50 Mile Fun Run

Where to begin? I'll start with Friday. My day began as usual...up around 8:00, lot's of coffee, granola and yogurt, work. Unfortunately the rest of my day was what has become to be "normal" for me as well. I finally ate something for lunch around 4:00 (I had half a grilled cheese) as I was driving into St. Paul for a work commitment. I finally left St. Paul and began the 1.5 hour drive home around 9:30 while trying to choke down the other half of my lunch. I managed two bites before the cold coagulated cheese became unappealing. I followed a drunk driver for about 20 miles. I contemplated calling the police and was reaching for my phone when the drunk made a left turn into a bar parking lot full of police cars. I'm hoping he got what he deserved. I arrived home safely at 11:00. This would be a good time to go to bed since I'm getting up at 5:00am but I still haven't begun to get my stuff ready for the run the next day. I managed to stumble around the house, probably waking up Chris (runner turned crew) while getting some things organized for the run....shorts, warm hat, ball hat, short sleeve shirt, long sleeve shirt, wind shirt, gloves, socks, tape, gel, drink mix, ibu, all set. In bed by a little after 12:00am!
The alarm went off at 5:00. I made coffee but couldn't talk myself into eating anything. Sweet. Breakfast yesterday, half a sandwich for lunch, no dinner. Coffee for breakfast. Sure, that's all I'll need for 50 miles. Chris and I headed out the door to meet everyone at Cafe Wren a few minutes before 6:00. Since we were late and everyone else was prompt Chris and I arrived to a parking lot of cars. Joel, Mitch, Erik, Steve, and Molly were all there, huddled in the chilly morning air. We talked over the day, the route, I filled up my coffee cup again and we headed to Timberland Hills Nordic Ski Area to get started. Once again, as usual, I'm 30 minutes behind so our 7:00 start became 7:30. Fortunately nobody seemed to care. Thanks everyone! That's the attitude we usually take on this run. It's just a casual 50 miles with friends.
We began our day on the Ice Age Trail with the nice rolling hills of the mowed ski trails. Under the chatter of everyone getting to know each other you could hear the crunching of feet on the frost covered grass. The sun was peaking through the orange, red, yellow, and green of the trees creating this amazing soft light. This was looking to be one of those days where you can't take a bad picture. Everything was perfect. Sunshine, great colors, old friends and some new ones as well. I realized during these early miles while everyone was full of chatter that we were all very different people. But with the common interest of the day differences didn't really matter. We each had the same goal...get ourselves and our friends through this 50 miles. This is one of the many beautiful things about running ultra distances. For most of us the competition is within ourselves and not necessarily with other runners. We spend nearly as much energy getting those around us to the finish as we do for ourselves. This isn't a common practice in the world today, whether in sport or in life. Thanks everyone!
So...we run through the ski area, out into a wonderful frost covered prairie, back into another small ski area and then the single track begins. I love this section. It's short but fun. Curvy, hilly with a roped beaver dam crossing, some small ponds and then we get dumped onto a brief section of gravel road and back into the woods for more single track.
The original plan for the day was to have four aid stations. Chris would meet us at them with our stuff and then head on to the next. As usual plans change. The six of us runners would be cruising down the trail with the talkers talking and the silent ones like myself listening to the chatter when suddenly up ahead a runner would appear coming towards us, or we'd stumble upon someone sitting on a bench reading a book. He'd try to pretend he didn't know us, probably hoping we'd just run past the car and continue on to the "real" aid station. But we'd all be so excited to stumble onto Chris that we'd stop at the car, refill bottles, chat some more, and eventually he'd kick us out and back onto the trail. This is the problem having road crossings every few miles. The good part is it kept the day pretty laid back. Slow but laid back.
From about mile 18 to 25 I hitched a ride with Chris so I could give my untrained legs a rest and spend some time catching up with him. (We drove back to the start to get my car so Steve would be able to get back to the Cafe since he needed to head out early. Too bad, Steve. You missed a great second half!) I strategically picked this section of trail knowing it was one of the most difficult parts of the day for me. This part isn't any harder than the others but at this point in the day it always tears me up. It's hillier than the rest and you are approaching the marathon mark as well so it's kind of that first "wall" we hit along the way. After this section Steve had to leave us so he could go for a train ride. Priorities!
The second half of the day went according to the original plan. Chris met us at the 30 mile mark and then again at my house for our 40 mile aid station. To get to my house we ran through the middle of Straight Lake State Park on a bunch of unmarked trails that up until then I've been one of very few people to use. We came out of the park onto my road and into my driveway to be greeted by Joel's family, Molly's friend Mary, Chris, and my dogs. If I hadn't been afraid of the others getting lost in the dark I would probably have climbed into the hot shower right then. So just before sunset we left my place as a new group. We had Joel, his son Eli, Molly, Mary, Erik, and myself. We rolled into the Cafe Wren parking lot after about 13 hours on the trail. We probably spent almost two hours at our various aid stations throughout the day. Far too much time for a race but really enjoyable a day like this. Once we were all back we headed to a local BBQ place for some high fat recovery. Looking around the table I could see that everyone was feeling full and satisfied, both with the running and the food. I think if we'd sat there another five minutes most of us would have been asleep in our empty plates.

What did I learn?
You can be 17 and not have to train to run 50 miles. This was the first time Erik had "gone for a run". I don't think he began to feel any discomfort until mile 45. I think Erik and I could spend a week running together and nobody would hear more than three words a day from either of us. That kid talks less than me!
As I said before, we all come from different places in life but with a common goal like this, those things matter little if at all. Ultra runners are a unique group. I think due to the fact that our runs are so long we get more time together than other runners. This allows us to create bonds that you don't find with the people we run next to in a 10k or maybe even in a marathon. I noticed at one point when Joel was feeling the pain and slowing a little, Mitch, who had been leading us most of the day dropped back to hang with him. Some of this was because it was a casual day but much of it was part of Mitch as well as the attitude of ultra runners. This is about each persons individual journey. What they find within themselves to make it through the day.
I'm grateful for these people and their willingness to come up here and take the time to enjoy the day, the people, and hopefully like me, be reminded of why we run.

Sorry I didn't run with a camera but Joel and Steve did so please check out their blogs for some amazing pics and maybe even their thoughts about the day.