I finished my 3rd 50k (5ish mile loop X 6 times) race at the Crystal Lake, IL where I did my very first ultra
marathon (frozen gnome 5ok) in January 2015. Most of the earth day 50k course was
same as the frozen gnome, but the big difference was that I don't see snow any
longer. Since I am doing my 3rd, I had better confidence that
I can finish this race.
The weather was very
nice and the course was simply beautiful with all green covered. The only two
things bugging me were: (1) my runny nose from cold (which I can't help) and
(2) my race shoe. I didn't want to run with my winter trail shoe (newton boco)
and my altra superior 2.0 just arrived. So I brought them all, but
decided to run with my favorite road shoe (newton gravity III) remembering some
ultrarunner’s suggestions—“bring your favorite shoe”.
At 8 am, we ran into
wood. I felt pretty comfortable about my pace and the course. It was nice to
recognize the course for I knew what challenges are ahead. The first 5 miles went by pretty quickly. And
I needed a pit stop so went into a restroom. Suddenly, I felt very messy so breathed
deeply a couple time. Did I go too fast? I
didn’t know what’s wrong, but felt weird.
Before heading out the 2nd loop, I took a GU (peanut butter).
It’s really nice to have a bag drop along the course. For 2nd loop (5-10mile), I didn't have any major issues or fatigue so kept going passing by
a few runners. One thing alarmed me was tree roots for a few runners tripped over and fell down pretty
badly. I didn’t know root could be a big
deal until this race (lesson learned).
During the 3rd loop, I
felt a bit discomfort on my knees, not sure what that was though. This made me
keep thinking whether I should switch to newton boco (trail shoe) or not
although it will make me run slower. I wasn’t bold enough to try superior yet
without break-in.
Finally, I switched to
boco for loop 4 (16-20mile). At least, my knees were very comfortable,
but I needed to put an extra effort to maintain my pace. I tried to drink enough water and energy gel, but kept forgetting my salt pill.
By the end of loop 4, I was really hungry. So I ate a lo--soda, chocolate, etc.
Perhaps I ate too
much. At the beginning of 5th loop (20-25mile), my stomach was grumbling, but nothing was too serious. About 2-3 miles in, I was back to the game. I looked at my Garmin and was already estimating my finish time. My
goal was sub-5, but I knew it’s impossible at that point.
Okay…now I have only one loop left. This fact
gave me an extra boost and I tried not to forget taking salt pill along a gel. My stomach was
grumbling again. Oh... No... I tried to ignore the pain while pacing
accordingly (or very slowly). This somewhat worked out, but at ~ mile 27, I was
tripped by tree root. My face was almost at the ground smashing, but I tried my best not to lose balance and I made it. However, that caused my side pain and calf cramp. I
was sitting there to get over this, but someone shouted, “keep moving and you will
feel better.” I took that advice and started walking. Indeed, the pain was
diminished, but the stomach pain got worse (I still don’t know what causes
this) such that I could not run any more.
I walked for about 1 mile and a volunteer who recognized me encouraged
me saying “finish strong!” I wish I
could, but just can’t run. I started jogging out slowly while managing the pain and finally got to the finish line.
I think the stomach pain was caused by energy gel so I decided to try Vfuel, recommended by my ultra friends.
Garmin data (elevation gain: 1646 ft)
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