Road Runner Akron Marathon Report

First things first, I didn't qualify for Boston at this race. I finished 3:52- my 2nd best marathon...but I didn't make 3:40. Oh well.

I drove to OH Friday afternoon in about 4hrs 45mins. I went to the expo, to the hotel, and was in bed by 7:17pm. I woke up at 4am, got all of my race gear together, and got to the race around 5:30am even though it didn't start until 7am. I thought I was going to get lost and it would be really crowded at that time. Turns out I was only lost for about 5 minutes- trying to figure out how to walk from the parking garage to the start line- and no, it wasn't crowded until about 6:15am.

I haven't been to a bigger race in awhile so it was kind of fun to remember what it was like. They had a big tented area where runners could get free Gu and bananas and water, which was nice. I had a jacket, pants, and gloves on in the beginning and was still cold, but somehow it warmed up very quickly once I started running and it was good weather.

The race consisted of a marathon, half marathon, and a relay. They said there were 10,000 people all together but I don't know how many of those were doing the marathon. I finished 404 out of 1582 so either some people dropped out or the majority of the runners made up the relay teams and such.

So anyway, my goal was to try to qualify for Boston at this race. Women my age needed to run a 3:40 marathon, which is about an 8:24 pace. Why do guys my age have to qualify in 3:10? Even though that's WAY too fast for me, I think it's dumb that the men's time is 30 minutes faster. If I were to have qualified, I was thinking that I almost wouldn't be as proud to have qualified because I would know that it was so much slower than the guy's time. Whatever.

For the first time, I wanted to try to run with a pacer. They had a pace group for a 3:40 finish so I thought I'd give it a try and stick with this group. I knew it would add more pressure to me to stick with this group, and that I HATE pressure during my runs, but I thought I'd be strong enough to keep it up- mentally and physically.

I was at the start line and I was looking all over for the pacer. It was about 6:45am and I still couldn't find him, even though I was standing in the "8:15 per mile" section. I kept looking behind me to see if I was in front of him. I didn't see him the last time I looked behind me so I turned around and somehow the pacer, Roger, popped up 1 inch away from me on my right side. That was good luck. I wanted to be right by his side, and not at the back of the 3:40 group.

Ironically enough right when the gun went off, the "3:40 group" sign came off the pole that the pacers carry and fell down before we even crossed the start line. Right when we all started running Roger scrambled around, against the grain of runners, and thankfully someone happened to pick up the sign and gave it to him. That would have sucked to lose the sign that everyone follows before the race even starts.

As I mentioned, I hate being pressured for time during a race. I tend to be stubborn and quit if I am pressured and if I think I can't make it. Sooo, I kept telling myself beforehand and during the race that I needed to have good mental energy and I was going to enjoy myself, and not worry about my time.

The first 10-11 miles flew by so quickly. There were a good amount of people out cheering and a few little HS bands and some of the classic weird/old people bands. Something I hadn't realized before the race was that there were going to be so many hills. The course description said "a rolling course..." but I didn't pay much attention to it. Then I was deceived because before the race, the race director sent out an email stating that we needed to practice our hills because there were big hills at mile 16 and 23 (or something). So, I wrongly assumed that the whole course was pretty flat except at those 2 points.

Anyway, I was by Roger's side in the beginning and then for about 7-8 miles, I was about 10 seconds in front of him. I was feeling good and it actually helped me mentally to be in front of him. Whenever I was at his side or even 1 foot behind him, there was a different pressure of having to stick right with him and not get behind. But when I was in front, even if it was just a little bit, I didn't see him and I was able to run my own race.

I don't have anything to compare Roger to but I liked him as a pacer, for the most part. :) He would talk some, give us some tips about not zig-zagging and taking extra steps around curves, and so on.

He would call out each mile and what our time was for each mile. That was fine with me. However, the time that he kept yelling out seemed to be around 8:13-8:20 per mile. Even though it's safe to go a little quicker than the 8:24/mile, I was seriously annoyed that he was going 10+ seconds faster per mile. I knew I could do an 8:24/mile but I didn't sign up to do 26 8:13/miles. I could tell I was getting a little out of breath at some points but I tried not to worry about it.

So as I said, practically the whole course consisted of long, gradual rolling hills and they were getting to me. I kept expecting Roger and the group to walk up some of the hills since that was what I was used to. It was getting tough for me to keep up a 8:20 pace.

At around mile 17 or 18, we were on the road in some kind of woody area and it seemed like we were going up a 2+ mile hill. In the beginning it was hard but I kept waiting for it to level out or go downhill. It never happened and the incline kept on coming. The group started to get a little ahead of me but I didn't worry to much since surely the hill would stop soon and I could catch up.

Unfortunately the group kept getting a little farther and farther ahead of me and I couldn't keep up. I knew that I couldn't keep running up these hills at that pace and so that's when I kind of gave up on the qualfying goal. I started to walk up the hill some, now that I figured I couldn't make it.

At that point, I seriously wanted to just quit. I didn't care that I only had 6-7 more miles. The only reason I wanted to run this race was to try to qualify for Boston. Since I knew I couldn't do that anymore, I wanted to stop. Butttt...I decided to keep on trucking because I didn't want 2 DNFs.

I kept on running and I continued to run some, walk up hills, run some, etc. The end of the race was fun. They had you run through some tent and then enter onto the baseball field with tons of people in the stands cheering for you while you cross the finish line. It looked like the Olympic marathoners finishing on that track. It would have been awesome to finish like that if I had known I was going to qualify for Boston. :)

I felt kind of gross after finishing. I never like the way you feel after a hard race. It's like you're so hungry but you can't eat yet. You just feel sick. I sat down after the race and decided to just head on home. After about 1 hr on the road, I stopped at McDonalds and slept in the parking lot for 30 minutes...then continued on home.

