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SweetH20 50K - RunUltra Marathon


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Lithia Springs, Georgia
United States
Douglas County Rogue Runners
50F / 10C
Sunny
Total Time = 8h 32m 5s
Overall Rank = 182/209
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 13/14
Pre-race routine:

The night before the race it rained. OOPS, I mean it RAINED, and HAILED, and TORNADOS swept through the area (on their way to Carolina). After a night of sitting in a hotel room waiting for the windows to shatter it was time to go to the race. I was told we would be doing a river crossing so pack a special need bag to be placed after the river crossing (mile 12-15). Cool, thats perfect for new shoes and dry socks. What? because of the rising river they cancelled the river crossing. Pull the shoes out of the special needs and replace with extra hydration.
Event warmup:

warmed up with a few stretches. I was confused as to the lack of direction by the race crew. There was no pre race meeting or anything. People were not even sure where the start was, there was no line on the road.
Run
  • 8h 32m 5s
  • 33 miles
  • 15m 31s  min/mile
Comments:

BANG! and the race started. mile 2.5 or so I come to a spillway, or a super wide canal in a river, whatever you call it I have to repel down into it and cross it and climb a rope out of it. Sounds like a river crossing if you ask me. So now my feet are soaked. I took off running, then had to walk across 2x10s that acted like bridges over creeks. Mile 3 WHAT THE HECK!! My aid bag?? Who in the world needs their special needs bag at mile 3 in a 31 mile race?? I run past it thinking that my feet were going to rot because I didnt bring my spare shoes.
Miles 4-7 were a run on the paths when you could, walk the up hill parts of the paths and trot down hills. Everything was mud and I was going along pretty good. There was an aid station at mile 7 and they had water, cookies, gummie bears, skittles and FIG NEWTONS. SO with a handfull of fig newtons and a few red gummies I took off. The trails went off the state park and soon I was running up hill on a gravel road. Soon I was walking up hill on a gravel road. At the top the gravel road turns into a red clay slate nothing but a huge hill resembling a rollar coaster going down and back up. What the hell is that??? So I have to slide down, walk down, trot down, fall down and get back up, and keep going (that was about a mile). Mile 11 I got more water and fig newtons. Then I faced the dreaded "power lines". Down hill for 400 feet, better not step wrong or its a cretain fall to my death. Uphill for 400 feet, put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walking across the freakin desert of slate, clay, mountains, and some kind of pretty fools gold sprayed rocks. I grabbed one for my girlfriend because she likes pretty rocks and was at that time somewhere behind me. Mile 14 I saw another aid station but by now I didnt look for the gummies, newtons, chips or water. HEllO PORT-A-JON. SO I leave ther and run next to some girl who did Ironman kentucky. We talked and the trail flattened out. I had finished lap 1 of 2. I did the first lap in 3 and a half hours. At the end of lap 1 I ran to the truck and dried my feet and changed my shoes. I also threw that rock I was carrying for 4 miles in the truck. I started lap 2. As you guess 3 miles into lap 2 I had to repel down into the water and just like that my dry shoes were soaked. I stopped for my special needs bags (mile 19). I didnt care about anything but the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that was waiting for me in that little bag. Miles 20, 21, 22, 23 came and went. Running was harder now and I looked forward to the hills so I had an excuse to walk. Im thinking I could easily step wrong and break a leg. Slide down path and grab tree to stop decent. Now cross the creek (no bridge just tough it out). Mile 24 I hit the aid station. I asked if I was last and they said no. I guess several had already called it quits. I took off and thats when it happened. My left calf, knee, and top of the foot decided they had enough. I used all my energy to run, and going uphill was ok, but down hill was so painfull I wanted to stop. Hold on a sec, this was the part of the run that was straight up for a hundred miles and straight down for a hundred miles. By the end of those hills I couldnt run another step. Maria was way ahead of me probably eating all of the fig newtons at the next aid station. When I gt to that aid station they saw I was not a happy camper and dug in their secret bag of goodies. PIZZA!!! Oh boy!! Im ready to go. Now Im walking down the power lines, very slow and very deliberate. Each step was with a gasp of pain. I made it down to the last aid sation, mile 30.5 and I knew that since 50k=31 miles, and my garmin said 30.5 and since Im a triathete and anal about being exact in everything, I knew I was about there. The lady at the aid station filled my water bottle and said "only 2 and a half miles to go!". (SNAP) Im sorry, did someone forget how to count? I signed up for a 50k and not a 50k plus 2 miles. She smiled, "well this is a trail run and rail runs are not always exact since they cant come out and measure it". Ok, so hit me in the head with a brick, Im done. I cant run because my calf exploded and my knee is mush so I power walked 2 more miles to the finish line. Well, I thought it was the finish line but it was obviously a ploy, a trick to see if I would quit. Some fat dude said "the finish line is just up this hill to the steps and up the steps on the left. Its about a half mile". I didnt have the energy to kill him so I wimpered up the hill and saw the steps to my left. I climbed the steps and was about to walk to the finish line when I saw Maria with a camera. So here I am running to the finish line. I finished it. Eight hours and thirty two minutes. I wonder what percent of the U.S. has ever ran an ultra marathon. All I know is I did it.
What would you do differently?:

I cant say. Maybe train doing stair workouts.
Post race
Warm down:

I think beer.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

my left shin was killing me. Every downhill step hurt.

Event comments:

I cant believe it but it was alot of fun. I would do this one again.




Last updated: 2011-04-18 12:00 AM
Running
08:32:05 | 33 miles | 15m 31s  min/mile
Age Group: 13/14
Overall: 182/209
Performance: Below average
Course: technical, hills, rock, water, river, mud, water crossings, snakes, and Im sure poison ivy.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Too hard
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? No
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2011-05-04 6:42 PM

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