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| Go KIWI! Ruby Muir running into 3rd place at Speedgoat 50k. |
I knew that the distance was only eight or ten extra kms on top of my longest distance run, and I figured that I just had to get out there and start running and just keep going until I completed the distance. I worked out a route that would take in some familiar running territory as well as some new terrain. With a full Camelbak, some food, and my trusty, newly discovered Dextrose tablets, I set out. I kept my pace purposefully slow (somewhere around the 7:30min/km), and plodded along quite comfortably for the first 10. My strategy, was to run as much as possible on the grass verge to provide a softer running surface, and less impact for my joints. I also kept the magnitude of my task right at the back of my mind, and tried not to calculate distance covered, or distance still to go.
My knee and consequently hip started to get twingy around kilometer 18, and I tried to ignore this for a while, but decided to get out my kinestesiology tape, and wound it around my knee, in a fashion that I hoped was close to the sort of technique that I have seen other athletes use. The relief was instant, and the remainder of my run, my knee was pretty comfortable. At km 20 I stopped to buy some Powerade and some Coke (to flatten) (which I have heard is magical go-go juice for endurance sports). I periodically shook the Coke and opened the lid to release the gas, sticky syrup pouring over my fingers and clothes.
The day warmed up as I headed towards Lake Hood, the cloud cover dispersing, and the sun beginning to beat down. I knew that I just had to cover another 5km before I could turn around and head for home. I think that I found this part of the run the hardest, I still had the longest distance to run looming ahead of me, and I was hungry and tired. I sat down for a few minutes at the turn around to further secure the strapping tape on my knee (sweat and movement were making it loose it's stick).
Back in town, I bought an enormous bag of lollies, and with only 20km to go, I felt that I didn't really have much running left. As the sun shone down, my new self motivational strategy was to stuff my face with lollies whenever I felt like slowing to a walk, eating boosted my sugar levels and distracted me from feeling tired. I just kept on keeping on: left - right - repeat, and somewhere around km 35 it got easier, all discomfort (sore soles, rubbed toes, achy legs) seemed to evaporate. I wasn't running very fast but I was travelling along quite comfortably.
As I ran through the 40km mark, I felt elated, every step I took now, I was running further that I had ever run before, plus I only had 10km to go, hardly any distance at all compared to what I had already run.
The sun was starting to set as I headed up the home straight. I had been running for over 7 hours, but by god, I was going to make it, I was going to have run 50km! I pulled out my by now, very flat Coke, and swigged away as I covered the last few km. I don't know if the Coke had the desired go-go juice effect, but the caffeine hit was welcome. As I reached the house, my GPS watch read 49.90km, so I did a couple of loops around the house (victory laps!) to boost the mileage to the desired distance.
I had done it. I ran 50km. It seems a bit surreal, and weirdly I found it easier than running 40km. I had my own little 50km victory, and I know that I wasn't 'killing it' over the mountains, but I was only about an hour behind Ruby's time...not too shabby for a first crack at the distance!
My joints have been feeling a bit "used" since I ran, so I have been taking it reasonably easy and not doing too much. I have been walking a lot, and have done a couple of short, slow runs. The worst after effect for me was a bit of rotten chafing! I should have listened to Vaseline preachers, and may have to investigate some good anti-chafing "runderwear".
Now that I have done my first 50, I feel more confident for the race at the end of the month. Bring it on....and maybe some new running shoes too!
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