Half way through a ten day course of antibiotics, an injury with a 5 month recovery and the resulting inconsistent training left me with very low expectations going into this year’s Red Hot 55K. But, a race is a race, and when the gun went off, I planned to give it 100% of whatever might happen to be in me, and I really had no idea what might be there. So I lined up with no splits and no plan beyond having a fun day in the sun out on the red rock and see how far I could crawl into the pain cave.
Which is where I quickly found myself as the first 4 miles or so we were clipping along at a low to mid 7 minute pace. I don’t run that fast often, and, other than one sea-level jaunt on vacation over a month ago, haven’t run that fast since some pre-injury running late last summer. I felt comfortable, but odd, to be moving rapidly along the flat, smooth dirt roads. I could tell my slow legs wouldn’t tolerate a pace any faster and probably wouldn’t last 34 miles at this pace. Crazy thing is, I was going backward. I was 30-40 places off the front and falling back as people were motoring past like I was walking.
It was tempting to turn it up a couple of notches and stop the bleeding, but I told myself to hang on to this pace and save some strength for the last half. After a fair bit of climbing and a fun section of technical running I came into the mile 13 aid station at 1:39, not bad if the mileage is correct, and hit mile 17 at 2:20. At that point, I knew there were just a couple more miles of dread and we would hit some terrain that is a bit more comfortable for me.
About 19 miles in, the course makes a dramatic change, going from mostly smooth dirt road to technical steep slickrock with lots of climbing and descending. Once on terrain that suits me, I started turning up the effort a bit more. I kept telling myself to roll another log on the fire and let it burn. I was running hard through these miles and really digging deep. I was relieved to find some reserves and be able to push the pace in the late miles. As soon as I hit the rougher ground and turned it up a little, I started catching people. I passed 3-4 people on the big climb up to mile 23 and just kept reeling people in. I think I moved up 10 or so spots through the 6 mile slickrock section, getting passed once myself by a motoring Greg Norrander.
The last three miles or so revert to dreaded road with some techy stuff here and there. I tried to hang on and keep turning my legs over. I was pretty cooked at this point and my legs were screaming from the hard effort and lack of miles. There were a couple of runners in front of me and I set a goal to pass them both before the finish. I got one easy and the second guy was moving pretty well and it took a good effort to get by with a mile or so left to run. I put a bit of distance between us and backed off a bit as the next runner was out of reach. I glanced back at the last corner and still had a good gap on the guy behind me so I just kinda cruised it down the last hill. Right before the finish, like 50 yards, I luckily took out my headphones just in time to hear the gap getting closed in a hurry. I glanced back and was about to get passed by the guy I had passed a mile ago. Into full sprint to the line and the guy didn’t back down at all, I had to sprint all the way over the line, with my him 6 inches off my back. Crazy finish.
I crossed the line in 5:23, ten minutes slower than last year but totally happy with the time. I put it all out there and didn’t leave anything in the tank. Tank just wasn’t as deep this year. Found Shane who was waiting for me with a cold Mtn Dew. Then had a great time watching the rest of the O-town crew come in. Tom finished about 1 minute behind me and I am glad I didn’t catch sight of him earlier. Finding another gear out of fear of the dreaded, and too often experienced, late race “Tom pass” would have hurt badly. Nick, Cory, Shane, Aric, Ryan, Melinda, Molly, Chad, Kasey, Phil, Jamie, and Ron all finished strong and happy. I think just about everyone set PR’s or finished their first Red Hot.
34 miles, 4000-5000 vert, 9:30 average pace
Couple Highlights and Lowlights for my own notes:
-Nutrition was perfect (other than prerace dinner)
-Crampy legs?? More Scaps and water, lack of miles and road specific miles?,
-Crampy at site of injury? a little concerning, feels ok now.
-Pace and effort was perfect for where I was at fitness wise. left it all out there
-Good mental race, stayed in my own race for the most part.
-Stomach was a little off (training?, electrolytes off?, pre race dinner?, heat (relative)
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