Run Like the Wind 3 hour run race report 2013.. er.. 2014
Matt and I signed up for the Run Like the Wind run after Ironman Florida, Matt for the 6 hour, as a training run for Rocky Raccoon, and me for the 3 hour as training for.. just in case I got into Ultraman Canada (UMC), since I felt like I should maintain some sort of base. (For running, anyway. I evidently didn't feel strongly that I should maintain a base for swimming and biking, since I did very little in the months between Florida and UMC acceptance.)
Anyway, the point is, we signed up in November and the race was in December. Of 2013. Except obviously either it wasn't, or I'm REALLY behind in my race reports.
As the race got closer, the weather got worse, and it looked like it was going to be a pretty nasty ice storm. They made the decision fairly early in the week to cancel, and it turned out the ice storm didn't really manifest, but everyone agreed they made the right decision based on the info they had at the time, and they rescheduled the race for late March, a time which seemed impossibly far in the future; a time after I'd know for sure whether I was doing UMC or not.
So sometime last week, a random neuron fired in Matt's brain, and he asked me if that race we barely remembered registering for shouldn't be coming up sometime soon? I sent them an email to confirm it was still happening, which they confirmed, and we decided, what the hell, let's do it.
Lucky for me, this race was probably a more logical fit for me now, when I'm actually training for something, than it was back when I was just doing it for kicks. Unlucky for me, I'm training for something with several sports involved, and this race doesn't start until the not-prohibitive-in-December-but-perhaps-now-more-so late hour of 10:30am, so Kelly told me if I could swing it, I should hit a Masters swim before the race. With a little help from Matt, I managed to swing it, and so I showed up at the start line after a little 4400 yard swim warmup. Oof.
The longest run I'd done thus far in UMC training was 2 hours, and since going from 2 to 3 hours is a pretty decent jump in time, Kelly said to just take it easy, and use it as a good training run/testbed. Oh, did I mention how this run works? I didn't.
Timed run! They offer 3, 6, 12 and 24 hour versions, wherein you run a 1k loop, on a mulchy trail, repeatedly, for as many hours as you sign up for. You could sign up for the 24 hour race and run a single 1k loop and call it good. But that would be weird. So probably you try to do as many loops as you can during that time. Stopping for snacks at the one aid station whenever you're so inclined.
As mentioned, I signed up for the 3, Matt for the 6. And if I'M undertrained, poor Matt's 100 mile race had come and gone, and he'd just been running for fun since then, with his longest run being 2.5 hours a few weeks ago. Big jump! But he was prepared to let his body dictate how much he did.
Okay, so back to the start line. All the races start at the same time, so we lined up (not that many of us total, even with all 4 races) and started our races promptly at 10:30am.
Leary, Matt, Amy, Susan, Jim and Robbie ready to run 3 (or 6, for Matt) hours!
Photo from Susan's phone.
Jim and Susan had their phones out to film the first 1k loop, so we joked and waved and hammed it up as we ran, just enjoying our first official k. Once the first loop was over, phones were stowed away, and we settled in for the long(ish, though certainly not comparatively, since 3 hours is many less than 24) haul. Susan, Leary and I started chatting, and ended up running together for quite some time.
It was warm and humid, which made us miss that December weather we would have had, but it mostly remained overcast, so at least it wasn't tremendously hot. Just sweaty. But we kept it nice and controlled and conversational, and the first hour flew by. Unlike last time, where I ran with my hydration pack, this time I decided to carry no water at all. I wanted to practice having to seek out water when I needed it, and practice doing short walk breaks to drink. I also wanted to use this run as a test for eating more solid food. One thing I'm concerned about with UMC is food fatigue. I normally eat Gu for marathons or for Ironman runs, and by the end of 26.2 miles, I'm just about done with Gu. Actually, usually before the end, and I end up resorting to Coke or Gatorade for the last few miles. So I wanted to see if I could find something else that might appeal and might sit well. In this case, I was testing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So every 30-40 minutes, I ate a quarter of a pb&j sandwich. It seemed to go fairly well. There was a period of about 2 loops where I thought I might need a portapotty stop, and felt slightly full, but then it faded, and I never ended up stopping. I did learn that I need to drink a TON of water when I eat it, though. Noted. Overall a successful experiment, though I need to figure out timing based on total calories still.
