Ultraman Canada Day 3 Run Report

My awesome backpack, medal, numbers (V for vehicle, B for Bike, R for Run), socks I wore on the 3 days and my engraved finisher trumpet thingie

Day 3: 52.4 mile (84.4km) run

Start Time: 6:00AM, and we started at a crack in the road about 8km from the hotel.

Conditions: We were warned it would be cool in the morning due to our altitude (872m). I think I remember checking the weather forecast in the hotel the night before and there was no mention of rain or significant wind. Weather Underground says that for August 2 in Princeton, BC, the minimum temperature was 50F and the maximum was 82F, although it never felt too warm at all. Average humidity was 54% for the day. When I was at the start (Richard dropped me off) waiting, I got pretty cold and borrowed a jacket from Lee and sat in someone else’s car to stay warm until we began.

Here is the race’s description of the run course:

The 84.3 km (52.4 mile) double-marathon from Princeton to Summerland is a gruelling testament to your constitution! The run course varies in elevation from 845 m to 1170 m above sea level and has some very steep climbs and descents. Approximately 1/3 the course consists of gravel road.

Of course, I failed to read that BEFORE the race! Here are the run course elevation maps to give you an idea of the difficulty:

I like how they always put a smiley face at the finish point on all the maps! Anyway, you can see that we basically climb for about 70km and then run the hell down. We were on some mountain, but I don’t know the name of it. Definitely not an easy course!

Here is a video of the run, and it’s beautiful so you can see the surrounding scenery. You can see why it is not a given to finish the run within 12 hours.

Goal: To make the 12-hour cutoff. If you use all 12 hours, that is an average pace of 13:44/mile, which isn’t exactly lollygagging for that distance. I had no idea if I could do this, although based on the 35-mile run I had done last October, I thought I had the goods to go the distance in 12 hours or less. But I was paranoid about my right foot holding up (see Training Notes) and also a niggling right hamstring issue I’d been experiencing for about 4 weeks that never stopped me from running, but who knows what could happen after Days 1 and 2? And then all that fucking climbing! I guess during the pre-race briefing I must have been in La La Land, because I didn’t think anything of the maps until I was actually on the course! Perhaps that was my brain’s way of telling me to not deal with it until I had to. There was nothing to be accomplished by getting all scared about hills and such.

Actual: 11:41:20. Cool beans! The splits I kept track of were as follows: 10K 1:10.54, 13.1 2:37.49, 26.2 5:34.33 (2:56.44 for 1/2), 39.3 8:33.10 (2:58.36 for 1/2), 52.4 11:41.20 (3:08.10 for 1/2). The course did actually get harder each ½ marathon, so all things considered, I can’t complain! But I can go faster (especially on the downhill, but that hurt like one motherfucking sonofabitch), and once I knew I was completely good to go with about 10km left, I did sort of fuck around and just enjoy myself when I wasn’t going OUCH OUCH OUCH because of how rapidly we were going downhill. Steve King was at the 10k and marathon points calling out our splits. When I finished the first marathon, I was pretty happy with myself, because I figured I could nearly walk the second marathon and still finish. Still, I should have buckled down and suffered a bit more, but this was a learning experience—my first Ultraman and my longest run ever!

Gear/Clothes: I wore pink Desoto running shorts that I’d used in training a zillion times. Usually whenever I did my long run, but I think I have 4 pairs of the pink ones, so they all got plenty of use. Lee cautioned me to apply Vaseline to the edges of the panty liner, and that was a great idea. In one of the pockets I had a crack baggie of Dad’s ashes, and I had another crack baggie of Lava Salts. I wore a watch for the first time in 3 days. Please note that Lee also had a dead guy with her, but not ashes. She had a photo of a friend of hers who had died, so I told her that once she began running with me we’d be two chics and a couple of dead guys!

