I ran this race a day early on my own in order to help run an aid station on Saturday during the actual race. Started a while after the 100 mile runners and also after the one other 50K runner doing it a day early. I forgot half my gear in the car - but lived without it. Going in I knew this was going to be a sufferfest because I lost so much training in February during my four weeks of being sick. I called it my couch to 50K in three weeks program. I kept telling myself it will be good training for the 48 hours Across the Years race in December. My predictions were 9 hours if it was a good day and 10 hours if it was a bad. I fell within my predictions at 9 hours 39 minutes so feel like it was a decent day. I finished, I learned things, and I had a new great niece born during the race - so call it good. Wind was brutal off and on all day. That may have slowed me down some. I never felt like it gave me an advantage. However, I really preferred the wind to the heat that the runners experienced on Saturday. Ran the entire race in short sleeve shirt, shorts, compression socks, Altra Lone Peaks (bought them two weeks ago) and a cap that I alternated the brim according to the wind. Picked up a jacket for the second round because I knew night would fall, but never needed it. Round 1: My goal was to walk the uphills, run the downhills and alternate run 100/walk 50 on the flats and gentle uphills. I accomplished that with no problems. Saw Karl Meltzer bombing down past Lone Tree on his way to setting up a good lead in the 100 Mile race. There was a buffalo approaching me at mile 3 as I crested the hill, but he let me pass without any problems. Each time I went over the ridge I turned on my cell phone to text out updates to my sister, daughter and son. Coming back over the ridge on the end of the loop I found out my niece was in labor - so something exciting to track. Round 2: As I loaded up my pack for the second round (I had dropped a bag at the fence since there wouldn't be an aid station there), I really wanted to quit and had to talk myself out of it. I was bonking majorly and kept telling myself that I could walk the entire thing and still finish before midnight. Put a jacket around my waist, grabbed my new headlamp and my handheld flashlight (green - following in Davy Crockett's footsteps) and headed out. Ran into another buffalo about 2 miles up near a fence line. He was laying next to the trail and I went up and around him. Shook my head at the stupid teenagers behind me yelling at him to try and get him to move. I'd rather move around a buffalo than irritate it. Called my sister while going over the ridge and it looked like a C-section might be coming up because the baby's heart rate was dropping. Miles 16-24 were brutal. I had no energy and would have to force myself to run. After mile 24 things got better and I could run for longer periods of time. Karl passed me at mile 29 on the ridge, but I was going slow and hearing about my new great niece, Samantha. Healthy little baby - but with the expected issues of a cleft lip and cleft palate that will be dealt with as she grows. Finished the race at 10:08 p.m. Recovered and slept in my jeep because it was too windy to set up my tent. Zipper broke on the sleeping bag and I couldn't stretch out, so it was a miserable, sleepless night.
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