r/ultrarunning

📷Somer Kreisman

Hello! I just spontaneously signed up for a 50K ultra that is in 6 days. It is flat and primarily on paved roads. The cut off time is 7 hours.

Based on my recent activity which has been mostly walking with some running, I have a feeling I could complete it but I might be over estimating myself.

I’ve attached some of my aggregated data. My Z2 running pace is around 10:00/mi and my sustainable walking pace is around 15:00/mi.

Obviously, data is only a small part of the story and how I feel is a much better indicator but I wasn’t sure if I am missing something. If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer.

Run Information

Name: Raleigh Dunkin 50 (I guess?)

Date: April 18, 2025

Distance: 50 miles

Location: Raleigh, NC

Strava Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/18163922532

Time: 9:24:34

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Finish Safely and Uninjured	Yes
B	Sub 9 hr	No
C	Complete "Challenge"	No

Splits

Mile by Mile in the Strava link but some distances of note here.

Distance	Split
1st Half Marathon	1:59 ish
2nd Half Marathon	2:06 ish
Marathon	4:06 ish
3rd Half Marathon	2:40 ish
Final 10	2:40 ish

What

Similar to my Raleigh Beer Marathon post a few months ago, this was a challenge that I came up with on my own and nobody asked for. My son made a comment last year sometime about going to all of the Dunkin Donuts locations in Raleigh, NC and I thought, "what about on foot?" I did the mapping (shout out Komoot) and it turned out to be like 48.5 miles or something like that. I was thinking of calling it a 50 miler and my wife broke the news to me it didn't count as a 50 miler if I didn't run 50 miles, so I found a few spots to make it longer to meet the wife-imposed distance. There are 11 Dunkin Donuts around Raleigh (not including the one in the airport) and my plan included stopping at each one and eating a dozen donuts along the way meaning I would have to double up at one spot.

Training

I mentioned in my Raleigh Beer Marathon post that I had a 50 miler planned for April and this was it. I found an amalgamation of free 50-miler plans and mashed them together to make it work for my schedule and timeline. I preferred back to back long runs and ended up topping out at 67 miles in my highest week 6 weeks out from the run. I worked up to getting ~100 g of carbs/hour down during my long runs and having my recovery pretty well figured out. Looking back I might have tried to have a steeper taper but we had some sickness and other stuff that made the lead up to the run more difficult to get miles in. I am for sure in the best shape of my life going into this but there are always lessons to be learned.

Pre-race

The plan I came up with gave me a 2 week taper and I followed that after learning that a 3 week taper is too long for me from previous experience. I pushed my boys on a hard 10k effort and did some running on a vacation over the last few weeks. Day before the run I got some logistics figured out, made sure my wife had my expected plan and route, got my food and equipment settled and went to bed feeling good.

Run

Section 1 - 8.75 miles

Left my place and didn't get nervous until I was almost to the start location which was a weird feeling. I started with having to go through the drive thru to get my first donut (glazed chocolate donut) and leave from where I parked. First few miles ticked on by, nothing really special to report. I tried to keep my HR down and, in hindsight, probably should have walked more of the up hills that I came across. Ran through NC State's campus and made it to the second location no problems.

Section 2 - 11.2 miles - 20 miles total

This was the biggest section without a stop in it and I figured it would really inform me on how this was going to go. I walked out with a blueberry glazed donut and followed my route along greenways, 5 lane roads, and through neighborhoods. I walked more of the steeper up hills and I probably should have walked more of the up hills in general but I felt good at the time so I just kept cruising while my HR was staying where I wanted it. It was towards the end of this section when the heat started to make itself known. I figured it would be warm but it ended up getting up into the 90's and really beat me down over the course of the run but it started to concern me here.

Section 3 - 2.4 miles - 22.4 miles total

My wife and kids requested that I get a strawberry icing with sprinkles donut at this stop so I did. I also got a sweet tea and water to fill up my water bladder while I sucked down the tea and ate the donut. Weird looks from DD employees started here. This section felt really short, it is one of the shorter distance ones but I was still moving at a decent clip so I made it to the next stop pretty quick even while noticing that I needed to walk more hills.

Section 4 - 7.3 miles - ~30 miles total

I snagged a cruller here and it was exactly what I needed. This section was interesting. I had never run this part of Raleigh before but I knew it was hilly having driven around it before. I was starting to recognize the heat more and more and the sidewalks were really old and made for some fun tripping hazards. I did the long way around Lake Lynn and it felt like it took forever. I didn't want to have to keep stopping to walk on the shorter up hills so I just ran most of it. Made my way through a few neighborhoods and popped out in a shopping center with a, surprise!, Dunkin Donuts.

Section 5 - 5.2 miles - ~35 miles total

Grabbed more water, another sweet tea, and a creme filled donut per the fams request. I was still feeling ok but knew that I was teetering a bit. Thankfully the next section started with alot of down hill and flat so I was able to run quite a bit of it before I hit a wall of sorts. I crossing street and my right groin and hip flexor didn't enjoy the very slight incline of the ramp back up to the sidewalk. I now knew I had to be concerned with cramping alongside the heat. The cramps got slightly worse and my ability to run got way worse but I made it to the next DD.

Section 6 - 2.5 miles - ~37.5 miles total

As I was leaving this DD (with a sour cream donut and refilled water bladder) I had developed a headache and my cramps had started to spread. I went into a Food Lion and grabbed a Gatorade for some electrolytes and just started walking. My wife informed me that they would be able to meet me at the next stop and that gave me a really nice emotional bump. I had never run this far and knew that I would start to feel it at some point but it still sucked. Walked most of this section but made it through.