The bra top I wore (pink with black straps) is from Athleta, and unfortunately, they don’t make these anymore, but these are my favorite run tops as I am boobless and need very little support and like the small profile (better suntan!) and comfort. I do not use a heart rate monitor anymore. I quit using it, I think, in 2006 when I really leaned out and the thing just bugged me to wear the strap over my bony ribs. Plus, I am bradycardic, so my zones are pretty narrow anyway, and after years of this training, I can sort of tell where I’m at. Usually I’m in no danger of going too hard for my heart to tolerate. It’s more of an effort for me to elevate my heart rate most of the time!

I wore my usual Wigwam socks. The night before I sprayed down my feet and Lee’s (since she was going to pace me) with New Skin. I love that stuff. Prevents blisters like crazy, at least those between your toes. Morning of, I lubed my feet completely with Vaseline. I started out in my New Balance 904’s which are super lightweight trainers (about 8.5 oz.), but switched to the heavier, more cushioned 758’s during the 3^rd ½ marathon, I think, because I was feeling too much rockiness on the bottoms of my feet. In retrospect, lightweight gaiters would have been good, because I ran on the sand shoulder when I could, and that plus small rocks got into my shoes.

I wore my brand new Outdoor Research Sun Runner Hat, but without the skirt, which I ended up not needing. Finally, I wore a white Craft long-sleeve shirt that I had bought in case of blazing sun, but it worked just fine keeping me warm enough but not clammy.

Nutrition Plan

I didn’t think I needed much Ultrafuel, so I ended up splitting the 600 calories I had with Lee, so we each had 300 calories. I also had a Power Bar Triple Threat, so I was up to about 530 calories, and then Lee said we should chow down on the breakfast provided by the race as well. I ended up having some scrambled eggs and a couple of pancakes with butter and syrup. I was a stuffed potato! I probably had over 1,000 calories in me before I started, but that was just fine.

I had requested my crew to have Coke, water and Gatorade on hand for me, and whatever snacks were left from prior days. They had enough Coke for me to just drink that, but for some stupid reason I agreed with Lee in not taking any Coke until after the first marathon. I’d had a few cups of coffee, but I didn’t have much sleep and the Coke would have been welcome right away, but then I figured without it I would hold down my initial pace appropriately. I ended up drinking much blue Gatorade for the first marathon, and then I was more than happy to switch over to mostly Coke.

Training Notes

I did Revenge of the Pirateman (check the blog archive for reports on it) as my last “race” of the 2008-2009 season just 5 weeks after I set a lifetime Ironman PR at Lake Placid. ROTPM featured 52.4 (actually I did 52.46) miles of running in 4 days, and that was the beginning of my fall/winter run focus. I did the runs for that thing faster than I had anticipated.

8 weeks later I was registered for a 50-mile race run by the North Face up in the Kettle Morraine region of Wisconsin. To prepare for it, I did double long runs on the weekends with additional hiking/running up and down this mountain of garbage. I was feeling pretty invincible by race day with a high degree of confidence, but I made some stupid mistakes in gear choice. I wore my usual lightweight trainers, and my elastic (that I no longer use) laces were too tight. This led to undue pressure on my anterior tibialis tendon that brought me to a grinding halt after 35 miles. But, I felt like I definitely had the fitness to get the entire 50 miles done. Even so, it was quite interesting recovering from that. It was like a wake-up call to my legs! In the race itself, I remember my quads hurting like mofos after just about 10 miles because of the hills. I had trained hills, but not TRAIL hills that included roots, rocks, slippery rocks and leaves. I guess my stabilizer muscles weren’t accustomed to that, but I was able, after my customary 1 week off after any marathon or further from running, to begin running, after being checked out since I thought I might have a stress fracture. On the plus side, I had a full bone scan done. Check out a picture of me naked!

11 weeks after North Face I had Goofy Challenge (1/2 marathon on Saturday followed by full marathon on Sunday in Disneyworld) scheduled. I got right back to training, and managed to get in 3 41-mile weeks. During this time I wasn’t biking much, as I was indoors on the trainer. I set a PR in the marathon for Goofy double, and a combined ½ and full marathon PR. This was the 3^rd time I’d done Goofy Challenge.

