Howl at the Moon 8 Hour Ultra

Yesterday, I ran my 2nd ultra in an as many months, in prep for a 24 hour run that I've got in 5 weeks (with a whole lot of other running friends).  It was fun, hard, exhausting, and memorable, all rolled up into one! 

What:  Howl at the Moon 8 Hour Ultra run in Danville, Illinois, 8/13/11, 7am to 3pm.  Ran 41.98 miles (ok, let's just say 42 for arguments sake), and finished 4th out of 53 in my age group. 

The Details:  The forecast had been calling for a 60 to 80 percent chance of rain all week prior to the race, so I was fully prepared to get a little wet.  In fact, I was expecting it, otherwise, I was afraid it was just going to be too hot to do well. Met a couple of running friends the night before, Doug and Neil, I got a good nights sleep and awoke to an empty radar, and very comfortable temps in the mid 50s. Race start temp was 61, eventually climbing to 86 by the end of the race. Not a drop of rain in sight. Yes, the weather forecast was wrong, just about as wrong as could be.  Nary a cloud in the sky until 2 pm or so, and it got hot, very quickly through the morning. My friend Neil also ran the race, and did very well also despite the heat! Also got to meet his wife Mary too.   Let's just say that running in full sun, through the peak heating of the day, well, to put it mildly, kind of sucks. Enough said.

The course itself was a 3.29 mile loop in Kennekuk County Park near Danville.  The course was about 1/2 shade, 1/2 in full sun, on a combo of pasture trail, dirt/rock road, and asphalt.  The idea was to complete as many of these loops as you could before 230 pm cutoff, then complete as many 1/2 mile out and backs before the end of the race.

Overall, things went well for me, despite running in the full sun through the heat of the day.  I immediately dialed my salt/hydration/nutrition strategy in from the very beginning.  I carried a bottle of water and a multi hour bottle of  Hammer Perpetuem drink with me to sip on, and topped off the water bottle at each of the 2 aid stations on the course.  Because of the heat, every half hour, I took a Succeed salt caplet, and grazed on boiled potatoes, grapes, PB/J sandwich squares, and a small dixie cup of Pepsi at both aid stations.  In other words, I ate real food, in bitesize bits, roughly every 15 minutes, the whole way through. And it worked great as far as I can tell.

The miles were ticking off fairly well for me.  In fact, I didn't experience any major problems, until about mile 30.  By then, the bottoms of my feet were beginning to feel every step, although it wasn't from blisters, the balls of my feet were just taking too much of a beating.  I didn't have any major chafing issues, no major cramping, the legs felt good nearly the whole time.  Yes, the heat was becoming slightly unbearable toward the end with temps in the mid 80s and no relief and full sun, but I just kept moving.  I did a 4:1 ratio from the very beginning (except I walked the major hill no matter what).  I've used that ratio in the past, and it works well for me.

I did walk the entire last lap though, only because of logistics.  I knew I couldn't complete 2 laps before the cutoff, so  since there was no incentive to run it, I just walked the last lap to get ready for the out/back portion of the course.  At that point, my legs were starting to hint at wanting to cramp too, and I was getting slightly nauseous from the heat, so the longer walk break was probably a good idea.  After a 15 minute period of rest, (had to wait until 230 pm to start the out/back portion of the course), I did five 1/2 mile out and backs, for a grand total of 41.98 miles over 8 hours!  Was good enough for 4th place in my age division.  My original goal was 40 miles, so I felt proud that I was able to exceed this despite the heat.

I should also mention that I didn't really stop, except for that 15 minute break toward the end.  My car was parked about 50 feet from the course, and I had everything set up in my trunk as a drop bag just in case.  Change of shoes, socks, clothes, some Hammer Gel, Cliff Bars, Gatorade, etc.  But I never needed anything, so didn't stop but once to grab a bandanna on the 2nd loop to keep wiping the sweat off my head.  Also ran the race sans iPod.  I had it in the car, but decided I didn't want or need it.

After the race, they have a huge party, with free beer, free food (catered by Lees Chicken), and generally a fun time while announcing the awards.  It was a nice way to end the race.  Can't say enough good things about the organization of the race or the folks that put it on.  Awesome all around.  They even served margaritas at the aid station on the last lap. How fun!

This is the second time that the bottoms of my feet have become so painful that it would be hard to continue on.  It's the balls of my feet, that basically feel like I'm walking on nails with every step.  It's not a blister, it's just a deep bruise I think. I had no blisters at all anywhere.  By the end of the race, it hurt so bad to walk, I know I couldn't have done any more.  And this worries me, since I have that 24 hour race in 5 weeks.  Need to figure out what's going on, so I can figure out how to keep going longer.  I did put a square of duct tape on the bottom of each foot hoping to prevent the issue, but it really didn't change anything.  And I've got 5 weeks to figure it out.

The second thing, I signed up for this 24 hour event, not really knowing what I could and couldn't do, but have been excited to try.  Training has been going very well, as I hit 110 miles last week for an All Stars week of a running game I'm in.  And really, my body is holding up good (except for the bottom of the feet).  I'm just trying to figure out how to convince my mind to keep going.  When I was done with this race, the thought of doing this (running) for another 16 hours was enough to almost make me ill.  So I've got some mental hurdles that I'll need to figure out how to overcome too.

Me, after the race, feeling proud, and worn out.  (note, I was covered with salt).   In retrospect, wearing all black on this day was probably a bad choice, ha, but black has become my favorite racing color.



The Swag:  A reusable insulated shopping bag (with a zipper, to use for cold foods), a really nice cotton tee-shirt (I chose a long sleeve shirt), the participant medal on the right, and the A/G medal on the left.



The Pace and Elevation Graphs:  Pretty darn consistent pace showing the run/walk, until the last lap which I walked completely. 



Bottom line, I had a pretty good race, had a great time, got to hang out with some cool folks, and overall had a really fun running weekend.  Really, it doesn't get any better than that!!

Thanks for reading.