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Ultra-Runners with Sole
Damn, Wakely Dam Ultra
Pelting Rain, Rivers of Mud and Bliss
(Continued... Page 3)

End Note

I've been officially ultra-ized by running the Wakely. My feet and legs were in good shape post race. On Sunday, however, walking and stairs were another story. Monday morning I learned from a colleague at my office about a massage therapist on the first floor of our building. Cool. At 3:15 PM I had my first massage with Marti. By Wednesday I was feeling so good I ran an easy 6 miles. On Thursday, I mailed my registration for the JFK 50 Miler in MD (11/18/06). While it's still clear in my mind, here are some stats and thoughts from my run...

Race Stats:

Race Damn, Wakely Dam Ultra
Distance 32.6 Miles
Weather 65-degrees/Pelting rain/Muddy Trail
Race Time 8:12:04
Succeed Salt Pills  1 < race; 2 each hour; 2 > race
Power Bar Carb. Gels with 4X Salt 9 for the race
Power Bar Protein Bars 1
Liquids before Race 20-oz Gatorade; 20-oz water
Liquids during Race  I tried to drink each mile and more at water bottle fills. Approx.: 3-qts total
Race T-shirt Excellent - simple; tech material - A+
Course Trail; remote; challenging - A+

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What I learned:

 

Shoes

 

I ran with Solomon trail shoes. They drained water well - good thing! I had only a small blister on the side of my right heel after 8 hrs. of running - they are keepers!

 

Socks

 

My Smart Wool, Adrenaline Light hiker socks are great. They hugged my feet for the entire 8:12:04 race!

 

Nutrition

 

Salt caps, gels and plenty of H2O proved to be a winning combination for me. Although my legs were spent on the day following the race, I had no cramping post race.

 

Hydration

 

Although my water purifier worked extremely well - dip and run - I think I'll change my system for unsupported runs in the future.

 

Pack

 

My Osprey, Atmos 25 (2-lb/7-oz) functioned extremely well. However, it was too heavy for a trail run. It became my back-up option when I realized my water/purifier bottle wouldn't fit into my Go-lite, Gazelle. Next time I'll run with a Gazelle-like belly pack with 2, 22-oz bottles and use iodine and clarifying caps to purify water. In this manner, I can use powdered supplements in my water bottles which are much lighter then carbohydrate gels. My purifier bottle does not accommodate powdered supplements because they would clog it's purifying/filtering systems.

 

GPS

 

Although my GPS was mostly unreliable (Garmin, Forerunner 205), I can't blame the watch. With heavy overcast, pelting rains and a thick canopy to run under, satellite signals had quite the task trying to reach my GPS watch. It's still a great running aide which I use all the time. It's average pace, 1-mile lap pace, and over all distance traveled are invaluable data feeds.

 

  
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Beach to Beacon 10K
Portland, ME (8/5/06)
 

  
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