I still remember that back in July before Ironman Lake Placid, my massage therapist, Mike, had cautioned me about trying to do all of these events so close to one another, telling me he’d be here to fix me up when things went south. I guess that was a premonition?

After Goofy Challenge, I started to add back more biking, but slowly, since it was still winter. Biking remained relatively light, but I kept my weekly run mileage pretty high for me—around 30 miles per week. Between January and March, I did the local series of 3 indoor super sprint triathlons, winning my age group at all 3, and placing pretty well overall in the females. After each of these races, I would hop on the treadmill and run another 1:15-1:30, which is pretty difficult, at least for me.

On April 1, I was doing a long run from my house, and had about 8 miles out of 12 done when it felt like a nail was being driven through my second toe on my right foot from the bottom. I was like, huh, let’s see if I can run through this, since I am used to all sorts of things happening and dealing with aches and pains. I tried, I really tried for about a mile, but the pain would not subside, and so I was reduced to walking. I walked 3 miles home and decided right then and there that I would need to take 2 weeks off from running completely, periodically testing the foot to see if it was just a fluke.

Every time I tried to run, the pain would come within maybe 10-15 footfalls, not a good thing. So I made an appointment with the foot specialist at my ortho. I described the pain to his assistant, the obligatory X-rays were taken, and then I got to speak with Dr. Vinci. He took one look at my foot and made a weird face that I took to mean bad news was on the way. Nothing broken, but I told him I had guesses and he asked me what they were. I was actually hoping it was a muscle in my lower leg that was referring pain to the toe, but he said nope. Adhesive capsulitis is what he said, and I said, “So, OK what’s the bad news?” And he knew I was asking how long to heal, i.e., time away from running. His response was 8-12 weeks.

I was heartbroken. The race was just 15 weeks away, and now I might not even make it to the start line. I didn’t cry in front of him though. He said we needed to make me some new orthotics, too. I had brought my old ones, which I’d trashed during North Face, and actually I had been trying to wean myself off them, which may be what precipitated the problem in the first place—not just the excessive run mileage! So my feet were scanned, and he said the orthotics, which might make me able to run pain-free, would be done in about 3 weeks, and that I shouldn’t run before then. I asked if biking and elliptical were OK as long as I experienced no pain, and he said go ahead.

I had already retrieved a water running program in case I was told not to run, so I was all set to do what I could, wait for the orthotics and see what happened. It was a very stressful period, because now I had to spend more time in the pool, and rather than split my actual swim/pool run sessions, I did them together first thing in the morning. So I was up at oh-dark-thirty to hit the pool, but actually I didn’t mind the pool running. I did all intervals, and they made the time pass quickly, although people wondered why *I* was doing it. I also did maybe ¼-1/2 of each scheduled run workout on the elliptical before I hit the pool, just to lessen the mental craziness of complete pool running.

So I did 3 weeks of pool running/elliptical, keeping up my scheduled run volume, managing a planned week of 7.5 hours total! I never had any pain in the foot at all during this period unless I tried to actually run on a treadmill or ground. It didn’t hurt when I walked, so maybe I had caught the problem early enough and was smart by in taking 2 weeks completely off.

3 weeks after my initial appointment on Friday, 5/7, I thought, “Hmm…my orthotics should be ready,” so I called the office and I was right! I went and picked them up and brought them home and put them into my running shoes in slow motion. I was afraid to try and actually run on them because what if they didn’t fix me? I had found one other person on a forum who had had the same problem and he said the new orthotics worked like magic and he ran pain-free right away with them. So I decided I will just run down my driveway and see what happens. I took 10 steps—no pain. So I got bold and began running on the sidewalk up the hill on my normal running route. No pain! I broke down and cried, but knew I wasn’t completely out of the water just yet. I didn’t go very far because I wanted my real test to be on the indoor track the next day.

