Jen Runs With Dogs

Semi-Rad has a hilarious set of ultrarunning motivational posters.

I suppose the Rosaryville Trail 50K is my first real ultra, since my first actual ultra doesn't count .The 50K doesn't feel epic in the way I suspect the 50M will, since it's not that much farther than a marathon, and marathons are relatively easy for me these days. Still, I suffered for this and I'm proud. I came to this race on a whim. I'd run 5 marathons so far in 2017. I'm well trained and could basically pick up any day and run a marathon. I'd been looking for one in July/August that would work around my work travel schedule, but was coming up blank. There aren't many summer marathons on the east coast. Then on a Wednesday evening, I casually resumed my not-too-serious 50K search and found Rosaryville was happening on the upcoming weekend and only 30 minutes from home. It was a sign! So I signed up. We are in Washington DC and it's July. It is swampy hot. This particular weekend was in the middle of a nasty heat wave, just to make things...

This is the header image that greets you on the homepage for the Saint Sebastian 100. Telling, eh? Yesterday, I had a grilled cheese date with my husband and a friend. The friend has done ultras and ironmans (ironmen?) in the past, so I was running (heh) the idea of a 50 miler by him. We live in DC, so the JFK 50 is the obvious race. I don't like trail running*, so I had kind of talked myself out of it. He explained that only about a dozen miles were real trails and the rest was flat / easy. He convinced me, and I signed up right there at the lunch table. But then I started looking more carefully**. This year, there's no early start. There's a 13 hour limit. I'm not a fast runner. My normal marathon time is about 5:20, and when I've tried to go fast, my best is 4:51. JFK starts with a steep uphill. I am fine on hills, but when you're doing 50, saving energy is good. Maybe walk part of that and lose time? Then, I find that the AT sections are more technica...

We all find those products we love and rely on. For me, it was chocolate powergel. It was my go-to in every marathon and I'd order it by the case. A few months ago, I ran out and was having a hard time finding it. It was out of stock everywhere. Now, Powergel doesn't even list chocolate as a flavor. It's gone! I will miss you, powergel. Chocolate was the only pseudo-palatable flavor. I guess I'm switching to Gu Chocolate Outrage (which is equally pseudo-palatable, imho). RPI, Chocolate Powergel. Pouring out a Gatorade 20 for you over here.

Ok. So the purpose of this blog is basically for me, and anyone who cares because maybe you start trying this someday, to follow along my process of figuring out ultrarunning. I've been doing 8-10 a year for the last few years. I've done 2 in an 8 day stretch. I love them and I can do them with almost no recovery time or pain. That leads me to ultras. I did a 50K last weekend and, other than a rough patch pushing through the wall around mile 21, it went great. I'm now pretty committed to doing more regular 50Ks and I'm eyeing some  50 mile road races. Maybe San Francisco. Maybe Chicago Lakefront in fall 2018. Maybe another I find that's sooner, depending how this all goes. But I'm going to do this! However, I totally winged it on the nutrition in that 50K last weekend. I know exactly how to fuel in a marathon and not at all what to do once I pass 26.2 miles. I was super nauseous around mile 21 (also, it was 95 degrees with 87% humidity, which may have had ...