Seaton Trail Race Volunteer Report

So, the fastpacking - the 'no long term damage' one?

Yeah.  Two weeks off.  I let the IT band calm down and two days later the medial side of my ankle swelled up - probable deltoid irritation from where I damaged it in November tearing the ligaments on the lateral side.

Beautiful.

I stayed off it as much as possible, only doing strength workouts - sure, this is AWESOME for the Sulphur 50 miler (now two weeks away) but I was also supposed to run the Seaton Soaker today - the Seaton Trail Race.

So I was trying to make it so that a)it wasn't swollen; and b)I could take a step without pain.

The swelling is pretty well gone but walking is STILL painful, though much improved.  The lateral side of my ankle is now painful, I think everything has gotten stiff though why my lateral side should get painful over a week into the medial pain is beyond me.  Fuck my ankle.

Anyways, I decided that running Seaton would be a bad idea.  And god knows, I'm ALL about #illadvised, but I'm trying to stay healthy for Haliburton and that means staying healthy for Sulphur.  So.

I volunteered!

It was lots of fun.  I helped unload food at the school in the morning, then headed to the Forestream aid station and made some PB&J sandwiches and cut some fruit.  Met Merle and his son Will, and a bunch of other lovely volunteers.  Leeanne had asked if I could help direct runners where the course takes a sharp turn off the road back onto trail, so this actually meant I was away from the aid station for most of the day - out of sight of it actually - but I had come prepared with a camp chair and it was a beautiful sunny day.

Once the first runners started coming through, I headed to my spot, and directed and cheered.  There were a few people who wouldn't have noticed the turn, and one guy I had to chase after despite repeating 'to your right' so it was probably a good thing I was there.

Once most of the runners had come back through on their way to the start/finish or turnaround for the 50k, I headed back to the aid station and stayed there until the 50kers came back, and then I went back to my spot.  Everyone knew the turn by then, but I got to cheer people on and of course trail runners are lovely, so it was fun.

And sun-shiney.

I also managed NOT to get burnt, so there Toby, I don't ALWAYS get burnt!  60 SPF, I probably blocked all that good vitamin D...

So that's where things stand.  A fun day, and I am planning on trying a run on the rail trail tomorrow, but geez.  Crossing fingers for Sulphur!

Frontenac Fastpack...sort of

So for my third and fourth trail runs since being cleared to run trails following the torn ligaments, I decided to go fastpacking in Frontenac!  32k, 22k.  Sure, that might be a bad idea, to a NORMAL person, but what could go wrong?

I'd run 40k on the Sulphur Springs course in Dundas Valley Conservation Area the week before, and my IT band got angry - this is my STRONG glute side, though the side of injured ankle.  Anyways, I rehabbed it, and it seemed to be okay.

Perhaps though, running with a backpack was not the wisest idea.

Baseweight: 11 lbs.  Hey, a girl who gets cold easily needs her -7C sleeping quilt, down pants, down jacket, and rain pants and jacket given that it was calling for rain.  Add a hat, gloves, Kobo (I was soloing!  Need something to do in camp), camera, saw, and, for the making of many hot meals, the Jetboil (fuck the alcohol stove) - it was a 'light' trip.  Hahahaha.  With food and water, 14.8 lbs.  I carried heavy running snacks, rather than powder, not sure I'd do that again but I thought I could practice solid eating.

Drove up to the park Saturday morning, got there as it opened.  So many of the sites were already taken!  I couldn't stay where I'd planned.  Oh well.

Got onto the trails and into the southern section of the park...parts of the trails were good, parts muddy:

But hey, spring trail running is supposed to be muddy, am I right?

I was using poles for this, which is new for me.  I hiked a bit with them this winter, after tearing the ligaments in my ankle, but this is the first time I'd used them without gloves and oww blisters.  My delicate skinned hands.  Oh well.

But, I ran up hills without realizing I was doing it - I was just bopping along, going slow, but not giving a shit about time, just enjoying being out there, the scenery, and focusing on having a great day.

It was overcast, but the rain held off and I was just in total peace, alone on the trails.  I have been practicing positive self-talk and while I think in the past I would have been going 'You're slow!  You suck!' all I could think was 'What a beautiful day!  I'm really enjoying this!'

