In 4 Weeks to Ultrarunner

So, here I am, freshly baked ultratunner. ☺Ok, this was a small ultrarun and I wasn't very fast but everybody has to start somewhere, right?

And at the end of the day I'm really glad that I was able to start at all because when boyfriend#1 wanted to drive me to the race at 5:30 in the morning the car wouldn't start and it was pouring down with rain!! I had only 30 mins left to get to the race! My only chance was then to take the bike and I was constantly cursing while pedaling as fast as I could. I was soaked to the skin when I finally was at the start and when I locked my bike I heard starter's gun.

I was the very last runner to start and everyone was looking at me!

But well, as bad as it started it didn't go on - fortunately, I found some nice people to chat very quickly and that helped a lot not to think about the 49k I still had to go. I also ran some time for myself but chatted very lengthy with a woman from Berlin which helped especially on the last 10k when our feet and muscles already hurt very much.

Also my Dad visited me (even before he got his breakfast) which I really enjoyed!

I also have to confess that I'm now kind of a fan of running loops though I first thought it would be stupid and boring. This way you had the opportunity to see all the other runners again and again and we smiled at each other and gave some encouraging words and became like a huge community! It is also a psychological trick to smile all the time. The body can't differentiate between a real smile and a fake smile. 

Luckily, boyfriend#1 found me at the finish when I just wanted to go home again (he wanted to go the last loop with me as it seemed, but went wrong somewhere). Well, I still had to cycle myself but it was still nice he was there. When I came home my doggy wanted a walk of course and so I went out with him as filthy as I was (remember: rain + soil = mud, and I had a lot of it on my legs and clothes) and people looked at me as if I were crazy (maybe also because I couldn't walk properly) so we kept it short. 

After eating a huge pot of lentils (protein) with tomato-sauce I went for another long walk with runningfriend#2 to tell her about the run (of course I also took the dog). But after that I was totally finished and just lay on the bed watching TV (which I rarely do).

At about 3:30 am I woke up and had the idea to go dancing a bit to celebrate my victory over the 50k with a little prosecco or so. So I took my clothes and put on a little make up was almost out the door when the pouring rain started. I took it for a sign and I went back to bed... ☹

Well, maybe it was better like this - at least my muscles still hurt a lot - though I already did some regeneration sport (walk and bike) and also took chlorelle/spirulina + maca in my smoothie.

By the by: had some rice with tomatoes + a loooot of choci the evening before the run, muesli in the morning and lots of water, coke and sweetened tea, bananas and soaked nuts dunring the run. I felt like puking at 30k because my stomach couldn't handle all that food (remember: I always trained without food - so no good idea from this standpoint, too).

Today, I won't do much more: only cycle a bit, eat and rest. Next week I have kind of a rock climbing holiday. I'm really glad to have a day off in between.

Next goal: Magdeburg Marathon 2011!

P.S. Link to results and pictures following.

P.P.S. I am so impressed by those people who ran 100k. It is amazing. There were girls who run at an unbelievable pace and were still smiling at 70k! Of course also the men did well but somehow that wasn't so surprising to me... Though I want to do something similar some time in the not-so-far future I can't imagine how I can ever make that. We'll see.