55 miles instead of 80 - but it was a great 55 miles!

So there is something you should know about me. Feeling week drives me crazy. There is a part of me that wants to believe that if I take care of myself, am healthy enough, fit enough I can do anything. And that's partly true but unfortunately there are limits.

The week before Mt. Adams I woke up with a fever and feeling rotten. I didn't panic too much, I had a week. So I did everything I could think of to take good care of myself, including taking it easy which is so hard for me. Despite all my efforts, Wednesday rolled around and I felt worse than ever so I finally decided that I needed professional help.

The doctor at the walk in clinic listened to my lungs for half a second, frowned and told me I had pneumonia. What, that couldn't be right, I had 80 miles to ride I couldn't have pneumonia. The doctor prescribed antibiotics and I told him about my ride. See I wanted to know what he would say. If he would have said “There is no way in you know what that you will be riding 80 miles, that would be the dumbest thing in the world” well then I would have at least considered not riding. He looked at me, wearing my AERC jacket, and said “It's hard to say, you might be able to kick it and ride on Saturday, but you need to prepare yourself for at least he possibility that you may not be able to do your ride”.

That very evening my fever broke and I started to feel a bit better. I wanted to do Mt. Adams so bad that I didn't even want to really considered the possibility that I might not be able to go. Dean hauled horses on Thursday since he was riding the 100 and I didn't say anything to him. I just sent Bunny and hoped for the best. Thursday I did feel a bit better but it took all my energy to get my stuff ready to go.

Friday morning I work up and felt like I was made of lead, it took so much effort to move. I hoped that once I got up and going things would get better. I had decided that unless I felt just awful that I would go. I didn't have to drive so I could just be along for the ride. If I really lacked the energy to ride, I could at least sit around camp and see friends and hopefully feel a little less sorry for myself than I would have at home.

So we hit the road and it was hard just to keep my head up in the back seat of the car. It took effort to have a conversation, me who loves to talk. This wasn't good. I wasn't totally sure I could even ride but after a bit of mulling it over (about an hour and a half) I decided I didn't have 80 miles in me. To ride 80 miles I need to feel at least pretty good, I needed to be up for a long day of taking care of my horse and myself and mentally staying in the right place.

My friend Kandi was riding her mare Syd on her first 50 (Syd's first fifty, incidentally Syd is Bunny's sister). I started to think that it would be a lot easier to ride with someone than alone, especially someone that I knew how she was going to ride and our horses got along. She could help me if I needed it, keep an eye on me and make sure I didn't die somewhere on the side of the trail. So I finally broke the news to my mom and Kandi, who had been trying not to make comments about the fact that maybe I shouldn't ride 80 miles, that I wasn't going to ride 80 miles I would ride the 55 with Kandi.

I was disappointed but getting to ride with Kandi helped take the sting out of not being able to do the miles I really wanted to do. But to be honest, I still had a question in my mind about weather or not I could ride 55 miles.

We got to camp and got things set up and then set out to pre ride the first couple miles of the trail. Both horses were great, I felt like I shouldn't really be on a horse. I still felt like I was made of lead, like my reaction time was slow and it was an awful lot of effort just to ride a few miles.

The wheels were turning in my head, should I call it now and not ride at all. I had won a free ride entry in the PNER raffle. So it wasn't a money issue either way. I had kind of had this pattern with this stupid illness where I would have a pretty good day, followed by a rough day. So I figured there was a chance that Saturday would be better. So I decided I would get up the next morning, get saddled and start. If I felt like I did then, I would find a spot to get off the trail, let everyone go by and then ride back to camp and pull. If I felt okay, like I was with it enough to ride, I would take it one mile at a time.

Vetting on on Friday, me wearing my AERC jacket and Bunny wearing her Standardbred high mileage halter. 

Yes, I'm a bit proud! Photo by Jessica Wynne

The next morning, I got up and didn't feel like I was made of lead, I didn't feel 100% but I did feel better. I got ready and even took time to stretch Bunny. Kandi had a plan to average between 7-8mph and I told her that was fine, I was just going to be along for the ride. If after the first two loops I felt really good I might go on my own and go a bit faster but for at least the first two loops I was sticking with her and I didn't want her to ride any differently because I was there. I didn't want her to feel pressured to go faster, I knew she know I was disappointed about the 80. Bunny was fit. I was pretty sure we could have gone right through the 80 miles with nice even pace and energy and finished in about 10 ½ hours and I was itching to do it. I didn't want her to try and ease my pain by making better time on the 55 miles. It was Syd's first 50 and although she was fit and ready she shouldn't be pushed, Bunny has a lot more miles behind her.

We warmed up around the masses and both girls were good. I told Kandi we would let the front runners go and then jump in in the gap between them and all the people trying not to start in the front. That worked well and Bunny and I lead our way out of camp for the first few miles. Bunny wanted to go but was good. We passed half a dozen people and Bunny let me know she would really rather average 10mph, thank you very much but I said no, not the plan. Bunny was being good but it was taking energy to pace her and I knew my energy was in dangerously low supply. I asked Kandi if she and Syd were ready to lead and she said yes. So Bunny and I followed them for the rest of the 15 mile loop. They did a great job. Nice even pace, calm and reasonable and I even felt up to chatting a bit.