My IT band popped up again, and shortly afterwards I noticed my ankle fatiguing - the two were related, I've no doubt.  I decided to keep going, and reassess.  I started to walk, to try to help the IT band - practice power hiking!  Man I suck at power hiking!  Maybe it was just the IT band :)

I didn't decide to pull the plug on the trip til 3k from the car - I could've headed north towards my campsite (I'd done a big loop of the southern half of the park), but my IT band was becoming more and more inflammed and I have Sulphur coming up, and I want to be healthy for it so that it is good practice for Haliburton, and we're in Algonquin next weekend to do my last long run before Sulphur, so, eyes on the prize.  It sucked, but was the right decision - I don't feel bad about it, I have so much to look forward to.

So all in all a great day of training, and a chance to fool around with gear and practice carrying heavier weights.  Just maybe not a good idea at this point in my rehab.  Really happy with the pack, need to attach the bottles to the front but I was worried they'd swing, however it would make access a lot easier.
And that is the fastpack...it was a day of fastpacking, just not an overnight trip.

Weighty Thoughts

I am a fat runner.

That's right.  Fat.

For a while, last year, after being off Seroquel for a while and on Saphris, I was normal, though as ultrarunners go, monsterous.

Right now?  After tearing the ligaments in my ankle and going delusional, I gained about 20lbs.  Which put me in the 'fat' thing again.

And I'm torn.

Running is easier lighter, and it's free speed.  For that reason, I want to drop weight.

But I hate that there are some runners who will always look at me sideways.  Who will think I'm new to running, when I might have more experience than them.

Maybe that doesn't matter.  Maybe that's my own insecurities.

But I read running blogs, where people talk about butterballs.

Toby has a well-regarded ultrarunner tell him at Sulphur, after meeting me (at the high end of normal, fat for a runner) that what he 'likes about these races is no fat chicks'.  And then, when a bigger woman walks by, says 'Well mostly'.

People always say triathletes are assholes.  That's not true.  Triathletes may be type-A, but they're honest about themselves.  Trail and ultrarunners are the liars who think they're all friendly open granola crunchers...when really they're just as much about type-A douchebaggery as a triathlete.

Sometimes, I say, give me a triathlete any day.  Don't get me wrong, I know lots of great trail runners, but I dislike being an outsider based on my looks.

Even if I lose the weight, to me, I'll always be a fat chick.

AND FOR THE RECORD...

...when I finished 7th woman at Haliburton 50k last year, I stood at the finish line and watched runners thinner than me (remember, thin=free speed) finish after me and it felt so good.  I may be fat, but they're lacking something that can't be made up.  At least I can go on a diet.

Worst. Pacer. Ever. Around The Bay 30k

OK, so this should be a short report.  (Ha!  I may have to be succinct at work, but this is my blooooog, I can ramble on as much as I’d like…poor you, reader, poor you.)

Training:
Well, as you may or may not know, I tore the ligaments in my ankle in early November.  Started running again, on the DREADMILL, in late December.

My early enthusiasm quickly waned.  I still went and worked out, but man is the dreadmill b-o-r-i-n-g.  However, Hali 100, so.  But!  Then!  Bipolar strikes!  This had been building since December, but by mid-January-mid-February I was a big delusional mess, which does not lend itself to training.  I ran maybe…once a week?  Short.  And not at the gym, because, crazy.

By early March I had run a couple of times, but still wasn’t up to regular running.  2 weeks out, the furthest I’d run since Hali 2013 was 12k, and that was only twice over all those months.  Then I ran a couple of 11ks (plantar popped up) and a 15k (wearing orthotics, which I hadn’t worn in AGES, to help with the plantar – hello horrible blister on my arch, several layers of missing skin).  So, yeah.  I ran 30k the Sunday before Around the Bay – 20k in the morning, 10 at night.  Then rested the world’s worst blister.

So, on that stellar training, I was ready to run.  Heh.

I was going to pace Joe, a running buddy who is pacing me at Hali 100 this year, as he ran from Toronto to Hamilton overnight to get to the race.  This did not go to plan.

We were at the start with K, who was planning to go for sub-3 (and she killed it!), nice to see her, but we weren’t fated to run together.  We saw Rick about 2k in or so, as he was working his way through the crowd.  At 3k, Joe felt the call of nature and decided to duck behind a building.  I was going to stop, but he said to keep going, he’d find me.  We’d been solidly on pace for a 3:15, which was faster than what Joe had been planning to do, but I figured, go with it for as long as it felt good.  

