Mile 90 Photography did such an amazing job with these I thought they should get their own post!
 |
| Trying to hang on in the final 5 miles |
 |
| Pace group for the first 18 |
 |
| Nearing the 17.3 mile turn around |
 |
| Sweet relief |
 |
| After I had some time to come back from the dead |
 |
| Picking up pacer Andrew |
 |
| Trying unsuccessfully to hang on |
 |
| Trying to stand up |
 |
| Crew hugs |
 |
| My shorts pockets are definitely stuffed with gels! |
I'm not disappointed with Prairie Spirit but I'm not out-of-my-mind excited about my performance either. It was good/fine - just like Cabin Fever, the only other race I've raced all-out this year so far...also much like every fall race I did in 2021! The last race I feel like I really knocked out the park was the Tobacco Road Marathon, but I also haven't had any unexplainable bad races in several years (the steamy 10,000 m at USATF Masters Nationals and the marathon I ran with bronchitis were very explainable). My workouts have been the same - I'm not running anything groundbreaking but I haven't had a bad workout for a very long time. All of this to say, I'm kind of in this spot where I'm happy enough with my running performances - not insanely thrilled but also not upset. All in all, most things went right for Prairie Spirit.
 |
| Sunrise start |
My training cycle. I completed it all as planned through some rough winter weather, and handled the highest volume I've ever done (5 weeks of 100-110) really well. I hit all my workouts and felt really strong through all of the training. I was also 100% healthy without even a niggle.
The course. Prairie Spirit had less elevation gain than Frisco and for the most part was well-maintained crushed limestone. It was a little soft from recent rain but I don't think that necessarily hurt me.
The weather. I complain enough about bad race weather that I'd better to point out when it's fabulous - and this was! 32 degrees at the start and likely in the high-40s when I finished, which is about perfect long race weather for me. The wind was low for Kansas at 8-10 mph and I tried to draft off Andrew when we were running into it.
The company. I had running buddies the entire race, with Colin for about a marathon, pacer Andrew from 17.3 to the end, and Hans and Logan (both of whom I met during the race) for the first 20 miles. Can't beat that!
 |
| Pace crew, split here due to upcoming aid station |
Chafing, or more precisely lack thereof. Nothing chafed except for my chest a bit from stuffing gel wrappers and my empty handheld into my sports bra at times. When I got in the shower after the race, multiple little gel tabs fell out because I was throwing away the large trash when we passed a trash can and after I finished, but the little tabs you pull off to open mostly stayed in. Shout out to rabbit for the awesome clothing that didn't rub one bit!
Pacing, I think. I wish I could have finished stronger, but I picked a very reasonable pacing strategy and stuck to it well, even when it felt super slow during the first 1/3 of the race.
Fueling, I think. I took 8 gels during the race and had zero issues with that...though afterward I never want to see another gel! I sipped on water as needed, but with it being cool I didn't need that much. My pre-race meal of oatmeal mixed with cinnamon and vanilla UCAN energy + protein 2.5 hours before the race followed by 2 scoops of UCAN energy in water 45 minutes before the race is always dependable for me! See below for one fueling issue though.
Records. Kansas overall female state record, Prairie Spirit women's course record, and the #5 time in North America for women in 2022 so far. I sometimes feel greedy saying that I didn't achieve my time goals when I set records, and I'm super thankful for them, just wanted to make them faster.
 |
| Kansas state record |
 |
| North American female top 2022 performances |
What went wrong:
The two hairpin turn arounds, slightly. The first was marked with chalk on the ground and a cone with a sign on the side of the road on the sidewalk, and it was just really lucky that I even saw it at all, because the guys I was with didn't. I turned my head as we passed the turn around and saw the sign, so we only went a few steps past it, but then I had to convince the men that it was actually the turn around ("Are you sure?", "Look, the sign on the cone on the sidewalk!"). The second was at a timing mat that we ran over and continued past until I asked, "Where do we turn around?" maybe 5 seconds later. Again, the men I was with didn't know either...so what I've learned from writing this is that all 3 of them owe me, hah!
