Finally home. I placed 9th overall for the 50 mile event, and came in first in my age group for those over 50.
Drove down on Friday night; race for the 50 and 100 milers started at 6am Saturday. There were also 50k and 100k racers on the course, who started a little bit later. So, lots of runners on the course, which is a 20km loop, with 1500 feet of elevation change/loop (6,000 feet for my event). Most of it is double track and either packed earth or grass. Great when it's dry. It was not dry.
I read my notes from when I ran this race exactly 5 years ago, when it poured rain and turned the course into a flowing river of mud. It wasn't pretty, but it forced me to buy some decent trail shoes, and I used them this time around with great success.
The rain started right at the beginning of my second loop, and it continued for almost 5 hours. A thunderstorm was a part of it. Again, mud, mud and more mud. This time, however, I didn't fall, my feet did not slip to the side, and I didn't have to pick my way downhill, but was able to charge the downhills. People with poor shoes were slipping and falling all around me, and when I ran past they were amazed. I heard a lot of "wows", but it was just the difference in the shoe. No injuries because of slipping and falling this time around.
My 20k splits were:
2:01:45 (dry ground, fresh, and no aid station stops)
2:13:29 (switch in gear at the transition point)
2:31:36 (lingered too long at a couple of aid stations and dead legs)
2:34:37 (more lingering and still dead legs)
My finish time of 9:21:26 puts me 1 hour and 16 minutes faster than 5 years ago. My goal was to break 10 hours, so I'm ecstatic about that.
Average pace was 11:12, compared to 12:44 last time around.
Some of the problems I had to overcome or still need to figure out:
I'm supposed to take in about 200 calories/hour in the form of Tailwind. I carried two bottles in my vest and an extra 2 containers of mix to make up along the way. I ended up taking in only about half that, as my stomach just could not take it. Then, with only 8 miles complete, my vest was rubbing my shoulder raw. So, I took off the vest at the transition point and put on a belt to hold my mix, and ran the rest of the race with just one bottle held in my hand. It actually felt really good to ditch the vest.
I still could not stomach the Tailwind well, so took to eating potatoes, chips, watermelon and cookies at the aid stations. That helped, but on my third lap my legs were dead and I wondered if I'd even be able to finish. Before my fourth lap, I ditched the belt completely and ran with just the bottle. I used the on course beverage (Skratch) to refill it once. Even still, I found it too sicky sweet and so dumped it with 4 miles to go and ran with just water.
I'll need to figure this out before my 100 miler in September, since the loops there are 25 miles and the aid stations are a lot further apart. On the positive side, I had no GI distress, and I didn't need to take any immodium or pepto bismol this year. I'm guessing that had something to do with taking in a lot less sugar/calories. But I don't think I can run 100 miles without taking in more.
Going back to the third loop, I really had to battle my brain. There was a lot of negativity at the aid stations that I listened to, as well as on the course, and the water/mud didn't help, as didn't the lack of pep in my legs. At one point, I gave up on the idea of finishing in under 10 hours, and even decided to give up running Ultras completely. Back to marathons or less, I decided. My brain had a field day with me. Fortunately, a rack of ribs and a cold beer for dinner that night helped put things in their proper perspective.
Five years ago, I was really hurting and did not run for 6 days after my race. This year, today is my 3rd day off, and I'm planning a short run tomorrow. Maybe it helped that on Sunday, the day after the race, I installed a laminate floor for my sister on the second floor of her house (table saw in the driveway). LOTS of walking up and down stairs. It had to have helped my quads, despite their protest to the contrary. I just got back from a massage and I think I might be good to go tomorrow.
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