3 Days of Syllamo
What a great weekend! Here is my full race report. Read if you dare.
Day 1-
This was the 50k(31 miles). I got lucky because 3 weeks ago they had a 50k that started in a different place but it was also run on this trail so I kind of knew what to expect for the most part. There would be a 12 mile section I had not run on previously but I was ready. The race started at 9 a.m. so I left Maumelle at about 5:15. It only took about 2 hours 15 minutes so I got there super early but it's better to be early than late.
Once the race was about to start the race director made some announcements including what trail markings to be on the look out for and what to expect on the course. He said that there were 64 people or so signed up for the full 3 day race. It was also an option for people to come and just run 1 or 2 days so some people did that. The 50k probably had about 80 people there. Since the race is run on single track trail, you really don't want more people than that because the trail would be too crowded. I knew quite a few people there. Some are from Arkansas and some I had met at previous races that are from other states. I was very excited because I was the only female Arkansan that was participating in the full 3 day race. They have people from all over the Country come and run it.
Once we started it was a bit crowded and I had to pass some people and some people passed me. That is one thing I have learned about these runs, you will usually come up behind someone who is running slower than you want to run and it's not like you are on the road and you can just run by them. You have to ask to pass them and at the beginning I would just kind of go with it for a while but by the last day I wasn't wasting any time, I was asking to pass people like crazy.
I ran with a couple guys from Tulsa for a while. They were really nice and they kept the conversation going. That is another thing that is so awesome about these runs, you get to meet so many people that have the same interest as you. Eventually those guys left me and I was by myself for a while so I turned on my IPOD but my earphones decided to short out so I couldn't listen. I just enjoyed the peacefulness and the scenry and focused on not getting lost. I have gotten off course on a few trail runs before and it gets scary for a moment.
Finally we hit the turn around point and we were headed back. This is where I start running harder on runs because at that moment I know I am actually "on my way home." Since I had two more long days of running I wanted to make sure that I ran day one conservatively. I managed to catch up with the two Tulsa guys with about 8 miles to go and we ran together a good bit of the way to the finish. I ended up finishing in 6:36 and I only managed to ahve one fall along the way.
After the race we were told that we needed to get in the cold creek for at least 15 minutes to help recovery. Man, it was cold but I really think it helped. After that they had dinner ready. It was spaghetti, salad and bread. This was right at the finish so you got to watch other people come in and finish and cheer them on. I headed to my hotel, which was about 20 minutes away, about 6:30 and got things ready for the 50 miler the next morning. I didn't sleep very well because I was very anxious.
Day 2-
This was the day of the 50 miler and they like to use the quote: "where the fun begins." Surprisingly enough I really was not feeling too sore after running 31 miles the day before. That made me feel like I had run conservative enough the day before to survive today. I would say there were probably about 70 people that were running this day. The race started at 6:00 a.m. but the temperature was already higher than it was at 9:00 the day before. This worried me a little bit.
I started out very slow and figured I could make up time later if I still felt good. I ran with a guy from Indiana for a while and then he left me. I was by myself for a long time, pretty much the whole day. Every once in a while I would catch up with some people or some people would catch up with me but eventually someone's pace would speed up or slow down so I was by myself again. One guy I was around had done this course before so I knew that if I stayed with him, I wouldn't get lost. I ran with the guys from Tulsa a little bit too. I was able to listen to music quite a bit today. Unfortunately the weather was getting extremely hot. When we would run down into the valley where it was really shaded it wasn't that bad but when we would climb a Mountain and run along the top, it was extremely hot.
Miles 25-31 or 32, we were continuously climbing. I know I walked the majority of this section. We went through an aid stationat mile 32 and after that I just started feeling awful. I felt like I was having trouble breathing, I didn't want to run at all and I just felt hot and exhausted. The next aid station was not until mile 41 and when we got there my Garmin only said 39.5 miles so when they informed me it was actually 41 miles, I became extremely excited. Apparently my Garmin lost reception which is completely understandable out there. I drank some Mtn. Dew at the aid station, it's funny how things you don't normally like taste oh so good. I took off and we had a really good section of down hill. I was feeling great at that point and I was so happy to know I was less than 10 miles from being finished.