Lack of caffeinated gel when I needed it most. Jon did an excellent job crewing aside from forgetting to put my final gel with caffeine in my handheld pocket at the 23.8 mile aid station. I was really counting on it to perk me up at that point! I wrote him very, very detailed instructions and he followed everything else exactly - not to mention got up at 6:00 a.m. to watch me run for over 3.5 hours - so I can't complain too much, but oh how I wanted that caffeine!
 |
| Decided not to divorce him, though at mile 27 it was questionable, haha! |
Handheld sizing issues. I had one Osprey Packs Dyna handheld bottle that I'd tested on a few long runs, since Prairie Spirit required us to carry fluids the whole race. I bought a second one so I could rotate between the two at aid stations - dropping an empty one and Jon handing me a refilled one. I ordered a second one in a different color, not realizing the different color was the men's version. I didn't use it before the race because I thought it was exactly the same as the one I already had. I found out in the early miles of the the race that it was too big! Colin owns the same bottle and confirmed the red was men's. The final time I had it I ended up shoving it into my sports bra because I was too tired to deal with it being oversized (it required more holding onto because of the size). I don't think this hurt my performance, it was just annoying!
Miles 5 and 20 got a little quick (6:37 and 6:39). I don't think this was enough to hurt me, but it was a little faster than planned. For the most part I did well with staying around 6:50 until 29-31 (25-28 drifted slightly but not extremely).
Tapering. The best taper for each person is a lot of trial and error, and I've learned that I do well with less of a taper. When I'm coaching myself, tapering myself is possibly my biggest weakness. My two biggest Monday through Sunday weeks were both 110, 3 and 4 weeks out. 2 weeks out I did 93 and 1 week out 88. Race week I kept it pretty low with 70.2 - meaning only 39 outside of the race. I think that this was all fine, but some have told me I should have cut back more. 88-93 was a 20ish mile drop from peak weekly mileage though!
Body fat. I don't weigh myself - I stopped in 2019 and it's been so liberating! - but I can tell I have some winter fluff on me right now. I usually lean down during training cycles but I didn't as much as in the past during this one. I know that lighter doesn't always equal faster, but I definitely have a little more on me I did when I ran my PRs and it adds up over the miles.
Missed my goal. I'm not exactly sure why I couldn't run a PR or a 3:29, but I'm filing it under something that went wrong. I believe I gave it all I had on the day, and I'm not sure why I didn't have a little more, but I'm going to keep looking for it.
What to think about:
Pacing. The 50k is still a bit of a puzzle to me. I don't think I paced too aggressively and I was pretty even in my pacing (especially when accounting for long inclines and declines), but I couldn't maintain through the end. All of this can also be said about my first 50k. I ran high mileage in prep, so I'm still figuring out how to stay strong through the end.
Fueling. Although I think I fueled adequately with 8 gels (~800 calories), I might consider mixing gels and caloric fluids next time. I may also add electrolytes. Maybe I need 1000 calories?
Guidance/coaching. I self-coached for both of my 50k builds. I treated the training like marathon training plus back-to-back Saturday/Sunday long runs, which has also come to be my absolute favorie training. I tried to read and learn everything I could about the 50k, but there is far less information on 50k training than on marathon training available (not to mention almost nothing on pacing, fueling, etc. for a non-technical 50k). Most of the information I found was targeted either at 50ks on technical trails, or when the goal was completion vs. performance and training mileage was much lower than mine. There is quite a bit of information available on training for a sub-3:00 marathon or even a 2:45 marathon, but not on running a fast 50k. I am leaning towards working with a coach for my 2023 50k.
Finally, was it any coincidence I received an email linking this article the day of the race?
My Prairie Spirit race recap is here, and photos are here.
 |
| Her smiling here was a victory |
 |
| We are true ultra runners with belt buckles now |
 |
| My mom took most of the day's photos but I got one with her too! |
 |
| Bling |
The short:
I now have two data points to tell me that the 50k is not "only" 5 more miles than a marathon! Prairie Spirit didn't go quite as I hoped, as I didn't better my debut time or negative split, but I set a Kansas overall female 50k state record and a new Prairie Spirit female course record with a 3:37:06 on the rails to trails gravel course. I loved this training cycle so much, so I stepped up to the starting line feeling like I'd already won. I couldn't execute as I wanted, even though I had great weather, a nice course, fantastic pacing buddies, and the best crew. Thankful but not satisfied...and I am definitely going to run a third 50k now, once I forget how the end of this one felt!
