I finished the Blood Root Ultra as the first race of the season yesterday, May 15. I did this race two years ago and when I signed up I seemed to have forgotten how hard the race is. I remembered the two peaks and mud but I forgot that there really isn’t a trail and the trail surface is uneven for 80 percent of the course. Oh and the mud and black flies were really bad. The course was well marked this year and a little bit different from 2019 but I was two hours longer this year. I’m still waiting for official results but there will be no second female awards for this woman.
It’s okay. It was a great day to be out there learning all the things I need to know such as train harder, train more consistently and work on my core strength. All the things I know but don’t do because I’m lazy, run out of time or just don’t want to do it.
The bugs were terrible 
A view 
Finishing
While I ran my self-talk included “stay loose” and “get into a flow” with the hope that I would just relax and be happy in the moment. It’s hard to stay in the moment when you’re out there for so long. I just knew that the mental training has to be dialed in and if I can’t do it for a 50K how will I do it during an 100M.
I’m glad I finished and stayed on the trail. I’m going to try to swim today and foam roll and eat a lot.
Next up: June 5 Chocorua run. I need to hike more and will do more hikes to Gunstock, Sunapee and Ragged during the week to get ready for this mountain run.