My Big Fat Virtual Summer (1 of 3)

So with all of the race cancellations and everything that has gone along with this crazy global pandemic, I did a LOT more stuff than I thought I would. I did three different 24hr challenges, an “Untrained Ultra”, a marathon, a 50k, a 50m, and a 69m (where I got my first virtual DNF that I chased away with a virtual finish!), a DNF that I’m still processing, and a fun month-long scavenger hunt. I’m going to go in chronological order and discuss all the dumb stuff I did!

Aravaipa Strong 50k

Date: Friday, April 17th

Finish Time: 6:23:07

Compared to many of these challenges, this one was one of the easiest. It was still relatively early into the ‘rona, barely into the hot season, so it was a pleasure cruise compared to some of the later challenges. This was one of my first really long runs where I would be leaving from home and being self-supported the whole time. There was also sidewalk pretty much the whole way except for about a mile of it. I used gas stations to support myself and had a nice time. Nothing super interesting to report. I had a pretty good finish time considering not being very efficient when I stopped to restock at various gas stations.

Yeti 24hr Challenge

Distance: 30 miles

Date: Thursday-Friday, April 23rd-24th

This challenge was an interesting one, but the thing I was most interested in was the super cool shirt design and the fact that it was providing work to The Opportunity Center. So I signed up and decided to keep it to my normal neighborhood routes and a couple runs on the treadmill if the weather was bad.

This was a LOT of fun. I started after work on Thursday and no run lasted more than an hour, there was plenty of time between each run, so it wasn’t like I felt pressure on the time and I could rest. I also realized that it really doesn’t take much time to get ready for a run. The first few times I was standing on the corner of the block just waiting for the time to tick over to the top of the hour, but by the end I knew that it really only took me one minute to get my things together and another minute to walk to the end of the street to begin. It was like I was just going out for a short run each time and I never felt the cumulative effect of all of the miles. I would 100% recommend this challenge to anyone and everyone.

Sugar Badger 50 mile

Finish Time: 11:07:06

Date: Friday, May 1st

I had grand plans for this and well, they didn’t pan out. My original plan going into it was going to be to “Put the sugar in Sugar Badger” by stopping at several dessert places along the way as my method of fueling. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and I was basically miserable for 35 miles of the run, but hold up, I’ll get there.

I first stopped at an Ocala classic – Tas-T-O Donuts for a glazed cake doughnut and had a very weird encounter. I bought my doughnut and I wanted to take a picture in front of the iconic sign. After I took my picture a guy who was ordering at the window said something along the lines of, “Oh that’s original, taking a picture of the fat man buying doughnuts.” I didn’t hear him at first and asked him to repeat it, so he did, and I was just flabbergasted. How is this dude so self-involved and self-conscious about his own behaviors that he would call out a total stranger for taking a picture of their food and a sign with a phone that clearly wasn’t even pointed at him (it was pointed UP at the SIGN and the ordering window wasn’t visible because I was holding up a doughnut). I waited until he left, got a new pic, and then went off down the sidewalk.

My next stop was about 4ish miles away at another doughnut shop. It was a place I had never tried before, so I asked the person working there what their recommendation was and I ended up with an amazing cheesecake doughnut. It was about a mile later that I realized I wasn’t feeling so hot. I wasn’t sure if it was the doughnuts (I do not eat doughnuts on the regular) or what, but I kept on going. My next stop wasn’t for another 10 or so miles, so I thought I’d be better by then.

By the time I got to the Wawa about 2 miles from the next stop (mile 25ish), I knew I wouldn’t be getting a dessert at the next stop. Instead I got some gingerale and kept going towards the place and turned around instead of going in (because I had planned my route very efficiently and I didn’t want to have to add mileage at the end).

My next stop was a racetrack where I got some water and a blue slushie. I very briefly considered calling someone to come and get me, but by that point I was about 30 miles in, realized my pain and nausea was due to my uterus, and figured I may as well keep going and get it done. I had already been majorly suffering for 15 miles, so what was another 20 miles?

I headed to downtown Ocala to stop by Stella’s where I got a baklava and another gingerale. I sat on a park bench in the shade just off the square to eat my treat and drink the gingerale. I was in the final 15 miles of the run and decided to skip the last planned dessert stop. It was going to either be a place that made fancy cake or an ice cream shop, but I was so nauseous that neither option sounded appealing.

