Lake2Lake 50. Going Far for the First Time 2019 [Video & Pictures]

Read my thoughts on the journey and get all the stories

I told my wife yesterday at dinner, it was odd to think, on Saturday, only a few days ago, I was literally on my feet for 12 hours running, and I had traveled from Utah Lake all the way to the Great Salt Lake in one go. Was I crazy to do this, maybe a little! But I learned a lot about the Journey, Myself and about Ultra Running.

Prepping for The Big Day

I have had the goal to run from Lake to Lake for a while ever since the completion of a section of the trail across 9000 South. I am finally setting out and doing it. At work, I was scheduled the last 2 days of the week off, and I added the first 2 days of the next week off for 3 recovery days. Sat November 2nd, 2019 was the day for this journey of mine.

The route ill be taking is a total of 51.5 miles. I want to be able to start with my foot in the water at Utah Lake and finish with it in The Great Salt Lake. Most of the journey I will be following the Jordan River Parkway Trail. I will try and run most of the distance but will have to walk some too. It will be interesting to see how my body reacts to the effort, fueling, and hydration over such a long period of time. I have a halfway point at my parent's house 21 miles into the journey. This is where I will get one good meal, restock on items and freshen up.

To prepare for the journey I made many to do's.

To do Fri night.

-Pack stuff for halfway drop off

-Buy more gu

-Plug in all electronics

-Eat pancakes

Friday night I was getting a little nervous. My knees were irritating me. I began to get a sore throat, "thanks cold in the family". Did I drink enough water?

I probably did drink enough. In my preparations a few days before I had lots of water. Normally I only drink water whenever I feel I need some, or at meals. On Wednesday I had 5 bottles which were a lot. I wasn't forcing it down but I did have to pee a lot that day. I maintained a steady 3 bottles on Thursday and Friday. Friday night I prepped my Pack and Drop bag. Turns out I had plenty of fuel and water.

To PackClothing
     Jacket
     Gloves and Hat
     Socks
     Shoes
Pack
     Battery
     Phone
          Pod-casts and Music. Pre-load.
          Trek Pole with Mount
          Headphones
Fuel
     Pro bar Gumies
     Gu (One for each hour around 8 per half)
     Boobie bites Thin
     Hard Candies
     Other?
Hydration
     2 Liter Water
     Bottle
     nuun
Wallet items
Drop off bagChange of Items
     Shoes
     Socks
Massage Stick
Tooth Brush
Knee brace
2nd Half of fuel for rest of trip

The First Steps

From where I started there were mile markers along the pathway. Each mile marker came sooner than I thought it would. Off in the distance, I could see 2 wind turbines, I knew I would be passing near these. Before I knew it I was under them and set my sights on the next landmark. The South Jordan Temple, near my parent's house.

I was hurting a lot when I got to my halfway aid station at 21 miles. I thought I would start hurting more the farther along I got, but at 20 miles was the worst it got. I did notice certain joints were hurting more later but I didn't have any more muscle pain than I did at mile 20.

At my home Aid Station, I restocked on food, filled up with more water, ate some ramen, rolled out my muscles and, changed my socks and shoes. My mother in law didn't know how far I was going that day, she asked, "how my run was?" And I said I was only halfway.

When I got to mile 30 I felt great, my thought at that point was that 30 miles was a manageable distance to run. This is the distance I'll be running with my brother for the Dirty 30 in Colorado in May 2020.

I did notice, in running on the Jordan River Parkway Trail, since it's a paved path, I wasn't getting many variations in my stride type. I started running more and more just on the side of the paved trail to keep my gate varied. When it hurt to run around mile 15, running off-road was more comfortable.

I think it's funny that at mile 35 is where I got off the trails and traveled on the road 3500 South. At this point what was keeping me from moving fast was my feet which had started hurting more on the mid foot pad. It felt like blistering was occurring, but I think my feet were just getting super sensitive. This is one thing I was not sure what to do about. 

As I pushed past the 35-mile mark I did notice I wasn't thinking as clearly. I should have tried to fix or adjust my shoes or do something to help my feet. I didn't try anything but did think about if I had or knew any solutions.

The same mental problem happened when I hit 40 miles. My thought was that I had only 10 miles to go. In the grand distance that was nothing, but 10 miles walking takes like 3 hours at the pace I was going. I started to realize this which helped push me to run more. 

At this point, it began to get dark. I was glad to have brought gloves on the journey because I wore them almost all day. I did notice around 30 miles I got a few cold chills in my arms. I think my body was working more on digesting food than keeping me warm.

When it came to my digestion I tried not to eat anything too heavy. I did have some oatmeal bites and payday bars which were heavy, both were fine, I just had to not eat too much in one go. Near the end, the oatmeal bites tasted really good whereas the sweetness of the chews didn't sound as appetizing. I drank probably 3 liters of water in total.

Getting out of the neighborhoods and on the final road to the finish was a little hard. My feet were killing at this point so I did a lot of walking. There are some dirt roads that parallel the main road. However, I didn't realize these roads were private property until I got the entrance gate. I decided it would be safer on private roads and kept going. I was almost to the end when 2 guys in a truck drove up and asked me to get off.

Turns out the dirt road had lots of rocks to step on which hurt my feet. On the paved road, I was able to run again. 

This is when I started getting excited. I was on the last stretch of road! but I was running out of time. I knew my wife would be there to pick me up soon. It was dark and the kids were fussing. I was able to run much of the last 3 miles but she got to me before getting to the park at the finish. Looking at my data I had gone 50 Miles a great accomplishment. 

Looking back I kinda wish I could have gone the 2 miles more to get my foot wet in salt lake water. I was so close. I also should have stretched good right after stopping.

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Watch the Video from my Lake2Lake journey:

See the Journey on Strava.

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The Pain After

Looking at where my injuries are and in order of worst to least, where it hurts most:

The bottom of my feet. Feels like a blister is forming on the midfoot. I must have been rubbing a little. It's very Sensitive. During the last 10 miles if I stepped on a rock it stung hard.

Left ankle. Picture. My ankle is a little red and swollen. It's mostly the area above the tongue of my shoe.

Crotch chaffing. I did not do anything to try and fix this. I should have found a place to apply some Vaseline I had brought with me. this started around mile 30.

Behind my right knee. Swollen and tight. More where my muscles connect to ligaments. this could be due to my ankle hurting.

Shin splints effected me a lot around the 40-mile mark. More so when I was moving. I combated this by getting off-trail mostly.

I have a sore spot on my lower back from the tag of my compression shorts rubbing. There is a square sore on m back.

I really thought my hips would hurt more. But nothing much at all.

I am surprised at how fast I have recovered. Within 3 days I was able to run and jump most regularly. there is still some joint pain and achs.

The Next Time, What I Learned

Try to fix issues as soon as they come up

Continue to set manageable goals even at the end

Keep a better perspective

I can push myself a little harder and run more

Overall this was a good test for fueling and hydration for me. I feel like what I ate kept me going. I don't think the soda was great for during the run.