Eagle Up Ultra 50 Mile Race Report

Last Saturday I ran my first 50 miler. I had no idea going into it how it would feel since the only other time I ran 50 miles was in my 100 miler last summer. Since I am once again running the Canal Corridor 100 miler on July 7 I thought that running the Eagle Up 50 miler would be an ideal training run for me. I hope that it will better prepare me for this year's 100. My expectations for Eagle Up were low key and I did not put a lot of pressure on myself. That is one of the things I like most about ultras and ultrarunners - generally the races and people are easy going with these longer distances. It makes sense because a lot can happen with your body in 50 or 100+ miles plus some days you feel better than others so you just go into it with a flexible mindset.

race start I'm the pink skirt left side :)

I lined up Saturday with a goal of trying to maintain 9-10 minute miles for as much of the race as possible. Most of my miles were between 9:15-10 minutes so right on target. Of course stopping at the aid station added a little time to each loop. The course was setup in a 5 mile loop consisting of about 2.5 on the Towpath and 2.5 on another trail just like the towpath. I actually really liked this setup. The loops went very fast for me mentally.

After the first loop I ate a Honeystinger waffle and just dropped off my water bottle. After the second loop I also ate a Honeystinger waffle and picked up my water bottle again. By the end of the third loop I had to stop and use the porta potty and I also hit up the aid station for some pbj and watermelon. After the 4th loop (20 miles) and 5th loop I also hit the aid station for similar fare. During my 6th loop I felt like crap having some cramps and just decided to walk for a while to see if it would pass. I debated dropping down to 50k but figured I could at minimum walk a lap and see if it passed. I walked the first half of the loop (2.5 miles) and decided to run again following the aid station. I felt much better! From there on out I walked about 1/2 mile after each 5 mile loop to give my body a little break. This worked well because by mile 40 (start of 9th loop) I could grab a slice of cheese pizza and walk while I ate it.

All smiles for most of the race anyways!

I felt really good the last couple of loops and was super excited near the end when the guy who was winning the 100 miler told me that I was likely first female in the 50 miler! It had not dawned on me that I could finish first because there are people running 50k, the relay, 50 miles, 100k, 100 miles so it was hard to know where I was in the race. That gave me a little boost and I pushed on to finish the race in 8:44:44 (10:28 avg). I think if my 6th loop was better I may have finished closer to 8:30 but I was pretty excited to finish and also to learn from the timers that I was indeed first female in the 50 mile race! :) P.S. The Skirt Sports Lioness Skirt in Holiday print was a big success as probably at least 20 people said "Love that skirt" to me!

My friend and fellow Skirt Sports ambassador Mary had came to cheer and drop off some goodies she picked up from me at the Skirt Sports store in Colorado so it was nice to see her there at the finish as well as my hubby who also ran the 50 miler and was technically first in the 50 miler too so that was awesome! We ate some food and had a couple of beers/ciders before heading home for a much needed shower!

Weather wise it ended up being a pretty mild, cloudy day for the first 4-5 hours with some off and on rain the back few hours but it was manageable. The race vibe was fabulous - so many people cheering and great volunteers and also made some new running friends from all around while running and chatting. The race swag included a nice women's fit tech tee and goodie bag along with a 50 mile medal. I would highly recommend this race! It would be a great first ultra or great for a PR at any distance. I am thinking I will run this again next year although not sure what distance - perhaps the 50 again or the 100K. I guess I have time to think it over.

My recovery this week is on schedule. I took a few days off of running and got in 4 miles yesterday morning, which went fine. I've been walking a lot of miles and doing some cycling. Next up is the Charlevoix Marathon next Saturday in Michigan. It's a great small-town marathon. Another marathon PR right now may be too lofty of a goal but I'll see how I feel that day and run accordingly. I will get in a good training run and have some fun to say the least!

Finally two weeks later is the Canal Corridor 100 again (eek)! I hope to start healthier this year and take some hours off of my time as well as have some fun! This year my husband is running it also so it will be fun to see him out there on the course! After the 100 I am taking a summer break to rest and cross train more and will start ramping up for fall races when I'm ready. I have some ideas about what I'd like to do but plan to allow myself more recovery time this year.

Post race with my speedy husband!

Post race with my Skirt Sister Mary!

Hard earned adult beverage. MMM!

Moebius Green Monster 50K Race Report

This race has been on my bucket list for a few years since I started focusing on longer distance running. It's generally in August, which has usually conflicted with my triathlon schedule. Since I am not racing any tris this season and I have leftover endurance from the Canal Corridor 100 I figured why not have a go at it this year. Still, this one hurt more than I thought it would - maybe still fatigued from all the long races this year. Either way it was a good course and I would like to do it again.

