M'kay

8.11 miles, 1:04:03, 7:54/mi

Late day run.  Started slow with some leg soreness, but the hip only started tightening near the 1 mile mark, wasn't too bad, and got better around 3 miles in.  Got 2 sub-7 miles in on the return. 

6.04 miles, 48:08, 7:58/mi.

Hip struggles from .75 thru 3 but good otherwise.  Tired legs.  Especially tired left outer glute/hamstring. 

4.02 miles, 33:21, 8:18/mi.

31.34 miles, 6:14:03, 11:56/mi.

Today's race was.....hot.  93F at start/finish aid station at the beginning of the last short 5 mile loop.  Starting temps were in the 70s and most of the people running the marathon and 50K took the early start to beat the heat.  Being a glutton for punishment, I opted for the regular start and ran the suffer-fest.  Plenty of hills to work the climbing and descending gears, but by the halfway point, I was happy just to be able to hike the uphills and jog/run the flats and downs.  By the 5 mile loop, I was happy to string together 60 seconds of running in any direction.  Ran out of water on the return from the out-and-back about 1.5 miles from the mid-point aid station when the turnaround water ran dry.  Spent minutes in each aid station from then on, attempting to hydrate as well as possible before continuing.  Did I mention suffer-fest?

Anyway, I survived, finished, and ran my first 6+ hour 50K.  I also managed to run this 50K after running half(+) of the 50 miler last weekend, so I'm thinking this makes up for that DNF.  Or at least tells me I can get in the proper mental place when suffering is required.

Interestingly, I've taken 6th place in each of the 50k races I've run this year, and not against the same competition.  Weird. 

8.21 miles, 1:08:08, 8:18/mi.

VA run. 

8.01 miles, 1:06:42, 8:20/mi.

Post-bowling tourney run. 

8.08 miles, 1:23:16, 10:18/mi.

Trail run along Mud Mountain Dam rim trail.  Decent enough trail, not a whole lot of significant elevation change.  The further away from the dam rec area the less obvious the trail got.  A couple of sections dumped me out onto gravel roads and had connections across it that disappeared, but I found the *real* connectors a bit further down the road.  Evidently the end was only a short distance away from where I turned around, but I had to get back to make Dianna's horse lesson. 

5.08 miles, 57:34, 11:20/mi.

After a day spent with the WTA working on a trail (and meeting my trail work requirement for Cascade Crest), I got in the Rampart Ridge loop from Longmire.  Definitely worked the climbing and descending gears. 

8.10 miles, 1:07:20, 8:19/mi.

6.16 miles, 49:27, 8:02/mi.

5.13 miles, 42:16, 8:15/mi.

Still hot. 

10.11 miles, 1:25:12, 8:26/mi.

Climbed a logging road that heads up Dobbs mountain at the end of my normal 8 mile route.  Dunno what views I might've had.....foggy today. 

6.03 miles, 50:30, 8:23/mi.

7.63 miles, 1:11:23, 9:22/mi.

Trail run in Nisqually-Mashell state park (future).  Didn't even know these trails existed.  Met up with a small group, headed by the Lynch Creek 5K director.  His 3-3.5 mile run wound up being 2.4, so I headed out for a 2nd "exploring" loop, wound up finding some even nicer trails, one that got progressively overgrown until it hit a washout by the Nisqually river, and a couple of others that I would've kept following except that darkness was approaching, I carried no water, and I'm supposed to be tapering.  Good times. 

5.0 miles, no watch.

Crappy.  Hip muscle spasms and weakness.  At least no stomach cramping, so the meds appear to be helping.  Still, I only managed 4 miles last year 2 days before cascade crest at a 10+ min pace, and I know I was faster today.  Strides with the dog afterwards were good. 

4.13 miles, 32:39, 7:54/mi.

Left hip was tight pretty quickly, paused at 1 mile to stretch and it got better gradually until it was a minor nuisance 3 miles in.  That fatigued feeling in the left quad but I think that would've gone away had I continued.  Under 70F but warm in the sun...the effort felt easy throughout.  Gosh, I think I might just be ready....

Goals

1. Finish. (Doable)
2. Enjoy the race. (Doable)
3. Faster than last year's time. (26:30-ish). (No clue)
4. Faster than 24 hours. (Stretch).

100 miles, 14:22/mi

• Cole Butte (11mi) 2:05
• Blowout Mt (16mi) 2:53
• Tacoma Pass (23mi) 4:23
• Snowshoe Butte (29mi) 6:00
• Stampede Pass (33mi) 6:45
• Meadow Mt (40mi) 8:25
• Olallie Meadows (48mi) 9:56
• Hyak (53mi) 11:10
• Keechelus Ridge (60mi) 13:09
• Lake Kachess (68mi) 14:30
• Mineral Creek (73mi) 16:38
• No Name (80mi) 18:40
• Thorp Mt (84mi) 20:30
• French Cabin (88mi) 21:26
• Silver Creek (96mi) 23:18
• Finish (100mi) 23:56:40

 Beyond my wildest expectations.  Okay, maybe not quite that great, but beyond all reasonable and most of my completely unreasonable expectations.  Since I ran this race last year, I have run over 20 miles exactly 4 times.......3 50K races and one 50 mile race where I dropped at 27-ish.  Not exactly a textbook training cycle.  Coupled with continued left hip problems that just won't completely resolve and a GI cramping problem that forced me to drop from the 50 miler at the midpoint a mere month prior to race-day, I had no reason to think that this would be the experience it became throughout the day, night, and morning.