Undertrained…as usual. My 2 “long runs” leading up to this
race were a hilly half-marathon about a month prior that was more like 14.5
miles (run at max effort, all hills), and a 20 mile trail run along a portion
of the North Country Trail near Baldwin, MI over 4th of July weekend
with almost no hills (at least no Large hills), at minimal effort. These
efforts apparently served me well enough, but still, I needed to be much
further along. Of course I’ve been undertrained ever since I first started
running 7.5 years ago. Whenever I try to train “enough”, I get injured. So in
that respect, I was in perfect shape, right where I needed to be. Night before…slept
maybe 4 hours, woke up at 1:15am. Could NOT get back to sleep. So I got up, ate
½ a bowl of cereal, grabbed my stuff and got on the road about 3am. Off I drove
for 2 long hours through the dark-but-brightly-moonlit night from Flint to Grand
Rapids, passing scores of deer that chose not to jump out into the road to
destroy my car & my morning.
Lucky.
I arrived about 4:45am, and was the first one in the parking
lot of Cannonsburg Ski Resort. Took a grainy picture of the moon & posted
it on Facebook, of course. Once the officials arrived I signed in, went to the
bathroom several times, wandered around a bit, we lined up and off we went. 30
seconds into the race I was about 7th from last place, of course. It
was good to know some things never change.
Despite my slow start, I still pressed it somewhat because I
was feeling good and thought that banking a little time while I felt good could
never hurt. The morning was warm and humid, the trail was sandy and not too
wet, and bugs were very light. I like this course, lots of twisty-turns and
very runnable single track. Only a couple of hills.
The race consists of 5 loops, 10k each. The only drawback
(in my mind) was, last year in 2013, you had to finish each loop with a hike up
to the top of Cannonsburg “Mountain”. Which made this an AWESOME race. This
year they took the easy route and went around the mountain instead of straight
up to the top. The problem this created (for me) was that because the course
was easier this year, I forced myself to go too fast in the hopes of hitting
some unrealistic PR. No mountain to climb to the top of, so no need to slow
down, right?
I soon found out I went out way, WAY too fast. My legs were
trashed by about mile 12. I decided this was good in some delusional way
because since this was a “training run”, I would have to go another 19 miles on
trashed/tired legs. Other ultrarunners might understand that because of this,
it would be a good training run because it would make future efforts seem
easier somehow.
Had one tumble/fall, rolled, almost bashed my face into a
tree. That was pretty cool. Apparently I should wear a helmet when I trail run.
For some reason I followed and ran with other runners a lot more than I
normally would, instead of trying to just run solo. Passed about 10 people
throughout the race.
I showed up to the race dehydrated, so after having drank a
significant amount throughout the race and eating every time when I should
have, I was feeling poorly. Like almost heat-stroke-ish. The race started becoming more of a
self-maintenance event. I was on the verge of passing out a couple of times. I
drank a LOT of water, but still I ended up not going #1 throughout the entire
race. It was in the mid- or upper 70’s and humid early in the race, stayed warm
& got warmer, which didn’t help. Not good.
Got a hunk of Honey Stinger chewy running food stuck in my
sinuses somehow; ended up blowing a snot-rocket a few minutes later and
shooting that chunk of food right out of my nose and onto the side of the
trail. It was totally a highlight of my race.
During loop 4 I really started to hit a wall. No energy,
legs all beat up, had nothing left. Hurt all over. So I started having some
more of that running food, but eating it slowly. That was when the
food-snot-rocket happened. Still felt dizzy, trouble getting fluids and/or food
down. But then slowly but surely I started feeling better. Also started getting
some ice in my drinks. The ice was Huge. I’d been roasting all morning, and the
iced water was saving me.
Loop 5 I finally got past my “wall”. Started running more
and walking less. Felt beat-up-but-good. I was a new man. Kept trying to run
hard, seeing if I could break 6 hours for 50K but that just wasn’t meant to be.
Still I pressed on, trying to give myself something to be at least a little proud
of. Told some shirtless dude a few hours prior that my goal was to break 6:15,
having no idea how I would feel a couple hours later towards the end. Finished
in 6:14.
I was tired & beat up at the end, caked with sweat,
hadn’t brushed my teeth, complete disaster-area, knew I was severely dehydrated
and hungry so I soon hit the road, got some food & coffee, drove from
Lowell, MI back to Flint, MI. I was just so looking forward to a shower, a
sandwich and a nap before waking up, having a cocktail and then having a nice,
relaxing night.
Got home about 2:30 in the afternoon, opened the front door
and found my house completely and totally destroyed by burglars. My home of 14
years had been broken into, probably between 3am and 5am. Every cupboard and
drawer had been opened, every closet door opened, every spot of floor space was
filled with stuff on the floor: upstairs, main floor, basement. Ridiculously,
the burglars didn’t take any of my valuables, only about $10 in spare change. Clearly they
were dumb, misguided kids. I even know where they live, as do the police and
our community watch group, but there’s nothing we can do about it, because the
system is broken.
