The running of my first ultramarathon dominated this week for me. I don't
know why i wanted to run a distance even longer than "the craziest
distance know to mankind" but i felt i wanted to do that and that was
that.
I did my first ultra on sunday, june 16, 1996, and it was not pretty, this
report is long but it is only a fraction of how long the race felt.
Executive version: I was cocky, i got humbled, i toughed it out with the
help of my sweetie, i learned a lot about myself and running ultras (unofficial
results: my time 5:34 hours, the men's winner 3:09)
Long version: Will Brown put the ultrabug into my brain and when the Deutschlandsberger
Supermarathon (50K) came along I decided I would go for it. I had put a
lot of training miles into my legs in the last few months and the paces
on my usual 10-15K runs indicated that i was in the best shape for several
decades and definitely doing better than at my previous personal marathon
best of 3:58 last fall - i got cocky. I figured i could run a good marathon
now and a 50K would only be 8K more than that - my cardioquack had recently
determined my anaerobic threshold (160) in a stress test. I would wear a
heart rate monitor during the race and would judge my pace by staying around
150. I knew i would ace my first ultra, probably set a pr on the marathon
in the process and really enjoy the race - WRONG!!!
On a bright and sunny sunday morning four of us piled into the car, my sweetie
Moira, two of my students Michael and Antonia, and I. Michael and Antonia
had registered for the associated 25K race and Moira was supporting all
of us during our races. The races were run on a 12.5K loop, the first half
of which were along tarred roads through a largely industrialized district
with no shade whatsoever (yuck), the second half then joined a dirt bike
path along a little stream, through fields and often among trees (yeah).
Around 500 runners (12.5K with 300 entries, 25K with 150, and 50K with 60)
started at 9:30, I did not see Michael again as he ran away at the front,
for a while i ran with Antonia who did a very smart race, and she religeously
stuck with her projected pace (she won her age division :-) in the 25K).
I felt strong as a horse during my first lap, I felt I was holding back
my pace at between 5:11 and 6:16/K (ie. 8:28 - 10:05/M) at a heart rate
of 150. On the second lap the temperatures slowly climbed up to 27C. I often
sponged my head but began to feel some dehydration set in. After going through
the ugly and very hot section of the course (20K) my times slowed by about
30 sec/K but I still felt quite good and confident. The course looped back
into town and i passed the start/finish at 2:25 hours (midrace point at
25K).
Then the complexion of this race changed and what followed was brutal, i
headed back out onto the straight, hot, uggly section, the 12.5 and 25K
runners had all peeled off by now and i suddenly was the only runner far
and wide, no spectators, just straight, hot roads. the radiation from the
asphalt felt as strong as the one coming from above. Despite sun lotion
my skin on arms and legs began to turn lobster red and I was getting really
thirsty - that was not a good sign :-( I reached the next water stop drank
two cups of isostar, got some fresh sponges and liberally splashed myself
with water from a hose - not a smart move :-( I almost immediatly started
to slide around in my soaked shoes and socks producing a sensation of my
soles exploding in huge blisters. My left knee began to hurt, Since starting
running two years ago I never had problems with my knees and that pain caught
me off-guard. This was the absolute low point of my race and this is where
i realized that an ultra is very different to a marathon. In a marathon
i could hang in and tough it out for another 10K, but here i was barely
past the midpoint with another 20K left. it broke my spirit, my pace dropped
to 7:30-8 min/k (12-13min/M), i was hurting, i was feeling sorry for myself,
my heartrate dropped to 135-ish, so it was not that my body could not do
any more, it was my mind that had decided to bag it, go home and lie on
the couch. i must have looked like a pile of shit, because the red cross
people suddenly began asking me whether i was ok. i nodded and plodded on
finishing my third round, i passed the start/finish with some runnners which
were completing their 4th loop, a huge hooray went through the crowd as
they were battling it out for some of the top places, they shot past me
and into the shutes, i went around the shutes, back out onto the course
for another 12.5K.
My sweetie must have been wondering where i had been for so long and figured
that i was in trouble, she changed into running gear and waited right there
to run the last loop with me, she was loaded with bananas, gummibears, isostar,
brezels - what a woman, for the next 12.5K she would always stay half a
step or so ahead, telling me very excitedly about god and the world presumable
to take my mind off the running, but it went in one ear and out the other.
she also kept up a rationed but constant stream of gummibears :-), whenever
i stopped to walk she would let me do a few steps but then swept me along
again. I passed the marathon mark in 4:35, yikes, that was more than half
an hour slower than i had thought i could do. We settled into some steady
deathmarch style trot, back onto the bike trail section, looped around town
into the central square and i finished 30 minutes before the 6 hour cutoff
time. Needless to say my honey-bun got a mega-giga-ultra smooch from a very
happy to be finished, first-time ultramarathon runner. I told here that
i would never again do one of these.
There was something else I learned about my running mind. A few hours later
the mind began to play tricks on me. I started to think, "hmmh, 5:34,
i surely could have gone a few minutes faster to get under 5:30" -
my rational mind answered "no, i could not have gone any faster. no
way, if i could have, i would have, no chance in hell". Next my mind
will start to put out vibes like: "hey, admit it, it was not that bad"
and then "you actually enjoyed it" and then "because it was
so much fun, maybe i should do a nother one" of course another 50K
won't be enough :-) How did i ever get myself into this ...
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