50 miler

Potawatomi Trail Runs`

Sometime last year or two I got it into my head that doing a 50 mile race would be a good idea.

Don't quite remember who I was planning it with, or what the original plan was ... But the weekend arrived and I headed to Pekin, IL for a weekend of tent camping and trails. To be quite honest, training has been nil. Swimming a bit and riding my trainer sometimes this winter, but otherwise there's been no prep for this event. Luckily it has a 34 hour time limit, and I have faith I can hike it in that time.

Jessica was kind enough to sign up for the 50 miler as well, so we made plans to camp together and make a weekend adventure out it. There were others that had considered joining us, but it ended up that it was just the 2 of us.

I drove over Friday, found Jessica and our tent. We got checked in and cheered on some runners when they came through camp. They provided dinner for the runners, so we grabbed some spaghetti and fresh bread to carb-load. Potawatomi trail race has a fairly good group of familiar runners. Even though we didn't know anyone, lots of people were very friendly. The temps dropped pretty rapidly Friday night, we had an early start time, so we tried to sleep early. But I'm not sure I slept at all, i was freezing most of the night and spent the hours thinking about what the next day would hold for me.

The alarm went off early and we slowly gathered our thoughts and pulled ourselves together. I had some pop tarts and grabbed everything I thought I would need for the first 10 miles. We didn’t look over the course at all the day before, but had heard there was a ton of mud due to the rain of earlier in the week. I decided to utilize the hiking sticks even on the first leg, just in case. I had figured out a way to connect them to my vest, if needed. I used those things the entire 50 miles. Probably the second best investment of the event.

the start of the adventure

I thought this was a water crossing....
I was wrong!

The RD gave us a pre-race chat to let us know how the course was looking and go over basics, once he finished, we were off! My plan was to get the first 30 miles in during the first day, see how things were going and finish everything Sunday morning. I did the first lap by myself, luckily there were other racers who would pass me at the most beneficial times so I learned quickly how to cross the first major water crossing, as well as, climb “the big hill with the rope”. The race had 2 aid stations out on the course. One at mile 2.5-3 and then another at mile 6&7. The aid stations had all kinds of foods and i tried to eat something at each one, just to keep some calories in my body. They had tailwind at each aid station too, so that helped get some calories into me. I finally turned the corner back into camp - i was so relieved that i could change my shoes. I have ON Cloudventures that I have done most of my trail running in, they were probably the worst possible shoes for me to wear during this race due to the significant amounts of mud that were stuck on them. I grabbed a fresh pair of socks and my Inov-8’s to see if they could get me to the finish line. Lap 2 was sunshiny and warm. I was feeling strong and just covering the miles. After a mile or so, I caught up with a friend of Jess’s that we had met the day before - we stuck together for about 4 more miles. The time went by so much faster while chatting with a new friend. It was also helpful to see how someone else covered the technical parts of the declines and inclines. During Loop 2 I also ran into JR and Christy- who live in Goshen as well. It was great to see someone familiar at that stage of the race!

The big hill

The first real water crossing

lots of the trail was just this

The course winds through forests, pastures, meadows and along rivers. Lots of babbling brooks and bridges to cross throughout the 10 mile loops. The mud was unbelievable. The elevation was quite surprising to me, just when you thought you were as high as you needed to go, then you had to go up higher. I don’t know there’s anywhere local i could train adequately for this race. Loop three had me starting off in mid afternoon, I got to aid station 2 and was met with a strange man in pineapple leggings telling me that i needed to stop and eat something. Food didn’t sound very good at this stage, and I had been drinking the Tailwind at each of the aid stations, but I knew he was probably right, so he brought me some pizza. There’s not a lot of thinking for me at this point. It was becoming dusk, and I was only at mile 27 - so i put my lights on and headed out for the 3 miles back to the start. Jess caught up with me about a mile from the start/finish so we were able to chat and catch up. Jess was ready to start her fifth lap so we stopped briefly to refuel and grab some fresh batteries for my 4th and her final lap. This was probably the most fun, yet painful lap of the weekend. We traversed the course in the dark, watching out for deer and other runners. I was warm the entire time, it didn't really cool down enough for me - but Jess was freezing - so she ran ahead to finish her race and waited for me to finish my 4th lap.

Jess is done! First Ultra. First 50 miler!

Basically by this time my watch had died, my headlamp, chest lamp and extra headlamp were all working on about 5% and I was at the brink of exhaustion. I asked the race officials the proper way to reenter the course, as i was planning to rest for a bit before I headed out for my last lap. The race official attempted to encourage me to just start out again and get it done. There was rain and thunderstorms headed towards us, but I insisted I just needed a bit of time.(crying and whining may may have been involved) I headed back to the tent with Jess. Tried to charge my watch (that didn't work at all), changed my clothes and the batteries in all of my lights and headed back out. It took me about an hour and a half to do all of that (It's tough to change your clothes in a tent after doing 40 miles in the mud).

The final 10 miles.

I headed out for my final lap a little after 4am. It was dark and I knew the rain would be here soon. My feet stung like needles were piercing the skin with every step, but I knew it was almost over. My main objective was to try as hard as I could to get to the big hill before it started raining. The course had dried out a bit and was a bit easier later in the day, but I knew if it started to pour it would be a mudfest. The first meadow seemed like 10 miles in and of itself, but I got around it and back into the forest. The rain started as I covered a grassy area and soon it was raining buckets.  I kept moving forward - up one incline and then down the next. The mud was worse, I would use my hiking poles as foot stops while going down a hill in order to not slide completely down the hill. I have no idea how long it rained, I didn't have my watch so I wasn't paying attention to anything except what was right in front of me. I know it was done raining by daylight. I don't remember the first aid station, but i remember getting to the first water crossing, the water felt terrific on my feet but it was pure mud on the other side. Just keep moving. Throughout the event there were people passing me, some had a pacer with them and they would be chatting (it was nice to hear others talking, distracted me from the thoughts in my head). I got to the big hill, it looked bigger this time. And definitely muddy. But there was no way around it, so i just started climbing. It was the closest I got to crawling on all fours, trying to find footholds and places that were flat/sturdy enough to move up. Just keep moving. I got up to the top of the rope and felt like i had conquered the world! Alas, I wasn't finished just because I had climbed the big hill, so it was keep moving forward to the next goal. It was back to warm again by now, lovely day to be in the woods. At the 2nd aid station, I grabbed some more food, but it must not have been enough. I started experiencing something I have never experienced. I was hallucinating, first it was dolls made out of tree branches, then it was people i knew hiding in the bushes. The dolls were fascinating as they were all along the route, but over near the river I was running next to. Second trip to the aid station they had fresh breakfast burritos - it tasted amazing compared to most of the food i had consumed. At this point I had just 3 miles to go and was ready for it all to be done. The mind seems to stop sometimes so I don't remember a ton about the end. I know I remembered the course quite well and felt so far away from finishing. Passing each marker, I would say to myself "I never have to see that again." Or "I never have to climb that incline again." Headed into camp, Jess was ready to greet me and head to the finish line with me. I crossed the finish at 28:10:09. It's tough not to compare, but I know for me that was the best effort for that event at that time of my life.

After finishing, I couldn't wait to take the darn shoes off - once that was done i rested for a bit, changed my clothes and packed up camp. I had a hotel for the night and they let me check in early. Pizza was the only thing on my mind. Oh, and a shower.

Looking back, it seems surreal that I had the guts to sign up for the race. But I also keep looking at other races, planning for the next one.