Bob Mann: 2011 Lake Waramaug 50k

Sat May 23, 2011

On Sat Apr 23, I ran my first ultramarathon. This was the Lake Waramaug Ultra in New Preston CT. I had grown up in Connecticut, but I don't think I had ever heard of the town of New Preston before I noticed this race. It's a little town nestled up in the northwest portion of the state, certainly not anywhere that I spent time as a kid.

I had first thought about attempting an ultra a couple years ago, which is when I first noticed this race. I had just never been ready to pull the trigger on it until now. The main thing that kept this particular race in my mind was the fact that, unlike many ultramarathons, it is run on roads, not trails. I have always been scared of trails. I've sprained my ankles numerous times over the years, mostly from playing pickup basketball games. And then of course I broke an ankle three years ago falling down the stairs. While none of those ankle injuries were running-related, I am still always very leery of re-injuring myself by stepping on something. This is the main reason I don't like running outdoor after dark. Even in the daylight, trails can be full of rocks and sticks and other impediments that can be hard to avoid. I know it's possible to slow down and shorten the strides when necessary. But I just haven't yet gotten over the mental aspect of doing that yet. This ultra should seem like nothing more than a slightly-longer marathon.

Anyway, after five and a half years of marathons, and a total of 18 completed marathons, I felt I was finally ready to go a little further. I had never gone past the 26.2 mile distance before, but I figured I could stretch that to 50k (approx 31 miles) without too much trouble. I didn't even alter my training very much. Yeah, I added a few more miles here and there. I had been averaging 37-38 miles per week for the year so far, which is a little more than a typical Winter season for me. And I stretched my longest training run to 23.5 miles. But none of that was a huge change. I knew that this extra distance would slow me down, but I was confident I could make it.

This race also worked out well for me because it took place on the day before Easter, and I was going to be in Connecticut visiting my parents for Easter weekend anyway. And I hadn't run a marathon in CT yet. The 50 state club counts any race of 26.2 mile or farther, so this would qualify as state #19 for me. All of this added up to enough reasons to sign up.

I began checking the weather forecast a few days before the race, and it looked gloomy from the start. As race day drew nearer, the probability of rain seemed more and more likely. It also appeared to be a chilly morning, which would make it even more unpleasant. So this was about to be my longest-ever run, and it would take place entirely in the rain. Lovely.

The worst part of the rain was that it would keep my family away. My wife, daughter, and parents were all planning on driving up in time to see me finish the race. But they didn't want to stand around the cold rain, and I didn't blame them. So I would be traveling to and from this race completely solo. Oh well, so be it.

It was already raining lightly when I woke up at 4:30 in the morning. I had a bit to eat, got my stuff together, and hit the road. I still wasn't certain what I wanted to wear, so I made sure I overpacked and brought every possible garment I could think of. I figure it's always better to bring more stuff than you need, than to not bring something you wish you had. Especially since I had a whole car to carry stuff in.

The drive to lake Waramaug took a little over an hour. I arrived with plenty of time to spare before the 7:30am start. It was still raining lightly, and it was cold! The temps were in the upper 30s, which felt very cold standing around. This might have been colder pre-race conditions than I've faced before any marathon before, and this was in late April! So I grabbed my race packet and went back into my car to kill time. I intended to surf around the web on my phone, but I was getting no 3G reception. I really was out in the boonies.

A few minutes before the start, I headed off to the start line. I decided to go with long running pants, plus a windbreaker/jacket. I don't think I've ever worn long pants in a marathon before. But I'd never faced this combination of cold and rain before. It made for an ugly color combination, but that wasn't my primary concern. I could tell this wouldn't be a speedy day, but then again, I wasn't expecting to be speedy for 31 miles anyway.

We got our last-minute instructions from the Race Director. There were three races starting at the same time: a 50k, a 50 miler, and a 100k. The loop around the lake was 7.6 miles. All runners would run 2.2 miles clockwise around the lake, then turn and run back to the start, for a 4.4 mile leg. The 50 milers would then run exactly 6 laps. The rest of us would run a certain number of laps, plus another out-and-back. For us, we'd do 3 laps, plus a 1.9 mile out-and-back. So I'd be passing the start/finish point a bunch of times, although obviously not as many times as those running farther.

Many people don't like multiple loop courses. I guess they don't bother me. I do some of my training runs using multiple loops around a track or at a park, so I guess I'm used to it.

Anyway, we all began the race in the light rain, and off we went. It really didn't take long for me to get waterlogged. I completed the first mile in 9:08, which turned out to be my fastest mile of the day. I don't know if I've ever had my fastest mile be the first mile before. The second mile was only slightly slower, at 9:10. I knew I couldn't maintain this pace for ever, but I thought it was a good starting point. I didn't want to go out too fast and burn myself out, but I also wanted to bank a little time so that I could bonk a bit later on and still have a respectable time.

