To say I’ve been unmotivated since the Iron Cap incident would be an understatement. I thought for a while it might take years to work back up to an adventure run, especially solo. I did buy an emergency bivvy that now lives in my running pack as well as a bug net for my head during peak mosquito season (that seems to be over now, thankfully!).
I had the past week off work and spent it relaxing with my son, camping, and working on getting some things we still needed for our new apartment. By the time the weekend rolled around, I was feeling pretty good and had gotten some solid runs in during the week, including a ladder workout and a trail run where I saw two big cats.
I decided to go for an FKT, as one does. I did NOT want anything with bushwhacking or too much scrambling, and since I have a huge crush on Mt Rainier, I decided to go for the Northern Loop/Spray Park Figure 8 loop. This loop has approximately 20 miles of trail on the Wonderland that makes a loop with the Spray Park trail and the Northern Loop trail. I’d already completed the Spray Park loop back in late October, so I felt fairly confident of the terrain.
I dropped off my son with his dad and set out for Mowich Lake at 8pm, arriving just before midnight. It was extremely foggy and misty, and when I set out on the run the visibility was so poor that I ran straight into Mowich Lake. Luckily I only barely got my feet wet, but I laughed at myself, turned around and went back up the trail towards Ipsut Pass. The rest of the run in the midnight hours was fairly uneventful. I listened to Tooth and Claw, a podcast about animal attacks, and jogged at a comfortable pace. When I hit the big climbs, I walk-jogged. Just before daylight, my waist light abruptly shut off, leaving me in total darkness. I had to pull out my phone and use the flashlight to fish around for the other battery pack.
I didn’t see anyone until the high point near Sunrise, where I found a group of very wet hikers. The visibility up on these high ridges was maybe fifteen or twenty feet in places.
I made the turn onto the Northern Loop Trail (the trail itself is not a loop but a 16-mile point-to-point, and I suppose it is assumed one always makes a loop with the Wonderland). I’d researched this trail in advance and knew there was a big climb coming up, but HOLY MOLY. Windy Gap certainly lives up to its nickname of “Winded Gap.” By the time I reached the crest of that ridge, I was totally gassed. I had to keep shoving down feelings of despair. I’d planned to take the first big climbs easy and then try to run the next two as much as possible, but there was very little running happening here. It was cold, windy, and slippery. I somehow caught my shoe on an upturned root and it wedged itself through the fabric, slamming me to the ground in a forceful faceplant. I had to pry the shoe off the root and then stubbed the toe on my other foot moments later. Something must have happened to my gait, as I kept stubbing the same toe over and over.
Anyway, on my way down from Windy Gap I saw the only other trail runners I’d meet that day. They were doing the Northern Loop, and I found out later that they set the FKT for that course. I guess it was a day for FKTs!
There were more people on the last stretch of the Wonderland before reaching Spray Park, and I saw some families out for leisurely hikes. There were a few “easy” miles before the final 3500-foot climb to Spray Park. That’s where I started to lose it. And by “it,” I mean my sanity. I’d been awake for about 32 hours at this point. I started imagining I was talking to one friend, and then another one. Vivid daydreams spun through my brain, and I entertained them. I knew they weren’t real, but my mind was staying occupied and distracted from the pain of the run. At one point, I wondered what “that sound” was, only to realize it was my own labored breathing. I felt like I was floating above my body.
The windchill at the top of Spray Park was the coldest I’d felt all day, and had I not had my nice new rain jacket I would have been in trouble. I would estimate it was about 25 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The fog was oppressive. I thanked some hikers who let me pass on the downhill and then joked, “Isn’t Rainier lovely today?” They laughed.
The next few miles back to Mowich Lake were some of the most painful, probably because the end was so close. The terrain is a bit rooty and rocky, and I passed a few hikers with skis strapped to their packs. I wondered where they’d been skiing and envisioned myself asking them but I don’t think I did.
“Are you good?” one of them asked.
“I’m in a lot of pain,” I replied. I gave a sheepish half-smile and hobble-jogged off ahead, then promptly caught my foot on a root and went down hard. My phone went flying. Thankfully, I was able to jog faster than their walking pace and stay ahead of them, although I did see them in the parking lot when I made it back to my car.
I’m definitely glad I did this run, but the lack of long runs leading up to it made it more challenging. I’m quite certain I could easily have done it faster with the proper training, but it was still fun to set my first FKT (they are always borrowed, so feel free to improve my time and set your own record!). I actually started getting interested in setting FKTs in the first place as one of my new running partners commented that a lot of routes don’t even have a women’s record yet. So, who knows. Maybe I’ll try and set a few more before the winter sets in.
x
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