It was another great run this year at LBL. Met up with Bryan and we ran half of it together. Beautiful weather in the 60s and just beautiful scenery. My main goal was just to finish because I hadn't run much, and a sub-10 time would be nice. Finished in 9:51.
This video will serve as my race report. I wanted to take more footage of the pretty lake and woods but I was too focused on the run at the end.
So because I felt so good, I totally thought I was going to finish around 9 hours, in the top 10-15 overall, and maybe in the top 3 females. Well hot damn! I was 54th place out of like 95. I didn't even know there were 54 people doing the 50 miler. And the first female ran some crazy sub-9 time.
Oh well, I still had fun and it was a good run for me.
Made it 118 of the 126.2 miles, dangit. I'm pretty disappointed on how it all panned out at the end but oh well; next year, I guess.
The race was two weeks ago on 2/10. It started out in Baton Rouge, LA and finished in New Orleans, LA. 99% of it is run on the levy along the Mississippi and 1% of it is on road. Most of the levy was gravel with small/medium-sized rocks. I started out in my regular Brooks road shoes and I think I noticed my first blister around mile 25 or so. Then later I switched to some new Montrail Masochist shoes I had just bought; they have a rock plate in them and I really liked them, even though I still got a million blisters at the end. I was surprised; I ended up keeping those shoes on for 60+ miles and just switching out my socks occasionally.
I had always been intrigued with the distance of Badwater but never wanted to run in that heat. So, I was super excited when I randomly found this LA race last October. Before worrying about any logistics I just went ahead and signed up- wanted to make it happen somehow. I tried convincing my posse of Bernie, Bryan, and Chris to go and run with me but it didn't work out.
The tricky thing about this race was that there were only major aid stations about every 25 miles and so you basically needed a crew to survive. I didn't know what the heck to do- none of my friends/family would want to come out to just crew for me for a few days (and I definitely don't blame them; didn't even ask them) so I posted pleas on the race's fb page but no luck. I was getting pretty dang nervous and just planned on trying to figure out how to run without a crew. There are a few runners who do it but it just makes things so hard. I'd have to try to carry like a huge bladder on me along with five attachable water bottles or something, and then have to find random places on me to carry food. Hmm.
So finally like in December this girl, Alissa, posted on fb that her family could help crew for someone so I jumped right on it. She was one of the few finishers in last year's race and her family had crewed for her and learned a lot; it was the perfect situation. How her family was so gracious and willing to help, I have no idea. It was awesome.
Here's her family and I pre-race:
Now that I had a crew I had no doubt about finishing. My pre-race mileage was really low but that was normal for me- I knew it'd all be mental after a certain point (well, minus the possibility of stupid blisters sucking).
I drove down on Thursday with a few of my friends (Ducky, Jonathan, Stephen) who came along just for a fun road trip. It was nice they came with me since the race is Point A to B; they made their way to New Orleans to pick me up on Sunday.
On Thursday night I went straight to the pre-race meeting for an hour or so- it was mainly just information for the crew and stuff. I met Alissa and her mom for the first time that night. I didn't know how the crew thing would work- it was all new to me. They assured me it'd be fine and that they'd just hop back and forth between Alissa and I and get us whatever we needed. So anyway, I went to bed around 10pm that night; wasn't too worried about it since the race didn't start until the next day at freakin 8pm.
On Friday I went shopping to buy my food to give to my crew. It was really hard knowing what to buy since I'm so used to the food already being there for me at the aid stations, and hard knowing what you'll crave after 20+ hours. I just grabbed a bunch of random stuff: oatmeal cream pies, chips, turkey, ham, cheese, bread, pretzels, whatever else. I ended up having too much.
Side story- I also bought blue Gatorade (that just so happened to be low-calorie) because I always get sick of the lemon flavor or Heed on races, and because blue is so good. During the race around mile 10, Alissa's grandpa was crewing for us and just to be nice, he parked his truck with our food in it on the road and then got out to help direct the runners' traffic on the levy. He said one runner came by and grabbed food out of the truck (thinking it was some sort of aid station for him??) and then complained that there was low-calorie Gatorade. Haha! Come on now, quit drinking up all my good flavored Gatorade. It's not for you!
