The race started at 6am Saturday morning at the Nordic Trailhead in the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine Forrest which is 355 miles from my home. I left late Friday morning to arrive early enough to pick up my race packet and get settled into my hotel room. I made the nearly 6 hour drive by myself which gave me way too much time to think!
I arrived at the packet pickup location around 4:30. It was pretty laid back with a few groups of people hanging out. Since I didn't know anyone there I didn't stay very long but I did get a chance to chat with a few volunteers and the race director which eased my anxiety and got me more excited for the race.
2 other ladies, Kate & Jodee, from one of my running groups were also running the race and staying at the same hotel so I met up with them and we went for a quick dinner. I was back in my hotel room around 7:00 getting everything ready for the morning and in bed by 9:30. I think I fell asleep rather quickly but woke up several times during the night. 4am came quickly.
The first thing I did was have some coffee in hopes of getting things moving. I showered & dressed, ate my breakfast and went for a little more coffee (things still were not moving!) Then it was time to head to the race start.
I followed Kate & Jodee for the 15 minute drive to the trailhead. We arrived early enough that we were able to park pretty close to the start/finish line which was nice. We put our drop bags in their designated areas and got in line for the porta-potties. Things still were not moving for me and I started to worry just a little because I always need to go before a run or race!
Everything was pretty low key but well organized at the start area and it didn't seem crowded. The best part was that I didn't get my usual pre-race anxiety or nervous at all, I was relaxed and just ready to run. It was already above 50 degrees at 6am so I was comfortable starting in my shorts and tank top with no need for extra layers to deal with dropping later.
A quick briefing by the race director, signing of the national anthem and then it was go time!
Jodee, Kate and I started together and ran for about 5 miles before splitting off.
The first section of the course is a 9 mile loop on a nice wide cross country ski trail with some easy rolling hills. There were aid stations at mile 3.9 and mile 9, which is also the start/finish area. It was all very runnable but I tried to just keep a nice easy pace, walking the hills and just enjoying the scenery. Before I knew it I was at mile 9 and the first of 3 drop bag areas where I grabbed another packet of Tailwind, filled my bottle and was back out on the trail.
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| part of section 1 |
The second section is an out and back, about 11 miles each way. It was mostly single track and got a little more hilly and technical with rocks and roots to watch out for. I was running in a little pack for about the first 2/3 of this section before we started to spread out a little. By the time I was about half way through my outbound of this section the leaders were starting to pass on their way back. It was fun to cheer each other on. We had access to our 2nd drop bags twice during this section at mile 17.4 and 26.2 but I somehow missed it on the way back. Maybe it was because this was my favorite section and I was just enjoying the views too much!
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| Singletrack in section 2 |
Section 3 is another out and back on a variety of terrain from singletrack to prairie with more climbing and some beautiful views. We had access to a 3rd drop bag twice during this section, and again I somehow passed by mine, I guess I didn't need 98% of the things I felt necessary to pack!
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| Section 3 |
By now it was starting to get warm but thankfully there was a good amount of shade and every once in a while a nice strong breeze would blow through. I'm pretty sure by the time I even hit this section, the first finishers had already been out and back and were making their way through the final couple miles! During this section I leap-frogged with a couple different guys, eventually getting ahead of 2 of them but couldn't quite hang onto the last one. It was nice to have a little company, as I had run the majority of miles 20-40 by myself. The aid station at mile 33 had a volunteer I had met before and seeing her gave me a great boost of energy, thank you Angela!
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| Thank you Angela for the energy boost! |
When I hit the last aid station, less than 2 miles from the finish, I started to get a little emotional because I knew I was going to finish and finish relatively strong. I tried to pick it up a little for the last mile, running up the last 2 hills and passing 2 other runners. When I entered the final stretch and saw the amazing crowd of people cheering I got choked up and almost lost it. I think I got myself together and a smile back on my face as I crossed the line, but I have yet to see a photo to prove it!
I finished in 10 hours, 15 minutes, 4 seconds. Much better than I expected after dealing with some injury and missing 5 weeks of running during what should have been my peak training weeks. I felt none of the residual muscle aches from my injury all day. The heat which affected many runners never really got to me. I was able to get in sufficient calories and had no stomach issues whatsoever which is shocking since I wasn't able to take care of business that morning! There were a few momentary lows, but the highs far outweighed them. I could not have asked for things to go any better for my first 50!
The aid stations were plentiful and the volunteers were wonderful. The course was beautiful and in great condition. It was well marked and the areas where there could have been some confusion were manned by volunteers directing runners. I would highly recommend this race, especially for a first timer.
Why did I want to run 50, other than just for the love of running and being out on the trail? Sometimes I just need to do challenging things to remind myself that I have a pretty good life and that I'm lucky to have the choice to do hard things. Several people I know aren't so fortunate, they are faced with much tougher battles without a choice. Many are doing much more difficult things that are not enjoyable and they are fighting just to survive. Going out on a beautiful trail and running 50 miles might be difficult, but it's where I wanted to be and I thank my body and mind for allowing me to do it.
"So what do you think about while running for that long?" is the question I've been asked by a few people. Usually I think about dozens of different random things while running, but that day I can honestly say I didn't really think about much. I guess I got all my thinking out of the way the day before during my drive down! I was just out there, in the moment, enjoying it as much as possible. I smiled at and gave words of encouragement to every runner who passed by, even the few that were in their own zone and appeared to not even hear or see me. There were a couple things that I repeated in my head when it got a little tough like "Courage. We all suffer. Keep going." Another thing I did was not focus on the time, I kept saying to myself "There is no time, only space, you are just floating through space." As silly as that sounds, it worked and I just kept floating on and on and on.
FUEL:
Pre-race:
Bagel - 260 calories
Cashew nut butter - 190 calories
Banana - 100
During race:
Tailwind - 800 calories total
1 Honey Stinger Waffle - 150 calories
1 packet Ginger Ale flavor Cliff Shot Bloks - 200 calories
1/2 packet Margarita flavor Cliff Shot Bloks - 100 calories
a few orange sections - 60 calories
2 Oreo Cookies - 140 calories
about 10 potato chips - 150 calories
CLOTHING/GEAR:
Garmin Fenix 5s watch
Momentum Jewelry "never give up" Motive Wrap
Nathan Fireball Hydration Vest
Nike Daybreak Drifit Hat
Patagonia Nine Trail Shorts and tank
Zensah sports bra
Balega V-Tech Endro Quarter Socks
Pearl Izumi N1 Trail Shoes (discontinued)
Altra Gators
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