Dunes 50K Race Recap- Part 1
Because this recap was so long, I decided to split it into two parts. Part 1 is the general story of my race, and Part 2 will be the nitty gritty about my gear, fueling, and more details about the race and course. According to the website, the Dunes 50k is “Not just a race, it’s an epic adventure. Experience scenic overlooks, creek crossings and rolling sand dunes, where you will encounter the, “Dunes of Heaven and Hell “. 11,000 acres, 16 natural communities, including sand pine scrub, pine flatwoods, mangroves, and river swamps turning your race into a complete natural adventure. Most of the course is run on beautiful single track trails winding throughout this wild and scenic park”. The race started at 7:00 am, and I got there at 5:45 to get my race packet. I had over an hour to wait, use the bathroom, apply lube, do my calf mobility exercises, use the bathroom again, and organize my gear. I put some stuff in my drop bag, which I would see at mile 13. Finally it was time to line up at the start, and I can tell you that I had a Moment. You guys- I made it to the starting line. I didn’t get sick or injured. I said all along that if I made it to the starting line, I could get myself to the finish, and here I was. I stayed toward the back, because I knew I would be running a conservative pace, and I also knew that some of the trail at the beginning was single track. I didn’t want to start too far forward and be pushed to run too fast, or have to continually step off the trail to let people pass. We started off, and a group of runners took off ahead of me. Fine! Let them go. I did have to step off to let a few people pass, but overall I felt like I started in the right place. The beginning of the race was relatively cool (upper 60s) with the sun just coming up. The first four miles were on dirt trails, but I was surprised at how technical some of it was. There were places with deep ruts, and as one runner passed me he said something about hogs. At first I thought he said I was hogging the trail, but then I realized he said “The hogs really tore up this trail.” Yes, there are wild hogs down here and they can do a number on the trails. It made this section harder than I thought. Somewhere in the first six miles I twisted my ankle- you know how you twist it and feel a jolt of pain, but are able to keep running? But you know it will hurt later? That kind of twist. I made mental note that I would have to BE CAREFUL on the way back, because we would be retracing this section near the end of the race. The first aid station was at mile 4, and I was feeling great. I got new ice in my water bottle, but I really didn’t need anything else. The next aid station came up quickly at 6.2 miles, and I was still feeling really fresh. Then we started the “Dunes of Heaven.” I was scared of the dunes. I had done a lot of training on sandy trails, but not dunes. I figured I would manage it when I got there, possibly walking up the hills and running down. Photos never, ever show how steep hills are for some reason, but I tried to capture it: For whatever reason, I was still feeling really good at this point. I found that it was actually easier and more efficient to run up the dunes with short, choppy steps, than to walk. The next aid station was at 10 miles, and the aid station volunteers asked us what we wanted. One guy said “A new pair of legs,” and I realized that I, on the other hand, still felt really fresh. It was starting to get hot, and one thing they had at every aid station was a bucket of ice water and huge sponges which they would wring out over your head. Yes, please! They also filled my water bottle, put ice in the pockets of my ice hat, and gave me ice for my sports bra. I ran out of there feeling good. The next three miles still felt good, and a surprising thing happened- I started passing people! I was still running most of the dunes, and there were people struggling. But I was enjoying myself. Up until this time I had been mostly running by myself, other than occasionally being passed by or passing other runners. I have to admit, I loved it. I know people talk about the camaraderie of trail running, but I love running by myself. So far this was a great run through a beautiful park, on trails someone else had marked for me, with aid stations along the way. What’s not to love? At every aid station, when they saw runners approaching, the volunteers would ring a cowbell and cheer. I came into the Dunes of Heaven aid station at mile 13 by myself, and had a reception that made me feel like a celebrity. This was my only time to see my drop bag, so I switched out my empty gu wrappers and loaded up with more fuel. The volunteers filled my water bottle with ice water once again, gave me ice for my bra and hat, and when they saw me taking a picture of this sign, offered to take one while I posed. Look at me! I look positively jaunty! I sent the picture to my husband saying that I felt great. At this point I was congratulating myself on all the sand running I did in my training. Coming up next was “Dunes of Hell” and one of the aid
Weekly Rundown- I DID IT!!!!!!!!!
