ULTRA Race Report

Holy crap pretty much describes it. What a day!! I'm not very good at race reports but I'll try to recap the best I can. Oh, and the most important part...I DID IT!! I FREAKING DID IT. 51.2 MILES (according to Garmin)!!

I slept great Friday night and woke up feeling refreshed and calm on Saturday. We arrived at the race start around 7am. My fellow Lone Rangers arrived shortly thereafter and within minutes we scoped out our spot and started setting up our base camp. By the time we were done, we had about 2 hours to kill until the race kicked off. There was a pre race meeting at 9:15 and during that the nerves kicked in. By the time the meeting was over, I was bouncing off the walls and ready to get started!!

It was a different feeling lining up at the start line. Usually I'm fired up and ready to RACE. But this was different. I wasn't racing all these other runners, I was going out there to prove to myself I had the will and determination to run 50 miles. Knowing the heat was going to be a factor, we started off slow, using our 5:1 run walk intervals. There were a ton of other smart Lone Rangers out on the course also using a run walk strategy, it's definitely the way it has to be done if you want to complete this kind of mileage.

The first loop went fine, my legs were a little heavy but that's always the case with me when I start off. We used the first loop to scope out the aid stations and know what we had where. There was a ton of food on the course, by the way. Soft pretzels, Entemens cookies/muffins, trail mix, M&M's, boiled potatoes, bananas, sandwiches, popcorn, bagels, etc. There were also stations that had cold wet clothes, which were a life saver later in the day.

The second loop went much quicker than the first. I didn't eat much on the first loop because I just wasn't very hungry but by the second loop I was doing what I needed to do and was eating a little bit of something at each station. I played mind games with myself the whole day, counting down the loops, and told myself through this one that after the next one I would already be half way done!!

After each loop, coming into our base camp, we were in and out in a flash. There was no socializing or lolly gagging. My longest stop was after lap 3 when I did a shoe change. I'm not sure this was the best idea, but my feet were really hurting so I wanted to get some new support. When I started loop 4 with the new shoes, it hurt like hell!! My Saucony are definitely not good for my bunions. But anyway. I started loop 4 with my Pacer Dave and it was really nice to have a fresh face in our little pack of runners. I hit a couple rough spots during this loop and at times found myself thinking that 50 miles was out of the question. But these thoughts came and went so I kept pushing myself through.

I was feeling tired when we came into home base after loop 4. But I picked up a new Pacer, Bonnie for loop 5 and we set off. This loop is really where things hit me and I mentally went to shit. I was so tired, the heat had gotten to me, my stomach started feeling funny and I wanted to stop at medical, lay on one of the cots, curl up in a ball and call it a day. Around mile 38 I broke down and started crying. I had just had it and I was sooooo tired. But Bonnie was AMAZING and got me through this rough patch. By the end of this loop she even had me talking again, I had been pretty quiet for a while. I finished this loop crying and headed straight to the port o pottie where I had diarrhea. You didn't think I'd leave that out, did you??

Knowing I only had one loop left, I picked up my final Pacer, Pumpkin and a handful of oyster crackers to settle my stomach and the 3 of us (Bonnie still with us) set off. I was complaining A LOT when we started out. I got really nauseous on this loop and wasn't sure if I was going to puke or not. I honestly don't know if we stopped once or twice for me to have more diarrhea but st0ps were needed. I was so not in the mood for food at this point in the race but you have to force yourself to eat. I stuck with soft pretzels and ripped off the tiniest little pieces which took me forever to eat. I could barely get myself to swallow. When we reached the half way part of the loop, my spirits really lifted. It was then that I realized I was really going to finish this. I fought back tears on and off during this loop but kept chugging along. The best was when Bonnie called Andy at base camp to tell him I was only a mile away!! I gave up taking walk breaks with about a mile and half left I was so anxious to finish. When we turned the corner and I saw the cars parked at Boathouse Row, I knew this was the final stretch. I couldn't believe I was finishing!! At that moment, nothing hurt, I felt great and every emotion I can imagine ran through me. I crossed the finish line in 10 hours 4 minutes bawling my eyes out. I met my goal of not only finishing, but finishing in 10 hours. I'm crying now as I type this. What an unbelievable feeling.

Over the course of 10 hours, I ran through heat, I pushed through two of the lowest feeling moments of my life, I felt like shit, but I ran smart and I finished. I took on the biggest challenge of my life and I finished. I ran 51 freaking miles...oh, and I'm paying the price for it today. ;-)

Talk about sore!!! I will NEVER say my legs are tired ever again after experiencing the exhaustion I felt last night. I didn't sleep last night, which really sucked but I got a little nap in this morning. Now I'm going to spend the day reliving the moment of crossing the finish line and then I'm going out for some celebratory nachos!!

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes, you guys are the best!! I have pictures but I figured this was long enough so I'll post them next. But one last thing before I go...NO. I will NOT be doing this again. I will dabble in the Ultras, but I'm keeping it at 50K. No more 50 miles.

After the finish line