Maybe 90 minutes in, Susan stopped to grab something, and Leary stopped to get water, and they'd both already said a few times to keep going if they slowed down or stopped, so I kept going, figuring they'd catch me in a while. I was ostensibly on my own now, but there's so many people out there running such a short loop at so many different paces, you're almost never alone. You're passing someone, or you're being passed, or someone's family is cheering for you. It's just a nice event.
After a while, a familiarish face passed me, and I said, "Hey, Mark Lindsey, you don't know me, but I'm your friend on facebook." Mark is a multi-Ultraman finisher who pretty much everyone who knows Ultraman has asked me, "Do you know Mark Lindsey?" And though we've been friends on facebook for a few weeks, this was the first time we'd actually met. He slowed down to run with me, and we spent the next few loops discussing Ultraman, and I got to pick his brain a bit and ask questions. It was great to get to know him a bit, and get some good advice, and get out of my own head for a little while.
The next time we passed by my stuff, I stopped to grab a bite of sandwich, and he kept going, and so I was alone again, and remained alone the rest of the time. I ran briefly with Leary, and briefly with a guy I dubbed "weird sandal guy" because.. well, he was wearing sandals to run, and then said encouraging things to other runners in passing.
And before I knew it, we only had 30 minutes to go. I was still feeling pretty good, especially considering I was 30 minutes beyond my longest run in quite some time, so I tried to pick it up a bit. I really have no idea if I was successful. The gps in my watch couldn't cope with all the trees we were running under, so it didn't do a great job of telling me how far I ran or how fast (fortunately the race knows how many loops you ran, since it was chip timed; if I'd run with Leary the whole time, he could have told me, too, because evidently that guy can count laps like no other). But I FELT pretty strong, and people kept telling me I looked strong. Of course, they told me this as I passed them, because they were being conservative, because while I had 30 minutes left, they still had TWENTY ONE AND A HALF HOURS LEFT. Crazy.
At the same time I was trying to pick up or maintain my pace, I was also trying not to completely wreck myself. I had decided to wear my road shoes, because it isn't in any way a technical trail, and I haven't worn my trail shoes in many, many months (though I brought them just in case). But while it's not technical, it is VERY mulchy, and it's that giant, branchy mulch, so my feet were moving around all over the place inside my shoes, making me nervous I was going to end up with horrible blisters (spoiler: just minor blisters), and as I picked up my pace, or at least my effort, I started to become a lot of less graceful, and threatened to turn my ankles or faceplant several times. Not good. Dial it back a liiiittle bit.
I tried not to dwell on the race clock too much each time I came around, just stay strong, but as the time ticked down, I knew I'd have to strategize the end of my race. You only get credit for the laps you complete under the 3 hour time limit, so if it takes you 7 minutes to run one loop, and you finish a loop at 2:55, there's no point in going back out for one last loop (unless you just want the distance for your own betterment; but it doesn't count toward your race lap total).
I glanced at the clock and saw I definitely had time for one more loop, maaaaaaybe two more, depending on how the first one went. I ran a loop steady and strong, but controlled, encouraging the folks who I knew were also 3 hour people (it was very hard to know who was doing which race without asking, but after 3 hours, you'd chatted with basically everyone out there, and you had some idea who was doing what), since we were almost done. I checked the clock as I came through again, and I knew I had enough time to do one more, if I could keep that pace. I headed out for one last loop, and pushed myself as hard as I felt I safely could. My legs were getting very tired, but knowing that I was almost done kept me going. And as I rounded the corner, I saw that I had made it under 3 with less than a minute to spare. Yay, got my money's worth!
And then, with very little fanfare, the clock hit 3 hours, and my race was over!
