Ah, 2020. The year of no races. What I expected to be a depressing, motivation-less summer and fall turned out to be the most fun I’ve had training in a long time – running just for the hell of it, with my very closest friends whom I allowed in my COVID bubble, frolicking around the state of RI in which we were trapped in due to restrictions.
I learned a lot about how I can push myself, WHY I push myself, and of course the logistics of all of these run-ventures, like: how the heck do I fuel these things? I trained my gut to take in potato chips and sour patch kids mid run. I figured out how to avoid nausea and stupidly frequent trips off trail to go #2. Things were going great!
But, the one thing I found myself craving was the ~community~ of trail runners, hikers, and ultra-runners. I started following a bunch on social media, listening to all the podcasts, and following the local trail runners on Strava. This was OK, but it wasn’t quite enough – I was feeling more like a creeper rather than connected. I’m a person who loves to to connect with others and share experiences – this was definitely not something any of us got last year. I realized that one of the reasons I became an athlete in the first place, is that the athletic community itself is so supportive and FUN. You can make life long friendships during your shared athletic endeavors and sufferfests. This is what I was missing.
Luckily, the pandemic is starting to calm down and events are starting to take place again. Due to my extroverted nature on Strava and following everyone who runs in town, I made some connections which landed me an invite to a make-shift, renegade tiny “race” this past Sunday on the 27 mile Pachaug-Nehantic loop. Since there were so many cancelled races and events this past year, the woman organizing this mini event thought it would be a fun idea to put this all together to give a few people, 6 in total, a taste of racing again, all with a set route and a few aid stations.
The chosen loop, which is on the Connecticut-Rhode Island border, has some seriously technical sections. My 2 running buddies, Kyle and Nate, and I ran a small section of it a few weeks ago to prepare ourselves, and I temporarily panicked that the whole trail would be as technical as the Beach Pond area – a section where you’re pretty much rock scrambling – but we were assured that most of the trail isn’t nearly as rugged.
As the race day approached, I found myself looking over and over again at the weather- 65F, 70F, 72F….90F?!?!?! I’m sorry, what? Does that say 90F? In late May in New England? I couldn’t help but panic a little, since I consider myself more of a cool-weather runner, and as a dietitian and physiology-savvy person I know it takes a few weeks to get properly acclimated to the heat. But for this endeavor, there would be no acclimation. Just throwing myself into a hot bowl of clam chowder like nobody’s business.
After some reflection, I changed my mindset from “UGHHH” to “How cool, I get to challenge myself in this new and exciting way!”. It’s just a different type of adventure. I had the skills to get through it – I’ve done the training, and I have the nutrition plan figured out. I knew I would need to carb load, focus on electrolytes, and hydrate days before the run. I knew that the heat would make me not want to eat or consume my normal fueling sources, so Tailwind would be my calorie source of choice with a few other salty snacks. I knew that a nice dose of caffeine at the 16 mile mark would give me a second wind. And I knew I had to drink drink drink every few minutes even if I don’t feel like it. I was prepared as I could be.
Again, I am an extroverted person and I love people and making friends. But I also have a bit of social anxiety (thank you ADHD for getting me over-exited around new people, telling them too much, then having anxiety about telling them too much). This past lockdown year really did not give me any practice for toning it down when I encounter a new person, so when it hit me that I would be meeting some new runners that I was excited to meet, I was quite nervous that I would turn them off and scare them away with my overly-enthusiastic, chatty personality. This is your chance to make new trail running friends, I threatened myself on the ride over to the trail that morning. Don’t be weird!
I then channeled my chill-but-happy vibes and got to meet the other runners. I only panicked a little, and I don’t think I did my normal over-sharing, so I think I made an OK impression. I was definitely the most extroverted one there, but I would think that is to be expected with a bunch of people who like to suffer alone in the woods for fun.
