Eagle up Ultra

Eagle Up Ultra

 June 7th I departed on another epic journey. This time to meet Jessica in Canal Fulton Ohio for a 24 hour race. It was another camping weekend but a shorter race. Eagle Up is a 24 hour race, it begins at 6am Saturday and runs until 6am Sunday. It's a very fun event because you can choose to run a distance or run a length of time. My goal was to complete 100k (62 miles) during the 24 hours and I was prepared to be on the course for the entire time allowed.

My only problem was i had a sinus infection and possible bronchitis. I wasn't in the best of health. But i had been on antibiotics for 2 full days so I decided to just go out there and see how it went.

We got to the start line Friday afternoon. By the time I arrived Jess already had the tent set up and ready to go. I gathered my belongings from the car and got everything settled.  There were several runners from my favorite running group in attendance, so I made an effort to find people and introduce myself. I met Kelli that afternoon at her tent, she was there along with her daughter and a friend, Eric. He's important later on in the story.
Eagle Up has a free dinner set up at one of the local establishments so get grabbed some pasta for dinner and spent a couple of hours relaxing before it was time to get some rest.

Sleeping on a cot, in a tent is probably one of my worst nightmares. I sleep terribly most nights anyway, but the night before a race AND in a tent... I might as well just sleep on the ground. But maybe i got a couple of hours rest before it was time to get ready.

People started making noise around their campsites about 4am, so I laid there a little longer and then just decided to start getting ready. I had my poptarts and drank a bunch of water and a starbucks espresso drink. I forgot my blood pressure meds, so I wasn't sure how that would effect my event.  600 bathroom breaks later, we were ready to start the race.

The course is a 5 mile loop of mostly gravel tow path. There was water on one or both sides of the path the entire course. It was very green and very flat (especially compared to The Pot). We all took off together, I believe there were close to 600 runners this year.

Runner had to register for a distance, either 50k, 50M, 100K, 50/50, or 100M, plus they allow relay teams.
I decided not to wear trail shoes because I've spent plenty of miles on gravel tow paths on road shoes, but I soon found out I chose the wrong socks for the event. Within the first loop I was already feeling some discomfort due to rocks in my shoes. As soon as I got around the first time I bandaged the spots up, but soon I would find out it wasn't good enough. 100k is 12 loops plus a 1 mile out and back. I had my Orange Mud vest on and there were water stations at mile 1.5, 2.5 and 4 or so. At the start/finish line there was a smorgasbord of options that any ultra runner would love. During my last ultra I didn't do a good job with nutrition - so I made sure to eat something every lap, just to keep the calories coming. It was a beautiful day to spend outside running, although with my sinus infection and cough it was mostly walking with intermittent running. The sun was shining and it got rather warm. I ended up changing shoes a 5 or 6 laps in, i re-taped the now massive blister and moved to a taller sock so that the rocks couldn't get between my sock and foot. I got to chat with several people while knocking out the laps, meeting new friends is always fun during a race.
We ate a lot of Popsicles during our laps, they were the only thing keeping me cool after a while. Most of the water was warm also. But the race director was there at the start/finish line every lap. He was encouraging everyone who was racing the entire time. They also had a live Facebook feed from the start/finish and a really good tracking system so you could confirm what lap you were starting.

Jessica had given me a spreadsheet of paces to complete each distance, so I was watching that pretty regularly. I was definitely ahead of the schedule for finishing the 100k on time, but as the day wore on the pain of my blisters continued to worsen. I had another friend who was able to stop by the race and do a lap with me right as dusk. (Thanks Mary Ellen!!)

It was miles 40-45 and the pain was real. I was doing well with hydration and food intake.  My blood pressure seemed pretty good throughout as well, so i was happy with that.
At the end of mile 45 I decided to change socks and refresh my bandages, I had 17 miles to go. When I tried to take the bandage off my foot, i ripped all the skin off too (OUCH) - lesson learned. At that point, I hobbled over to the medical tent and asked for assistance. They were lovely and taped up my entire foot so I could get back to the race, they were willing to put my running shoe back on for me too, but at this point I decided that 50 miles was going to be enough for me and after one more lap I would call it a day. I believe I was 16 or 16.5 hours into the race, so I had plenty of time to finish, but my feet were not holding up. I walked the last lap in my Oofos and with about a mile to go, I started chatting with a man - who turned out to be Eric! He was finishing his 10th lap as well, but he was prepared to get to 100k, so we chatted for a while and then he got ready to go back on the course. I let the race director know I was ending my race, got my medal and called it a day. There was rejoicing in the hot tub shortly after that, I got my feet looked at again and slept for about 2 hours before the race officially ended. 

I didn't get to see Jessica as much during the course as I thought. There were people at the race that I never saw on the course, but completed the same distance as me. I am definitely sad I didn't get to meet Julia, cross my fingers for next year.  The race ended at 6, by 8 we were packed up and by 9 I was hitting the road. Before I left, I made plans to meet someone for breakfast that way I could rest for a while about halfway from home. I had to stop a couple of times for a 10 minute catnap, but Joe was patient and got us a table so we could sit as soon as I arrived. I am not sure what I was thinking, meeting someone new the morning after a 24 hour race. I hadn't showered since Friday, I'm pretty sure I forgot to brush my teeth (sorry about that Joe), and I was walking like an invalid. But he took it all in stride and even helped me out with a finger that cramped up when I tried to use silverware. Runners are like that though, we support each other through thick and thin. After trying to eat and drinking lots of coffee, I headed out for the last 2 hours of the drive. I think I stopped twice again to rest - but I got home and finally showered. 

*bliss*

then i slept. 

Eagle Up Ultra is a terrific event that I will recommend to anyone and everyone. It's great for a first Ultra because it's flat and a fairly short loop, so you can adjust or rearrange things fairly quickly. I've got new socks and I'm ready to sign up for next year.

I didn't meet my goal, and some days I'm a bit disappointed I didn't try to cover the last 12 miles (it's not even a half marathon!). But my feet are still recovering, I'm still finding blisters i wasn't aware of and I have more races to run.

I've already picked out my redemption race, it's in October and it's local. I can't wait!