The Best Race Swag Ever!

I just got the best race swag ever in the mail. Of course they had the obligatory t-shirt and finishers medal at the race, but they also had several people taking pictures and put them all together on a DVD and mailed it to all the participants. There were hundreds and hundreds to scroll though and it was like reliving my birthday party. Here are just a few:

The starting line....if you look up the hill and to the right you can see some brown buildings. I am in one of those using the flush toilets.



Me on the course, thank you Mr Photographer for getting the much envied both feet in the air at the same time picture!


One of the awesome aid stations on the course. Don't ask me what the monkey is holding.


The well-stocked start/finish line aid station.


Me coming up to the finish line flashing my patented "five-oh" hand signal.


Race director Carl Hunt giving me my finisher's medal.

Two Ultras in Three Weeks Aftermath

You don't tug on Superman's cape
You don't spit into the wind
You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim
--Jim Croce

In writing this, I feel like I might be doing all four of the above. I'm feeling surprisingly good after running my very first ultra three weeks ago, and then running my second one this last weekend and I don't want to jinx myself by telling you guys this. I took Sunday off as a rest day, then ran 4 miles yesterday and just finished 8 miles today at my marathon pace. I only had one small blister after my eight hours on Sunday, but I did have chafing in an area I never experienced it before...between my butt cheeks! What an annoying place to chafe. Oh well, another place for the Body Glide. Except I think I'll use Vaseline there.

I signed up to run Grandma's Marathon in Duluth next month. My brother and sister-in-law are going to be running it and it will also be a chance to visit with my parents for a couple of days. My brother has been training extremely hard in an attempt to run a sub-three hour marathon. Looking at his training, he should have a good shot at it if the weather cooperates.

I have no idea what kind of time to shoot for. Right now I'm thinking of running with the 5:00 pace group, but all I'm really hoping for is to finish ahead of the mop-up wagons and before they run out of beer.

My training plan for the next couple of weeks is to do 30-40 miles/week with a long run of 15 miles or three hours (whichever comes first) this week and a long run of 20 miles or four hours next week.

Oh, and I just discovered that if I do complete Grandma's, I'll meet the criteria to be a Marathon Maniac. Who knew?

Darkside 8 Hour Race Report

Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon.
--Alan Cabelly

Which of course begs the question, What kind of idiot does it take to run an ultramarathon around a 1/4 mile track?

The answer is, a me kind of idiot!

The morning was kind of foggy and about 25-30 runners showed up. This is about double the turnout of the last couple of years. There was a wide range of runners; several running an ultra for the very first time, several who had run the Umstead 100 last month, Dave from my home state of Minnesota who was running this as a training run for a 24 hour run in a couple of weeks, a 78 year old dude who was a very fast walker, and a guy who completed his 198th marathon or greater distance race today (he's running 2 marathons in the next two weeks to make it a round 200).

Not much to say about the race itself, once you run around a 1/4 mile track, all the rest of the laps are kind of the same. The weather held out until about the 4:30 point at which time it started raining. Initially it wasn't too bad, but the intensity kept increasing until about the 5:00 point at which time it was a full-fledged thunderstorm with lightning. Scott, the race director, pulled us all off the course and we hung out under the pavilion eating cookies and swapping running stories. About an hour later, the storm moved off and it was safe to continue. The clock was stopped while we were all off the course, and then restarted with all of us at the start line again. The one hour break was both good and bad. My muscles had really stiffened up and it took a good lap of walking before I could get back to slow running. However, my heart rate, which had crept up to near 160 was back in the 145-150 range.

I had planned on running this as a two-three hour training run and evaluating my condition each hour and if I felt good I would run another hour. I ended up doing the full 8 hours and covered 37 miles. You can probably put an asterisk next to the mileage because of the one hour break, but I'm still counting it.

After every one finished we had celebration pizza and cokes, and then the award ceremony. I was completely surprised to find out that I was 2nd place female. There were several runners faster than me, but they stopped running after 25-30+ miles, either because they were training for a future ultra or recovering from a recent ultra. The prize was $20 off the entry fee to the November 50K race. Looks like there's no escaping the darkside once you cross over! The top gal, Margaret, ran 44+ miles and the top guy, Garth, ran 55+ miles.

