Hagg Lake

I have been having a hard time finding the words to describe my experience running my 5th Ultra marathon at Hagg Lake in Forest Grove, Or.
I am thinking it is because I have been having a hard time recouping from my experience. I was nauseas after the race and the day after.
But here goes~
Hagg was hard this year and muddier than it was in 2008, when I ran it last. I came in at 6:57:59, in 2008 I came in at 6:56:50.
I was really nervous going into the run, woke up at 4am, couldn't go back to sleep. I'd think about the race and my heart would start racing.
The course was to do a out and back for 3 miles on the road and then head out onto the trail around the lake, two times.
The first 4 miles, I was shaky, nervous and my nose was bothering me. I was breathing pretty hard around the first loop. It took me about 3:15 min to go around the first time and I eventually calmed down. But I got really grumpy before the end of the first loop, seriously wanted to quit. I told myself to just change my shoes and socks, which helped and stop at the aid station.
But the last 4 miles before the start/finish was the muddiest. It was take your shoe off and maybe your foot off as well. Plus, it was long section of it. The final last mile was the worst mud, maybe longer than 1/8 of a mile or more. It was horrible. I didn't want to run through it, it may have taken my shoe!
My toe would start throbbing in pain throughout the 2nd loop. I'm glad that first aid station during the 2nd loop didn't treat me like a baby when I was griping, cause I would have quit. I told this other runner, a man to not follow me because I'm grumpy. Poor guy. He was running his first ultra, longest he had ran was 13 miles. He came in about 20 or so min after me.
One part of the race, was like going through a kid pool, clear water, but a lot of it. The 2nd time around, I just darted through it, but then missed my turn off, realized it fairly quickly and turned around. I wasn't eating well on the run, drinking a lot and I kept taking their salt/electrolyte tabs at every aid station, never did get a leg cramp. I mostly ate gummy bears, pretzels, oranges. I brought a sandwich, but only ate 1/2 of a 1/2. I would try to speed up during the 2nd loop, but my legs would want to cramp, so I couldn't. I was nauseated the night after and yesterday. I would just eat whatever sounded good, asparagus, sprite, applesauce.
Oh, I would kind of feel bad about being so slow, but I just can't speed up. I need to just be happy that I finished my 5th ultra.
I'm glad its over.
Today, 2 days later. I am feeling okay. Slept good last night, went to bed at 9PM with a sleeping pill. Legs hurt a little, ate spaghetti for breakfast, tired. I'll get through this and will be off running again in no time.