Wednesday, November 5, 2008

47 is 47 and 12 Hour Run Part 2

So we were up early to head to the start line for the 8:00 AM start. The weather was going to be a good running temperature especially for something of this magnitude and it was supposed to be dry, no rain. Like i mentioned before, i originally had high hopes for this race. And i'm not an excuse maker, but training had hit a couple of snags about 1 month and a half out. I had an infection that caused me to do nothing at all for 10 days on top of a lot of work building up with plenty of traveling for it as well. Anyways, here goes the details...

Hour 1 went well, i finished 7 miles and was working the "Get out to an early start" strategy. I quickly learned on the first loop that this course was a set of 4 small hills rather than the flat square block that i had envisioned in my head. Being from NW Indiana that lacks a lot of serious hills, running these hills over and over again was not what i had really trained for...again though no excuses (it was nice to hear the founder of the race running his 31st version admitted that the course was tough).

Hour 2 went along just fine with 6.5 miles being completed. But something wasnt right and I could already feel the emotional roller coaster starting inside my head. Temperature was good, i decided to take a 10-15 minute break to be proactive against the physical and mental issues. I've learned from previous events that it isn't a smart strategy for me to just pound through these phases; this time i was going to try to what i call "recover through" the issues.

Hour 3-7 were rough and i averaged about 3-4 miles per hour. It was definitely up and down. Jessica started running with me and did about 10 miles over this span of time. I was definitely dealing with the strugles and getting through them. I'm not sure what the real problem was but it could've just not been my day. I ate some McDonalds and ate some pizza too. I was taking in plenty of water, gatorade/endurox, gel packs...anything to put calories in to help with energy levels.

Hour 8-10 went a little better as i was back on the high of the roller coaster; energy levels were definitely up a little bit. Jessica ran another 7 miles or so over this time; she was an animal and did 21 miles total on the day with me (8, 8, and 5). Which means that i'll be getting her into a half marathon soon and more after that, i know she likes it and can handle it.

Hour 11-12 were ok as i was now feeling the physical more than anything in my legs. Some cramping had set in within my calves and hamstrings. Darkness had set in a little and my feet were hurting a little now too.

So, in the end i did 47 miles. I've definitely had better overall results in some of my other ultras (my 50 mile road PR is 8:56, so i'm capable of being faster), but sometimes the value of the adventure is found in the journey itself rather than at the end. I learned some valuable race strategy lessons and had a great time with my family crew. I got to meet a bunch of new people, made new friends, and have tons of memories from this little weekend adventure in Eastern Ohio.

I know i talked about a self experiment and measuring a bunch of variables over the race, but during packing and planning, i forgot a bunch of those items. Looking back, it would've just been annoying with how the race was going. Maybe some other time, some other event.

So there was a connection between the mileage covered and the amount of money raised for the charity. I ran 47 miles. I raised $1,235 dollars (12 + 35 = 47). I know it's coincidental and sort of a result of statistical tweaking, but who cares. It still is cool and sometimes cool is just cool.

Later.

Go Run.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

47 is 47...my 12 Hour run Recap - Part 1

so again, i have let myself down by not keeping up with thi sblog, but there has been a lot going on and a lot has happened in my world, the endurance world, well...just the world in general.

on October 4th, I had my 12 hour run that i originally had real high hopes for; this post will serve as the recap of that adventure. On Thursday, my crew (mom, Jessica, Cadence) left Cp for Richmond, IN to cut the drive in half. I've done plenty of races doing all the drive on the day before and have learned that kind of stress/effort can be costly to energy levels. We woke up early Friday morning and headed off towards Woodsfield, OH. We stopped at my mom's aunt/uncle's just east of Columbus to visit for a quick bit and also to plan to stay there on Saturday night after the race to limit the drive on Sunday. After the visit, we finished our drive to Woodsfield, where we made our way to the B&B where we would rest for the night. There was a pre-race dinner at a local pizza house on Friday night. All the competitors were present and it quickly hit me how small of a field it was going to be. Fortunately, for me, i enjoy the small tightnit race field we had at this race because ultimately a run like this was a personal endeavor/adventure that i had set out to prove something to myself. I think there was 12 starters in the field covering both sexes and many age brackets. There were some locals as well as some outsiders like me. We enjoyed some great pasta, introduced ourselves to all the competitors and crews as well as received our shirts/jackets. Stories were traded as well as jokes amongst all the previous runners (i was 1 of 2 newcomers). What a great bunch of people to be around the night before we set out to punish our bodies for 12 hours. We headed to the store after dinner to pick up some food, snacks, and supplies for the race and then headed to the B&B for bed.

I'll give the details of the run portion on part 2 ( I have to board a plane for Orlando now).

Last item to note....I had raised a total of $1,235.03 for the St Jude Children's Research Hospital. I want to thank everyone who supported me in any way on this effort whether in running, donations, emotion, etc...Thanks. Stay Tuned.

Later.

PS Go VOTE.