Notes
"Call of the wild 50k"
The nitty gritty facts for the busy folks or for those who just wants the facts:
ThisFREE event was held on the Sammamish River Trail, which is a paved trail along the Sammamish River, just north of Seattle. Flat and scenic, the trail follows the river from Bothell to Marymore Park. The weather was perfect for a race. The scenery was breath taking and the many walkers, runners, bicyclists and skaters kept the runners company the whole way. For someone like me, who runs alone all the time, the company of other likeminded people was an inspiration and an energy booster.
Finish time: 5:47. First OA and last OA since I was the only women running the ultra since the two others dropped out.
Disclaimer: I had no plans to keep this race as a secret from everyone. It was a secret to my until I found out about it and decided that this was for me. I found out about this race on Wednesday night thanks to SRLopez who was just giving me a few options for a LR in the Seattle area. I decided to run it on Thursday afternoon, when I was already traveling to Seattle and I had no internet connection to let anyone know about my daring adventure. I had no intention to keep it a secret from anyone. Not even my coach knew about it. Nor did I tried to overpass any future ultra runners....I run and live my own dance as you may know.
Fashion report: rhapsody in blue…blue compression short, blue shirt, blue butterfly earrings, red toe nail colors and Red Door perfume.
The plan: to run easy but with a steady 10:30 pace from beginning to end; concentrating on the last 5 miles as if it were the last segment of a marathon race. Not to worry about rest times as long as I ran every mile with the pace in mind.
My dream goal: to finish sub 6 hours and in one piece.
How it all unfolded:
For the last two years I have had the goal of running an ultra. Last year I was not strong enough to pursue this dream, but this year I seriously entertained the idea to do my first ultra this summer. In fact, I chatted with ultra experts on this forum about it and all of them showed way more confidence in me than I had in myself. Somehow the thought of going beyond the marathon distance scared me to no end, so I always knew that when it happened it would have to be without too much strategizing or planning or I would chicken out. In fact, at the end of every marathon I always asked myself if I could have gone another mile and the answer was always…”no way that I could run one more mile”. ...why even dream babe?
However, on my last marathon I felt for the first time that I could actually go on for a few more miles, so in my heart I knew that I was getting closer to my ultra debut. I thought that a July ultra would be perfect, but I was opened to any opportunity.
Unbeknown to me the opportunity was just around the corner and it came at a perfect time when I was not training for a goal marathon and when I was in good shape to go the extra distance. So, on Wednesday night, only three days before the event I found out about this ultra race in Seattle thanks to SRLopez, a 200 marathoner.
The Call of the Wild 50k/marathon is a low key marathon/50k and it offers several opportunities to drop out of the race since it is three loops of out and back on a bike trail. I felt confident about my stamina to finish at least a slow marathon and I knew that regardless of the outcome I would have a lot of fun running a LR in a picturesque place. I made this decision on my way to Seattle. My poor coach got a shock when I called him to share the news of my baptism as an ultra runner after I crossed the finish line.
Friday (or...what are you not thinking about?) found me all day sitting at a board meeting with little opportunity for the mind to worry about the adventure awaiting me the next day or any time to rest up and plan for the next day. The food offered at the meeting was not the most ideal for carbo-loading either. Friday night my son, three of his college buddies and I found us at a Sushi bar stuffing ourselves with the best selection of sushi in town. After dinner we went to the Golden Gardens, a great park with its view of the Olympic Peninsula) to relax and to enjoy the blazing sunset. Yeah, it is cool when your college age son wants to hang out with you and his friends). The kids dropped me off around 11pm and I went to bed worrying that I would not hear the alarm and that I would miss the whole ultra adventure.
I did lay awake for a few hours trying to draft a plan for the race. How does one plan for a new experience like this? At this point I wish I could send a quick “wake up sleepy head memo” to the expert to get some input on how to run this 50k. Having no internet connection I decided to just use the course of the race as my strategy and wish for good luck. I went to sleep thinking about one of my husband’s favorite phrases. I would say to him…”wish me luck “and his response almost always is…”I wish you sense“. He must have gotten this from the “Balto” movie that his son made him watch at least a hundred times.
Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30, I got dressed in my rhapsody in blue theme and tried to dredge up some race friendly food from my son’s kitchen to eat for breakfast. I should know better, he is a college kid, so there was nothing for me to eat there but Ramen noodles. I left the house with a handful of almonds, a cliff bar and a banana, which I had in the car (this will haunt me later). With much excitement I drove to the starting line and then panic started to set in. I quickly did some meditation; took some deep breaths; took myself by the water; and tried to relax...and did some deep soul searching
By the time 6:00 am came along I had a plan and I stuck to it to the very end.
The route was crafted by a master runner. All participants were Marathon Maniacs. The course had three out and back legs with self help water stations and plenty opportunity to be on your own.
The first part of the course was a 4 miles out and back with an opportunity to come back to the starting line to replenish fuel, use the restrooms, shed some clothes, get some TLC from the support crew and then go back out for the second and third leg. The camaraderie among the maniacs was amazing. Although most everyone knew each other, they treated me as part of the group as we ran along and chatted away the miles.
