On June 6th I became an Ultra Runner by running my first 50k "Another Dam 50k".
Dan, Charles, Ladd, and I went to the Dayton area to run Another Dam 50k. Dan and Ladd had ran many other ultra events, but for Charles and I this would be our first. My goal was to "finish".
The day started out with rain, rain and more rain! All the way to Dayton it rained and poured. By the time we arrived in Englewood the rain stopped and it was humid as could be. The temps didn't go too high it was just very muggy all day! The course was a 7.8 mile loop that we were to run 4 times.
Off we went, Charles and I had decided we would run this together. The first part of the course was a mile or so in the sun with no wind or air movement as we ran on the side of the dam, then there was about a 1/2 mile of downhill on a curvy road, after that we were on dirt trails 4.5 miles a short grassy meadow run and more trails. The trails were nice except where they were very muddy, which about 1/2 of them were, during the muddy parts you had to be very careful not to slip (which I assumed by the end I would face plant in at one point or another).
Our first loop was our fastest at a 1:17. At the end of this loop we refilled our bottles and got back on the trail. We joined up with a few other guys in the 2nd loop and they let me lead through the trails (which made me feel really strong!) Charles started having stomach problems at this point, we saw Ladd and Dan starting their 3rd loop as we were finishing our 2nd, we refilled, sprayed for bugs and refueled (I should have used my inhaler but forgot...) back to running. Charles had some real struggles in the first 2 miles of this loop and asked me to leave him many times before I did. So at this point 18 miles into the 31 miles, I was all alone. I started taking pictures, texting and running, had a few short phone conversations with friends and when no one else was around I listened to music from my phone (because I had no headset, I turned it off each time I passed another runner) . Ran into Dan and Ladd at the midway aid station got a hug and a kiss. With about one mile left in lap 3 I had an asthma attack... a little scary as I was alone.... finally back to the start line and my inhaler. I felt better and quickly started my 4th lap, and asked a few volunteers to tell Charles that he was not allowed to quit. I was so excited to start this lap as I would soon hit my most miles run ever (up until this point 26.2 was the furthest). I was running across the dam when I saw Charles on the bottom path of the dam I yelled at him to not quit and keep trying hard, he yelled a few things back at me but I couldn't hear him. I then saw Ladd and Dan about 1/4 of a mile behind Charles, they were finishing their final lap (when Ladd found out that Charles was right in front of him he took off to catch him and did about 1/2 mile before the finish, Ladd and Dan gave Charles a little pep talk and he was back on his way). In the 4th loop I figured out that if I didn't walk up every hill I might be able to break 6 hours so I really pushed it and this was my second fastest loop with a 1:28.
I finished strong and in 5:55 (1 hour after Ladd and Dan). (Charles had a great 4th loop and finished strong also.) I never got to the point where I questioned my decision to do this event, I really enjoyed it and my body was no worse for the wear! It was an excellent experience and I am looking forward to my next one!
