#18 – 50 Runs in 100 Days – Autumn Edition

Friday Nov 3rd I and Wille drove to Mölle. I was hoping we would get up there in the afternoon but came up early evening.

Checked in to the hotel and found the room eventually, it was not marked well but the room was nice. I could see the harbour outside the front window.

We got to Hotell Kullaberg where we ate dinner and Ola Ö showed up and would also run Kullamannen on Saturday, he would run Dödens Zon. Naturally we had some running talk.

After dinner we went back to the hotel room and I got brought out all my running gear I would wear Saturday, mixed the sports drink and put it in the refrigerator.

Friday at 11.00 the 100 miles race started at at round 21.00 (9 pm) the first runner got down to the harbour so I cheered him on.

Was quite tired so went to bed early.

Next morning I got up at 7 am. I thought that the winner of the 100 miles was on his way down to the finish line so I got out at 7.30, instead I saw another poor sould, a runner who had been running 100K, totally exhausted, didn’t feel well, was on his way to fall apart so I and another girl led him to the harbour where two other people took care of him.

Wille parked the car and I got down to the finish line where Ola already was, we waited for the winner to run through the finish lined, did the 100 miles in 21 hours, what a fighter, his first 100 miles.

Then Wille and I had breakfast at 8.00.

After that it was time to head back to the hotel room and get ready for the race, packed the ultra back pack and put on the running clothes, decided to just have the merino wool long sleeve and windstopper and not the fleece.

The seeded runners started the Double Death race at 11.30 and I planned to start the race 11.35, we started every 5 min til 11.45. I could start the race 11.35.

They had changed the beginning of the route slightly, we ran down to the beginning of the beach where we turned right, I think we did that also year 2015.

Got out to the woods and after a while I had to take off the windstopper.

Just before the race I had a chance to talk to Roger L who had thrown in the towel on the 100 miles due to a knee issue, he informed me that it was very gooey and wet.

The first part of the the first lap I was doing just fine, walked up some steeper hills but also ran up some that I had walked up during training, see what a race can do to you.

This year we did not run down to the left on a dirt road to get to the stone part, instead we ran a bit longer til we got to a parking lot where we turned to the left and then we got down to the stone part, was keeping myself as far left as I could so I could avoid the most wet part of the stone part. It was not so bad, there were wet stones but I thought it would be much more wet than it was.

The boat was still there, I wonder how that boat driver had been driving when I was there in October, quite a crash.

Nimis was awful, very gooey, I was breathless and had tired legs when I got to the top. Came another steep short gooey hill where I walked but then I could run again til I got to Håkullen, that was the steepest of all the races I have down.

When I got to the top I could also start running again but felt my right calf getting tired, I started drinking more sports drink to get away the tiredness but then I felt pain in the back of my right knee, hoped that it would go away but it didn’t.

When I got to the light house and stopped to have some sports drink I felt how frayed I was, first time I felt that way during all training and races at Kullaberg, it is only 4k left to the harbour but oh boy they did not feel light at all. More walking, the knee pain stayed there and I decided to throw in the towel when I got down to Mölle again, I had forwarned Wille that I might do that if the knee pain did not disappear.

I knew that the knee would last another lap and why head out there, get more pain and have a really tough time getting back to Mölle.

I got a medal since I had run one lap which was the Dödens Zon.

I have never been running such a gooey and wet race before, it was just too tough for my body this year, I would have needed some longer runs but got my Fall cold just before I was going to run on Kullen the second time and run a 40K run, then when I ran my first 40K prior to this race it did not go well, decided to cut the distance, ended up with a 30K race instead.

Not been my year this year but I am getting back as a ultra runner, have been doing a lot of hilly running and hilly intervals.

Already has signed up for the Double Death next year.

Now it is time to focus on the last ultra race this year and next year I am going to get back to 100% ultra runner and finish those 2 laps on Kullaberg.

Distance: 20.93K, time: 4.20.35.1h, average heart rate: 143, average pace: 12.26 min/k, max pace: 5.45 min/k, cadence: 132, VO2 Max: 29 ml/kg/min