After months of training, running in the rain, and hill repeats on repeat, The Whitewater Centers 50K race was upon me. That’s roughly 31 trails miles that I’d be running, and the best part, was that I was going to be doing it with a good friend. She started out just training with me for fun. Then she decided she’d run with me for a couple laps, to keep my spirits up. After realizing that 2 laps was really close to 3, she decided to take on the ultra with me.
We had some amazing weekends. Heading to the whitewater center at 6 AM, sometimes in the rain, to run 2-3 hours together. Let me just say, this is my absolute favorite part of endurance events, training with friends, having shared experiences, and talking for hours. I think this may be the single biggest reason that I choose the endurance route. That, and mtn biking and ultras are in the woods, and there’s nothing better than time with the trees.
So as we approached the race, my good friend had a bout with a previous injury, and took some time off. With that in mind, our plan for race day was to run the first lap together, and see how the rest of the day rolled.
We took it nice and slow, falling in to a group doing 15 minute miles. While I appreciated the slow warm up, I knew this was not going to be my flow for the duration of the race. As the miles moved on, I would ask how my friend was doing, and we’d pass as we could. My last check, at mile 4, told me that she was doing well, so I made my move to get past the 8 people holding me back.
Once past, I realized my friend had not joined me. I slowed, to see if she was coming, but it became clear she was not. At this point, I decided to go for it. I spent the next 5 plus hours, passing people. When I finished lap 1, I was in 45th place, by lap 2, I was in 10th. While I had no idea where I was, in the pack, I was conscious of the fact that I had not been passed by any runners at that point. So I continued to move along in the 10s range, and actually felt phenomenal the entire rest of the day. You will always hit mental lows, and feel like you’re dragging at times, but for all intents and purposes, the day could not have gone better.
Nutritionally speaking, this was a pretty simple, and new to me, plan. In the days prior, I had been adding in some of this, to keep my electrolytes up. Then day of the race, I decided to try out a product that I recently wrote a review on. I wanted to see if I could make it on dates, water, and drink mix. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t experience any stomach issues at any time, and felt truly steady in energy, all day. I was shocked. While I take my nutrition extremely seriously during races, I did this on a bit of a whim, and I couldn’t have been more pleased. High recommendation to try this product out, if you haven’t already.
While my friend could not continue on, due to the injury resurfacing during the race, I felt food enough to place as the 3rd female overall. A bit bittersweet, but now I have to help plan my friends next attempt at an ultra, which will no doubt lead to more amazing memories and good times.
