Ultra Marathon Recap

So about a month ago now, I felt a little froggy and did a search for nearby Ultra Marathons, just to see what was available.

Sure enough there was a fairly close one (400 – 450 miles away), in Oakland, the problem? It was only 3.5 weeks out. . . But it was cheap (I know priorities) and I couldn’t turn the opportunity down, so 15 minutes later after conning my best friend my Sunflower into it, there I was signed up for an ultra. It was a fairly un-thought out end to a decade of dreaming about going to do this nutty challenge.

So 2 weeks of training and one of resting after a slightly invasive okay very invasive series of doctors testing for a non running related issue and there I was, getting up early after spending the night in a pay by the hour option hotel in the wrong side of Oakland with my very pretty and very Caucasian best friend. The highlights of the hotel where a tossup between the animal print carpet and the pimp in the parking lot who asked my friends price, until I assured him that she was my wife and not for hire. (No worries dear readers – I haven’t changed – I’m still dating my Marine and ONLY my Marine… but in the case of a pimp, I was willing to tell a white lie for the safety of my friend)…

So there I was, up early in the hood… headed to do this ultra marathon, with my best friend, who had never done a running event other than a Tough Mudder, and a 5k fun run. Granted she’s in phenomenal shape, and granted one of our training runs was a solidly paced 24 or 25 mile run that she had held up fairly well for considering her prior longest run was a 15 or 16 mile loop with me…. but there is something mental you have to conquer to do something so extreme and so new. I wasn’t concerned about either of our conditioning with the game plan of go a comfortable pace and then go slower, and with no ego, no time goal, and no plans other than to finish and preferably with no injuries… I was only concerned about her mental state, and of course if we’d even remain friends once she realized what I’d conned her into. .

6 am!!! EWWWWWWWW

A few pieces of paperwork and a bathroom visit and we were off… at a slow jog that faded into a walk up the very first major incline. The course for the Cinderella was the 1/2 marathon course x 2 and then part of the 10k trail. Our plan was to go slow as possible, then maybe edge it up to not embarrassingly slow, and finish out by not stopping. We didn’t do it exactly as planned..

Our time for the first 13.1 was 3:07, at 26.2 we were at 6:47, and we finished at 31 at 7:58. We went slow at first, extremely slow for us, the first half at a 14:16 mile pace, the 2nd 13.1 at 16:47 pace (although we did spend about 10 minutes at 3 different stops which would put us closer to a 15 minute pace), and the final 4.8 miles in a 14:47 pace ( minus breaks it was closer to a 14:10 pace)… All in all our total time landed us a tie for 11th place…

50 Km
Place	Name	City	Bib No	Age	Age Group	Time	Pace
1	Anna Zielaski	Fair Oaks CA	575	29	1 F 20-29	5:29:55	10:49/M
2	Bob Dominguez	Oakland CA	581	22	1 M 20-29	5:50:16	11:29/M
3	Christopher Willcox	Truckee CA	579	40	1 M 40-49	5:51:22	11:31/M
4	Emily Willcox	Truckee CA	578	38	1 F 30-39	6:14:29	12:17/M
5	Steven Greuel	Etna CA	503	56	1 M 50-59	6:15:21	12:18/M
6	Fernando Dominguez-Agun	San Pablo CA	502	49	2 M 40-49	6:19:57	12:27/M
7	Peter Hudec	Brooklyn NY	504	42	3 M 40-49	6:41:46	13:10/M
8	Renee Popkes	Union City CA	510	46	1 F 40-49	6:43:22	13:14/M
9	David Lehman	Fresno CA	506	59	2 M 50-59	7:23:09	14:32/M
10	Peter Rabover	San Carlos CA	512	32	1 M 30-39	7:43:11	15:11/M
11	Alyx Luck	San Clemente CA	507	24	2 F 20-29	7:58:43	15:42/M
12	Zori Habermann	San Clemente CA	582	26	3 F 20-29	7:58:43	15:42/M
13	Andy Boyd	Bishop CA	500	70	1 M 70-85	8:53:01	17:29/M
14	Marie Boyd	Bishop CA	501	63	1 F 60-69	9:04:58	17:52/M
15	Robert Root	Modesto CA	560	53	3 M 50-59	9:16:29	18:15/M

Not great.. But for no training to speak of… I will take it. Over 25 or so were registered, I don’t know if people dropped out, or if people quit mid race.

