FKT: Bryan Sosa Barillas - Chicago Lakefront Trail (IL) - 2020-10-10

If not, now when? I wanted to run the whole Lakefront trail this since I moved to Chicago and today was finally the day.

I also wanted to take advantage of the good Marathon racing shape from a month ago and snug one last challenge this year before taking a longer rest.

COURSE HIGHLIGHTS

1. Decided to start at the middle of the trail towards the south, by the intersection of Monroe and Lakeshore Dr, as this is close to my place and this saved the logistics of going all the way to the north or south trailhead.
2. During the miles going south, my body was feeling pretty good, although the vest started to hurt me since mile 1.
3. Got 1st gel at mile 6.
4. By the time I arrived the south trail head I had about 10 miles in.
5. Got 2nd gel at mile 12. At this point my body was feeling amazing.
6. Got 3rd gel at mile 18. I was feeling pretty good here as well.
7. At mile 20 dehydration started to bite me a bit as the weather was getting pretty hot and humid.
8. Got 4th gel with 100mg of caffeine  right after mile 24 and took a small break which gave me good boost for the rest of the run.
9. Got 5th and last gel at mile 31 which also had 100mg of caffeine. This upset my stomach a bit and I stated to feel a bit nauseous.
10. The last 4 miles were rough as my HR started to go up (maybe due to dehydration) and my ears we blocking. So I decided to lower the pace until the finish point.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• It was such a great experience.... something I will never forget. :-)
• First time running longer than the marathon distance, and definitely not the last time. Ultra-running is definitely a different monster.
• Never ran more than 4 miles with a vest before. Carrying all the nutrition makes an enormous difference, and makes the challenge much harder.
• For running vests, it is better to probably go a size down. I went true to size and everything was bouncing around which caused a pretty bad chafe in my clavicle area. Next time I have to make sure to put tons of anti-chafe in this area.
• Hydration is KEY for ultra-distances.

CHEERS ???