Grasslands 50 miler 2008

Grasslands 50 mile Run

Camping-  I arrived in Decator around 6 pm to get my race number. My cousins Donna and Kit drove over from Ft.Worth to give me my shoe inserts (I got these from a Doc in Ft. Worth) and have dinner with me.  We ate at the I-Hop and then went to the campsite to pitch a tent. I got a really cool tent from the gigahtlon and have been dying put it up.   We took all the pieces out and started building the tent.   We looked like idiots putting this darn tent up and it was my fault. I thought I had all the stuff to put the tent up with but I had missed a big long pole that was essential in putting the tent up.  There were 3 poles. Two of them were really long and were the main structure of the tent and the other pole was for the doorway.   We were using this short doorway pole for the structure and it was not working.  I got a little bossy with Keith thinking he was not listening one time.  We were about to give up on putting the tent up until I found the missing pole. It made it much easier with this new pole and the tent was up in minutes….right next to some horse poop.  Turned out my cousin had walked in it with her cute shoes several times.  Don’t worry it was a tent with a bottom so the poop was not actually in the tent.

Prerace-  I then decided to get my stuff out for the race.  I am a rookie at these ultra running races so I was not sure what I was supposed to do.  I knew that we came by the base camp 3x but I was not sure if we could accept help or what in the base camp. I am so used to having a crew but there is no crew in ultra running.  I had no clue what I was going to eat and how much we could have in the base camp. So I just made lots of bottles and packed a ton of stuff just in case.    I slept in the van and Keith slept in the tent.   Keith is very nice and did not seem to mind.  He can handle colder weather then me. I will be hopping in the tent more in the summer time.  I got to bed at 11:00 and got up at 5:30 am.  I hate getting up early!

The 50 mile race-  I got up bright and early.  It was a bit cold in the van so I turned the engine on and warmed the car up.   It was chilly but not to cold for shorts. I put on my new Zoot running clothing and made sure I was color coordinated for a change. I took my bag over to the start and asked my dumb question of “ What do I do?”  The race director Suzi was really nice and told me where to put my stuff and the rules. I asked her if I should carry a water bottle and her reply was “ you better.”  I had never really run with a water bottle in my hands and had two water bottle holders to try out. I had a belt that you could put on or a hand held bottle holder. I decided to try the belt for the fist loop.

Loop One 15 mikes-  When we started the sun was starting to come up so I decided not to use a flash light….big mistake.  I could hardly see the ground but I survived. I actually started running with this guy named Richard from Philadelphia.  He was a good runner and was pushing me since I was the lead woman.  He was going a little faster pace then I wanted to go but it felt good.  We had some good laughs until we discovered we were off course. We had followed this Romanian guy that thought he knew what he was doing. This Romanian had some headphones on and you could hear them if you were within 3 feet of him.  It was some good music so it was nice to have him close. He also could not hear us talking about him….just kidding.  We got back on course but the second woman stayed on course so she was in the lead. Richard picked up the pace to get me back in front. He was much more competitive then I was.  We had not even done 15 miles and he was wanting me to race the other girl. It was nice he was looking out for me.  The Romanian ran me off course 2x during the race.  He would be right on my heels up some of the more technical sections.  I tend to slow down on these areas and hearing his breath on my neck would drive me nuts. I stopped 2x to let him go by.  The second time I looked down at my leg and had blood pouring down it.  It looked really bad but it was just a scratch from a bush.

Loop 2-   The second loop of ten miles was my bad loop. I needed to burp but couldn’t.  Burping is one of those things I never learned how to do and I have always wanted to…I know I am weird. I asked Richard to pat my back like a baby and would get a little tiny one but no relief.   I was not sure what was causing this until I got to an aid station and decided to put ice in my bottle.  We took the lid off my bottle and it was nothing but foam. My sustained energy in my bottle was well mixed but just foam from my bouncy run. This was my problem.  I do use sustained energy when I do my training runs but I just have it sitting in one place.    I got off course one more time to get back at the Romanian …he followed Richard and I this time.  Sometime on the second loop I got passed by a really nice girl named Anita that is also doing Badwater. She was trucking along at a really nice pace so I decided to hang back.  I was doing this 50 miler as a training run and not a race.  Anita was on fire and Richard took off running with her…I stayed back. I got in from the second loop and changed my nutrition to Hammer gels and an electrolyte solution. I also changed shoes and got out of my orthodics that were hurting my feet.

Loop 3(15 miles)  I felt good again after another 3 miles..a few burps and I was back. I caught back up to Richard and he said that he had pushed to hard with Anita. We hung together for a while but then he was behind me again.   I then caught the Romanian peeing and we started to run together.  He had fallen and was not sure how his hamstring was.  He never wore the headphones again after I started talking his ear off.  We had a really nice time and were running at a good pace.  We became running buddies till the end of the race.

Loop 4 (10 miles) We were on our last loop and somehow I was ahead of Anita again.  We had about 4 miles to go and Anita passed again with her really fast pace. About 2 miles from the finish there was a water crossing. Anita did not think twice about going through it but I was not about to and neither was my buddy.  We decided to go around it.  This took some time.  We got all scratched up with the bushes and trees.  I got some thorns in my hand to pick out. I am still glad I did it. I was not about to ruin a good pair of running shoes. My buddy and I goofed off and ran into the finish together.  We thought it would be cute to look like we were in slow motion. You know how the guy would have looked in Chariots of Fire if you were to slow the video down. That is how we finished.  I did not check my time but my cousin Donna was at the finish to greet me. She said I did a 9:10.  I thought it was more like 10 hours so I was excited.  I had a lot of fun at the race and met some really nice people.  It was so much better then running alone at home.   Anita was not far ahead of me but she worked her butt off to win and deserved it. I was not sad to have second place.  I was not in the mood to push myself and just wanted to have a good time…..I had a great time.

Post Race-  I am having a little soreness but it is nothing like the Ultraman.  I went to eat with some friends afterwards and had a margarita.  I took off like a torpedo with it and was all giggles.  It is cool being a light weight!  I crashed at my cousins and slept really hard until 10:30.  I guess I needed it. I am on my way home and Keith is going the driving so I can get caught up on my computer stuff. My legs feel great and I will be back to running again tomorrow.  I think my training is going great!  The first time I ran 50miles I was tore up for a long time but that is not the case anymore.  I am still nervous about Badwater but who wouldn’t be?

Thanks for reading