He did not, however, find me.  I ran slow so he could catch up, but nope.  I stopped, and waited for a few minutes, scanning the crowd.  Nope.

So I decided to keep running, alternating strategies of ‘run slow, in case Joe is behind you’ with ‘run normal, what if Joe is ahead’.  This is a surprisingly ineffective way to run.

At 10k I was overcome with guilt – what sort of horrible pacer was I?  Joe was tired, I’m supposed to be keeping him company, and here I am, running along.  So I stopped, for well over 5 minutes, and watched runners go by.  We were on a ramp, so I had a good vantage – still didn’t see Joe.

I did see Helen (Hali race director) run by, wondering what I was doing.  After several minutes, I decided to go, and I booted it along (the 3:30 pace bunny had long since passed me, which was quite irksome).  I passed people back, quickly rather than gradually, getting all pooped out and worrying in the process – what if Joe was still behind me?  What if he was in front, that he’d passed me while I grabbed some water?

Eventually I settled into a slow pace, figuring this was just another training day – I estimated I’d been stopped for 8-10 minutes looking for Joe, and I just wasn’t going to make that up – and this isn’t a goal race, so hey.

Hit North Shore – I was a bit nervous, since my hill training has been zero – there is one hill to/from the waterfront, which is where I’ve been running.  But I was fine on the hills.

Ambled along (wracked with ‘worst.pacer.ever’ guilt) – hit Copps Coliseum, or whatever they’re calling it now – it’s COPPS DAMMIT – finished in 3:23 (sigh), for my worst finish out of 3 ATB’s…but not that much worse than when I ran it with a stress fracture, so that’s something, I guess.

Had to call Toby, found each other and discovered Joe had finished about 10 minutes ahead of me.  So, if I hadn’t stopped to look for him, we probably would’ve found each other, or finished together anyways.

Such is life – it’s a bit of a bummer, because I neither paced nor ran my own race, but it was still a good training day, beautiful weather (who knew you could get sunburnt in March).  And it was fun to run with Joe for at least a bit of the way, I enjoyed the day. 

See?  Short-ish report!

A New Year, Start to 100 Miler Training

For anyone who reads my blog who doesn't know me in real life or on Facebook (which is probably nobody), on November 11th, while running with Neb the over-enthusiastically-pulling trail dawg, I went down while running over some uneven ground at a moment Neb was pulling with all his might.

I'm happy to report my first instinct was to stop my Garmin. 

I had a highly uncomfortable walk off the trails and to a spot where Toby could come pick me up.  We dropped off Neb, and then went to the hospital:

Looks good, right? 

It wasn't broken, but weight bearing was very difficult and painful.  I was scheduled in to see the Fracture Clinic the next morning.  The orthopedic surgeon said that it was too swollen to do a proper exam, but that you don't see swelling like that without a tear.  They sent me home with an Aircast, in addition to the crutches I already had. 

The next day, I booked in to see Andrew, who was great for ultrasound sessions to bring down the swelling and for cool tape jobs:

I saw the orthopedic surgeon two weeks later, and sports medicine doctors.  Partial tears, which means no surgery (yay).  I was still in the Aircast, but off crutches.  I stayed in the air cast another week and then moved to a sports brace - the Aircast shortened my achilles and it was more and more uncomfortable.  Even now, at the start of 2014, after stretching and rehab, my achilles is still sore.  But much improved. 

I rode a wee little bit, but not much. 

On December 24th, I got approved to run inside.  I went for a 5k run on the treadmill - 30:23.  Not setting any speed records but soooo nice.  I joined a gym so that I have a treadmill to run on through the winter, as me and Andrew agree no trails until the snow and ice are gone, and sidewalks are icy right now in any event. 

I haven't run every day, but it's getting better.  I'm icing post-runs, as otherwise the ankle gets a bit stiff.  I do exercises for the ankle every other day. 

Today - January 1st - I started official Haliburton 100 miler training - with an 8k tempo run in 44:04.  It's not fast - treadmill running is easy - but I wasn't running much after Haliburton, and then the ankle.  So I'll get there.  I'm not sure what I'll do for long runs - I may have to do shorter runs followed by bike rides.  We'll see how the ankle holds up.  It felt great today. 

