Regal Beagle 50K - The first and only ultramarathon in 2022

Regal Beagle ultra (50K). Super cold and windy. 

After I finished the Run with Scissors marathon, I came down with a cold and had to travel the week after the race. So, I was out for almost a week. The week after I got a booster shot on Monday (while still recovering from the cold) and felt pretty crappy for the rest of the week. 

The week leading up to the race I was still feeling under the weather and was not sure if I would want to run the 50K at the race this year. I signed up for the 50K but the RD said we could drop to 25K if we wanted to. I picked up the packet on the race morning and was still unsure if I wanted to do the 50K or the 25K. The weather was very cold and windy (but at least it was not raining or snowing). 

I saw K. and B. at the start line. K signed up for the 50K and B. signed up for the 25K. The RD said many people had switched from the 50K to the 25K due to the cold temperature. The weather did not really bother me as much because I had run in worse conditions before. However, the accumulation of stress and exhaustion made me feel "blah". 

I decided to run the first 3 loops (25K) with B. I have seen her at many ultra races but had never personally talked to her. We ran together for the first 3 loops where I got to know her better and she is an amazing runner/person. So, 3 loops flew by very quickly.  

Then, I had to decide if I wanted to go out for another loop (5 miles) or if I wanted to stop. The volunteers were very nice and they tried to talk me into going out for "just one more loop". It was very sunny and started to get warm around then so I drank Gatorade and decided to go out for "just one more loop" thinking I would get a long run (20 miler) in and that should be good enough. 

The 4th loop flew by and I decided to run by myself while trying to focus on the pace and what my body needed. After I finished the 4th loop, I told myself "well, it's just 10 more miles" and decided to go out for the 5th loop. I started to get tired during 5th loop and had to walk more but I was feeling good. The right knee started to feel tight but no sharp pain or any alarming sign.  

I finished the 50K in 6 hours and 50 minutes. Not a great time on this course but given that I did not have the 50K in me when I started, this result was pretty satisfying. 

The event was pretty small and uneventful. I saw and talked to many friends. I like low-key races/ultramarathons like this. No people yelling or being overly positive. It's just a group of runners who showed up to the race minding their own businesses. The race had wonderful volunteers as usual. This was my 5th 50K finish at Regal Beagle and I feel like I have to keep the streak going :)

Now it's time to take a REAL break. At this moment, I have no race until next August. We are going to be in Italy in December and, in fact, I found a marathon there LOL After thinking real hard about it, I decided NOT to sign up for the marathon in Italy as 1) it will be pretty cold and 2) hubby would not be happy to wait for me for 5 hours when we could go do something else. I also feel that I am a bit burnt out from racing this year (even though I did not race very much compared to pre-pandemic). 

Sydney