Today was one of the worst races of my life. But it was also a pretty nice run through the forest for a Sunday morning, and perhaps a really good reminder of what a lazy summer of running feels like. My friend Doug Stutz and I drove up to Port Gamble on a cool, cloudy morning for the annual Roots Rock Port Gamble Trails Half Marathon. It's part of the series I like to go to up there, which I've rambled on here about on other occasions. All races are in a really beautiful piece of woods (4,000 acres, in fact), every one is a smoothly run race, and this time there were post-race burgers on the BBQ and locally brewed beer for all participants, since the owner of one of the county's newest microbreweries also happens to be a runner. So I can complain about a poor performance (I got through 10 miles at a good pace and then my body had enough), I can't complain about the morning. The short version of the race is that I went in with a desire to gauge my fitness. The last time I ran this far was in June, at the NODM half. So it's been awhile since I've seen this distance, and I knew that would be an obstacle. I started near the back to try and hold myself back and it worked for two miles or so, but I got caught up with a crowd on some single-track stretches, hooked in with this guy named Terry between 5 and 10 and we kept up a good clip, and then I packed it in. We weren't screaming (just under 8/minute miles), but after 10 I really lost all energy (I've never been so hungry on a run) and slowed down quite a bit. I haven't struggled mentally like that in awhile either, which was a little disappointing. At least six people passed me over the last three miles and I didn't have it to hang with any of them. My legs were pretty shot at the finish, more than I'd expect from 13 miles.
This was a new race course, and featured significantly more single track. It's a really winding, up-and-down, narrow course now, which keeps you from ever really striding out, and does tax the legs pretty well. It's fun to run, but even the lead guys had to treat it as a workout rather than a place to run a great time. But at least it's easy to have a great time up there. I'll leave with that memory, and get back to work running now. brooks cascadia -- I've liked these shoes, though I'm a little worried at the cushioning. My feet really felt beat up by the end. That is expected on a rooty, twisting course, I suppose, but it may be wise to try something else before another 50k attempt.
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