My First Ultra
After finishing my first half marathon, I think to myself "That wasn't too bad." Feeling so confident, I search online for any upcoming marathons until I attempt my first 50K. As I'm searching through the web, I was looking over at the bag I got from the half marathon that contained my race bib. It contained a flyer for an upcoming race called
The Hellcat 50K & 10K. I thought it over and decided to sign up for the ultramarathon anyway since it's only five more miles than a marathon. I figured i could at least run the marathon part, and then walk the five extra miles. How hard could it be?
Morning of Jan. 9, Race Day
I've made a few dumb decisions here and there but when did I think it was okay to run 30+ miles? After 3 months of training from a schedule I pulled up from one of my ultrarunning books, I was feeling better about myself to complete the race. After a bowl of oatmeal and a 45 minute drive, my mom had brought me to a trail near a conservation area.I kept going over in my head that I was going to finish what I signed up for and that my goal was to finish in under 6 hours. After standing in place for about ten minutes, frozen by fear, a small little cannon broke the silence and had begun the race.
Miles 1-10
First several miles felt good as the trail was made of very soft dirt mixed in with sand. My shoes were very comfortable since they allowed me to run more natural and offered plenty of space for my wide feet. But soon my mental attitude started to drift as I noticed I was going too fast too early. At this point, I'm not a very fast runner and rarely did any speed work during training so running 9:30min/mi for 30+ miles was not what I planned. Probably should have stayed with the more experienced crowd about a minute behind me. I finally got to the first aid station and just kept going since I didn't need to refill my water bottle or eat anything yet since I bought plenty of chewables and a few gels. After running the first lap(10K), I noticed the 10K runners finally starting an hour later after the 50K and I started to feel a little better after seeing so many people getting outside and running alongside me.
Miles 10-25
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| Felt better after eating those Cheetos |
This part of the race I don't remember much of, almost like a forgotten dream. The pain in my legs was increasing and my pace even slowed to a shuffle of about 14min/mi. My left hamstring was tightening up really bad around my knee and was preventing me from bending it. After limping to the aid station and completing my fourth lap, I stopped for a moment and wanted to sit down so badly. I looked over at the aid station's food supply and noticed a bag of Cheetos. That bag of Cheetos had so much salt in it that I nearly wanted to sprint the whole way feeling like I just started the race. I got to the second aid station and grabbed a small PB&J sandwich along with a salt tablet. I couldn't handle the taste of sugar anymore and felt nauseous just thinking about anything containing it. With the help of some music, I finally ran at a reasonable pace when I caught up with a man named Patrick.
Miles 25-31
Patrick was another racer that entered the 50K but as a training run for a 155 mile race in Sri Lanka! He was carrying this very large backpack that must have had around 20-30 pounds of food, clothing, gear, and other essentials. We paced each other, motivated each other, and he even shared some advice. My favorite piece of info. he gave me was to "Always finish a race you start, and never be last." It may not be advice by some people's standards but hearing it from him at that moment during the race when I felt like I couldn't even hold 10 min/mi, it sounded pretty inspiring. As we neared the finish line two other guys from behind were catching up when Patrick reminded me "Member what I said about not finishing last? Well it's time to pick up the pace." With about a quarter mile to go, my pace picked up to about 8 minute miles when the two other racers were right behind us chatting about something I couldn't hear very well. The finish line was in sight and immediately I felt a sense of relief, but still I kept increasing my pace until I reached around 7:30min/mi. One of the two men bolted straight through the finish followed by me, then the second racer, and soon Patrick.
Finished
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| Finish Line |
I completed this race in around 5:37:10(hrs:mins:secs) which landed me in 9th place out of 29 finishers..After receiving my medal and a few smiles from the remaining people that stayed, the first thing I did was sit on a nearby bench. Never has it felt so good to sit down. After running a 50K, I felt not only sore in my legs and tendons the next day but developed a better sense of running such a long distance. I felt more comfortable tackling the next distance of 50 miles. Which only get me closer to my goal of running a 100 miler before the end of high school. It's definitely doable with the right amount of training and support from others. As well as educating myself more and more in the ultra community.
The Hellcat 50K was a good first ultra to help me achieve my bigger goals. I hope you enjoyed reading my experience with my first ultra and might be inspired to run one yourself? :)
