Things went really well. I paced my father, who is 71, and we averaged 22:00 minute miles over 50K. Last year my gut blew up on a 22 mile Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim hike so I was worried. Every time I have summited Mt. Whitney (which is also 22 miles up and down) I deal with gastrointestinal issues. This year not a single issue with the exception of a little gas at mile 12. Otherwise, my gut was rock solid for 31 difficult miles. I am blown away.
My phone battery was dying at mile 24.88 so I saved my data. We did the whole 31 miles in about 11 hours. This was a huge test for my gut and it did fantastic. Fantastic enough that I am going to do another ultra distance and run it for time - no pacing this time just racing. I did get some inflammation in the days following the race but that is to be expected. Even the Tarahumara get some inflammation after a long race. Immune system has to clean up and repair all the damage and my immune system will never be "normal" but it is certainly better than it has ever been.
I am excited. I never thought I was going to be able to do these long races. It is generally recognized that ultra distance events are actually eating and drinking competitions where there is some running in between. What that means is the health of the gastrointestinal tract and the ability to take in and process nutrition is the real measure of fitness. The races are too long not to eat and drink and that is what has always held me back. My gut starts leaking and then my immune system attacks my joints. That did not happen in the longest distance I have done in 20+ years at elevation on a challenging course. This opens up the possibility of doing distances I did not think I would be able to do. This is so cool!
The beta tester started four days ago and is experiencing the stomach/loose bowel that I felt as well as some sweating. I got that in the form of night sweats so it is a little different. Otherwise, he is feeling well and has even lost some weight (3 lbs.) but it is too early to tell if that will trend or is just some random noise in his day-to-day weight fluctuations.
This is really amazing. I just ran ten miles at near race pace two days from my first 50K. Normally, if would take me four to five days to recover to the point I wanted to run again. I ran an easy six yesterday and was suppose to do an easy eight but I felt so good I pushed negative splits for ten.
These are negative splits! What is going on?