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So.<br><br>
Yesterday, I ran on my first trail ever and also, my longest distance ever. I would really not recommend that combination. <img alt="cool.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/cool.gif"><br><br>
The Huntington Ultra Frigid Fifty was an interesting choice for my first 50K because I actually -- up until the day I signed up for it about 3 weeks prior to race day -- planned on doing a NYE 5K that I do every year to close out my year. Unfortunately, the NYE 5K made some changes (like being in the daytime and not on NYE) that made it a less desirable race for me and my search of the internets led me to the HUFF.<br><br>
The HUFF is a three loop course that, by everyone else's account, is actually longer than a 50K. The course was billed as being easy enough for non-trail runners, but would give an edge to experienced trail runners.<br><br>
The first loop was fun. I found it a lot more interesting than running on the roads and pavement I was used to. I fell once and tripped quite a few times. There were portions of the loop that were on roads and I was surprised to find that it felt painful to run on them after squishing through the mud and leaves of the trail. I was also unable to pick up the pace like I thought I would be able to on these portions. I felt tired and unprepared to say the least. After the first 3 miles, I had joined up with another first time 50Ker and we started running together. Unfortunately, I was pretty spent at the end of that loop.<br><br>
During the second loop, we spent the first 3 miles (which were the toughest ones) at a leisurely pace and walked much of it. When we did run, I felt like I just couldn't possibly keep up especially when we got to the paved portions and my running partner would speed up. The second loop was hard. I felt like I was holding my partner up for most of it and told her I would be okay with her running ahead. She didn't. We finished this loop 20 minutes slower than the first. We both had to readjust our estimated completion times by a lot and thought we could finish the last loop in 3 hours max to give us an 8 hour total time.<br><br>
The third loop found the already muddy parts of the trail to be even muddier and harder to get through. During the second loop, my running partners IT band started giving her problems (it was actually funny because we both seemed to suffer from the same issues: ankles that roll, IT band, bunions (though hers were removed earlier this year), piriformis). For the third loop we would run everything, but the uphills. And that went along fine until even the non-uphills started bothering her.<br><br>
Eventually, people were catching up with us and we met up with another woman who had run this course before and had done many ultras. She told us we were doing really good and then, she showed us how to run through the mud puddles! She was awesome. I learned a lot about how to run on trails by watching her. We ran with her for a while and then we came upon a road portion of the course that we ran much of even though it was on a slight incline, but eventually, my partners knee was just giving her too much pain and we had to say goodbye to our new friend. My friend told me I could go ahead with her if I wanted, but given that I was the lead leg on the second loop, I told her that that wasn't going to happen and that's when we walked the next four miles.<br><br>
It was hard not running. We were getting pretty cold, but the miles kept ticking by and before you knew it we were at the last aid station around mile 8 and in addition to hot chocolate (just what we needed!) he had ibuprofen! My running partner was pretty excited about the latter part even though she knew it would just mask the pain while things possible got worse, but that ibuprofen eventually let us run the rest of the course, giddy and giggling the entire way. We even passed by her super fast fiance (2:48 at Grand Rapids and 1st AG today while having a bad day) and his father who had gotten worried about her and came on the course to look for her.<br><br>
On that last paved section, she could've easily broken away from me and I was slowing her a bit, but we ended up crossing at the exact same time and were 2nd and 3rd in our age groups (we were both 2<img alt="cool.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/cool.gif"> to boot! <img alt="lol.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/lol.gif"> The trophies only went two deep and as she was 2/100 ahead of me overall, it rightfully went to her. I actually think we could have both ended up with better times overall running separately, but it was a lot of fun working as a team and sharing that first time experience together.<br><br>
Loop 1 - 2:21:11<br>
Loop 2 - 2:40:32<br>
Loop 3 - 3:27:16<br>
Final Time - 8:28:59<br><br>
Ultramarathoners (L to R) - MM 704 and our trail runner mentor, yours truly, my running partner<br><img alt="" src="http://lh4.google.com/nettiedgreat/R3gJldFyjuI/AAAAAAAABAg/wlhoynBuoxU/s800/DSC00897.JPG" style="border:0px solid;">
