While I completed some of the same marathon training with the training group, I was not planning on running Long Beach; however, I had an event planned for the week before the marathon – the Dick Collins Firetrails 50. That’s Fifty MILES!
If you had read the newsletter in January, you might have seen that my goal for the year was to train for and complete another 50 mile race. In 2004, I completed the American River 50 in 10:34. I hoped to do something similar.
Training for a 50 miler is not so much unlike a marathon, except that I didn’t plan on running 44 miles to simulate the total distance. The problem with doing long training runs is that they tire you out too much for the actual event. Therefore, I tried to do a long training run that would simulate the time of day and the type of terrain I might encounter.
I mapped out a course using Gmap-Pedometer (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com) that was approximately 26.2 miles, and ran it after one of the Nike 5 mile training runs, thus starting at 11am, and running during the worst part of the day. I reached mile 18 of this course at about 2pm. Maybe I should mention that mile 18 was at the top of Hill Street in Signal Hill! I got overheated, cramps, and loss of willpower, but I slogged through to finish my training run in just under 6 hours. I hoped this would simulate a 6am start and 3 or 4pm finish.
I flew up to Northern California for the event on Friday, October 6th, and my parents took me out for Chinese Food (doesn’t matter what I eat as long as it doesn’t burn my stomach!). I tried to get to bed early, but I was too stoked. The next morning, Dad took me to the start at Lake Chabot Park. It was pre-dawn, and about 40 degrees (chilly). I sat on a park bench and tried to relax until the start at 6:30. I recognized a few people as we set off on a dirt trail in total darkness.
I tried to maintain a slow pace – around 10 minutes/mile, and felt comfortable for about the first 10 miles, and then I started getting cramps, so kept moving towards drinking a lot of water, having salt at the aid stations and trying something new (usually a bad idea) – Succeed (calcium and sodium) pills. These ended up staving off the cramps for about 2-3 miles post-aid station. Unfortunately, some aid stations were more than 2 -3 miles apart. That meant walking with cramps.
I ignored the pain as much as I good and concentrating on not stumbling (because that reactivated the cramps). I ran with various people throughout the day, including a former winner (20 years ago), who I passed handily in the beginning and she re-passed me and beat me by over 2 hours!
I made the turnaround cut-off by about 45 minutes, and the rest of the run, I was concerned about not making the cutoffs and being pulled off the course (I needed to maintain an average pace of about 20 minutes/mile). Fortunately, my friend, Kevin, was meeting me at mile 35 (and was also to be my ride back home, since my folks were going to a reunion party).
But at mile 35, no Kevin. I had my cell phone to try and call him, but there was little service on the Trail to Nowhere. I slogged on to a stretch that had bugged me on the way out (should have been 2.6 miles of flat, but due to construction, we detoured 2.6 miles with 800-1000 feet climb and descent!). At the top of the hill, I had reception, and I left a message saying to go to the end and run back and meet me.
I worried that I wouldn’t have a pacer (not so much because I was getting lonely), but more so that I didn’t have a ride home! But at mile 44, Kevin suddenly appeared! This gave me the strength to increase my pace to about 15 minutes a mile! (Truckin’ now!)
Kevin and I had done our first three marathons together about 10 years ago, and then he hadn’t run much since, but my pedestrian pace was very manageable. We reached each aid station just as it was closing (I wasn’t so close to the time limits, but the park had certain restrictions on non-park vehicles in the park after dark.).
Finally, we saw Lake Chabot again; what a welcome site! Just a few miserable miles to go. What evening hikers must have thought to see me moving so unevenly, while Kevin looked uncomfortably slow! Finally, I spotted the finish line and food!
I somewhat missed my goal of under 11 hours (qualifying for Western States 100 – a race I do NOT want to run, but it would be cool to qualify) in running 12:17:25, but I am very satisfied, having reached my goal for the year.