So, frustrating, but this will get better.  I never thought I'd enjoy running on the treadmill, but to run at all again is so delightful I'm coping.  Treadmill running is better than no running at all! 

Now to lose the weight I gained and build back up my run fitness and ankle strength so I can do long runs - I have the fitness to do them slow, just not sure if the ankle is yet there. 

Pain cave

I've been very uninspired with running lately.  Not getting out as much as I'd like. 

But, I am.  And I'm getting back into the swing of things.  It doesn't help that I am training for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront half - I should be able to easily PB - and knowing that, and knowing that - well, duh, it's easy to run 21.1k - I have been lazy.

But no more!  Yesterday there was a new addition to the pain cave, courtesy of Joe:

The leg machine.  Andrew, our RMT, is mixed on leg extensions, but I can do leg extensions and hamstring curls with this machine.  Extra strength is extra strength.  I'm really pleased Joe is lending this to me for the year.

Used it yesterday and today - my hamstrings are already sore!  Though I feel like I have shockingly weak hamstrings.  I will improve them, bit by bit. 

So for strength, I have started working on my core again - the whole shebang - and really targeting strength in my legs.  I'm putting living in a high rise to good use, loading up a backpack with weights and doing stairs.  It's good work! 

In other news, as an extra motivation for Haliburton, I've reached out to Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to see if I can fundraise for them for the run.  We need to talk, but they are interested. 

I am a bit torn - I'd love to fundraise - but it also means to some extent being 'out' about my story, and well - I am a very high functioning bipolar, but there is still a lot of prejudice - I don't really worry about it personally, but professionally.  I am out to my immediate colleagues at work, but if I ever left my job - would it impact me searching for another?  I don't know.  I think my work speaks for itself, but it is a consideration. 

On the otherhand, I think a lot of times people don't expect people as mentally ill as I am to be high functioning, so it's nice to model that and show that it is possible.  I dunno. 

Haliburton Forest 50k Race Report

I was originally supposed to run my second 50 miler at Haliburton Forest, which was my 'A' race this season.

 

Things were going well - I ran the 50 miler at Sulphur Springs, then after my IT band calmed back down, was back into running.

 

Then I got sick. I had a terrible migraine, for a week and a half, and as a result missed Limberlost 42k and the Haliburton training run the next day. What followed was a bout of intense depression (though I've since learnt there is possibly a link between migraines and depression/bipolar). It was terrible. They say running is supposed to help your mood, but running just made me feel like I was suffocating, drowning, and short easy runs became more difficult than the 50 miler at Sulphur. The pain I experienced from the depression was worse than the pain of an extremely inflammed IT band for 57k. It was awful.

 

So I missed a lot of running. I just couldn't face getting out there. And when I did get out, the runs were short. I needed them to be over quickly, to end the pain, though usually I just ended up curled up on the couch in a ball or crying.

 

Toby became exasperated. He was worried. I know it's frustrating to watch someone you love hurt and not be able to help them.

 

Luckily I recognized quickly that this would be a bad depressive episode, and got in to see my pdoc quickly. We started on an anti-depressant, which was a bit nerve-wracking - being on an anti-depressant was how I was first diagnosed bipolar, but at the time that was all I was on and I'm now on other medications, plus I was put on an anti-depressant which is not as bad for triggering mania.

 

While it made me nauseous, eventually I started to come around. And run again.

 

But I didn't feel like my training was there for 50 miles at Haliburton. I firmly believe Haliburton is a far more difficult course than Sulphur - I'm not sure how different the elevation gain/loss is, but Haliburton is far, far more technical.

 

So I dropped down to the 50k. I knew I had the fitness to PB (my previous best, in 2012, was a 7:49, and that was in a rain/mud fest and with serious gut issues that had me stopping to go to the bathroom constantly. (Regular readers of my blog may notice I have gut issues when I run - NINE bathroom breaks at Sulphur, oh yeah.)

 

It pissed me off. A lot.

 

As we got closer to the race, runs started to go better. I toyed with the idea of asking Helen if I could switch back up to the 50 miler. But I truly believed my long runs hadn't been there. I knew I could complete the 50 miles, but I wanted to run it strong, and I wasn't sure I could do that. Most importantly, my head wasn't there.

 

So 50k it was.

