1) This was the first time an ultramarathon has ever been held in the park.
2) It was the weekend before the Chicago Lakefront 50K, so it was a good test to see how I could handle two races during consecutive weeks
3) I got to run it with my running buddy, Tiffany. (This was my favorite reason for running it)
The race took place over the St. Patrick's day weekend, so I made sure that we had some festive attire on. Luckily, Tiffany got us St. Patty's day socks. I wanted to make us look like leprechauns, but got some resistance from my buddy and decided socks would have to do. :) Just as an aside, we got a TON of compliments on our festive attire and I snuck in several "I told you so" to Tiffany.
I got to the park about 45 minutes before the race began. I went to the Start/Finish area to pick up my bib number, timing chip and goodie bag. While I was there, I got to see my friend Ian and Deanna. I thought Deanna was going to be running the 25K, but she told me the news that she broke her arm (again) and wouldn't be able to race. I was pretty bummed that she wasn't able to run and talked with her about the injury and how long she would be out of commission. She was going to spend her day helping us runners out at the New Leaf aid station. New Leaf Ultra Runners is our local ultrarunning group in Chicago and they were manning one of the aid stations. I got in touch with Tiffany and she came with her friend Caroline. This was the first time I met Caroline and she was running the 25K that day. It was her FIRST trail race, so I was so excited for her. We were all chatting with new and old friends when all of a sudden, the race director told the 50K runners to "START!" It was a little unsettling, since we weren't warned about the start of the race, but we just shrugged our shoulders and started to run. This race was a training run for me, so I just wanted to take it easy and have a great day in the woods with friends.
The course doesn't actually utilize the single track trail system, but follows the crushed limestone trails. I think this was due to the fact that the trails were pretty sloppy with all the snow, ice and MUD. Oh, I must have forgotten to mention the mud. There was so much mud on the course that it made the race pretty challenging. It was a great workout for the legs though. :) We spent the first part of the course chatting about upcoming races and life in general. I saw some friends along the way to say hi to. The weather was cool, but very comfortable. There wasn't a strong wind and it was mostly overcast. We got to talking to another runner that was actually from the Wisconsin area and she also had done the Windbreaker Indoor Marathon at the Pettit. It was fun talking to a fellow Wisconsinite. Then, all of a sudden we came to a road crossing. I knew for certain we were not on the course. The race director had told us that at every road crossing there would be police officers to direct us. We were stuck. We had no map of the course and we didn't know if we should backtrack or keep moving forward. Luckily, a man in a pick up truck came down the road and told us that we needed to follow the road because we had made a wrong turn. About 20 of us runners were running along this road and finally see the trail that we were supposed to be on. Oh well, a minor set back. No one really was too upset about the lack of course markings and I just kept saying "Well, at least we got our moneys worth". :) That's the beauty about ultrarunners, we are usually a very laid back bunch and don't get too upset about many things.
We were back on the course and almost back to the start/finish area. The course was two loops going east and then a smaller loop going west. We got back to the start/finish, got some fig newtons and sports drink and then we were back on our second loop. They also had these delicious gummy hearts that made me the happiest ever. I LOVE candy and I LOVE candy during races. It's a small treat to look forward to when you are out battling the mud and slop. I could start feeling my legs were getting tired, but I think it had more to do with the mud and my wet feet. My feet were sliding around and causing some small blisters to start forming. I usually never take my shoes off during races to treat my blisters. I usually just stomp my foot to pop them, because when I take off my shoes my feet love to swell up and then I have a hard time squeezing them back into my shoes.
We go to the New Leaf aid station and I got to see some friends and took pictures and got some more of those gummy hearts. . OF COURSE! By this point we were running with another friend, Nikki, from the running group. I hadn't seen her in awhile, so it was so nice to catch up with her. She was running strong and wanted to keep a good pace, so we said our goodbyes and she took off ahead of us. We were about a half mile to the start/finish area when I spotted something blue on the trail. I screamed, as I often do when I see weird wildlife while running. We stopped and saw that it looked like a salamander. Tiffany wanted to move it off the trail so that it wouldn't get accidently trampled over. I tried to pick it up, but it secreted a very strange white substance. Eventually, Tiffany rescued it and took it off the trail. We were laughing the rest of the race about the fact we spotted a salamander in the dead of winter. That was our good deed for the day and makes for a great story.
The start/finish area was in our sights. We made a quick refuel and were off on the small loop going west. This would be our last loop and was about 5 miles. This section was pretty tough with the sloppy mud and the hills. My feet were pretty mangled up from being wet and rubbing around inside my shoe. We continued our banter, got complimented on our St. Patty's Day socks and then did an Irish Jig. :) At this point, we were beyond slap happy.
With only a few miles left in the loop we saw a few women a head of us and got a little competitive. We kicked up the pace to move ahead of them and didn't slow down until we saw the FINISH area. We cruised into the finish. Ian handed us our medals and we also got a beer cozy. At the finish area I met another runner from our group, Tony. It was nice to finally meet him. I was pretty cold, stinky and my feet were killing me. Tiffany and I took a finish photo with our well deserved medals and then I hit the road.
With the course marking mishap, we don't actually have final finishing times. We ran a mile or so further than we were supposed to and many other runners either ran the correct distance, more or less. The race directors weren't able to determine who ran what distance. I felt pretty bad for the race directors, but this was an inaugural event and I really hope they will put this race on again in 2014. The volunteers were amazing and the aid stations were packed full of goodies. Sometimes, there are mishaps in races but other than running a little farther than I signed up for, I was really happy with how the race was directed and supported. It was a great run with friends out on the trails, which are two of my favorite things.
No comments:
Post a Comment