Overall it was a great experience, I got to meet some super runners, and was very pleased with what I did.

One of the Best Things About My Job....

is that I get to eat and run at all kinds of different places. Unfortunately most of the time, time of day, weather, or neighborhood will send me to the hotel fitness center to get in my run on the treadmill. However, this trip I had a perfect storm of overnights. The first night was in Portland, ME and I ran along the bay and over the Casco Bay bridge. The second night was in Key West, FL and I ran along the shore. The temperature was in the mid 80s and the humidity was about 120% (only a slight exaggeration) so even though I had planned on running 90 minutes, I only managed 60. This morning I was in Rock Island, IL and ran along the mighty Mississippi. Weather conditions were perfect and I was able to get in my 90 minutes. I kicked it the last mile and ran it in 9:06. That's about as fast as I've run a mile in 20 years! Here are some pictures I took during my runs.

View from the Casco Bay bridge in Portland

Old downtown Portland on the way to the bay

Beautiful Key West

One of the many bridges between Illinois and Iowa

Training for the last two weeks has been a kind of combination recovery/taper. I ran the 50k two weeks ago, and now I'm planning on doing at least part of an 8 hour run. I've run an average of 32 miles/week and although I will show up at the 8 hour run, I'm going to play it by ear. Looking at past results, about half a dozen runners use it as a catered training run, running 10, 15, 20, or 26.2 miles. The other half dozen go for the full 8 hours. Right now I'm planning on a two hour training run, but I'll be using the run/walk pace I used on my first ultra. If I still feel good, I'll add another hour, then another hour, etc. If I reach 6 hours and still feel good, then I'll make myself do the 8. The race director is Scott Ludwig. I googled him and he has quite a list of accomplishments. He's run Western States, finished 6th at Badwater in 2003, and has an unbroken running streak of over 30 years. I'm looking forward to chatting with him and with other local ultra runners and getting some training advice.

I Think I Destroyed Some Brain Cells

During my internet browsing last night I saw that there is an 8 hour endurance run in two weeks about 10 miles from my house. I am actually thinking about doing it. It is extremely low key (two years ago they had 13 runners and one of them was Taco the Wonder Dog) and low cost. Entry fee is $10 and that gets you all the water and Gatorade you can drink. All runners have to bring snacks to share in addition to the entry fee. The flyer says that you can go for the full 8 hours, or use it as a catered training run. Its not very scenic (its 1/4 mile laps around the school track), but hey, I'm a person who has run 20 miles on a treadmill. I have two weeks to come to my senses, wish me luck or sanity.

Jack Bristol Lake Waramaug Ultra Race Report

Beautiful Lake Waramaug

Warning, this is a long, rambling post!

The idea

A couple of months ago, after I had successfully run my very first marathon, I got the crazy idea that maybe I could do something special for my upcoming 50th birthday. Like run a 50K. So I searched the internet for a race. I had several criteria. It had to be on or within a day or two of my birthday, it couldn't have any monster hills, and it had to have a very generous cutoff time. The answer to my search was the Jack Bristol Lake Waramaug Ultra. I waited a couple of weeks to make sure this still sounded like a good idea after the euphoria of my first marathon wore off and then sent in my application.

Arrival in Connecticut

Fast forward to this weekend. I arrived in Connecticut on Saturday and spent the night in Danbury. It seemed like I was surrounded by runner karma. From the shuttle van driver who was contemplating signing up for his first 3K race to my waiter who was going to run a relay from Harvard to Yale in a couple of weeks. I managed to tell just about everyone I had contact with that I was turning 50 tomorrow and that I was celebrating it by running a 50K. I got to the hotel around 2 pm, so I drove the 25 miles or so to the race course. The countryside was beautiful and the road around the lake that I would be running on didn't seem too hilly. After my carbo load dinner, I settled in on my computer to see if I could Google any race reports. I ran across UltraBrit's blog and saw that she would be volunteering at the race. I left her a comment and then tried to get some sleep.