Sunny Lake - photo credit - Rob Irr

The course is a 10K loop that you complete five times. The loop consists of mostly trail and grass with some cinder and a bit of asphalt mixed in throughout Sunny Lake Park in Aurora, Ohio. I was feeling pretty good for the warm up loop and for the second loop until it started relentlessly pouring rain. Yuck! This caused me to slow down for a while because I was sliding around too much in the mud and grass and I didn't want to fall. Coming through the aid station to start my third loop I was feeling a little soggy and defeated. I headed to the ladies room and used the hand dryer to try and take some of the moisture out of my clothes.

The third loop went okay but I turned too soon off the cinder road into the trails and ended up repeating a mile+ loop, which set me back a good 10-15 minutes. I wasn't happy about it but it's easy to take a wrong turn in a trail race so I just moved on kind of annoyed with myself. It warmed up and I started to dry off but my legs felt tired. I thought to myself maybe just finish this loop and call it a day - that would give me a solid 18. But I couldn't just quit just because I felt blah! I signed up for a 50K - not an 18 miler. I reluctantly started the 4th loop and it was a real doozy and I walked quite a bit of this one so I lost some time for sure. I was just not feeling this loop at all and was pretty much in the pain cave until I saw the aid station.

Post race with my finisher wooden medal

Something about being on the fifth and last loop gave me a second wind and I was able to pick up the pace a little and then a little more. I was no longer soaking wet and I knew I would be done in about an hour if I pushed it. I had no idea what place I was in and honestly it didn't really matter. I was out there for a butt-kicking workout and I got it done. My finish time of 6:25 was a lot slower than I expected but slow is always better than quitting! Plus I did run an extra mile so maybe I would have finished in 6:10-6:15 without the extra loop. I did find out a bit later in the week when the results came that I was third female. My husband also ran this 3 weeks after his BR100 finish and finished in about 5:20 (7th male) on those tired BR legs!

 Race director Stephen Godale does a nice job with the race. It's low-key and the looped course with the aid station every 10K is convenient as well as having the second aid station about half way through the loop. Thanks to Stephen and all the volunteers who made the race a good experience!

Now it's back to marathon training for the Northern Ohio Marathon, which takes place on Oct 1 followed with some more trail 50Ks to end the season.

Close up of the wooden finisher medal!

Crewing & Pacing Burning River 100 For the Hubby

I've always admired people who take on the Burning River 100 Endurance Run. This year my husband Steve happens to be one of them! We trained mostly together as I completed the Canal Corridor 100 a few weeks earlier. So as I was recovering he was starting to taper and get ready for his little journey of 100 miles through the forests of Northeast Ohio.

Prerace in front of the Castle!

The race starts at Squire's Castle in North Chagrin Reservation in Willoughby Hills, OH. This is a park we spent many miles running in when we lived in Lake County. The 100 mile start is at 4am...so we had to be up pretty early as in 1:30am to get ready and make the close to an hour drive. We were out the door by 2:30, arriving at the start at 3:30 with plenty of time to get Steve ready for the long day and night ahead. We ran into some friends Brandon and Mel that were parked next to us. Mel has done BR numerous times and is one of the fast ultra ladies out on the course.

Steve and I headed up to the start about 10-15 minutes before the event started. I could tell he was excited and anxious to get this thing started. It was fun watching these 250 or so runners take off in the dark with their headlamps and dreams of first time or maybe PR finishes. Once he started I spent a few minutes in the car mapping out the route to the Polo Fields aid station where he expected to come in around 5:45am. I chatted with some people and waited to see Steve and have some of his requested items like chocolate milk ready for him. Next i met up with him at Shadow Lake where he was able to change into his new trail shoes.

After that I had some time to kill since I wouldn't see him again for 2 or 3 hours so I headed to Panera to grab breakfast and a bagel for Steve and I also stopped at Heinens to get some lunch for us later in the day. I arrived at Meadows aid station where I was able to get in about a 30-minute nap before setting up to cheer and crew for Steve. When he came in he was hungry and had a blister we took care of. He was still in good spirits when he took off. Again I had some time before I would see him again at Boston Mills (mile 50) so I headed over to the aid station and took a second cat nap before setting up my crew stuff. I ran into some Cleveland Tri Club friends, which was a nice pick me up and I ate lunch and cheered on some of the 50 mile finishers. Finally Steve came in and was able to eat his lunch I made him and change his shirt before heading on.

Ledges before our run together!

