Are your Feet Pickled yet?

I've always enjoyed running in circles. I ran the mile and 2 mile in high school. A few years back I started running the revolution run and didn't mind going in circles for five hours. I have thought about running loop races at the ultra level for a couple years now but just have never pulled the trigger. When I heard about the Pickle Feet race in Boise Idaho last year I thought it was time to jump in and try it. I figured I would start with the 12 hour race just in case I didn't like running in circles for 12 hours much as I did for five. Then I would step up to 24 hours.  

Training for a race of this caliber I really didn't know how. I did a little research and never found much on training for ultra distance on a loop. My philosophy was to beef up my daily miles and run my long distance runs faster then goal pace. I did do some training running in circles. I did a marathon in liberty Park in 3:24 and a 20 miler at night doing Swinski 5K's. 

In prepping for this race we found out that my wife has a friend that lives in Boise and quickly contact her to see if we could stay with her. This made it easy for my wife and kids to hang out there while I ran.  

Laying awake in bed the day before the race I looked at the clock it was 7:30 AM. I had this thought to myself it's going to be dark at 6 AM tomorrow. I then panicked, I didn't bring a headlamp. Last thing I want to do is try to run in the dark the first few laps on borrowed light. While at the store I found a nice little hand held flashlight that had about 60 lumens.  

The race started Eagle Island State Park just northwest of Boise. The course was on a 2.6 mile flat loop with little elevation change. My wife was kind enough to drive me to start of the race. She volunteer for a couple hours and crew me in the beginning. 

I ran the first two laps comfortably with a lady that was a local and had done the race before. We chatted away in the lead in the 26 degree weather. Loop three was my fastest, after taking a quick pit stop I picked the pace up to a 7:30 to catch the leaders and pass the them. 

I managed to keep a sub nine pace for the first 3 to 4 hours. Finished my first Marathon in 4:01 and felt great. Continued on to finish my first 50 K in about 4:49. 

My strategy was to rotate directions every two hours for a change of scenery. This also gave me an opportunity to see how the competition was feeling and stacking up. 

I made a point to talk to people and learn their names to encourage them. Intern this would boosted there energy. Then their smiles would created energy that that fueled me and boosted my spirit. It was a continual cycle throughout the whole race. 

It worked for almost everybody in the race except for one lady. Every time I pass her she would say nothing and looked right past me as if she didn't hear me or I wasn't there. I then made it my goal to make her smile or acknowledge me. A simple good job or you're doing great didn't work. Then I tried something louder "Whoooooo Hooo, you're rocking it". That didn't work either. I think I scared her more then helped her. I didn't think I would break her but near the end she finally told me "good job". She may have found me annoying and obnoxious. That is never my intent. Everyone race strategies are different.  

At about 6 hours my stomach went a little sour. I revived it on Mtn Dew and cantaloupe. During races I eat what ever I want. But this time I stuck to PB&j, casadillas and breakfast burritos. I normally drink lots of water. They provided Tailwind for the race. I decided to try it and I think it helped. I need to experiment with it more on my long runs. 

My pace slowed a little between 50 K and 50 miler but still felt really good. Finished the 50 in a respectable time of 8:01. 

I now only had four hours more to run. I found a second wind and pick the pace back up to 8:30. 

In the last hour they opened up a shorter loop about .26 of a mile. This allowed you to get in more miles if you could didn't think you could finish the big loop in the time allowed. With 30 minutes to go I decide to play it safe and join everybody on the short loop.  

 

In 12 hours I was able to get in 73.454975 miles. Finished in first place overall and set a new course record. 

I couldn't have accomplish this with out the my many friend helping me train. My super awesome wife for allowing me time to train. Endurance Athletics for supporting my addition to run faster and farther. Tyler has a great running store. You can get everything you need for your next race, grand adventures and every day fitness. 

Now to find a 24 hour loop race!