Everglades Trail Run

When I first started running, I got in the habit of setting three goals before I did a race.  The reason for this is that I am very goal-orientated, and I realized pretty quickly that if I just set one goal and didn't succeed, I would get frustrated with myself and angry.  Fortunately, I had sufficient self-awareness to also realize that if I kept this up, I wouldn't keep running for very long, because who wants to do a sport where you are always feeling frustrated and angry?  And sometimes the goals were good and noble, like when I PRed my 5k time.  Goal 1 was to finish in under 30:00.  Goal 2 was to finish with a 10 minute/mile split.  Goal 3 was to PR.  I PRed with a 10:06 mile split, so I will take that, since it was awfully close to Goal 2.

I'm not sure when I got out of the habit of setting three goals for races, but it probably was around the time that I started doing many more of them and my main goal was simply to get out there and run.  For some reason, I think I brought it back when I did the Philly Marathon in 2012, but honestly I can't remember what the three goals were (probably PR, run the whole course, and finished.  In that case, I PRed).  More often now, I might set one goal; for instance, my one goal for the 50k was finish the 50k, which I did.  I wasn't really worried about anything else, which is good, because I sure didn't accomplish much else with that particular race!

Today, though, I kind of brought back the three goals thing for the Everglades trail run.  This is maybe slightly misleading, since I switched goals during the race, then kind of decided that they were goals 1, 2 and 3.  My first goal, when I started, was to keep a run/walk pattern for the whole thing.  That was abandoned as it got hot, when I started switching goals to try and accommodate a run/walk thing, but then realized that I couldn't keep up any running at all and had to walk the whole remaining course (at around Mile 10 of the 16-mile course).  Then I came up with one goal and one goal alone:

1) Don't get heat exhaustion

And I accomplished that goal.  Heck, I even finished the race.

Lemme tell you, that finishing was no mean feat.  The temperature was unseasonably high today in south Florida, to the tune of 85F in the shade, so around 95F in the sun.  And the last four miles of this course were pretty much entirely in the sun at around 1pm.  This was almost my complete and utter undoing, except for this guy, Norm:

Norm was kind enough to walk me through those last four miles

I am not usually very talky when I run, but I think I am learning to be a more social person.  Although my opening remark to Norm was something along the lines of, 'Has anyone read Stephen King's 'The Long Walk'?  Because this would be good footage if they make a film.'  (Plot summary).  Because that is effectively how most of us looked for the end of the race: walking along at a relatively good pace because no one could run because it was really freaking hot.  Fortunately, no one was shot for dropping below a certain pace.  Whoo!

I do have to say that I thought I was awfully near heat exhaustion, but fortunately that does not seem to have happened.  Trust me, walking for 4 miles with no shade was very tough.  There was a part on the prairie early in the race which was beautiful but warm:

Everglades grass prairie

Some parts were nice and shady:

However, the real killer was the sun and there was an awful lot of it near the end of the race.  The path was nice, but by the time it got to around noon, there was no escaping the power of Mr. Florida Sun.  In fact, I had some pretty choice words for Mr. Florida Sun by the end.

Do you see any shade there?  No, not really

The race itself was well-organized and I plan to keep my ceremonial anti-gator whistle for a good long time.  Aid stations were totally stocked.  One trick that I learned was to add ice to your Camelbak when it is hot because it will cool off your water/beverage for an extended amount of time.  Also, this race had pretty sweet swag in the form of a great bag:

You might be wondering if I saw any fun nature on the trail.  For most of the race, all that I saw was buzzards circling, which seemed quite appropriate.  But there was a bit of fun after a while:

Take a close look

Then this happened (no zoom with this photo):

My theory is that the alligator hit the wall, tried some Powerade, and decided to take a nap instead.

So I definitely got my money's worth!

Legs of Lead

Okay, I think this is a good sign.  Today, I went out and ran 3 miles and had legs of total lead.  Why is this a good sign?  Because my very first ultramarathon ever is on Saturday.  Saturday!  I will go in the woods and run 50k.  If you're counting, that is only 10 consecutive 5ks.  This is my mantra.

Running has been better as of late--better than my previous blog post, at any rate!  I did the Hillsborough River Half Marathon and while I was somewhat slow (over 3 hours), it was hot and my legs were tired, so I feel perfectly fine with that result.  It was really a training run, so slow is just fine.  I also landed in a pretty severe amount of mud and had muddy shoes for around half of the run.  Trails!

Last weekend, I finally got up to Croom for the first time in forever.  Croom is where the race is Saturday (Saturday!), so I am glad that I had a chance to run up there.  Groups of people hadn't been going because it was hunting season, which makes perfect sense to me.  I also got to practice running at night, which was helpful because the start of the race is at 6am, so it could be dark.  Did you know that the forest floor glitters at night in Florida?  The glitter is created by light reflecting off the eyes of wolf spiders out hunting.  Seriously.  SERIOUSLY.  Florida is not for the weak.

I am in the unusual position of having no idea what I will be doing after the ultra.  Well, okay, I have a vague idea.  I am doing the 5k of the Florida Challenge later this month.  Originally, I was planning to do the half-marathon, but there is a 3 1/2 hour cut off, and I don't want to come up on that.  It is a very difficult course, lots of up and down.  So the 5k is a better idea anyway, I think.

I have also been going back and forth on the Everglades Ultras.  It is in February and yes, it is smack dab in the middle of the Everglades (okay, truthfully it is a bit off to the side).  You get a whistle to get help in case you see wild creatures that don't want to move off the trail!  This is code for 'alligators.'  There are three distances: 50 mile, 50k, and 25k.  The 50 mile is out because there isn't enough time to train and I would be worried about the time cut offs.  Rationally, I know that the 50k should be out, except that logic dictates that as a runner, I am not rational.  I am going to wait and see how I feel about life on Saturday after Croom.  If I don't hate it with ever fiber of my aching being, then maybe that will be a cool thing to do.  Or maybe the 25k.  Rarely am I this indecisive about running, but there you go.

I also signed up to do a 5k challenge this year.  The challenge is to complete 12 5ks in a year.  I think I did it last year (seeing as how I did 7 in a summer, I think I must have).  This challenge is part of Mojo for Running, a website set up by my running coach, Deb Voiles (she is also the founder of Run Tampa, which is a great group to join if you live in the area).  There isn't much information on the challenge yet, but you can find out more on Facebook.

Anyway, lots to think about, lots to plan, and lots to dream about.  I didn't even mention the Zion National Park run or the Yellowstone Ultra.  Many dreams.  But I will wait to sign up for things until after Saturday.