The Fall 50 - RunUltra Marathon

seeded myselt about midpack on this day. starter said go and off we went. took my time weaving thru the traffic, slowing to chat with some familiar faces from last years event and other races from this year. caught up to the group that i wanted to be with about mile 4 and just settled in to enjoy the conversation and the scenery.

The first 28 miles of this course has some good rollers on up to some flat out demons of hills! I did a good build up for this event starting right after ironman wisconsin just six short weeks ago. good chunks of my mileage in that span were either hill repeats or hilly routes so i felt comfy running up the ones that i did run up.

different from last years event was that my lovely wife and wonderful son and fantastic inlaws came up with me! they agreed to be my support wagon if needed, starting after mile 25 (couldnt do it before 25 because they were still sleeping and had to make 23 mile drive just to get to mile 25!!) worked out perfect tho because they were only waiting about 5 minutes at the aide station by mile 25 before i came in, slightly ahead of projected pace and still feeling good.

that feeling good part would go out the window in a big big way shortly after seeing them however! just after the spot where i saw them there is a good sized hill, maybe not the steepest grade but one that does go on and on and on and on. think the hill actually stops at around mile 27 to be honest. well, i was running good still when i reached the bottom of that hill and, according to my plan, i walked up it. when i started running again after it, i could feel some discomfort in my hips and my right leg. stayed with it tho and upon seeing them at the next aid station at about mile 29, i mentioned to them that i was hurting some, including my tummy. asked for a coke and they didnt have any and that is when i remembered that i never stopped and got a coke to put in the support bag. they said they would go buy one and give it to me up the road. somewhere between that point and mile 31 i lost it. everything became fuzzy and couldnt focus on anything at all. everytime i landed on my right foot it shot sharp pains up the inside of my right knee and it also felt like i was going to puke. they saw me shortly after that point and told me that they couldnt find a coke but they were still trying and that i should stay strong and they will see me shortly. well thats what they claim they said, what i heard was "wha wha wha wha wha wha", kinda like charlie brown listening to the adults. little bit after that i seriously considered dropping, and truth be known, if they wouldnt have been up there, and if i didnt know so many people up there running in the relays, i probably wouldve just packed it in and stopped. mentally i was drained and physically i felt like pure hell.

little bit down the road from there i saw a vehicle pulled over to the side of the road, it was someone else's support crew. i must have looked pretty bad because they ended up basically trying to push a vitamin water into my hands. was about to take it but then noticed the lady was holding an unopened can of diet coke....so i mumbled, "i would rather have that..." and they said, "go ahead, we have lots". so i took it, popped the top and had that gone within 200 yards. about a half mile later, who pulls up to me? yep, my very own support crew with a bottle of coke! so i opened that up and had half of it and said i would have the rest later on. they said to stay strong, that i was almost there (even tho i had like 17 more freakin miles!!). made it to the next aid station and was starting to feel better. had a bite of a cookie and some gatorade and off i went. decided at this point that i would just do a 4 min "run" and a 30 second walk until i felt totally better. well it was long until i was hitting a 6 minute run and a 30 second walk and was feeling fine.

just prior to leaving the rest stop a guy in a blue shirt left about a minute or so before me. decided to use the "blue shirt" guy as my mark and just try to focus on reeling him in. started making progress and at the next aid station noticed that blue shirt guy was joined by yellow shirt guy. so decided to go for the two for one deal and go after both! ok, stay with me here, so, the blue shirt guy ended up falling back to me faster than the yellow shirt guy.....blue shirt guy ended up being a new guy, and he was the guy who's crew gave me the diet coke, which means the yellow shirt guy was the original blue shirt guy, but changed his shirt. well i passed the fading blue shirt guy and extended my gratitude to his crew and asked if i could do anything for them and their runner, but they said no, they had it under control. so that left old blue shirt turned yellow shirt guy and i was quickly reeling him in. hit miles 46 and 47 and wasnt taking any more walk breaks, hit 48 and there is my crew standing outside of the hotel cheering me on! decided against running down yellow shirt guy and stopped to thank my crew and ditch my gear and also have some pictures taken, then with a quick kiss to the spouse and a hearty "see you at the finish" from the pops inlaw, off i went to finish it up. felt great finishing and will probably savor this one more than last year based on how i was feeling and how i was able to come back.

like last year i hit the splits every five miles, here they are:

5 mile - 37:51
10 mile - 39:20
15 mile - 40:12
20 mile - 41:01
25 mile - 36:17
(26.2 mile split - 3:22)
30 mile - 48:40
35 mile - 50:22
40 mile - 48:55
45 mile - 47:42
50.25 mile - 45:05

remember to buy that coke to put in the support bag!!

wear a two holster fuel belt, especially if a support vehicle is used!

cross the line, bow to get medal, hugs to the best support crew ever, then into the party tent for some root bear and pizza. then back out of the tent to play with toby for a bit and then watch as people i knew came across the finish line. after that it was holding up end of the deal as back into the tent i went to have a beer with the superpoopers (shwimmycoacher, lunatick, freezerpop, JLT, and danielle)


no coke! not sure if that is the actual culprit or not, but hey, im happy with how things went to be honest!!!


another outstanding event put on by sean ryan and his crew!