This could have been my first ultra marathon.

There was a lot of pre-race preparation leading up to this race. The last few days before driving down to Annapolis I was rushing around buying a cooler, ice packs, an ice wrap for my neck, e.g. all sorts of things to help deal with the heat. As events unfolded it was basically for naught. I'd also researched and asked about the course and was assured it was mostly shaded and flat. The mostly shaded part was true. While there weren't any hills per se, there were numerous sharp rises of 10-30 feet.

Also my last few workouts before the run were very promising. We had slightly cooler weather than we'd had the past month so my training paces were a bit faster leading to a high degree of confidence (read that as overconfident). The drive down was only about 2 1/2 hours but it seemed to take a little more out of me than I expected. Add to that an uncomfortable night on a bed too soft and not being able to get a comfortable temperature in the room. I was either too hot and sweating or too cold. That was probably just as well that I finally decided to get up at 5:30 a.m. since I wasn't sleeping anyway, because I never got my 6:00 a.m. wake-up call. Breakfast was typical hotel continental breakfast, sweet rolls, muffins, coffee, then I checked out and drove down to Quiet Waters Park for the race.

When I arrived at the park I checked the cooler to see how cold my neck wrap was, I discovered that after a day in the back seat of the car, all the ice packs had thawed and the neck pack would be useless. That may have been my first setback, but it wouldn't be the last. Race set up was still going on. Even if ice was available, and I'm not sure they had all that there yet, it wouldn't have occurred to me to ask for some. In fact it never occurred to me throughout the time I was running. Ten minutes before the start we had a brief orientation that recapped what had been sent to all of us in a long email detailing all we should need to know. After that the runners meandered over to the starting area. This was about as low-key a start as I have ever seen in a race.

The race started with a blast from an air horn and I quickly drifted to the back. I think th etrees may have been playing havoc with Garmin reception because its reading was 13:30 pace or so and I know I was running sub-12:00. It was pretty obvious I'd be running solo until the lead runners started lapping me. Then I'd at least see a few other runners from time to time. The aid station halfway through the first lap wasn't fully set up yet so I didn't get my first water break until I finished the first lap. At that point I was about where I wanted to be time wise but I insisted on running all the hills and that was a mistake. The second lap I was able to grab water and I was also walking the largest of the hills now to save my legs. At the finish of lap two I was still hoping for a decent race, but things started falling apart on the third lap. By the time I finished it I had given up any hopes of reaching my goals and was hoping I could make 6 laps and maybe the marathon distance. I and conditions only deteriorated from there. By 14 miles I was thinking all I wanted to do was keep going for the full 6 hours even if I was walking most of the time. I was already walking about as much as I was running on the fourth lap. I think I may have also been hyperventilating a little.

As I was finishing lap four, and the laps ended with a small uphill, I almost didn't make it to the top of the hill as I was checking in to have my lap registered. When I walked over to the aid table to get water a couple volunteers descended on me and escorted me to the "Time Out" chair where they proceeded to minister to me with water, Gatorade, ice, and salt tablets. I had already decided to take an extended break and this certainly reinforced my decision. My initial thoughts had been to rest a bit, drink some cold water and Gatorade or soda, then head back out to walk a final lap. I need to add that I did enjoy being pampered, but after talking with the volunteers and the doctor, I decided it wasn't worth the effort or risk of encountering more heat problems by going back out on the course. That wrapped up my day of running with about 16.7 miles in 3 hours and 40 minutes.

While waiting for the race to finish I chatted with a few runners, mostly those who were running the relay, and the volunteers. I also found a shady spot in the pavilion and read a while. [Of course I brought a book. I almost always have a book handy to read if time and the occasion permit.] It must of been about 15 minutes before the official end of the race when I looked around and noticed a young lady standing there who looked familiar. It was our own Diana, aka Di2.0 on RA and DiTrying on RW. She was sweet enough to drive down to the race for the finish. We chatted for a bit, not nearly long enough, before she had to leave. I also met another RW poster from the Ultra Forum, dklm, and our mysterious poster Anonymous Guest passed me during the race and said Hi!, but I was unable to reconnect with her after the race.