I sort of set a goal for this race of 5 hours. It was a nice round number, even though it's rather arbitrary. Plus, I didn't think I could make it. Another arbitrary round number would have been 5:10, because that would equate to a 10:00 pace. I would have been happy with that too. Frankly, I didn't really set my sights on any particular number; I just wanted to finish. After these first couple miles, my pace was slowly slipping, but that was pretty much by design. My plan was to let the pace slip slowly, and hope that it never really slipped dramatically. It remained to be seen how that would work out.

My first 7.6 mile loop around the lake took 1:11:41. That seems reasonable. That got me to Mile 12. Soon before this, about the time I hit Mile 11, is when the rain got harder. From the time I woke up at 4:30 until Mile 11, it had been a light rain. But now it was pretty much pouring down. Just about everything I had with me was soaked. However, I did bring the BobCam along, and kept it in a Ziploc bag in my pocket, so that was kept dry. And I also had a second pair of gloves in a zippered pocket so I could change to a dry pair when I felt it necessary. The first pair had long been soaked thru, but I wanted to wait until at least the halfway point before changing.

I crossed that halfway point (15.5 miles) in 2:26:30, according to my Garmin. There's no way I'd do a negative split in an ultramarathon in these conditions, so 5:00 was out of the question. Since I was still averaging a little better than a 9:30 mile, I thought that maybe 5:10 was still possible. But I really depended on how badly I hit the wall later.

Soon after the halfway point, there was an aid station. I stopped briefly to refuel, which included a cup of hot soup. It really did hit the spot. I also took out the camera, and one of the volunteers offered to take my picture. So I ended up being delayed for longer than I planned. But it was still less than a minute, so it wasn't a big deal. However, soon after I left aid station and passed Mile 16, I had what I've been referring to as a "wardrobe malfunction". The knot in the drawstring of my pants had come undone, and I felt my pants starting to slide down. Meanwhile, my fuel belt was starting to ride up. I tried to fix everything while still (slowly) running along, but I wasn't able to do it. My fingers were too cold and wet to grip anything properly. Still, I fumbled along until finally I looked down and noticed that a shoelace had also come untied. At this point, I just threw my hands in the air and came to a complete stop. While stopped, I was able to fix the shoe, the pants and the belt. But this did cause a rather lengthy delay. And all this while, it was raining really hard.

I finished the second loop and crossed the start/finish line again, with a lap time of 1:15:59. Frankly, I'm surprised I didn't lose more time than that because of all the delays.

I continued on. About the time I reach Mile 21, the rain had let up a bit more. It was now a light rain again, about equivalent to how it was for the first 11 miles. I switched to the dry pair of gloves that had been hidden in the pocket of my coat, but they didn't stay dry for long, of course. For quite a while, I had been feeling extremely water-logged. I felt the weight of my rain-soaked clothes, and I could feel it dragging me down. Mile 19 was the last mile I ran in under 10 minutes, and the pace kept slipping. I took a couple brief walk breaks, which obviously dragged the time down some more.

I took note of the moment I passed the 26.2 mile mark. The distance was actually spray-painted in the road, and I took some pleasure in realizing that this was now the farthest I had ever run before. The time on my Garmin showed 4:20:14. That would be the third-slowest full marathon time for me. Only my first marathon in Chicago (4:27:48) and the insanely difficult one in Wyoming (4:20:53) were slower. I completed the third and final full loop in 1:22:55, which was almost a minute per mile slower than the previous loop. That's fine, I knew I was only 3.8 miles from the end.

This was a small race. Only 65 people ran the 50k, another 14 ran the 50 miles, and only 6 ran the 100k. That's 85 in all. With so few people, I expected to spend much of the time very alone. But as it turned out, I spent much of the race running a similar pace to a few other people. So I often did have at least one other runner within sight. As I reached the final turnaround point for the 50k, I caught up with an older gentleman who had passed me more than a lap and a half earlier. By this point, about 29 miles into the race, we were both reduced to shuffling along at slower than an 11:00 pace. We made some chit-chat, pretty much just to pass the time and help get the race over with quicker.

Frankly, I think that helped. About when we reached Mile 30, the gentleman said "Let's pick it up and push to the end". So we both gathered whatever energy we had left, and picked up the pace, ever so slightly. After a minute or so, he pulled back again, saying that he just didn't have it in him. But I felt good enough to keep going on. It was slow, but it wasn't a walk. I was able to maintain about an 11:00 pace right on thru the finish line. My final time: 5:15:12. Not stellar. But given these conditions for my first ultra, I'll take it.

The time was good enough for 17th place among the 65 runners. Almost the top 25%. That seems pretty good for my first ultra. So do I want to try it again? I don't know. I'm sure I will some day. But I have no plans for it now. I don't even have another marathon planned. I think I'll be looking to knock off my next state some time around September. I'll spend the Summer trying to build up mileage while racing shorter events (from 5k to Half Marathon). If I'm lucky, maybe I'll hit a new PR along the way.

No matter what happens now, this was my 19th and final state that I'll complete in my 30s. I will be 40 before the next one. I would like to complete the 50 states by the time I'm 50. That's an average of 3.1 per year. I think I can maintain that, although I realize it might become more difficult when I have fewer and fewer new states to choose from. I shall have to plan wisely...

And now the photos. Click any image to enlarge.