Saturday morning I headed to the Y and was suited up to run. I go downstairs to the track and run into a friend, Eric, who is doing his first Ironman at Wisconsin this year, and I have sort of been mentoring him here and there when it’s convenient for both of us. He sees me and says he’ll run with me, and I’m freaking out because I think what if my foot hurts I am going to have a nervous breakdown on the spot, but I tell him I plan to run only for 10 minutes and slowly since I haven’t run on land in 5 weeks. We begin running and my feet don’t hurt, but the orthotics feel odd, which was expected, because they are constructed with this metatarsal bar that corrects my feet from pointing outwards, feels weird to my feet, and my adductors are also in a new position (more on this later). But Eric is talking to me and that is taking my mind off the paranoia I am experiencing and we do 10 minutes and I thank him and head off to the elliptical. I can hardly believe my foot didn’t hurt, but am feeling better about life.

The next week, I had a follow up scheduled with Dr. Vinci, and he reminded me that I’d need to ramp up my “on road” mileage over 3 weeks, and I pretty much stuck to this and got back to strictly road/sidewalks over 3 weeks. However, a new problem surfaced, and that was my adductors hurting like hell! It took me all 3 weeks to realize that this was a side effect of the new orthotics and the position it put my feet in, and my poor adductors just had to get used to it! I had a couple of runs in there where I just quit running, I hurt so badly. But once I realized it was from the orthotics (which I had been told might require 8-12 weeks to acclimate to…hmm…race day was 12 weeks from when I got them), I was able to ignore the pain.

From the 3 weeks after I got the orthotics to race day, I ran strictly on road/sidewalk! With the total amount of training I was doing and extra sleep I needed, I didn’t even have time to drive to my favorite long run trail, Waterfall Glen, to run. But in retrospect this toughened up my legs really well for Ultraman.

I counted on my run fitness from fall/winter to carry me through on race day, and I think it did, since after Goofy Challenge, my longest run was 2:30. Still, in my head, I wished I’d done more running, but about early April was when I figured I just couldn’t do as much as I’d originally scheduled unless I quit my job!

Race Notes

We all lined up at the crack in the road, some words were said about it being our final day and good luck and such, and maybe we counted down—I don’t remember! I was now in a complete mental fog, on the one hand knowing this was the last day and on the other not knowing quite how my legs would fare—you really don’t know until you start running, right? And it’s not like we are going to do a warm up!

I stayed in the back of the field and watched some of the speed demons take off like they were racing to qualify for Boston! This was fun to watch, but I had to monitor myself. I started off nice and slow, just sort of a shuffle, and had no idea of my pace or anything until the 10km point, which is the first place Steve King was stationed. When I saw my time for 10k, I said to myself and then to Lee as she ran alongside me for a little bit, “Some people can’t EVER run a 10k at this pace,” and that made me feel good inside. I had the same thought at the first ½ marathon point, and also recalled that there was a time when I couldn’t run that pace in a ½ Ironman! It was fun reflecting on how far I’d come as an athlete, even though I still don’t consider myself a runner.

Vince, who was crewing for Nick M., ran with me for a little bit. Nick was going to be out of the race (I saw him when he was down, and it saddened me, but I know Nick’s a warrior and will get right back on the horse), and Vince had wanted to get some running in.

I cannot believe Vince's nipples are more prominent than mine ;)

So he ran with me a little while. Vince had just done Ironman Lake Placid the week before and here he was, just dying to run!

Lee began running with me around 31km in. Here we are in a stunning part of the course.

Originally, she was going to wait until I’d passed the first marathon, but I could tell she was just itching to run, as that is her thing for now—she will be doing her first Ironman under my tutelage next year and we will face off at Sado Long Distance in Japan next September. I was super happy to have her run with me because we started some major climbing around that point. Lee would hold my hand and sort of pull me up the hills like a little child! But I was eating it up and I kept telling her I couldn’t do it without her. She kept saying I could, but I know that this first time going so far I needed the extra boost. Plus she was constantly telling me I was doing great, and that I was going to finish this thing. I think even she might have had some doubts about me, which is OK, because I had them, too!

