IronKidd: Can Lake 50

October 11, 2014

After hundreds of miles and months of running, it was time to cash it all in at our "A" race: The Can Lake 50 Ultras!

I blasted off Friday morning, so excited to get to Can Lake and meet up with Team Rabbit and honorary rabbitear N2 (AKA Thumper).

Arriving mid afternoon, I made a pit stop at Vine Valley to spend a few minutes sitting lakeside, contemplating the race to come --and the journey to get here.

Funny how I couldn't help but think of Can Lake as "only a 50K." Having survived last year's 50 miler, anything less seemed downright easy! Of course....it's all relative.

My only goal for this race? Finish before sunset! Can Lake sunset would be happening at 6:32pm, giving me 8.5 hours to reach my goal. It had taken me 10 hours to run 33 at Woodstock last month. Could I make it happen? Would the sun still be shining when I hit that finish line? As usual, it was a roll of the dice.

Our crazy Can Lake crew!

The pre-race anxiety drove us all crazy (as you can see in the pics)! We picked up our packets, then joined our fellow Can Lakers for pasta. Our crew consisted of:

Silly Rabbit- "SRab"- our sole 50 miler

What's Up Doc -"WuDoc" - 50K

Thumper - 50K

Energizer Bunny -"EBun" - Handler & Pacer!

RRab - Handler-in-Chief

Funny thing about this race is all the gear I had! Never mind that I've survived many a marathon with what I could carry on me. Add 5 miles and call it an ultra and suddenly I need all kinds of stuff! The race provided drop bags at two locations, so I took advantage. Way took advantage. My bags were stuffed with extra everything!

Race Day!

What a perfect day for a race. Temps were in the low 40's at the start, warming up to the 50's later in the day. We had mostly cloudy skies with a little wind.

And we're off! What's Up Doc and I ran the first few miles together.

Coach had told me to get out of my comfort zone and try to keep up my pace, so that's what I did. I was just hoping that all of my rogue running this year wouldn't come back to bite me.

It seemed to take forever for my runner's high to kick in, but by the time I stopped for my drop bag at the 12 mile mark, I was feeling great, just cruising along.

Even the annoying hill after Middlesex didn't seem to bother me. I just kept thinking about how much I love the scenery, love the race, love to run. I also thought about SRab and wondered how she was doing on her first epic 50 miler.

The downhill into Vine Valley went on forever -and that's good because it's one of my favorite parts of the race! I tried to hammer it to make up for time lost walking the uphills.

Photo by Natalie Werner

Before I knew it I was on the long hill that wound its way up to the turn for Bare Hill.

Bare Hill wasn't as bad as I had remembered it! I did the walk, jog-a-few-steps, walk method until I reached the top where drop bag #2 was waiting --with a Diet Coke.

Ahhh....nothing like a Diet Coke at the top of the last big bad hill to keep the mood elevated! Follow that with another good downhill and I was a happy cruising camper again.

A couple miles later everything changed. Suddenly my brain was inventing reasons to slow down. Out of the blue the bottoms of my feet started hurting. Then my lower back began bugging me. A bad blister materialized without warning. Why did the pavement suddenly feel harder? What's up with this wind? Now I'm getting chilled, ugh. It's scary how quickly your mood can tank when your brain decides to start acting up!

The thing is, I knew this was my brain screwing with me...but looking ahead to the next hill I couldn't seem to make the "phantom" aches and pains go away.

Photo by Natalie Werner

Cheery side note here: it was cool to see the course during the daylight! Last year I ran the last however-many-miles in the dark....with car headlights zooming toward me on Middle Road. Seeing that road now, in the light of day, I couldn't believe I had managed it in the pitch black! The "shoulder" is just a narrow strip of loose gravel. Perhaps being able to see it made it more annoying, I don't know. All I knew was I had to get myself out of this funk.

Photo by Natalie Werner

I took in the pretty scenery and tried to talk myself into feeling better.

WTH, Sally? This is "only" a 50K!

Sure enough, two miles from the finish line all of the aches and pains magically vanished! I picked up my pace and my runner's high returned. How does that happen?! It's so true what they say about 90% of it being mental!

Past the dead end barricade, down the grassy knoll, final turn to the finish line and I was able to "sprint" it in! Crossed the finish line in 7 hours, 29 minutes-- the sun would still be shining for another hour or so. Yessss!!!

Goal reached, bling in hand...I couldn't wait to see SRab cross the finish line!! With EBun pacing her in for the final 15+ miles and What's Up Doc joining in for the final stretch, SRab cruised across the finish line Team Rabbit style!