So it all started for me when I read the book Ultramarathon Man. Once I read about the crazy feats that Dean could accomplish I figured I could at least run 50 miles. I decided to sign up for the Fall 50 in Door County, WI.
As a "training race" I also signed up for the Hobo 50k. Going into this race I felt great and thought I was in better shape than ever before so I started out at marathon pace (7:00/mile). After 20 miles I was leading the race. At this point I started to get leg cramps and also losy my cookies, literally, I had been eating cookies. I finished the race 16th with a final pace of 8:50/mile, a slight disaster. I had started way too fast, especially considering how I was on hilly trails.
Going into the 50 mile I wanted to make sure to be conservative in the beginning. I felt how bad it was to be suffering with 13 miles left in a race and I did not want that feeling with 20-30 miles left in a race. I started out at 9:00 mile pace. Now, this is pretty difficult to do. I have trained so much for this race, I feel great and ready to have a great race, and I have to start out jogging.
One nice feature about the Fall 50 is that all of the hills are in the first 26 miles, even though some of these hills were quite large. Another good thing is that almost every runner will walk these hills, so I followed suit. So for the first 27 miles I ran just fast enough to keep my pace right around 9:00 including my walking of the hills. Throughout this period I just stuck to my favorite running diet. For hydration I had a camelback that contained a half lemonade gatorade, half water mix. For food I had blue gummy sharks (with the white bellies) and honey flavored teddy grahams. To support mem Kendra was stopping approximately every two miles in the car to see if I needed anything.
After 27 miles I felt like I had been running a bit, but really did not have much fatigue. At mile 27 is the "half way buffet". I grabbed a bowl of chicken broth and devoured it... delicious. I have had chicken broth before in Ironman and knew it was good, but it always surprises me how good it is. Luckily I had cooked up a can of it myself in the morning and Kendra had it in a thermos. This would be critical for the rest of the race. About every 6 miles from here on out I drank a dixie cup of chicken broth.
Now, in every other race I have done if I felt this good at the half-way point I would speed up, but I promised myself that I would not do so until mile 40. So for miles 30-40 I stuck right around 9:00 miles and just kept them going. However, this required me to increase my effort. The wind had been gradually increasing all day and at this point was about 15-20 mph. This race is a point to point race and we had the wind against us the whole way. Up until this point we had been shielded pretty well by trees, but these miles were on a road surrounded by prairie. The temperature was around 50, so at least that was not an issue.
At mile 40 I realized there was no need to speed up. Eventually running this many miles had to catch up with my body, and it was starting to happen. My legs were definitely tired, but my lower back was really starting to hurt at this point. I finally ran out of my gatorade/water mix in my camelback so I tossed it to Kendra and asked her to stop every mile and give me a small cup of gatorade. This was really more for the moral support than hydration at this point. I needed small goals and running a single 9:00 mile at a time did not seem too bad. So I trudged through these miles as I could feel my strides shortening and my every muscle in my body tightening.
I crossed the finish in 7:27:23 according to Garmin and travelled 50.11 miles. My pace was 8:56/mile. During the entire race my average pace stayed between 8:55 and 9:05. I feel like I benefitted a ton by keeping a steady pace throughout. If I started any faster I most likely would have had issues later on.
This event had 72 runners in the solo division and I finished 7th. There were also 800 people running in relay teams of up to five people covering the 50 miles. At the finish line was a huge tent setup with pizza, breadsticks, soda, and BEER! I downed some pizza, a couple sodas, and then went to the beer. It was delicious.
Going into this race I was not sure if this would be harder than an Ironman, but I was leaning towards the 50 miler being more difficult. In hindsight I think that the actual race itself was very comparable to the Ironman, you just do not get the relief of changing sports. Recovery, on the other hand, might be a longer process after this race. I was using the same muscles and impacting the same joints the whole time. My wobble is a bit worse than after Ironman.
Large props go out to Kendra for giving me perfect race day support. I did not have a single stomach issue the whole day! Amazing, especially since this was my largest concern going into the race.
Results are not up yet, but they should be soon at www.fall50.com