Race Morning

I got a fairly good night's sleep and woke up about 30 minutes before my alarm went off. I took a shower, ate some oatmeal, and checked the weather report online. Still forecast to be in the 80's. I also saw that Dane and Blaine of the Biggest Loser had run the Nashville Country Music Marathon in a time of 5:47. I got out my calculator and figured out that I would have to run a 6:50 to run at the same pace they ran the marathon in. I know, I know, I had promised myself that I had absolutely no time goals, but this time got stuck in my mind the morning of my 50K. (Side note, check out Absolut(ly) Fit's blog, she got to run the whole marathon with these guys!) I also checked my blog and saw that UltraBrit would be working the aid station with the monkey, cool, I would have a friendly face to look for! Now time was running short, so I packed my stuff, covered my body with Glide, and drove to Lake Waramaug.

Arrival

Expo/Start/Finish/Aid Station

As soon as I got out of the car, I was swarmed with bugs. They weren't biting or stinging bugs, but they sure were annoying. I thought, "oh great, not only do I have to contend with heat, now I'm also going to have bugs chasing me for 31 miles". I made my way to the registration area/start line/finish line/aid station and picked up my race packet. I also checked out the aid station goodies. Besides water and gatorade that you find at a marathon, they also had salty, sugary, and chocolately goodies. Also first aid supplies like vaseline, S-caps, Ibuprophen, and one that puzzled me, Tums. I then went back to my car to put on Julie Berg's magic Foot Potion and slather myself with sunscreen. By now it was time for race director Carl Hunt's safety briefing. He described the course, told us that it was going to be hot and to stay hydrated, and mentioned that all the aid station workers were either ultra runners themselves or were related to ultra runners, and that they were well trained in lying and telling runners that they were looking good even though they weren't. I didn't look at my watch, but I figured I had enough time to use the real flush toilets about 100 yards up the hill before the start.

The Start

Oops, I guess I didn't have enough time to use the flush toilets. Apparently while I was in the bathroom, they started the race. I walked out and saw a herd of runners heading down the road. No worries, it was going to be a long day, so I walked down the hill to the start, asked if the race had already started (it had), and was on my way. Ok, now the worries start. Within a hundred yards, I felt pain in my left shin. Now, this is not an unusual pain for me, if I haven't run in two or more days, my shins almost always hurt for about 5-10 minutes and then feel fine. So, I figured that was what this was. However, only one shin hurt, and it hurt a lot more than usual. I toughed it out for about a quarter of a mile, and then slowed to a walk. I started swearing to myself. For the next mile or so I alternated walking for 2-3 minutes, jogging for a couple of dozen yards, and swearing at myself. Then I thought about DavidRay's picture of the back of his hand after an ultra. It said HTFU. You can google the definition. So, I had the following internal dialogue with myself. "Hey, its your birthday, you came here to have fun. Quit your bitching. You have 12 hours to cover 31 miles. Its a beautiful day for a walk around the lake. Quit your bitching and enjoy yourself. Appreciate the lovely day and quit your bitching!" After that I mentally turned a corner. My shin still hurt and I still could only run a couple of dozen yards at a time, but I stopped swearing at myself and started to enjoy the day. At about this time, the lead runners had reached the 2.2 mile turn around point and started running by me in the opposite direction. All offered encouraging words to this sorry looking person at the very back (remember, I started two minutes late, plus I was doing a lot of walking, so I wasn't even close to the back of the pack). I waved at all of them, and told them they were doing great, and kept on going. I reached the aid station/turn around point, refilled my water bottle, and kept doing my run/mostly walking thing. Then something amazing happened. Somewhere around the 3 mile point, as I was doing my couple of dozen yard run, I realized that my shin no longer hurt. I guess it realized that I was serious about doing this 50K thing and that trying to sabotage me wasn't doing any good. So I kept right on running. I had planned on alternating running 10 minutes with walking one minute, so I continued running for 10 minutes, then walked for a minute. I arrived at the start/stop line aid station, topped off my water bottle and was on my way. As I left, I heard someone remark to someone else "she's looking strong". I'm guessing some of the people who had seen me the first two miles had expressed some concern to the people running this aid station. Hearing that remark made me smile and feel great.