Official results are here, including course records.
Kansas state records are here (you have to click on 50k after following the link).
Top 50k 2022 North American performances are here, and currently I sit at #5.
My Strava activity is here.
Race photos are here.
My dad's video of the finish is here.
 |
| Awards at the finish |
The long:
I was more intimidated going into this race than going into my first 50k, because I remembered how agonizing the final 4 miles of the race felt last time! I think I benefitted a lot from the ignorance is bliss thing before I'd run a 50k - not only about how the race would feel but also about what performances were good. I ran fast in my debut but I didn't understand the implications until afterward, some not until days or weeks afterward (e.g., I ended up with the 4th best North American/3rd U.S. women's time of 2021 and was under the time standard of 3:35 needed to apply for the 2021 USATF World 50k team).
This time I had higher goals and expectations based on all of that, namely to break 3:30, make it into the top 3 women's 2022 times (the U.S. 50k national champs took place a few weeks before this race so there were some fast times to beat), and net a time to apply for the 2023 USATF World team (under 3:33). Conflictingly, I also was really scared of the end-of-the race pain!
Colin and I trained for the race together through some pretty brutal winter weather, including the two coldest races either of us had ever run, but race day gave us nearly perfect weather at 32 degrees at the start. The north wind was 8-10 mph by the time we were at midway, meaning we had a headwind from mile 17.3 to the finish, but considering the race was in Kansas I don't think we could have done any better! My biggest fear going into the race had been a 30+ mph headwind for half of the race.
 |
| Sunrise start |
Colin and I planned to run together, and Andrew was joining at the mile 17.3 aid station, which was when 50k pacers were allowed. I was confident that Colin and I would be together at 17.3, so I knew I'd have someone to run with the whole time, which was comforting. It was also great knowing that Andrew would be with me during the hardest part of the race with 17.3 fewer miles on his legs than I had on mine! The rails to trails course wasn't very scenic and much like Frisco looked about the same the entire way - also much like Frisco it kind of felt uphill both ways. My race plan was to run the first 5 miles at about 7:00, the next 5 miles at about 6:50, then the next 21.1 [gulp] at 6:40-6:45, hoping to average 6:45ish. I positive split my first 50k and really wanted to negative split this one. I thought my fitness was similar to where it was for Frisco, so I hoped more conservative early pacing would yield an overall faster time.
Colin and I were leading the race before mile 1, tailed by two men who we met shortly after. Hans was an experienced ultra runner and Logan was an Ironman triathlete running his first ultra. We bantered, laughed, and worked together for the first 20 miles of the race. At mile 10 I pointed out that we were 1/3 finished but it turned out I was the only one optimistic about that! The miles flew by, and I was trying to keep tabs on where we were so I could execute my fueling plan of a gel every 3 miles, but many times I'd look down and be further along than I thought, which is always a nice surprise. I stayed on my gels well though, and it felt like I was almost constantly taking one. The race required that you carry fluid so I ran with handhelds that I switched out at each manned aid station.
 |
| The mile 10.8 aid station |
We picked up pacer Andrew at the turn around, which we ran past because there was just a timing mat on the ground - no cone or sign or other indication. I knew the turn around was supposed to be at that aid station so I asked "where do we turn around?" after we'd run well past the mat, then someone told us "there!" pointing back to the mat. Jon said he was yelling at us to turn around at the mat but we didn't hear him. He also said that aid station wasn't ready for us since runners from the longer distances had been coming through - they started earlier than us and continued on south to their turn arounds, plus they were more apt to stop vs. our turn and burn plan. We probably lost about 10 seconds there, which didn't seem to matter in a 50k but in the end it did (stay tuned!), especially since we'd also run a bit past the ~2 mile turn around for a similar reason.