Something neat about ultras of this nature is that everyone there was doing this race for the fun of it. No one, to my knowledge, was trying to outdo the other one, so it was a very relaxing environment. What a perfect place to loose my ultra virginity. Since I started one hour earlier than the rest of the 50k participants I was already in my 6th mile when I had my first SRLopez sighting and first hug of this famous runner. The first eight miles went by very well. I kept my target 10:30 pace the whole leg after which brought me back to home base. I went to the car to take off some clothes and headed out for the second leg and third leg of my adventure (yeah, you can see that finish time was not essential to me in this race.)
Second leg: this leg took us from the city of Bothell to Redmond, staying on the bike trail the whole way. It was a 9 miles out and back. It was interesting to notice that at this point I was concentrating on running only the 9 miles and not worrying about the remaining distance that I still had to run. I concentrated on form, making sure that every mile ran was at a 10:30 pace or less and trying to stay relaxed and in control. This early in the day there were some many people using the bike path. The scenery was stunning and the greenery of our surrounding was vibrant and fresh. The sun rays were gently kissing our skin and the wind felt as a soft touch on our skin.
Like I said, this was a nine miles out and back. Just before the turn around point I started to feel hungry, very hungry indeed. I took a Gu every one hour and plenty of water and Gatorade. It was around this point that I had my second SRLopez sighting and hug. You know he is so fast and so strong, he started one hour later than me and he was already catching up to me.
It was around mile 16 that I took another Gu, but even that did not satisfy my hunger pain. I started to pray then because I knew I was still a long ways from the starting line where I knew there was some pancakes and great food awaiting for us after the run. The next 5 miles were the hardest part of the race for me. I was hungry; I was tired; my legs were complaining; I was hungry and the sun was getting meaner. It was at this point that I found the warrior in me. I started concentrating on my form; I listened to my breathing; and I did my best to ensure that each breath was coming from Dantien (the Chinese describe it as a place from where all energy and life comes from and it is located two fingers below the belly bottom). I thought of myself as a runner and where I was only three years ago, not being able to run 6 miles at once and here I was running three times that distance without much thought. I thought of the many predawn runs and the sacrifices I had to take to be a long distance runner. I sent a thankful prayer for my dear husband and my sons who have had to also adapt to my running passion. I thought of the gift for running; the gift of health and my pearls in life a.k.a. my friends. ..and I thought of food; of bacon; of brownies; of tofu; of chocolate; of olives; of watermelon…and food in general. The funny thing is that even when I was this hungry I was still running strong and did not feel weak at all.
I was in that train of thought and that deep struggle when I came to our next water station and lo and behold the race organizer had left some bagels and bananas for us. This was my God sent mana. I cried and I twirled around with joy as I sat down to enjoy my mana. Yeah, when doing an ultra like I was doing, I could take the luxury of sitting down for a minute or two to enjoy my rest and MY FOOD. With my belly semi full of food I started my trek to the homebase a.k.a as marathon finish line. The food gave me my energy back and I covered the rest of the marathon miles with ease, but with a bit of worry since I knew it would take a monumental effort to head out for the last leg of the ultra race.
I arrived at the marathon finish line with a smile and a strong desire to keep on going. I replenished my water bottles and with determination took my first step unto the unknown ultra world.
Third leg: I must admit, I was scared. The demons started playing their trick on my fortitude, but I did not listen to them…I just focused to cover mile 27 at the 10:30 pace and did not let the mind worry about the remaining miles booming ahead. The thought of other ultra runners such as Skip with his recent 100 miler; dtoce and his first recent ultra; the smiles of arf, our ultra goddess; tetsujin and his no training marathon; the indomitable spirit of dove; the stubborn spirit of the one who discovered the artist in me; and the gentle presence of our 200 marathon runner SRLopez gave me confidence that I too could finish this race and become an ultraposie.
The split of the last 5 miles surprised me to no end.
Mile 27: 10:19
Mile 28: 10:00
Mile 29: 10:03 (another SRLopez sighting and of course I got a hug too)
Mile 30: 10:17
Mile 31: 9:03
I crossed the finished line singing along with John Denver one of my favorite songs… sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.
I shed a few tears of joy as I ran along for a bit more to cool down and as Annie's song came to mind.
As I was getting ready to savor a banana I saw our brave SRLopez crossing the bridge to the finish line, I run to join him to finish this race with him. After all I owe it to him for my being there. This most likely would be the only time I ever see him finish a race since he is soo much faster than my wings can run.
After resting up a bit and eating a few bites of pancakes and banana with pent up emotions I walked a few hundred yard on the trail to cool my tired feet in the water and placed a few phone calls. I must admit I was in heaven...in ultra heaven...
TS Elliot was right…only those who risk going far can possible find out how far one can go.
If you read this report this far, you are entitled to a butterfly hug.
Thanks for being my inspiration.