2021 Cry Me a River 50k

2021 Cry Me a River 50k (CMAR)

July 9th, 2021

1st OA, 5:16:00 (CR)

Cry Me a River or commonly know as 'CMAR' is, in my opinion, one of best hidden gems of a race in the midwest. It has 4 distance options in the 1/2 marathon, 50k, 100k and 100 mile. The 100 mile has 23,500 vert ft of climbing...in the Midwest!!! Ive done 2 out of the 4 distances and its my goal to do all 4 at some point in the years to come. This year I was able to do the 50k and boy was it a doozy. For one it was my first running race back in close to a year and it boasts a solid 6,900 vertical ft. of climbing. The course packs a powerful punch by any standard but for Illinois standards thats almost unbelievable around hear. 

In mid April I finally said enough of babying these nagging injuries and I just started slowly building miles and I scheduled the CMAR 50k as the goal race to shoot for to keep me focused and on track. Sure enough I got ready enough for it and had a great day. I knew the endless hills would be tough but I was up for the challenge and just told myself to work through the race. I knew where on the course I could run run and knew where itd be pretty difficult. At the beginning I ran pretty gingerly on the downhills nervous that Id aggrevate a past injury. As the race went on I felt more and more comfortable and started to open things up. I felt especially good on the flatter sections through Robinson. It was my climbing legs that werent all there for the majority of the run. Which was understandable with the buildup I had. Sleep and recovery has been tough this year with a newborn in the house as well. So I’m grateful just to be able to string a somewhat solid training block and race. I’ve done the half here twice and been itching to do the 50k for a while. Love this course. So many stairs and hills. Course is broken up nicely, which helps mentally and aid station wise. Took a Maurten gel every hour or so. Drank a 12oz. handheld filled

with Maurten/ electrolyte mix/ reg water depending what they had. Took 2 salt tablets early on and 2 organic fruit rolls here and there. Went through ~16 in ~2:30. Went through 20 in ~3:01. It was nice mentally running through the Detwiller section knowing I did t have to do that again. Ran most of the hills and power hiked some of the stairs on the second out & back. Second out and back to Green Valley was tough. Early on I was apprehensive on the downhills but opened it up slowly towards the end on the downs as confidence increased. Robinson is a blessing on this course. Every time on that flat section I opened it up and peaked at my watch and would see ~7:00 mile pace. Uphills felt meh today. Overall body felt great. Nutrition was spot on I think. I typically don’t try something new on race day but I did really like the Maurten gels and drink. Another thing I love about this course is all the race distances and seeing everybody out and back. Congrats to all those who battled the course, elements and themselves!

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/5606568020

Results:  https://ultrasignup.com/results_participant.aspx?fname=Justin&lname=Stewart

2021 Dirty South Roubaix 100k

2021 Dirty South Roubaix 100k

March 6th, 2021

20th Overall  

    After the Dark 2 Dawn Ultra last summer I was plagued with injuries. So to the bike I went. Its a good thing I enjoy biking so much. The only downside is it's so time consuming and with a kid on the way I knew my time on the time was going to be limited. The end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 was filled with rides. I ended up building a new gravel bike (Trek Checkpoint) over the winter and fell in love with biking all over again. I spent countless hours mapping and planning out new roads to explore. I spent a lot of time on the indoor trainer in basement as well as continuing to go outside through the winter and battle the elements.  As warmer days started to come around I started looking for a race. 
    Awesome race, great course. Beautiful day to ride and race. But a crash early on and a chain drop spelled disaster for me. Main lead group was rather large. Super sketchy fast gravel downhills. On one downhill corner two guys went down right in front of me and I had nowhere to go but down. I popped up quickly but my left hood was bent in and my derailleur was messed up and my two biggest cogs were missing constantly on the climbs. I finally was able to bend my hood back out. Still a large front group going over the levy. Dipped into the trail of tears section and my chain dropped. I was mid pack and I couldn’t get out to the side to fix it while tons of riders passed me. Pretty deflating. Finally got to the side and fixed it but by that time the pack was gone. Felt really good through the climbs of trail of tears. Also looked down and my second water bottle was gone. I have no idea when that feel out. Good thing I didn’t start cramping. Finished 20th. Damn chain drop. Mechanicals suck, bc I know I could have finished much better than where I did.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/4902034054

Results: https://www.bikesignup.com/Race/Results/41183/?resultSetId=241778&textVersion

2020 Dark 2 Dawn

2020 Dark 2 Dawn 6 Hour Timed Ultra 

June 28, 2020 

40.2 miles total, 6 loops, (CR)

First Loop

    Really glad I was able to do this race. Such a unique race. Starting at 12:30 at night and finishing at 6:30 in the morning at dawn is really cool. I didn’t have the best build up for this race but I think everything worked out nicely in the end. I was able to grab a sixth loop for a course record. Fastest loop was a high 52:00 which was my first loop. I’ll have to see what the results has my mileage at, maybe 40.2 miles. Loops were advertised as 6.7 miles. My GPS had the loops around 6.25 miles. Which may not be accurate either because it was such a windy course under a canopy of trees which can affect it. I was averaging right around one hour loops each time which kept me on pace for six loops. Hit 20 miles right at 3:03:00. Hit the marathon at 4:04:00. Really focused on not looking at my watch a lot. Just zoned out and ran which made time go by much quicker. Conditions were not ideal but still doable. Temperatures were in the mid70s and the humidity was an upper 90s%. The fog was really thick in some areas which made it difficult to navigate with a headlamp bouncing off the fog. Trail conditions weren’t ideal either but it was a really cool course. It was a good mix of everything. Rain moved into the area earlier in the afternoon and made the trail muddy and tacky. The grassy sections were a muddy mess. The rocky section was probably my favorite part. Nutrition wise everything went really well. I pretty much stuck with a GU every 45 minutes, a salt tablet every hour, and 12 ounces of Heed every loop, sipped on a Redbull at the end of the last two loops, and also had a couple small handfuls of mixed fruit later on. My right calf was starting to cramp just 2 1/2 hours in. So I was glad I started on the salt tablets which I think corrected that. The later loops were nice running into people! It was really neat watching the sun slowly come up and being able to see the trail and what you’ve been going by all night. Such a neat concept of a race. Congrats to everybody who raced and battled the conditions through the night.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3682885991/overview

