H.U.R.L. FAT ASS 50k

Friday night I drove to Helena so that Saturday morning Rebecca and I could do the Helena Ultrarunners League (HURL) Fat Ass 50k. From what I understand, calling your race a "Fat Ass" means that there is no aid, no entry fee, no recorded times. This event was pretty organized and there was actually a lot of aid on the course. And, they kept track of our times (I will only say I have the 3rd fastest female time on the course ever, ha) (ETA, that's wrong I think it's fourth!). I was uber impressed and had a great day. Although the drive to Helena was a little dicey due to snow and such (why is it that Flathead and Missoula counties are able to make roads driveable but Lake county leaves all the scary slush?) the weather on Saturday was perfect. It was about 40 degrees.

The course is a loop from Helena, to Montana City, to somewhere else, up a hill that is literally 6 or more miles and then down a hill that is literally 6 or more miles. It reminded me of the first leg of Hood to Coast coming down. Anyhow, Rebecca and I were practically giddy for the first 10 miles or so, enjoying the weather and scenery and enjoying being alive and running. Rebecca just lost a close friend to cancer and she carried a picture of her friend during the run. I couldn't help but be reminded of how precious health is. Anyhow, we kept the pace slow and steady and kept on keeping on.

Going up the aforementioned never ending (EVER!) hill (I guess it's probably technically a mountain since it was like 2000 feet up), Rebecca, who let herself get dehydrated, was puking and we kind of ambled up which made things easy for those of us not tossing cookies. (Did I mention someone baked the most delicious cookies with chocolate and coconut? Mmmmm. . . ) Anyhow, Rebecca was considering dropping at one point and urged me away from her (I seem to make people sick) so I cruised back to Helena to the finish. Although I stopped to read all the historical markers and to take pictures of the old cabins, lime kilns and other interesting sights. Sho nuff, Rebecca finished behind me -- I knew she wouldn't give up. What's a little nausea really? Pfff. Not when you're stubborn like Rebecca.

It was a really pretty course. It was also fun to run with Rebecca again (she founded our local running club but moved soon after I moved here).

Below you will see a picture of our support vehicle -- Rebecca's husband drove his Ural and carried aid in the sidecar. You can see him practicing riding on two wheels. It was nice to have him there, in addition to all the food offered by HURL.

After the event there was a potluck at Martin (a HURL guy) and Janis' house and it was really fun and nice. Soooooo much food. Which ties into the event -- I did SUCH a great job with my nutrition that I was hungry all day and ravenous when I finished. I never got dehydrated or overhydrated or ran out of energy. It was a perfect training run, I got LOTS of time on my feet ;) and practiced eating and drinking like a champ. I'm pretty sure that by the time I went to bed I'd eaten twice the calories I needed for the day. (And why do I gain weight? :p)

Helena is such a cool town. Lots of open space and easily and quickly accessible trails and very "wild west-ish" with its old historical main street (coming down Grizzly Gulch and on Park street into town). It's much drier than in the Flathead -- once you cross the Continental Divide it's a totally different landscape.

Oh, one other thing. I saw a bald eagle on my drive home -- it flew RIGHT in front of my car so it was very very close (but high enough to be out of harms way). Very cool.

PICTURES