By the time I got to about the 40 mile mark, I was over it. I wanted to be home, I felt like crap, it was hot, and I was just done. I was drinking my water like crazy at this point and I ran out of water with about 5 miles to go and there were no convenience stores or anything else like that between there and home unless I backtracked a couple miles and I didn’t want to do that. Luckily, my husband was home from work by then so I called him and he met me about 3 miles from the house to do a full refill on my water.

Finishing the run where I started it over 11 hours before was a great feeling. I’d had a bad day, but I made the best of it and still think I had a pretty fun time, even though a lot of it sucked. But the Sugar Badger swag was worth it! I love that medal and shirt design!

Ragnar Trail Florida (Ultra Distance) – Experience Report

Date: December 6-7, 2019
Distance: 32.1 miles over 3 runs
Location: Lithia, Florida (Alafia River State Park)
Place: 2nd Mixed Ultra Team
Strava: Leg 1 (https://www.strava.com/activities/2915601163), Leg 2 (https://www.strava.com/activities/2916115183), Leg 3 (https://www.strava.com/activities/2916841801)


The Crazy Idea:

The day before Thanksgiving I was doing some mindless task at work, listening to a podcast called, “Not Real Runners” and they had some guests on to talk about Ragnar. I’d heard of Ragnar before since a few people I know had done a road Ragnar and another had done a trail one here in Florida last year. Before the segment was over I was looking on my phone to see when the Florida Trail Ragnar was and, following the advice on the podcast, went to the Facebook event page where people post about looking for replacement team members. It just so happened that someone posted just 20 minutes prior that they had a spot on an ultra team.

A standard Trail Ragnar race has 8 people covering about 16 miles each, the ultra is just doing each leg twice. There are two configurations of how the race is done – either the runners do Green, Yellow, Red, and on until everyone has done the legs twice or you double up and do Green+Yellow, Red+Green, Yellow+Red, etc. The team I was joining would be doing the doubled up version, so you’d be running approximately 10 miles at a time. The idea behind the doubled up version is that your teammates have longer resting times between their runs.

By the time podcast was over, I was committed to being on a team of strangers to run in the woods for 30+ miles. I sometimes do things impulsively without thinking them through, and it usually turns out okay, so despite the immediate terror I felt after agreeing to be on a team, I knew all would be well.


Pre-Race & Packing:

I spent the next week reading a couple Ragnar race reports and trying to figure out what I would need. For food, I packed: pringles, 2 cans of lentils, smart food popcorn, clementines, and some kalmata olives. I also had some coconut water, a couple body armors, and a gallon of water. Following the advice of people online, I packed all of my running clothes into gallon sized bags so they would stay dry if it started raining and that they would be sealed away after I wore them. I brought comfy clothes and fleece PJs to wear between my legs.

The drive ended up taking a little longer than I expected, but I had planned to arrive early so it was fine; though it was interesting that when I arrived at 10am there were already people out running. Our start time for our ultra group wasn't until 1:30pm. I found our campsite and met one of my teammates who told me that we would be sharing a site with two other ultra teams.


The Running:

Finally 1:30pm came around and I got my run it. It was nice, easy (green and yellow loops) and would be my only runs in the light. I passed off the bib to the next teammate and changed into comfy clothes. In the evening, there were a ton of food trucks and using my food token, I got a mac&cheese grilled cheese with some tatertots. It was excellent.

My next run wasn't until about 8:30pm, so I got my headlamp and hit the red trail, which I hadn't done before. The red was challenging mountain bike trails with pretty big climbs (for Florida) and it kicked my butt in the best way. I loved the red trail. My teammates told me that I should be glad I would do all of the red trail at night because it's apparently kinda scary in the daylight due to drop offs you can't see at night, lol. After the red was the green and hoo boy, I really started to notice the cold then. It was an open meadow and there were lower ground pockets of air that were so biting.

During the night it was SO COLD, I think it was down in the 40s. I was wearing all of my clothes and wrapped in a blanket. Funnily enough, our team and the two teams we shared a campsite with brought gas stoves to make warm things during the night, but no one ever actually made anything. Talking during the night with everyone was really great. One of the guys on the super fast ultra team is also signed up for Long Haul, so that was a fun coincidence.

