Riding 100 miles – It's magical!

Okay, so I'm beginning to understand why people climb Everest. Don't get me wrong, I still think they are crazy, but I get it. There is something so satisfying about having a big goal and just going for it.

Somewhere the end of last season I got this crazy notion that I wanted to ride 100 miles and I just couldn't get it out of my head. I planned my whole season as a way of getting to 100 miles. I got myself more fit. I rode each ride thinking about what I wanted to work on to make 100 miles go better. We worked on starting calm and cool, staying loose and free all day, eating well, me being more aware of how I ride and really staying balanced and loose, practicing riding in the dark, really the list goes on and on.

Then about a week out from Oregon 100 this strange feeling hit me. I'd done all I could do, all that was left was to get packed, get over there and ride my ride. It was a strange feeling. I'd been working toward this for so long it was so strange to be so close and really have nothing left to do.

We headed over there on Thursday. Wow, was that nice. If you ride a 100, unless the ride is in your back yard, get there on Thursday. My horse was nice and calm, ate and drank like a champ and had plenty of time to settle in and recover.

Thursday I pre rode part of the trail with Dean. I was so proud of Bunny she stayed nice and calm, even though Rocket was wanting to race a bit. I could really see the progress we've made and that was so nice!

Friday I had plenty of time to take it easy, I really needed that. I've been really busy lately and it was so nice to be there, relax and have time to just chill and talk to people.

I had a nice chat with Carol Giles. She told me the ins and outs of all the loops and where she thought I should take it easy. I'm the kind of person who loves a plan so knowing as much as I can in advance helps me to really feel more relaxed about everything. I get a chance to think it all through, know how I want to ride and then just do it the day of.

I wrote out my plan. I've taken to having a written plan. I write out time estimates for all my loops. I write reminders to myself and then a list of things to do on my hold. That also helps my mom know what to help me with, what to have ready and when to expect me in camp. Thinking through all that just does me a wold of good!

As soon as the vet got there I headed over to vet. All A's and a heart rate of 32! Can't beat that. I was good to go. Ended up riding again with Dean and rode part of the last loop, which I knew I would be doing in the dark.

Then it was time to go to bed and try to sleep. I had a hard time going to sleep. I wasn't really that nervous I was just anxious to get started!

Four thirty came all to early but I was eager to get going. I went through my morning ritual, eat oatmeal, stretch myself and my horse, spend a bit of time in prayer and then saddle up. I rode around, gave the timer my number and then headed away from the start. I waiting five minutes after they opened the trail and then took off.

It was the best start we had ever had. It was just getting light and we just trucked down the trail nice and calm. We saw Lois Fox ahead of us but knew she would be going faster than us so we just hung back and enjoyed the scenery.

I saw some pronghorn antelope, watched the sun come up and was enjoying the smell of sage brush. Then all of a sudden I realized there was water running down my behind and legs. Figured out it had to be my camelbak leaking so I stopped to make sure it was closed all the way. It was so not really sure what else to do and not wanting to give up all my water ( I still had 20 miles to go on that first loop) I just kept going. After a while it quit leaking on me and life was better.

That first 25 miles went great. I passed two gals who were also riding their first 100. I saw the lead 50 coming up behind us just before the trot out at the out vet. Luckily she caught us right there so I just let Bunny eat while she left, which she did very nicely and calmly, and then we hit the trail again. She didn't get anxious or stupid at all. I was so proud of her!

Met a couple 25 miles riders just out from camp. Bunny was interested but stayed very controllable and calm. For her, I can not tell you what progress that is!

Trotted right in, pulsed right down and vetted great. One of the volunteers saw Bunny come in and said “Wow, look at the bone on that horse, that is a 5,000 miles horse”. That made me feel good. I'll be happy if we make it to 3,000 miles in our career but it sure is nice to hear others think highly of your horse.

Getting ready to vet after the first loop.

 

On the hold I discovered that the water bladder in my camelbak had a hole at the very top. I tried duck tape and then didn't fill it so full and hoped for the best.

After our hold we headed back out for 20 miles to the out vet. That was the longest 20 miles of the whole ride. First off my tape job didn't work so I got wet again, which lead to some chafe marks in all sorts of fun places. Then it got hot and the miles just seemed to drag a bit. I remembered Carol Giles telling me to sing if we got bogged down. I just recently joined the Walla Walla Coral Society and am trying to remembered how to be a soprano again so I worked on regaining my range. A little hard to do when you are bouncing along but it perked both of us up!

I got into the out vet not two far behind two other riders. Their horses took a bit to pulse down and were just pulsing down as I came in. I stripped Bunny's tack and she was down! I was so proud of her. She vetted great and we settled in for our hold.

All day that horse ate so well. She would put her nose down and eat everything in site till I pulled up her head to electrolyte her, put the bit back in and go. She did that every time. It was awesome. She also ate great on the trail. It meant she had good gut sounds and I never had to worry about that. So nice!

Like I said, nose in the food, every chance she got!

 

After our hold we had 16 miles back to camp. Those went great except that in my attempt to not get wet again I didn't get enough water. Yes, it didn't spill all over me but it ran out 45 minutes from camp.

The long road into camp, which you ride many times.

 

So I rode in hot and feeling very thirsty. Celina greeted me as I rode in and gave me some cold some sort of sports drink, which was awesome, and then Paige offered me her Camelbak. I asked if I could just borrow the water bladder from hers and she ran to get it. Endurance people are the best. They are so quick to help, even if it screws up their ride. That is part of what I love so much about this sport.

Bunny again vetted great and I felt good knowing we were over half way, 60 miles down, 40 to go!

