Lost Boys 50 mile race report

 I woke up at 3:15 am on Saturday morning. I rented a cabin about 10 minutes away and asked a friend - fellow runner( Jonathanelo Fields and his crew Jeranimo)  if I could get a ride with them to the start line the Anza Borego Desert Floor. I was really nervous and scared about the weather conditions. We got the the start line at 4:30am and the wind was so crazy you could feel it pushing  the car. I opened the car door and was literally pushed by the wind and yes it was cold. It was so windy one of the porta-potty flew over.  I was  worried about being cold so I decided to that the thing to do would be look at this as a off road running adventure and dress for the adventure ahead. I wore 3 shirts. A tank top and a short sleeve and a long sleeve. (it was honestly cold)  Then I got a little excited about the conditions once I was able to change the way I saw the race I was OK and I saw a -lot of other crazy running friends and that settled my nerves too. Hey I was not alone in this craziness and as soon as we started I just thought about how much I love this and how I had all day to share this run with my sister and I was golden. I was super impressed with how well the trail was marked. There where multiple orange ribbons for every turn. As soon as I knew I was not getting lost I was able to just run and focus on the day ahead. It was a beautiful challenging course.

This time of year there was so many flowers in bloom in the desert. I had to stop and take pictures. So here we are running pre dawn. So its dark but not to dark and then about an hour into my run I passed a mountain on my left and the sun slowly came out. It was amazing. I was feeling great and stoked to be out there. After all the day was just beginning. 

So these picture really do not do this course justice. It was magnificent. I saw Paul Jesse and his crew at the first aid station and you really don't need much at this point but it was so nice to have him say Hi Gloria with a smile. I did not need anything so I just kept going.  There was this really cool part of the course that you have to climb. That was awesome. We ran through all theses desert washes and mountain valleys. 

Now we had about 18 miles of Jeep road and 28 miles of trail and It felt we went up hill forever and ever. The aid stations where awesome . The volunteers got you ready quickly and everyone was happy to see you. I felt great the whole day. I thought I would run it in about 12:30 hours. Becca Roan was my crew and I saw her at the two most important aid stations. She gave me clothes and a new pack with water. I thought to myself this is what it must feel like if your a serious rock star runner. It was awesome and she was a great friend and crew all in one. Robert was my pacer and we started running together at mile 30. This was the second time I had a pacer and what I felt was this new excitement to talk and share my race with my friend. It was awesome. I was really not paying as much attention at this time because I was tired . I ran in front of Robert and 3 times he saved my butt from getting lost. This was because I was tired and just did not see the orange ribbon poking me in the face. Once again I was so grateful to have a friend who was willing to run in the cold with me for 20 miles just because. Thank You Robert Pardy ! The last 5 miles where really painful because my biggest problem are my feel. They hurt so much when I run on rocks. I took some aleve but my feet just hate rocks so I took my time trying to find the softest rock. ( there are no soft rocks ) I would say besides that I had a beautiful day. I felt like Carmen was with me. I could picture her flying along side me. I told her I loved her and it was nice to be out in nature feeling tired and knowing she was my companion. This race was seriously awesome !!! I want to do it again but next year !!!! This was great training for WS