I drank some water, drank some more water, drank a cup of Coke, ate a small bowl of delicious mac'n'cheese (I hadn't had any of the aid station food during the race, but now I was ready to take advantage) (except that small bowl of mac'n'cheese was all I ended up having), and then I realized my legs were pretty tight, and I should do a cooldown loop. So with my stomach full of water, pasta and cheese I hit the trail again for one last, slow, shaky loop, and I got to cheer on the people who still had a lot of hours left in their races, and now a lot less people to chat with on the course.
Once I finished my cooldown, I drank more water and started trying to assess how Matt was feeling. He was going to try to tell me at 3 hours whether he was feeling okay to try the whole 6 hours, but each time he'd go through, he was so focused and didn't really stop, I had a hard time barging in front of him and saying, "TELL ME YOUR PLAN NOW." So I just bided my time and hung out and talked with the other people who'd finished their 3 hour races.
As I was hanging out chatting, the race director starting wandering around with a clipboard and a pile of knit hats, calling out names. He called Mark's name, and told him he got third place overall, and handed him a hat. He called a few more guy names, then asked if there was a someone, a Brenda, or an Amy? I said, "I'm an Amy!" And he told me I was second female! And handed me a hat! I was so excited, because last year I was first female, but they didn't do female awards, so I got nothing (except that Matt made me the most AWESOME AWARD EVER). And it was an Olga-made hat! Super nifty.
In the end, it turned out Jim Pacey won and Mark got third. It was later revealed that, despite what the results said, I was actually FIRST female, because the female who beat me was actually that person's son (weird sandal guy, it turned out!), running with her chip. So yay, I defended my title! And Susan got second female!
Hat winners Amy, Jim, Mark and Susan!
Photo from Jim's phone.
Overall a very fun race, and a nice way to end it.
I finally managed to pester Matt long enough to establish that he was going to try to run all 6 hours, so I jumped in the car and drove home, grabbed the dogs, and drove back. It was a dog-focused event, so dogs were welcome, and with so much time to kill before Matt was done, there was no reason not to bring them to join in the fun. They had a blast meeting people, and I walked them around the 1k loop, making sure to step off the trail every time a runner went by. And man, that 1k loop took about 4 times as long with two excited and unfocused dogs in tow.
With about half an hour to go, the dogs and I stopped to chat with a women who was crewing for her friend who was doing the 24 hour race. It was her first time to crew, and she wasn't a runner, so we talked about the challenges and weirdnesses of the event, while Hilda laid down in the dirt and Enzo whined about how bored he was. After a while, Mark Freeman and Shari came and joined us, and we cheered for the 6 hour folks who were nearly done.
Matt was obviously pushing himself, as Matts do, and breathing loudly and intensely, and gathering quite a cheering squad as a result. The way the course wound around, you could hear him coming from quite a distance. We were just around the corner from the finish line, and as he came by, I cheered for him and said, "One more loop!" because he was getting pretty close to the 6 hour mark. He said, "2 more loops!" Which seemed a little ambitious to us, given the time left and how much he was obviously suffering, but hey, I will never underestimate Matt's ability to push himself.
Then he came through again, and yes, there were still several minutes left, but it was 5:54:50 or so, and so he would have to haul his butt around that last loop really fast to get credit for it. We held our breath as we cheered for other folks, and then after a few minutes, we saw him from afar, winding around the agility course (the agility course is for dogs, not for the people running the race), still some distance from where we were/the finish line. And there were only about 2 minutes left before 6. We couldn't see the finish line clock from where we were, so we walked around the corner, and saw that the clock was at 5:58:something. Barely any time left, and no sign of Matt.
Except then we heard him! We heard him from around the corner, pushing himself so hard, and as he tore around the corner, with less than a minute to go, we knew he was going to make it. People were going crazy cheering for him as he pushed himself to the line. And then after all our doubt over whether he'd make it, he crossed the line with more than half a minute to spare! And ended up third place overall for the 6 hour run. So amazing.
Most of the 6 hour finishers.
Photo by Deborah Sexton.
And for us, that's all she wrote! Of course, people continued to run for another 6 or 18 hours after we left. Again.. amazing.
