ULTRA! 30.5 miles of awesomeness.

There are a million different reasons that people run marathons. Sometimes they want to win a bet, some people raise money, some people just want to see if they can do it, and some people feel the need to go further.

I’m one of those people.

After crying in a Gap dressing room for at least an hour, at the wise old age if 19, I decided that I needed to make a change. My Gap (in good old Rochester, Minnesota) started carrying size 18, and it didn’t fit. F*ck. I was fat. I had just graduated high school and I tipped the scales at over 300 lbs. Awesome.

To make a long story much shorter, I started walking, then jogging, then running, and started eating much, much healthier I lost over 130 lbs, and I’ve kept off about 120 of it. This was between 2000 and 2002. I still have about 25 I want/need to lose, but I love to eat. I love, love, love to eat – so endurance racing is the perfect sport for me. You have to eat to have calories to burn for hours of activity. My only problem is that I can always eat too much!

ANYWAY – I’m always trying to find new, crazy ways to push my body. After two marathons, I tried triathlons, and after a few years of half iron distance races, I raced an Ironman (Wisconsin, 2008, finishing time 13:41:30. Boo yah.)

A few months ago, a friend asked me to run the new, Massachusetts Reach the Beach. Reach the Beach is a 200+ mile relay race that has been taking place in New Hampshire for the past twelve years, 8 of which I have run with a team of 12. It’s such a fun race, that I couldn’t possibly say no. A few minutes later, I got an email from said friend who said “We have our 6th and final runner!!”

Crap. 6 runners = “ultra” team = a lot more miles! Bring it on! The race was this weekend, and the weather had been absolute crap all week, so we were expecting to get poured on all weekend. Somehow, just as we were about to start, the fog started to burn off and we were off!

The race staggers teams in 20 minute starts according to your team’s average pace for a half marathon. Our team started at 12:20, relatively late for a 6-person team, but we were feeling pretty badass, so we didn’t complain.

The idea of the race is a simple relay. One by one, runners complete legs of the race. Each leg is anywhere from 2.5-8+ miles, up and over hills, through little towns, and across the state. My goal: run 30.5 miles for my team, split up into four segments.

My first run was UP Mount Wachusett – a local ski hill, on trail type terrain. I was both thrilled and terrified.



Here’s me at the start! And I have to say, I’m the worst at taking photos during these races, so there are very few! When the gun went off, my heart started racing. I was running legs one and two for a total of a mere 6 miles. Nothing tough… except it’s a gain of 1500 feet over 2 miles. My lungs were burning, my calves felt like they were full of gravel, and it was exhilarating. Finally, I hit the top and started to descend the mountain. The views were amazing! I averaged 10 minute miles of hurting and was psyched.

My next run was at 9PM. It was 12 miles, and hilly. I brought a water bottle pack to carry around my waist, and filled it with ½ and ½ Powerade and water. I knew that I had to keep fluid in me or my stomach was going to go sour, and stay sour for the rest of the race. I came through the run averaging around 9:15 pace, and feeling really strong. I changed and put on compression socks to keep the blood moving through my legs. I then ate the world’s most wonderful veggie sub. It was the best sandwich I had ever eaten, possibly because I had run 18 miles and eaten random scraps of food. (I had packed fruit, popcorn, some homemade pecan-cranberry whole wheat rolls, and watermelon for fuel. My goal was fueling without digestive distress.)



Here’s me waiting for my teammate to pass the slap bracelet “baton” in all required reflective/visibility gear. You’re required to wear a reflective vest, blinking lights on the front and back, and a headlamp or flash light for all legs that start between 6pm and 6am.

My third leg was at about 4AM. Lucky for me, I do a lot of early running with Back on My Feet. When I started running, I could hardly see the ground in front of me, but by the end of my 7 miles, it was almost light. I ran over hills and through quaint little town parks, up hills and down, down, down a slow death, um, decline. What people don’t realize is that while running downhill is aerobically easier, it beats the crap out of your quads!

Between the second and third legs, we did our best to get a little bit of rest, but there’s only so much sleeping that can be done in a minivan when you’re 5’11” and a “back sleeper.” And finally, the last leg. My last leg was a whopping six miles, some of the most painful miles I have ever run. My six miles were 3.5 miles of rolling hills, followed by 2.5 miles of hills. Seriously, not like the first mountain, but being that I’d run over 27 miles at that point, it felt like it! I finished my last leg, and felt amazing. I had run over 30 miles!! 

Our team placed 69th of 150 teams (including full 12 person teams) in a total time of 29:01:56, averaging 8:39 pace. We were 6th of 8 Ultra teams. And best of all, we felt amazing! (This is getting a bit long…so I’ll end it with a photo!)