Results: https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=88799

2020 Solo Marathon

2020 Solo Marathon 

April 18th, 2020

2:30:55 (5:46 pace) (PR) 

Me, Henry and Tyler

    At the beginning of 2020 my main goal was to put together the best possible 18 week marathon training program to PR in the road marathon and hit a BQ. It was a, put all your eggs in one basket, type of attempt. My 'A' goal race was the Illinois Marathon in April. A flat, competitive PR worthy course. I did ALL the little things in order to prepare. I put together the best18 week program I possibly could, I ate mostly vegetarian, did all the prehab, strength training and core possible....then 2020 happened. And we all know how that went. The race was ultimately cancelled 4 weeks out which left me in the best shape of my running career with no race to let it out at. I refused to let this situation dictate and alter what my goal was. I came to the realization that I didn't need a sanctioned race in order to set a personal record. However I did need a sanctioned event in order to post a BQ time but it is what it is. I ended up choosing a date with decently forecasted weather, mapped out a flat course literally from my driveway, set up a crew and invited anyone to come out and support. 

    The day itself turned out to be a magical moment. I called this a solo marathon but it reality it took a village to put this together and I'm grateful for each and every person who came out and supported. 

It took a village. Even though I named this a solo marathon it wasn’t. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without the support from everybody involved. The pacer and crew I had in Tyler, Henry and Tucker were amazing. Such a weird concept of an event. It wasn’t a sanctioned race but I still had to approach it as one in order to achieve my goal. I was relaxed on the surface but deep down I was nervous a bit. Just for the fact that for the past 18 weeks I’ve had this pace and goal time in my mind and not making it a reality would be tough. We executed the goal pace of 5:45 perfectly for 20 miles. It was a perfect morning temperature wise, sunny and cool but with a slight SSW wind that would ultimately be pretty tough on the way back in. The support on the course was unreal. Huge thanks to all who came out and supported. You don’t know how much I appreciate that and how much it helped. The bridges were a bit slick still covered with frost from the low temps last night. Especially in the Vaporflys it was a bit sketchy. Got to the turn around in 1:14:24 ish. Which I was excited about. Right on pace. I knew the hard part was to come. The head wind on the way back was more brutal than I thought it would be. Tyler took the lead as I tucked behind him for a good majority of the way back. 10k to go the fluids weren’t sitting very well. The last 4 were tough. Every sip I thought I was going to throw up. I was riding a very fine line between staying on pace and bonking. I just needed to make it to Centennial and get that wind to my back. Last two were the toughest. Just grinding it out. Crossing that line felt so good! I was 1 minute shy of my goal but I’m not mad about this effort at all. Considering all things right now I’m excited about this huge PR. Fuel wise I stuck with the game plan of 3 Maurtens total at 7, 13.1, and 19 with sips of electrolyte drink between those. I fought a right side ache at mile 2-3 of all places and a left side ache around half way.

 

    Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3316793305

2020 Creve Couer St. Paddy's Day Half Marathon

2020 Creve Couer St. Paddy's Day Half Marathon

March 7, 2020

1st Overall, CR, 1:09:53 (5:19 pace)

Start

    In the beginning of 2020 I decided to change my focus from trail ultras back to the roads. More specifically the road marathon. My plan was to run the Illinois Marathon in April and hit a Boston qualifying time. The Creve Couer St. Paddy's Day Half Marathon fit perfectly into the schedule as a tune up race. 

    This race came at time where I was in one of the best 18 week training blocks of my life. Everything was clicking and progressing nicely. I was arguable in the best road running shape of my life. A PR in the half was imminent, I just had to go out and actually do it. 

    Race day brought cooler temps in the upper 30's with frosted grass but clear skies. What to wear became more of an issue than anything else. The goal...to run a PR half and win and if I set a CR in the process, kudos. The day brought all three and I couldn't have been happier. 

Finish

    From the gun I settled into a pace I thought would be comfortable and manageable. Luckily my race game plan aligned perfectly with Taggart VanEtten's. Honestly if it wasn't for him I doubt I run the time I ran. I had to keep pressing and feather that red line the entire race. We ran shoulder to shoulder for 11.5 miles. The course is an out and back style with a few more hills than I expected. Paved bike path for pretty much the entirety of the race except for a short packed gravel section on the Katy Trail by the turn around. The wind on the way back proved tough as well but the foot traffic still heading out helped encourage us. Time came and went fairly quick and before I knew it I was rounding the Creve Couer Lake heading for the finish. My overall time and effort really brought me a lot of joy. Just for the sheer fact that I've put a lot of time and effort into the training block and seeing the results you want come out of it is everything. This race was the impetuous I needed to continue through my training block and into my goal marathon. At this race I also made a new running friend in Taggart. He too PR'd in a big way and sharing that with him is equally satisfying. 

Taggart and I 

Race Results: https://results.itsracetime.com/results.aspx?CId=17095&RId=6215&EId=2

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/3162436322/overview