When we turned around, we also turned into a headwind. We went single file: Andrew, Colin, me, Hans, Logan. I was still in a good place but didn't feel like I should drop pace much, so I told Andrew 6:45-6:50 instead of the planned 6:40-6:45. He's a great pacer and also took the wind for us as much as he could. I could tell Logan was struggling to hang onto us, and I'm not exactly sure when he fell off but it was between the turn around and mile 20. He'd been hoping for a sub-3:00 marathon during the race, which would have been a PR for him, so my heart went out to him.
 |
| Mile 17.3 aid station bottle hand off |
Hans picked it up around mile 20, and after we clipped through a 6:39 mile I told Colin that he should go with Hans if he wanted to race for the overall win, but I didn't feel ready to pick it up. Colin didn't feel comfortable speeding up either, so we continued at 6:50ish. There was also a fast man who'd started late, so that was an X factor for the guys' placings; the race changed their start times from past years and some people had planned around the old start times so they allowed people to start late and use chip time. Hans knew who the other fast man was and thought he would be the one to beat (spoiler: Hans won, the other man was 2nd, and Colin 3rd).
The final manned aid station was at 23.8, and I was looking forward to seeing my family one last time on the course and getting my gel with 100 mg caffeine. My bottle/gel hand off from Jon went seamlessly, as had the first two exchanges, but when I unzipped the pocket of my fresh handheld my gel wasn't in there! I almost asked Andrew to go back for it, but muling was against the rules. I asked Colin if he had an extra gel with caffeine, but he didn't have any with caffeine. I didn't think I needed the gel - I still had one on me to take between there and the finish - but I sure needed the caffeine!
I tried to stay positive, and looked forward to seeing our marathon split. Our average pace for the entire race was hovering at 6:52-6:53, so I knew we wouldn't quite be sub-3:00, which was somewhat disappointing but finishing strong was more important to me in this race. I felt like at Frisco I was really concerned about keeping my marathon under 3 and not having any miles over 7:00, which may have hurt me in the final miles there. We passed the marathon in about 3:00:40 on our Garmins, but don't worry, I am not counting that against my sub-3:00 streak since it was in a 50k - although if I was under I'd have counted it, haha!
I felt a little better than I had at Frisco at that point in the race, but also not as good as I'd have liked to have felt, meaning I didn't feel confident about finishing strong. Colin began pulling away from me. Before the race I kept telling him that it was going to be just like Run with the Wind, where he pulled away in the final miles at 6:15 while I stayed at 6:45. This time I didn't stay at 6:45, but he did pull away! I stopped looking at my watch at that point and just gave all I had to get in as fast as my legs would carry me.
 |
| Pain face final stretch |
I felt okay enough until a bit after mile 28. When my watch beeped 28 I told Andrew, "Only a 5k to go!" but I was losing steam quickly. I kind of knew where we were at since we'd run the opposite direction on the same trail early in the race. I kept willing us to get to the highway crossing, for my watch to beep 29 and 30, to get to the pavement for the final mile. I could see Colin in the distance ahead of me and I also kept willing him to turn left, because I knew when he did it was only about 200 m to the finish from there. In my mind, the last 5k took longer than the first 28 miles, and I gritted it out but it wasn't pretty, and the final mile was all gentle incline which sure didn't help. I was quite thankful to hit the finish line because I was beyond running on empty! My official time was 3:37:06 - the 5th fastest women's time in North America in 2022. The reason those little bits of lost time at the turn arounds mattered? The 4th fastest time is 3:36:58. I'm more frustrated with myself for my slow final mile, but at the time it was all I had.
 |
| Clock shot |
 |
| Kansas Record |
 |
| 5th in North America in 2022 |
 |
| Prairie Spirit top times |
After I took a couple of minutes to gather myself while holding onto the building, the race organizers continued to announce information about my race - course record and Kansas state open female record. I knew I'd hit those times because I'd looked them up beforehand; they were my C and D goals for this race (A was sub-3:30, B was PR...but E was finishing of course!). I celebrated with my family and friends, accepted my awards, and vowed to never do that again.
But, of course I'll do it again! After all, I just know I've got a faster one in me! The agony of those final few miles and the pain for the remainder of the day will fade away, and I have very much fallen in love with 50k training. I'm still primarily a marathoner and this race was also my longest long run for the 2022 Boston Marathon on April 18, but there's something about those 5 extra miles that, God-willing, I am determined to solve.