My final run started around 4:45am. It was so nice and peaceful out there and I felt better and warmer because I was finally moving around. The sunrise was so incredible and I was so thankful for doing something so impulsive. I got back to camp and realized that even though I was done, there were still 30 more miles to go for our team. I got pretty tired around mid-morning, but solved it by moving around and having some coffee.


The Conclusion: 

I thought it was such a cool community thing. There were so many other teams and it was fun to see all of the silly team names while you're hanging out in "The Lounge" aka, the tent that has tv screens that show when a team's runner is approximately a quarter mile from the trade off tent. While Ragnar is pretty pricey, it is a very nice setup and so efficiently run. I can't imagine doing a road ragnar though, the idea of hanging out in a van for hours on end is no bueno.

In all, I had such a great and amazing training weekend. I got 32 miles in, I gained a LOT of confidence in nighttime running, and got to see how to coped with lack of sleep since I maybe only slept an hour max during the night.

It was exactly what I needed and I am tempted to do it again next year if there aren't any conflict with other events I want to do. AND! We got 2nd place mixed open ultra which netted us really nice belt buckles!

 

Gate2Jacks - A Back-to-Back 50k Challenge

What: Gate2Gate 50k & Jack's Trail Race 50k
When: October 26 & 27, 2019
Where: Alachua & Palm Coast, Florida
Strava Activities -
Gate2Gate: https://www.strava.com/activities/2819040609
Jacks: https://www.strava.com/activities/2822289328

Gate2Jacks is a challenge that a few runners take on every year, and I decided I wanted to be one of those ridiculous people! It consists of two 50k races in one weekend - Gate2Gate Trail Run in Alachua, Florida on Saturday and then Jack’s Trail Race in Palm Coast, Florida on Sunday. I ran Gate2Gate last year as my very first 50k and already wrote up a race report for that, so I won’t go into as much detail as I will for Jack’s.


Training:

I did the Stewart Tunnel 50 miler at the beginning of August, so since then I pretty much maintained with 25-50 mile weeks with long runs ranging from 13 to 23 miles. During my taper I questioned if I had done long enough back-to-backs and if I should have been building mileage rather than maintaining, but it was too late by that point (I wish I had done at least one 20-20 or higher, my longest b2b runs were 18-10 and 13-18).


Weather:

Florida has decided not to participate in Fall this year. We got a day of Fall on the Wednesday before the race and it was glorious. The weather for the weekend would be gloriously hot. G2G weather wasn’t too bad, 70s in the early morning and mid-80s around 10am, I doubt the heat index got too far over the mid 90s. Sunday was a different matter. It was soul crushingly humid and hot from the moment I stepped out of the house before the sun came up. I believe it was a heat index of 97+ at the hottest part of the day, maybe hotter. Yes, we Floridians train in this weather, but it does slow you down and wear you out a lot. Plus the chafing due to the humidity, dear god the chafing. No company makes strong enough lube to last in Florida; if I had the luxury of time and patience I would re-lube certain spots every two miles. I reapply often, but I still always end up with some chafing somewhere. My body is super good at chafing.


Gate2Gate 50k Trail Run

This is my third year doing Gate2Gate, second year doing the 50k. It’s always a good time. The course is made up of two 15.5(ish) mile loops featuring three aid stations on course and aid/drop bag location at the start/finish/turnaround. I love the design of the medals/shirts/glasses and 50k finishers get a sweet hat! I tried to start slow and keep my effort pretty even throughout and not push myself since I knew the second day was going to be more difficult for a multitude of reasons. Even with that, I came in 4 minutes faster than the previous year and my last mile was my fastest mile; not fast by most running standards, I am fine being a back of the pack runner. I finished in 6:52:14, 50/77 overall and 13/24 for women.

One really amusing moment was around the mile 20 aid station, I had just passed a guy that seemed to be struggling a little and while I was filling up my bottles he came up to the aid. The aid station volunteer asked, “How are you doing,” He replied, “Ugh, awful,” and without missing a beat the volunteer asked, “Okay, is this expected or not?” I just loved that response and the troubleshooting that most likely started (which I missed because my water was filled and I was making my way down the trail).