So after shopping, I just hung around with my friends- threw the frisbee around some, went out to lunch...that's about it. I met up with my crew around 6:30pm and just watched some of the Mardi Gras parades. It was really neat.
More pre-race pics:
Since the course was flat my plan from the get-go was to do an 8:2 run/walk strategy at a really slow pace; stuck with that plan until about mile 85 or so and then I just walked more. Alissa was doing great and stayed ahead of me for most of the race. Since there were only about 50 solo ultras that started at 8pm, we were pretty much on our own the whole time after mile four. There were a few good stretches where I matched up paces with a few runners and could stay with them some, but then you usually separate. You could always see runners' lights within a half mile or so but ya, you were alone. I never got scared, though, surprisingly.
I had a fear that I would be super bored during this race because it's just a straight, flat, open path but somehow I was fine the whole time; I think it helped getting a lot of miles in during the dark. But ya, it was pretty much just running on the levy out in the country with not much to look at; an occasional boat or something on the river- hence the one video.
The race temp may have started out in the 40s or something. It was nice the next day, for the most part- sunny but getting windy. I surprisingly bonked early around mile 55 at the aid station and right then it got really windy and cold. I was super sleepy and I just sat down while my crew gave me food. I was so tempted to take a quick nap but it just seemed too early to do so. I finally got up after 10 minutes or something, my crew bundled me in clothes, and I tried to go. After sitting so long I couldn't even bend my knees to run; I didn't know how I'd make it any further. Thank goodness I decided to suck it up- I took my first two ibuprofen, took some salt, put in music, and made my legs move. It worked and I was on a good roll for the next 25 or so miles.
It worked well with the crew. I couldn't see them on the road next to me the whole time like I had thought, but I didn't need to. I would see them every 3-4 miles waiting on the side of the road and they'd just ask me what I needed. Sometimes I could just yell to them what I wanted at the next stop and they'd have it ready for me. Towards the end, I didn't care if I stopped to wait for them so I would just take my time and change my socks or whatever. It was nice having a crew because I could bring my phone with me for once and I was able to text friends the whole time to give them updates, and then the crew would charge my phone when needed.
Around mile 80 or something Alissa was having foot problems so I had caught up to her and we decided to finish the race together. We were doing pretty good- trying to maintain some sort of walk/run strategy. Then, unfortunately, Alissa wasn't able to run much anymore because of being in pain and so I made the tough decision to leave her and keep truckin. My feet hurt but I knew I was doing okay.
Around mile 95 or so I was super sleepy and it was getting pretty cold out and it was dark. I begged my crew to let me sleep in their van so they let me take a 15 minute nap in a chair. I was out in one second and the 15 minutes went by way too fast. I ran another 5-10 miles and I was running pretty slowly and I asked my crew to sleep again so they let me sleep another 15 minutes. This was the first race that I had slept during it before. I don't know if it helped or not....I knew that I was going to get back out there and run after my nap, but I don't know if the nap did anything since it was so short. Oh well. I'd probably opt out of taking naps in future 100 mile races.
I learned that Alissa dropped out of the race around mile 90 or so. I was feeling exhausted and sleepy and cold. There were wind gusts of prolly 20 mph at the time and it was around 25 degrees that night (coldest since '89, I guess). Ya- I had only brought some shorts to run in. It's Louisiana- it was supposed to be between 40-60 degrees! Thank goodness my crew had extra clothes for me- they hooked me up with pants, hat, gloves, sweatshirt, blanket...
Then my friends called me and said they'd meet me on the course and run with me to help me finish. Very awesome! Around mile 108 or something they came out. It was nice to have fresh conversation and they helped me walk, too; took the pressure off my blisters on my feet.
Then the story gets funky. There was a six mile section where my crew didn't have access to the levy so we were going to be on our own. My dumb butt had stopped eating and drinking for about the last two hours because I wasn't hungry and I didn't feel like I was exerting much energy anyway. So we were walking during these six miles; occasionally I'd lose my balance, occasionally I'd think I saw things coming off the ground or weird objects in the sky, I was cold, bla bla bla. We finally made the six miles and saw our crew. Jonathan ran down the levy to them to get me some food and I decided to lay on the ground while he got it. I knew what I was doing- I wasn't going to fall asleep there for hours; I was just taking advantage of the break and I was tired! It had been 118 miles at that point and just eight to go.
