Hello Blogsters - What follows is a quick recap of my first shot at running an official ultra event - The Dick Collins Firetrails 50 on Oct 9th in Castro Valley:
I slept well friday night. Better than I have all week. The race went really well, pretty much just as I had planned it. I was surprised at how good I felt almost the entire way. I ate and drank continuously staying well hydrated. The weather was optimal. Low 50’s at the start and getting to the mid 70’s by the afternoon. I used primarily Gu and Gu2o/Gatorade as my fuel source. I tried some pbj’s and half a payday bar as well as a Boost Plus 1 hour before the start and another diluted in one of my bottles during the run. The diluted one I didn’t care for very much because running with it shakes it up and makes it foamy and hard to drink. I probably got three quarters of it in and dumped the rest.
My family crewed for me and were a huge help. At each aid station that they had access to they were there with anything I needed and that helped me save some time. I think the longest aid station stops were the two where I did a sock change and those were shorter than 5 minutes. Probably more like 3 or 4 minutes tops. I had to change socks twice during the race due to blisters which started to occur around mile 20. The worst one is on the ball of my left foot behind my big toe. It is about the size of a half dollar and popped on its own at about mile 45. I didn’t start with hydropel on that area and that may be the reason it blistered. There is another in the same spot on the other foot but smaller.
My plan was to get to the turnaround point (mile 26) 30 minutes ahead of 10:30 pace. I arrived 25 minutes ahead and outside of the blisters felt great. The climb back to mile 30 is a long one and by the time I got there the cushion had shrunk to just 5 minutes (I passed 5 runners on this section). I was a little worried with 20 miles to go, a slim 5 minute cushion, and expecting to slow due to fatigue. So I decided to concentrate on moving as fast as possible on all the runable sections and of course keep fast walking the ups. This worked out well and I passed several more runners over the next 20 miles and made up time. When I got to the mile 37 aid station I had made up a bunch of time and had around 3 hours left and 13 miles to finish in under 10:30. I knew it was in the bag at that point and turned my attention to try breaking 10 hours. 5 miles to the next aid station.
At the mile 42 aid station is where I made my only mistake of the day. I was getting tired of eating Gu and decided that with 8 miles to go and being ahead of schedule, and feeling great, I would run it in without eating anymore. The blisters were hurting but not enough to make me want to stop for repairs and miss breaking 10:00 so I decided to run it in. After the last aid station at mile 47, I started to get tired from lack of fuel. I would have had to run 3, 10 minute miles from that point to break 10 hours and with no fuel in the tank, some hills comin up, etc, I was not able to muster the strength to do it. I was pooped. I think if I would have continued to eat I would have finished the last 3 stinkin miles much stronger.
Anyway, I finished in 10:06:33. 62nd out of 120 finishers. OK by me for a first ultra. That’s good enough to get into the WS100 lottery and I sent my application in yesterday..Oh Yeah!!! With the exception of the last 3 miles I felt strong and in control the whole way. And the last 3 miles were not like a fall apart/bonking type of deal, I was just too tired to break the 10:00 time which was no big deal since I only needed a sub 10:30 to qualify for Western. The hamstring problem was never an issue. That’s huge. The only thing that got sore were my knees later in the race from the downhills but that never really slowed me down either. I do need to figure out how to avoid the blisters. I have blistered in the same place twice now. Both on long hilly runs of more than 25 miles. Also, this is weird because I have not been sick in years but, I have developed a sore throat and am coughing up some lung junk similar to what I remember bronchitis being like. Not sure what is going on there.
I really dug the course and will for sure want to run this one again next year (except next year I want to be faster). Meeting Ann Trason and Carl Anderson was great. They were both there to high five me as I crossed the finish line. I got a cool DC50 wine glass, a tee shirt and a polo shirt for being a rookie finisher.
Keeping my fingers crossed for the WS lottery on Dec. 4th. So far all is going according to plan.
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