10/6/2024 0 Comments 24 Hours of Palmer Lake![]() On September 28, I arrived at the small Colorado town of Palmer Lake just before dawn. I wasn't alone. 137 other souls entered the 24 hour race. Volunteer staff, the race organizer, the race timer, pacers, and friends and family also braved the crisp morning air. An "Ultra" is any footrace that exceeds the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. Runners enter the 24 Hours of Palmer Lake to test their endurance in a slightly more forgiving environment than the typical Ultra trail race. The route is a 0.82 mile loop around the lake in the center of town. Flat. Mostly smooth, hard-packed gravel. The weather was perfect. Highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s. Runners set up canopies and tents, or just a camp chair and a cooler. The aid station was well-stocked with water, electrolyte drinks, and at night - coffee. The snacks ranged from gummy worms, cookies, and Doritos to watermelon, bananas, and sweet potato chips. When the start was announced, people did not dart off at lightning fast paces. We all knew we were going to be here a long time. This is a distance competition. Speed is only necessary to ensure you complete the number of miles you want within that 24 hours. My daughter's goal was to complete a little over 40 miles. Mine was to do a marathon. Both of us wanted to pack in as many miles as we could before noon. As the day wore on, we inevitably slowed down and took more breaks. Our husbands were pacers for brief stints - a pacer being a person encouraging the runner, but not entered in the race. Even two granddaughters did a lap around the lake. When the sun went down, we were excited. We'd made it this long. Then 12 hours passed. When we reached midnight - 16 hours - and we were still circling the lake, we felt accomplished. Neither of us had trained with the distances required to make this possible. Despite a lack of training, we felt strangely... good. (Shout out to Judy Fellhauer and the Women's FIT Team for years of coaching, giving us a strong fitness base to enable us to run/walk much farther than we should have been able. We'd both been following Coach Judy's program consistently, just not at Ultra levels.) Then around 1am, things got weird. Sasquatch appeared. Runners and pacers donned blinking colored lights. A local guy set up his RV next to the trail and played DJ, dressed in a different costume every few laps. Headlamps bobbed like fireflies bouncing along the trail. When a rainbow unicorn trotted by, I asked my daughter if I was seeing things. At one point, I lost my confidence I was really at the lake, walking brisk laps in the middle of the night. Then, despite the smooth path, I feared I might stumble and fall. I felt wobbly. Unstable both mentally and physically. I wrapped up in the giant gray blanket my husband insisted I bring, and took a break on a comfy camp chair. Cocooned in its fluffy depths, I began to consider calling it quits. I had achieved a marathon distance. My daughter kept going. During one stop at our camp, she reminded me I was sooo close to a 50K (30 miles) that if I walked just a pinch more, I could complete my first Ultra. I unfurled myself from the blanket and continued a few more loops. At 2:30, my son-in-law called to check on my daughter. Both husbands had offered to come get us at any time that night, although we thought we could make it to 8am and the official end of the race. My daughter continued a few more laps, to surpass her own goal of over 40 miles. Then we hemmed and hawed for 20 minutes, discussing whether we needed to stay after reaching our mileage goals. Common sense won out. We accepted rescue by a wonderful guy willing to sacrifice his own sleep to come get his crazy wife and mother-in-law. At 3:30 am we turned in our timing chip shoe tags, accepted our finisher awards, and went home. Rather than curing me of the running bug, I am crazier than ever about distance running and walking. Maybe it's partly the excellent leadership behind the 24 Hours of Palmer Lake Ultra event, making it so much fun. Maybe it's the intensity of pushing myself so hard. Whatever the reason, I'll be back out on the trails soon. After another recovery day. Or two...
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