Race Report - Light 2 Light 50 Miler
I’d like to start out this race report with sincere thanks to all who have offered advice and encouragement as I considered trying this race and then trained for it! I don’t have a lot of runners in my every day life, much less runners with ultra experience. Your input was greatly appreciated and helped me formulate my approach to this race.
Saturday was my first attempt at 50 miles at the Light 2 Light 50 Miler on the Outer Banks of NC. The race started at the Currituck Beach Light House in Corolla, NC and ran down the island through Duck, Kitty Hawk and Nags Head to the Bodie Island Light House before returning to Nags Head to finish at Jeannette’s Pier. The course was entirely paved and near pancake flat.
It was hard finding specific information on the race, which was in its 2nd running. With only four aid stations, I really wanted a course map. Unfortunately, this photo of the race director’s note pad was as close as I could get to that:
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Race day weather was near perfect, if a little chilly to start, ranging from ~30 up to the upper 40s. Fortunately, the coastal winds pretty much took a break for the day, too. My race got off to a near disastrous start. Somehow I got confused on the start time and we arrived at 5:55 for what I thought was going to be a 6:30 start. Nope, the race started at 6:00 and kicked off before I was in my hydration pack and before my Garmin had a chance to sync up. I was last across the line.
Fortunately, I was able to settle into my rhythm pretty quickly and started ticking off consistent miles. In an attempt to forestall fatigue, I started with a strategy of walking 1:00 of every mile run. That not only allowed me to rest my legs, it also allowed me an opportunity to take nutrition while walking instead of trying to gobble on the run. The “nothing new on race day” rule was broken here, too, as I tried Uncrustables as a fuel for the first time. Wow! Thanks again for the recommendations, everyone! It was perfect for me. Easy to eat and sat easy on the stomach.
The first aid station was at 15 miles. I met
@apdebord there briefly for the first time, handed off my gloves, headlamp and headband to DW who was crewing for me, restocked on Uncrustables and headed back out. The mental challenge of the distance started to intrude around this point, passing mile 26 knowing I had just run a full marathon and was only about halfway there! The next aid station was supposed to be around mile 27 and, having miscalculated my water intake, I ran out about a mile early. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but the station turned out to be around mile 28, instead. I changed into a lighter, dry shirt, refilled my hydration pack and moved on.
At this point, it was apparent my intervals weren’t going to be sustainable, so I started to play around with them, looking for a sweet spot. I settled on walking 30-45 seconds of each half mile. My pacing started to flag a little around this time, too. It was getting warmer and lonelier, as 57 starters get spread out by quite a bit over the course of 50 miles. Around mile 32 or so, my mouth was getting so dry I couldn’t get and more food down on the run, too. My legs were also really starting to feel the effect of all the pounding by the time I pulled into aid station 3.
I got to have a nice, if brief, conversation with
@apdebord who was volunteering there while her husband was busy crushing the course (I think he was 4th overall at that point). I had my Gatorade and banana, changed shoes and socks and declined a hydration pack refill (oops) before heading out on the penultimate leg of the race. At this point I was struggling a bit both physically and mentally and my intervals were up to walking 2:00 of every half mile, although that didn’t affect my pace as dramatically as I would have thought. My water intake was increasing, though, and declining the refill hurt when I ran out of water 4 miles short of the last aid station. I was able to text DW and get her to bring me more about 2 miles down the road.
By the time I hit the last aid station around mile 43, I knew I was going to finish. I could walk it in under time from there. The only time goal I had set for the race was a super secret double probation sub-12:00 that I hadn’t shared with anyone. But with how well and consistently the first half to 2/3 of the race went, I had become emotionally invested in a sub-11:00 finish and I didn’t think I was going to make it if the pacing trend of the last 10-12 miles held and I was feeling down about that as I headed into the last stretch of the race.
When I hit mile 44, I looked at my watch and did some calculations and thought I might have an outside chance at that sub-11:00 if I could pick up the pace a little. So I pulled out the headphones I hadn’t used yet, started up my favorite 80s playlist, and said “screw it, let’s see what we can do”. I kept my intervals the same, but really bore down on my run pacing and was quickly turning out miles almost as fast as at the start of the race. I was able to keep the pace up through a strong finish at 10:43:48!
It was a great race and I enjoy it more as each hour post-race passes. I learned a lot about what goes into running those distances and where I need to improve (hydration management and aid station dwell time, especially). I don’t see myself going much past this distance, either. But I said that after my 50k, too.
Once again, thanks for reading a long-winded race report. There’ll be a quiz later.
TL;DR:
Finished my first 50 miler this weekend. Met all official and unofficial goals:
1. Don’t die - Check
2. Finish - Check
3. (Secret goal). Finish sub-12:00 - CRUSHED! 10:43:48!
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