Section 7 - 2 miles - ~40 miles total

I grabbed two chocolate covered with sprinkles here as they are my sons favorite and planned on sharing with him. They had grabbed a coke and some chips to try to help with the salt and met me in the parking lot. I said hello, it was wonderful and amazing to see them and then I promptly dry heaved after taking a bite of the donut. This was the first sign of GI issues that had sprung up but they made themselves known quick. I really struggled to get this donut down and, spoiler, this was the last one I ate. I sipped the coke they gave me and the chips went down ok as I headed on. This section was alot of walking and trying to figure out what my stomach was doing. I had never had GI issues during my training but it also had never been as hot nor had I run this long before so I figured now was a good time to ask some questions. It seemed that liquids were ok but sweet solids were not. I could eat the chips after some chewing but the candy and fig bars I brought made me dry heave, oh how fun. Regardless, I pretty much only ran the downhills trying to figure it all out. My groin had started to complain as well as my right quad making it tough to get things going consistently.

Section 8 - 5 miles - ~45 miles total

I got another glazed chocolate donut here thinking I would be able to make it go down once I felt better (oh the wishful thinking!). I also refilled my water and dumped some on my head in the parking lot which was really helpful actually. This was one of the sketchier sections as far as safety goes so I knew I had to be on my guard since I would be on the shoulder of a road with a 45 MPH speed limit. Thankfully, didn't have any issues with getting to where I wanted to. My cramping started to subside here but I also couldn't get any solids down now. I wasn't dry heaving but I started to get that mouth watering feeling you get before vomiting when I tried to eat and didn't want to push it, especially with the "win" of the cramps not getting worse. I walked a long section of up hill and through some construction to get to a nature park where my family was waiting again! They brough me another Gatorade and a Bai coconut water drink. The Gatorade started giving me the mouth watering feeling but the Bai didn't so I drank all that I felt comfortable with while we walked along the trail together. We split up and I strictly "ran" the downhills and walked everything else.

Section 9 - ~3 miles - ~48 miles total

I got a vanilla glazed with sprinkled at this stop in case I would be able to eat again and tried to get going as soon as I could even though the AC felt incredible. I had run this section to the end before and knew what I was in for with elevation changes and all that and figured it would be alot of walking. I was right, lots of walking here. Neither GO nor cramps did too much along here but I also didn't challenge it too much knowing how close I was to the finish, just sipped water and put one foot in front of the other.

Section 10 - ~2 miles - 50.1 Miles total

I just got a large sweet tea here and figured I would bring it with me to the finish. I was texting some buddies, my parents, and my wife and they knew I was close and were rooting me on via text so I got a boost from that as I read them here. About half of this section is a decent down hill grade while the other half is up hill. I was thinking I would "fly" down the hill and just trudge my way up to the finish after that since I could still run down hills. So I started cruising down hill with my half drank DD sweet tea and all of the sudden my stomach did an about face and said absolutely not. I full on heaved and had to stop running. Nothing came up thankfully and I was able to keep moving while doing it. I figured the trudge just started now so that is what I did. As my watch ticked off mile 49, my whole groin started to seize on me and I just kind of limped through it. I just put one foot in front of the other until I made it to the last DD, touched the door handle and went to the car with my family.

Post-race

My stomach was not happy and I was afraid I was going to vomit while we were in the parking lot but my wife had brought some cold water and that helped a ton. I changed my shirt, shoes, and socks and we went up to a local brewery to have a beer. I wasn't sure how a beer would sit but I got a taster and I had no issues so I went for it. We hung out for a bit and watched the Canes win their Game 1 and I decided to test my stomach for real by ordering a cheese burger from next door. I ended up housing it in about 2 minutes while drinking down another beer, I guess my stomach just didn't want any more sugar. After that, we went home, got cleaned up, had some homemade pizza and a few more beers while we watched a movie and I knocked out. Crazy day, my wife deserves all the credit for putting up with me. I would absolutely do it again.

TL:DR - Tried to each a bunch of donuts while running 50 miles. Did the distance, not the donuts, learned alot.

A month or so ago I posted asking whether physical job, dog walks and around average weekly km of 30-45 is enough for a backyard ultra and got told my training was terrible, along with 6/7 loops predicated, I finished it today. 25 hours, 5.33k per loop w/ 146m of elevation and a few commented wanting updates but I deleted the post because of notifications, here are my results.

Felt great throughout the race. Learned a lot through this experience and look forward to getting better the 50+ mile ultra distance.

Going into this race my training wasn’t consistent at all , mostly averaging 50 mile weeks for the past 6 months but due to work and life I couldn’t go passed that often.

The race was great. I went out extremely conservative, I was honestly scared to blow up after the 50k distance and I held back, found myself a pack where we were hiking the single track and decided to stay with that group for the first 20 miles. Those random conversations with people is huge and helps keep your mind distracted for sure.

What I learned is trust your nutrition. You will lose your legs and then get them back. It is truly full of ups and downs. But fight through that pain.

- I need to get better at running downhill. Going forward I will put an emphasis on learning to run downhills fast.

-I will definitely invest in some trekking poles, those with poles made the climbs look so easy.

Overall, for my first 50 mile race , I’m happy and grateful that I did not DNF.