10 am trail marathon in Yellowood State Forest near Nashville, IN - Tecumseh Marathon. Temps were in the 40s to start and dropped to 30s by the end - go figure :) The recent snow melt and rain made for the muddiest, most treachurous race I have run. If it wasn't icy, it was muddy or shin deep water. The course was changed due to the usual course being in even worse shape - their solution was a 4 mile run out to a loop that was repeated 3 time and then back to start line to finish. Pace and effort level was all over the place and the last 4 miles were a death march for my legs. Unfortunately, that last four miles included the shin deep ice water that actually had chunks of ice floating from everybody breaking through on the way out. A nasty climb bagan each loop and by the second time around the mud was ankle deep. Completing and attempting ot compete in this race was the biggest effort, both mentally and physically, that I ever experienced in running. On the second loop, where there is a steep decline with some huge mounds of muddy muddiness, I stuck a foot in that mud and took a huge fall and even rolled a couple times. The left hamstring cramped up while it was folded under my body, and I though I was done. Fortunately, I stood up brushed off, cussed alot, and the hammy loosened up when I restraightened. No permenant injuries fortunately.
On a side note, between this race and the Huff 50k a week and a half ago, I have learned the exquisite art of peeing on the run (first step is making sure your all alone) ! :)
Check out this crazy splits:
7:19, 10:20, 9:57 , 9:57, 8:13, 7:31, 8:49, 9:01, 8:01, 9:22, 7:42, 7:25, 8:42, 8:46, 7:52, 9:57, 7:54, 8:01, 9:39, 10:20, 8:05, 11:14, 12:14, 9:14, 9:50
24.19 mi. GPS - 3:36:59 on the watch - my official time was 3:37:18. Talk about losing the signal !
I feel pretty good about the effort now that it is complete. A 2:25 marathoner won it in 3:13:xx
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