Once upon a time, my friend Christy told me about a 6-hour race around a 0.75 mile track that she was signing up for, and I thought she was crazy. But I did dream of doing ultras and am slightly crazy myself, so I signed up too. The course was at Polo Fields with an aid station on the track, and I’d just run as many laps as possible within 6 hours.
I expected to run more than a marathon in 6 hours, so this would be my first ultra. I had no idea what to expect and didn’t particularly train for this race, so I went in with a plan. My strategy was to break the race up into 6 x 1-hour blocks. I’d run for 50 minutes at a time and take a 10 minute break / walking lap every hour. I figured I wouldn’t bonk if I took enough rest and just enjoyed the race. It was a small local event, so I wasn’t looking to be competitive.
Race day was perfect, foggy SF weather. The miles ticked by easily, and I never entered the pain cave as others often do in ultras. I just executed the plan I created – run 50 minutes, saunter over to the snack table, see what goodies they had to offer, then take off again for another 50 minute run. All in all, I ran 41 laps which came out to 31.2 miles. Christy came in first at 44 laps, and I came in second.
There wasn’t a lot of fanfare, but internally I was beaming. I ran my first ultra, and it wasn’t that hard! I got a glimpse of the fueling needed, the time on feet, and started to seek my first official 50k…
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