2015 Frozen Gnome 50k race report (7:28:16; 30/53)

This is my first ultra beyond 26.2 miles. Another 5 miles? Shouldn't be a big deal.. I thought.. until my thoughts all fell apart as each lap went by...

Before this race, I have done three 22 and one 26 miles on my favorite trails (waterfall glen and lakefront) with a weekly milage of 40-55. I thought I would pace under 9 min per mile, and finish under 5 or at least 6 hours if not, but that turned out to be totally wrong.  A biggest mistake I made was that I didn't know what that meant to be running on deep snow based trail. Now I know a bit what that is and what I need.  I was beaten by the slippery trail as well as the weather (starting at -7F). Ahhh... 

Anyway my Garmin official record said I finished 32 miles in 7:25:42 7:28:16 (two wrong turns guaranteed +1 mile in)
At least here is what I tried to survive and finish for this brutal winter run:

1) screwed my newton boco that worked quite well on snow and icy trail in Chicago.
2) glove+mitten (hand warmer would be useful) and two socks
3) Balaclavas (fully covered head and face mask)
4) salt capsule and some my favorite energy gels (GU) and chews (honey stinger)
5) hydration pack under my jacket so it wouldn't be frozen 

Make sure you put screws in on lugs:

I wish I could find a course map and its elevation (perhaps not a good idea; this will only freak you out before the race).

Course map:  I made two wrong turns so there are a few extra lines that should not appear in the map.

Elevation gain:1803 ft

1st loop: I was still dressing up (getting late..I realized but it won't matter at the end) while others took off to the trail.  Since I didn't know much about the trail course at all (not that I tried to find, but it was impossible to find haha), my plan was to follow the folks to get to know the course. About 20 min or so, the group of (at least 30) people got in panic... we got lost!!  what..what.. At one point, a guy shouted following me and I (we) did so.  He guided all of us to the right way. And my shoes started loosing the traction (after snow stuck in around lugs and got frozen) that I could not keep up my desired pace, and often felt that power walking is faster than running. It's a single track that I kept going and came back to the start line. Not too surprisingly, it took 1hr 25 min. In my head, shoot..umm..  Four more loops to go... (simple math: 24.8 miles means over 5 hrs). With no hesitation, I kept going however.

My 2nd, 3rd, and 4th loops got a little better since I now know how to not get lost (although I made another wrong turn on my last loop), but I had to walk up every single hills and due to lack of traction this was also uneasy.  I started feeling bad that I was supposed to run, not to walk as this is a ultra marathon. However, with the freezing temp and the snow, I was helpless.  

Finally, I decided to finish this.. my 5th loop.. no cramping and no bonking.. but just tired from being out there that long hours. After my last butt slide, I saw the volunteer at the last (check?) point (I think we have four volunteers along the course..huge + for the runners) on the course, and said "THANK YOU and will see you NEXT year."  Really?? I didn't know how far I went, but came back to see him again..Ahhh  what's wrong with me?  He said I missed a turn and that clicked me where it could be. Thankfully, I found where I made a mistake (hoping this is right) and followed the red flag hoping I am not heading to another loop.  I started seeing houses in a distance.  Okay.. I am done!  I completed my first 50k ultra.   

::: My butt slide :::

::: Along the course :::

Now I became curious how fast the winner could run --  Mr. Mike Dietz ran in 4hr 42min.  Did he fly?? Great job!




The butt slide: it's about 70 degree down hill that you can need to slide for about 3~4 sec.  Here is the winner of a butt slide competition (Photo courtesy of Runnerpics).

As everybody says, volunteers were amazing.  They greet every single encounters and get you what you need.  So the question is how the volunteers survived for the long hours in this brutal weather? There is no magic.. (Course Marshal Mr. Tim Kruse)

Lastly, I didn't see the cool hoodie and hat(?) which I wished to purchase.  This looks very cool!

The lessons: it was not the matter of my pace, but the completion.

Note: Some pics are taken from the M.U.D.D./frozen gnome 50k facebook pages with no permission.