San Tan Scramble- my first 50K

Another glass for the collection!

San Tan Regional Mountain Park is in Queen Creek. It is almost an hour drive there. I kind of liked having some dark quiet driving time to reflect and prepare for what I was about to do. I was looking forward to testing my body- to trying a new distance. I have finished a few marathons thinking I could do more. Could go farther. It was time to try.

I got there in time to visit the bathroom twice. This helped me feel prepared and luckily I didn’t need a bathroom for the 5.5 hours out on the trail. Yay!

My course was loop style. Three loops of 10. The loop included a few miles out and back segment. The out and back included a mountain to climb up, down, and then turn around, climb up it backward, and down it back into the loop. So 3x over the mountain, 6 big climbs and descents. I knew that the course had a big climb, but I guess I wasn’t prepared for how big!

The cool thing about the out and back segment was that I got to see the fasties flying by me- on their way back up the mountain. I saw the Speedy Paulette all 3x on the mountain. She on her way back to finish each loop. She would go on to set a course record of 4:46:something…!

The first time up the mountain I kept running form. If I were to go back, I think Id walk up the climbs every time. I bet walking would be as fast as running up. And it would give my legs a break from running form.

On my first loop I took a wrong turn and ended up giving myself some extra mileage. Probably just an extra .3 or .4. You have to watch those ribbons carefully. There are orange ribbons tied in the trees to indicate the correct trail.

I think I did okay with pacing. It was interesting to find that the last 5 miles weren’t the hardest 5 miles. Throughout the race I went back and forth between highs and lows. Sometimes Id say to myself, possibly out loud, “I feel good right now!” Then sometimes Id say to myself “Im not feeling so good. But there is an aide station ahead…” Eating a GU every 5 miles helped the time fly by. I noticed myself getting through my gu’s, meaning more miles were done. First the 2 gu’s in my front pouch, then the gu in my water bottle pouch, and then I got to the 2 gu’s in my fanny pack! I ate all 5 gu’s I brought. I also had a pack of pomegranate honeystinger chomps, and I sucked on one in the back of my cheek most of the time. I started the chomps about half way into the race.

I had a low point at about 16.5 miles, when I mentally realized that this was the longest I had before run on trail. I worked through it.

I was alone allot. Except on the mountain. There were always people on the climbing portion. On my 2nd loop there was a guy fairly close behind me for probably over 4 miles. It was kind of nice knowing there was someone around, but I really liked when I was alone too. When I was alone I didn’t have to be embarrassed about all the crazy breathing and grunting that was coming from me. Sometimes I even laughed at myself because I was so noisy!

A couple of friends had texted me the day before reminding me to “have fun” and to “remember that I’m doing this because it is my passion”. This became a mantra of sorts. I just kept reminding myself to enjoy it and take in every moment. I kept reminding myself that I have wanted to do this for a long time, and that I’m ready for this opportunity. I kept reminding myself to look around and notice how beautiful the views were.

When my watch showed that I was over 26.2 I kind of got a high point. I got excited thinking “this is the part that is making me an ultrarunner!!!” Maybe it’s a weird thing to be excited about, but I feel like I really loved those last 5 miles! Even though my legs were getting really tired.

In the last few miles I had a few problems creeping up on me….one that the ground seemed a little fuzzy. Like I couldn’t see the ground clearly. So I had to look around more and look less at the trail! Which is a little risky.

The other problem creeping up was leg cramps. I had used up about 3 electrolyte tabs in my water. But I was out of tabs. I had taken a few salt pills at aide stations. But when cramps were starting to shock me, I figured that I was running low on electrolytes. I had several chomps left so I started gobbling them up. I knew that I was near the end, and hoped that there were enough electrolytes in my chomps to get me through.

At the end Noah was there clapping for me. Trail races are not like road marathons. Not allot of fan fare. Noah might have been the only one clapping for me! I was glad that he made it. He said it was close! He said he had only sat down for maybe 2 minutes when I appeared…so it must have been fate for me to take that wrong turn earlier! The extra distance was worth having Noah there to greet me at the end!

I love talking about food, so here are some food facts:

Pre-race carb loading: noodles Thursday night from PF Changs, sweet potatoes and rice Friday for lunch, pizza Friday night.

Morning of race: Cheese bagel, banana.

During race I brought and used: 5 GU’s and 1 packet chomps, and 3 electrolyte tabs in water.

During race I took from aide stations: orange wedge, baked potato wedge, 2 salt pills, 1 bite pb&j. Water refills.

Post race recovery: half a wheat bagel with cream cheese, pepsi, egg burrito, rockin refuel chocolate milk.

That night when I was ready to enjoy a reward food: Ben and Jerry’s chunky monkey, and nachos with warm Tostitos Queso. Yum!

So Marcie and I were discussing what it would take to go further. She asked if I was ready to go further. I want to go further. I am intrigued and want to figure it out. What does it take? I think nutrition is key. I think Id have needed to be able to process allot more food out there if I was going to go further. As for cramps…does anyone have suggestions? I think electrolyte tabs are very helpful. Any other good ideas???

I did have fun yesterday. It is all a super great memory already. I am very happy with my first Ultra! It wont be my last!