 

This year we stayed at the Forest and brought the dogs, which was really nice. One day I'll convince Toby to camp (okay, maybe that will never happen), but the cabins were nice. Kind of like apartments. We had an easy drive up, stopping at Webers for a veggie burger (me), a hot dog (Toby) and a free hamburger courtesy of Cottage Life (Luc and Neb). Personally I think Webers is overpriced for what it is, but the veggie burger and hamburger were both free, and we could eat at the picnic tables with the dogs, which is worth something.

 

We got to the Forest, picked up my race kit and chatted with Helen a bit. Went to check in for the cabin - we were a bit early, but since we were staying in smaller accomodations they were ready so we got unpacked (travelling with dogs means taking a whackload of stuff!).

 

Then we took the dogs for a walk to Aid Station 2 (well just past it actually). Originally the plan was for Toby and the dogs to drive out to Aid Station 5, which is near the turnaround, to see me on course, but heavy flooding in the spring meant some of the Forest roads were in bad shape and there was no crew access to Aid Station 5.

 

Since you go through Aid Station 2 twice on the way back (you go through it, then loop around on Normac Trail around a lake, to road, back to Aid Station 2 again), I thought it would make sense for Toby to walk out with the dogs there and he could watch the racers come through and see me - since the loop around the lake is at least 10k, he'd have plenty of time to walk the ~2k back to the finish line to see me finish.

 

Race day dawned early (too early to be bright). I've been basically a walking bar of fibre in an attempt to regulate my gut issues - you should see how much fibre I eat, plus I take supplements - but I got up at 3:30 to eat to give plenty of time for digestion, then went back to bed. In the past I would've had oatmeal, but I decided to eat a regular breakfast - greek yogurt and blueberries. I was going to eat a banana but felt too sleepy. Was back in bed 5 minutes later, and rested until 4:45, when I got up to walk the dogs quickly and start putting stuff together and relaxing. It was nice, since we were basically at the start line.

 

I took a preventative Immodium at the start of the race, and just after the turnaround, and not a single stirring. YEAH!!!! I'm not even sure the Immodium was necessary, as my stomach has been pretty good lately, but I wasn't taking any chances.

 

The race starts in the dark, on forest road. Some people don't use headlamps, but they are crazy IMO. Headlamps weigh next to nothing and just make things easier. Plus if it is still a bit dark when you get to Normac you can give yourself some extra light to see rocks and roots.

 

I had a plan for my PB - move at a decent clip on the road section, at a slower but decent effort for the trail section, and then pick it up again for the road section on the way back.

 

The road section on the way out was a bit faster than I'd planned, but I was running easy and chatting with people, so it worked. I was pleased with my pace as well on Normac, and on the trails at first.

 

Eventually, what with the drizzle and cloud cover and wet leaves, my Garmin Fenix started cutting in and out. It's the first time it's done that, but it was annoying, because some kilometers were faster and some were long (one k was measured as 29 minutes LOL). The real problem is when it eventually cut out and didn't immediately pick up again, the screen just read that the satellite signal had been lost, and I wasn't sure how to turn that off so I could see the time and get my reminders to drink. I was flying blind, for a bit, until I figured it out. I was too busy running to problem solve, I guess, but I got there eventually. I was cursing it though and wishing I'd used the 310xt.

 

I hit the 50k turnaround in around 2:57. I hadn't stopped at any aid stations on the way out, but stopped on the way back for some straight water (was drinking Infinit) and orange slices.

 

I was running a bit slower, and walking a bit more. It felt like the hills on the way back were longer, while the ones on the way out were steeper, so it meant more walking. I suspect that this may not be the case and that was simply a function of me being tired, but we'll go with that.

 

There is about 10k between Aid Stations 4 and 5. It seemed to go on forever. And it's hilly and technical. Came through it fine - one poor soul managed to break either his ankle or lower leg in there though, and had to be extracted to the nearest road. Yikes. It happened after I'd gone through though. Poor guy.

 

Anyways, eventually I got to Aid Station 4 - yay! I'd been seeing some of the 26k runners heading out, but none caught me on the way back.

 

I saw Toby and the dogs at Aid Station 2 (you go through it twice, as I mentioned, so you actually hit it on the way back before Aid Station 3). The dogs seemed totally unexcited to see me, which was a bit insulting - yeah thanks guys, see if I care about seeing you next time I come home from work! Geez!

