When: October 20, 2018
What: 50k at San Felasco Hammock State Park
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/1917006769
Goals:
- Finish Under Time Limit (8hrs) - YES
- Have Fun - YES
Training:
My longest run prior to deciding to do this 50k was the 25k version of this race last year, so I knew I needed a good plan to ramp up the distance. I followed Krissy Moehl’s 50k plan from her book “Running Your First Ultra.” I made a couple of modifications here and there (like subbing out some easy runs for roller skating, typically subbing 3-5 skating miles for every mile on the plan). Of the runs in the plan, I only completely missed 6 of them due to illness and life thangs. Even though I had lots of training under my belt, I was extremely nervous/stressed the entire taper period (due to the race and other life factors).
Pre-Race:
I’d been watching the weather like a hawk leading up the race. One day it projected a nice, cool 75, the next, it was 75 and thunderstorms all day, then thunderstorms half the day, then hot, then hotter. It settled on hotter for the actual race day. The hottest day on record for October 20th in that area is 90; it was 89 and humid as hell (I had the silly thought about 10 miles in that Florida was just a giant sou vide due to my form fitting running clothes and the general feel of the air). I oddly enough wasn’t super concerned with the weather since it was exactly the weather I trained in, and actually cooler than several of my long runs. I knew how to handle myself
My boyfriend and I woke up bright and early, our clothes, nutrition, drop bags, and clothing changes for after were waiting for us, so we got ready with ease. We had some coffee, smoothies, tempeh bacon, and hash browns for breakfast before we hit the road for the hour(ish) drive up north. The weather was cool (mid-seventies) as we placed our drop bags with the rest of them and made our way to the start area. He headed up towards the front to hang with the fast folk, and I went towards the back since I was just hoping to finish.
The Course/Race Info:
The race itself made of two 25k loops around San Felasco Hammock State Park. The course is on mountain bike trails, horse trails, a dirt access road, and pedestrian path. You get everything! Rooty single track, gravel, a stream crossing, meadows, and oh yeah, so much loose sand (running through sand is the worst, but if you run off road in Florida, there’s gonna be sand). Last year the course was different and it was good, but this year? Oh man! I loved it. Yes, there were a couple miles in full sun and they sucked, but the course as a whole was A+! The 50k starts at 7:30, the 25k starts at 8; everyone has until 3:30 to complete the race. Runners with a blue bibs were in the 25k, runners with red bibs were in the 50k, so you could easily feel better hearing someone zooming up to you and noticing they had a bib of a different color.
Prior to the race, the RD hosts several (3-4) course tours free of charge. Each loop had a little over 600’ elevation gain. Aid stations were at (loop 1) mile 5, 9, 12, 15.5 (start finish), (loop 2) 20.5, 24.75, 28, and 31.5 (start/finish). The RD is a high school English teacher and uses the incentive of extra credit (I think?) to get his students to volunteer, so the aid stations varied in whether or not the volunteers acknowledged you, lol. All stations had at least one experienced adult that was helpful, AS 9/24.75 had several and it was my favorite. Having hydration (handheld, vest, etc) is required for this race and it is also cupless, so if you want soda you have to bring your own, I got a sweet collapsible one on amazon that fit easily in the back zippered pocket of my vest.
Packet pickup is the day before at a local brewery or the morning of. You get a sweet pint glass with the race’s logo on it and a really nice t-shirt. The color this year was red, last year it was blue (the first year was black and I’m hoping for green next year), so all of the swag and finishers medals follow the theme. If you finish the race you get a sweet medal, if you finish the 50k you get an awesome headsweats hat.
Loop 1:
I started at a nice trot, having some friendly conversation until we entered the trail and went single file. I stayed with a nice little party bus of 5 people for about the first 3 miles before some people fell off or sped up. I saw a lovely deer family, but that was the only wildlife I saw the whole race (later my boyfriend told me he saw the deer and two snakes, a little garden type and a cottonmouth). As I heard the cowbells of the first aid station, I pulled my tailwind bottle from my vest (tailwind left bottle, regular water right bottle) and finished it up. I brought enough tailwind to refill several times and I knew I would be needing the electrolytes. Part of the trail we ran on has regular people traffic and these two little 5 year olds with their mom cheered us as we ran by, it was adorable.
At some point around mile 10 I dashed into a wooded area to pee and literally two minutes later saw someone else come out of the woods - apparently it was a hopping spot for peeing, or maybe it was because it was the first area where you could potentially not be fully exposed, lol. I had a nice conversation with this guy Eric who came up from Miami and was not expecting the elevation or the difficulty of running in sand. He was riding the struggle bus and after I left him I didn’t see him again (he did end up finishing about 20 minutes after me, so that’s awesome!). Around mile 14, you come out to this meadow area before entering the single track again. I had a short conversation with a lady probably 5 years younger than me and she made a statement about almost being done and I cackled. She looked at my bib and I told her I probably wasn’t the smartest, but she should totally do the 50k the next year.