The next thing I know, Alissa's mom runs up to me on the levy and is really concerned for me and brings me to their van down the levy, talking about not knowing if I'll be able to finish. I was really confused as to where she was coming from and taken off guard. She was saying they were concerned that I may have hypothermia- I was swollen, off balance, cold, laying down on the ground, slurring my speech, barely walking on my own, Jonathan came running down to get help (he said he wasn't running out of concern...)- other people who saw me were concerned; if I was her daughter she'd pull me.... She started crying some and felt responsible for me and she said that it was my decision as to whether I continued, but I'd have to prove I can walk on my own first and make sure I eat a lot and everything else. I was in a tough spot- I felt weird because of how concerned she was and I didn't want her to worry so much, but then I also wanted to keep going because I didn't have any prior intentions of stopping, but then I also was super, super tired and it was a nice excuse to quit. So, I decided to just quit.
Blah. It sucked. I know I could have finished if I had kept going but yes, it would have taken me forever and would have been super hard. Eight miles may seem short right now, but at the time it seemed like it'd be forever- at least another four or so hours. Of course, I regretted quitting the next day.
So we went back to the hotel, I set my alarm and only slept for three hours, then went on a swamp boat tour thing with my friends. It was a ton of fun. :)
And, as tradition, took some great pics of my perty feet:
That's about it. I'm disappointed I didn't finish but I'll just have to try it again next year, I guess.
Thank you so much to my crew!! They were so awesome and kind. I'm not mad at Alissa's mom or anything like that; I know they were genuinely concerned and it was my decision to stop. And, thanks so much to my friends and family who kept in touch with me during the race. It helped a ton! All in all, it was a really good trip.
This story starts out medium-good and then ends with a sad personal pity party.
My mom told me that her coworker's husband, Jay, was running the OPSF 50 mi race in Spencer, IN in Nov. so I looked it up and decided to sign up since it was in the Fall and was close to home. Bernie did it with me and crashed at my house last night. We ate a ton of food at Bazbeaux with some good beer---yumm.
Anyway, we met up with Jay in the morning and got to running. The course had a five mile loop, then a 14 mile loop that you did three times, and then you ran the five mile loop again. I guess they said it was 52.8 miles all together.
At first glance the course seemed pretty easy with a few hills but nothing major at all. Then as the time passed you noticed all of the gradual climbs and it made the legs pretty tired. Because of the recent rain most of the course was super muddy so your shoes were super heavy and then there were a million puddles and little creeks so my poor feet were soaked. Speaking of, why are my feet so screwed? I think my big toe is purple already and might come off. Off 50 some miles?? Ugh.
At the aid station at mile 31 is where the pity party kind of begins. First off, I was previously told that there was one 50 mile girl ahead of me. When we got to mile 31 I was looking for her but they said she was actually doing the 50k. Sweet, so I'm first girl. Then somehow we ended up taking a really long break at the aid station and in the meantime, the dang 2nd girl shows up and a minute later the 3rd girl shows up! Ugh. Then the 2nd girl spends one second at the station and then leaves while we're still there.
When we finally left I knew she was at least a few minutes ahead but I wanted to catch her. Finally at the next aid station I caught her and took off but I knew she was near me. Bernie and I cranked that stupid loop out and went faster on it than we did for the 2nd loop and were rocking it; we even passed a few others. I was feeling good and I knew the 2nd girl wouldn't catch me.
At some point we came upon like four huge horses (with riders) that just so happened to be standing RIGHT in the place where we needed to access to continue on our trail; no other way around it. Why did their riders think it was cool to stand there while us tired runners just looked at them and were afraid to push the horses away? Oh, you don't understand? Here, I drew you a diagram of how it happened:
The red represents the path that Bernie and I took. Yes, we almost ran on top of the horses, getting our clothes snagged on thorns and almost falling over while the horses kind of acted spooked and looked like they were going to attack us and while the riders just laughed at us (on the inside, I'm sure) while they looked down on us lowly peons without horses.
We hit the end of the loop and were ready to start the final last five miles, which should be nice and easy and quick. Welp, we get to a T in the road and there is no dang course marker so we randomly picked to go left. We went left for about .5 miles or so and realized that wasn't the right way, so we walked back all sad and annoyed and then looked around in the other directions and finally hit the right path after seeing other runners (we did end up seeing Jay and his wife again so that was nice). We had wasted about 30 minutes doing this.