The rad woman who put our little shindig together walked us over to the start of the trail after detailing where the mini aid stations will be, filled with ice water, Tailwind, and snacks. We then started our watches and off we went. The couple that I recognized from Strava began flying down the trail – in that moment I truly wished I could run faster just so I could watch them seemingly float over the roots and rocks.
I immediately realized that the heat would be slowing me down significantly. My heart rate was up and the pace felt hard, even when I looked down at my watch and saw a seemingly slow pace for me. At first my instinct was to be bummed about this, and wonder how the f*&% people do Badwater, but instead I just went with the flow and respected my body’s response to the unprecedented weather conditions. Slowing down was a really smart move, even as I watched my buddy Nate fly away from Kyle and me until he was out of sight.
Up and down the rolling hills we went, ecstatic to find bits of shade and sipping on our warm Tailwind. Although this was technically an unofficial race, I didn’t quite have that fire in me to push it as hard as I can just yet – I figured letting myself feel that would burn me out way too quickly. Kyle dropped behind me a mile before the second aid station and I started to mentally prepare myself for about 11 miles of solo thoughts through the soupy air and rocky trails.
Turns out I took way too long at the aid station so Kyle caught me again, but this was a good thing because I found the other runner who came out of the trails at a slightly different location, and would have missed the essential water refill if I didn’t redirect him. He was essentially our pace, so we all began running together.
Only a half mile later, Kyle dropped his pace again to prevent overheating and let Ryan and I continue. We went the wrong way a few times, which is always a little disheartening when you’re really starting to drag, but always a little better when you’re with a buddy. I learned all about Ryan’s work, where he comes from, and his cool upcoming guided Alaska backpacking trip that I knew Nate would drool over. He was great company and let him know he can come with us whenever we do a big mega-hike through the White Mountains this summer.
The caffeine started to really kick in at about mile 20, and by the third aid station, Ryan said he wanted to just walk it back to the finish. So off I went, feeling a second wind and winding down the groovy single track. Wow, if I have this much energy now, maybe I could have pushed it a little harder overall and made it back sooner, I thought as I was giggling to myself having a blast winding along the trail. But who knows if it would have made me bonk, and maybe I would not have made my new trail friend.
As I was approaching the very end, as usual, I became a giddy child and sappy human as I teared up with excitement. I always surprise myself with what my body can do. I was a softball player growing up, and it’s obvious that I, nor anyone in my family, do not have any genetic advantage as far as endurance sports go. The other runners ahead may be faster, but our effort is similar, and our love for the trails is the same. I yelled out a “WOOHOO!”, to hear a “WOOHOO!” back, and excitedly burst through the trees down to our crew, with a cold water spigot and PB&J sandwiches awaiting me.
I finished 27.6 trail miles (adding on that extra .6 due to wrong turns) in 6 hrs and 20 minutes. A month ago I had expected about 5 hrs, but I’m just happy I even finished in that crazy heat. For fueling: I drank about 3L of plain water, 800kcal of Tailwind (2L), then also consumed 1 GoGo squeeze, one chomp of a vegan quesadilla, 1 Spring Energy Awesome Sauce, 1 Spring Energy Canaberry, and a few bites of Lays potato chips. I peed on trail a few times and the color was never too dark (meanwhile, Nate tells me his pee was BROWN towards the end… which makes sense since I know he skipped the first aid station which probably set him back hydration-wise). It was so hard to take in calories and keep sipping water – the nausea started to set in at about mile 16 but I knew it was due to the heat so I forced myself to keep taking in calories and liquid. Although difficult, I felt great at the end and was in a wonderful mood as I finished the race and caught up with the speedy runners and race organizer awaiting the rest of the runners sitting in the shade.
We talked about our favorite parts of the trail, the heat, and our overall experience. Spending time with new trail runners gave me some type of energy I have not felt in a long time. It was better than listening to trail running podcasts, or laughing at the @ultrarunningmemes instagram account. These people were in real life and the connections were in real life. I soaked in the feeling of being a part of something, and eased into the excitement that this will happen again soon.
