2019 Olde Girdled Grit 50K
The first race and first ultra marathon of the year - Olde Girdled Grit 50K. After coming back from the long vacation in Thailand, I started to look for a race in February and found this one. I've seen many people ran OGG in the past but never thought about doing it until this year. I signed up for the race not knowing any information about the elevation, aid stations, or even location. All I knew was it was in the driving distance somewhere near Cleveland.
The week before the race was hectic. I was trying to meet a work deadline but still had to teach and had meetings all day on Friday. It was the first time I was still working on Friday night before the race. I did not get a good sleep that night and partly due to stress and anxiety.
Morning of the race I woke up and had my pre-race routine. Drove to the race with the mindset that it's going to be a long, happy day in the woods. The forecast said it was going to be in the high 40s during the day so I did not wear enough layers. The 50Kers started at 7:30am. The first 5 miles were mostly on the bike and hike trail, which I did not expect. I tried to keep a steady pace. Then, we had to run the half marathon loop twice.
The first 1.5 miles of the half marathon loop were on a somewhat-heavy traffic road so we had to be very careful. It was also very windy and I got really cold and dizzy around Mile 10 to 18. I was expecting the sun to come out to warm the temp up but it was still gloomy and windy. I thought about quitting after I finished the first loop as my vision was blurry and I was still dizzy. I was afraid that I would faint and got hit by a car if I went back out on the busy road.
Another problem was that the race only had one "full aid station" (that had Gatorade, cookies, water). The rest of them were water-only stations, which I did not expect. I was really hungry by the time I got to the full aid station stop (around Mile 12-13 into the race). Luckily, they had gluten-free granola bars, which tasted like plastic but at that moment everything tasted amazing.
After finishing the first loop (Mile 18), I drank soda, had some trail mix and chips and went back out. I told myself the worst case was to walk the second half. The road was even busier than the first time we ran on because we also ran into the half marathoners who were on their way back to the start/finish line. They made us run on the same side of the road and there was one time I had to jump into the side trail to avoid being hit by a semi (Another friend who was leading the marathon was hit by the side mirror of a distracted driver's car. She got up and went on to win the marathon O_o). Crazy.
It started to warm up during the 2nd loop and I felt "alive" again. The majority of the course was out in the open air so sometimes we had to fight against the wind. When I came back to the road section, I looked at my watch and calculated the pace/distance, I knew I had a chance to finish under 7 hours. Luckily, the road section back to the finish line was all downhill so I was able to pick up my pace a bit.
I crossed the finish line in 6 hours and 57 mins!
In summary, I am not very impressed with the course and the aid stations. However, it was good to see friends and met new people at the race this weekend.
Sydney
The week before the race was hectic. I was trying to meet a work deadline but still had to teach and had meetings all day on Friday. It was the first time I was still working on Friday night before the race. I did not get a good sleep that night and partly due to stress and anxiety.
Morning of the race I woke up and had my pre-race routine. Drove to the race with the mindset that it's going to be a long, happy day in the woods. The forecast said it was going to be in the high 40s during the day so I did not wear enough layers. The 50Kers started at 7:30am. The first 5 miles were mostly on the bike and hike trail, which I did not expect. I tried to keep a steady pace. Then, we had to run the half marathon loop twice.
The first 1.5 miles of the half marathon loop were on a somewhat-heavy traffic road so we had to be very careful. It was also very windy and I got really cold and dizzy around Mile 10 to 18. I was expecting the sun to come out to warm the temp up but it was still gloomy and windy. I thought about quitting after I finished the first loop as my vision was blurry and I was still dizzy. I was afraid that I would faint and got hit by a car if I went back out on the busy road.
Another problem was that the race only had one "full aid station" (that had Gatorade, cookies, water). The rest of them were water-only stations, which I did not expect. I was really hungry by the time I got to the full aid station stop (around Mile 12-13 into the race). Luckily, they had gluten-free granola bars, which tasted like plastic but at that moment everything tasted amazing.
After finishing the first loop (Mile 18), I drank soda, had some trail mix and chips and went back out. I told myself the worst case was to walk the second half. The road was even busier than the first time we ran on because we also ran into the half marathoners who were on their way back to the start/finish line. They made us run on the same side of the road and there was one time I had to jump into the side trail to avoid being hit by a semi (Another friend who was leading the marathon was hit by the side mirror of a distracted driver's car. She got up and went on to win the marathon O_o). Crazy.
It started to warm up during the 2nd loop and I felt "alive" again. The majority of the course was out in the open air so sometimes we had to fight against the wind. When I came back to the road section, I looked at my watch and calculated the pace/distance, I knew I had a chance to finish under 7 hours. Luckily, the road section back to the finish line was all downhill so I was able to pick up my pace a bit.
I crossed the finish line in 6 hours and 57 mins!
The RD told us to take a selfie with the waterfalls. So beautiful.
In summary, I am not very impressed with the course and the aid stations. However, it was good to see friends and met new people at the race this weekend.
Sydney
Comments
Post a Comment