Unlucky.
race were a hilly half-marathon about a month prior that was more like 14.5
miles (run at max effort, all hills), and a 20 mile trail run along a portion
of the North Country Trail near Baldwin, MI over 4th of July weekend
with almost no hills (at least no Large hills), at minimal effort. These
efforts apparently served me well enough, but still, I needed to be much
further along. Of course I’ve been undertrained ever since I first started
running 7.5 years ago. Whenever I try to train “enough”, I get injured. So in
that respect, I was in perfect shape, right where I needed to be. Night before…slept
maybe 4 hours, woke up at 1:15am. Could NOT get back to sleep. So I got up, ate
½ a bowl of cereal, grabbed my stuff and got on the road about 3am. Off I drove
for 2 long hours through the dark-but-brightly-moonlit night from Flint to Grand
Rapids, passing scores of deer that chose not to jump out into the road to
destroy my car & my morning.
Lucky.
I arrived about 4:45am, and was the first one in the parking
lot of Cannonsburg Ski Resort. Took a grainy picture of the moon & posted
it on Facebook, of course. Once the officials arrived I signed in, went to the
bathroom several times, wandered around a bit, we lined up and off we went. 30
seconds into the race I was about 7th from last place, of course. It
was good to know some things never change.
Despite my slow start, I still pressed it somewhat because I
was feeling good and thought that banking a little time while I felt good could
never hurt. The morning was warm and humid, the trail was sandy and not too
wet, and bugs were very light. I like this course, lots of twisty-turns and
very runnable single track. Only a couple of hills.
The race consists of 5 loops, 10k each. The only drawback
(in my mind) was, last year in 2013, you had to finish each loop with a hike up
to the top of Cannonsburg “Mountain”. Which made this an AWESOME race. This
year they took the easy route and went around the mountain instead of straight
up to the top. The problem this created (for me) was that because the course
was easier this year, I forced myself to go too fast in the hopes of hitting
some unrealistic PR. No mountain to climb to the top of, so no need to slow
down, right?
I soon found out I went out way, WAY too fast. My legs were
trashed by about mile 12. I decided this was good in some delusional way
because since this was a “training run”, I would have to go another 19 miles on
trashed/tired legs. Other ultrarunners might understand that because of this,
it would be a good training run because it would make future efforts seem
easier somehow.
Had one tumble/fall, rolled, almost bashed my face into a
tree. That was pretty cool. Apparently I should wear a helmet when I trail run.
For some reason I followed and ran with other runners a lot more than I
normally would, instead of trying to just run solo. Passed about 10 people
throughout the race.
I showed up to the race dehydrated, so after having drank a
significant amount throughout the race and eating every time when I should
have, I was feeling poorly. Like almost heat-stroke-ish. The race started becoming more of a
self-maintenance event. I was on the verge of passing out a couple of times. I
drank a LOT of water, but still I ended up not going #1 throughout the entire
race. It was in the mid- or upper 70’s and humid early in the race, stayed warm
& got warmer, which didn’t help. Not good.
Got a hunk of Honey Stinger chewy running food stuck in my
sinuses somehow; ended up blowing a snot-rocket a few minutes later and
shooting that chunk of food right out of my nose and onto the side of the
trail. It was totally a highlight of my race.
During loop 4 I really started to hit a wall. No energy,
legs all beat up, had nothing left. Hurt all over. So I started having some
more of that running food, but eating it slowly. That was when the
food-snot-rocket happened. Still felt dizzy, trouble getting fluids and/or food
down. But then slowly but surely I started feeling better. Also started getting
some ice in my drinks. The ice was Huge. I’d been roasting all morning, and the
iced water was saving me.
Loop 5 I finally got past my “wall”. Started running more
and walking less. Felt beat-up-but-good. I was a new man. Kept trying to run
hard, seeing if I could break 6 hours for 50K but that just wasn’t meant to be.
Still I pressed on, trying to give myself something to be at least a little proud
of. Told some shirtless dude a few hours prior that my goal was to break 6:15,
having no idea how I would feel a couple hours later towards the end. Finished
in 6:14.
I was tired & beat up at the end, caked with sweat,
hadn’t brushed my teeth, complete disaster-area, knew I was severely dehydrated
and hungry so I soon hit the road, got some food & coffee, drove from
Lowell, MI back to Flint, MI. I was just so looking forward to a shower, a
sandwich and a nap before waking up, having a cocktail and then having a nice,
relaxing night.
Got home about 2:30 in the afternoon, opened the front door
and found my house completely and totally destroyed by burglars. My home of 14
years had been broken into, probably between 3am and 5am. Every cupboard and
drawer had been opened, every closet door opened, every spot of floor space was
filled with stuff on the floor: upstairs, main floor, basement. Ridiculously,
the burglars didn’t take any of my valuables, only about $10 in spare change. Clearly they
were dumb, misguided kids. I even know where they live, as do the police and
our community watch group, but there’s nothing we can do about it, because the
system is broken.
Unlucky.
