His "test run" at ultra running was this weekend at Blues Cruise 50K and based on how it went, he decided that it will be his first and last ultra. He considered it a failure because it wasn't fun and he used the word horrific to describe the experience. His summary of the course was a 20% grade slip-and-slide with a waist deep river crossing. It poured the night before so everything was muddy and soggy and all of the trails were quite technical. Scott's time was 5:05 and he finished 39th out of 237. He ran almost the entire time, with the exception of the steepest hills, and never imagined that it would take so long or that he could run so slow (considering he is a sub-3 hr marathoner).
He said it just wasn't the athletic nirvana that he was hoping for so he decided not to bother with the 50 miles in Nov. Plus, another issue with ultra running is that the deadly peanut butter was everywhere at the aid stations. I asked him what is next for him athletically and he said that he will continue run commuting to work and just enjoy doing 10Ks and 10 milers when the mood strikes him since he has fun at those distances. And once the girls are older, he might start training for triathlon again.
Here are some really great race pics
10 comments:
I never even thought about the peanut butter issue before. What a pain. His finish time and placing is crazy impressive, especially given it was his first. But yeah,that sounds kind of miserable.
Kudos to Scott for finishing the 50K and for deciding what is best for him is having fun (totally agree). I keep thinking about once ours are older too maybe I will try to get back into the triathlon thing, but then I just don't know.
Those pictures are great but crazy to think about running in water up to your knees during a 5 hour run! Great job to Scott!
Kudos to Scott for getting through something like that! And also for knowing that having had a taste of it, it just ain't his thing...I think that pic of him crossing the bridge kind of said it all...tough going. And I cannot believe they put pb at the aid stations, I mean, it isn't even allowed in school environments or virtually at any public gathering anymore, yet it's at an ultra? Anyways I hope Scott enjoys his favoured running pursuits! Hope all is going well with your rehab too.
how miserable. running in WET shoes. ugh. maybe if it was shorter it could have been fun, but sloggoing thru 50k like that. yikes! congrats tp him for finishing though- he still did very well.
Wow! Congrats. You know i have a good friend that did the Leadville 100 mile run race, not the bike, it took her over 24 hours, and you know what? that does NOT sound fun to me. So maybe you know if it's for you or its not. Glad he figured it out:) Cool pics tho!
Yes, huge congrats to Scott for finishing the 50k. Those ultras are something else for sure!! I hate getting dirty, so that would NOT be fun! LOL
Guess this means you won't be coming to Frederick MD next month afterall? We are less than a half hour from there and were going to see if we could meet up. :(
What a trooper he was to complete a 50k. I too have an anaphylactic reaction to a common food item (dairy--which is in EVERYTHING, bread, cheez-its, trail mix, m&ms, pretzels, chicken soup,etc) and i have wondered if I could do an ultra without using food at aid stations. That said, he can now check off "ultra" from his bucket list. Great job to him!
5:05 is a FANTASTIC finish time for a difficult 50k. It took me barely under 6 hours to run that distance the two times I've done it. Well, I guess three times counting the 50k in-transit to the horrible suffering that was the last 8 miles of Uwharrie 40.
Ultra's are more fun when we give ourselves permission to coast for a long while. For me, this reliably gets me through about 30-33 miles without wanting to quit. This is why my schedule has two 50k's on it this year and nothing longer than that. I'm an odd bird, but I really like the challenge of difficult courses and conditions.
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