More race details are here.
 |
| Miles from Mentor runners |
 |
| The race asked me to pose for a pic by the finish for their social & I wasn't wasn't quite sure what to do, but this is what they got from endophin-me! |
The short:
Running the 3-race Havin' a Crappie Weekend Challenge made no sense and complete sense at the same time. The Challenge consisted of 3 races that I don't typically run: a 1 mile, a 5k, and a trail race - but due to a series of events (see "The long" for details) I committed a few days before the race. My goal was to win each event and The Challenge with a moderate amount of effort, since these races were 6-7 days before my season goal race. Some might call this whole ordeal poor judgement, but I call it part of keeping running fun - and I had so much fun!
The Crappie Challenge:
 |
| 5k finish |
This all started when my friend Abby was considering running this 5k to try to break 20:00. I offered to pace her because I love helping friends like that (I paced her to her first sub-6:00 mile!) and it fit pretty closely with the run I had planned for that day. My schedule was 12 miles via 4 easy, 4 at 50k goal pace (6:45), 4 easy - it seemed reasonable enough to do 4.5 easy, 5k at 6:25, 4.5 easy instead.
I then messaged my friend and Crappie Weekend race director Joy to ask a question about the race for Abby, and found out that there were nice opportunities for local prize money in it, increased by doing the 3-race challenge. I shared the race information with my running group and said that someone needed to take advantage of the prize money. Abby thought she only wanted to do the 5k, and Casey decided she would do a trail race on Sunday, but I couldn't talk anyone else into running it and then I couldn't leave it alone! Although I don't have much interest in all-out racing a 1 mile, a 5k, or a trail race, it seemed sensible enough to do them all in this situation.
Abby and I drove to Stockton Lake together on Saturday afternoon. The mile was at 3:00 p.m. and the 5k at 3:30 p.m. I was hoping I could win the mile with a 5:59, and then Abby and I planned to finish holding hands in the 5k after I paced her to a PR. Neither one of these thing quite happened, but the outcome was still a good one.
I got a little quick on the mile (something about a race!) and ran 5:43 for 1st overall. It felt so good that I started wishing I'd really raced it. I then paced Abby through two perfect 6:25 miles on the hilly 5k course. We'd run the course to warm up so we knew what we were in for, but hoped that she could still make it. She would have definitely broken 20 on a course without 220 ft of elevation gain (!!), but the last mile got her and she finished in 20:17, which is still her second fastest 5k ever! We'd planned ahead to finish holding hands, so I grabbed her hand and celebrated as we finished overall together. The timing company then came over and told us that Abby's bib registered 0.02 before mine, so she was the winner. I'm not counting this against my overall female streak though (undefeated in 2022), since I was pacing and really we tied. :-) She made me take the award under the circumstances (i.e., she left it in my car); originally I'd told her that I was going to kick ahead for the win in the last couple of minutes, but finishing together was much more fun! Our finishing video is here.
 |
| This was so fun! |
 |
 |
| Fast friends |
My goal was to win the trail race, which would also guarantee I'd win the 3 race challenge. I did, with one fall and two wrong turns in the process - each time I got back on the correct course pretty quickly though. Trail running is so different! I felt like I was looking down the whole race because footing was tricky with big rocks, tree roots, rock formation things, mud, etc. I had no sense of where I was due to all of the weaving and winding around, so it was weird. Further, I wasn't exactly sure how far the race was, so that was humorous! I did the math during the race and figured it was 8.x, and everyone said after that it was about 8.5. My main competition was Abby, but I came out with the OAF win, and therefore a win in the challenge. Casey won overall in the 7.7k!
 |
| Trail race awards |
We stopped for brunch at a Mom and Pop restaurant post-race, and had more laughs than I can count. It was a great way to spend the weekend before my final taper! I used to race all-out super frequently, then I went through a phase where I only wanted fast times next to my name in race results so tried to only do "perfect" races, but now I'm in a place where I'm more than happy to run races as workouts - and it's a nice place to be.
 |
| bRUNch twins |
 |
| Awards |
