Met at 4:30am with 8 others to run Pipeline. Millcreek has never seen that many cars that early in the morning. It was a rather lovely party. Zac ran 10 and headed out (he's on a taper), but Leslie, Neasts, jun, MVH, Dorsimus, ScottW, and JimmySG all stuck around for a second lap.
I kept up with the front when I was up there, and hung with the back when I was back there, no real pace in mind, not caring about speed and just enjoying being carried by the others. Approx every 5 miles we'd stop for a minute or two and chat and eat, and I didn't record my stops, which were probably in the 10-15min range. Neasts brought Coca-Cola which was a heaven-send.
I left them at 18.8 (Or, they left me) and I went back out. I did the marathon around 3:57. Dropped my vest at the car, sipped some coke and choked down a salt and a bit of bagel and went out for the last 3 miles. Hit the 50k in 4:39. I was hoping to break my antelope island 50k time (yep) and my pony express 50k time (I think it was 4:24, so nope). The last 5 miles I did 8 min miles.
The major difference for me on today vs my other to 50k times (apart from those being races with aid stations and today just being a training run) is that from last wednesday thru today (so in 7.5 days) I've done over 100 miles. I was happy that I was able to push a little bit towards the end on tired legs. I've been running so slow lately, and after the debacle last wednesday (and pacing Antelope) I just needed a confidence booster run to remind myself- hey, I can do this. There's hope that I can finish Bryce and maybe even run some of it too.
Recovery run tomorrow initiates the taper! Woohoo! It's almost like Christmas, except I get to sleep in!
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