Ha! Maybe I should have let the suspense build up throughout this post, but I’m so frickin’ happy and excited that I can’t help shouting it- I RAN A 50K! I absolutely cannot wait to write the race recap, because it was an epic adventure. The week had a very rocky start, though. Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the weekly rundown. Let’s just see what went wrong this week… and what went so very, very right. Sunday Because I worked on Sunday morning (to make up for the fact that I didn’t work this weekend) I waited till later in the day to do my run. And, it was one of the worst runs I’ve ever had in my life. I was struggling in so many ways, but the worst problem was that my left foot felt horrible. My shoe felt like it was simultaneously too tight and too loose, and I just felt unstable. When I was done, the top of my foot felt like it had a tight band of pressure going across it. I seemed like my foot should have been swollen, but it looked normal. I thought about how it would feel to run 31 miles with a very sore foot. I also thought about how I would feel if I had to DNS this race, and always look back wondering if I could have done it. I vowed to do whatever I needed to do to get my foot to the starting line. Monday Off. Foot still felt uncomfortable just walking around. Tuesday 3 mile run on the treadmill. Yes, you heard me! I wanted to run but was very anxious about it, and wanted to have the option to stop immediately if I had to. The truth is, after all my ranting and raving about how I love running on trails, I also don’t mind running on a treadmill every once in a while. Running is running! I tried lacing my shoe in a different way, to take the pressure off the top of my foot. It did seem to help, but I ultimately decided I couldn’t do a trail ultra with the shoe laced like this- I needed more stability. I went back to the ladder lacing which I usually use for that shoe. Wednesday Back to the gym for upper body day! I also spent a lot of time stretching my calves and doing foot mobility exercises. Thursday Okay, last run before the race! It was a 4 mile run which felt ALMOST normal. Phew… Friday Off. Boy, was it hard to get through this work day! I just couldn’t stop thinking about the race, and wanted the day to end. I spent the evening getting everything ready. I had all my stuff laid out on the table and my husband said “What’s all this?” It looked like I was preparing for a cross country trip. Nope, just a trail 50k! Saturday THE RACE! Race recap is coming up on Tuesday, but I can tell you now there were highs, there were lows, I made new friends (well, sort of- you’ll hear the story of Calf Guy on Tuesday) and guess what- my foot was JUST FINE. So was my achilles, and well, everything! I’m definitely sore, but no real problems. Oh, and I didn’t come in last- not even close. Here’s a couple pictures: Like I said, I can’t wait to write the recap. I want to relive the whole thing! And I want to do another one…. preferably in the winter. Sunday On tap for today- lots and lots of rest. And waffles, of course. How was your week? Who else ran a race this weekend? – I know there were a bunch of them!
Mantras and Affirmations
You guys- what a week. Soooooo many things went wrong, but here I am, one day before my race, and I’m ready to go. What went wrong, you ask? WELL… My “difficult foot,” the one with plantar fasciitis, decided to implode. Yes, on a week with no long runs and no hard strength workouts, my foot was really sore. I did my stretching, mobility work and massage, and in desperation pulled out my trusty Louise Hay. You Can Heal Your Life was published in 1984 and I read it in the 1990s. Louise believed that all of our physical ailments are caused by thought patterns, and said that positive affirmations can heal everything, including cancer. As a matter of fact, she claims to have healed her own cancer this way. Well… I’m pretty sure if I ever get cancer, I’ll be rushing to the hospital for my surgery and chemo treatments, but I do believe there’s a place for affirmations. Flooding your mind with positive thoughts can only help. You can see there’s a list of ailments, what thought patterns supposedly cause them, and an affirmation to heal each one. For “foot problems” the cause is “fear of the future and of stepping forward in life.” The healing affirmation is “I move forward in life with joy and with ease.” I’m pretty sure it didn’t heal my foot, but it really helped to calm my mind. “I move forward in life with joy and with ease” is a much better thought than “OMG I can’t believe this is happening, what if I can’t run, what will it feel like to run 31 miles with a sore foot, this is a nightmare!” By Wednesday I was feeling more optimistic about my foot, and was enjoying my day off… until I got a text from my daughter asking to be picked up from school early. WHAT? When I picked her up she said she was achy and was so tired that she fell asleep in one of her classes. OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE SHE’S SICK NOW THERE’S JUST ENOUGH TIME FOR ME TO GET IT AND MISS MY RACE WHAT IF IT’S COVID… no, no, no. I pulled out the affirmation for “colds”, which is “I allow my mind to relax and be at peace. Clarity and harmony are within me and around me.” Well, I’m not sick! (And neither is she, it turns out. She slept for twelve hours and woke up feeling completely normal- PHEW.) I’m not sure if the affirmation actually boosted my immune system, but it definitely helped me to calm down and get a decent night’s sleep. You know what’s just like affirmations? Mantras! Most runners have mantras they use during a hard run or race. One of my favorites is, “I am strong, I am good at this, I can do it.” It also helps to have a shorter mantra, something like “quick and light” or “fast and strong.” I’m going to modify the Louise Hay foot affirmation to make it a mantra for my race: “Forward with joy.” In Scott Jurek’s book Eat and Run he said that during a particularly painful section of a race, he repeated “This is what you came for” over and over again. Do you use affirmations or mantras? – if yes, what’s one of your favorites? I’ll be back on Sunday to tell you how the race went!
