On October 20, 2018 I become an Ultra Runner
On October 20 I become an Ultra Runner. The race I chose to run was the Triple Lakes Trail 40 miler in Greensboro, NC. What an incredible experience. I chose the Triple lakes as my first Ultra, because the course is rolling with no huge elevation changes and it is a great location for families. The week before the race we got a notice from the race director that the course had changed. North Carolina had been hit by a hurricane the week before so parts of the Trail was closed due to storm damage. The race consists of a half marathon, 40K and a 40 Miler. The 40 miler would now run the half marathon course 3 times. I was a little nervous going into the race, because I thought running loops would be mentally hard, but to be honest, it was a great opportunity to see my family on every loop. My kids and husband cheered me on and that really helped keep me going.
We started the race in fairly dry conditions. but as we were running it started raining, only light rain but the constant rain meant that the trails become rather slick. I realized very early on in the race that my blade had zero grip in the muddy conditions. This meant that on some parts I actually had to bum shuffle to get to the bottom. At mile 16 I twisted my knee when I slipped on some mud so it meant I had to go super slow, but it was manageable. I was keeping reasonable pace when I hit mile 26 considering my knee issues but by mile 31 I was in so much pain that most of my miles ended up being a walk/run. At this point I had to really do a mind shift and tell myself that no matter what, I will finish this race. I knew that the finish time I wanted was no longer achievable and that I would be crossing the finish line in last place, something that has never happened to me before. I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other (or in my case, one foot in front of my blade). Even if I was going to crawl all the way to the finish line, I was determined to finish the race.
At mile 38 my wonderful husband surprised me on the trail. He had come to angel me in. It was dark and I was so grateful to have someone by my side. As I was getting closer to the finish line I could here the wonderful volunteers of the Triple lakes trail race cheering me on. They had seen my headlamp shining and they didn't stop cheering until I crossed that finish line. The cheers got me running again and I crossed that finish line with the best feeling in the world. I had become a ultrarunner. Something I never thought possible when I lost my leg and as I only started running 2 years ago at age 41.
Thank you Triple Lakes Trail race for putting on one heck of a race. Loved the people, loved the volunteers, loved the course and made some great friends.
http://triplelakesrace.com/
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