The other really excellent thing Lee did for me was help me across the cattleguards. I don’t remember how many there were, but when you are on your third day of racing and your hip flexors have left the room and you are faced with getting across this obstacle that looks like a chasm, it can make you fear for your life. Lee could see the fear in my eyes, and she talked me through every single one. There was one where she asked if I could go sideways, and I emphatically said, “NO!” At that point, my body knew how to do one thing and one thing only—MOVE FORWARD.

When I reached the marathon point, I was pretty happy with myself (Steve King was there to greet us). I felt like my pace was fine, even walking the steep uphills, using the ultrarunner mantra, “If you can’t see the top, walk!” I remarked to Lee that many people can’t run a standalone marathon at this pace or during an Ironman, and I asked her if it was mean that I said that, and she said no. At this point, I felt like I probably was going to make the cutoff of 12 hours unless my foot or hamstring rebelled.

Nothing really hurt too badly, not any more than in an Ironman, for about 51km or so. My quads were beat to shit, though, and I knew it. Too bad, so are everyone else’s. I just sucked it up, because at least it wasn’t my foot going south on me!

I can never remember the mile/km points where things happened, so now I will just mention some other things that happened:

• It was nice to see the one little store up there on the mountain that we were told would have an actual aid station laid out for us. And they did! They had a huge table full of all sorts of treats. I may have taken some M&M Peanuts, but I don’t really remember.
• I pooped once, and tried to be discrete about being off road about it. I remember seeing 2 other runner’s poop barely off the road later on. The day after the race while we were tubing in the Okanagan River, I remarked to Kellie, “I SAW YOUR POOP!”
• There were some girls on one crew that every time I went by them, they had some good music blaring from their car’s speakers. Once, the song coming out was “Oh Sheila,” and I’m pretty sure they had put it on there just for me, because I had heard other appropriate songs coming out. I told the girls they were the best!
• At some point we were nearly eye level with power lines stretching from the mountain we were on to another one. I thought this should mean we were at the crest, but we weren’t and had to keep climbing for a bit. I wanted to know where crest was so I could leave some of Dad there. When we finally hit the crest, once again I was happy to leave him in a beautiful place that we had been together.
• Somewhere right before or after the crest, someone in a vehicle comes flying going the opposite direction. It was Gary Wang. He had to stand down and not run because of a heart issue (you can look him up in past Ultraman Canada and Hawaii and see what an outstanding athlete he is). And here he is out on the course asking us runners if we need anything! He gave us a Red Bull, which I only had a sip of (but still enjoyed) although Lee drank much of it, and then later on he gave us a Rice Krispie Treat, that Lee and I shared. I figured that anything that Gary would eat or drink must be magic!
• Someone’s crew had a pair of Great Danes in the back of the vehicle. We had seen these dogs at dinner the night before, and when I saw them this time I wanted to stop and pet them. Lee had never seen Great Danes before and was a little scared. I mean those dogs were both bigger than us! I told her they are big babies, and of course they wanted to give us a little slobber. I am a sucker for animals when I’m out running, and will stop, after asking if it’s OK and safe, to pet any dog. Cats tell you they are friendly so I don’t have to ask! Many times when I’m out run training, I feel bad for dogs being walked by people who clearly aren’t active, and you can tell the dogs want to run. I’ve learned through petting many different dogs that if I ever became a dog owner (I’m a cat person, preferably Siamese, myself), I’d get a Weimaraner, and maybe a couple of weiner dogs.

On my printed copy of the course map between H and I and between I and J, and between L and M, I wrote OUCH. This downhill section was brutal. Many of us agreed that at this point you weren’t sure which was worse—having to run the downhills or struggle on the remaining uphills. It was somewhere in H or I section that I saw the chair by the side of the road.

