This was the toughest race I've ever done. The race started in the dark which lasted for about 2hr 15min. The whole race was technical single track trails, so the begining was very slow. We walk jogged for about 3mi until I could finally break away and use my high powered flashlight to find my way. My battery died after 1hr 50min, but I did bring an extra. With just my headlamp I would have been very lost. The early miles went by quick until I ate a bar while running which made me feel very nauseous. After that I just ate gu and fruit and drank soda, nuun, and water. I had no stomach problems after that. The course was rocky with about 10,000ft of elevation change and several stream crossings with wobbly rocks to step on. The middle miles weren't too bad, there were several other runners around to run and chat with and I had music from my ipod shuffle playing in one ear. I felt great from mile 39-43, then I was all by myself and the last miles seemed to last forever. I still tried to shuffle along when I could. I didn't want to run the part next to the cliff with jagged rocks along the path. I was afraid of tripping being so tired. The race was a mile longer than my GPS indicated, even though the aid stations matched up pretty well with my GPS until the last one. The last 2mi kept getting longer and I didn't know when the race was going to end, until I saw my boyfriend who told me that the finish really was 0.5mi away, then I started to pick up the pace all the way in. I was so happy to be done and the pain in my legs started right away. A couple hours after the race I realized I had muscle sorness throughout my body including my arms, shoulders, abs, back, glutes, and most of all my quads and calves. This race definitly was the challenge I was looking for and I was so happy I could finish my first attempt at 50mi with only 50k training especially since 31% of the runners who started didn't finish the 50mi. Hopefully I will have a speedy recovery. | 