I traveled out of town on Friday with friends - one of which was signed up for the 80k (49.7 miles) race. When we reached Naseby, we stopped by the start/finish line to watch some of the 100 mile runners (oh.my.god. why would someone want to run that far?!). It was hard to believe that we'd return in the morning and they'd still be running.
Runners of all distances ran the same 10k (6.2 mile) figure 8 shaped course. This was fantastic because the start/finish line was located where the two loops intersected-spectators could see their athlete every 5k and athletes had access to their own nutrition and gear every 5k.
On Saturday we were up around 5:30am to take our runner to the start line. I had never been to a race that started in the dark! It was actually really neat seeing athletes and spectators donning headlamps to make their way to the start line.
The sky was amazingly clear - the stars were incredibly bright and the crescent moon was sitting pretty just above the tree line. But, my enjoyment of the moment was short lived - holy hell it was freezing out there! I was thankful that I wasn't running; to think... those 100 mile runners had been in that cold all night!
During the day, the air temperature was great for a race - I was able to stand in a t-shirt and shorts without getting chilled. The sun was out the whole day and so the snowy mountains really stood out against the clear blue sky.
Our runner did his first 40 kilometers by himself and then his brother and I took turns running with him. The original plan was to alternate pacers every 10k for a total of 20k each, but I ended up running 25k because the other pacer wasn't feeling well. I hadn't run that far since the Christchurch marathon, but I made it through with few issues-the course was forgiving because it was on trails for long stretches and our runner alternated running and walking, which helped my knees cope with the distance.
The experience of watching the ultra reminded me of my experience with Ironman Lake Placid - enduring a lot of pain and digging deep for patience/strength to make it to the finish line. Oddly enough, it got me excited to take a shot at an ultra marathon next year! I've started training for the Northburn 50k race and so I have my fingers and toes crossed that I can make it to March with no injuries.
No comments:
Post a Comment