Positives. We finished, and made the 400 plus mile drive home the same night.

I was so inspired by the Boyd couple – that my Marine doesn’t know it, but I got teary eyed a few times talking about them with my bestie, that I totally made plans for our future to be doing the same things in our 60′s and 70′s.

We weren’t fast, but we weren’t trying to be.

We finished.

I can cross it off my bucket list. (only problem is I want to do more)

We both finished thinking we could have gone significantly faster, personally I was chit chatting about how I was wanting to do a 50 miler or a 100km mid being told she’d kill me from my friend.

No injuries, and if anything I learned some lessons about how to mix gels and water, about how my salt tablet timing was immaculate for that day, about how I have learned that I am mentally strong and grateful. The worst thing we had was overwhelmingly dirty feet!

Dirty feet!

And we got to talk about how we were grateful for our legs to hurt, because of the Men and Women that have given up theirs to protect our freedoms, like being able to run. . About how we couldn’t believe people could live in a world of such beauty and not see a greater good. About how we want to make a conscious effort to show our families we love them more. About how mistakes and errors we have made in the past have shaped us and taught us to have the strength we each have. And about our hopes and dreams.

Today I’ll leave you with some quotes from Dean Karnazes:

1. Don’t run with your legs, run with your heart.
2. If running feels good, you didn’t push hard enough. It’s supposed to hurt like hell.
3. Go out harder and finish harder.
4. Running is about finding your inner peace, and so is a life well lived.
5. Pain and suffering are often the catalysts for life’s most profound lessons.
6. If you had the courage, stamina, and persistence to cross the finish line, you are a champion.
7. Long distance runners requires a certain discretion and reserve. It’s easy to let you ego get the better of you early on and run beyond your means. It’s a mistake that may haunt as the miles and the hours add up.
8. When exhaustion sets in, the mind often rationalizes the irrational. For example, 38 miles = 1 marathon + 2 10 Ks.
9. Pain is the body’s way of ridding itself of weakness.
10. Most dreams die a slow death. They’re conceived in a moment of passion, with the prospect of endless possibility, but often languish and are not pursued with the same heartfelt intensity as when first born. Slowly, subtly, a dream becomes elusive and ephemeral.
11. If you can’t run then walk. And if you can’t walk then crawl. Do what you have to do. Just keep moving forward and never, even give up.A shorter version of the above quote is:Run when you can
    Walk if you have to
    Crawl if you must
    Just never give up.
12. Runners are real people. They don’t run for money or recognition, they do it out of passion. Most have day job that pay the bills, and running is a labor of love.
13. Without discipline to rise before dawn and pound out the miles, you’ll never make it. If the fire in your heart isn’t strong, there’s no point trying.
14. How to run an ultramarathon ? Puff out your chest, put one foot in front of the other, and don’t stop till you cross the finish line.
15. When it gets right down to it, the levels of commitment and devotion required to excel as an ultra-endurance athlete are all-consuming.
16. The human body is capable of amazing physical deeds. If we could just free ourselves from our perceived limitations and tap into our internal fire, the possibilities are endless.
17. Pursuit of a passion matters more than the passion itself. Immerse yourself in something deeply and with heartfelt intensity – continually improve, never give up – this is fulfillment, this is success.
18. Struggling and suffering are the essence of a life worth living. If you’re not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you’re not demanding more from yourself – expanding and learning as you go – you’re choosing a numb existence. You’re denying yourself an extraordinary trip.

That is all for today my lovelies!

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