On our way to the Jail Break 5K in our Brooks ID attire.

On our way to the Jail Break 5K in our Brooks ID attire.

Monday, January 9, 2012

My 2010 Ultra Goal Evolves

In Early 2010 I set a goal to run an Ultra and at that point I had never run a marathon and set my eyes on  the FATS 50K on 10/3/2010. This race is part of the South Carolina Ultra Trail Series a series that I would go on to run a few more events in 2011... When I told Kristin of my goal I asked if she would come support me and either volunteer or just float around the course in support.. Of course she would have none of that and said that she was running it also.. So that Summer I came up with a training plan to get us ready for our Ultra Debut and along came 10/3/2010 and us finishing with Smiles on our face in 7:51.

FATS 50K 10/3/2010

We had so much fun we decided we would do another Ultra together and this was going to be in our own backyard with the Harbison 50K on 1/8/2011. This would be a double loop course that had two 6 mile stretches of pretty technical single track trail called Spider Woman. Kristin and I stayed together for most of the event and once again finished with a smile on our face in 7:12

Harbison 50K 1/8/2011
Since we had accomplished two 50K events we thought we would jump back into the South Carolina Ultra Trail Series and take our talents to a 40 miler.. We chose the Enoree Passage 40M on May 1, 2011 and in the 6 months since our first Ultra we had a whole new set of Ultra - Friends and that made this event even more fun... This was the first of two Ultra Challenges this month and I will get to the second challenge later.. This event was 20 miles out on the Palmetto Trail and then 20 miles back to where we started.. Kristin and I made it to mile 20 and we felt pretty good nutrition wise but Kristin was struggling with a very tight IT that was really limiting her ability to run. So if you can't run then walk and turn your day into a hike with the Wife on a beautiful day on the Palmetto Trail. We made it back and finished in 11:38 but we finished and yes we finished together with a smile.

Enoree Passage 40 Miler 5/1/2011
May 29, 2011 at the Long Cane 50K will go down as one of the toughest day's I ever had running.. First I was running solo I did not have my teammate. She was taking this one off after her IT issues at Enoree and was biking 100 miles with Friends. Today was very warm with a morning low of 66° and the dewpoint in the lower 70°'s most of the day and this my friends is not a good recipe for running 31 miles.. Everything started okay but by about mile 18 my calfs began to get tight and begin to cramp at various motions.. I really thought I took care of my nurition, salt and liquids but the lack of evaporation and copiuos amounts of sweat was just to much and my calfs just shrunk to half their size and I was done.. I sat at Mile 20 Aid Station for 10 minutes pondering if I should try to finish or DNF.. I thought about my teammate and just decided to catch the car ride back and call it a day... I had made it about 20 miles in 4:30 that day.

Lon Cane 50K 5/29/2011
 Our last Ultra in 2011 was the One Epic Run and this was Kristin's Birthday Idea.. Back in the Summer she told me she wanted to run her age on 12/10 and luck have it she was turning a 50K(31)... This course was a 2.98 mile loop in Croft State Park that we would have to do 10 times then figure out how much more for 31 miles flat. This event was actually a 24 hr event so you had folks out there attempting all sorts of distances and we met some really fun people... We finished in 7:22.
One Epic Run 50K 12/10/2011

In November 2010 after we did our 1st Ultra we went up to Richmond, VA to run our first road marathon and as usual Kristin and I ran together and we finished in 3:33 and that yielded Kristin a ticket to the Boston Marathon so she had her own road training to do and was not going to be by my running side for year 2 of the Harbison 50K: Presented by Half-Moon Outfitters on 12/7/2012. This made me a little nervous cause my last solo Ultra pursuit did not go so well.. If you recall from above this course is a double loop and a tad bit different from last year. I got around in loop 1 in 2:50 and loop 2 in 3:10.. I should have not stopped my watch at the aid stations so I would have known that I was only 21 seconds from breaking 6 hours.. I was very pleased with my result and although I am still pretty sore everything feels great and am looking forward to my next Ultra..

Haribsion 50K 1/7/2012 - Me in the Brooks ID Shirt
Since October 2010 I have run in 6 Ultra's, 1 Road Marathon and 1 Course Preview of the Original Columbia, SC Marathon Course... All From setting a Goal in 2010 to Run an Ultra.