Our next place to meet up was 16 miles away so I had a lot of time to kill. I ended up stopping at the grocery store and going home to make dinner and take care of the dogs before meeting up with Steve later at Ledges Shelter. I had heard from friends that he was having a hard time and I was growing worried about him since he was a good amount off his goal pace. Finally as I started to head out on the course I saw him coming in! He looked pretty tired and I knew he was hurting. I agreed to pace him in the rest of the race, which was 34 miles for the 100 plus the bonus 3 miles at the end since BR 100 is actually BR 103. He ate and I put all the crewing stuff away, locked up my car and off we went to the Ledges to start our long and memorable journey together.

We did pretty well running through the Ledges and Pine Hollow but Steve was fading at Covered Bridge with about 20 miles left to go - including some tough ones! Special thanks to our friend Trevor for lending Steve his running jacket because it had gotten chilly and he was cold. By the second time through the Covered Bridge aid station he was doing better and we were power walking and light jogging and in better spirits. From Covered Bridge II to Botzum seemed to take a long time as well. We ran into our friend Rich in O'Neal Woods and he had some words of wisdom to share with us 100-mile newbies. Finally we reached Botzum! And then it took forever to reach Memorial Parkway but this was our last aid station! We still had about 4-5 miles to the finish including the Gorge in Cuyahoga Falls where you have some serious stairs to climb after 100 miles. Oye! Even I did not like the stairs so I can only imagine how Steve felt!

Hardest earned medal ever!

Leaving the Gorge I was excited for Steve to finish and I was excited to be done because I had been out there with him for many hours through the night and was growing tired and cranky! He was able to run the finish and then immediately needed to sit down for a few minutes and just soak everything in. He was a 100 mile finisher! He finished Burning River 100 like a badass! The only issue is that his right calve was swollen and of course his ankles and feet were swollen too, which of course made walking not fun.

After the race we went home to eat a quick bowl of cereal, shower and sleep for about 5 hours. Then we got up and went to the Ledges to pick up my car and headed over to the Winking Lizard Peninsula for a proper post race dinner and hoppy beers! Of course Steve had to put his hard-earned BR100 sticker on his car too! He sure earned it! And I am proud of him because I know that he struggled for more than half of the race and especially the last 20 miles. It was not the time he had in mind but he finished and that is all that counts in my book. I don't know if he will run this one again but you never know and for me I would rather run the 50 or 4-person relay next year. I don't know that I will put this one on my bucket list but only time will tell.

Congrats to all the 100 mile finishers - you are all amazing! And to all the 50 milers and relayers - way to go! BR is a tough course. My 37 miles was tough after a day of crewing - also very hard work! Thanks to Western Reserve Racing for putting on an excellent, well-organized event. Most of all thank you to the volunteers. You guys make the race! Without you noone could do this race. Your generosity and support are appreciated!

Until next year BR!

Hardest earned sticker ever!

Canal Corridor 100 Mile Race Report

This may be the first of several posts about a little race I ran last weekend in Akron called the Canal Corridor 100 Mile Endurance Run. Last week was bittersweet for me. I trained for months for my first attempt at the big 100. I thought I had it in me but I wasn't sure. After all before last Saturday I had never run more than a 50K. My attempt to run the 100K last year resulted in a DNF albeit more related to a lingering hip/lower back injury. So this was a bug jump for me mentally and physically to take on a 100 mile event.

I had been feeling run down the week leading into the race and noticeably going to the bathroom more. I thought it might just be prepace nerves but finally Thursday I made the decision to go in and get checked out. Wouldn't you know I had a freaking UTI (urinary tract infection). I was pretty upset. I had trained so hard for this event. I didn't want to miss out. So I decided to see how I felt after a couple of days on antibitoics. The first day and a half was pretty brutal as I had a lot of nasty side effects from Macrobid such as nausea, loss of appetite and probably one of the worst headaches I've ever had.

Since my drop bags were already packed I decided to check in Friday at Lock 3 and just see how I felt Saturday morning knowing that I could always back out of the race if I didn't think I was up for it. I took it easy Friday and had a good meal, hydrated well and went to sleep around 8:30PM. When the alarm went off at 3:30 Saturday I didn't even think about anything. I knew it was go time. Since I was feeling well enough to hit to the start I told myself I would just give it my best. If I had to drop after 25, 50, 75 or whatever that's what I would do.

prerace with Steve

I got down to Lock 3 to check in for the start right around 4:30am. Steve and I snapped a couple of pictures and I used the bathroom and lined up with excitement among the other 60 or so runners ready to take on what the day might bring. After a couple announcements from the RDs we were off at 5am sharp. The first leg of the race starts at Lock 3 and head south on the Towpath headed towards Canal Fulton where we turn around about 20 miles out. It was dark when we started for about an hour or so and I enjoyed chatting with some of the other runners and learning about them.