The finish line had a nice party atmosphere even though a majority of the people that came to the race were gone by the time I got in. Music was playing, people were hanging out, pizzas had been delivered every hour, and the race had a couple of kegs from the beer sponsor. I had a beer, a slice of pizza, danced around to keep my legs moving, and then started the recovery.


Recovery

In the week leading up to the race, I researched ways people who do stage races recover between the days. My plan was thus: drink a Tailwind Recovery drink within 15 minutes of finishing, have an ice bath as soon as I got home, and get into bed no later than 7:30pm. I liked the recovery drink and even had one later that night because I couldn’t stomach the idea of eating a real dinner. I snacked on some chocolate hummus and animal shaped cookies and that was about all I wanted to eat. I did get an okay amount of sleep, 7 hours according to my fitbit. I had trouble falling asleep and woke up a lot during the night. It was a relief when my alarm finally went off at 4:30am so I could give up the idea of sleeping soundly.


Jack’s 50k Trail Race

A few days before the race, Dawn, the race director, announced that the course had changed from previous years. Rather than doing five 10k loops, it would be four 12k loops and utilize some double diamond mountain bike trails. But wait, four 12k loops is only 48k, does that mean it would be short? Nope! 50k racers had a starter loop that took us right on the beach! It was gorgeous and luckily only about a quarter mile of running through very soft sand before going back onto the trail to a turnaround point back to the start/finish area and then out onto our first real loop.

The race was comprised of a 12k, 24k, and 50k. The 12k started at 8am, 50k at 8:30am, and 10:30am for the 24k. Most of the people running the race did the 12k and the 24k and over 1/3rd of the 50k runners dropped down to the 24k during the day. Before the race I told my significant otter that I knew I was going to be slow and as long as I completed each loop in under 2 hours, then I would make it under the 8 hour time limit (which I believe is a slightly loose limit because the RD is very generous).

The loops each start with crushed limestone and a few boardwalks (about a half mile?) before you enter the mountain bike trail loop. A mile or so into the mountain bike trail, the real fun starts – the Cloud Nine section, the new addition to the race. It is a rough section that sometimes required me to brace my hands on nearby palm trees to ease my way down small drop offs or use small pines to help hoist myself up over rocks – no sustained hills, but lots of small up and downs and roots and rocks to navigate through. It was tough, but it was really cool. There was a water only aid station inside of the loop approximately 4.5 miles in and because the way the trails are I could hear the aid station about a mile before I actually encountered it on the trail.

About halfway through my second loop I heard a squishing sound and realized it was my socks inside of my shoes. They were soaked from a combination of sweat and humidity, so glamorous! Luckily, I always pack a spare pair of socks in my drop bag, so I knew it’d only be a few miles until I would be able to get my feet dry. Having the spare socks saved my day. If I had had squishy shoes and socks for the second half of the race my feet would have been destroyed. I had a couple blisters from the miles with wet feet, but it was nothing compared to what would have happened.

After that I just kept trucking on. No way out but through. I decided this weekend I would run without podcasts or music for as long as I could. I made it to about 22 miles the day before, but grabbed my headphones from my dropbag after my second loop because I was ready for a little bit of distraction from the heat of the day.

Before I headed out for my last loop, I stopped at my dropbag to change my bandana and noticed that a tent with massage tables had set up! I was pumped and hoped they would still be there when I finished (spoiler alert: they weren’t, womp womp). I almost wish I hadn’t seen them set up, haha. The other race amenities were freaking amazing though. The aid station volunteers are experienced folk and so, so helpful. It’s always nice seeing their smiling faces! There was also a photographer that seemed to be everywhere. I saw her at least twice every loop and it felt like having my own personal photographer! I was too tired to think of any cool or interesting poses, so I’m sure all of my photos look like a goofier, more tired, and sweatier version of myself, but I’m good that that!

Many times throughout the day I felt like I was flying and making good time, but then I would look down at my watch and see a pace at least two minutes slower than it felt like I was going. The joy of running on tired legs, haha. At mile 25-26ish I did start to have some negative thoughts and flipped off many of the tough mountain bike features in the Cloud Nine Section of the trail as I passed them. Since I was on my last loop, I knew I wouldn’t have to look at the dang things ever again (unless I go back next year). I got back into a good headspace by the time I got to the aid station though.

