Great day for running! (it's a long post, but it was a good day)
I've been kick'en around upgrading to the 50 miler at the Buffalo Run, but looking at the course map and knowing a little about Antelope Island topography, I have worries that the course might tap into the deep seeded hatered (mental weakness) I have for running on wide open, flat dirt roads. It's so bad that Pony Express would be my Hardrock and HURT all rolled into one long personal nightmare. (sorry Davey). Anyway, The RD, Ultrajim, sent an email out this week about a long training run out on the island today. We would run one 25/50k loop with the optional addition of running part of the 50 mile course.
Perfect, get a preview, see if I can handle it, and get to bug Jim about letting me change races. Me, and I'd guess 30 or so other people showed up at the trail head, pretty good for a training run. I was pleasantly suprised with the terrain on the 25/50k loop. Lots of climbing, not real steep, but we went up for sure, a good section of single track, and some "roady" sections that were a little tough.
I felt great! such a good run. I completed the 25k loop in 2:12, which, even with some fade on the second loop, would put me under 5 hrs for the 50k, I felt great and still had pleanty of gas in the tank. Missed a few turns here and there, one really bad, probably ran an extra 3/4 mile and climbed an extra bit (picture 5-6 of us standing on top of a hill with no where to go all saying to each other "hey I was following you . . .well I was following you . ." while we looked at the other runners on the correct route far below.) to be fair, I missed a turn toward the end and shaved a mile or so, but with the other "wrong ways" along the route I came out about even.
When I got back to the car no one else was around, I wanted to get more miles, but I had no idea where to go, so I filled my water and headed north, toward the biggest, steepest hill I could see. Legs still felt great as I started to climb. I ran every step the top of Buffalo Point (?? I think that's what the sign said when I ran by) I'd guess it was a 400-500 ft climb, not alot of vert, but steep. Cruised around on the plateau on top checking out the amazing views to the west, headed back the long way and ended up with 19.5 miles.
Everything felt great, no knee pain, no issues at all. The pace was fast for me, but I had tons left for some reason, I couldn't belive I had run 19 miles, it seemed like an easy 5. Wish everyday felt that way. To cap it off, I ran a hilly 4 tonight on the local trails, still felt like I had plenty of energy. 23.5 miles for the day. | 