On Saturday August 8th was the 3rd Annual Dirty Girls 6/12/24 hour solo and team Trail Running Race, part of the Ontario Ultra Series. The venue was at the Mansfield Outdoor Center.
The 10 km course at Mansfield is a perfect mix of tight, twisty, rolling single track covered by trees with a nice soft running surface. This was the type of course that is really fun for a couple of hours but the rolling hills and constant turning wears runners down as time goes by.
Running for time is definately a different concept. It seems easier to wrap my brain around running 50 km or 50 miles verses 6 hours. This race fit into my work and running schedule so with no other plans this past weekend I signed up last minute. A good training day regardless.
With 10km loops I was able to run with minimal gear, singlet and shorts and my wife/feedergirl helping me at the start/finish to give me a new hand-held bottle every lap with a Hammer Gel. This being the exact opposite to the self supportive getup for the World Trail Challenge in France a month ago. My goal was to run the first 50km at a 50km pace and then just settle into a good easy run for the remander of the 6 hours. Having never raced for time before it was all a guess/gamble.
I had a great first 6 laps and was at about 4hours 55 minutes when I started the 7th lap. I was starting to get some serious calf cramps at this point and I was almost a full 10km in front of 2nd place so I was not too worried about being chased down. I decided to cruise the last lap and I thought that with any luck if I REALLY take my time I would not have to start a 8th lap. After finishing my 7th lap I still had 15minutes left before time expired so I continued onto the 2.5km check point. I really really took my time to get to the 2.5 km mark and was still at 5 hrs 57 min. I had now caught the 2nd place runner so I figured I had had enough running and called it a day.
72.5 km in 5 hrs 57 min.. 1st overall and a new course record (by 12.5 km)
I definately prefer to run/race for distance. I like the idea of knowing that when I have 10 km left verses 1 hour, I can push though the fatigue keep up the pace and I tell my myself running faster means finishing quicker. It is really hard to speed up time.
Adam Hill
That’s insane dude… but way to go! I know very little about ultra running, but it sounds like you rocked it out there!
Good on you!
I totally agree about distance based race rather than time based. Nice job Adam…..
All I can say is “holy crap!”
This is a whole new level of excellence combined with craziness.
You are definitely setting that bar high and raising it every time out.
Congrats Adam
giggles…. but that’s the whole point of the race to me. Takes you out of your comfort zone. I did the 24 hour and love the game of just playing Energizer bunny (no reference to the real one intended or implied of course) and seeing where you end up. Different kind of strategy for sure, especially if you are a speedster like Adam. I think that someone should do a Tri where the athlete picks a tag at random from a hat an hour before the race and it tells them only at that point what order they are doing the race. Imagine…. Run/Swim/Bike, Bike/Run/Swim! lol