As expected, I took up nearly every minute of the time allotted and crossed the finish line with a time of 7:47:15. My slowest 50k finish, but also my hardest! I was 19/23 overall and 7/11 in women. I believe there were three people other than me doing Gate2Jacks full (plus one other doing 50k+12k and one doing 50k+24k) and I’m so proud of all of us for taking on the challenge! It was a beast!!!

What’s next for me? More training! More fun! More everything! Hopefully finding my lowest lows, highest highs, and accomplishing big scary goals!

 

 

 

Photos of me by Kylie Rhodes (at Jacks)

Sweat, Swat, N' Swear 50k

What: 50k trail race
Where: Inverness, Florida
When: May 26, 2019
Finish Time: 6:29:44
Place: 19/40, 8/19F
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2399970311


After doing the 25k last August, I was excited to sign up for the 50k edition of this race and see the parts of the trail that I didn't get to run on. I like that they moved it from August to May, not sure the reasoning behind it, but it worked well.

Not too much to say about this one other than HOLY CRAP IT WAS HOT. Record heat (hence and sweating and the swearing) so I ended up walking quite a lot during the race. More than I should have honestly, but the heat index was over 100, so I was fine with it. There was also a section that was a destroyed, smoldering wasteland. Apparently, there had been a controlled burn in the area that week and there were a couple logs that were still smoldering and smoking. That was an interesting section for sure.

I barely ran with anyone during this race and oftentimes felt like I had the woods all to myself. By the last few miles I came across a lot people, so I put on my tunes and passed at least 10 people (I imagine some were walking the 25k since they started an hour after us, but whatevs). As always, aid stations and finishers awards are A+ at A1 Ultra Events Races. I love their events so much.

  

Long Play Trail Run 33 1/3 Race Report

Where: Ridge Manor, Florida
When: March 2, 2019
What: 33 1/3 mile trail race (half marathon and 10k also offered)
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2187012372/overview

Goals:
Finish (under time limit) – YES
Finish under 7 hours – NO
Have Fun – HELL YES


Training

After my 50k in October, I took a little break and had planned a different race for the spring, but life happened, so I decided to do this race rather than something a little more ambitious. I convinced my boyfriend to sign up too, so we got our training plans squared away and mostly followed them.


Pre-Race

A couple days before the race, the aid & hydration station locations were announced and it also included the drop bag locations; the drop bag locations were announced as being at mile 9 and mile 25 – to me that seemed a little too early and a little too late to make any type of a difference (spoiler – they were actually at mile 8 and 28 and I didn’t touch my drop bag the whole race). I diligently checked the weather reports 10x a day and as it got closer, realized that we were looking at highs in the mid-eighties and high humidity as well, yowzers.

We woke up bright and early at 3:45, drank some coffee, ate breakfast (toast and tempeh), and headed to the race. Bib pickup started at 5:45, but two ladies were taking advantage of the early start (to allow them an extra hour on the course) and left at 6am.

During the pre-race announcements, we learned that since trails are tricky and never measure up exactly how you want them to, we would be starting the race with a 2 mile out and back on the paved Withlacoochie Trail before returning to the trailhead and jumping onto the single track.


Miles 1-8

I made my way to the back of the 70ish people there and my boyfriend made his way closer to the front of the group. At 7am sharp the race started and we took off on the pavement. I really liked the way the race started with all the room there because it allowed people to naturally spread out over the miles and find their place before we got into the single track trails.

First couple miles I had nice little bits of convo with fellow runners, commiserated with a couple ladies during the section of awful, deep sand horse trail. Around mile 6, I passed Terri Hayes, one of the ladies that had the early start; she’s a beast - 75 years old and does tons of races every year, I first met her when I volunteered for the 11pm-7am aid station shift at a 100 miler back in January.

Around 7.5 miles, a guy came up to me asking where the aid station was and that he swore it was supposed to be at mile 6. I was feeling really great then and said, “I’m not sure, it’s a ~mystery~!” and he replied that, “At a race this long, there shouldn’t be any mysteries.” I thought I was very amusing but commented that probably due to the 2 miles of pavement at the start, it likely meant that the aid station was 6 miles into the trail, not the race. He sped up (to get away from me?) and the aid station was about a half a mile later. That station was run by a lovely couple who brings homemade goodies to races, they had brought them to that 100 miler and I knew I had to snag some cookies. I grabbed a couple cookies, a handful of chips, a pb&j quarter, refilled my tailwind bottle and headed out.


