I've done the Equinox Marathon every year since 2005. It was my first marathon, and remains my favorite (and most difficult) course. But... I'd done it four years in a row, and last year I finally met my goal time on that course of 4:15, so it was pretty cool to see the bright pink flier at the local bike shop this spring, announcing the Inaugural Equinox 50k Ultra Marathon! Wow, I thought. I've wanted to do an ultra for some time now, but I was really hoping my first one would be on a more moderate course. Oh well! I decided right there that I'd do it, and that's been my end of summer goal since that day.Here's the main marathon elevation, and my training the last several weeks has been on the actual course, especially the parts from miles 8 to 17, then back down the hill to 8 again.

Originally, the ultra was going to add 2.5 miles to the out-and-back, going down (and then back up) an additional 1200 feet. But then they realized they couldn't get emergency vehicles down there, the only way out if someone got hurt was helicopter and I think that blew the liability budget. So, the additional miles were added at the 25.4 mark (or thereabouts), where the regular marathoners turn right to go down the hill to the finish, ultra runners would turn left to go down (briefly) to a hay field, around the field and up into the woods for a rolling hill trail run with lots of roots to connect with the original 2 mile mark and back to the finish. 

After a hot, dry and smoky summer, we had a pretty rainy August, but most of September was warm, sunny and drop-dead gorgeous. But, naturally, the few days before the race saw intermittent rain and cooler temps. The worst rainy weekend we had was when I had my last long run scheduled, which was 24 miles on the actual course (from the start to 12 and back). On that day, the trail was so horribly muddy I did the return trip on the main road vs. the trail (I only did 22.5 that day, not 24). 

The day before the race, it started raining (hard) at about 5 pm as we drove out to my son's XC meet, about 35 miles east of us. It kept raining, off and on, throughout the night. I got up at 3 a.m. to let the cat in, and yep, sure enough, it was still raining.I got up at 5:45 to start the coffee and toast my bagel, went outside and *Hey!* it was still cloudy but not raining! Woohoo! I'd changed my wardrobe so many times from last weekend to that morning, but settled on my capris, a fuschia long sleeved top, and one of my younger son's discarded waffle weave long sleeved shirts. I figured I'd toss it after a few miles if it wasn't too windy and cold. The night before I packed my waist pack with 4 Gu's, a pack of kleenex, a spare pair of socks and gloves. I would start out wearing my fleece gloves (I have a problem with my hands getting cold).

The gun went off at 8 a.m. (a regular gun vs. the howitzer canon used in prior years... it was needed in Iraq) and off we went up the ski hill. I walked most of it. Figured I had plenty of hills to run up, no sense getting pooped on the first one! The last few years I've had a problem with getting caught up with the relay runners and going out too fast. This year, I didn't worry about them and just let several pass me. I did try to position myself well for the first few single track sections and was successful for the most part. I think settling in with some of the slower runners actually helped me, because I had several possible walk breaks planned, but didn't take any till after mile 9 (and my first Gu), except when I had to slow to a walk to keep from stepping on the guy in front of me in mile 4...Long story short, I ran until mile 9, which is when I took my first Gu (had one about every hour, plus banana pieces and some pretzels that just made me thirsty). I did the planned jog/walk thing up the hill from mile 9 all the way through the out-and-back to mile 17.

Here's some shots (from last year) of the technical course we have on the big hill portion (this is the out-and-back section):

The turnaround, between miles 14 & 15 (actually, I guess almost all of the trail parts on this course are extremely technical, with just a mile or so being grassy trail under a power line)

Then down the chute (extremely steep and dangerous, I did a side-to-side hop hop motion to get down without trashing quads) and the next few miles are beautiful treed trails (albeit rooty and some rocks), then rural roads and a nice dirt trail back to a rural road and up another hill to mile 25. 

Here's the road just past mile 24. Dh called me from here, wondering where I was. I was loooong gone by then! :-) Already passed mile 28 and I told him I'd see him at the finish line.

At mile 25, it's all uphill, till you get to a high spot by a satellite radar dish. The regular marathoners take a right and go down to the finish. The ultra runners take a left and go down a slight grade, then up to and around a hay field, then up into the woods again for the next 5 miles of rolling hills on rooty trails, some with wood chips spread to help control the mud. I remember passing mile 26, then a little farther and thinking, ok, this is all unchartered territory from here! I'd never run more than 26.2 before so was interested to see how I'd do with the distance. It really was nice on that part, and I finally was able to take off the overshirt, tie it around my waist (sorry Ribs, heh) and head to the finish. 

At the top of the final hill, I see the coach of the North Pole XC team, also our VP of Finance at the U and an awesome marathoner in his own right, and he asked me "well, how was it?" "GREAT!" I said. We chatted a bit about the course as I walked up the last hill, then I ran down the last hill to the finish, passing at least 4 or 5 other regular marathoners (at least one was a relay runner, I did see a blue Bib, but they came from a side trail, not the trail I merged in from) on my way. Here's a shot of the last downhill bit, we turn left into the woods at the bottom, then across the field to the finish.

I felt amazingly strong and able to run well the last half mile, and even managed a wave for DH as I headed to the finish line (yes, with my first pair of fleece gloves stuffed into the front of my pants and my overshirt tied around my waist!). 

My Garmin finish time was 5:09:37, but the "official time" in the finishers' booklet said 5:10:20. I just couldn't accept that my time was 45 seconds slower than I thought. When I saw the official finishers' times in the paper, I found a woman with a 5:09:36 time! Hey, here was no one in front of me when I finished, so I e-mailed the timing group, run by someone I know, and he checked into it and figured out that the volunteers in the chute had switched the tags (we don't have chip timing here, at all). So, I got my time fixed to show that I really did do this monster course in under 5:10!!

 

DH met me at the finish with my favorite recovery treat, Lucerne Light Yogurt Smoothie, coffee and Gatorade G2. Went home and soaked in my 33 gallon trashcan full of very very very cold water (no ice, but close to 35F) till I shivered even with several layers on top. The next day, I felt good enough to go pool running and work a couple hours in the garden. This first week will be all about recovery, with my next race scheduled for Oct. 11 at the Royal Victoria Marathon. I'm hoping to improve my BQ time, but if it doesn't happen, oh well that's fine too. Glad to have my first Ultra behind me, and if I do another one (???). It'll be on an easier course, for sure!!

Wow.  Just wow.  Great read and great time!

So you ran about an hour per 10K on that course?  Wow, nice work.  And you must have screwed up the pictures because that last one doesn't look like someone who just ran a 50K!

 

Congratulations.

Great run, Erika!! I have in mind a 50k also; the logical choices and Pinelands or Vermont from here, both of which are hilly... no rush; have to get back to running first. I was thinking around when I turn 50, just a year and a half away.

 

You are amazing on the technical terrain! I cannot see the pictures at work but will check them when I get home.

Wow!!!  I'm so impressed.   That bumpy "road" looks very dangerous to me.  Lumpy, bumpy, slidey.   congratulations!

Congratulations Erika!  You are a smart and talented runner so I had no doubt that you could do this and that you did it feeling good at the end and enthusiastic about another one some day is even better!

Equinox Erika rocks another one!

Congratulations Erika!!!  What a tough but beautiful course, similar to the runner at the end smiling!

WOW

 

Congrats on an awesome run