The quick version: I finished!!!
Now for the longer *and probably more information than you’d ever wanted to know* version.
I arrived in Houston Wednesday evening. I am part of a terrific racing team: Renegade Endurance http://www.renegadeendurance.com/ and two of my teammates picked me up a the airport and drove me to my hotel. Renegades are good people!
Thursday, I lounged around and tried to rest up. My original plan had been to rest on Thursday and Friday before hitting the trails Saturday. I was going to pick up my race packet Saturday morning before the race, pin on my bib and run. Funny how the “best laid plans” can change.
I found out later on Thursday that some of my other teammates had made plans for all of us for Friday. My Friday ended up being a pretty busy day! It included packet pickup and setting up the Renegade Team Tent for Saturday’s race.
The race was held at Brazos State Park. It’s a very nice park! If you’re in the area, you should make a visit. I think you’d really enjoy your time there.
We set up the tent and grabbed something to eat.
Directly across the trail from the tent was this sign.
*lunch
It was at this point when EVERYBODY on the team came to the realization that I am a talker. LOL!!! I was amused. I HAD warned them but I don’t think they realized that my mouth does NOT have an off button. Hahaha!!! Well, I’m laughing. I think they’re still shaking their heads in bewilderment.
Once I got back to the hotel Friday evening, I laid out my clothes and all the other goodies I’d need for the race the next morning. I took my obligatory “Flat Melinda” pic and posted it to social media.
When I went to bed, I had exactly 5 hours I could sleep before the alarm woke me up. I twitched and thrashed around for a few hours. Once I did fall asleep, I woke up every 45 minutes. It was dreadful! I think I got *maybe* 2 hours sleep. UGH. I finally just got up.
Pretty soon one of my teammates was at my door to tape my Achilles with Rock Tape. I slapped on my socks and shoes and we headed off for the race.
It was soooo cold!!! Holy Cow it was cold! Now, y’all know what a #coldweathersissy I am and I thought I would be a frozen block of ice before the race got started. Lucky for me, another teammate had brought an extra blanket and I bundled up. As a matter of fact, I didn’t toss that blanket until I crossed the starting line. That blanket was wonderful!!!
With about 2 minutes to got before gun time, I heard somebody yelling, “Mama! Mom!!!” I didn’t think a thing of it….except it was a grown man’s voice. The voice was getting closer and closer~”Mama!!! Mom!”
I thought, “Huh?” I looked up and there was a Twitter friend and his wife! Hahaha!!!! There’s a long story to that but you know how stories lose something in the translation so we’ll just leave it be~ but it was pretty doggone funny!
What a treat to meet both of them! We bumped into each other many times on the trails as well. They were both running strong. *Awesome job, you two!”
Bumped into another IG/FB friend on the trails, too! I tell you, meeting all your online friends at races is worth all the training and tears during the grueling miles.
I met others as well but, Sad Panda that I am, didn’t get pics. #missedopportunites
We had 12 people racing at Brazos Bend from Renegade Endurance. The race had a Half Marathon, Marathon, 50 Mile and 100 Mile. Every single one of us did great! Renegades DON’T Quit!
Then again, you know what they say in Ultra running:
Now to the actual race report:
I wanted to finish as close to 12 hours as possible. I finished in 12:46. I was #99 overall in the 50M and #47 female. Not as close as I’d like but I admit to walking more than I should have in the last loop. There was some mud that in the dark was being kind of ugly and I was soooo proud of myself. I had stayed vertical so far…the longest I’d gone in an Ultra without falling! I elected to tip toe through the mud and see if I could go the whole 50 miles without falling (I did!!! YAY, me!)
This was a three loop course for the 50 milers. The first loop I came in under 4 hours so I was pretty happy with that. The second loop? I HAD to find a little girls room! Apparently I wasn’t the only one because there was a loooongg line for that outhouse. I stopped twice on that second loop for potty breaks and there was a line every time. Made new friends chatting in line so that’s a good thing, right?
I completed the second loop 20 minutes slower than the first. Rats.
Headed out for the last loop feeling pretty good. I zoomed through the part that I knew had all the tree roots and uneven pavement. I wanted to do that before the sun went down. Once the sun went down, all I would have to mess with would be the mud. I already told you about walking around all the muddy stuff so we’ll not re-hash that.
Now, about the course, itself? It’s beautiful! Super, super pretty and super, super flat! Some people excel on flat courses. They sound wonderful, right? For some reason, they present new challenges to me. I work the living daylights out of the same muscle groups without being able to give them a rest from doing hills with opposing muscle groups. Those muscles get very, very tired. I’ve found this to be the same at the Berlin Marathon, also a very flat course. All of that to say, my ITBS was giving me fits. It was what it was so I dealt with it as best as I could. I would stop and stretch a bit and then keep on going.
For fuel: I relied on Tailwind. AWESOME stuff!!! 50 miles without any GI problems. No gut bombs. No hunger issues. Happy tummy and energy filled miles. #WINNING
Shoes and socks: Without any hesitation, I wore my Injinji’s. Best. Socks. Ever. Enough said on that. The shoes were a gamble. I almost always wear Altra LonePeak’s for my Ultra’s but my Achilles have been giving me fits lately and I didn’t think 50 miles in zero drop shoes and niggly Achilles was a very good idea. I rolled the dice and wore a pair of On Trail Shoes. I only had 6 miles on these shoes and those had been on the road! Those miles were just to see if I thought I *might* like them. Like I said, a gamble. Have to say, they were terrific! I was very happy with them!
Somebody asked me if I changed my shoes and socks mid run. Not this time. The trails were dry so I never felt the need to change things out.
Chafing? NONE! I used my ChafeX again. This stuff is fabulous! If you’ve never tried it you really, really should. 50 miles and no chafing? I’m the queen of chafing so this is pretty big deal stuff!
I did not see a single alligator or snake. Not surprised about the snakes seeing how chilly it was but I was kind of hoping for a great alligator story. I DID see wild boars on my first loop. They just all of a sudden zoomed across the trail! You know all of my animal stories from my training runs but this was the first time ever I’d encountered wild hogs. Saw a huge turtle and lots of Pelicans. That’s about it for the animals on the trails.
I came to Texas to run a race and to meet people on my racing team. I’m leaving today having met them and made friends with them and with lots of other people I met on the trails. I know I could race better if I buttoned my lip but where’s the fun in that!?!
So, that makes 50 Miles done and dusted!
Today I’m leaving for Colorado. I’ll meet MFH there and we’ll do Christmas with #1 Daughter and her #1 Fiance’ Can’t wait!!!
#blessed
#IRun4Aiden
#teamZensah
#AbbottWMM
#ChafeX
#areyourenegade