Sunday, December 9, 2007

Sunmart 50k

I ran my first ultra marathon this weekend - the Sunmart 50k (31 miles), a trail run through the piney woods of East Texas (Huntsville State park). What a blast!!! The race was tough, but the whole experience made for a great weekend.

Nancy, Gavin and myself drove to Houston on Friday for packet pickup at the Sheraton hotel on Friday night. Without a doubt, this race has the best race packet I've ever seen. First up was a huge sports bag and we moved down the table filling it up. Items that dropped in included a long sleeved technical race shirt, polo shirt (choice of colors), baseball hat (choice of colors), sunglasses (choice of style), disposable camera, gloves, bandana and a teddy bear(???). With that out of the way, it was time for the pasta dinner (included in the entry price). Salad, several pastas, lasagne, potato, bread rolls, suitably carb loaded thank you very much. We all slept very well that night.

We stayed in a hotel in Huntsville and drove out to the State park early the next morning. What a beautiful place, and all decked out with Christmas lights. But already very warm (upper 70s) and extremely humid - not good (it would soon heat up into the 80s). Enjoyed ourselves for a while touring the inflatable santas and snowmen, then got some (also included in entry fee) breakfast. Several people advised me to get a good heavy breakfast, so I loaded up - kolaches, bacon, sausage patties, egg, biscuits, pancake roll, and a token banana. They weren't shy about dishing it out either.

The 50k started at 7:30, half an hour after the 50 miler. First up was a 6 mile out and back, followed by two 12.5 mile loops. The 6 miler was a single file run on a narrow trail through the forest, doubling back out to the start line checkpoint. Stopped me going out too fast, but I also lost a lot of time in traffic here. Fortunately the 20k loops had a lot more room to move and I was able to kick it up a bit. Trail running is very different to road running as you have to constantly be aware of tree roots, logs and uneven ground. I nearly turned my ankle a few times on hidden rocks. Despite that, I found it to be a lot of fun. Felt pretty strong throughout this loop and was able to blast by a lot of people on the hills until for a time I was alone on the trail. This was my favorite part of the race - it was so peaceful and felt like running through some mystic forest.

By the last loop, the rough terrain, heat and humidity started to take their toll. I didn't care about a "mystic forest" any more and started slowing down (as one wit shouted out at the beginning, "start slow and taper"). Spent a lot more time at the aid stations replenishing fluids (they were stocked with all kinds of food and drink - fruit, candy, sandwiches, pretzels) and refilling my water belt. Started to feel better and better for the last few miles and dropped the hammer at mile 30, finishing with a 7:45 last mile and a time of 5:22:18. I placed 6th in my age group and 60th overall (there were around 800 starters and 520 finishers). Pretty pleased with that for my first ultra.

Yet more bling for a finisher's premium - a finisher's medal and a choice of a jacket or afghan blanket (I chose the jacket - maybe I'll run it again next year to get the blanket). Then, with the race out of the way it was time to get back to the eating. Yet another slap up meal, this time a bbq for competitors and guests - grilled chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, all the fixings, mac and cheese, egg rolls. Stop - I can't eat any more!!!

All in all, a great weekend. Don't feel too sore, and had a reasonable recovery run this morning. That may all change by tomorrow though!!!

Monday, December 3, 2007

Decker 20k

It didn't quite seem like Decker. Maybe it was the fact that it wasn't cold enough to flash freeze small chickens, or maybe it was because the wind wasn't howling around the lake like a bad spaghetti western. Too bad - I was ready for the cold and I was ready for the wind. What I got instead was 85F and 90% humidity. The only thing that felt familiar were the hills - and lots of them.

Decker is one of my favourite races - I enjoyed the run last year and finished with a breakout time of 1:47:50. This year I knew I was a lot faster and was hoping to improve on that time with a goal to finish under 1:40. If I ran well I might even knock 10 minutes off.

Met up with a few friends before the race. It was particularly good to see Henry and Celeste, as we'd kinda lost touch for the last few years. They both look great and were hoping for a good race. They were also both surprised that I'm not the fat little guy they remembered!!!

My Garmin was away having surgery after going into cardiac arrest on a dark, dirty, rainy 20k day at Brushy Creek the week before, so I figured I'd pick up splits from my stopwatch and the mile markers. My race plan was to go out conservatively and save something to hit the big hills on the second half. Great plan - here's what really happened.

The race started and off I went enjoying the twisty downward portion as we made our way out of the convention center. Evidently I enjoyed myself too much because I passed the 1 mile marker in 6:35. Ok fly boy, you may want to slow down a bit.

I soon settled down, and felt pretty comfortable. Although I never got into a real rhythm, I set myself for the hills to come. This is the one race where you can see the mental effect that said hills have on the runners. You crest one and immediately see the next one ahead of you - over and over. It's amazing how many people visibly sag when they see that. At the same time, seeing that reaction in your fellow runners can give you a mental lift. I'm generally really good at running hills - I enjoy the challenge - so maybe that's why I like this race so much. I found that there were runners who were much faster than me on the flats, but that I would blast past them and eventually drop them on the uphills.

The race went by pretty uneventfully, but I knew I was running pretty well and at a much faster pace than last year. Felt really strong as we turned back into the convention center, and seeing George and Anna cheering me on a few hundred yards from the finish (those rabbits had already finished) shifted me up an extra gear and I finished in 1:36:21 (7:46 pace). Pretty pleased with that, and my first thought was that I should aim to break 1:30 next year.

Picked up some water, some Accelerade and pigged out on the cookies (I ate about 6 of them) before walking back along the last few hundred yards to encourage some friends who were still running. Cheered on Tony, Dave, Celeste, Jim and a few others, and talked to James for a while. Bumped into Ray, who I'd run with a few times last year but I don't think he had a good race because he wouldn't tell me his time!!! I was actually pretty surprised to see how many people had suffered out there. I guess I don't feel the humidity as much as some folks. Odd given the climate I come from, but there you go.

Headed home, picked up Nancy and Gavin and carried on to Brushy Creek to do Nancy's long run. We did 8 miles and I enjoyed the slower pace and chatting with Gavin as I pushed the jogging stroller. Also got to experiment with gummy bears. Not bad, but I think I'm going to stick to sports beans for Sunmart next week.