A bit of background information: In May I ran my first marathon in Ottawa, and it took me longer than expected due to stomach problems. June 19 I ran Niagara 50K and again was plagued with stomach issues. I ended up walking for about 20KM. It took me 7.5 hours, but I finished (although my feet swelled to elephant size that evening). I experienced my first DNF at Limberlost, dropping after 28K when I realized I wasn't going to make the time cutoff. In between all of these races I've had some successful shorter races, so my running career this year has been kind of all over the map. My ultimate goal this year is to run Haliburton 50 Miler.
We showed up in Mansfield at around 7pm, set up camp, and had dinner. My friend and sometimes running partner made a fantastic pasta salad for myself, my husband and her to eat. We had a customary beer or two, and then hit the sack around 10pm. Alarm was set to go off at 6am. The evening was quite chilly but it was comfortable once I was in a sleeping bag. I had a great sleep (had none of the usual "I slept in for the race" dreams) and woke up feeling refreshed, but a little concerned about how cool the morning was. When I got out of the tent I realized the air temperature outside was actually a bit warmer, so I decided on shorts, a tank top and arm warmers. I realized that Nature Girl was camping right next to us so I got to say hello to her
The race started and the plan was to run the first 6 hours with my friend. I had no idea what to expect on the course, so I just took it easy, walking most of the hills. Within a few Ks I was loving the course already. Having a friend to run with was great, and the time started to fly by. I was pleased to see Queenga and the Viking at the aid station at 5K. I had some water and coke. We continued on, and I finished my first loop in about 1:30ish. Ditched my arm warmers, grabbed some more water and coke, and a bite to eat, and started in on the second loop. Again I was feeling good, making sure I was hydrating properly. The only unfortunate part about the course is the fact that you see the aid station before you actually reach it. I got excited when I realized I was almost there, ran quickly down the little downhill section, rounded the corner and said "oh yeah, I forgot there's a hill here..." Had some more water and coke at the aid station, and some shot bloks, and was on my merry way again. My second loop was finished in around 1:45. I was beginning to love the 10K loop. I knew exactly when to walk, and when to run, and my energy levels were remaining consistent. Third loop was pretty much the same as the first two, except that by the end I knew I'd need to make a pit stop at the start/finish. We were still keeping our aid station stops under 2-3 min., which is something I focussed on. I wanted to make sure I kept moving. When we started the fourth loop my friend decided she wanted to try to get to 35K before the 6 hour cutoff. I told her to go on without me, and she said she'd wait for me at the aid station and run the rest of the loop with me. She took off ahead of me. I must have been excited to see if she made it because I picked it up a bit. I got to the aid station and found out she just missed the cutoff, so she completed 32.5K in total. At that point I was starting to feel a bit sore, and started to doubt whether I would be able to continue for the full 12 hours. I had a good conversation with the Viking, and then my friend and I continued on to the end. There were a few times that I needed to walk a bit longer than I had been, but I continued on and finished the loop in around 2 hours. I had more water and coke, and grabbed my ipod, since I wouldn't have my friend to keep my company for my remaining loops. I had a hard time leaving. At that point I had about 5.5 hours left, so I decided to try and run the next loop in 2 hours, so I would have 2.5 to complete the remaining loop. I thought it would be reasurring to have that buffer. I must have caught my second wind on the fifth loop, because I felt fantastic, even though my ipod died about 3K into the loop. Coming up on the aid station I smelled a fantastic aroma. I think that was the quickest time I made it up that hill. I discovered that there were freshly made grilled cheese sandwiches. I was a bit doubtful about trying one, but Queenga and the Viking both encouraged me, so I took one triangle, and I have to say it was the best grilled cheese I have ever eaten. I continued on my way. As I made my way from the "annoying turn around" to the section that was named something to do with hippies, I heard someone call my name and turned around to see my hubby making his way toward the annoying turn around. I waved and continued on. He caught up with me a bit later on and passed me, and I was happy to see he was looking strong well into his quest to complete 120K in 24 hours. I finished my fifth loop in about two hours, right on target. My friend was happy to see me, as she was a bit worried after my last loop. At that point I knew I had roughly 2.5 hours to finish my final loop and complete 60K, which had been my goal for this race right from the start. I had my usual water and coke, and my final two magic cookies (homemade by the same friend who made dinner, ran with me, and was now crewing me. I like to refer to her as my wife
) I followed my same routine of walking up the hills and running the flat and downhill sections. I tried not to linger too long at the aid station. I was continuously checking my watch to make sure I would not run out of time, even though I knew I had plenty of time. It felt to me that I was walking a bit more than my previous loops, but I allowed myself that, because every time I told myself I should run again, I would start right away and continue on for a while. I've found that in previous races, near the end, I would be quite tired and would end up walking a lot, and then whenever I started to run again, things would be sore etc. and I wouldn't be able to maintain my pace. That did not happen with this race. I was so happy that although this was the longest distance, and longest time by a long shot, that I had ever run, I was still able to maintain a decent running pace in my final few KMs. As I approached the end I could hear the traffic on the nearby road and knew I was almost finished. When I saw the path leading to the grass and the finish I have to admit I welled up a little bit at the thought of what I had accomplished. I ran into the finish and was a bit overwhelmed that I was done. My friend was there to take my picture, and as a nice surprise another friend that lived nearby had arrived in time to see me finish, and had brought a glorious treat, some caramel sundae ice cream.I ended up finishing the final lap in about the same time as my fifth lap, even though it felt like I was walking a bit more. My overall finish time was 11:35 with a distance of 60KM. Later on in the evening I was nicely surprised to find I had won second place women under 39. I enjoyed some food and some wine, and went to bed around 11pm.
My overall thoughts of this race:
- I am in love with the course. It is challenging, but very runnable.
- I am considering doing 24 hours there next year.
- As I told the Viking, he and Queenga are not allowed to run any more races. They must run an aid station at every race that I run from this point on.
- I am very proud of what I accomplished with this race and it has given me the confidence I need to feel ready for Haliburton, especially after some of the problems I've had at previous races
- I love being a dirty girl!
