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| Let's Do This! |
Up at 4:00a.m., (mandatory) cute outfit donned (orange-on-black electric bolt gaiters & orange hat pulling it all together with a green dragon/orange lotus Ink-n-Burn tank), Body Glide applied, peanut butter toast eaten, appreciation given for the decent weather forecast (partly sunny, 65°-75°with mild humidity) and in HIKR JOY on the road to Baraboo, WI by 4:45 a.m. for our 7:30a.m. start time.
Crazy hard, crazy fun day. This is the kind of race where the successes are seen in the process more than the final numbers. The kind of race where the final numbers may only be impressive to the those who actually endured the course; those who knew how difficult the Ice Age Trail single-track really was. I ran well and I ran strong. I felt good the whole time. Coach Matt wanted me to do a 1 mile warm up jog before and AFTER the race. Crazy Town. I did the one mile warm-up, which seemed like a questionable idea (wouldn't that deplete me of some energy before the race even started?), but I ain't questioning the coach! It was actually nice and did warm me up well. I did some other warm up moves and then it was race time.
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| Click to Enlarge This Picture - We're The Blue Loop |
The course begins down a grossly tractor-tire rutted road as it heads into the woods onto the Ice Age Trail at Parfrey's Glen. At the entrance to the woods, a bottleneck historically occurs where a wide path narrows to single-track, so the race informally started the 500 of us half marathoners into waves based on projected pace to reduce those bottleneck issues. Joe took off in Wave 1, while I placed myself in the third and final wave.
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| Elevation Profile |
The first 2 mile uphill jaunt included tons of walking (EVERYONE else was too) and camaraderie, as runners marched single file up the unforgiving rocky hill. I talked to a guy who'd just done the Ragnar last month (his team finished an hour faster than our team) and with another guy who was adhering to the Maffetone Method (remember my days of low heart rate training?), keeping his HR under 139 for the entire race. I'd run on brief flat portions of that 2-mile march and once we reached the top, as planned, I flew downhill. It was mainly single track so I was skimming trees to get around people☺ On level areas I was killing it too with a faster pace than estimated. I was grateful for all the trees protecting me from the sun - it was turning steamy. I'm one of those mega sweaters, capable of losing 5%+ of my body weight on a run, so I was taking in an energy block roughly every mile.
My speedy feet screeched to a halt abruptly at Mile 6, where a turn in direction led to a sharp climb (see elevation chart above). Mile 6-7 was insanely steep. I had to hike the entire mile (along with everyone else) - it was one of those pitched slopes that are even difficult to walk up, but as we neared the top, it was clear we'd arrived to something big. A short flat run led to the scenic South Bluff overlook of Devil's Lake. Runners used this as an opportunity to snap photos and guzzle GU, but having seen this view (and better) in my many trips to Devil's Lake State Park, I kept moving. Down a steep boulder staircase, then racing a long downhill portion with no other runners in sight until another uphill slog began. Uphill, downhill, the elevation changes gradually diminished into the final 2 miles.
The last 2 miles out were all downhill. Wheeee! I flew again, but I was so soaked with sweat that my shorts were heavy and threatening to fall down - had to keep grabbing them and tugging them back up! I always lose the nails of my second toes at some point each year following races with a lot of downhills. I was doing great this year until that toe slammed into a rock. Doh! I'll be losing that nail in a couple months☺
Coming off the downhill breeze, there was a brief uphill incline that felt like Mt. Everest before turning back to the homestretch on that terribly rutted road (pictured below).
I planned my race well and had a little kick to the finish line (pictured above)...and then it was off to run a 1 mile cool down. That 1-mile cool down sucked. I hated every second of it. After running 14+ hard miles (remember, I had that 1 mile warm-up), the last thing I wanted to do was run some more. I felt like a poser in that cool down mile, as if I was some amazing runner who just had to keep going. Someone joked, "You know the race is done, right?" I would have preferred to walk a couple miles instead and think it would have had the same benefit. This will be a future discussion for Coach Matt☺
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| Our Medals & Joe's Duffel Bag |
Now, back to that thing about this being the kind of race that is more about the process than the outcome. Just what were the outcomes? My overall time was 2:52:23 (13:10 pace). This race had 185 floors. Since I stuck to my plan, finished strong and know I gave it my all, I couldn't ask for a better result. Joe was humbled to a 9:14 pace (that's 2:03:40 - and that was with minimal walking) and placed third in his age group, winning this cool duffel bag!
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| YOLO! We Did It! |
After a wipe down and clothing change at the car, compression socks on, recovery smoothie and healthy snacks in hand for the drive home, we pointed East towards an evening of pizza and movies. Half Marathon 23 for Joy and 20 for Joe, is a good one for the history books.
