This local race has been on my to do list for a few couple years, so I finally signed up for it. I knew I wasn't trained for it but I'm not in horrible shape and figured I could fake my way through for a middle of the pack finish. We had heavy rains the night before, so they had to change the course a bit, which unfortunately took the river crossings out of it. At least we got to cross a spillway and climb the cement retaining wall twice. The way they had to modify the course we just did two laps of the same route. The first mile or so was on the road around the lake. That was a nice little warm up and I made sure I didn't get too far back in the pack so that I'd get help up when the trail came. The part of the course that is in the Sweetwater Creek state park was quite reasonable with lots of different type of trail. Then came the top of the world and powerlines section. That is the challenging part of this course and one I was not prepared for. It is a series steep climbs and descents that isn't more than a few miles but it is harsh. It is hard to describe, it is rollercoaster series of hills that very steep and repeat one after the other. My strategy was to walk the ups and run the downhills. This worked, but I had to pause on some of the ups. And even some of the downs were impossible for me to run. I got dropped by a bunch of guys here and it was hanging on from there.
I came into the halfway point at 2:30-ish, which was way ahead of my goal time of 6 hours. But then again, I had to do the whole thing again and I wasn't feeling all that zippy anymore. Needless to say, or write, I struggled in the second loop. I was doing ok through mile 25 aid station, but started to do downhill from there. By the time I made it to the top of the world section, I was really wanting to call it quits. I took a minute or two at the next aid station to kneel down and collect my thoughts, got a few go-get-ums, and went back at it. I knew that after making it over the last series of climbs it was at least pretty runnable to the finish. I started feeling ok. The knowledge of an upcoming finishing line really makes you feel better. Then I took a strange hard step off of a log and my heart went into one of it's little episodes where the rate goes high and won't stop. I know that if I stop immediately and get it under control I'll be fine in a few minutes. In my current state, it took longer than usual and I started walking before it was over. I had to stop and sit after a few more minutes and then again. But after the third sitting, I yawned and things went back to normal. I was able to go back to the pace I was at prior to that little issue. I hit the last aid station and they said it was 3 miles to the finish. I started giving it all I had and came in a 6:18:35 (38th overall out of 209 finishers). What a great relief it is to finish a race like this. Things I know now or was reminded of on Saturday:
1. while you certainly can finish a challenging ultra without long runs over 1.5-2 hrs, it isn't the best of ideas. 2. I still don't know how to pace myself. No one passing me was fast (faster than me of course), but they all had a steady pace and kept at it. I tend to end up walking too much and lose way more time than others because of this. 3. My stupid left foot is the weaker element of my lower extremities. It still is making me limp around today. 4. I still don't grasp the in-race fueling concept for these races. I started eating early and thought I had enough but I think I stopped eating enough in the last three hours. 5. I really don't do the hills well. I'm timid on the downhills and not strong enough on the up hills. 6. I need to toughen up mentally if i want keep running these ultras. 7. It is always a humbling experience. Every one of the ultra's I've done seems to cut me to the core and break me down emotionally.
Poking around the internet it looks like 4 of the top 3 guys have a Utah connection, which is kind of interesting. And Jon, the winner, is on this blog site. Those front runners were simply amazing. Up next is running tomorrow and then a 5K on Saturday. And tomorrow I'll be sending in the app for the 8hr race at the same park in August (albeit without the top of the world included).
| 