Got to my drop bag (my boyfriend and I were sharing) and he had spilled redbull on my dry bandana ::sob::. I refilled my bag with tailwind packets and another gu, grabbed a PB&J quarter, first of many, and my headphones. I headed back out, but had to turn around after 300 or so feet because I had left my headphones on the table and I knew I wanted podcasts and music for the second half of the race. Loop one took me 3:13:29.
Loop 2:
I headed out on loop 2 feeling pretty confident. I knew that even if I walked it in and didn’t run at all, I would get a finish. This is when I started incorporating more walking into my race. Once I was 2 miles into the second loop, it was like a ghost town. I ended up passing several people during the second loop, so that was kinda neat, I’m a turtle, but I am apparently a heat trained turtle that was a having a great day! At the 24.75 aid station, a volunteer offered to pour some cold water on the back of my neck and hoooo boy, that was refreshing!
My longest run ever in my training was 22 miles, so everything past that point was new territory and it was so fun and exciting. I got very excited when I got to the 26.2 point and was still feeling amazing (note: I was more than likely at the 25.75ish point because by the end, my watch added about a half mile to my distance over the course of the race). When I got to the hilly gravel road portion, it was in full sun and that brutal heat was beating down on my head. I knew that if I ran, I would be out of it faster, but I could only manage a slow trot on the flats and a power hike up the hills. I got to the 28mi aid station and was greeted by the unenthusiastic teens, but that did nothing to my high spirits. As I got ready to leave I called out, “Please cowbell me out of the aid station!” And they did, so I left to some cheers for my last three miles. I got my phone out and changed from a podcast (I had listened to the Joe Rogan Experience and Serial) to some nice good heavy metal. I saw my watch and saw I was at 6:20ish, so if I managed to get these last three and a change miles done in 40 minutes, I would get under 7 hours! Which was an entire hour under my goal of 8 and 30 minutes less than my super secret under 7:30 goal! I immediately wanted to run, but I needed to eat the handful of pringles and pb&j I grabbed and not choke, so I took it easy until I ate. Then I started the walk/run again and saw a dude in the distance. I slowly walk/run/chased him down, and had a short convo before I broke off into another run portion.
At the top of the meadow, there is a nice downhill that is easy to bomb down, I did and my watch said I hit an 8:45 pace for about 10 seconds and it felt glorious that I was running at a fast for me pace 30 miles into a race. I ran/walked some more and when I got into the open area out of the woods .5 mi from the finish, the air and sun was blisteringly hot, so I walked until I actually saw the finish line and then I started jogging. I crossed the finish line, got a big hug from the RD, was given my medal and hat, hugged my boyfriend and maybe my parents? They had come up for the finish of the race, so we went over to where they had chairs set up and I could change in their motorhome. It was so amazing having my family at the finish of this race, I wish we could have hung out more, but Tom and I had the hunger and wanted pizza. I finished the second loop in 3:43:10.
My final time was 6:56:39. 44/76 overall, 11/19 female. More people had signed up for the 50k, but at least 23ish either dropped down to the 25k, took a DNF, or DNS.
Final Thoughts:
It’s the morning after and I’m feeling great. I have two small blisters, might lose one toenail but maybe not, had some chafing (I used a lot of 2Toms and that saved me from my normal chafing, but had some undercarriage/inner thigh chafing due to a feminine product), and the roof of my mouth hurts everytime I eat or drink something (apparently it’s a thing?). I was expecting to suffer, but around the marathon distance, I realized that my training had been so on point, suffering wasn’t required. I had a lot of things in my mental toolbox that I had at the ready, but didn’t end up breaking out a lot of them (such as gratitude alphabets, mental games for if/when the pain got bad, a ton of phrases ready to repeat in my head over and over, and so on). The only phrase I used during the entirety of the race was one from a podcast where Jimmy Dean Freeman said, “Don’t be an idiot in the first half and don’t be a wimp in the second half.” It helped me run my own race while there were lots of faster people around in the first half, and kept my walking breaks short in the second half and then really pushing when I needed to when my legs were getting tired.
Food/Nutrition:
- Tailwind (600 calories)
- Gu (300 calories - french toast, lemon sublime, campfire smores)
- Mashed sweet potato (250cal? I eyeball the butter, so who knows how calorific I made it)
- PB&J (manna from the gods! On my second loop, I grabbed a quarter piece or two every AS)
- Two sour patch kids
- 2ish servings pringles (grabbed from 4 different AS)
- Fig newton (gross, too dry/crumbly)
- Three cups gingerale
Gear:
- Hoka Speedgoat 2s
- Injinji medium weight socks
- Ultimate Direction Race Vesta (with soft flasks)
- Suunto Ambit3 Peak with HR strap (aka, the best bday gift ever!)
