Ice Age 50 Miler--May 12, 2012
"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt" --Margaret Atwood
What better time to start blogging than with Patagonia as my
new sponsor and a win in Wisconsin at the Ice Age 50 miler! This was a solo trip
planning to make it a quick race weekend for some Montrail Ultra Cup points
(having DNF’d Run Rabbit Run, I was in need of a 3rd race, hence WI). The course
profile…rolling hills nothing crazy. Based
on this I set my stretch goal as a CR sub 7:11:43, hell why not! My second
goal was to beat the masters record 7:17:07(sorry Meghan) and my 3rd
goal was sub 7:30. Race day arrived and I over slept my 3AM alarm, thankfully I awoke
to my second at 3:30am. Thankful as my DP (domestic partner) back in Bend also
slept through his 1:30am pst alarm, he was my security phone call!! Yikes! Although I still had good time to prep I had
a little extra adrenalin coursing through my veins.
I arrived at Kettle Maraine Park at 5:15, plenty of time to
pick up my race bib, #50. I actually
looked at the other runners to verify that my #50 was my bib # and not 50 for
the race I was running….what a dork!
|
Sandi Nypaver and I chasing down the leader |
The stage was set with the RD singing the National Anthem
then we were off. I cruised through the first
10 miles, a bit fast averaging about a 7:40 pace. I was in a group of runners including Sandi
Nypaver and Adam Schwartz-Lowe(he too ran HURT 100) Sandi and I were 2nd
and 3rd behind Melanie Peters.
F1 went out even faster than us.
Unfortunately I was surprised to find the “rolling” hills relentless and
technical and just like that I was rethinking my goals for the day.
|
Charging hard for the finish |
I was racing with a Ultraspire hydration pack and it allowed
me to race through the AS’s happily sipping on my fluid and munching on Honey
Stinger chews and S Caps. The weather was humid but with a light cloud cover,
not too hot. The hills eased up around mile 20 and I was happy to see some
forested stretches to stretch my legs out on.
I passed Sandi, F2 and found F1 at mile 22 coming into an AS. I was feeling pretty good and left the AS in
the lead. This did not last long,
Melanie quickly caught me and pulled ahead…she was apparently feeling better,
and for the second time, I let her go. A
bystander saw us a few paces apart and said “it’s a race” my silent reply, “not
this early and not at this pace”! After
she was out of sight, I settled back into my own pace up hill, down hill, up hill
et. honey stinger, salt, hydration. I
looked at my garmin at mile 26, 3:42…this meant I was still on pace for what I
thought was the CR (turns out the time on ultrasignup is not the CR, the
website has the CR at 7:04 set by Ann Trason!) I plugged in some tunes around
mi 33 happy to take my mind off the leg fatigue from the ups and downs. About mi 36 I lost satellite with my Garmin :
( As I came into the AS at mi 37 I again caught sight of F1 who was just
leaving. This AS doubles back at mi 43
and I asked the crew to have my drop bag ready.
Figured that would be a good time to swap for my handheld and drop the
pack (almost empty) and off I went after F1!
I caught her in the next mile and put in a small surge up a hill, Melanie
took a few walking steps and I passed her continuing the surge up and over the
hill.
I reached the next AS at mi 40 and
turned around heading back to the previous AS.
No watch but figured when I saw F2 I had put about a 4 min gap on
her. I kept pushing the pace and while
not feeling fast I knew I was running faster than F2. I hit AS at mile 43 looking for my drop bag
and turns out that it was MIA…I left the AS with my almost empty pack. At that point I concentrated on taking
smaller sips from my hydration pack and drinking at the AS’s. The last AS was 1.5 mi to the finish, what a
great feeling! I drank some coke and off
I went. Overall I was feeling pretty
good, still trotting the hills, and passing some of the guys : ) As I came up the final hill to the finish my
eyes went immediately to the clock, 7:12 and change...finishing in 7:12:37, F1
and 11th overall!!! Super great feeling! I will be taking home the win along with some
extra Montrail points : ) Added bonus...turns
out running sub 7:20 at Ice Age also qualifies me for consideration for the
2013 World 100k team, what an amazing day!
|
And Done! |
Huge thank you to RD, Jeff Mallach for putting on such a great event it was super well supported, and plenty of course markings to keep to keep even ME on the right trail! Props to the Patagonia design team, my gear took great care of me all day, perfect fit with no issues to be found even after 7 hours!
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