At that point we had probably already run close to 50 miles and I was just ready to call it quits. Who wanted to run another dumb five miles after all that?
But anyway we started truckin and besides getting chased by some random dogs, the five miles were pretty easy and I finished.
What's dang annoying is that while Bernie and I were in la-la land getting lost, ole girl came up and beat me by 20 minutes and then the three people who we had passed finished, too. We were on track to finish in 5th place and now I think it was 8th or something. I don't even care about my place. What bugs me is that we worked our butts off to catch the girl and maintain the lead, and then right at mile 47 we got screwed. Ahh! How come those other people didn't get lost? Not saying I wanted them to but how did they know to go the other way?
Overall, it really was a good race. Everything was well marked except at the end, where I heard someone took the sign down (but really, why did it have to happen at the end? Reminds me of my sad tale at Gnaw Bone). The course was fun and challening enough and it was beautiful out and perfect temps. It was fun being out there with Jay and Bernie. And, Jay did AWESOME, especially for his first 52 miler!!! Enjoy the video.
I went out to Santa Barbara, CA last Friday to visit my new cute little nephew and got to fit in a 50k race in Malibu last Sunday. The race consisted of a 15.5 mi loop that you repeated once. Most of the first half of the loop was climbing up a mountain and the last half was coming down it.
I was nervous looking at the elevation beforehand because it looked like I would make a 2,000+ ft climb in the beginning, which I don't think I've done before. I was envisioning standing at the bottom of the mountain and looking straight up to make a vertical hike. Also, I was intimidated at the start of the race because I had never raced out west before and I didn't know how the other runners would compare to the ole midwest. I thought they may run straight up the whole mountain instead of walking it since they lived out there and were used to those hikes.
The race started at 8am (seems late) and so the sun was already out and it was getting hot. The course going up turned out to be on a wide dirt path that curved and rounded, so it wasn't a straight-up hike, thank goodness. It was a good climb that worked me but it wasn't too hard. Annd, it was just beautiful being up there at the top. I was somehow passing people on the climb and it made me a little nervous; I didn't want to be some rookie Hoosier going up too fast on the mountain. But, I just kept going. The second half of the loop was awesome because most of it really was all downhill so I just flew by.
I started the second loop and I was already going slower. The sun was hotter and my legs were tired. I learned that I was first female but I didn't know how long that'd last. Around mile 22 or something I was super slow because of the heat and my warm water didn't quinch the thirst at all.
When I got to the mid-point aid station I sat down for a second in the shade and right as I left, I saw a female runner coming in to the statoin. She freakin stopped for a few seconds and was already out of there. Since I was feeling crappy and I don't like the pressure of another female on me, I was going to let her have it. There was a big climb right out of the station so I was just waiting for her to pass me anytime- I didn't want to look back to see how close she was.
I finally hit the downhill and knew I'd go fast, but I figured she would, too, and would pass me anytime. I kept going and kept wondering how close she was and if she could see me but she never came. At the end I was walking a little more and I was basically giving her the finish and I didn't care.
I knew the heat was getting to me because I started getting goose bumps. I was afraid to drink too much of my water because I didn't want to run out (7.8 mi in between the aid stations are too far apart for an ultra in the sun). A quarter mile to the finish I started gagging and puked up a little water- yuck.
I made it into the finish in 6:04 and somehow was first female and 4th overall. There were only 34 runners in the ultra but I am still proud of the finish. The second female finished just four minutes after me.
I'm glad I got to experience a race out there and loved the scenery. I think I still prefer the trail courses that I've done so far to this race since they're more technical and such.
I'll keep this report short. I didn't know how this race would turn out having come right out from Woodstock a couple of weeks ago but this race turned out to be the best ever. It was perfect weather, my legs felt fresh the whole time, and I beat my previous Hell time by over two hours.
Chris, Bill, Bernie, and I started out together and we didn't really have a plan other than to finish. Chris was planning on doing a 12:3 strategy so we tried it out with him. I was practically sprinting on the 12 minute part and I kept saying how dumb I was to be going out fast again but I didn't care- I kept going and kept feeling good and made it to the end. It was a great time with everyone; loved it.
