The Huff 50K is an ultra-marathon held in Albion Indiana, around the Chain O' Lakes park. It was held on December 28th, 2013. The park is a beautiful place with lots of hilly trails and great views of the many lakes. I chose this race because my family and I were going to be in the area visiting my dad in Ohio and friends in Indiana. I also liked the fact that it was only two loops. With this being my first ultra, I did not want the option to quit early.
I started my day early, since I was coming from Ft. Wayne. My family and I were at our friend's house (thanks Andy and Jessica!) so I dressed quietly into all of my cold weather gear. After making a sunflower seed butter sandwich for breakfast and another to take along for the race, I obsessively checked all of my gear again.
When I headed out, it was only in the lower 30's - Brr. The drive was easy and when I got close to the park, I just followed the other cars. I reached by 7am which gave me plenty of time to pick up my race packet and get ready to race. It was still dark and very cold but I gave up the warmth of my car and walked to the main tent. I walked with a girl from Chicago which was lucky because she had a flashlight. The parking lot was long enough away from the main area that I remember thinking that it was going to be a long walk after the race.
Packet pick up went smoothly so I had about 45 minutes to mill about. The main tent had a few heaters so it was almost OK inside the tent but it was pretty chilly when standing in line for the port-a-potty. They had hot apple cider which I took advantage of.
The one loop runners and the rely folks started first. After they had started, I made my way to the starting area. It was on packed snow, so my feet were frozen by the time we started.
I started toward the back of the pack. With my lack of training and the fact that it was my first ultra, I knew I wouldn't be speeding out of the gate. The trail was wide enough for a golf cart but it was fairly cramped with runners for the first 2 or 3 miles. After the first aid station, it spread out even more. I think it was that first aid station that had caramel turtles - mmm yum! The second aid station was at mile 8. There were hamburgers, soup and hot chocolate. I think that was the best hot chocolate ever! The aid station toward the end of the first loop had some delicious ultra balls. Who knew you could gain weight in an ultra!
It seemed most of the participants - at least at the back of the pack with me - were walking the uphills and running the flats and down hills. I had initially planned to run the first 10 - 15 miles and then switch to a 4 min/ 1 min run/ walk cycle, but after I realized what everybody was doing, I decided to follow their philosophy. I figured that if that many people were doing it, who was I to do something different. And I couldn't be more happy. Even with walking, my overall pace was 12:31/ mile.
The course was pretty hilly - or at least I thought so, coming from the Bahamas. But the first 15 miles seemed to fly by and I couldn't believe that when I made it back to the beginning, only 3 hours had passed. I knew I was way ahead of my predicted time of 7-8 hours. As I passed mile 15, I called my hubby to let him know how I was doing.
It warmed up to a balmy 45 degrees during the race. I appreciated that it was warm for Indiana in December but I can't say that I was ever comfortable. I wore wool socks, tights, a long sleeve shirt, jacket, gloves, and a hat. I ended up taking off the had and tying the jacked around my waist, but I only did that to keep from sweating. My hands were freezing the whole time, although I knew it would be a problem since I carry my water in my hand. It started out room temperature but ended up like ice.
On the second loop I was ready for some milestones. 15 miles was as far as I had run in practice...ran past that just fine. 20 miles is the longest I had run - ever. Breezed past that! When I made it to 26.2, I took a picture of my Garmin to document my first marathon. 5:30 is a respectable time for a first trail marathon, considering I was saving some energy for the last 5 miles.
I think it was around mile 20 when I could really feel my hips and quads. They were sore, but not terrible. I could tell that they weren't injured, just overworked. It was all of those hills! It is hard to train for down hill in a place with no hills! By the last 5 miles, it was kind of a running joke that we wanted a hill so we could walk. But I kept on working so at the top of every hill, I would start running again.
About 2 miles from the finish, I got a phone call. It was Miah, checking to see how I was doing and to figure out when he could expect me home. I let him know that I was about 30 minutes from the finish, so it would be about 2 hours considering driving time before I'd be back at our friend's house. Its funny that on a normal day a 2 mile run is considered a short run. At the end of an ultra however, it is long and a test of will power. It was nice how the course was set up though, because for the last mile, you can see the finish area on the other side of the lake. Seeing it gives you the little oomph to keep going. As I turned into the main area, about 200 yards from the end, I hear "Great job, Baby". I look over, slightly confused to see my husband and our friend Andy cheering me on! It was so cool that they had surprised me. I finished with a smile. After I was done, I went back to the main tent to pick up some of my stuff and to get some hot soup. They had a huge variety, but I went with the lentil. Miah, Andy and I then started walking to the parking lot. As we were walking up the road, I wasn't convinced that I had come in that way. I had walked in on a trail, but we were walking up a large hill on a paved road. But since I didn't see any other option we continued to Andy's car. He asked if I wanted a ride to look for the car. Of course I did! But after several minutes of driving around in several different parking lots, my car was nowhere to be found. We drove back down to the starting area, even though I knew that was too close. Thank goodness we did, because as we were driving back up the hill I spotted a trail that lead to another parking lot. We didn't notice it before because it was down a different road. I can't imagine if they hadn't showed up. I would have found the car eventually but after a lot of painful walking and lots of tears.