 

I was stopped for longer at Aid Station 2, as I wanted to fill my handheld that had Infinit powder in it up with water - I had to get Toby to open it since my hands were sweaty - and then - yikes - there must've been water in the handheld when I filled it that morning, just enough damp to congeal the powder at the mouth so that I had to push it all in and then have gross sticky fingers. I was highly dubious about shaking up the congealed powder - I think it was fine, but as it turned out my bladder lasted me the race.

 

I did a good job running up the long hill to Normac, and ran well on Normac. After Normac on the road section I wasn't quite as fast as I'd hoped, though I also slowed down and gave directions to two 26k runners who had gone the wrong way - they were both really pissed off. Whatever. No thanks, oh well.

 

I finished so-so. I didn't really run up the long hill - I figured I wasn't going to get 6:15, so why bother (nice mental toughness there me) but at the top I was like 'Oh man I gotta boot it to hit 6:20' so I started running again, 'fast'.

 

Crossed the finish line with a time of 6:18:31 (preliminary results just posted to OUSer).

 

OMG! PB by over an hour and a half! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

And even better, I was 20th overall and 7th woman.

 

I know, I know, big deal, but I'm usually BOP. I worked hard this year dammit! Set a new (non-race) 5k PB (smashed it, actually), did my first 50 miler, set a new 50k PB....

 

(Plus an unsupported 50k that was at the time a 50k PB and a marathon the weekend after which sadly was not a PB, but hey.)

 

Only one 50k runner passed me from the turnaround, and he was a guy (he was actually the only person period; none of the 26k runners caught me either).

 

It was really nice to be able to hang around the finish line and cheer in other runners, and cheer out friends and other people doing the 100 miles going back out for their second lap. And have a beer or two or three :) (Though no public drinking!) We hung out with Derrick for a bit, and lent our shower to Sara when she finished - 4th woman in the 50 miler, whoo hoo! - and then we all hung out to cheer Kelly over the line for her first 50 miler - Kelly did awesome!

 

Then Kelly, Toby and I went for dinner in town.

 

When we got back, I was pretty tired - but it was good to have eaten. I hadn't eaten much all day and was quite cold, until I had some pasta, when suddenly I became toasty warm. Duh.

 

The next morning we got updates on Joe, a friend who was running the 100 miles, and had breakfast - we just missed Stephen, another friend, finishing his 100 miler by 10 minutes - way to go Stephen! We had a great time chatting to people and watching as the dogs got lots of attention, and Joe came in for a strong finish at the 100 miles - YAY!!!!!! Way to go Joe! Was so cool to see him finish.

 

Very inspired by the race. I knew after Sulphur that I would do 100 miles in 2014, but it's definitely going to be Hali and I'm already putting together a team - Joe is in to help and to have someone with that 100 mile experience - totally invaluable.

 

All in all, a great weekend. The dogs were great, the race was great, the weather was pretty good - light rain off and on on race day, nice on Friday and Sunday. I love Haliburton - it's the best trail race in Ontario, I think - all the volunteers are AWESOME, the race organization is AWESOME, and the runners are AWESOME. It really is something special.

 

Gear:

-compression shorts. Forget the brand and am too lazy to go look.

-k tape on my IT bands and hip bursitis (thanks Andrew!)

-lucky socks (I'm a terrible atheist) - PYP finisher's socks

-MEC merino t-shirt - bad choice, last year it fit tighter b/c I was bigger, now it's looser and I chafed like a mofo on my arms and armpits.

-Inov-8 shoes - only half a size up, I debated whether to wear these or the Salomon Speedcross 3 which are a full size up but the Salomon's I don't like in slippery weather on rocks and logs and it was calling for rain. My toes felt a bit banged though. Some tiny blisters on the ends of my long toes.

-Wet Platinum personal lubricant on my feet. Body Glide is for suckers.

-Moving Comfort bra. Worked well, but chafed around armpits. Must lose fat to combat this.

-UltrAspire Surge pack with 2L hydration bladder and Nathan handheld attached to the pack for most of the run empty save Infinit powder

-Sugoi hat

-headlamp

-running gaiters to keep stuff out

Nutrition

-S!Caps (electrolytes) every hour, roughly, except at 6hrs I didn't bother

-Infinit - ~330 cal/600mL, took in just under 2L. Not a lot of calories, but nervous about my tummy. 5 sips every 15 minutes, compared to 10 sips every 15 minutes for the 50 miler at Sulphur

-Water from course

-3 orange slices