May Queen to Tabor, Tabor to Finish 14 miles!

I got to May Queen around 4:40am... My crew was expecting me to be there little bit later, so I had few minutes to wait for next pacer Yukiko.  She pulled me next 7 miles in the trail along Turquoise lake.  We still had to use a head lamp but it was getting lighter out.  I looked at the lake, and it was beautiful... The low clouds over the water, and sunrise were just amazing!  Despite of the joy of the beautiful scenery, my pain in my shin and feet was reaching over my threshold.


Turquoise lake

Yuki, my boyfriend, who is an awesome pro-mountain biker, was the next pacer at Tabor to take me to the finish.  I was looking forward to have Yuki to pull me over last 7 mile stretch.  I felt like this trail lasts forever.... I could not see the Tabor where Yukiko and Yuki switched.  I was in severe pain.. I was not talking...

Finally, I saw my crew!



Thank God!  Team Junko



Yuki was ready to go!  Let's run last 7 miles!!  Why not!

 Yuki was ready to go!!  We Team Junko all looked each other said " last 7 miles!!  Let's meet at the last mile marker, and run together to the finish!!  see you there!"
Yuki said " let's run last 7 miles"  He is such a competitive guy.. I knew he would say that!  I said " Why not!  Suck it up!  I will finish strong" 
We started running( at jogging pace, yeah!)... Most of the runners were walking... We passed lots of people. It was not important to pass people for me.  I just wanted to finish strong.  We ran through the Blvd and long jeep road to the pavement which is almost one mile to the finish.  As we almost got to the pavement road, I saw Dan and Amy, dear friends, Amy, such a great runner, was walking.. she was having hard time controlling HR and breathing.  I could not hold myself, crying... Amy and Dan gave me huge hug.  I saw Team Junko, and we all ran together the last mile, holding hands up!!!  Yeah... We did it!!  Way under the cut-off time.  28:35:14 ... Thank God.. It is OVER!



Team Junko... 2 more coming...




Finish!!



Amy and Me



I got the buckle and pendant!!

I never wanted to quit even once!  I was running for achieving my goal and also even bigger, I was running for people who believed in me, donated to Susan Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer.  I had a huge mission to accomplish " make an closure to my cancer experience!!"  I did it! 

Thank you for all my friends who cheered me on along the way, and helped me to get there! 
Special thanks to Team Junko- Yukiko, Kenji, Kei, and Yuki!  My team was the best!!  Everything was perfect. Crewing, feeding, pacing worked perfectly!!! My team had everything I needed.  I could not have done it without Team Junko. I hope they will crew me again for next time( did I say next??).

Thank you from bottom of my heart!



No blisters!!  but destroyed my left ankle and shin!
Now I know my weakness! work on it! ha!


Junko

Fish Hatchery to May Queen 10 miles

At the Fish Hatchery, I only had to go 24 miles!!  However this section of the course was tough both physically and mentally!  It included a long ascent on power line, and endless uphill on Sugar Loaf mountain. As Kei and I left the Team Junko, there was pavement road to get to the bottom of Power line.  The house along the way was blasting music for us.  That made me awake for few minutes.  When we got to the bottom of the power line,  it was pitch dark and beautiful sky with a bunch of stars.  I had a moment to look up and made me feel great to be in the great outdoor!  This feeling lasted about 5 minutes.  Here comes steep Power line.  All of the sudden, I got attacked by horrible sleepiness.  I could not shake myself up.  I kept moving and using my poles, one step at the time, with dozing off.. in and out..zzzz~! but I was moving... Kei was trying to keep me in the loop, but he was also attacked by fatigue and thin air...( He told me later on..).  We had less conversation, and I was bitchier than ever.  I kept saying to Kei, "when is the uphill going to end?  you said it is around the corner?  are you serious?  I hate this hill... my shin hurts.  Not yet?  How is the time?? are we going to make it?? damn it!! oh.. i am sleepy! " and so on... Sorry Kei, I was such a bitch.  You did so well dealing with me!
Finally, we got to the top of Sugar Loaf mountain. Downhill from here!!  I was finally able to shake myself up, Kei and I  started running.... We passed few people.  We got to the Colorado trail head.  Kei said " it will be only a couple of miles from here."  But it was not..... we passed the sign 85 miles after I felt like running more than a mile, and then from there at least 2 miles... on the rocky trail.  My pain on my feet and shin was getting close to my threshold.  I kept talking to myself, " I am almost there! suck it up!  Dig Deep! I will have a break soon"......
Finally, I heard the loud cheering.... I am here...May Queen aid station!  I heard loud music blasting from one car next to my crew SUV.  3 guys with only underwear jumped right in front of me.  They started dancing around me.  I thought " Oh my... who are they?  "  I looked at them closely... Oh my god.  They are my friends, Scott, Mike, and Chris!! They are my co-workers from work!!  They were very funny, and woke me up!  I love you guys!!  Thank you very much, and Lauren and Katie drove them over!  Thank you again!