More Reading and Eating
I’m really on a streak of great books. I enjoyed everything I’ve read lately, and that doesn’t always happen. But this time, let’s start with food! I’m going to rewind all the way back to Easter Sunday… After all my complaining about how I don’t like Easter, I actually ended up having a nice day! We started the day off with pancakes. Special strawberry Easter pancakes for my daughter… And for mine, I used a recipe from a website I won’t mention, because I don’t want to incriminate them. Let’s just say I made some substitutions, and my pancakes looked a little strange (but still tasted good!) If it were April Fools Day, I would have told my daughter that my pancakes were hers, ha ha… One of the reasons I thought I would be feeling down on Easter is that I miss my son. But he texted me mid-morning to let me know the church service he was playing at would be live-streamed (all trumpet players have church gigs on Easter, even college students!) So I was able to tune in and see him- it was so fun! My sister also watched, and we texted back and forth during the service (‘Paul still has his beard!” “I wish there was more music!”) So I got my family time after all, thanks to modern technology. In the afternoon, my daughter and I made carrot cake cupcakes, and it was fun to collaborate on a project. Dinner was lasagna! I make a vegan lasagna using tofu ricotta. Fast forward to this week. Suzanne posted about this chickpea bowl, and all it took was stopping quickly at the grocery store, opening a few cans, and we had this delicious dinner. At the last minute I remembered we had naan from Trader Joe’s to go with it. Now for the reading portion of this post! Exposure was a great book that I almost DNF’d halfway through. The story takes place during the Cold War in London, and a couple inadvertently gets involved in espionage. At about the halfway point it was making me incredibly anxious. I really cared about the characters and didn’t want what was happening to them to happen. I knew it was the mark of a good book- the story seemed so real. Luckily I kept reading, and when I realized that Lily was an incredibly strong woman who wasn’t going to let anyone walk all over her, I stopped being anxious and thoroughly enjoyed the story till the end. I want to read more Helen Dunmore. This book probably isn’t for everyone. I think you have to be a real fan of mysteries to enjoy it. In the very beginning, the author lays out ten “rules” for mysteries: The solution can’t be anything involving supernatural agencies, or twins; the criminal must be someone introduced early in the story; all the clues must be available to the reader… as soon as I read that page, I knew I would enjoy the book. Yes, the story was a little convoluted, but it was a solid murder mystery and was entertaining to read. Once again, probably only recommended for true fans of the genre. And, one last book that I’m re-reading. I read this book years ago and loved it. Scott Jurek recounts his biggest races, talks about his training, and explains his vegan diet. WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE??? It was the first book I read about ultra running, back in 2012 when it was published. It’s a good book to read the week before my race. Although Scott excelled at 100 mile races, I can take some of his wisdom and apply it to my 50k on Saturday. Plus, I don’t know if I have the mental energy to read a new book this week, so a re-read is perfect. What are you reading now? Do you like Indian food? – If yes, try these chickpea bowls!