Race: Pemberton Trail 50K
Okay, for those of you saying this running thing is becoming a obsession with them - duh, we already long ago acknowledged that. You must just now be reading the blog? Anyway, so Fifty Kilometers (50K) equals Thirty-One (31) Miles. When you think about it, it really doesn’t sound like all that more that a Marathon. It’s a cheesy 5 miles more right? Heck you’re doing that much anyway what’s a little added. I think probably overall that is a fair statement, however to steal an old friend’s line “cepting’ one thing”. That one thing is that Ultra Marathon’s (for our non running friends anything more than the 26.2 is generally considered an “Ultra Marathon”) are typically NOT RAN on the road. They typically are done on trails. Trails usually have hills, or go through Mountains, or have a lot of rocks, and switchbacks, and all that other good up and down stuff. So all that said, it is not the miles as much as it is the ‘logistics’ as we always say - and such was the case with the Pemberton Trail 50K.
When we normally talk pre-race ‘logistics’ it’s all about: sleep the night before, how the body feels with all the little aches and pains, how did the restroom thing go (sorry to mention but it’s a biggie), the weather, etc. etc. So with an Ultra you now add; how much elevation, how technical are the trails, is the path rocky, where are the aid stations, I need to do a ‘drop bag’ (your own food etc seeing you will be on your feet for hours on end), are there any on course ‘health break’ spots or will the big rock and the cholla be getting some unexpected electrolyte water (so to speak), etc.
This is the part where I normally comment “see with all the other stuff to deal with the race itself is the easy part”. Well, not this time. Freaking running for 4:39:30 (my time which was 29th overall) and Kimberly’s amazing on-her-feet-running 6:25:55 (106th overall but about 35th among women because there just are not that many ladies that are rock stars and do this type thing) is hard!! Let’s just say there was hills, there was sun, and the last 3 miles felt like the first 10. So no complaining about the logistics, we are fessin’ up and saying 50K while an amazingly fun adventure, be’ a none too easy way to start a Saturday morning.
What a riot this race was. In hindsight, the course wasn’t all the tough. The people at Ultra’s are all just the coolest, nicest people you want to meet. Fringe types true, but really fun to hang with :-).