Last night for dinner I had a pasta bread bowl from Dominos Pizza. It tasted great, but was a bit greasy. I went to bed at 10:30 p.m, and woke up all excited to the alarm at 3 a.m. I was out the door at 3:45 a.m. to jog a real easy mile down to Kmart where Steve picked me up. The was his first 50 miler. As we drove in we talked about race strategies. I was hoping to finish in under 10 hours.
The race got off at a few minutes after 6 a.m. A line of headlights headed up the mountain. The first aid station was at mile 5.5. From there we had a little out and back to do out to Elephant Head. The out and back had some technical sections, but I was having fun and moved along pretty quick. The wind was cold and blew right through me a few times. During the out and back I saw that Bryce was just ahead of me and decided I was going to try to catch him. The next section had some good downhill and then some great uphill with lots of switchbacks. On each switchback I could see that I was rilling him in. At the top of the hill I caught up with him. Bryce and I ran together for about the next 15 miles.
The course heads back to the start at mile 18. There was a large buffalo about fifty yards off the trail, but he didn't bother us. After the first loops I felt great and was ahead of schedule. I hit the half marathon mark at 2:06. The aid stations at this race were awesome. I ate cookies at most of them and never felt hunger pains. After getting back to the start the race headed over to the West side of the Island.
This was the mentally challenging part of the race. There was a short out and back to the trail head and a port a potty. I'm glad the potty was there because I needed it. I was still running with Bryce at this point, but then he turned of the jets and left me behind. I couldn't keep up. The course follows the road and is pretty flat with few rolling hills. I really struggled to make it to the next aid station. I refueled and was felling good, but wasn't moving real fast. I hit the marathon mark at 4:15 and hit the 50k mark at 5:14. An unofficial 50k PR.
There was an aid station at the south end of the island at mile 32.8. Craig was supposed to meet me there and pace me to the finish. I arrived there a half hour early and he was no where to be seen. Davy Crockett was there though. He was at mile 82.8. He had started the night before and was doing the course twice for a hundred miles. He is a trooper. I told the volunteers at the aid station to send Craig to the next aid station when he showed up.
I left the aid station and was about 1.5 mile from it at a point where the trail crosses the road. As I approached the road, Craig drove by. I waved at him and he turned around. He cheered me on and said there was a trail head turn off about a half mile up that he would meet me at. Having a pacer along was great. We talked the whole way and the conversations helped keep my mind off the pain. After going back up along the West side we had a steep hill up to the next aid station. At the aid station the volunteers told us that it 6.5 miles to the finish. I drank two cups of Mountain Dew and ate some more cookies and we were off. I did a very good job of being fast in and out of the aid stations at this race. From that aid station to the finish, I ran the whole way.
The final section of the course goes around Buffalo Peak and out to a point on the island. This section was a bit technical with lots of large rocks. On fresh legs I would've flown through this section, but on legs that had ran 45 miles, I had to take it slow. The finish could be seen from the last 2.5 miles. Craig kept looking back at the runners behind us and told me that they were gaining on us. This was a ploy to keep me moving strong. When we were within the last half mile, I looked at my watch and realized that I had a chance to come in under 9 hours. I picked up the pace. I thought I was at the finish and started my sprint, then Craig yelled at me that it was a littler further ahead. I pushed hard around the next two corners and looked at my watch again. I had 20 seconds left. I poured it on as hard as I could. The crowed was cheering me on and I was flying to the finish line. I crossed the line at stopped my GPS. It read 8:59:56. I couldn't believe it. I was shooting for sub 10 hours and actually came in sub 9. This is a PR for me by 1 hour and 43 minutes. Very awesome.
After the race I mingled a bit and ate some buffalo stew. Bryce gave us a ride back to Craig's car, and Craig gave me a ride home. It was a great day.
Craig took a bunch of pictures that he will post next week.