Settling In

After the out and back, we ran the 7.6 miles around the lake three times. There were 4 aid stations, so we were never more than 2.2 miles from aid. At each aid station, I looked for a monkey so I could say hi to UltraBrit, but I didn't see a monkey during my first loop. The volunteers were wonderful, everytime I came to a station they asked me, "what do you need?" Since this was my first ultra, the first couple of times I just kind of stood there as they then asked me, "do you need water, do you need ice, do you need gatorade, do you need food?" By about the third or fourth stop, I had things pretty much figured out, though. I was carrying a water bottle, and in 2 miles I would drink about 1/3 to 1/2 of it, so I just had them fill it up with ice. At the start/stop aid station, I would have them fill my fuel belt bottles with ice, and then I'd go to my drop bag and fill those up with Powerade. My favorite foods were Swedish Fish and the wonderful popsicles that were at the halfway around the lake aid station. While I was running my loops around the lake, I gradually started catching up with some people and also got lapped by people. When I caught up with someone on a walk break, I usually slowed to a walk also and chatted for a few minutes. One hard core gal had run a trail race the day before and had fallen and was sporting some pretty impressive scrapes. Although there were no rock and roll bands or scream tunnels, there was plenty of random encouragement. This loop appears to be a popular one for walkers, runners, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. Although I was running alone for the majority of the time, I got dozens of thumbs up and smiles from people enjoying the day. The second time around the lake, I asked at each aid station if Ultrabrit was working there (I still hadn't seen a monkey) and I finally got to meet her briefly and say hi. Thanks for the great work! (btw, I finally did see the monkey the 4th time through the aid station). As promised, all the aid station workers were accomplished liars, and I appreciated every single one of them.

The Finish

After the three loops, the 50K runners had to do 1.8 miles out and then back to finish up. During the last loop, I had spent several minutes thinking how I wanted my finish line photo to look. (My marathon photo looked like I was raising my arms in surrender.) I had decided I would have five outstretched fingers for my right hand and a clenched fist for my left hand, so that when you looked at me from the front, you would see a five and a zero for 50 years old and 50K. My stomach was feeling very slightly queasy and I decided to have a couple of those Tums that had puzzled me six hours earlier. I dropped off my handheld water bottle (so I could do my finish line pose) and hit the porta-potty. After I exited, I went back to the start/stop line and told them I would be back in 45-60 minutes and that they had to sing "Happy Birthday" when I crossed the finish line. (Yes, I know, shameless.) By now I was walking a lot more, but I still felt great and my heart rate was staying below 160. I hadn't looked at my splits at all since I had told myself to HTFU in the first two miles. I only looked at my Garmin to keep a watch on my heart rate and to keep me on schedule with S-caps and walk breaks. I passed 4-5 runners in the last 4 miles and was feeling good. I crossed the finish line with a smile on my face, and my five-oh sign flashing. Everyone was saying "Happy Birthday!" and I felt fantastic. These small races are great. The race director shakes your hand, thanks you for running the race, and then personally hands you your medal. I grabbed a diet coke (at which point another runner said "Diet! you don't need a DIET coke!") and grabbed a seat at a picnic table. I changed my shoes and socks (ZERO blisters thanks to drymax socks and magic Foot Potion) and watched and cheered more runners finishing the 50K or continuing on the 50 mile or 100K options.

After Thoughts and Numbers

I finished in 6:38 and actually beat my non-goal time goal. I really think that my sore shin helped me out. It forced me to start slow and not worry about time. In fact, according to Garmin, my last two miles were both faster than my second mile. In total, I spent 16 minutes stopped (at the two porta-potty stops and aid stations), 5 miles walking, and 26 miles jogging. I was able to derive this information using a program called SportTracks that downloads your information from your GPS device and then allows you to analyze that data in various ways. For example, besides the normal 1 mile splits, I could also have the program give me my 5 mile splits, 10K splits, or customizeable splits. It will also break down your time into stop, walk, jog, and run segments. Plus a lot more that I haven't gotten around to playing with yet.

Will I run another 50K? Absolutely! Do I see myself running a 50 mile or further race? Not this year!

All in all, this was about the best way I could have celebrated my birthday. Thanks Carl Hunt for putting on an awesome race, and thanks all you volunteers! And thank you readers for reading this far!

I Did It!!!!

I ran my first Ultra (50K on my 50th birthday) in 6:38. Now I'm off to celebrate with a fantcy schmantcy dinner (and a free dessert if I can finagle it). Full race report to follow.