This was such an awesome experience. The course was beautiful, the weather turned out as good as it could be and even with the training hurdles I had, I felt well prepared. I can't wait to do the next one.
I started my day early, since I was coming from Ft. Wayne. My family and I were at our friend's house (thanks Andy and Jessica!) so I dressed quietly into all of my cold weather gear. After making a sunflower seed butter sandwich for breakfast and another to take along for the race, I obsessively checked all of my gear again.
When I headed out, it was only in the lower 30's - Brr. The drive was easy and when I got close to the park, I just followed the other cars. I reached by 7am which gave me plenty of time to pick up my race packet and get ready to race. It was still dark and very cold but I gave up the warmth of my car and walked to the main tent. I walked with a girl from Chicago which was lucky because she had a flashlight. The parking lot was long enough away from the main area that I remember thinking that it was going to be a long walk after the race.
Packet pick up went smoothly so I had about 45 minutes to mill about. The main tent had a few heaters so it was almost OK inside the tent but it was pretty chilly when standing in line for the port-a-potty. They had hot apple cider which I took advantage of.
The one loop runners and the rely folks started first. After they had started, I made my way to the starting area. It was on packed snow, so my feet were frozen by the time we started.
I started toward the back of the pack. With my lack of training and the fact that it was my first ultra, I knew I wouldn't be speeding out of the gate. The trail was wide enough for a golf cart but it was fairly cramped with runners for the first 2 or 3 miles. After the first aid station, it spread out even more. I think it was that first aid station that had caramel turtles - mmm yum! The second aid station was at mile 8. There were hamburgers, soup and hot chocolate. I think that was the best hot chocolate ever! The aid station toward the end of the first loop had some delicious ultra balls. Who knew you could gain weight in an ultra!
It seemed most of the participants - at least at the back of the pack with me - were walking the uphills and running the flats and down hills. I had initially planned to run the first 10 - 15 miles and then switch to a 4 min/ 1 min run/ walk cycle, but after I realized what everybody was doing, I decided to follow their philosophy. I figured that if that many people were doing it, who was I to do something different. And I couldn't be more happy. Even with walking, my overall pace was 12:31/ mile.
The course was pretty hilly - or at least I thought so, coming from the Bahamas. But the first 15 miles seemed to fly by and I couldn't believe that when I made it back to the beginning, only 3 hours had passed. I knew I was way ahead of my predicted time of 7-8 hours. As I passed mile 15, I called my hubby to let him know how I was doing.
It warmed up to a balmy 45 degrees during the race. I appreciated that it was warm for Indiana in December but I can't say that I was ever comfortable. I wore wool socks, tights, a long sleeve shirt, jacket, gloves, and a hat. I ended up taking off the had and tying the jacked around my waist, but I only did that to keep from sweating. My hands were freezing the whole time, although I knew it would be a problem since I carry my water in my hand. It started out room temperature but ended up like ice.
On the second loop I was ready for some milestones. 15 miles was as far as I had run in practice...ran past that just fine. 20 miles is the longest I had run - ever. Breezed past that! When I made it to 26.2, I took a picture of my Garmin to document my first marathon. 5:30 is a respectable time for a first trail marathon, considering I was saving some energy for the last 5 miles.
I think it was around mile 20 when I could really feel my hips and quads. They were sore, but not terrible. I could tell that they weren't injured, just overworked. It was all of those hills! It is hard to train for down hill in a place with no hills! By the last 5 miles, it was kind of a running joke that we wanted a hill so we could walk. But I kept on working so at the top of every hill, I would start running again.
About 2 miles from the finish, I got a phone call. It was Miah, checking to see how I was doing and to figure out when he could expect me home. I let him know that I was about 30 minutes from the finish, so it would be about 2 hours considering driving time before I'd be back at our friend's house. Its funny that on a normal day a 2 mile run is considered a short run. At the end of an ultra however, it is long and a test of will power. It was nice how the course was set up though, because for the last mile, you can see the finish area on the other side of the lake. Seeing it gives you the little oomph to keep going. As I turned into the main area, about 200 yards from the end, I hear "Great job, Baby". I look over, slightly confused to see my husband and our friend Andy cheering me on! It was so cool that they had surprised me. I finished with a smile. After I was done, I went back to the main tent to pick up some of my stuff and to get some hot soup. They had a huge variety, but I went with the lentil. Miah, Andy and I then started walking to the parking lot. As we were walking up the road, I wasn't convinced that I had come in that way. I had walked in on a trail, but we were walking up a large hill on a paved road. But since I didn't see any other option we continued to Andy's car. He asked if I wanted a ride to look for the car. Of course I did! But after several minutes of driving around in several different parking lots, my car was nowhere to be found. We drove back down to the starting area, even though I knew that was too close. Thank goodness we did, because as we were driving back up the hill I spotted a trail that lead to another parking lot. We didn't notice it before because it was down a different road. I can't imagine if they hadn't showed up. I would have found the car eventually but after a lot of painful walking and lots of tears.
This was such an awesome experience. The course was beautiful, the weather turned out as good as it could be and even with the training hurdles I had, I felt well prepared. I can't wait to do the next one.