We made it to the last aid station at mile 45 and I was extremely excited. They informed me the rest of the course was pretty much downhill and I am pretty good at hammering the downhills so I was super excited. I caught up with a guy named Travis and we ran in together. I was surprised because the last 5 miles was actually not 5 miles. It was more like 2.75. We were very surprised when we got to the finish because it was a bit early. But we weren't complaining because we were obviously ready to be done. It was awesome finishing. My time ended up being 10:36 so I was very excited.
Once again, I got in the creek, drank some recoverite, ate dinner and headed back to my hotel. Once I got to my hotel I ordered a pizza because I was still hungry.
Day 3-
This was the 20k(12 miles). The race didn't start until 9:00 but we lost an hour overnight. The temp was perfect. I was informed shortly after arriving that this course is actually more like 14 miles instead of 12. I was okay with that since we had lost 2 miles the day before anyway.
All of the stage runners were ready to be done but it was really neat seeing the same people again and knowing they were going through what I was going through. Once again, surprisingly enough my legs weren't that sore. I had initally decided that I would just get through the miles and finish but when I looked at the results so far, I was the 6th place female and very close to 5th place. I knew that if I really hammered it out, I could finish in the top 5 and that would be awesome. I seriously took off and ran as hard as I could. Nick from Indiana was following right behind me and pacing off of me and we were just flying and passing people like crazy. Once we got to about 6 miles there was an unmanned aid station and I had to stop and refill my bottle but Nick didn't so he kept going. I could not catch him after that. I did catch up with Julie from New York and we talked as much as possible but we were both out of breath. I finished in 2:24 and took over 5th place. Once I crossed the race director shook my hand and gave me a medal. It felt great to be done. I hung around and watched some others finish but then I changed clothes and headed home. I was ready to see my puppy (and my husband).
All in all, it was a fantastic time and easier than I expected. I met some great people and can't wait to go back next year.
Day 1-
This was the 50k(31 miles). I got lucky because 3 weeks ago they had a 50k that started in a different place but it was also run on this trail so I kind of knew what to expect for the most part. There would be a 12 mile section I had not run on previously but I was ready. The race started at 9 a.m. so I left Maumelle at about 5:15. It only took about 2 hours 15 minutes so I got there super early but it's better to be early than late.
Once the race was about to start the race director made some announcements including what trail markings to be on the look out for and what to expect on the course. He said that there were 64 people or so signed up for the full 3 day race. It was also an option for people to come and just run 1 or 2 days so some people did that. The 50k probably had about 80 people there. Since the race is run on single track trail, you really don't want more people than that because the trail would be too crowded. I knew quite a few people there. Some are from Arkansas and some I had met at previous races that are from other states. I was very excited because I was the only female Arkansan that was participating in the full 3 day race. They have people from all over the Country come and run it.
Once we started it was a bit crowded and I had to pass some people and some people passed me. That is one thing I have learned about these runs, you will usually come up behind someone who is running slower than you want to run and it's not like you are on the road and you can just run by them. You have to ask to pass them and at the beginning I would just kind of go with it for a while but by the last day I wasn't wasting any time, I was asking to pass people like crazy.
I ran with a couple guys from Tulsa for a while. They were really nice and they kept the conversation going. That is another thing that is so awesome about these runs, you get to meet so many people that have the same interest as you. Eventually those guys left me and I was by myself for a while so I turned on my IPOD but my earphones decided to short out so I couldn't listen. I just enjoyed the peacefulness and the scenry and focused on not getting lost. I have gotten off course on a few trail runs before and it gets scary for a moment.
Finally we hit the turn around point and we were headed back. This is where I start running harder on runs because at that moment I know I am actually "on my way home." Since I had two more long days of running I wanted to make sure that I ran day one conservatively. I managed to catch up with the two Tulsa guys with about 8 miles to go and we ran together a good bit of the way to the finish. I ended up finishing in 6:36 and I only managed to ahve one fall along the way.
