What a week it has been!
Emily had her 50K and absolutely smashed our expected estimated time, and as of this past Saturday at 1:41pm I crossed the finish line at the Chuckanut 50K in Bellingham, WA to join her as a new Ultramarathoner!!
What a race!
The weather ended up being perfect - overcast at the start but became nice, sunny and warm as the day went along. It made for some absolutely fantastic views at the top elevation levels! It was extremely muddy at some points, but this was definitely not a race in which i took the time to carefully step around.
It rained the night before, but it made sure that I never really felt like i might overheat until about the last half-hour or so.
I arrived at the start in Fairhaven Park around 7am in order to make sure i had everything ready with ample time, and ended up running into a few NSA regulars, which was a great surprise and nice little boost. Ended up running with a few of them for a good portion of the race itself. I also ended up running into a familiar face in Ferge Hawke!! (Badwater Ultramarathoner who spoke at NSA-see previous posts!). He was running in the other direction when i was about 3 hours in, but recognizing eachother gave me a great boost for the next little while, which i am certain helped me get over the 3-hour hump.
What a race-what a feeling.
The first 10K was a nice start, basically a gravel/dirt loggin road for the most part up until the first aid stattion, and then we headed up into the mountains, before coming back to the first aid station (now aid station #5) and back to the start. Some intense inclines along the way, especially 'Little Chinscraper' right after aid station 4. Seeing as i ended up getting stitches on my chin from a fall during this past Fall's North Shore Half Marathon, I couldn't help but grin whenever I thought about it. A bit silly, but oh well...The mid-portion of the race itself was a great experience-a good number of people around my pace that i would run with for a little while and it gave me a chance to talk to people. It was really interesting to see where people were from, if it was their first 50K too, why they were doing the race/what they hoped to get from it, etc. I met a father/daughter team that were running it together-the dad doing a 50K for the first time! I even met a few people from different parts of Canada and the US who have done BC events such as the Knee Knacker, Diez Vista, and other Marathon+ races in BC.
A segway to gear-the Salomon pack i got worked great! More than enough room for fuel, extra layers once it got warmer, and the bladder. The bladder certainly came in handy during the inclines between aid stations. Another thing that I MUST vouch for are Zoot Compression socks! the first few times they can be a bit tricky to get on if you don't have a system, but i would NOT have finished-or finished nearly as well-had it not been for those socks! Around 3.5 hours in was when i got my first little muscle twinge in the back of my legs, and after that there were some larger ones that came and went periodically, so then i would slow a bit, have some water/salt/fuel and wait for it to die down, which it always would (hooray fuel!). It probably ended up peaking right at the top of Chinscraper when i had to take a particularily extended step up over some roots-took a minute to shake that one off!! After that it was just a matter of being aware of what my legs were telling me (aside from about 3 hours in when i realized i had forgotten to bodyglide my feet!! No blisters at the end though!Amazing!).
Coming back on the last 10K along the same route as the first was a TOUGH slog, i must admit. It just seemed to go on and on!! but i pushed along and just kept a jog going , as by this point it was easier and far less painful to run than to walk. If i ever go down to do it again, i'll be prepared for it this time!!
It felt great crossing the finish line to cheering supporters and sunny skies. It also felt great to have my recovery drink waiting for me...stretched out and fueled up on post-race food before eventually heading on my way home!
That's another thing i have to commend these races for so i don't forget-everyone involved, be it the runners, volunteers, organizers, and other people who came with runners- they were all amazingly supportive of eachother! It's a great thing to experience.
A final time of 5:41:55 - almost 2 and a half hours longer than i have run in one shot before, and i felt exhilirated-albeit tired, at the finish line. It's a great feeling to know how far i have come over just the last 2 months, and the fact that i fueled properly with gels, food, water and everything else is a great marker to show how far i have come in my knowledge for those areas as well.
Above everything else, it was a marker for me - to show myself how anything is possible with the right mindset and preparation. If people can train for anything that is a personal physical feat, be it FatDog, a 50K, a marathon or 10K, or even a 5K - what's to stop you from using that determination and drive for other things in life that aren't the physical events? What's to stop me from using this mindset for school?work?
Impossible is Nothing.
Fat Dog, here we come!
-Noel
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