G.A.C. Fatass 50k Trail Run (1/8/2011)



G.A.C. Fatass 50k Trail Run 1/8/2011

Ever since I read the book Born To Run by Chris McDougall in the fall of 2009, I have been very intrigued by distance running, especially the ultramarathon. I spent several months after I finished the book last year training for a marathon I signed up for rather prematurely, only to never even show up because I felt unprepared. Although I spent 2 months training heavily for it originally, I soon burned out and did not run for over 6 weeks. I had a lacrosse season fast approaching and was too nervous to risk injury. That day has had a significant impact in my life, particularly my training because ever since the day I decided I was going to drop out of that race I have been desperate to finally run a marathon or even farther. Today I finally met that goal, albeit a year later. Here's how it went down.

The 50k today was a "fatass" run which means there was no payment, awards, etc. You just show up and run. I was invited to do this run about 8 weeks ago by the person who got me into distance running in the first place, my old Physical Education teacher who I refer to as Contois (his last name). I was not 100% sure I would be ready, but we put in some long runs over the weeks prior when I was home from college. The furthest I had ever gone before this run was about 22-24 miles over a 4 hour run that I did on November 20, 2010. I went back and checked my blog prior to this race and added up my totals. Since September I have only run 108 total miles (estimated), or an average of about 7 a week. Obviously if I plan to pursue running further I will need to increase that, but I felt fairly confident that I would be OK with my training for this race.

We arrived at Bradley Palmer State Park in Topsfield, MA at 7:45AM. We were one of the first cars there. This was probably a good thing. On the event website, the race director requested we bring something for the aid station. Normally, ultra runners will tend to bring things from the day old bakery, gatorade, pretzels, candy, etc. Of course my wonderful mother decided that this was not enough, and decided to send me in with these freshly baked treats:

(Chocolate brownies with PB swirled in and coffee cake muffins)

Walking in with these 2 trays in both my hands, at least compared to the other goodies people were showing up with, made me look more or less like this: 

But I regress. Anyway, we suited up by the car. Contois positioned his car so that when we came off the trail we would hit it right on the way back to the aid station. This was very helpful for me to grab a new water bottle or dump gear I no longer needed. I was freezing at first, and started with 2 hats and 2 pairs of gloves on top of each other. Apparently last year's event made the temperature today seem like a heat wave, so I guess we got lucky. I ditched one hat and one pair of gloves after the first loop. The gear I wore, along with everything in my drop bag (not all needed, but nice to keep together) is pictured below:

The first loop started at exactly 9am. I took the advice of Shane Skowron by running a slow pace on the first lap and saving what I had for later loops. This was a good decision. As this was my first ultra I immediately became aware that a lot of the things you were "supposed to do" as an ultra runner were happening before my very eyes. An example would be running my own race. It was much more tempting than I would've expected to stay at my own slow pace on the first lap and not run with the other people going faster. I kept telling myself I had no idea how many loops they were doing, or who they were/how good at running they were. This helped but it was still a challenge nonetheless. The first loop went by pretty uneventfully, and I finished in 1:01:37. I was recording them as I got back to the car, and not at the aid station so if the times seem a bit skewed that's why.

My first trip to an aid station was definitely an experience. I thought I was making quick time, until I realized I had spent over 3 minutes there after the first loop. I promised myself to be quicker on the other loops. I headed back out for my 2nd loop. My gameplan for the first 3 loops was to run them in the exact same time. This would ensure I didn't go out too hard in the beginning and would still have to work once I started to wear down on the 2nd and 3rd loop. By now the trail was a lot more padded down, after being full of ice and patches of unpadded snow on the first lap. This made running a lot easier.  I finished my 2nd loop by 2:08. I had to walk a lot more than I wanted on the 2nd loop, not because of soreness, but because I might've looked like this had I not:

The 3rd loop was a pain in the ass (no pun intended) before it even started. I grabbed a new water bottle at the end of my 2nd loop, and had to spend over 5 minutes in the porta potty before I was able to start going again. I checked in at the aid station and took my time because I already had spent quite a while not running. You could guess I was a bit irritated because I should've taken care of this before the race, but I forgot. Lesson learned: no dairy before races, problem solved ;).

Besides that little fiasco, the third loop went by pretty smoothly. I finished by 3:20 even after that little stop, so I guess I did pretty well. I do recall that at this point I was beginning to get pretty tired, and my legs got really sore. My right knee was bugging me as well, but me running without knee pain is more of a shock than running with it. I'm pretty accustomed to it at this point. I guess there is only so much POSE running can do. At this point I was feeling good and thought a sub 5:30 time was possible. But then came the hardest hour of my life.

