next time how hard these are. Yeah, like that will help.
