It’s been a few weeks now and I can process this race a lot better than I could after finishing it. The last 2h of the race has memories of pain. Two years ago, I remember looking at the 47K and thinking to myself, “Oh boy, that looks scary and impossible.”
The Ecotrail Wicklow race was on the last Saturday of September. There were a lot more distances this year than the past years (A new 10K!). The routes for every distance have changed a little bit over the years. This year we went through Kilruddery again. I prefer this route as it’s less technical than the route we took last year through Belmont. Of course, the steady rain made everything messy last year. The last bit of the race had some stairs, but more on that later.
The race started off as a gorgeous day with no rain and beautiful sunshine at the start line. I was listening to the music from Come From Away for the first bit of the race, making friends, and humming along. I didn’t push too hard and took walk breaks when I felt like I needed to slow down. I was not aiming for a specific time. I had a high level goal of trying to come under 8h, but I was not fussed about time this year. I kept telling myself, if I finished this race, it would be the longest I’ve run in my life. I’ve finished 2 marathons in the past and had one DNF for a marathon. It has been 8 years since my last marathon, though, so it’s been a long time since I’ve done this distance.
I breezed my way up Bray Head, down the other side, onward to Kilruddery, and up Little Sugar Loaf. This was the first challenging climb but I was feeling good all through this. I felt strong as I crossed the N11 over to start the Big Sugar Loaf. In the last few years that I’ve run this race, I found the Big Sugar Loaf a bit long and tiring. This year was no different. The uphill trail is tricky and with thorny bushes on both sides. I fell into sync with a group of runners though I could feel myself slow down as I went further. The route was too narrow to let someone pass me. I remember reaching a point and thinking, “when the hell is the right turn to the downhill”.
At this point when I synced up with a group of women who were running together as a group. We’d see each other on and off for the rest of the race. I would overtake them for a bit and then have to take a break and they’d overtake me. I was taking more walking breaks from here on. The next step was Djouce and Powerscourt falls. This bit of the trail was familiar and I could race down, though my quads were starting to be sore from the downhills. The Powerscourt falls was my spiritual halfway mark. I sort of felt good at this point! Hooboy, I was going to get smashed by the climb.
The climb up into the Wicklow Way from Powerscourt was steep and I felt drained at the top. I had overtaken the group of women in the flats around here and we went uphill together as I struggled. The hiking stick helped but it did not stop me from feeling completely drained of energy when I got uphill. I need to sit down and ran into Ellie (of Tough Soles) who was also not having a good time. We chatted for a bit while I caught my breath. The group of women were fantastic and they checked that we were both fine and had everything we needed. I had a gel and waited for my body to catch up with the sugar before I went on. I walked for some more time with some bits of running.
There’s a long downhill followed by a long uphill near Djouce and I enjoyed this bit during my training runs. Both the uphill and downhill are technical and I enjoyed them both despite being quite worn out. I got a big kick of inspiration as I made the turn heading back. The fourth placed 80k runner (first woman) crossed me. She was like a blaze of lighting. Despite it being a flat and downhill section, I did not see her again. These folks had already finished over 50K of their race and had been running for 1.5h more than I had been. The rest of the way was downhill and I was able to pick up pace for a bit. I came to a clearing where I ran into the group of women again 🙂 We had a chat while I refilled my drink mix. This was tricky enough that sitting down and doing it saves more time and mess than trying to hurry it up.
I was quite sore and feeling like I “hit the wall”. Somewhere along the way, I lost track of having enough gels with the correct frequency. The combination of the energy drink mix and the gel were not sitting well with me and I felt a bit queasy. I cannot express in words the relief I felt getting back to the Big Sugar Loaf parking lot. There was less than 20 km left and I knew I could finish it even I had to walk. I considered DNF at this point, but I told myself I could do it. The last marathon I ran was a DNF and I hadn’t done that distance again. I knew I had to challenge myself to finish.
Once I got moving though, all the fears were gone and I could keep going. This section of Big Sugar Loaf is the most difficult of the lot because it’s a sharp downhill with a turn. Maintaining balance while going downhill fast is Type 2 Fun. Finally, the end was in sight, it was flat again. I chatted with a couple along the way and we were motivating each other to keep going. As someone said recently about trail running, all you have to do is keep moving. As long as you’re moving, you’re making progress.
During and after this year’s race is that the only part of body that hurt was my quads. Unfortunately, they were quite sore, so both uphills and downhills hurt. I was taking a break along the climb to little sugar loaf when I saw Ellie again. I was glad she managed to catch up! We ran (who am I kidding? We walked) together for a little bit. Every single year, the Little Sugar Loaf kills me. It’s less than 10 km from the finish line, but the climb is steep and I struggle climbing up. This year was no different. Ellie had to go on ahead without me about half way up the hill. I was better last year, but this year, my energy management didn’t work well. The rest of the Little Sugar Loaf was somehow past me. I ran through Belmont and then the next bit of the route was completely alien to me. I had no idea what it was like.
I wanted to run but my body didn’t have the energy for more than a few seconds of running at a time. There was a climb I struggled with, because I had to first go up to Bray head and my legs couldn’t do it. A couple of the 80K runners passing me encouraged me to keep going at it. I could hear the announcer from the finish line and it kept me moving. Besides, I was too close to the finish line to quit. Finally, I could see the end, I got to Bray head and now it was downhill all the way. Except for the 10K participants.
The 10K had started a few minutes ago and they were running up the routes I’d use to go down. There were a lot of cursing from the non-runners on Bray head. I had to be not nice and force my way through some of the tighter spots so I could head to the finish line. And then, I arrived at the stairs. These stairs have been unused for a while and had been recently cleared by the race organizers. My quads were not happy with the stairs. I could not climb them down like a normal person. I had to do one stair at a time. It almost felt never ending.
The last bit by the sea was the best. There were people clapping and cheering me on. As I got closer more and more louder cheers. I finished the race!
Oh, that 80K sure looks scary and impossible.
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