Lee now tells me she knew I was going to go sit in it. I remember saying, “Look—A CHAIR!” Like it was some sort of sign from above. Well, I guess it was! I sat in there, virtually patting myself on the back for my ability to just plop down into it, and sat there and laughed while Lee snapped a few pictures, and then I yelled, “WATCH THIS!” And I was able to just stand up (with the help of my arms that weren’t beat to crap like my legs) and get out on my own. There were points earlier in the race, too, where I would just bend down and adjust my shoelaces or do other things, and I was surprised that I was able to do so. I guess the secret is not to think about it but just do it before your body realizes that it’s not something it really wants to do. Here is an example of my amazing ability to bend over:

I warned my crew that I wanted to run in with my Jolly Roger flag that was given to me by my sister in law, Laurie, after my nephew’s production of “The Little Mermaid.” Laurie knew how much I like the pirate and skull stuff, and she gave me the flag and also a paper flag that I proudly display in my living room window. A few weeks after I had placed the paper flag in the window, my neighbor across the street asked me one day, “Why do you have that pirate in the window?” It was hard for me to explain, but the real reason I had it there was to remind me that I was in training for Ultraman Canada, and it was like my HTFU reminder.

Someone in a crew vehicle let us know when we were 5K from the finish. FIVE KILOMETERS!!! I was all kinds of choked up at this point and had to keep telling myself to just settle down and keep running. Lee knew that I would need some quiet time at this point.

Mona gave me the flag, and I held it aloft as a way to keep myself from just breaking down on the spot. After regaining some composure, I held it higher, gritted my teeth and looked ahead at a now flat stretch of road that seemed to go on forever. But I knew it was going to end. Now we were nearing a small town, and there were locals on the road, and some of them gave me funny looks because of the flag. Now, one athlete, Rob, had carried a full-sized American flag the entire run, and that makes sense, but I guess a Jolly Roger not so much. Of course, I couldn’t care less what anyone thought at this point, the idea was to get it done.

That last 5k hurt like no other 5k I’ve ever done before, but it hurt real good since I knew I was going to reach the physical end of my journey. During that stretch, I could already sense things looking brighter and all these cares and worries falling off me every step closer I got. We had been told that near the finish line there would be a split so our crew could go ahead of us so we could all run in together. I remember making a left hand turn thinking I was about done, but NO…there was more. Run up ahead to the girls in green we were told, and then turn, and then FINALLY I could see the grass and the finish line and it was better than any Ironman finish I’ve ever had.

There aren’t a lot of people—it is just a small chute lined with flags from the many nations represented, and athletes and crew members are there to bring you in. Part of me still couldn’t believe I had just run 52.4 miles, but the other part of me knew that I couldn’t have done it without my crew. In a way, I thought I had the easy part—just show up and move!

Steve Brown put that medal on me and I felt like I was in the Olympics or something, it all felt so solemn to me. It felt to me like there was this light all around me and I wondered if others could see it. I didn’t know what I wanted (like water, beer or food or to sit down) other than to suck in the feeling. But then I snapped back to reality, asking for something, and I found an empty chair, sat myself down in it and began babbling to whoever would listen. Lee brought me some beer in a bike bottle, as we’d been told the park didn’t allow alcohol, but I wanted a beer more than anything! Lee and Mona helped me get my shoes off, which felt awesome, and they brought ice for my knees, which made me shiver, but I didn’t care. I really had no desire for food yet even though they had stuff to eat.

Someone signed me up for massage, and I was more than happy to sip beer and wait for it, and once again it was great. This time I had a guy originally from Europe—I forget which country—but he had a delightful accent and really loved what he does and where he lives now. It would have been interesting to record the conversations going on at the massage tables, since I know all of us athletes were running off at the mouth like we hadn’t seen people in months!

Then after everyone had come across the finish line, we were all organized to take photos together. I had my bottle of beer with me, and you can see me bending over slightly to set it down.

There were 3 people who were told to sit down, and truth is they sort of just fell down! We all had a good laugh about it, but then settled down for the pictures while all the crew members looked on and snapped their own photos.

Finally, the sun was setting and I needed to clean up and get food and we all needed sleep. Richard and Mona decided they would be leaving in the morning, which saddened me since I had wanted them at the awards banquet the next day. So we had to do some gear shuffling so they could get their room cleaned up and get on their way to finish their vacation! They had gotten some food at the post-race area, but Lee and I needed to chow down—Lee had had some food, but she had just done her longest run ever, too! And she looked as fresh as a daisy!