Dear friends from CAC- Scott, Mike, and Chris
Under wear dancers entertained the crowd!! Oh boy!

Winfield to Twin Lake 10.5 miles, Twin Lake to Tree Line 12 miles, Tree Line to Fish Hatchery 6 miles



Thanks to Ed!! Go Juno Go sign!

 

2nd Pacer at Twin lake Kei

 Yukiko is smaller than me,but she was very strong.  She carried my rain gears and extra food for me, and paced me all the way up to Hopeless pass.  We stopped at the Aids station this time, had a hot noodle soup.  It was salty and tasty!!  There were many runners sat down and rested for a while...I saw Stewart, who is an awesome mountain biker. He just did 100 mile Mountain Bike race a week ago.  He was racing as a Leadman.  Leadman competition includes Leadville marathon, Silver Rush 50 bike or run, LT 100 mountain bike, 10k run, and LT 100 trail run all together in one summer.  CRAZY!!!!!  but... sounds like a great challenge.... maybe someday.. ?!!

It was so nice to see the Twin Lake view ahead of us.  I felt the section was longer to cross the creek, and run through the field to get to Team Junko.  Yukiko called Team to get ready for hot coffee.  It took us longer time to get to the team we expected.  We were slightly behind the goal split.  I was getting nervous.
There were Ed and Val waiting for us here with Go Junko Go sign on the pavement!! What a nice surprise!!     I sat down and asked my team to give me the ointment for my shin /feet pain.  I rubbed it to my feet and shin, and changed socks and shoes.  I felt better by changing the shoes to the wider Vasque trail run shoes. Hope they could help... cross my fingers...!  As I checked in to the official, I saw my friend Kim was there to cheer me up!!  It was nice to see her smailing face!!  She gave me so much energy!!



I was keep asking Kei my time.  Must be annoying him!!

At the Twin Lake, 2nd pacer Kei was waiting for me.  He is one of the toughest endurance athletes among my friends. He has done many 100 mile mountain bike races, Iron man races, and marathons..!  I had confidence he would pull me up on the Colorado trail up and over to Treeline no problem.  We grabbed the headlamp and flash light for the night run. It will be dark in an hour or so.  My shin was still hurting badly.... ugh~~~~!!! I kept my mouth shut, and talking to myself " suck it up!"

It was getting dark... we had to use the headlamp and flash light.  I was glad that Yukiko, Kei, Jo ( friend of yukiko) and I did a night run to test lighting system once.  It helped me so I knew what to expect in the dark.  We were chatting and hiking up/ running up on the hills, talking to some other runners along the way.  I was still having a great time, Can you believe?? Ha!

We stopped briefly at the Half Pipe aids station.  So many people did not look good.  I saw a guy throwing up his entire stomach....  My energy was so great, but my feet and left shin were in pain... getting worse.  I swallowed the hot soup again and left quickly because I worried about my split time.  Kei kept saying "  we are OK... no worry!"  I was bitching : NO!! I wanted to be ahead!!!!"  Sorry Kei for being a bitch! 

