Jen Runs With Dogs

I've been wanting to do the Palm 100 for a few years. It moved to the fall this year which worked out perfectly in my schedule so, 3 weeks after the Chicago Marathon, I headed down to Deerfield Beach, FL for the race! This was a first for me because my husband came, too. I've done all my other long ultras alone. The race is pretty straightforward. It's an out and back 50K. You can run that, go out for another 19 miles for the 50 M (my distance this time), or do it twice for the 100K. It's on sidewalks most of the way and has really nice views of the beach. Sunrise around mile 5 My husband ran the first 10 miles with me before heading back to finish the 32K. Only a couple aid stations were staffed, but there were plenty of unmanned stations with lots of goodies. It was pretty warm that day and when I came back into base after 50K, I was really tired. A bunch of people were lingering around the pavilion with that look of longing for the sweet release of death, a...

One of my favorite stories to tell over drinks is that of my first ultra, which was not really me running an ultra as much as it was me walking and crying all day to prove a point. I wrote about it for Ultrarunning Magazine and even managed to work an internet miracle and find a picture of me from that race in 2001! My First Ultra: Out of spite - https://ultrarunning.com/featured/my-first-ultra-out-of-spite/

I ran 100K! It's like this year has tried to stop me from running a longer ultra. A work trip scuttled my Keys 100 (50M) plans. Ridiculous heat made me skip the Running with the Devil 50M. Emergency gal bladder surgery on August 2 killed plans for even a 50K. But I needed a race and as I laid on the couch last month, I browsed races. I wanted something 50M - 100K. Relatively flat and close. Long time limit. No technical trails. These are hard to find, but as I scrolled, a choir of angels started singing and this race appeared. The Wildcat 100. Pensacola. 100K. 40 hour time limit! I WAS IN! The race was September 1, basically 1 month after my surgery. I ramped up my distance a bit for the 2 weeks I had to prepare, but I felt like my training had me in good shape for this race. However, I almost skipped it. The forecast for the week leading up to it remained consistent: rain rain rain. I knew that running for that long with wet feet was not going to be good. I was SO FRUS...

I was excited to see this 50K road race in Florida at a time I was nearby. I'd seen some complaints about the organization because the 2017 race was abruptly cancelled for weather, but I wanted to like this race. I did not. For a while, it was fine. Runners for all races (5M, 13.1, 26.2, and 50K) ran along the shoulder of the road. It's not the most scenic, but it's fine. I understand why races need to do this. Up to this point, the aid stations were well stocked and the volunteers were great. The volunteers remained great, but things went downhill after the half marathon runners split off. We headed on to a paved trail system which was open to the public but fine to run on. The time limit for the marathon was 7 hours, and ultra marathoners had to be at that pace up through mile 16 when we split from the marathon to do a 4.9 mile out and back to gain our extra distance. I was very much ahead of this pace, and the aid stations on the spur were fine. But when we...

Belatedly, here's my report on my first 50 at the Saint Sebastian 100 in Sebastian, FL. First, weather. It rained and rained the week before, so the organizers were smart and kind enough to move the course. Our new course was a 5 mile out-and-back. The 5 miles out was on grass that is now my enemy. The return was on the most beautiful packed sand road. The organizers are not to blame for the grass being my enemy; it's just a terrain I'd never trained on and didn't really like. That grass was a killer because it was high and thick so I had to really lift my legs to get through it. That caused a bunch of pain around my IT bands which are super sensitive. It also soaked my shoes with dew on the first loop, but I was brilliant and brought a backup pair that I changed into with fresh socks at mile 10! The course was pretty scenic. We ran along a canal with state parks all around. You can see the grassy canal view in the pic above. There was plenty of wildlife, incl...

Lucky me, I had nothing on my calendar for today so I got my weekend long run in early! I left at 11am for 16 miles in the DC summer heat; when I got home, the local weather guys told me the heat index was 105! All went well on the run, though. I prevented the chafing that my running skirt gave me last week, got a new sleeveless top that protects my shoulder blades from being rubbed raw by my camelbak (still healing from last week), and tried some new foods. The Picky Bars looked promising, but tasted off to me. Maybe the sweetener? I didn't even take it out on the trail with me. I tried the Stinger gel on the run, but it was kind of gross. Again, just a personal taste thing, but I'm sticking with chocolate Gu in the gel department. Fortunately, I had much better luck with the Grizzly Bar and ramen this week. The Grizzly Bar was delicious. I cut it into little bites and they were easy to eat along the run and they had a nice crispiness in them. Definite winner. T...

Today's long run started my experiments with new foods to see what will work for my 50 miler. I'm keeping a page with all the foods, mostly for my own reference, over here . Today: Mike's Mighty Food Vegetable Ramen - pretty tasty, but too spicy for a running food. Gu Espresso - Gu chocolate is my go to, so I decided to try this. Was not a fan of this flavor Stinger honey waffles - not bad, but they'd probably be a backup food for me GFB chocolate coconut balls - didn't like the taste of these at all. Couldn't even finish the pack despite being hungry.  Dried cranberries  - not bad, easy to eat. I'm going to try some other dried fruits to see if any really grab me. There was nothing wrong with these, but I wasn't super enthusiastic about them. Nothing made me sick, but no big winners in this group. All good data.