After the race we were told that we needed to get in the cold creek for at least 15 minutes to help recovery. Man, it was cold but I really think it helped. After that they had dinner ready. It was spaghetti, salad and bread. This was right at the finish so you got to watch other people come in and finish and cheer them on. I headed to my hotel, which was about 20 minutes away, about 6:30 and got things ready for the 50 miler the next morning. I didn't sleep very well because I was very anxious.
Day 2-
This was the day of the 50 miler and they like to use the quote: "where the fun begins." Surprisingly enough I really was not feeling too sore after running 31 miles the day before. That made me feel like I had run conservative enough the day before to survive today. I would say there were probably about 70 people that were running this day. The race started at 6:00 a.m. but the temperature was already higher than it was at 9:00 the day before. This worried me a little bit.
I started out very slow and figured I could make up time later if I still felt good. I ran with a guy from Indiana for a while and then he left me. I was by myself for a long time, pretty much the whole day. Every once in a while I would catch up with some people or some people would catch up with me but eventually someone's pace would speed up or slow down so I was by myself again. One guy I was around had done this course before so I knew that if I stayed with him, I wouldn't get lost. I ran with the guys from Tulsa a little bit too. I was able to listen to music quite a bit today. Unfortunately the weather was getting extremely hot. When we would run down into the valley where it was really shaded it wasn't that bad but when we would climb a Mountain and run along the top, it was extremely hot.
Miles 25-31 or 32, we were continuously climbing. I know I walked the majority of this section. We went through an aid stationat mile 32 and after that I just started feeling awful. I felt like I was having trouble breathing, I didn't want to run at all and I just felt hot and exhausted. The next aid station was not until mile 41 and when we got there my Garmin only said 39.5 miles so when they informed me it was actually 41 miles, I became extremely excited. Apparently my Garmin lost reception which is completely understandable out there. I drank some Mtn. Dew at the aid station, it's funny how things you don't normally like taste oh so good. I took off and we had a really good section of down hill. I was feeling great at that point and I was so happy to know I was less than 10 miles from being finished.
We made it to the last aid station at mile 45 and I was extremely excited. They informed me the rest of the course was pretty much downhill and I am pretty good at hammering the downhills so I was super excited. I caught up with a guy named Travis and we ran in together. I was surprised because the last 5 miles was actually not 5 miles. It was more like 2.75. We were very surprised when we got to the finish because it was a bit early. But we weren't complaining because we were obviously ready to be done. It was awesome finishing. My time ended up being 10:36 so I was very excited.
Once again, I got in the creek, drank some recoverite, ate dinner and headed back to my hotel. Once I got to my hotel I ordered a pizza because I was still hungry.
Day 3-
This was the 20k(12 miles). The race didn't start until 9:00 but we lost an hour overnight. The temp was perfect. I was informed shortly after arriving that this course is actually more like 14 miles instead of 12. I was okay with that since we had lost 2 miles the day before anyway.
All of the stage runners were ready to be done but it was really neat seeing the same people again and knowing they were going through what I was going through. Once again, surprisingly enough my legs weren't that sore. I had initally decided that I would just get through the miles and finish but when I looked at the results so far, I was the 6th place female and very close to 5th place. I knew that if I really hammered it out, I could finish in the top 5 and that would be awesome. I seriously took off and ran as hard as I could. Nick from Indiana was following right behind me and pacing off of me and we were just flying and passing people like crazy. Once we got to about 6 miles there was an unmanned aid station and I had to stop and refill my bottle but Nick didn't so he kept going. I could not catch him after that. I did catch up with Julie from New York and we talked as much as possible but we were both out of breath. I finished in 2:24 and took over 5th place. Once I crossed the race director shook my hand and gave me a medal. It felt great to be done. I hung around and watched some others finish but then I changed clothes and headed home. I was ready to see my puppy (and my husband).
All in all, it was a fantastic time and easier than I expected. I met some great people and can't wait to go back next year.