Here are some gigantic pics (thanks Angel) and video:
Finally another one in the book! Bernie and I drove to MI last Friday afternoon, we met up with Bryan (poor Chris couldn't make it) and we started the race at 4pm. I finished the race in 27:16 and it seems like it rained about 24 of those hours.
From the get-go we decided to do a plan of run 7 minutes, walk 3 minutes all the way to the finish. We laughed and disregarded this strategy at Mohican but when we DNF'd that race and the guy who followed that strategy, Mike, did finish, we were convinced. So, it was definitely hard to stick to that slow pace during the first 30 miles. People kept passing us and I was feeling good and wanting to run harder. Luckily the guys kept reminding me to hold back and then run hard at mile 80 if I still felt good. The first loop was in the light and even though my shorts were already soaked from sweat and I was chafing, I felt pretty good. We finished the first loop in 3:30 which was pretty fast so we tried slowing down our pace a little bit afterwards.
On the second loop we met a guy, Joe, who was out there running alone and he ended up staying with us until the end. It was rainy and dark but we kept truckin; finished in about four hours.
It was still raining on the third loop and so the course was getting muddier and harder to run through and my feet were still getting soaked, even though I changed out my shoes and socks. I was feeling pretty tired after the third loop and it surprised me since I had only run 50 miles. I think we finished this loop in four hours, too.
Bernie wasn't feeling too hot either but we convinced him to start the fourth loop with us. Right then at 4am, good ole Bill (whom I ran this race with last year) surprisingly met up with us out on the course and ran a few miles with us. He woke up at midnight, drove a few hours over, ran a few miles with us, then turned back around to make his 50k start at 6am. Crazy. Bernie ended up dropping at the end of this loop; just wasn't his day. It was hard when he dropped because it tempted me to stop, but I kept going because I didn't want three DNFs.
My blisters were getting worse on the fourth loop because of the non-stop rain and mud puddles we had to run through. I really didn't want to stop this race because of blisters so I was going to push through it even if it killed me. We were running a good pace so far so I knew I could walk a lot if I needed to and still finish within the cut-off time. By this time we were sick of the dark and just kept begging the sun to come up; that was our only motivation to start the fifth loop. I think we finished this loop in four or four and a half hours.
Same story for the fifth loop except we had day light which helped. It was hard to keep going. I was tired and my feet really killed. We finished the loop in 4:30 and I had a breakdown; just overwhelmed and in pain and I wanted to stop but knew I wouldn't. I knew if I did the fifth loop then there was no way I wouldn't do the sixth. I cried and cried but kept going and headed out for the last lap.
At the beginning of the sixth loop lucky Bryan was feeling awesome and somehow his magical feet didn't have any blisters so he ran on ahead and Joe and I struggled through the end. Joe's feet were jacked up, too, so we decided we'd change our running plan to run 1 minute, walk 2 minutes. It was so hard to run that minute and we really thought we were working hard and making progress, even though our feet barely left the ground. Joe's girlfriend came and paced us for a few miles and then headed back.
Bill had finished his 50k and caught up to us to finish the race. I couldn't believe he stayed with us until the end; I literally said about five words the last five hours. I couldn't be in a good mood and I couldn't make myself talk at all. Very nice and patient of him.
Joe and I tried the 2:1 strategy for awhile and then ended up just walking most of the miles and running occasionally. At the end Joe's walk was faster than mine so he went on ahead and Bill and I slowly finished the race 20 minutes after him.
Oh my goodness it was rough at the end. It seems like my legs were fine the whole time; it was just the darn blisters that got me again. I don't know what to do. I used the good Drymax socks; I used the Injinji socks; I ran in about six different pairs of shoes (two of which were brand new). Don't we all have the same type of skin? How come my feet were affected and others' not? Doesn't make sense.
Well speaking of, I saw Joe's feet after the race and they looked like ground beef. His blisters had actually already ripped off and a ton of his skin was exposed- yuck. He ended up going to the ER to have them get fixed. During the race he had talked about wanting to do that anyway; get hooked up to some meds and then have your feet worked on. :)
So I finished and that's all I care about now. I think 89 runners had at least pre-registered for the event; 27 finished.
Below's a video of some of the course. I apologize that it's not too entertaining; I'm pretty depressing in it. Warning- I show my nasty blisters at the end.
