Part 2- The Aftermath, and What’s Next?
Thank you for all the kind comments on my Hungryland race recap! You might have some burning questions- did Ralph complete his 100 mile quest? How many other people ran four loops? Unfortunately I can’t answer those because the race results are not available yet! I don’t know why it’s taking so long, but I do know that there’s a LOT of post-race work for the race director- cleaning everything up and removing all the markers and flags from the trail. We’ll get the results soon, I’m sure. Anyway. When we left off last time, I had just finished my 60 miles. I got in my car for the hour drive home, thinking I would have something to eat and drink on the way. But I took one sip of water and was overcome with a wave of nausea. I had to pull to the side of the road to throw up. UGH. I started driving again, tried to sip water, had to pull over again. Okay! No food or water right now. When I got home I hightailed it into a hot shower, but when I got out I was freezing cold. So cold that I was shivering and my teeth were chattering. I got right into bed and started calling out requests to my husband. Can I have a second quilt? Can you bring me my toothbrush? and toothpaste? and a bowl to spit in? My husband was VERY accommodating (I mean- he’s not my butler) and kindly brought me everything I needed. I lay there shivering until I fell asleep. Sunday morning I woke up feeling sore (oh really? I wonder why!) and kind of spacey. I published my “Weekly Rundown” blog post, and yes I did notice much later on that I misspelled “Rundown” in the title (thanks for not laughing at me too much). My stomach was still a little off, but overall… it was a really nice day. One of the best decisions I ever made was to take MONDAY off of work. I don’t know about you, but when I have a day off, it’s often marred by the thought that I have to work the next day. On Sunday, I had the glorious feeling of TWO FULL DAYS OFF stretching ahead of me. My quads were VERY sore, but I had no injuries. My feet were fine- no blisters or black toenails (unlike my 50 mile race last year) and I was able to just relax and soak it all in- I’ve been planning and dreaming about this race for a long time, and I did it. So… what is next? There’s a couple different ways to answer that. Immediately next, once I’m fully recovered, I’m going to have a phase where I focus on strength. I’ll write more about that in another post. As far as running- well of course I’m thinking about more races! Next year I’d like to have another big race, and I’m considering doing this one again, with the goal of running a fifth loop (to bring the total mileage up to 71.5). Ultrarunning is all about problem solving, and I’ve got some problems to solve. I didn’t mention it in the race recap, but I had some serious chafing in, well sorry for TMI, but in my crotch. By the last loop, every time I peed, I was in agony (THE BURNING). Lube did nothing, and I ended up pouring cold water from my water bottle down my shorts multiple times. I would like to figure that one out. But the main problem was my stomach. You might remember I was very nauseous before the 4th loop, and I’m imagining- based on the fact that I threw up twice on the way home- that I would have had stomach problems if I had attempted a 5th loop. This is a common problem for ultrarunners- stomach issues are the #1 cause of DNFs- and everyone has to figure it out in their own way. So! Those are my thoughts right now. This race again in a year, and hopefully a fun 50K in the fall or early winter as well. For this week, lots of gentle yoga. Can you fully relax if you know you have to work the next day? Any runners out there have advice for crotch chafing???