So it was disappointing, partially because of the heat, but partially because I refused to recognize and acknowledge the problems early and do something about them before it was too late. Coping with the heat is something I need to learn to much better because there's a possibility that NC24 could be warm. [I hope I haven't jinxed the race by saying that.] I have one more race before then, the Self-Transcendence Marathon in Nyack, NY on Friday, August 23rd.

Post-race with Di2.0

Sounds like a great learning experience.  Yeah, it was probably the hard way, but between the lessons learned and the FE it sounds like there were some definite positives.

I'm sorry your race didn't go as planned that stinks. And I am sorry if I contributed to misleading you about the elevation of the park. The loop that I ran during my 5K there in April WAS quite flat, I swear.... but I could have a skewed perspective.... most of the races that I have run thus far have been in Central Park and Prospect Park, and my daily training runs generally include at least 300 ft of elevation gain, so my version of "flat" and other people's may be different.....I feel really bad now because I definitely told you that where the running paths are is pretty flat and mostly shaded. I just tried to look up my race there in my GarminConnect to see if I was hallucinating the flatness and I realized my Garmin decided it didn't feel like recording the elevation profile for that race (weird....) so I have no info to go by other than my memory of the course.

Love that you had several FEs though and that is a great picture!

Sorry that you didn't get the race you wanted.  It's tough when conditions are difficult, and it sounds like you made a good decision for your health even if you would have rather kept going.  Hopefully NC24 will be a bit (or a lot) cooler.  Good luck in your future attempts at the distance (or should I say time?).  I am sure that this experience, though not what you wanted, will prove to have been a good learning experience.

George, this summer heat is brutal! I'm jealous you got to meet Diana, I hope I get to meet her one day. II think you did well under the circumstances.

Kristin - here's a map of our course and yes, most of the hills were at the far end of the park

George, I find that the short, but sharp, hills are worse than the longer, less steep ones. I did a marathon once which consisted of 4 loops and it had two short and steep hills which had to be done 4 times. They drained me both mentally and physically.

This 6-hr race was a training experiment and you did learn from it, so it definitely served its purpose. You were smart to listen to the volunteers and medical staff when they suggested that you stopped. Dehydration and general feeling of over-heated can lead to dangerous consequences. It is never worth the risk. You still ran long enough to get an excellent workout and learn a few things.

I hope the weather is cooler for you for your race at the end of August. I believe a client of mine ran this marathon a few years ago. It's in upsate NY, right? Loops around a lake, is it possible? Anyway, if it's the same course, he said it was flat and he got his marathon PR there.

Good luck with the rest of your training! It was nice that you got to meet some forumites, especially Diana, she's so sweet!

George, I find that the short, but sharp, hills are worse than the longer, less steep ones. I did a marathon once which consisted of 4 loops and it had two short and steep hills which had to be done 4 times. They drained me both mentally and physically.

 

This 6-hr race was a training experiment and you did learn from it, so it definitely served its purpose. You were smart to listen to the volunteers and medical staff when they suggested that you stopped. Dehydration and general feeling of over-heated can lead to dangerous consequences. It is never worth the risk. You still ran long enough to get an excellent workout and learn a few things.

 

I hope the weather is cooler for you for your race at the end of August. I believe a client of mine ran this marathon a few years ago. It's in upsate NY, right? Loops around a lake, is it possible? Anyway, if it's the same course, he said it was flat and he got his marathon PR there.

 

Good luck with the rest of your training! It was nice that you got to meet some forumites, especially Diana, she's so sweet!

I agree with your assessment of hills. Ian and I are working on ways for me to deal better with the heat. AKTrail had some excellent suggestions also. If NY is like Illinois, anything outside NYC is considered upstate. Nyack is 25 miles north of NYC. The marathon course is in Rockland Lake State Park, an almost 3 mile loop around the lake run 8 times then a partial loop to complete the marathon distance.