General Discussion Race Reports! » Nashville Ultra Marathon 80K Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller Reply

Nashville Ultra Marathon 80K - RunUltra Marathon


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Nashville, Tennessee
United States
Nashville Ultra
60F / 16C
Sunny
Total Time = 9h 30m 30s
Overall Rank = 21/46
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Event warmup:

I think it is pretty much known that there is no warm up for a ultra, unless walking from the car to the starting line is a warm up.
Run
  • 9h 30m 30s
  • 50 miles
  • 11m 25s  min/mile
Comments:

While this is the longest run of my life, it will also be the shortest race report of my life. Why. Well, nothing terrible or extraordinary happened either way, which in a way in itself was wonderful. All went as well as I dreamed for. The morning was cold, about 50ish degrees or less, so my compression shorts and tank top were a bit chilly. I knew the weather report called for a cloudless, sunny day in the mid 70s, so I had to hold on for that. Scott, my friend and sherpa, arrived at about 6:25, and I showed him what I would/might need during the race as I came back through the start/finish line area, which would be twice during the race. I then talked to a few people and listened to the race director give his speech. At 7ish, we took off, and like most ultra's, I imagine it went off with little fan fare. Our friends and family clapped and into the cold we started. As I've stated all along...I was going for between a 9 and 10 hour run, so I started out comfortable, which was a bit fast from my training. I had been training with a 10 minute mile, so when the first few miles were in the high 8's, I was surprised, but I wasn't pushing at all, so I decided I would just run "comfortable", and whatever pace that turned out to be, the so be it.
The course was on a path for the first 2 miles, and then it went to a grass trail. Funny here, because the sun was in my eyes coming up and I was completely blinded, and missed the turn on to the path until some dude behind me started yelling "TURN RIGHT...TURN RIGHT!" About 15 yards later, I figured it wasn't some nut case and decided to look back to see him waving at me and the other people who missed the turn...so we turned our asses around and went back to the path. DUH. So for the next 2 miles we had grass, and that was fine. I was still cold and was looking forward to the sun coming up enough to get rid of this chill. I hate running in the cold. We were running in a line of people that was quickly spacing out as we were finding our paces. With so few people, it was quickly getting spaced out, which I enjoyed. However, it was my hope to hook up with someone to run with to kind of take my mind off the race. I had been training with a group and some friends for the last few months and had really enjoyed it, so I was hoping to find that out here during the race. Every once in a while, I'd talk to someone who was passing me, or who I was passing, but our paces never seemed to stay together, so off we went on our paths. Eventually we made our way into down town Nashville, where a "pink" breast awareness walk was taking place, which was HUGE....the walk...not the breasts. Hey, it's my freaking race report, so I can inject a little humor if I want! This was officially my first time spending any time in NASHVILLE, and it appeared to be a cool city. I ran with a couple for about 4 miles, who had done this race before, and they told me all the places to go to eat and drink and see after the race....provided I could still walk. It was in town that we hit the 11 mile mark, which was the turn around point to head back to the start/ finish area. I was hitting each aid station and stopping for a minute or so to fill my water bottle, grab some goodies, take some pills, and stretch my legs. This was my first 50 miler, so it would be a PR either way, and I didn't wanna come to the end feeling destroyed. This was a dress rehearsal for my 100 in March, so I wanted to do this right. No time pressure.
When I finally got back on the grass portion at around mile 16, I got a real boost that would take me to the end of the race, and her name is Laura. She came up behind me and asked if she could run with me, and I said, "come on up". Laura and I were pee's in a pod as far as runners go. Perfect paces together and good company. She was there with her boyfriend JAY and her cousin. We told each other our life histories, how she met Jay, how I met Mary...our jobs and basically our entire lives. Being able to be with one single person for that many hours is great. It really takes your mind off of the crazy monotony of doing one single thing for that long. Even luckier was that her boyfriend, Jay, and her cousin both took turns running with us for several miles. So we had more stories and things to take our minds off "the run". I can't even begin to tell anyone who hasn't done this kind of thing how important this is. I love running....I always have, but even running will drive me crazy after 4 or 5 hours straight. Your mind needs a distraction or it will start to think about PAIN, and I'm here to tell ya, shit starts to hurt after that long. Knees, shoulders, back, feet.....this stuff can get pissed off that you are asking it to do this, but if you can find someone to tell you a good story, then you are gold. Laura and her sherpa's were my gold.
So the miles went on. At around 31 miles, I mentioned to Laura that we only had 19 miles to go, which seemed to be exactly what she needed to hear. Just to know we were in the "teens" was a pick me up to her, which made ME feel happy that SHE was happy. It's funny what motivates you after running this long. After that, we began using each decending mile to make a story of what we was doing at that age in our lives. 19...18...17...16....15.....it really gave us new reasons to tell new stories, and stories took your mind to new places. School. Learning to drive. Where we lived. On and on the miles clicked forward and the miles left dwindled. With the last few miles left to go, Laura's cousin said his goodbye's and left the two of us to figure it out. It's such a strange experience to meet someone new and then to pour out your life to them. Where your from. High School. Military. Races that brought you to this point. Love. Hate. Jobs. Marriage. Kids. Relationships. Life. All in less than 10 hours. I suppose I was lucky. Not only did I get a new notch in my RACE BUCKLE of life, but I got a new friend, which happens so very rarely. I don't know if I'll meet Laura again, I hope so. I've met my "race" friends a good deal over the years, and I feel very close to them.
So, those last couple of miles, Laura and I discussed the finish. If you've ever done an IRONMAN, the finish if very important, so we figured this was no less. How would we do this? There were 3 ways. Finish together. Me finish first, or she finish first. This would be the picture at the finish line. Neither of us put the "together" finish out there. I think that has to be a husband/wife or significant "other" pic. So then I told her I wanted her to go first. We bickered back and forth for a moment why, but I finally told her "ladies first", but she quickly laughed and reminded me she was no lady. I then told her...ok...which my wife hates, "chicks first", which she really liked and went for. So we came to this crazy freaking bridge that you have to take a steep cork screw up to, WHICH WE BOTH RAN, and then jogged through two tunnels. After the second tunnel, I told her to take it in, and let her speed up to the finish line. She had it all to herself for her finish pic, and then to hug Jay and her cousin. I then ran it in to finish at a nice even 9:30:yadda. When people had asked me how long my race would take, I gave them the same answer..."9 or 10 hours". So this was the perfect finish.
I crossed the line, hugged Laura, gave Scott a big manly hand shake and "thanks", then had some pizza, drinks and and few pics.
I must say...the end was VERY anti climatic. VERY....VERY...VERY. This was SUCH an accomplishment in my running life. It took SO much time and effort to train for this....and I had built it up so much in my mind, and then you cross the finish line with less cheers than a 5K.......it's weird in so many ways. You feel like you've trained as long and hard as if it were an IRONMAN, but Mike Riley isn't announcing your name.....thousands of people arn't screaming for you.....FORD isn't shoving cars in your path at the finish...no balloons or fireworks. Ultra runners have to be content with smaller acknowledgments of what they've done...which is so weird to wrap your head around. I think that's what threw me here. So much effort...so little fanfare. Hmmmmm. But who was I doing this for? Me? You? It's a tough nut to chew through. Really, it's me. me. me...me. Tough to admit...but some days...it's all about me. When your day comes...and it's all about YOU....then I'll make sure to celebrate YOU! I know the difference. But I bet all ULTRA's are kinda this way. There is no way any race day enthusiasm can match the amount of time, pain, love, hate, sweat and dedication that took to get to that place.
That's what I feel.
I'm happy.
I'm elated.
I'm confused.
I'm overjoyed.
I'm a little sad.
I'm ready.

