Kim is not only one of our Group Run regulars, she is also our neighbor (living right around the corner!) and the graphic designer who engineered our Run Magnolia logos. Anyone who has been on a run with her knows she’s a strong runner! She recently completed her first ultramarathon at the Chuckanut 50k on March 17, 2018–and crushed it! 4:50:46, 12th place. We caught up with her afterwards to see how she felt:
1) Congrats on such an aweome first 50k!! We know you trained specifically and hard for the Chuckanut 50k. What were a few key ingredients of your training?
I feel extremely fortunate to have Keith as my coach. For starters, he’s stupid crazy fast. But he also works really hard to be that way, so he understands the effort required to do well. I also like that he runs a mixture of road and trail races, so he’s a great fit for my experience. He fed me my training plans week by week, so I wasn’t looking ahead thinking,”Holy tacos! I have to run HOW FAR three Saturdays from now?!” It was really fun running Chuckanut with him, knowing he was flying to his own PR (way way) up ahead. Team RunRun has impressed me from day one—it’s such an active, supportive community of runners with weekly organized runs, regular newsletters and a huge variety of skills and experience. Julie and Matt Urbanski have built something really special, and it’s growing like crazy!
I ran in the Altra Lone Peak 3.0, which worked out well for me overall. I would have appreciated more cushion on the two Interurban segments, but I felt nice and light through the mountain segments, which was great. Also love my Salomon pack [Advanced Skin 5set]. Both from Seven Hills, of course!
The hardest part for me, ironically, was the flat(ish) 10k at the end. In my pre-race visions, I was going to descend the mountain and fly back to the finish at a pace just below my usual 10k race pace. Not so. I felt strong heading into the Interurban, but without the variety and excitement of the mountain trails, this last portion was a real mental struggle. I actually contemplated giving up about two miles from the finish. Just for a second … but it was the only time in the whole race that I thought about calling it quits. Keith did have me adding 2-3 flat, faster miles onto the end of my long trail runs during training, which helped, but I think I need to add a full six-mile chaser onto the end if I really want to prepare.
I made a point to eat more often than I typically do, because I knew I was toast if I let myself get depleted. I ate a combo of V-Fuel and Muir Energy gels, plus Tailwind, roughly one gel each 45 minutes. No stomach issues, but I got really sick of the sweetness about half way through, so I refilled with regular water at an aid station and it was the best thing I’ve ever drank. Definitely room for improvement in my race nutrition plan.
Moms! Leave your children and head for the hills!
In seriousness, it was (is) hard for me not to feel guilty about taking time away from my kids and husband to train. I logged a whole lot of weekend miles to get myself prepared, and my husband picked up a lot of slack without complaint. But, my family somehow managed to dress themselves and have fun without me. I think it made all of us appreciate each other more. And I love that my kids see me working hard, being an athlete, and having that pay off in a race. They also are learning that sometimes (usually) the goal isn’t even to “win” the race—it’s just to do the best you can do for yourself.
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