Overall, love this event and the folks who put it on, and we'll definitely be back for Run Like the Wind 2014 part 2, hopefully in December and with better weather!
Shirt, medals and victory hats!
Photo by Matt.
Anyway, the point is, we signed up in November and the race was in December. Of 2013. Except obviously either it wasn't, or I'm REALLY behind in my race reports.
As the race got closer, the weather got worse, and it looked like it was going to be a pretty nasty ice storm. They made the decision fairly early in the week to cancel, and it turned out the ice storm didn't really manifest, but everyone agreed they made the right decision based on the info they had at the time, and they rescheduled the race for late March, a time which seemed impossibly far in the future; a time after I'd know for sure whether I was doing UMC or not.
So sometime last week, a random neuron fired in Matt's brain, and he asked me if that race we barely remembered registering for shouldn't be coming up sometime soon? I sent them an email to confirm it was still happening, which they confirmed, and we decided, what the hell, let's do it.
Lucky for me, this race was probably a more logical fit for me now, when I'm actually training for something, than it was back when I was just doing it for kicks. Unlucky for me, I'm training for something with several sports involved, and this race doesn't start until the not-prohibitive-in-December-but-perhaps-now-more-so late hour of 10:30am, so Kelly told me if I could swing it, I should hit a Masters swim before the race. With a little help from Matt, I managed to swing it, and so I showed up at the start line after a little 4400 yard swim warmup. Oof.
The longest run I'd done thus far in UMC training was 2 hours, and since going from 2 to 3 hours is a pretty decent jump in time, Kelly said to just take it easy, and use it as a good training run/testbed. Oh, did I mention how this run works? I didn't.
Timed run! They offer 3, 6, 12 and 24 hour versions, wherein you run a 1k loop, on a mulchy trail, repeatedly, for as many hours as you sign up for. You could sign up for the 24 hour race and run a single 1k loop and call it good. But that would be weird. So probably you try to do as many loops as you can during that time. Stopping for snacks at the one aid station whenever you're so inclined.
As mentioned, I signed up for the 3, Matt for the 6. And if I'M undertrained, poor Matt's 100 mile race had come and gone, and he'd just been running for fun since then, with his longest run being 2.5 hours a few weeks ago. Big jump! But he was prepared to let his body dictate how much he did.
Okay, so back to the start line. All the races start at the same time, so we lined up (not that many of us total, even with all 4 races) and started our races promptly at 10:30am.
Leary, Matt, Amy, Susan, Jim and Robbie ready to run 3 (or 6, for Matt) hours!
Photo from Susan's phone.
Jim and Susan had their phones out to film the first 1k loop, so we joked and waved and hammed it up as we ran, just enjoying our first official k. Once the first loop was over, phones were stowed away, and we settled in for the long(ish, though certainly not comparatively, since 3 hours is many less than 24) haul. Susan, Leary and I started chatting, and ended up running together for quite some time.
It was warm and humid, which made us miss that December weather we would have had, but it mostly remained overcast, so at least it wasn't tremendously hot. Just sweaty. But we kept it nice and controlled and conversational, and the first hour flew by. Unlike last time, where I ran with my hydration pack, this time I decided to carry no water at all. I wanted to practice having to seek out water when I needed it, and practice doing short walk breaks to drink. I also wanted to use this run as a test for eating more solid food. One thing I'm concerned about with UMC is food fatigue. I normally eat Gu for marathons or for Ironman runs, and by the end of 26.2 miles, I'm just about done with Gu. Actually, usually before the end, and I end up resorting to Coke or Gatorade for the last few miles. So I wanted to see if I could find something else that might appeal and might sit well. In this case, I was testing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So every 30-40 minutes, I ate a quarter of a pb&j sandwich. It seemed to go fairly well. There was a period of about 2 loops where I thought I might need a portapotty stop, and felt slightly full, but then it faded, and I never ended up stopping. I did learn that I need to drink a TON of water when I eat it, though. Noted. Overall a successful experiment, though I need to figure out timing based on total calories still.