What would you do differently?:

Zero.
Post race
Warm down:

Yea....not much to tell there.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Nuttin.




Last updated: 2011-05-12 12:00 AM
Running
09:30:30 | 50 miles | 11m 25s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/46
Performance: Good
Course: The course is about 90% paved and 10% grass trails. Of the paved portion, 90% are trails that are part of the downtown Nashville Greenways system. The other 10% is a bike trail along Davidson Street in East Nashville. There are a couple of points in the downtown section where runners will cross roads with live traffic. There are volunteers at each road crossing to inform you of when it is safe to cross. Traffic is minimal on a Saturday. Check out photos and maps of the greenways at www.nashville/gov/greenways/. Look for Stones Rivers Greenway and Shelby Bottoms Greenway.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

{postbutton}
2011-10-17 8:17 PM

User image

Extreme Veteran
331
10010010025
Latonia, Kentucky (near Cincinnati)
Subject: Nashville Ultra Marathon 80K


2011-10-19 7:10 AM
in reply to: #3727630

User image

Expert
1168
10001002525
Lansdale, PA.
Subject: RE: Nashville Ultra Marathon 80K

Have you lost your mind??? 50 miles and you want to do a hundred next year??? I could recommend a shrink???

 

Seriously, congrats.  



Edited by sgillen 2011-10-19 7:10 AM
General Discussion-> Race Reports!
{postbutton}
General Discussion Race Reports! » Nashville Ultra Marathon 80K Rss Feed