I was fortunate to have my hubby Steve crewing for me at the allowed aid stops so I could have specific items that I wanted throughout the race such as chocolate almond milk and of course cranberry juice to keep my system flushed out. There were also race aid stations either full service or self serve (water) stops about every 5 miles, which made staying hydrated easy.

around mile 35 going strong!

I felt pretty good 20 miles in around 3:45. The next big stop was mile 30 followed by mile 40 at Lock 3. I was still feeling pretty decent here but did take a longer aid stop break to change socks, tape up my left hip and get something more substantive to eat like grilled cheese. Mmm! The next stop at Portage Path/Second Sole I tried to eat part of a Subway sandwhich but it was not happening. I had to fix a blister and also tape up my left arch, which was starting to bug me. Off I went towards Botzum, Hunt Farm and finally Boston Store at mile 57 where there was a bigger aid stop. Along this stretch I talked for a bit with other runners and ran into my friend Margie who was riding on the Towpath before Winking Lizard. That helped pass the time. Making it to Boston Store was mentally good for me as I started to struggle more after 50-55 miles.

I was so happy to have Steve crewing and at Canal Exploration to pace me. He had brought me a Melt Grilled Cheese, which tasted like a slice of heaven after running that long! Not to mention that he paced me the last long 34 miles. Getting to the turn-around wasn't too bad with him (mile 70) but then I started feeling pretty bad with cramping (GI and bladder) and when we made it back to Canal at mile 74 I thought that I might have to call it a day. I wanted to finish, but I also did not want to permanently damage my body. So I stopped here and lied down in the backseat of my car for a while. Like an hour. This was good and bad. As I layed there my body felt good. To good. I throbbed and rested. I wanted to be done like nothing more. Texts and calls from family and friends urging me to keep moving kept me thinking and then I decided to just try it. I was 75% done. I changed clothes, taped up some blisters, grabbed some food at the aid station and then off we went toward Station Road.

Mile 71ish with Steve

It was dark on the trail but the moon was full. The sounds of bull frogs and even coyotes howling in the distance filled the night air and made me want to keep moving fast. It was mostly a power walk at this point. Once we made it to the Boston Store again at mile 82 or so and had some food and a much needed bathroom break (GI was pretty bad) I was able to run a few miles. Then the GI started acting up again and I had to stop a couple more times including Botzum and Big Bend. It seemed like an eternity until we made it to the final aid stop at Portage Path/Second Sole at mile 94. At this point it was morning although still a chill in the air. I felt wasted but was in decent spirits knowing I was going to make the cutoff. After some cold macaroni and cheese, which was divine we were off to do the last miles including the hills leading to downtown Akron including that detour, Cascade finally making it close enough to see downtown. What a feeling. I was finishing. I was exhausted. I was able to muster up a little jog for the last 1/2 mile or so to the finish line. It was a long day/night and I finished in 27 hours and 23 minutes - longer than I expected but who cares. I did it!! The real goal of a 100 is to finish the damn thing and I DID IT!! Wow!

The finish!

Lock 3 was hopping with race staff and runners and family members. I was beyond happy to be done and have Wild Bill hand me that very hard-earned belt buckle! I chugged a smoothie and sat down for a while taking it all in and cheering for other finishers including some first timers like my friend Brian I met. It was pretty emotional. Finishing 100 miles is not an easy feat. Some of us suffered out there for a long time but the joy of the finish is worth it. After a while I got changed and then headed home. My awesome husband cooked me eggs and bacon and we celebrated with an IPA. That may have been the best breakfast and beer ever. A long, hot shower and then a long nap were up next. Later that night we went to dinner with my daughter to celebrate. I was done. It was really over. What a great race!!

Getting up and walking really sucked for the first couple of days! But I forced myself to keep moving. Monday I walked 2 miles, Tuesday I walked 3 miles and cleaned the house, Wednesday I walked 2 miles and biked for 20 minutes. Yesterday I ran 4 miles (slow with some walking). I am happy that my recovery is going well. And of course now I am sad that it's over. Next up is the hubby's first 100 at Burning River where I get the honor of crewing and pacing. Then who knows. I may run another 100 for time at some point. Probably not this season as I want to stick to 50K and under but you never know. Now I know that I am strong enough to run 100 miles. That opens up a lot of possibilities and curiosities in a person I think.

I'll have to dedicate a whole post just to the emotional side of the race. I feel like it reawakened something in me. More to come on that!

The blimp was out on race day!

My hard-earned finisher buckle!