Yet ultras seem to be a different monster all together. A champion might finish in 15 hours, or possibly 24, for a truly grueling one. And while an iPod can also last that long, can you really run 24 hours sustained solely by music? Or can a trip that long teach you something about yourself. Help you find a new purpose, or redefine what you want to do with your life. One of the biggest differences I've noticed is the discussion of aid stations. The volunteers there, the different foods offered, the struggle to keep going. Most of the time, they're not running through, downing a water or Gatorade on the fly. They've covered 30, 40, 50 miles, and may be wondering why they should keep going. Sitting down to change shoes, and enjoying the resting sensation.
And I want to experience that. To reach that point, and see what I find within myself. Sure, a marathon is a good place to start, to be moving for (ideally) 4 hours or so. So we'll start with shorter races, and build up.
Saturday was a "shorter" race. 7 miles. Some chose to do the loop again, and hit 14 miles. 360 did the 7, 135 did 14, according to the results. The race caps at 750, and apparently usually hits that mark, but the cold and wet conditions may have kept some people away, since only 495 completed the course (maybe others started but didn't finish?) As a starter for my "running rebirth" I couldn't have picked a better race. Nor could it have started in a worse way. While standing in line for the port-a-potty, I suddenly realized I had left my bib in my car. I had my timing chip on my shoe, so I wasn't worried about not getting an official finish, but I really wanted pictures of this. And without a bib number, it's hard to search for yourself. Man, I really hope the event photographers let you search for bib numbers. Because there was less than 5 minutes before the start, and I had to run a good .4 miles there, and then back, to get my bib and start the race. Added nearly a mile, and I didn't even make it in time. I ran past the pack on my way to the start, only to discover there was no starting mat, so I, and a few others, just started back down the road toward the tail end of the pack.
I quickly made up ground, and was pleased with how well my legs felt. I was trying to avoid overdoing it so early, since we were on the roads at this point. The switch to trails was the first hold up, since it was a narrow gap in the brush, so I got a brief respite. A lot of people seemed surprised/dismayed by the mud. True, you don't sign up to slog through mud constantly for 7 miles, but it's a trail race, and we just had rain. Rain + trail = mud. It's a simple equation. Thus, I was able to pass a bunch of people, as they were trying to go around the mud rather than just splashing through it. This was a theme for the remainder of the race. I didn't see many people other than myself actually choosing to run through the mud, which slowed them down and gave me open paths and quicker running.
While I'm no speedster, I'm hardly a back of the pack runner in events like this, so I was glad I had found a way to keep moving and fall in with people who were more my speed. That being said, my time definitely suffered from starting at the very back. I'm not saying I would have won any awards, but I would have been several minutes quicker, possibly even breaking 60 minutes, had I not been dodging people so often and early. It's one thing to do it on roads, but on trails, you can't just pass someone whenever you feel like it. You have to wait for an opening, or for them to find a spot to move over. This also may have helped me to keep my legs fresh, because I couldn't overclock.
Early on, I started to appreciate just how awesome my New Balance MT100's are. I hate to sound like a paid reviewer, but they definitely gave me an edge. With a lot of hills, both up and down, many of which were slick with mud, I never lost my footing. On uphills, I could power through and not worry about my feet slipping back and fall on my face. And on downhills, their braking system in the heels meant I kept my speed up, skipping across rocks, roots and mud without fail, unlike many of the other racers. And with how lightweight they are, plus how quickly they shed water (many streams were stepped through), my feet were never weighed down. I didn't really have time to examine the shoes of anyone else, but from the number of them that seemed concerned about getting their shoes wet, I'm thinking that a lot of people weren't wearing trail shoes. Yes, the water was cold, but if you kept moving, you weren't going to catch frostbite or anything. So I jumped through puddles and streams with glee, taken a certain amount of joy in abusing my shoes, because I knew they could take it.
Anywho, this trail was a muddy mess. I'd hate to be the ones who have to clean it up, because the mud was everywhere. I wish I had pictures of the awesomeness, but those pesky water crossings would clean my lower legs back up.
I'll try to find pictures of Marcus's legs later, as they looked like he had bathed in the mud, but my own legs will have to do for now.
My mind is still jumping all over the place from this run, wanting to share everything at once, which I think speaks to how joyful I felt during this experience. I found a certain perverse joy in this playing in the mud, jumping into mud puddles, flying down hills, for 7 straight miles. I think hashing helped prepare me for this, because I've definitely run in worse conditions, without helpful trail markers. I had a goofy grin on my face for most of it, which kept me positive and upbeat, instead of thinking about how much further we had to go. In fact, I really didn't pay attention to the distance until we were 4 miles in. 3 miles left, how hard could that be?
As for my mile splits, it's kinda hard to determine. My Garmin tells me that I did 6.66 miles, which can be blamed on GPS coverage, confirmed by others also have 6.6-6.7, instead of 7. But going by my watch, the first mile was 11:19, which sounds right, because of the waiting at several spots. Mile 2 was 11:05, more waiting. Mile 3 was 10:11, getting faster. Mile 4 was 11:26, possibly because I took a breather with a slower pack, before powering back ahead, with Mile 5 in 9:25, and Mile 6 at 9:47. Technically, Mile 7 was in 6:13, because that's when I finished, and while I sped up at the very end, it wasn't that fast. Mainly because I thought I still had 4/10 of a mile to go, instead of rounding the corner and seeing the finish line. My pace was a 9:47, with only a couple walk breaks, never lasting more than a minute, but the lines for several bridges and hills definitely held me up. I'm envious of the 14 mile winner, who not only ran both 7 mile loops fast enough to win the shorter race with either one, he finished 11 minutes ahead of 2nd place. I saw him finish, and didn't even realize it, because I only beat him by 20 minutes. Twice the distance, and he's 20 minutes behind me. Wow.
Not that I'm in any way disappointed with this race. I'm really pleased with my effort, especially since my last 10K was 5 seconds slower. I go another .8 miles, in much worse conditions, and I'm 5 seconds faster. I've put in a lot of training, long trails, longer roads, hills, speed, and I'm started to see results. One of the most telling factors, other than my jogging to my car after the race, is that I then did a 4.5 mile hash 2 hours later, on roads, and had an 11:00/mile pace. Not speedy, by any means, and I wore trail shoes rather than road shoes, but I still ran decently well, and when you're hitting most checks as the first runner, you get slowed down by the searching. All told, I did nearly 13 miles on Saturday, between warm ups, the race, and the hash, and while my legs are definitely feeling it, it's hardly unbearable. Also, since I'll say I started at the very back of the pack, I passed 251 runners in the 7 mile race, and 54 in the 14 mile race. 304 runners. That's a lot of passing, especially since I never got passed. Well, never got passed and didn't pass them back.
I'm also quite appreciative for the Race Director, and all of the volunteers that helped with parking, aid stations, registration, after race food, timing, etc. I'm honestly surprised that they held the race, considering how bad the conditions were, since the trails will be beat-up for a while. Assuming the park service doesn't get pissed off and ban the race from coming back, they're champs for letting us have the event here. The trails are a lot of fun, a great mix of hills and flat areas. The parking was a nightmare, because we couldn't really park off the road because of the mud, so the street became a one-lane road, but I made it out of there with no problem.
I'll have to keep looking out for trail races in the area, and ask other locals if they know of any coming up, as I'd like to do at least one more trail race (at least 10K) before March and the Umstead Marathon.
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