I ran my first 50K at the Epic Ultras' Fall Ultra Extravaganza on October 24th. I wanted to do this race mostly because I just love the word "extravaganza", but I was also looking forward to a short ultra. I started with a 50 miler and then a 40 miler, so I'd been working my way down to this moment.
My training didn't go exactly as planned. I've been having knee pain since the end of July that made me miss when my IT band hurt. Not pain while I’m running, but pain all the rest of the time because my leg didn’t want to be straight or bend beyond a certain point. I had a man who looked like a professional look at it after the Big Red Shoe 15K, and he said maybe it’s my cartilage. He asked me if I had other races coming up and I told him just a few small things until my 50K in late October, and I could see him look into my big, hopeful eyes and make the decision not to tell me what he was thinking which was probably, “Stop running, you fool!” Instead, he said I should massage it and tape it. So with that bit of advice, I kept on training!
We arrived in Ottawa on Friday night and stayed at the Super 8 which is becoming our home away from home. Nate went to hear Marshall Ulrich speak, but I stayed at the hotel to relax and watch the Royals. The game was so exciting that I had to see the end, so I barely got any sleep but it was worth it to see the Royals win and make it to the World Series.
Five members of our speedwork group were running the 50 mile race, so we went to Celebration Hall early to see them start. I was worried that this might be the last time I would ever see Tyler Burgess since after training for and running his first marathon at Chicago, Scott Vorhees convinced him that running a 50 miler would be a good idea. Julie Vanlue, Troy Cupp, and Tim Metcalf had also all been training hard for months and I couldn’t wait to see how their race went.
Being early is a rarity when traveling with Nate, so I had plenty of time to overthink my race plan, which was to stay between 7:30-7:40 pace and do my best to finish in under four hours. My race started at 8:00 and the weather was perfect. I tried to think about nothing but the mileage of the next aid station – 10.8, 17.3 (the turn around), 23.8. Nate was an excellent crew person. I barely had to slow down as we just swapped water bottles with my snacks already in the pouch. He also gave me my iPod at the turn as a reward for my good sportsmanship.
I was actually a little fast going out, but once I turned to head back it was so windy! It crushed my spirit a little and I momentarily contemplated laying down on the side of the trail, but I thought that would make me itchy and I didn’t know how long it would take before someone found me, so I thought it was best to keep going. I had some splits in the last seven miles that were much closer to 8:00 than to my goal pace, so I was glad I’d banked some time even though I don’t like to race that way. When I was almost to Celebration Hall, Nate was on the corner yelling at me that I had to hurry. I didn’t believe him because I had a watch so I knew I was going to make it under my goal, but I tried to hurry as fast as a person who has run almost 31 miles can go. I made it in 3:57:50!
The real excitement of the day didn’t begin until after I finished because Nate planned to pace Pete Kostelnick for the last 31 miles of his 100, so we needed to find him. I was a little bummed that I didn’t see any of my friends finish the 50 mile race, but they all did fantastic! Thankfully, I was able to shower and change and then we headed to Colony, where one of my favorite people, Brian Smith, was manning the aid station. As we were waiting for Pete, I realized running so far made me a little overly emotional. I was near tears because I didn’t get to take my finish line photo with Eric Steele, even though Zach Adams is pretty awesome too. Nate told me to quit whining. He displayed even less sympathy in the car driving to Welda when I became teary again when he refused to turn up Beyonce.
The Welda aid station was being run by another friend of mine, Curtis Ware. In case you hadn’t noticed the theme, I know fantastic people! When Pete arrived in Welda, I think Nate tried to make him cry by jokingly asking if Pete wanted to just keep going by himself. I later chastised Nate because you shouldn’t joke like that with someone who has run almost 70 miles. The two of them took off in their matching shoes. I checked on them at Garnett, Richmond, and Princeton. They were rocking it, coming in very close to the time I was expecting them at every aid station. Nate requested that I get them some “cheap” beer for when they finished, so I stopped to get him some PBR(?). They finished just after 8:00pm, with Pete running what I believe to be the 6th fastest 100 mile time in the U.S. this year. It was an inspiring performance to witness. One day when Pete is super-famous, I’ll be able to say that I kind of helped crew for him, and that we were also the co-champions of the 2015 Flint Hills 40, even though he was probably halfway back to Nebraska by the time I finished : )
It was an exhausting but memorable day. I can’t wait until April when I’ll be back in Ottawa for the Prairie Spirit 50!