Ok so I want to write this down while it's fresh on my mind. I did it! 51 miles. My first ultra marathon.
Heres the story,
So I drove up and slept over by myself in Ogden so I could be close to the starting line. I didn't sleep much the night before. Woke up about 4 am. Made it over to Mountain green to the starting line. There is a little fire going and all 28 runners. Just kinda hanging out, joking around. I here things like, yeah this is my 9th 50 miler and seeing tshirts from the wasatch 100. After a quick rundown of the course and how the aid stations will work. We all walk out to the road. the race director says everybody ready? Alright, GO! So we all start off together down the very dark road. It felt surreal at the beginning. We all had our headlamps on and gear. I had been looking forward to this day all year long. Everyone has their little groups. Everyone stays together for the 1st mile. After the 1st mile some stop to walk a bit. I usually do the same thing, but decided to just keep going and not walk till mile 3. We proceed up old trappers loop. 8 miles and about 2000 feet elevation climb. All the way up the canyon the runners are spreading out more and more. My
headlamp is helping so much. Some rocks in the road and lots of horse poop to avoid. Run a mile then walk a mile. Finally after what seemed like forever we reach the summit. then down hill. For the aid stations we had about 3 trucks that kept driving ahead and giving us, gu's, sandwiches, gatorade and anything else we needed. I had to go number 2 a total of 5 times the first half of the race. Finally by about mile 10 the sky is starting to light up and I can turn off my headlamp. My stomach starts getting pretty upset. Can't really eat anything. trying to force some things down. We get to mile 15 and get to pineview resovior. We check in at the Aid station and I drop my headlamp and sweater I had been wearing underneath. then I head out around the lake. the sun finally start to peek over the mountains. The scenery is just breathtaking. All the fall colors. The runners are way spread out by now. I get to the west side of the lake and get to another aid station about mile 19. Just after I pass them my stomach is feeling more upset than ever. Finally I throw up. My stomach feels much better after and i'm able to run the next 3 miles at a pretty good pace. The next aid station I grabbed some pretzels just to try them and they tasted soo good. For the rest of the race I continued to eat pretzels. for the last 10 miles i had been pretty miserable. Secretly hoping a mountain lion would jump out and maul me and i would not be able to finsish the race. Ate some gu's to keep my calories up. I also started eating the gummy sport beans that had a bit of caffeine. The lake gets out of site for 6 miles or so and the rain starts to sprinkle. at mile 26 I meet up with my little brother and his wife. What a life saver he was. First of all something to look forward to. But also somebody to chat with and motivate me. I've never run with somebody before and I have to say I really liked it. We hit about 5 miles of pretty cold rain. Wet and cold. Trucks are driving by splashing us not giving us enough room to run. I was able to convince jimmy joe that he needs to run this race with me next year. Joanna, his wife did a great job documenting the rest of the run stopping every few miles taking pictures and videos. After rounding the lake we hit the canyon again at about mile 36. Stopped in at the aid station for a while and piled up on goodies. I took a gu pack with caffeine in it. I've always avoided the caffeine ones cause i've heard about how your energy just drops off after the caffeine wears off. But i ended up loving it. So we headed back up the canyon, another 8 miles of uphill and 2000 feet elevation climb. those hills were intense. usally like 300 feet of climb or so per mile.We make fairly good time considering the climb. We are able to pass 3 runners. Finally we reach the summit and start heading down. I'm feeling pretty good. My stomach is feeling good, the jelly beans, caffeine gu packs and pretzels are doing the trick. On a side note it's kind of weird what happens to you running the long distances. You get real emotional. I'll think about my wife or kids or something and just start crying. I've turned into a softy.We get to mile 46 and my beautiful wife pulls up in the mini van with the fam. After a kiss and some pix we are on our way. Rochelle, AKA super sister joins up with us to run the last 5. The downhills are acutally pretty rough, but easier than the uphills. So we get to the last 2 miles and someboday that we passed is starting to catch us. At first we are determined to stay ahead of him, but finally i say whatever, if he passes me, oh well. So we get down to about 1.5 miles to go and we take another walk break and He is about to pass us then I decide. Nope we are doing this. We get down the canyon road and head down the home stretch. Suddenly something comes over me. I pick up speed. Rochelle starts to drop behind. Then i get to about a quarter mile of the finish line. And i suddenly get more energy than i've ever had before. I hit my runners high. I break into a full on sprint. Jimmy joe starts saying things like, you don't have to do this. he's falling behind, slow down. we don't have to do this. And i reply yes i do. finally i break into a full on sprint to a 6:39 mile pace. I see the finish line. Suddenly I get emotional. Tears start coming. I feel amazing. I push all the way to the finish line. My legs felt great. I've never felt anything like that before. I kiss my wife. Hug my kids. Let out some celebration yells. April says i was acting like a total crazy man or like a kid who just got some marijuana for the first time. I felt so good at the end. Hard to describe it. I'd definately like to do this race again. Had lots of family there to support me. It helps so much knowing that those that love you are waiting for you at the finish line. I ended up taking 17th in the race out of 28.
51 miles, 10 hours 21 minutes and 7,093 calories later i did it. I set a goal and accomplished it. What a journey it has been. and what an amazing race. I've never been so low while running and never been so high.
My Pacer
In the rain
Victory yell with my 2nd pacer
The Swag
I brought a little camera along with me. And joanna took most of these and rochelle and april took some.
Video Clips for the OV 50 miler. from Davey Orgill on Vimeo.
My first ultra marathon
