Road races and trail ultras are both running. Cats and whales are both mammals.

I finished in an abysmal time, the course was beautiful but it destroyed me.  Back to the warm fuzzy embrace of cats.

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6/8

8 days later, most of the after-effects have worn off, and I'm able to run 10 miles at easy pace without feeling overwhelmed.  My quads still have some residual soreness, but worlds away from the day after the race, when I could barely negotiate a single stair step without wincing.

At this point, I'm not looking to put another one of these on the calendar anytime soon, if ever.  I *would* like to do more of the variety of ultra that involves lots of loops on paved surfaces for however many hours are decided upon, with other runners always around for support and aid stations never too far.

So, on to the story already!

Last year, my buddy Zach ran Cayuga Trails, and some friends and I went out not to crew, but just to be there as moral support.  The course was beautiful, and there was substantial prize money, so I signed up for this year.  ROFL at thinking I would be anywhere near the cash.  For reference, here are the overall results.  The 9th place guy is a local, and only 5 seconds separated us at Boston this year.  He beat me by about 3 hours here. Not good, not good at all.

I had opted to camp right in Robert H. Treman state park, easy walking distance to the 6 AM start.  I was able to sleep fairly well in my tent, even with rumbles of thunder and some non-torrential rain in the evening.  Race day shaped up to be mostly gray and comfortably cool with only perhaps an hour of rain later in the day.  There was breakfast, and when I asked about leaving a drop bag for the halfway point, the staff said to just leave it anywhere in the lodge.  What a far cry from the security of Boston, when I had to explain why I had two empty grocery bags in my pocket (to keep the wet off my shoes at AV).

Did I mention that the park was beautiful?  Long stretches of the course were shale pathways and staircases around the gorges of Ithaca as pictured below.  Most of the rest was in the woods, punctuated by a few fields and meadows full of purple and white wildflowers, cut only by singletrack.

Aid stations were spaced roughly 5 miles apart, and the volunteers there treated the runners like royalty.  They filled your handheld with a liquid of choice (water, sports drink, lemonade, pop) while you perused the goodie tables.  M&Ms, peanut butter and jelly, bagel slices, little potatoes, pickles or watermelon with salt.  I made sure to thank them each stop.  When it was raining, they were offering broth.

Had this race been only a trail marathon, I would have been satisfied with an ok but nothing-to-write-home-about showing.  Unfortunately, it was nearly twice that far.... two loops when one would have been more than enough off-roading for this roadrunner.  Things started to get noticeably weird when I approached a stream crossing around 30 miles and was tempted to just stand in the cool water.  That was the beginning of the end.  Hills that everyone walked up but ran down, I started to walk down as well.  Now, I was getting passed lots and could do nothing about it, and it was really humbling.  By the time the long final stretch back from the furthest point came around, I was in bad shape.  Jogging the flatter sections, walking any elevation.  I could still move forwards, so there was never any serious consideration of dropping, but I felt embarrassed every time another runner passed.

Finally, the last rocky section was done, and there was only a gentle descent on a wide, soft woodsy trail back to maybe a quarter mile of grassy fields before the finish.  One more runner went by me in the woods, and we smiled/grimaced during a short conversation about a very long day that would at least, not be a DNF for either of us.

I felt mentally numb and physically crushed, so I ate a plate of corn and potatoes and veggie burger before hobbling back to my campsite, breaking down the tent, and starting a long and very rainy 3 hour drive back home.

I'd like to hear from people who actually do well at these things, about specific training mostly.  It's my guess that road running really does not transition at all, and to do well I'd have had to spend far more time on similar terrain.

This is not the RR masterpiece I am used to from you, Jay.  Musta been one helluva race!

Tell us more when you have recovered!  I did enjoy the abbreviated RR.  I just want to know more.

Ha! I'd take the trail 50 miler over a road marathon any day

Congrats, Jay! I'd love more details too.

What I'm reading is... Jay likes pussy better than whales? ;-)

I'm confused. What do cats and whales have to do with running ultras? Cats sleep and whales swim.

Yep, they are two completely different animals.

You could have asked me Jay.

And here I thought the longer the race, the longer the RR...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

tl;dr