Back at the hotel, I warned Lee that I might moan as I showered depending on whether or not I chafed. But really, I hardly chafed at all, and it was the BEST SHOWER EVER!!! I put on my compression tights, Lee got cleaned up, and we were going to go and get sushi again, but when we were maybe 15 steps out the hotel door and I realized the hotel restaurant was open, I made an executive decision that we wouldn’t walk anymore and would just eat there. It turned out to be just great! Another athlete, Duncan, and his crew were at the next table enjoying some beers and food, and we followed suit.

I slept like a baby (8 hours), and of course I woke up first and HUNGRY. I headed downstairs to the continental breakfast area and got some coffee and a couple of tiny Danish and some orange juice, and sat and talked with some others. I took some coffee upstairs for Lee and rousted her out of bed, as we had some packing to do and then we were going tubing. Richard came by to drop something off and said he was going to Starbucks and asked if I wanted anything, and I said yeah, whatever breakfast sandwich they have with meat on it. He brought some ham, egg and cheese thing on a Panini or something, and it was great. Normally I want McDonald’s after an Ironman+ event, but there aren’t any in Penticton that I know of, so the Starbucks was just fine. I bid goodbye to Richard and continued on with packing.

I was pretty pleased at my ability to walk, although walking downstairs I needed to hold the handrails on either side to support myself and avoid using my quadriceps! Lee and I walked across the street barefoot to get our tubes and get in the river, and the water was nice and cold and we had a riot out there. It was a little dicey getting out without being swept further down river, but there were all sorts of helpers on the algae-covered concrete steps.

After the bus ride back to the hotel, Lee and I were hungry again and she said she wanted a huge cheeseburger, and I figured the bar with the pirate would have them, so we walked down there and yes, we had giant cheeseburgers!

I will stop here and write another post about the awards banquet.

This had been the time of my life!

What I Did Well
I did as much run training as I possibly could, considering I also needed to swim and bike. I successfully navigated an injury and didn’t bug out of the race. I started the day with a full tank of calories, which is not how I like to begin a long run, but in retrospect I guess it was a good thing to do.

I finished! I took time to enjoy myself and appreciate the scenery, my crew, other crews, other athletes, to be grateful for my ability and means to do this event and LIVE LARGE!

I didn’t chafe and I only had one small blister on the medial ball of my right foot that was gone in 2 days. I didn’t go out too fast, and I think I took in sufficient calories and hydration.

What I Can Improve On
If you are into running on the shoulder, I’d suggest gaiters for this race. I think now that my body has been exposed to a full 50+ mile run, it will understand that marathons are not so bad, and hopefully I can do 3 or 4 of them in training for Ultraman Hawaii. I don’t have plans to do any 50-mile races in training—I just did one! I think my run durability has improved much in the last 2 years, and I need to keep this up and remain injury-free. Lee says I can run faster, and I think I can, but then again, UMC was a brutal run course, and Hawaii will be easier, terrain-wise. I would like to be able to do the 52.4 in 11 hours or less. Shit—I can’t believe I am saying this! But that is just 5:30 per marathon, which I think is doable. 10:30 would be better, but if I can crack 11 hours I will be one happy camper!

What Concerns me About Hawaii
Heat. Humidity. Did I say heat and humidity? I feel good, though, because this summer in Chicago has been one of the hottest, most humid on record, and while the acclimation process sucked donkey balls, now I go out in heat index of 100+ and I am pretty good. I am already briefing my UMH crew. Lee will be on it as well as Brad and Morgan, two dear friends of mine who for some reason look up to me. We are already discussing how we will manage the various stages in terms of nutrition content and handoffs and cooling. I plan on buying some Super Soakers for them to spray me down that I will then donate to some local children after the race. Having sufficient ice on hand may be a problem, but we are working on a plan for that, too. Brad, Morgan and Lee will all be able to take turns running with me, and that will make it fun and motivating for me. They have promised to entertain me as well. So all I need to do is train my ass off and stay healthy!