Maybe 90 minutes in, Susan stopped to grab something, and Leary stopped to get water, and they'd both already said a few times to keep going if they slowed down or stopped, so I kept going, figuring they'd catch me in a while. I was ostensibly on my own now, but there's so many people out there running such a short loop at so many different paces, you're almost never alone. You're passing someone, or you're being passed, or someone's family is cheering for you. It's just a nice event.
After a while, a familiarish face passed me, and I said, "Hey, Mark Lindsey, you don't know me, but I'm your friend on facebook." Mark is a multi-Ultraman finisher who pretty much everyone who knows Ultraman has asked me, "Do you know Mark Lindsey?" And though we've been friends on facebook for a few weeks, this was the first time we'd actually met. He slowed down to run with me, and we spent the next few loops discussing Ultraman, and I got to pick his brain a bit and ask questions. It was great to get to know him a bit, and get some good advice, and get out of my own head for a little while.
The next time we passed by my stuff, I stopped to grab a bite of sandwich, and he kept going, and so I was alone again, and remained alone the rest of the time. I ran briefly with Leary, and briefly with a guy I dubbed "weird sandal guy" because.. well, he was wearing sandals to run, and then said encouraging things to other runners in passing.
And before I knew it, we only had 30 minutes to go. I was still feeling pretty good, especially considering I was 30 minutes beyond my longest run in quite some time, so I tried to pick it up a bit. I really have no idea if I was successful. The gps in my watch couldn't cope with all the trees we were running under, so it didn't do a great job of telling me how far I ran or how fast (fortunately the race knows how many loops you ran, since it was chip timed; if I'd run with Leary the whole time, he could have told me, too, because evidently that guy can count laps like no other). But I FELT pretty strong, and people kept telling me I looked strong. Of course, they told me this as I passed them, because they were being conservative, because while I had 30 minutes left, they still had TWENTY ONE AND A HALF HOURS LEFT. Crazy.
At the same time I was trying to pick up or maintain my pace, I was also trying not to completely wreck myself. I had decided to wear my road shoes, because it isn't in any way a technical trail, and I haven't worn my trail shoes in many, many months (though I brought them just in case). But while it's not technical, it is VERY mulchy, and it's that giant, branchy mulch, so my feet were moving around all over the place inside my shoes, making me nervous I was going to end up with horrible blisters (spoiler: just minor blisters), and as I picked up my pace, or at least my effort, I started to become a lot of less graceful, and threatened to turn my ankles or faceplant several times. Not good. Dial it back a liiiittle bit.
I tried not to dwell on the race clock too much each time I came around, just stay strong, but as the time ticked down, I knew I'd have to strategize the end of my race. You only get credit for the laps you complete under the 3 hour time limit, so if it takes you 7 minutes to run one loop, and you finish a loop at 2:55, there's no point in going back out for one last loop (unless you just want the distance for your own betterment; but it doesn't count toward your race lap total).
I glanced at the clock and saw I definitely had time for one more loop, maaaaaaybe two more, depending on how the first one went. I ran a loop steady and strong, but controlled, encouraging the folks who I knew were also 3 hour people (it was very hard to know who was doing which race without asking, but after 3 hours, you'd chatted with basically everyone out there, and you had some idea who was doing what), since we were almost done. I checked the clock as I came through again, and I knew I had enough time to do one more, if I could keep that pace. I headed out for one last loop, and pushed myself as hard as I felt I safely could. My legs were getting very tired, but knowing that I was almost done kept me going. And as I rounded the corner, I saw that I had made it under 3 with less than a minute to spare. Yay, got my money's worth!
And then, with very little fanfare, the clock hit 3 hours, and my race was over!
I drank some water, drank some more water, drank a cup of Coke, ate a small bowl of delicious mac'n'cheese (I hadn't had any of the aid station food during the race, but now I was ready to take advantage) (except that small bowl of mac'n'cheese was all I ended up having), and then I realized my legs were pretty tight, and I should do a cooldown loop. So with my stomach full of water, pasta and cheese I hit the trail again for one last, slow, shaky loop, and I got to cheer on the people who still had a lot of hours left in their races, and now a lot less people to chat with on the course.
