Oil Creek!
Grindstone was just too far to go in a weekend, plus the 5pm start time is real turn off. I've heard the course at Oil Creek is great, so here we go! I also emailed the organizers at Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc to ask why there are so few qualifing courses, they said they're adding races to the list all the time so I can send them the race details for Oil Creek if I'd like to request it to be added. UTMB is still a bit of a dream, just thought I'd check though.
Haven't posted in awhile, did 2 races since last post so here are quick descriptions:
The Limberlost Challenge 56km - July 16th, 2011:
I was excited to do this race, heard good things about it when I missed it last year. It's a 14km loop done 4 times, pretty hilly trial and a slow course. I camped in Algonquin just under an hour's drive from the start. This is the first time I've camped before a race, I really prefer to get ready at home or in a hotel room. I was planning to take it easy the day before, wound up kayaking for almost 4hrs! Didn't use my legs, still used too much energy though.
It got pretty hot for this race, I stopped to dunk my head in the lake a few times. I can still feel I'm not up to the level I want to be, pretty sloggish near the end. Finished in 7hrs 23min, not bad but a bit slower than I'd like.
Course was beautiful, rolling soft trails around some lakes, great scenery. They're now trying to gauge intrest to see if people would want to do a longer race here next year, sounds good to me.
Dirty Girls 24hrs - Aug 6th, 2011:
Last year, this was my first race ever running at night, did 130km so I was hoping to beat that this year. The night before the race, I waited way too long to get ready and got less than 4hrs sleep. Not a good idea before a 24hr race. Race starts at 8am, so I got there 30min before to set up my chair, drop bag and cooler. It's a 10km loop in the woods, so I'd pass by my stuff every loop and grab whatever I needed.
Race started out well, despite some afternoon heat and humidity, I'd run 100km by midnight. The next loop was slower, I wasn't feeling well and was very light-headed. On top of this, the worst part was my burning ass. All day I'd keep 1 bottle of water handy just to soak my head and neck when I got hot, this cooled my off but I didn't realize it also ran down and kept my shorts drenched all day. I now had horrible chafing in bad private places that was making it excruitating to run. After the next loop which was a little slower, it was now 230am and I'd been running for 18.5hrs, I decided I was just going to get to 120km. Most runners at this event stop at 120km, that's the distance you need to earn a buckle award. I didn't want to stop until at least 130km (same as last year), but my ass was killing me and getting worse. So I now had 5.5hrs to get 10 more kms. I sat in my chair and nodded off for 45 minutes. When I woke up and started to go again, my legs felt GREAT after the rest, but my chafing was worse than ever so I just grinded out a horrible 10k and them went to sleep in my car until the 8am finish! Vaseline really doesn't work well, time to try so alternatives...
Had a great time, I really like this race and plan to be back. I think my official time was just over 21.5hrs.
Only 2 months to Oil Creek, time to step up the training for a montha and a half or so! Might do Iroquois Trail Test 50km in 2 weeks, not sure yet. If not, Oil Creek will be my next race.
Take care,
Mo
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