My first 24 hour run

My first ultra was a 24 hour (Moab).

I'll start this advice with a disclaimer: My first marathon was a month prior to the 24.  I was training for the 24 and using the marathon as a training day (It was Sedona... so half dirt fire road, ~2200ft vert, with few mile uphill finish... not your normal city marathon).  I was only doing around 35mpw for a couple months leading into the races.

With that said... My goal with the 24 hour was to see how far I could go so I could use it as a personal guide to learn what my body needs to train for future ultras.  So hopefully this makes you laugh and teaches you some things (both what not to do and what to do).

Moab Utah, red sandstone desert... Camped out the night before the race ~25ft from the starting line.  Met some really nice people the night before the race, went to bed after eating some normal camp food.  Woke up to the sound of the race directory saying there's 5 minutes until the start!  Oh crap! Jumped out of the tent, through some sweat pants on, ran over and got my bib, ran back to the tent, got my tights, shorts, shirt, shoes on and got back over to the finish as they finished the last minute announcements.  The race starts...

Have you ever met a group to go run with and everyone's like 'ok, I guess it's time to start the run' and everyone kind of starts off walking and slowly builds into a run?  That's how everyone at the race started.  Brisk walk for like 50ft and slowly built into a jog.  The first hill came around 1/2mile in, I run up onto some guys I met the night before who were regular ultra runners and I saw they immediately started walking when the hill started.  So I put myself behind them and told them I'm sticking with them for a while to learn the ropes.

The course was around a 5 mile loop, done washing machine style (reverse direction after each lap).  I stuck with them for the first 2 laps, but then we started to separate because we each took a different amount of time in the aid station.  But sticking with them the first 10 miles taught me more in those 2 hours than reading any forums or articles on ultras.  I had never been in a race where you didn't just start out running, where you didn't keep up an easy jog up the hills, where you would actually stop to pull out a camera to take pictures of the scenery and ask other racers to take a picture of you.  That kind of stuff during a RACE blew my mind.

What did I eat/drink?  Being in a desert in March, the temperature difference from night to day is ~40F and even during the day the temp difference between being in the shade and in the sun is drastic too.  I took in 8oz of fluid each lap, alternating between heed and gatorade in my bottle each lap.  After the second lap I paused and ate some eggs and sausage my friends at home base cooked up for me since I missed breakfast from waking up late.  I avoided caffeine until I felt I needed it, so after I let the eggs and sausage digest during the next 5 miles I started nibbling on cliff bars and caffeine free clif shots along with shot bloks. I was starving around mile 30, so I ate a cheeseburger.  Around mile 40 I knew my day was going to be coming to an end sometime soon because of my lack of training.  So I started to dip into the caffeine... That pulled me through the next 10 miles and mentally I wanted to continue but I had to make a choice.

I was going for my second half Ironman in a few months and my first Ironman later that year.  I was already to the point where running uphill would not be happening, going downhill was now a side stepping routine instead of a run, and flat ground had me only at 15minute/mile pace.  What took me an hour to do in the beginning was now taking 2 hours.  I could continue, but at what cost?  Would I push myself into an injury that would effect my training for the next half a year or more? or do I consider 50miles to be my limiter at the moment, be happy and take my first official DNF.  I chose the DNF, recovered quickly and was back at training injury free.  My friends don't consider it a DNF even though I do... I didn't last 24 hours, but my friends argue that is irrelevant because 50 miles put me into an elite group of psychos who are willing to go WAY beyond 26.2miles.  Is it a DNF?  I still think so, but I'm no longer allowed to say that in front of my friends.

This is awesome, thank you for posting this. I like the whole "lets see how far I can push myself while still being smart" attitude.

I actually haven't signed up yet, my foot has been kind of bothering me from a boston qualifying marathon I did a couple week ago . I still debating if it would be worth it to sign up or just skip out and make the trip out west all about surfing. I'm not the one to give up until I finish all 24 hours, and I'm just trying to rationalize if it would be worth it to possibly hurt myself even more just to do this race.  Time will tell.  

Thanks alot, I appreciate the kind words.  I'm sorry I didn't acknowledge your support, I didn't even know.  It was a fun time and I hope you accomplished what you set out to do that day.  This run might have been my steppingstone into taking ultra running more seriously.