So if you ever decide to be crazy and ride with pneumonia, make sure you have a crew. We got back to camp for our first hold. Bunny pulsed right down and vetted well. I handed her to my friend Ruth. Ruth had agreed to take care of her during holds. I told her to do whatever she could to keep her eating. So Ruth would let her eat her mash and then hand graze her for me. I would sit in my chair and tell my mom what to get me. My mom would fill my pack, electrolyte my horse, make sure I ate etc... I would arise from the chair in just enough time to go to the bathroom, put the bit back on my horse and leave camp. So nice to have good help, I couldn't have done it without them.

Pretty soon it was time to head out on the second loop, which was 16 miles. A ways into that loop Syd was starting to wonder about why we were going so far and was dragging a bit. I asked Kandi if she just wanted to slow down for a bit or have Bunny lead. She said she didn't think Syd was tired, just not very motivated so I Bunny and I passed and showed her what motivation looks like. Well Bunny was a bit perturbed that I wanted to let Syd slow down a bit so I had Bunny set a little bit slower pace than she would have preferred. Bunny was great. She would remind me that she was able and willing to take it a bit faster or a lot faster but when I told her no, she would settle right back down, no complaints.

Three standardbreds heading out on the second loop. Kandi and Syd in the lead, me in pink
and Aarene and Fiddle bringing up the rear. Photo by Sierra Westlake

There is one other thing that saved my hide on this ride. I have struggled with what to eat on rides. I'm allergic to milk and as part of controlling migraines I'm on a diet that includes no nuts and a bunch of other things traditionally found in exercise foods. I've figured out a lot of things that work well in camp, including home made proteins smoothies but on the trail it's a bit hard. I found one odwalla bar that I could eat but it doesn't taste very good. Add in the fact that because of the pneumonia I had almost completely lost my apatite. I had decided to try a new product, I tried one at April Daze and loved them. They are called Huma and they ares little squeeze packets of fruit and Chia seeds. I like the ingredients and the taste and best of all I could eat them on the move. I ate one every hour. I would shove one in each pocket of my coat and eat one in the first half of the loop and the other in the second. Those things did wonders, they helped keep up what little energy I had, they were super easy on my finicky digestive system and they even tasted good! They were a bit spendy but totally worth it!

Anyway, back to the ride. Both horses were eating well, drinking well and we made it back in camp, pulsed down and this time I let Ruth vet my horse. She vetted great again so it was back to camp where I sat and let others take care of Bunny and I.

The third loop was 13 miles, we had to stop a few times because my pack was causing me problems. Eventually I figured out the water reservoir had sprung a leak. Same problem I had at Oregon 100 last year. I think I figured it out but I'll save that for another post, since is is already rather lengthy.

In the middle of the loop I was really getting tired. I told Kandi I was going to stick with her for the time being. I spent most of the loop just following Syd and trying not to zone out but trying to stay focused and ride as well as I could.

When we headed out on the last loop (10 miles) I had perked up a bit but I could tell that I hadn't been riding as well as I usually do. I was a bit sore and stiff and I'm usually not. I told Kandi I would start out with her and take it from there. Part of me wanted to just let my horse go and see what kind of time we could make and maybe, just maybe finish in the top 10. But I was tired, I knew I wasn't riding 100% and I enjoyed Kandi's companionship. We also picked up a very nice old gentleman. He was 78 and asked if he could tag along with us. I hope I am still able to ride endurance when I'm 78!!!

It was a beautiful loop. We all trucked along and had a great time. We finished 12, 13 and 14^th (later AERC placed us 11, 12 and 13^th). Our total ride time was 7 hours and 24 minutes, I was very pleased with that. I felt bad because I had told Kandi that I was going to let her finish ahead of me and as we came in all I was thinking about was being done. I had been trotting along in the lead and that's how we came in, later I felt bad for not letting Kandi finish ahead, she deserved it. She did all the hard work on the ride and without her I would not have had the ride I did.

Bunny pulsed down just fine. I vetted her for the last vet check. I wanted to be there and see how she was. She was good but got a B on her gait. The vet said that she thought she might just not be very focused. That she had lots of animation and loft in her stride but seemed a bit spacie and therefore not paying attention to where she placed her feet. Dr. Jen suggested working on focusing Bunny a bit more for her final trot outs. All day Bunny was paying a bit more attention to Syd than I would have liked. I just didn't have the energy to demand her attention and I think she knew that. She was not as quite and focused as she usually is for the vet and pulsers. The other thing is that I think my riding not being at 100% took its toll a bit too. But all in all she looked good!

I was happy to be done, happy to have had a great ride and to have been there to see how great Kandi and Syd did and have been able to have Bunny calmly ride the entire ride with another horse.

It's now two weeks later and I'm still not 100%, that darn pneumonia really takes it out of you. But I'm close and I'm looking forward to doing 100 miles at Sunriver. I have a whole plan, which I will share if I get a minute.

Bunny and I enjoying ourselves and the beauty of this ride. Photo by Jessica Wynne.

See you on the trail!