{"id":6832,"date":"2010-01-03T15:51:50","date_gmt":"2010-01-03T20:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/?p=6832"},"modified":"2020-02-27T16:43:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T21:43:51","slug":"first-ultramarathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/first-ultramarathon\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing the Suck: My First Ultra"},"content":{"rendered":"

It wasn’t pretty, but I made it.<\/p>\n

Five hours and thirty-four minutes after I started, in temperatures that never got out of the twenties and fierce winds that numbed my face at times, I crossed the finish line of my first trail race, the PHUNT 50K<\/a>, and officially became an ultramarathoner.<\/p>\n

The group I run with (called RUT, short for “RASAC Ultra Team”) uses the phrase embrace the suck<\/em> to describe the mindset required of an ultrarunner.\u00a0 I think it’s more often applied to the misery one must endure to complete a 100- or 50-miler, but during the last eight or so miles of my 50K\u00a0 — “only” 31 miles — I got my first taste of true, unmistakable suck.<\/p>\n

In hindsight, there’s no reason why I should have expected anything less.\u00a0 My oral qualifying exam at school, the holidays, soreness from a new weight training program, and helping out with finishing our basement to make room for the baby limited my December training to 40 miles — less than my weekly <\/em>average during the month of November.\u00a0 My longest and hardest December run, a hilly 15-miler to get back in the swing of things, took place less than a week before the 50K and left me sore until last Thursday, just two days before the race.<\/p>\n

\"Team<\/p>\n

Somehow I had convinced myself that it would be ok, that trails are softer than roads and a nice slow pace would make for an easy introduction to the world of ultras.\u00a0 But when my legs got prematurely heavy after only about 15 miles yesterday, the realization that I was less than halfway finished made it painfully obvious that there would be plenty of suck to embrace if I were going to finish this thing.<\/p>\n

I have my friend, Ginn, and my “support crew” — my wife, Erin, and my dad — to thank for making this day a success, and not what it easily could have been, a bailout after about 20 miles.\u00a0 Ginn, who was running the marathon-distance option, ran with me until our courses split off at about the 23-mile point (en route<\/em> to taking second place in the marathon category!).\u00a0 It would have been extremely difficult for me to finish the race after I started hurting if I had been alone for the whole thing — the loneliness and uncertainty of whether I was even on course during the final eight miles made that the hardest part of the day.\u00a0 Well, that and the few-hundred-foot incline at about 20 miles that was so steep we had to pull ourselves up most of the way by grabbing onto the trees and literally climbing.<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

And without having Erin and Dad there to give me extra clothing (thank you, Recovery Sock<\/a> armwarmers!), exchange my shoes (my new ones gave me blisters after 10 miles, not surprising considering I had only worn them once before this), and to simply be familiar human faces and voices in the stark lifelessness of the woods and wind-exposed fields in January, there’s no way I would have made it.<\/p>\n

\"Erin<\/p>\n

Our dogs came along too, and clearly had an extremely hard day:<\/p>\n

\"Dogs<\/p>\n

I felt alternately terrible and elated during the final, lonely eight miles, at times wondering why I was doing this and at others, becoming overjoyed with a feeling of accomplishment and anticipation of finishing.\u00a0 I knew there was hot soup, cold beer, and lots of congratulations and stories of others’ days waiting for me.\u00a0 And at this point I realized what embracing the suck<\/em> means.\u00a0 Doing it<\/em> sucks, having done it<\/em> is ecstasy.\u00a0 You suck up doing it<\/em> to get to the having done it<\/em>, and when the ecstasy wears off, you do it all again.<\/em><\/p>\n

I kept going, and for a while, it did suck.\u00a0 But eventually, I forgot about how much it hurt and managed to just put one foot in front of the other.\u00a0 Walking some steep uphills, and eventually even the steepest downhills, but always pushing forward.\u00a0 And, sure enough, I finished.\u00a0 And then I was happy.<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

And to think this was only a 50K.\u00a0 I can only imagine the suck of 50 miles and beyond.\u00a0 I have at least two more 50K’s, in the next two months, before I do a 50-miler, and I hope to do those much faster than this one by being more prepared and pacing myself better.<\/p>\n

What I ate, and a giveaway<\/h2>\n

As promised, I have a prize pack of the drink I used yesterday to give away to a reader.\u00a0 But first, here’s what I ate, since it’s kind of funny to me.\u00a0 I tried the no-sugar thing for a while, but soon realized that wasn’t going to work for me on this day, and the aid stations had such tempting stuff!\u00a0 I’ll get there one day.<\/p>\n