After our hold we headed out for a 12 miles loop. Carol had warned me that the 12 miles loops were the hardest, more ups and downs than the other loops.

Just out of camp I caught Laura, a great gal who was also riding her first 100 on a little half appy, half arab. They had hit a little motivational lull and where happy to come hang out with the energizer Bunny.

I have to admit it was nice to have company. I had really debated about trying to find someone to ride with. But I worried about finding someone who truly wanted to ride like I did. I also worried that I wouldn't be able to keep Bunny calm at the start if we weren't alone. She tends to see other horses as competition, not companions.

We took it a tiny bit easier on this loop and just had a great time getting to know each other. When we came into camp Bunny pulsed right down again and Laura and I decided to try to ride the rest of the ride together if it worked.

So after another hold, during which I changed my clothes, that felt great I would highly recommend it. We headed back out again, just as the sun was setting. Bunny was happy to lead at a great chipper pace and away we went. It got dark and I discovered that I really needed the headlamp to see well enough to continue going at speed. My headlamp had a nice dim setting that didn't cast weird shadows but helped you see a little bit of what was coming.

I was excited to discover that we were able to maintain about the same speed we had on the previous 12 miles. I was worried we might have to slow down more in the dark. But Bunny just took it like a champ and away we went. I think the practice ahead of time helped us both.

So we got through that loop, Bunny again vetted great and we were on our last hold with 16 miles to go. I have to admit I was getting pretty tired. We were heading back out just after 10pm and that is past my bedtime. That was the point where the company was really nice!!!

Heading out on the last loop both neither of the horses were super energetic. I think they both thought for sure they were done, but no such luck. We let them walk for a while and just took it easy. At one point I walked on foot for a bit and when I got back on Bunny kind of went down on me a bit. I think what happened is that she wasn't paying attention and went to stretch just as I, who also wasn't paying attention, went to mount. I was worried and started having thoughts of getting pulled at the finish for her having a sore back. We walked some more and then I loosened my girth a bit and felt her back over all felt fine and this time she was rock solid when I mounted so I started feeling a little better. I couldn't help think of how rotten it would be to get pulled at the finish after riding 100 miles!

So we started to do some trotting and Bunny was great. She actually wanted to go faster, she was probably wondering why we were doing all this lollygagging in the dark. Laura tried to get her horse to lead but he wasn't sure and Bunny wasn't sure about something, maybe his rump rug. If he got to a certain point in passing her she would shy a bit, which isn't like her. I was looking to the side some trying to figure this out. Then Laura rode beside me for a while. I remember noticing that her headlamp was brighter than mine and cast a weird double shadow right in my line of vision. I didn't think much of it though.

Things were going good, we were trotting along and I was thinking to myself how good I felt for being 90 + miles into this ride. Sure I had some chafe marks, more than normal due to getting soaked twice. My calf muscles were tired but that was about it. I was enjoying myself and riding pretty darn centered for so many hours in the saddle!

Not 10 minutes after congratulating myself on how well I felt, I started to feel not so good. I asked Laura if we could stop for a minute so I could get off and walk on foot for a minute. When I stopped I realized that I was so dizzy I could barely get off my horse without falling on my head. I've never been so dizzy in my life. I got down and just hung out for a minute hoping the horrible feeling would go away. It didn't. Laura gave me something to drink and I ate something but it didn't help. Besides I'd been eating and drinking all a long. What the heck?

Shortly after that the gals who had been riding behind us all day caught up. They asked how we were and asked if I needed someone to come and get me. ABSOLUTLY not! I had ridden by this point about 94-95 miles. There was so way I was pulling. Worst case I had hours to go and would figure out some way to make it back to camp. I had come to far to quit!

The other gals moved on as they didn't have rump rugs and their horses started to shiver as soon as they stopped. I was glad that Laura and I had taken our rump rugs, just in case. A few minutes later I got on and decided I could stay on at a walk but just barely. I kept hoping it would get better and I could trot. But it never did.

So it was like the longest 5 miles in history. A slow walk, concentrating dead ahead and praying my horse didn't set one foot wrong or I'd probably fall off. She was a jewel, although she would have rather trotted off with the others toward camp.

The hardest part for me was feeling like a burden to others. I know if I was in Laura's shoes, I would have no trouble staying with someone who needed help. But I hated being that person who needed help. I pride myself in working hard, being prepared, pulling my own weight and being tough. Being so dizzy I could hardly stay on made me mad. I had to fight tears for a few miles and remind myself it was okay. Needing help is so much harder then being the one offering help.

Finally we made it. I had accepted that I was going to come into camp, not really be able to walk so I would need someone to vet my horse. It was still hard for me but I had reconciled myself to that. Luckily there are always people willing to help.

The good part about sitting in a chair on the sidelines is that I got to watch Bunny vet and see how truly good she looked after all those miles. Now that brought tears to my eyes. I was so proud of her!

I could hear Dr. Jen saying a whole lot of A's and then she turned to me and said “Congratulation on completing your first 100, your horse looks great, you did a great job!”. Maybe someday I'll win a race but I don't know if it can match the feeling I had at that moment. 

Vet card. Pretty darn good for 100 miles!

It's been an awesome season. Bunny and I have completed 385 endurance miles. Gotten to see lots of cool country, learned a lot and made some great memories. I'm already thinking about my goals for next season. I can't wait to see what it brings!

I got some great advice about dealing with vertigo and discovered I'm not alone! Others struggle with it. Someday I'll write a post about the details of what I learned but for now I think this is long enough.

I hope you all set some great goals for yourself and your equine partners next season and I hope you have a wonderful time working to achieve them!

This sport is the best!!!

Photo by Out of Stream Photography