After the short break, we had a couple miles to Treeline aid station where Kenji as a 3rd pacer was waiting!   It was dark and getting colder at this point.

 


Cold night for my crew!



kei and me

My feet/shin were in pain!!

I had to really be tough to stand up and get going. I never thought I wanted to quit, not even once!!!  I just wanted to be on time or slightly ahead of my goal.  

Kenji was so good to talk to me along the way which was about 4 miles on the pavement to Fish Hatchery.  It was pitch dark... you could see the headlamp from other runners and headlights from cars far away to the road ahead of us.  It was the longest 4 miles, I was very slow and walking or limping... I could not exactly remember how I was running.. As we approached to Fish Hatchery, I needed to look for a bathroom!!!! YES!  There was!

Thanks to Kenji, I survived to get here!  24 miles to go!

Fish Hatchery to Twin Lake 16 miles, Twin Lake to Winfield 10.5 miles

It was a 90% pavement road from Fish Hatchery to Tree Line which is about 5.6 miles.   I felt slight pain on my shin as soon as I hit the pavement road. There were still lots of people running, and  I passed some, and then they passed me back later.  After the Tree Line, we were on the Colorado Trail for a while.  I like this section so much.  The trail goes through the Mt Elbert trail head.  There was a small aids station, and I saw a lady holding her leg and crying.  She might have gotten injured.  I reminded myself to watch for rocks, steps.... Finally, I saw the Twin Lake between the trees, and I could see my crew almost there!  As I ran through loud cheering section, I found my crew close to the end of aid area. It was the best spot!  The bathroom was right there!!





Team Junko at Twin lake

I needed to do the gear check and eat at the Twin Lake aid station because from this point to the Winfield 50 mile turn around point was very steep and the elevation gets high up to 12,600ft.  We had to go through Hope Pass (People call "Hopeless Pass") and down to Winfield.  This is the toughest section on the course.  I sat down  and had few small rice balls and tiny slice of pizza.  They filled me up very good.  I had a great energy level, and still was in good mood!  I knew I had to go on the creek crossing and was looking forward to dip in cold water.  My feet needed to have ice bath at this point, especially my shin....

Creek crossing






headed to hopeless pass





I rested for about 15 min. and headed to Hopeless Pass( it is really Hope Pass!) .  I know I was ahead of my goal split but I wanted to keep that.  I used my light weight Black Diamond poles, and tried to walk as fast as I can.  I thought I was a fast walker but everybody passed me??!! The poles helped me a lot!  On the way to the pass, I saw few people sat down and hold their head, asking how many miles to the top... They were suffering from altitude sickness I believe.. I felt sorry, but I was fine luckily.   Just my shin hurts, that was all! 

Just about passing the treeline, the 1st place guy and his pacer were running down SO STRONG!!!  Oh Boy!  I said to him" great job!"  He looked great!! I felt like I gained some energy from him.  I kept going up on the steep hill. I see the huge tent" Hopeless Pass aids station" There were several llamas out there.  They carried food, water, and equipment to cook for us.  The Volunteers were so nice and cooked hot noodle soup, and mashed potato.  I grabbed few potato chips and zipped through, knowing to stop on the way back!



Hopeless Pass



Trail up to Hopeless pass



There was a long steep decent to the jeep road after the top, and then the road continues about a couple of miles to the 50 mile marker Winfield where I could meet my crew and pacer!  Yes!!  I felt great on the decent.  I probably went too fast with too much impact on my shin... I passed several people.  I was so glad to seethe end of the trail and beginning of jeep road.  " almost there" but it was not!  It was long 2 miles.  There were many cars on the Jeep road, and I had to run in the ditch time to time.  The dust was not too bad as I was informed due to the rain night before.  Finally, Here I was... 50 miles! Done half way! 10 min ahead of my goal split!!

Yukiko 1st pacer

At  this point, my shin was REALLY hurting, ugh!

Quick Break!



Here we go!  Back to Hopeless pass again!

