North Country Trail Ultramarathon – Complete Race Report
Hopefully everyone enjoyed the lengthy, multi-part story of my first experience running a 50-mile ultramarathon. For convenience, here is a “table of contents” of the complete race report for my 2006 North Country Trail Run finish.
0 – Sunrise... Sunset... SUCCESS!!!
1 – Preparation
2 – Pre-Race
3 – Go!
4 – Aid Stations
7 – Halfway Done
8 – My First 50K
9 – Supply Shortage
10 – Dizzy Dizzy
11 – Just Keep Swimming
12 – Desperation
13 – At Last!
14 – Chicken Noodle Soup
15 – Recovery
16 – Final Results
Comments
It is strange to say that reading about all of your hard times along the way has proved to motivated me even more to train for an ultra? Maybe in a year... I've got some marathons to finish off first.
Couple of suggestions - have you ever tried Hammer Nutrition's Hammer HEED? Chet can't stomach the flavor of sports drinks either on long runs. They make a truly plain flavored Hammer HEED which he finds very palatable and easy on the stomach on long races. He'll also use a little Perpetuem too. On the 100 miler, he found that carrying two water bottles, one with either HEED or Perpetuem and one with plain water worked very well.
So, when is your next ultra?
There are no immediate plans for another ultra, but I definitely want to do one again someday. My plan for this coming year is to run some fast races, i.e 5Ks, and maybe a marathon (or a half) somewhere - I'm actually trying to become non-slow and work on my speed, yet continue doing long runs a couple times a month to maintain my endurance base. Maybe then in 2008 I can do another ultra and start thinking about 100 miles? Hopefully in 2007 I can do another adventure race; I did three in 2005 but none is 2006 and they're pretty fun.
One problem here in Michigan is that there are only two ultras that I know of - each is a 50M - and they take place a week apart so unless you're Dean Karnazes you can't do both. :)
One of these year's Chet will run the Superior Trail 100. I was trying to talk him into doing it next year (we have a cabin in Northern Wisconsin, so it makes a good excuse for a week up there). But, he's rather spend the money (airfare/gas/etc.) on an elk hunt in Colorado next fall. Guess you can be a little picky when there's a lot of races nearby.
Well, you *could*, but yah it's kind of rough. In May out here on Saturday they have the Silver State 50/50 and then in the SF Bay Area they hold the Ohlone Wilderness 50k on Sunday. Several people, including Chet, like to run them back to back. Last year, the boys (Chet and G) ended up with a stomach bug, so he didn't start Ohlone. Chet's been talking about doing the Silver State 50 miler and then the Ohlone 50k this year. We'll see.
You've probably heard of Catra Corbett. Every year she runs Ohlone in reverse and then back again. So....don't write off the two 50's in two weeks. You don't need to be Dean Karnazes (though, I'd love to be the animal he is).
Good luck on the speed work. I highly recommend Hammer Nutrition products. Several friends of ours have also been using it with great success.