Once I finished my cooldown, I drank more water and started trying to assess how Matt was feeling. He was going to try to tell me at 3 hours whether he was feeling okay to try the whole 6 hours, but each time he'd go through, he was so focused and didn't really stop, I had a hard time barging in front of him and saying, "TELL ME YOUR PLAN NOW." So I just bided my time and hung out and talked with the other people who'd finished their 3 hour races.
As I was hanging out chatting, the race director starting wandering around with a clipboard and a pile of knit hats, calling out names. He called Mark's name, and told him he got third place overall, and handed him a hat. He called a few more guy names, then asked if there was a someone, a Brenda, or an Amy? I said, "I'm an Amy!" And he told me I was second female! And handed me a hat! I was so excited, because last year I was first female, but they didn't do female awards, so I got nothing (except that Matt made me the most AWESOME AWARD EVER). And it was an Olga-made hat! Super nifty.
In the end, it turned out Jim Pacey won and Mark got third. It was later revealed that, despite what the results said, I was actually FIRST female, because the female who beat me was actually that person's son (weird sandal guy, it turned out!), running with her chip. So yay, I defended my title! And Susan got second female!
Hat winners Amy, Jim, Mark and Susan!
Photo from Jim's phone.
Overall a very fun race, and a nice way to end it.
I finally managed to pester Matt long enough to establish that he was going to try to run all 6 hours, so I jumped in the car and drove home, grabbed the dogs, and drove back. It was a dog-focused event, so dogs were welcome, and with so much time to kill before Matt was done, there was no reason not to bring them to join in the fun. They had a blast meeting people, and I walked them around the 1k loop, making sure to step off the trail every time a runner went by. And man, that 1k loop took about 4 times as long with two excited and unfocused dogs in tow.
With about half an hour to go, the dogs and I stopped to chat with a women who was crewing for her friend who was doing the 24 hour race. It was her first time to crew, and she wasn't a runner, so we talked about the challenges and weirdnesses of the event, while Hilda laid down in the dirt and Enzo whined about how bored he was. After a while, Mark Freeman and Shari came and joined us, and we cheered for the 6 hour folks who were nearly done.
Matt was obviously pushing himself, as Matts do, and breathing loudly and intensely, and gathering quite a cheering squad as a result. The way the course wound around, you could hear him coming from quite a distance. We were just around the corner from the finish line, and as he came by, I cheered for him and said, "One more loop!" because he was getting pretty close to the 6 hour mark. He said, "2 more loops!" Which seemed a little ambitious to us, given the time left and how much he was obviously suffering, but hey, I will never underestimate Matt's ability to push himself.
Then he came through again, and yes, there were still several minutes left, but it was 5:54:50 or so, and so he would have to haul his butt around that last loop really fast to get credit for it. We held our breath as we cheered for other folks, and then after a few minutes, we saw him from afar, winding around the agility course (the agility course is for dogs, not for the people running the race), still some distance from where we were/the finish line. And there were only about 2 minutes left before 6. We couldn't see the finish line clock from where we were, so we walked around the corner, and saw that the clock was at 5:58:something. Barely any time left, and no sign of Matt.
Except then we heard him! We heard him from around the corner, pushing himself so hard, and as he tore around the corner, with less than a minute to go, we knew he was going to make it. People were going crazy cheering for him as he pushed himself to the line. And then after all our doubt over whether he'd make it, he crossed the line with more than half a minute to spare! And ended up third place overall for the 6 hour run. So amazing.
Most of the 6 hour finishers.
Photo by Deborah Sexton.
And for us, that's all she wrote! Of course, people continued to run for another 6 or 18 hours after we left. Again.. amazing.
Overall, love this event and the folks who put it on, and we'll definitely be back for Run Like the Wind 2014 part 2, hopefully in December and with better weather!
Shirt, medals and victory hats!
Photo by Matt.