I remember the aid station. I had some gummy bears, some gatorade and some chocolate covered pretzels while checking in. The lady said "Only 2 more, keep going!" which motivated me because the way I look at it is there's only 1 more loop until 1 loop left. My brain likes to divide things up like that when I do long runs or workouts. If only I knew what the next loop had in store for me. About 2 miles in I began to feel miserable. The snow also began pouring down heavily, which only made things worse. The last 4 miles of this loop were terrible. My legs were killing me, and I had no motivation to go any faster. I just wanted to walk. Sub 5:30 slipped out of my grasp which also did nothing positive for me in this position. This was also when weird stuff started to happen. I had already seen 2-3 "people" in the beginning of the loop that turned out to be trees, rocks, nothing at all... you know, normal stuff. This continued, but some stuff I've never experienced also happened. I was listening to music on my iPod. Some of the lyrics these artists I was listening to are pretty deep if you think about them. Something about certain lines of songs was making me feel like crying. At first I thought it was from the pain in my legs, but I soon realized it wasn't. When a line would relate to something, such as the chorus of Rascall Flatt's "My Wish" when he says 'Youre dreams stay big, your worries stay small," the lyrics would strike me really weird. I would relate that line to the race, because I have big aspirations as a runner and/or athlete that I take pride in. My throat was welling up like the feeling you'd get before you cry, and I would have to fight it back. Then once I fought it off, I would get a huge adrenaline rush which would make me buzz until I crashed again. It also happened when I thought about how I had almost finally covered a marathon distance for the first time in my life. I understand the adrenaline, but the crying thing was weird and has never happened to me before.This happened 8-9 times, mostly on loop 4. I guess my emotions were messed up from putting my body through the hardest thing it's ever experienced. Weird.

I finally finished the 4th loop by 4:35. You know that feeling you get when you know you've done something before, and have no desire to do it again? For anyone who CrossFits, you would understand. Like when you see Barbara or Griff (2 of my least favorite WODs at least) come up, you get that pit in your stomach and the sensation that you do not want to do it. That was exactly how I felt at the aid station before my final lap. Contois was done at this point (he finished in 4:30), and was encouraging me. I slammed some food and drink, closed my eyes and just said this is it. I embarked on the final lap without even looking back. Back I went onto the loop. I tried to break it up into smaller bits, but until I got past the hilly single track section in the middle of the loop I wasn't even able to think about the finish. Then once I got by there, I couldn't even think about the finish until the driveway that leads to the parking lot. Then once I realized how freaking long the driveway is, I began to think about it at the parking lot. Right as I hit the parking lot "False Pretense" by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus came on my iPod on random ALL. Call me what you will, but I take that as a sign of fate. It's probably one of my top 3 favorite pump up songs of all time, so I knew it was time to hit the jets. I sprinted the final 400 meters to the aid station, and finally I was done. 5:50.39, mission complete. Finally done with the distance that has haunted me for so long, plus some more.

On a side note, something funny did happen with my iPod. You know the song Crash Into Me by Dave Matthews band, and know the parts when he says "CRASH" and there is a second pause? On the 5th loop this song was playing and I was chugging away. Right at that point in the song where he says crash I nearly ate shit big time for the first time in the race. I actually started laughing at myself because I didn't know what else to do. I found it pretty ironic.


Some things I learned:

- Drink more than I think necessary, because I was very dehydrated by the end of each loop, especially the end of the race.
- When wearing Yaktrax/running in snow, make sure your traction is fit properly. Don't try to run with it a little off, because it messes with stride.
- No dairy the day before races to prevent stomach/bowel problems.
- Run your own race, not anyone elses
- Do NOT get hung up on split times. It just depresses you and doesn't help at all, especially when the race means nothing for what time you get.
- Might want to consider adding more running for any more ultras in the future.
- Push off your knees when climbing hills at a powerwalk speed.


In general, I had a blast today. I've never pushed myself this hard in my life and I was so pleased when I finally finished the race. There was never a point where I thought I would give up no matter how bad it got, which was definitely a step in the right direction. Contois asked me on the way home if I thought ultras were in my future, and I told him to ask me tomorrow. I was surprised to see how 'blah' I felt after the race. I was drained mentally and physically and my emotions seemed blunted post race.

Tonight, in honor of my completion I had a delicious cheat meal. I told my mom to surprise me with a pizza for when I got home and she went with one called the "Napoleon Dynamite." For those of you thinking it's covered in llama and tater tots (don't worry, I did too), it was bacon, sausage, onions and jalapenos. It was a solid meal and I'm looking forward to a nice night of sleep.

Here are some other pictures:

Me at 5am ready to go. Myspace whore?



My car at 5:15am, and the snow that we received overnight