I decided to do this race in December when I had the brilliant idea to deem 2009 "The Year of the Ultra." I didn't know what I was getting myself into at the time, especially since I've only been running 60-80 miles a week the past few months, and I was about to run twice as far and more than twice as long as I've ever gone before in my life.
I felt good race morning, and had my food intake plan in mind and water bottle in hand at the start line. When the gun went off, it was 7 a.m. and about 30 degrees. I was wearing a few layers of clothing, but those quickly came off (after 10 miles or so) as the sun came up. BTW ... the temperature when I finished was 60-65 degrees. I started off easy (7:15 pace, but that quickly picked up to around 6:40 pace as I got warmed up (I accidently ran a 6:18 mile at mile 17 ... it just felt right at the time). I was able to keep up a good pace up until about 38 miles (already in no-mans land, mileage-wise). I went through the first marathon in 3:00:50, and I was still under a 7:00 mile pace total at mile 38, but my pace started dropping some after that as my body was wondering what the heck I was doing to it. I could have given up knowing I still had 24 miles to go, but I kept going at my 8-to-9:00 per mile pace the rest of the way (only walking when I hit a water station to refuel. Food-wise, I ate (2 power bars, 2 small bags of pasta, 2 Boston creme rolls, and about 15 cliff shot/GUs), but after 40 miles, the only thing my body could handle were the GUs/Cliff shots (and they helped to drop the pace in the latter miles). I also drank some Pedialite and took a salt tablet every 15 miles or so. The course was flat but very rough and uneven all along the unimproved rail trail. That added to my leg fatigue, as I was constantly having to pick my spots to reduce the leg pounding. Mentally, I was stable the entire race, and remember it all, though I did get kind of delirious in the latter miles, especially after the race for about 20 minutes, in which I didn't want to talk or eat anything. I quickly recovered after that, and felt great physically and mentally the rest of the day, night and ever since. I had the best crew, as my dad and mom were at every water stop making sure I had food and liquid to take with me along the way. That really helped in the latter miles when I didn't have much of a clue what was going on other than thinking, "I've only got X miles to go, then you can relax." It definitely was a good experience overall, and now it's got me thinking about running in the 100k U.S. Championships in Madison, Wisconson (May 2010) to try and make the 100K national team. I would have to run under 7:20 (the team standard), and the course is a flat, road course and much faster than the course I just ran on. I will also actually train for that race correctly and have the experience under my belt from already running several ultras.
Coming up ... Boston Marathon in April, Smokey Mountain section of the App Trail (72 miles) in May, and the JFK 50-miler in November.
I felt good race morning, and had my food intake plan in mind and water bottle in hand at the start line. When the gun went off, it was 7 a.m. and about 30 degrees. I was wearing a few layers of clothing, but those quickly came off (after 10 miles or so) as the sun came up. BTW ... the temperature when I finished was 60-65 degrees. I started off easy (7:15 pace, but that quickly picked up to around 6:40 pace as I got warmed up (I accidently ran a 6:18 mile at mile 17 ... it just felt right at the time). I was able to keep up a good pace up until about 38 miles (already in no-mans land, mileage-wise). I went through the first marathon in 3:00:50, and I was still under a 7:00 mile pace total at mile 38, but my pace started dropping some after that as my body was wondering what the heck I was doing to it. I could have given up knowing I still had 24 miles to go, but I kept going at my 8-to-9:00 per mile pace the rest of the way (only walking when I hit a water station to refuel. Food-wise, I ate (2 power bars, 2 small bags of pasta, 2 Boston creme rolls, and about 15 cliff shot/GUs), but after 40 miles, the only thing my body could handle were the GUs/Cliff shots (and they helped to drop the pace in the latter miles). I also drank some Pedialite and took a salt tablet every 15 miles or so. The course was flat but very rough and uneven all along the unimproved rail trail. That added to my leg fatigue, as I was constantly having to pick my spots to reduce the leg pounding. Mentally, I was stable the entire race, and remember it all, though I did get kind of delirious in the latter miles, especially after the race for about 20 minutes, in which I didn't want to talk or eat anything. I quickly recovered after that, and felt great physically and mentally the rest of the day, night and ever since. I had the best crew, as my dad and mom were at every water stop making sure I had food and liquid to take with me along the way. That really helped in the latter miles when I didn't have much of a clue what was going on other than thinking, "I've only got X miles to go, then you can relax." It definitely was a good experience overall, and now it's got me thinking about running in the 100k U.S. Championships in Madison, Wisconson (May 2010) to try and make the 100K national team. I would have to run under 7:20 (the team standard), and the course is a flat, road course and much faster than the course I just ran on. I will also actually train for that race correctly and have the experience under my belt from already running several ultras.
Coming up ... Boston Marathon in April, Smokey Mountain section of the App Trail (72 miles) in May, and the JFK 50-miler in November.
