On Saturday I did something that honestly I didn’t think I’d ever do, I did my first Ultra Marathon. What in the hell is an Ultra Marathon? Basically a race that is over 26.2, shortest ultras is 50K (31.068 miles). So what would make me want to run this distance you ask? Well, originally my plan was to run 3 marathons in 2014, but by the time I figured out my 3rd it would have been a big hassle with hotel, gas, time off etc. So I figured hey why not do your first Ultra, the drive was all of 30 min from my house so no brainer right? Also I choice this as my first since it is not a technical course, the lake front of Chicago is a flat course (WINNING). I want you to hold onto that thought of it being a flat course for a little bit for me.
Oct 31st Halloween such a spooky and fun day, except this year it was not so much fun. The weather was terrible we had very strong winds and hail. Crazy weather or not I decided to take Friday as a rest day; I figured it made the most sense since the ultra was the next day. Yasmin and I did our Halloween tradition of going to see the movie Halloween (1978). It helped a lot since to be 100% honest I was nervous about the race. I told myself I am not going to race it, I want to see how it goes and do it for fun. Nerves still set in because well, I’ve never run 31.068 miles before. After the movie I ate dinner and tried to call it an early night. The next morning I got up bright and early to set out for out drive to Jackson Park, and the start of my first Ultra. I put on my Nike ProCombat cold weather shirt and my CES T-shirt over that I did put shorts and just in case put my long pants over that. When I got to the start the wind was blowing so crazy. I thought about ditching my pants but Yasmin said “Keep them on for now, if you get too hot ditch them. They are old and big anyways.” She was right I could just ditch them no big deal. So I decided to keep them on. Since the weather was cold I told Yasmin to head home, no point in her waiting for me and honestly it was too cold for her to even walk with Rocky. I set up E-crumbs for her to follow me along the course. The horn went off and my 31.068 mile journey started.
The wind was strong out there and ripping across the lake made it even stronger. The good news was I decided to implement and 9/1 run/walk approach for this race. I figured with the marathon only 3 weeks prior, I should really take this one easy. I was so glad at the start I kept my pants on because to be honest that lake affects wind was killer and would have frozen my nads. So as the race started we were all together and well I spit and when I did it flew and hit a young lady behind me, opps my bad. After apologizing I said fuck it I can’t control the wind and kept going. I will say that the view going north is awesome! You get to see the sky line of Chicago and with the wind the waves were so cool. Now thanks to those violent winds, one part of the course was closed off, so they had to reroute us up a giant hill.
Remember when I asked you to hold on to that thought of a flat course well, thanks to Mother Nature we didn’t have that anymore. I decided to take the hill slow on the uphill and fast on the downhill.
There were other parts of the course that thanks to the storm had to be altered slightly, nothing major we basically ran on the grass then the cement. The course itself was 3 10 mile loops or 6 out and backs. Really depends on how you want to look at it. As the race started getting longer I’ll admit I started feeling pain in my legs but my endurance was still good, kind of a catch 22 in away, the heart is willing but the body is not. Despite the soreness I was feeling I kept going. I admit in the later miles the 9/1 walk plan was ditched and I just did my best to keep moving. I’d take little walking breaks and try and run for as long as I could. As the race progressed I was alone and many points but to be honest it didn’t bother me. I even thought to myself “Damn I am going to come in last”, but then I remembered what a friend told me. You’ll never appreciate coming in first until you’ve come in last. That thought stuck with me during the last loop and I saw others coming towards me. Hey I wasn’t last after all, Yes!
During the ultra I had some less than stellar moments, where I was hurting and questioning myself. As I made the finale turn on third loop, I thought "no one breaks out of prison with 2 weeks to go.” As I kept going three things happened that made me push harder.
1 i saw a big girl and her friend; she was doing it come hell or high water. I found her strength to be inspiring.
2. With 2 miles left i saw my ...fellow members of CES cheering. Seeing them helped so much and I knew i couldn't slow down. They were out there in the cold cheering; I was going to give it my all.
3. And the most important was, I saw Yasmin when I had 1 mile to go. She was standing across the street waving at me. I'm not going to lie, I teared up. Despite the soreness and pain I felt I refused to slow down. I didn't want to let her down. She helped me get through the last bit.
You know in a race, you hit several walls. Every time you hit a wall, it’s a big deciding factor in that race, or in life, if you’re not running. You have a big decision to make. You can either stop at that wall and go parallel left or parallel right. You are looking for that door. When you get to that door you have another decision to make. Should I open it or should I keep it closed. If you keep it closed you made the decision to quit. If you open that door you made the decision to carry on, to continue on your journey or mission, whatever you’re on. I'm glad to say I went through the door. I am now an Ultra Marathoner!
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