My First Ultra (No, not a Michelob)

Ultra - ul-tra (noun)

1) an extremist (synonyms: radical, fanatic, zealot, diehard, revolutionary, rebel…) 2) short for ultramarathon - any distance over 26.2 miles.

My journey began last fall. In September 2018 I took a trip with approximately 30 fellow members of our running group to run the Tunnel Light Marathon (about an hour out of Seattle).

After a brutal season of training over the summer, I got to experience running in 45-degree weather, running downhill almost the entire course, in the rain.

I surprised a lot of people that day as I ran my best time in nearly 30 years, but for me, the biggest takeaway was how much the weather (specifically temperature and humidity) directly affect my runs.

Although, I’ve lost over 60 lbs. over the last couple of years, I’m still a pretty big guy. Heat and humidity drain me of my energy faster than just about anything else.

Once I got back from our trip to Seattle, I begin to experience tightness in my hamstrings, and I had to defer my goal of attempting to qualify for the Boston Marathon in either the 2019 Houston or Woodlands Marathon.

To qualify for the Boston Marathon, I need to run a full marathon (26.2 miles) in less than 3 hours & 20 minutes. I ran the Tunnel Light Marathon in 3 hours 47 minutes meaning that I still needed to reduce my time by almost half an hour.

Once my hamstrings started tightening up, and I decided to defer my goal I really felt like I needed another challenge. Being extremely goal-oriented, I told my coach, Leanne, that I needed a new goal (not to replace trying to qualify for Boston), but something that I could do in the interim - until I recovered enough to try once again.

I mentioned that I was considering running an Ultra since I couldn’t train for speed with my tight hamstrings and that was on my bucket list.

Several days later she started sending me information about this crazy 50K trail run, just south of Sugar Land in Brazos Bend State Park, where you run amongst the alligators, snakes, and turtles.

At that particular time, I thought it sounded like an excellent idea. Just don’t ask me how I felt about it at mile 14, or 18, or 22, or 28.

We decided to try and recruit a few others to join us on our quest to complete our first Ultra. So, I reached out to Caitlin, one of my good friends in the group (we run a close pace on my great days and on days when she’s injured). She thought about it for a few weeks and then decided to commit.

After all, the title - Ultra Runner just sounds cool. I knew that that only a small percentage (.05% or 1 out of 200 people) have completed a full marathon, but what I didn’t realize was that only 1 out of 20,000 have completed an Ultra.

Today’s run wasn’t what I hoped for or expected. We all determined ahead of time that we were not concerned with our finish time (very rare for runners), but that our goal was just to finish. We agreed among ourselves that we would probably walk at least a little.

I started out pretty strong, not fast, but definitely sticking with the four gazelles that I was running with; Alicia, Caitlin, Gabby and my coach, Leanne. I’m built much more like a wolf than a gazelle but was holding my own until mile 12.

The heat and humidity begin to take a toll on my body, and I started to fall behind the pack. I almost tripped at mile 14, but I caught myself and avoided a nasty spill.

I managed to catch back up and complete the first loop with our group, but that was the last time the five us were together. I stopped to change socks and shoes right before starting the second loop. Although it helped me overall, I never caught up with them again for the rest of the race.

At the beginning of the second loop, I was by myself, and my screen on my iPhone locked up because it was wet from my sweat. I had no way to dry it off, and so I couldn’t even listen to my music until it dried off.

With 15 miles to go the thought of running by myself and without music was devastating. I was already way behind since I took the time to switch shoes at the mid-way point, but now I was really beginning to get discouraged.

So much of running is mental and when you start struggling it can go downhill in a hurry.

Once, I started overheating, I just couldn’t drink enough. With the water stations anywhere from 3-5 miles apart, I had to consume as much water and Gatorade as I could at each stop and refill the water bottles that I carried on my belt. The problem with that was that I felt bloated once I began to run again.

Alligators are fascinating creatures, and although I don’t have the desire to have one as a pet, I do appreciate their resemblance to dinosaurs. I saw a couple of them along the run and asked a fellow runner to take a picture for me.

Eventually, I did run into Gabby, around mile 22, who got turned around and was headed in the wrong direction. When you are running alone, and you run into someone that you know it can rejuvenate you, and freshen your spirits.

It really helped me catch my second wind and boost my confidence knowing that if we stayed together, we would both find a way to finish.

The course had several turnarounds which were nice because we did see our fellow runners along the route. At mile 25, we saw Alicia and Caitlin, and they encouraged us by telling us that the water station was only about a mile ahead. Leanne was about a half-mile behind them, so we knew we were getting close.

The last nine miles were really tough, both physically as well as mentally, each aid station was like seeing an oasis in the desert. When we made it to the second to last aid station, we were at 26.28 miles (just a little over the distance of a full marathon), and still had almost 5 miles to go.

Something about realizing that every step we took added to our personal distance record inspired me as I’d personally never run further than a marathon.

Over the last couple of miles, both of our GPS’s died, and that was discouraging because we didn’t know how much further we had to go. Once we made it to the final aid station they told us we only had one and a half miles to go, so we knew we could make it.

With less than a mile to go, we saw a small turtle in the middle of the trail, so we moved him to safety. As soon as I did, I heard a shuffle in the brush, and then a big black snake slithered into the lake. I jumped back about 3 feet and yelled, “Ahhh!” Gabby just laughed at me, but I’m no snake expert, so my gut instinct is to get away from it and then figure out what kind it is later.

We started back up again and with about 200 yards to go Gabby’s husband, and children met her and ran her in. We finished in approximately 6 hours and 10 minutes.

Overall, it was a great experience. The course was flat, and the surface soft, but not muddy or sandy. I came home six pounds lighter than when I left, so a double win for me.

I was also honored to get to run Marta in, another one of my favorite runners from our group. Nine runners from our running club completed the 50K. Many more did the 25K, 10K & 5 K, kudos to all that got off the couch this Saturday.

Robert has run a few before, but for all the rest of us; Alicia, Caitlin, Leanne, Gabby, Layton, Laura, Marta, Brian & myself, it was our first one. Definitely, well worth it. We all earned the title: Ultra Runner. Rockstars for life!