On October 25, I ran my longest race yet - a 50k (31.1 mi) trail ultramarathon. The race was held in Kettle Morraine State Park in Wisconsin, mostly on wide dirt paths with a little single-track thrown in. The weather was perfect (50 degrees and the rain stopped right before the start). The course was in its full, colorful fall splendor. The trail was muddy from raining the whole night before, but what fun is trail running without getting a little dirty, right?Training for this race quickly became one of the most important (and certainly time-consuming) parts of my life. I had never been so dedicated to a race in my life- not in the 9 years of competitive cross-country or track, not in D-III college athletics, never! It was my "If I can finish this, I can get through anything" challenge to myself. I signed up and started training on July 29. The biggest hiccup during training was spraining my foot (a freak accident, apparently from wearing old running shoes on a long run) and sporting crutches for a week. People asked if I would still run the ultra, being only 7 weeks away at this point. Secretly, I was pretty sure I would rather hop the whole thing on one foot than drop out. Fortunately, I didn't have to. Recovery happened quickly, thanks to being 25 and healthy. Hey, I'll enjoy it while I can.
Training was a huge feat in itself for me. My dietetic internship and grad school kept me busy, as did the weekend trips, weddings, etc. that hindered regular weekend morning long runs. My training plan included long runs on both Saturday and Sunday (Saturday usually long runs, Sunday usually 10 miles), so I often found myself running on weekend evenings in the dark or very early mornings. Running past all the Lincoln Park kids stumbling home from the bars in the wee hours of the morning was funny. They probably thought I was crazy, going out to run 4 hours. I thought they were crazy.
All in all, my training log shows a total of 58.8 hours of running over 3 months...about 360 miles. Towards the end of training, I felt totally wiped. All I wanted to do was sleep and eat and staying awake past 9pm was a virtual impossibility. At one point, I chastised myself for skipping a 6 miler during the taper to hang out with friends. I realized then that I may have gotten a little too obsessed with following my training plan to a T. Bryan, an Ironman finisher and no stranger to tough workout schedules, gave me a good reality check when I needed it.
Race day finally arrived! I was all set to go with my special needs bags at the aid stations (extra socks, shoes, food, etc.) and my DIRTY GIRL GAITERS! If you're a trail runner and hate rocks in your shoes, this may be the best $13 you'll ever spend (http://www.dirtygirlgaiters.com/).
(Special shout-out to B- definitely not 'perfect' weather for spectators!)
The next few hours were some of the most blissful and satisfying hours of my life. Trail running gives me incredibly peaceful thoughts and induces a seemingly neverending state of bliss. And it's legal! Another perk during the race was having Bryan as my sherpa. I lost count of how many times I saw him after #12. On a 31 mile course, that's pretty incredible. He was so helpful, holding my sweaty clothes, encouraging me eat, holding extra gear bags, and getting other spectators to cheer me on. Knowing I only had, at most, 6 miles to the next aid station to see Bry was some serious motivation.
I hit a low from mile 14-18 when the trail zig-zagged across an open, ugly field. Things picked back up at 18 after some Tostitos and a change in scenery. I picked up the pace at mile 20 and felt like I was flying to the finish. Oddly, I still felt pretty fantastic at mile 30! I passed a lot of people here and found guilty pleasure in passing men walking along. I kept wishing time would slow down so this experience would last longer. Minutes flew by much too quickly. I remember a marathon or two where I was desperate for 10, 30, 60 minutes to pass. Now, I was so desperate for the race not to end! I finished in 6 hours and 14 minutes, averaging 11:59 min/mi pace, ahead of my 6:30 goal. There were 27 female finishers and 91 male finishers.
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