Delirium 24 Ultra Marathon Race Report
My most recent Ultra marathon was in November this past year. I have to admit I was not expecting to like this type of race format, but my husband promised I would have lots of fun and he was right!
The race consists of a 1.5 mile trail loop. At registration, runners choose a time frame (6 hours, 12 hours, or 24 hours). The goal is simple: complete as many loops as possible in your chosen amount of time. Is sounds crazy right (which is probably why it is named Delirium)? I told my husband it sounded exactly like running circles in a hamster wheel. I loved it so much, I signed up for another one. For any local runners, I would highly recommend this race and race director Tim Waz from Grounded Running. It was a truly enjoyable and inspiring event.
For this particular race, I chose the 12 hour time frame. One of the benefits of this race is: you can park your car right next to a portion of the trail and set up your own aide station or a tent if desired. I parked my van next to the track and set up a card table full of water and electrolytes and a cooler filled with smoothies, pita bread sandwiches and soup to heat up over a camp stove at dinner. (The race had a fabulous aid station as well but due to Covid concerns I chose not to partake).
I am often asked what I eat while running. And yes, I do eat real food while running. Small items such as cut up fruit, super salty pretzels, and small portions of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are my favorites. Pita bread works best for me so my sandwich doesn’t leak everywhere! Sometimes I slow to a walk to eat and other times I just keep running. I tend to start nibbling on food about 90 minutes into my run.
Since the weather for this race was quite warm, (upper 70s during the daylight hours), I knew I needed a cool refreshing afternoon treat and because I was able to pass by my cooler every 1.5 miles I had the exact treat in mind.
My absolute favorite smoothie is a beet, ginger, banana smoothie. I first discovered this recipe from the cookbook Run Fast Eat Slow. It is perfect after or during a long endurance cycle or run. For my Arizona members, this would be perfect to put in an insulated cup to sip while golfing!
The original recipe can be found here which calls for milk, coconut water, almond butter and blueberries. I modified this recipe quite a bit to suit my tastes and nutrition needs for running and cycling.
Race Results:
During the race, I was extremely proud of and inspired by one of the young local runners. He is about 12 years old and completed 76 miles in 12 hours. The most impressive part was that he encouraged every runner he passed on every loop!
I ended up lasting about 8-9 hours of the race. I had a 2 hour drive back home and was getting nervous about driving home safely so I called my race early. I covered 33.5 miles. I am looking forward to attempting the 24 hour race next year and camping. My wonderful family arrived around dinner time to support me, help pack up and caravan on the drive home for safer traveling.
Lessons learned: Next time we will order more pizza – they ate it all while I was on the last loop not even a piece of crust left! Good thing I had my soup!