Saturday I competed my first 50k trail run. The Psycho Psummer Trail Run at Wyandotte county park lake, Kansas. I didn't feel like I had done near enough training for it. Most of my miles recently have been logged on the treadmill and I can't seem to do more than 7 miles at a time on the treadmill on account of it being boring. That along with my last longish race fail at the Hospital Hill half marathon I wasn't expecting to finish well. I went to packet pickup the day before asking to be downgraded to the 20 mile run. She put me on the list but talked about how prefect the trail was this year because of lack of rain and said I could change my mind up till the race started.
I woke up Saturday morning at 6:15 still on the 20 mile get this over with track thinking I was going to be a mess by the end of it. I got up dressed and grabbed my stuff trying to sneak out of the house without waking up Gretchen. I made a stop at the Quick Trip for a special k protein bar so I would have something in my stomach to start. After a 30 minute drive over to Wyandotte County Lake Park I parked. It was about 30 minutes till race time and seeing all the other cars I got a little nervous. I really didn't know how many were there for the 10 mile, 20 mile or 50k. I stopped in the bathroom line I headed over to packet pickup to take myself off the 20 mile race and back on the 50k. I decided I would rather fail at the 50k than just finish the 20 miler. I didn't realize till the race was about to start and the race director told us that we were free to drop to the 10 or 20 miler during the race. You still get your metal and you still get counted, cool most races you have to know your distance before you start.
Something went off and the race started it was kind of a run walk up a small grassy hill to the actual trial part being my first trail race I was following everyone else's lead at the start of the race. We hit the trail and it was single file. I just let the runners in front of me determine my pace for about the first 5 miles which I think was best as I usually start out to fast at races. After that the line thinned out a bit and I felt comfortable passing when I wanted to go ahead. Everyone is super friendly about passing each other and if they are not it is because they have ear buds in. You just can't see them.
There were four manned aid stations along the trail along with the one at the start/finish and unmanned water stations in between. All of the volunteers at the aid stations were super great and helpful. I especially appreciated the help with untwisting the top off of my camelbak and refilling it for me. My hands were too sweaty for untwisting caps off of things. The aid stations were a real buffet off snacks. A run down of what I ate and drank on the run(the way I remember it anyway): a ton of water, gallons of succeed(a Gatorade like drink), one can of coke, a containers worth of Pringles, 1/4 of a watermelon, 1/2 a orange, 1 banana, 2 gels, 5 pickles, pack of gummy fruit and 6 s-caps.
The race was divided into 3 laps. I finished the first lap feeling great. I dropped off my shirt because I felt like it was weighing me down, had my camelback refilled, grabbed some snacks and went off for lap 2. I felt like there were about half as many runners around me for lap 2, felt like I was running my own pace, mostly running but walking all the ridiculous uphills. The race was super well marked. I was really happy about this as I always fear getting lost durning a race. It happened once during a half marathon road race but with all the pink flags and straight ahead signs I never even thought I might be going down the wrong path. Nearing the end of lap 2 I spied my daughter, mom and aunt hanging on the side of the trail. Seeing Gretchen was a great pick me up but I still wasn't sure if I was stopping at 20 or going again for round 3. Well I got back to the start and was still feeling good so I figured I'd regret not going for it and out I went.
I defiantly did more walking on the 3rd loop but only because they added all those extra hills on the 3rd loop that I didn't remember from the first 2 loops. The 3rd loop was I running alone for most of it, where did everyone go? Really though I felt decent the whole way through. My legs were sore for sure but apparently I did an excellent job of hydrating because my stomach felt terrific during and after the race. I finished the race in 7 hours and 5 minutes so thrilled about it since I started the day thinking I was going to barely finish the 20 miler. I placed 10th out of 24 women and 31st out of 82 overall.
On the first loop of course in the back wearing lime green shirt.
I believe i'm still munching down on some Pringles in this picture.
By the time I finished the first loop of the course I was feeling bogged down by the sweat filled shirt and had to lose it. I only recently decided that bra only running was acceptable for myself for a few reasons. 1. I think I've reached an acceptable level of fitness to go shirtless and I don't want to hear from you if you disagree with me. 2. I'm running out on the trail where I'll only see other trail people. I wouldn't try this running on the mean streets of Independence. 3. It's like 100+˚ outside.
Another great plus of this race is the free pictures. I may need to work on my run face for the picture taking next time.