Start - May Queen Aids station 13.5 miles, May Queen to Fish Hatchery 10miles

The race started right at 4am.  My pace was at very easy jogging pace, but I felt my legs were little bit heavy....  I did not try to think about it too much, and kept jogging.  I heard somebody was talking to me in Japanese... Yes, it was Mr. Tatsuya Muramastu, an experienced ultra-runner from Japan.  We were talking and running for a while together, probably couple of miles, then I needed to drop the pace a little. It was nice to get to know him!!!  That was great he came all the way from Japan, and he loves Ultra-running, he had done this once before 11 years ago.  He gave me great advices!! I kept my jogging pace all the way to the Turquoise Lake trail.  The trail along the shore of the lake has many ups and downs, and towards the end it gets little bit rocky.  I was able to pass some people but try not to focus on going fast.  I just needed to get to May queen aid station by 6:30am.  The sun was starting coming up, and the clouds were very low closed to the water.  It was a beautiful view, I actually looked around and enjoyed it! ha!  As I approached May Queen Aids station, I could hear that people's voice cheering runners.... I was so excited to see my crew!  " Where are they???"  I saw many people I know, cheering my name, thank you!, I found my crew at the end of aids station.


I was in good mood!  lots of energy!

 I did a quick stop to take off my head lump, and got my sun visor and sunglasses.  I felt very good, still having fun.  I said to Team Junko, See you in couple of hours!!

I knew next 10 miles will be hard because of the Colorado trail to Sugar Loaf, and long Power line decent.  On the Colorado trail, Jon and Amy passed me... but I kept my pace till Power line downhill.  I love downhill but I had to be careful not to exhaust my legs from going too fast!  It was still 1/4 of the race!

Oh Boy!  Knowing I needed to be careful, I might have gone too fast on downhill.  However, my legs were still feeling great, just little bit of tightness on shin, that was all.

I got to Fish Hatchery 10 min. faster than my target split.  It was around 8:20am.   I found Kenji at the beginning of crewing area. He quickly called the rest of crew to let them know I am here.  The Team Junko was found towards the end of Crew area!  It was nice to see my Team!!

Team Junko-Kenji, Junko, Kei, and Yukiko.  Yuki is taking picture!

I did a quick check on my hydration, and food in the pack.  I got few sips of Coke(very tasty!!), and had a couple of tiny rice balls.  I knew my crew was not going to meet me at Treeline or Half Pipe, so I needed to have enough fuel to get through the section.    I got everything I needed, and said goodbye to my crew!  " I will see you around noon!

Leadville 100 Trail run RACE DAY 1

August 20, 2011

Finally, the race day!  2:15am, My alarm went off.  I jumped out of the bed, and got dressed.  My crew members started to wake up, I felt bad that they had to get up 2:30am in the morning for me. 


Coach Yuki and New Hale tape

 Yuki put New Hale tapes on my knees and ankles.  The tape came from Japan is supposed to improve performance!!  Well see... Hope this help my unpredictable performance in the 100 mile trail run!

Silver King Inn, served breakfast at 2:30am for runners. It was very nice of them. The lady who was working there was so nice and cheerful, she said she saw me in the news.  She gave me a huge hug for good luck! 




Here is the picture of me and crew in the morning at 2:30am!

We quickly had breakfast, and headed to the start at 3:30am!! 


Here is the picture of my starting outfit!  Head light, Team Junko T-shirt, Nathan hydration pack, GOLITE shorts, New Hale tape, La Sportiva crosslite 2.0, and Tokyo marathon gloves.

It was still dark but there were so much energy with  many runners and crews at the start line.  I could not believe the race day actually came, and I was going to start running in few minutes, and keep running for 30 hours!! 

I had to keep talking to myself," I will make it!  Go slow... be patient.  Keep moving..!"

I saw some familiar faces at the start!!


Mass start at 4am!



Yuki and I




Joel and Kynnie


The official started counting down, and the gun fired right at 4am!!!!  Start running!              





Leadville 100 day before the race !

