Unfortunately for
Elemental Running, but fortunately for me, the Lake Natoma 13.1/26.2/50k races had to be rescheduled. The original date didn't work for me, but the new one did, and I hadn't been really looking forward to another 24 miler by myself. The marathon was the logical choice, but driving four plus hours made me lean toward the 50k. Why not, right? Things I learned from my quick adventure:
- It is harder to get yourself ready and packed for a race when you are house sitting
- Phones on airplane mode will still automatically change for daylight savings, so the alarm will wake you with an extra hour to spare
- My truck will only have issues the night before I'm going out of town
- Skunks have no qualms about hanging out between you and your truck so you can't get in to change clothes on race morning
- The American River bike trail is hillier than anticipated. Not big hills that I can resign to marching up, but sneaky little ones that wear your legs out
- 31 miles of paved 'trail' is no fun, although it was nice being by the water
- 31 miles of paved 'trail' reflects the heat
- Aid stations should have ice. If it is warm enough that volunteers are wearing bikini tops and shorts, runners might want ice. Pretty please
- Runners might also want more than energy gel, or pringles at the finish line
- I need to drink more!
- I need to remember that when she is puking from dehydration, I need to force myself to drink more than I want or think I need to re-stabilise
- Not everybody knows the trail - please occasionally put up markers where there are turns (at least where there are arrows on the ground from a previous event that did not go the same way we should)
- I don't like littering - really, what makes you think it's okay to dump your gel wrappers wherever?
- I don't like cheating - if I passed you at mile 5 and you haven't passed me since - how did you get a ways ahead of me on an out and back trail. You and I both know you didn't go all the way to the turn around.
- It's really fun to set PR's for two distances (marathon and 50k), as long as you don't crash and burn. While running hard enough to set PR's - drink more!!
- Trail runners are friendlier than road runners
- For such a high entry fee, I thought there would be at least more than pringles, donut holes, and bananas at the finish line, or something other than gel at the aid station
- Remember to ask which clear liquid is water, and which is electrolyte drink - especially when I know the electrolyte drink is one that doesn't agree with me
- Re-apply sunscreen - I carry it in my pack for a reason, pasty English skin doesn't agree with shiny California sun, I know this
- I can call T when I need to troubleshoot or be told to suck it up and get moving, and call J when I need someone to commiserate with
- Wear shoes that fit! I thought my Olympus fit just great and that I wanted them for Zion, so wore them here as a test run. After twelve miles my feet were getting squished, another five and they were burning. Ordered a new pair half a size bigger.
- I don't like wearing sunglasses for too long while running - they started feeling heavy on my face. Visor ordered.
- New smartwool injinjis seemed to work pretty well, no blisters even when my feet were so very sad.
- I missed my lucky batman socks :(
- Don't fall up cliffs:
- Once I have hydrated properly, I can run well even after a lot of miles. I passed eight people in the last four miles, even on uphill stretches. All these training miles and gym time are paying off.
- It's fun sticking around to chat to people at the end (and fun to finish in time for there to be people to chat to at the end).
- EDIT - The organisers and volunteers were GREAT! While there were some things I didn't love about this race, the people were definitely wonderful!
So Lake Natoma in 6:22:43 ( a 31-minute PR, and nearly two hours faster than my first 50k last August). Also managed to place third female (out of more than five), and first (but also last) in my age group. The pavement beat me up a bit, even though I got on the dirt trail that ran along the side wherever I could. I have one more 20+ miler between now and Zion, so I can test out the larger Olympus. If it was that sore on a 30-miler, I can only imagine what more than three times that distance would be like! I had planned to do a long run again yesterday, but the way my day panned out it couldn't be done (although the streak mile still happened - after 11pm - day 106).