Bernie's in town so I was finally forced to actually go out and run straight miles (vs ultimate frisbee). He's been reminding me each week that Hallucination keeps getting closer and closer; I guess it's time to get ready. We ran 6 miles yesterday at the canal at 5am and then 7 miles today. Man, that's early but I'm glad we went out. My goal is to run at least 12 mi tomorrow morning; hopefully I'll make it 18-20.
I'm the lazy ultrarunner. I really like running races, but only halfway like training for them. I really prefer to run on trail, but I'm usually too lazy to drive to one.
Last Post
-
I know I haven't updated this blog in quite some time. To be honest, I've
lost interest in it, and I have a lot of other things to do besides update
a blog...
My Last Fortnight: Feb 20 to Mar 5
-
*
*
*
*
*Mon 20 Feb-*
*AM: *50 minutes run + 15 minutes barefoot at South Beach. Wanted to get a
hard effort in to “highlight” the problem areas for my P...
Half Marathon training run is what she told me
-
Yup, for those who follow this blog know I don't do races to train ...and
yes this is my first half marathon I ever did because Natalia had the
wisdom to s...
Burning River 100 Race Review
-
“Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for
success.”
-Napoleon Hill
I learned what that quote meant during my first comple...
Help me creatively spend $800 on a new bike!
-
[image: GWTrailNoText]
We’re gonna play a bit of a ‘what-if’ game today, primarily, because I need
some real-world assistance in deciding a conundrum. O...
Wingfoot Lake State Park
-
Since the weather was so nice today, I needed to go for a run. My plan was
to go to Quail Hallow State Park in Hartville and run either the trails or
the...
My Breakfast - 1000 calories
-
*Here is a typical breakfast for me:*
- Two eggs (large, fried with olive oil)
- Sunflower seeds (mixed with the eggs)
- Hard cheese (usually Parm...
Who put Prozac in the water?
-
Something strange has been happening lately: suddenly I’m liking EVERYONE
even more than I did before and even more odd, everyone is liking ME more.
-I cat...
Nueces Trail Run – 2012 Results
-
Jordan McDougal of Virginia and Michele Suszek of Colorado earn the USATF
50 Mile Trail Championship title! Plus, course records crushed in every
race di...
MY MEETING OF THE "RUNNING ON THE SUN" CAST
-
Running on the Sun had a huge impact on me. I used to think I would never
want to run Badwater. But the movie made me second guess that. Soon, I ran
Bad...
Blogslack
-
A really cool person today kind of reminded me that I haven't been blogging
much. I have been facebooking most stuff lately, and just started tracking
my m...
100 Miles!
-
Well it took three full weeks of running to get there, but I'm still pretty
damn happy to be able to say it. The last twenty one days have consisted of
50...
I've Moved!
-
Hi Everyone! This is quick post to let you know that I've officially moved!
From now on I'll be posting at my new domain located at:
http://runninglam.com/...
2012 Chuckanut 50k Preview
-
A preview of the 2012 Chuckanut 50k. Related articles:
1. 2011 Miwok 100k Preview A preview of the 2011 Miwok 100k....
2. Bandera 100k Preview A p...
Birkie!
-
Over 9,000 skiiers converged on the Hayward/Cable area this past weekend
for the 39th annual American Birkiebeiner ski race. The Birkie is the
largest ski...
-
Did a warm up mile to the trails, then an hour on the trails, and a mile
back home. I felt pretty sluggish, but I was able to run up and down the
hills for...
Summer 2011 Update
-
It's been a while since I've posted to my blog. It's been a busy few
months at work, at home, and on the trails. Updating my blog just hasn't
been a prio...
Follow me on DailyMile
-
I am taking a break from making posts here on my blog, but I have started
using DailyMile and will be logging my miles there. To view my log – *Click
Here*
Coyote Stalking
-
My husband and I were out on the trails this morning. We dug up some ramps
(wild leeks) to both eat and plant on our land in the hopes of a little
ramp-gro...
Grammar Stall
-
Hey Friends,
I was really going to post about grammar. I even read many sources and
learned a lot, but I haven't had the time to put it down. What I ha...
The Hawk, and other things
-
No excuses for the update drought, just life.
Registration for the Hawk Marathon / 50 mile / 100 mile is open. Visit the race
page on the Trail Hawks site ...