Yesterday, I ran on my first trail ever and also, my longest distance ever. I would really not recommend that combination. <img alt="cool.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/cool.gif"><br><br>
The Huntington Ultra Frigid Fifty was an interesting choice for my first 50K because I actually -- up until the day I signed up for it about 3 weeks prior to race day -- planned on doing a NYE 5K that I do every year to close out my year. Unfortunately, the NYE 5K made some changes (like being in the daytime and not on NYE) that made it a less desirable race for me and my search of the internets led me to the HUFF.<br><br>
The HUFF is a three loop course that, by everyone else's account, is actually longer than a 50K. The course was billed as being easy enough for non-trail runners, but would give an edge to experienced trail runners.<br><br>
The first loop was fun. I found it a lot more interesting than running on the roads and pavement I was used to. I fell once and tripped quite a few times. There were portions of the loop that were on roads and I was surprised to find that it felt painful to run on them after squishing through the mud and leaves of the trail. I was also unable to pick up the pace like I thought I would be able to on these portions. I felt tired and unprepared to say the least. After the first 3 miles, I had joined up with another first time 50Ker and we started running together. Unfortunately, I was pretty spent at the end of that loop.<br><br>
During the second loop, we spent the first 3 miles (which were the toughest ones) at a leisurely pace and walked much of it. When we did run, I felt like I just couldn't possibly keep up especially when we got to the paved portions and my running partner would speed up. The second loop was hard. I felt like I was holding my partner up for most of it and told her I would be okay with her running ahead. She didn't. We finished this loop 20 minutes slower than the first. We both had to readjust our estimated completion times by a lot and thought we could finish the last loop in 3 hours max to give us an 8 hour total time.<br><br>
The third loop found the already muddy parts of the trail to be even muddier and harder to get through. During the second loop, my running partners IT band started giving her problems (it was actually funny because we both seemed to suffer from the same issues: ankles that roll, IT band, bunions (though hers were removed earlier this year), piriformis). For the third loop we would run everything, but the uphills. And that went along fine until even the non-uphills started bothering her.<br><br>
Eventually, people were catching up with us and we met up with another woman who had run this course before and had done many ultras. She told us we were doing really good and then, she showed us how to run through the mud puddles! She was awesome. I learned a lot about how to run on trails by watching her. We ran with her for a while and then we came upon a road portion of the course that we ran much of even though it was on a slight incline, but eventually, my partners knee was just giving her too much pain and we had to say goodbye to our new friend. My friend told me I could go ahead with her if I wanted, but given that I was the lead leg on the second loop, I told her that that wasn't going to happen and that's when we walked the next four miles.<br><br>
It was hard not running. We were getting pretty cold, but the miles kept ticking by and before you knew it we were at the last aid station around mile 8 and in addition to hot chocolate (just what we needed!) he had ibuprofen! My running partner was pretty excited about the latter part even though she knew it would just mask the pain while things possible got worse, but that ibuprofen eventually let us run the rest of the course, giddy and giggling the entire way. We even passed by her super fast fiance (2:48 at Grand Rapids and 1st AG today while having a bad day) and his father who had gotten worried about her and came on the course to look for her.<br><br>
On that last paved section, she could've easily broken away from me and I was slowing her a bit, but we ended up crossing at the exact same time and were 2nd and 3rd in our age groups (we were both 2<img alt="cool.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/cool.gif"> to boot! <img alt="lol.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/lol.gif"> The trophies only went two deep and as she was 2/100 ahead of me overall, it rightfully went to her. I actually think we could have both ended up with better times overall running separately, but it was a lot of fun working as a team and sharing that first time experience together.<br><br>
Loop 1 - 2:21:11<br>
Loop 2 - 2:40:32<br>
Loop 3 - 3:27:16<br>
Final Time - 8:28:59<br><br>
Ultramarathoners (L to R) - MM 704 and our trail runner mentor, yours truly, my running partner<br><img alt="" src="http://lh4.google.com/nettiedgreat/R3gJldFyjuI/AAAAAAAABAg/wlhoynBuoxU/s800/DSC00897.JPG" style="border:0px solid;">