August 19th 2011 Friday Morning!!  The alarm went off at 6am!  I did not feel like I slept well.. I was so anxious and nervous, worrying about what to take for the race.  I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed for this very important race!  Anyhow, I got up and cooked Breakfast for Kei- one of my crew/pacer, Yuki and myself, nothing fancy, eggs, kale, toast, and coffee!  I decided to rent a big SUV for my crew to be comfortable during race.  As soon as Yuki got the rental car, we started loading for the race!  

On the road to Leadville!

I needed to get there between 7-10am to get medical check.  I was getting nervous that I might be late, but Yuki and Kei were very confident that we will make it on time!!  Yes, we did. 
As we drove into Leadville, we found a VACANCY sign at the Silver King Inn. Somebody must have cancelled. We were planning to stay in Dillon (thanks to Jen, offering us to stay in her condo!!) where 45 min. away from Leadville since we could not find any rooms in Leadville. We grabbed the room right away, so we can sleep more in the morning  and went to the medical check in, and race packet pick-up.

At the Check in, I ran into Jon who is an awesome athlete, who did so well on his first Leadville 100 mountain bike race.  He is running this year!  He looked great and well prepared! 

There is a new Leadville store right next to the check-in.  They sell Leadville race series goods in the shop.  I saw Leadville Coffee - Race day blend!!  Yeeeha!

We went to the the 6th ave Gym for the pre-race meeting.  Other crew-Yukiko & Kenji met up with us there.  There were lots of people in the gym to listen to the motivational speech by Ken, founder of this race!  I believed that his speech made so many people to come back to this race series every year.  I noticed Yuki and I were two of them! 











After I got lots of positive energy from Ken, race officials, and other runners, my crews and I decided to have lunch/ early dinner/ carbo-loading at the Chinese restaurant.  I chowed down rice, noodles, and dumplings etc....!  as we finished eating, I suggested to go to Mountain Pizza cross the street to have pizza take-out.  I wanted to have pizza for my fuel during the race( suggested from Dear Marc!).  We ordered one large pizza!  We took it to the hotel room, sure enough hungry Yuki started to pick one, then one more, two more.... !  I kept one for tomorrow!!  Yes!  Yukiko made me small rice balls for my fuel during the race!!  Yukiko had been such a great training partner, and reliable crew member for me!!  I could not thank enough...



decorating Team Junko SUV

 We decorated Team Junko SUV but 30 second later, the rain washed off everything we wrote!  UGH~!

Kei and Kenji - organizing the plan!




Final Gear check

By the end of the day, I felt I was ready!!!!  Just do it!

Vail Half marathon and training run at Leadville

Yukik and I drove up to Vail to do Vail half marathon.  I have done few times in the past.  This race is not easy, very steep climbing continues 11 miles... My goal for today is to keep running no matter what speed I am running, just keep on running.  This will be a great training for uphill, to get to zone 4 workout! 

On the way to get up to Leadville, We stopped at Minturn  great little town.  I love this place.  We had a great sandwich and coffee!!

 

Scarely Powerline.



Pipeline



Silver Rush 50 July 17th Sunday

Silver Rush 50!!  Last long distance race before leadville 100!  I will know how I am at this race.  However, I have been sick for nearly 3 weeks since I was in Japan.  I feel aweful.  I could not decide wether I should be doing this race or not.  Friday night, I decided I needed to eat good comfort food and see how I feel on Sat morning.  This is Traditional Japanese meal, SUKIYAKI.  I got fresh eggs from farm, thanks to Mr and Mrs Palmer.  I dipped vegetable, tofu, and meat into raw egg.  YUMMY!  This gave me lots of energy, I felt lots better on Saturday.  I went ahead and raced 50 miles in Leadville.  I carried my cell phone in case I felt not good, I can call Yukiko, my best pacer.

thisis the hill runners will run up at the start!



post race meal...no appitite!ugh~



Anyhow, I finished the race.  I went too fast first 25, died at the last  25, nothing unusal about my race..

I am glad that I made it in 11:21.  I feel better about upcoming 100.

 well, see... Training will be continued....