LOViT Marathon by sithkitty at Garmin Connect - Details
The LOViT run was my first trail run since being in Little Rock and was probably the most overall taxing run I have done to date. The course was set on a nice single track trail on the southern coast of Lake Ouachita in what I imagine to be beautiful when you are not huffing and puffing through it. It was also my first experience with elevation change during a race; involving 2600' or so of climbing with a large 800' climb to reach the halfway turnaround. You can check out the details above. The race is also part of the AURA Ultra Series. It is a "fun run" meaning there is no cost but also no frills (medals, timing). It was also my first week of using my new Garmin Forerunner 205 which I picked up on a "Deal of the Day" from Amazon. It was my graduation of sorts from the low tech Nike+ system I had owned for 2 years or more. It gets a bad rep for its "laptop on your wrist" look but you can't beat its functionality.
I hitched a ride to the race with friends and we arrived on the back edge of a rain front giving a drizzly and somewhat chilly start to the race. From the race description that I saw, I didn't bring any fluid or fuel, an assumption that came back to bite me. At the start, I decided I was going to keep pace with the leaders and I did for a short time. I was going at a pretty good sub 8:00 pace through 10 miles or so until I started to feel my inexperience on the trails as well as the flaws in my nutrition. After the aid station at about 11 miles, I met up with Stacey who was doing her first trail run as well and seemed a bit lost. We both hadn't seen another runner for a while and decided we would get lost together. A short time after meeting her, I caught my first rock of the day and did a very graceful, stumbling lunge. This shock immediately seized up my already cramping calves which gave me worse issue from that point on. We reached the large ascent leading up Honey Mtn (?). At this point we saw the leaders including Leah who was blazing to what would be a 3:15 marathon on a pretty tough course. I reached the top where a more complete aid station was available. I sat down and massaged my calves and inhaled what I remember to be about 3 bananas, 5 bite-sized candy bars, and peanut butter crackers. I also took some crackers for the road. I kept up my time honored tradition of spending too much time in the aid stations; wasting about 5 or more minutes. Stacey had long since left and ended up finished at least 30 minutes ahead of me if memory serves me.
I continued the last half of the race with a run/walk strategy based on how I felt. When I returned at the next manned aid station, a runner who had dropped out earlier let me know how terrible I looked and offered me some of his salt pills. I pounded down some more crackers, thanked him for his assessment of my appearance and continued on my merry way. Up to about mile 23, the run/walk/curse process continued until I felt the dreaded rumble of a very upset stomach. I will spare the dirty details but I will say that I found a place off the trail and in the process lost my shirt for the sake of cleanliness. This has had a long standing policy change on bringing toilet paper for all trail runs! The good news was I felt better and I trudged along to the finish. I decided to wait on Jenny to catch up so I didn't have to wait too long. And Jenny being Jenny, I didn't. We met up on the last straight away and finished together. Overall, the run took me 5:14 and served as a humbling and eye opening event. It has since helped focus my training to include a little more intensity and to appreciate what a little experience can do for a runner on the trails. It was also a great opportunity to meet the quirky ultra community that abides in Central Arkansas including some people who have become my weekly running partners. My lack of pacing at the beginning and my nutrition before and during stood out as well and began a long internet search for nutrition advice and sparked a love for hill repeats that I think most runners should include in their training.
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