Miles 9-18

Nothing really remarkable for the first 2ish miles after the aid station until I heard a, “YEAAAAHHHH!” from far away. I had heard that sound once before and it was when volunteering for another race in the Croom tract last October. I had never met him, but I knew it was a guy who yelled every time a runner came to the aid station and that it was known to bring runners back to life just hearing it. For a mile I heard, “YEAAAAAAAAAHH!” or “GOOOOOO!” and I knew I’d be coming up to the aid station. Gave a huge thanks to guy when I got my yell, grabbed some chips and trotted away.

Mile 15 was absolutely gorgeous. By far one of the most gorgeous parts of the entire course; beautiful ferns and palms and trees and roots. I actually maybe teared up a little bit because I was so thankful to be feeling so good and have a chance to be out in these awesome woods!

By the way, I am a ridiculous sweater. I sweat a lot and I have tried all the things to keep me from chafing, but my body is constantly finding new and interesting ways to chafe. I use both 2Toms and SNB, but neither of them stand up to the test of long runs without reapplication and my body chooses new spots to chafe in nearly every time. I felt the telltale sign that one of my normal chafe spots was about to start going off, but luckily I was close to the mile 18 aid station and got some lube on it. They had trail toes and I didn’t have issues the rest of the race, so I may experiment with using that for my worst chafe spots. I still chafed on my neck, lower back, underarms, upper shoulders, and sides, but it was all mild.

After applying the trail toes, I grabbed some chips, swigged some gingerale, refilled my tailwind and water, grabbed a rice krispie treat, and gave the run bum a little bit of shit about being a snowbird before I continued on my way.


Miles 19-25

The heat and the hills started to get to me so there was quite a bit of power hiking during this section. Also, I say hills, but I’m Floridian and it needs to be taken with a grain of salt since the total elevation gain for the whole race was around 1500’. I decided it was time to get some electronic distraction going, so I got my headphones and listened to a couple podcasts. As I got closer to mi 25, I heard the, “YEAAAAAAAAAH,” and started to get pumped. Went into that aid station where I was offered a fireball shot. At first I said no, but I really love peer pressure, so I ended up doing a shot with one other runner and the three people working the aid station. Grabbed a pb&j quarter, some chips and happily went on.


Miles 26-33 1/3

Kept on going, walk breaks where needed. Thought about the road marathon I’m doing in a couple weeks and how different it would be from this race. Got to mile 28 and the premium homemade goodies at the aid station, so I grabbed a cookie and a brownie and felt so, so grateful that these amazing people exist and give up their time to volunteer and make races like this happen. Switched from a podcast I couldn’t concentrate on to music after the aid station – should have switched to it sooner, tbh. Did some more walking because there was a bunch of awful sugar sand and I was tired, but shortly after the sugar sand I was revived by the views since the end of the race is where the most gorgeous part of the trail is as it winds along the Withlacoochie River.

Got to the last hydration station at mile 31 (there were 4 or 5 of these along the course, no food, just water and tailwind jugs on a table) and turned my phone out of airplane mode to text my dad and my boyfriend about how I was about 2 miles away. My dad texted back that my BF had said it was more like 3+ miles and I got BIG MAD. Luckily the anger and frustration passed quickly since ‘Til I Collapse by Eminem came on and that was exactly what I needed. And it was 2.5ish until the finish, not 3+.

Kept pushing through and finally saw the trailhead! Ran in and finished at 7:07:21; I got 31st overall and 11th lady. Didn’t quite meet my goal of under 7, but I was okay with that because it was a blast. Got my awesome wooden record finisher’s award and a Neil Diamond LP (they gave records to all finishers, my BF got a record of 50s love songs, lol). I parked my butt in a chair, drank a tasty beer, and discussed the race with my dad and BF. My BF ended up finishing 8th overall, 6th dude, at 5:37:32.

Huge, HUGE thanks to A-1 Ultra Events. I’ve now done two of their races (this and Sweat, Swat, N’ Swear 25k last August) and volunteered at two (Long Haul 100 and the John Holmes Trail Run, which they co-direct) and they’ve been absolutely wonderful. Definitely going to do more of their races!