First Ultra (80 km) done! 27th of March, 2009

Just for the sake of change it is going to be a loo-o-ong post and not really family oriented -- feel free to skip it ;-)

This is my first try at a race report that covers my second official race (here is the first one) and my first ultra -- 80km run. It was a trail running event (defined as a "cross country adventure race") organized by Carin Goldblatt and her company Pro-sport. The elevation profile of the race looks far from boring (see below).


The race started at 5:00, but since it was the night of the summer saving time change, it felt more like 4:00 and the wake up call was at 1:45am. Suprisingly I had a very good sleep and felt rested. The temperatures were a bit cooler than promised by the forecast (6 deg. celcium) so I added one more layer of thin wool just before the start.













After running for a few minutes I noticed that I am running with the leaders which was not good -- definitely not my pace, so I slowed down and forced myself to walk the up hills (at least which were well defined ;-)).

The trails/single tracks were slippery (with their share of mud, not really bad) and going either up or down for most of the time, I managed to sprain my ankle somewhere close ~15km. Luckily it worked still, and after massaging it and a couple of minutes walk I managed continue running and forgot about it until the end of the race (after the final check back home it was just a bit swollen and had a bruise but worked).

The first "feeding zone" was at 30km mark so I changed into "summer gear" and made a mistake asking to fill my pack with water and not isoton. I believe that was the cause my hands got swallen by 50km (second feeding zone), thus I asked to refill with half water/half isoton at that stage. I still felt good at 50km, but felt that I was running for some time ;-)

At this point my FR405 said "battery low" and I switched it off... Not a good thing since I prefer to know where I am regarding to the distance left...

After that I was definitely weaker and started to walk more -- one of more experienced runners adviced to take more than 1 gel per hour, which worked until the last feeding zone (#3) at 65km.

I refilled my pack with 50%/50% mix again and put few more gels into its pocket and started the last part, 15km long. Then the hardest part started, I realized that I still can run and run smoothly (althoug all the muscles did hurt) but lacked the motivation to do so... I did not intend to stop -- that was not an option without a serious reason, but I did not care much for the speed anymore. I walked everything which was not downhill!!! I have been leading woman for 75km (do not be impressed -- there were just 3 females in the race ;-)) and when I was passed by the next one, Tali (there were only two persons who passed me and both at this stage) I had strength to go with her at her pace, but I just DID NOT CARE! I was angry with myselft but not enough... So, I finished 5 minutes after her...

So in summary I finished my first ultra with the result of 10:10:42 (look for the bib number 28), was the 2nd female, 19th overall (the were 43 runners, I believe the last 4 did not make the cut off at the 65km, and 2 DNF'd...), managed not to notice the blisters before I took my shoes off...

After getting home I was pleasantly surprised that I could stretch everything and nothing complained too much (although every muscle was painful -- even my cheeks! until I took a bath and had dinner, after it felt much better).

I was really hungry after the race, but could not look at anything sweet after the amount of gels I consumed.

As a matter of fact, today (two days later) the only thing which is uncomfortable during walking is a bruise on the back of the ankle which is in contact with the shoe and a blister under the nail ;-)

I managed to enjoy every moment of the race, the weather was just perfect -- the downpour rains started half an hour after I got home ;-)