I didn't like the big race scene where you try to run fast, but something about it was attractive. I probably would have liked it if I was good at it. If I was a faster runner who could run up hills fast, I might have enjoyed it more (that's obvious though, right?).

I wonder if I'll ever qualify for Boston. A girl I was talking to said yesterday was the first day that if you qualify for Boston, it'll qualify you for the '09 and '10 race. I don't know how long that period is for though.

What I think I need to do is next time, I'll try to run with a 3:10 group. Once I get discouraged and think I can't keep up with them anymore, I'll start slowing down and eventually meet up with the 3:40 group without even meaning to. Perfect.

Overall, Akron was a good race and when I think about it (of course the day after the race, not the day of), I kind of liked running fast for a long distance for once. It felt good to actually push my body and not lazily run a race. Maybe I'll try it more often.

Oh ya, my knees killed me yesterday after the race. It was kind of scary how bad they hurt. It felt like if I continued to run road races, my knees would fall apart and I'd need replacements. Luckily they feel better today but I certainly don't like my legs feeling like they're not up to par.

Now I'm going to think about what races to do for October. Maybe I'll do the Indy marathon but I want to make sure it's flat so I can go fast, and that it's also halfway entertaining so I don't get bored out of my mind and want to quit.

Mileage/Thoughts

• Measly 3 mile run last Thursday
• Good 9 mile run last Friday afternoon
• Better 9 mile run yesterday- It was so fun running downtown with the Irish fest stuff, and seeing everyone tailgating before the Colts game all dressed up (despite the sad results last night)
• Mayyy run a few miles tonight...

On a separate note...when I was watching the Road Runner course video, I noticed that the part on the canal/trail path was pretty narrow. Dangit. I hope the 6,000 runners will be spread out enough by that time (I think at mile 13) so that we're not all clogged up and crowded. Just have to wait and see.

Preparing for Road Runner

Now that I think about it, I don't think I've run that much since dwd. Not a big surprise. I believe I took a week off after the race, but I can't remember. When I started up again I felt good and I had a couple nice 45-1hr runs.

Why has the weather been perfect lately with no humidity on the days that I don't really feel like running? Dangit! The past couple of days I debated running and knew I should but I just couldn't make myself, so I didn't. Hopefully I'll go this afternoon.

I'm looking forward to this race. I haven't run a "big" race in awhile and it'll be fun with a lot of runners and bands and fans and all that good stuff. I bet I'll be more sore from running 26.2 miles on pavement than the 100k on trail.

Speaking of, here's a video of the marathon course:


Since Chris is unfortunately suffering from a huge arm that looks like a lobster claw that's infected with poison ivy and filled with puss, I'm going to this race alone. Chris and I have done every race together this year except this one. Sooo....I'll be a little bored and lonely on the long 5 hr drive and I'll be forced to stay awake while doing so.

Also since I'm driving alone, I have to find all of the directions myself and know how to navigate around good ole Akron, OH. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal but this has seriously been the biggest challenge for me. I always hate trying to navigate by myself and I hate looking at maps. Usually Chris does all of this junk.

I literally spent 2 1/2 hrs this morning figuring out how to get to the race expo, then to the race parking area, then knowing how to avoid blocked off streets, then directions to the start line, then back to the parking spot from the finish line...then to the store that gives you free shoes, although the store's located on the actual path of the race...ay ay ay. I think I finally have everything planned out. I hate getting lost so please wish me luck that I survive.

Speaking free shoes, this race actually gives you a free pair of Brooks shoes if you finish the race in under 6 hrs. Sweet. They even happen to have the exact same pair I always run with anyway- Adrenaline GTS. Josh always says they're not free since you pay $x for the race but oh well, I'm still happy.

I'm hoping for some good weather and a great race....

DWD- Hell 50 Miles

Bill and I afterwards.

Well all I have to say is that this race was awesome. It took me 11:18 to do it. I have decided that I love the Dances With Dirt series. After I finished DWD- Gnawbone I was hesitant about running the Hell event. I liked the Gnawbone course but I was really frustrated getting lost for 3+ hours and I didn't want it to happen again. Somehow I forgot about that and I decided to add another race on and run Hell.

I wish I would have had a video camera, picture camera, or even just a voice recorder with me the whole time so that I could have remembered everything about the race and all of the funny/crazy moments of it. All that to say that this blog won't be able to capture each leg of the race but I'll try my best.

The race started at 6:15am and I don't remember the temperature but it was somewhere around 55-65 degrees. It was pretty chilly beforehand but I decided to still wear t-shirt/shorts for the race. It turned out to be PERFECT running weather.

The race started in the dark and of course everyone had their little professional headlamps and looked all prepared. I didn't have any kind of headlamp or nice flashlight to run with and I didn't feel like buying one since I hardly run in the dark. Buttt since I knew I needed one for the first 30+ minutes of the race, I brought my 1980 12 pound yellow flashlight that had a dimmed light you could barely see.

We started out running close together and the runner in front of me and the runner behind me shun more light on my path than my piddly little light did. Soo...luckily I didn't fall or anything and I could see good enough until the sun came up.

Since I didn't finish the last race and I ran a little too hard in the beginning, I made sure I started out very conservative this time. I was running at a nice, slower pace and I kept telling myself that I can always go faster later on if need be. I'll have 10+ more hours to do so. However it was so hard for me mentally when people would pass us early on. I hoped they were just running the 50k and I tried not to worry about it.

Chris and I surprisingly ran the first 10 miles together so it was nice to have familiar conversation. We weren't wet or nasty from this section yet. It was mainly on a trail path, some sand, some gravel road paths and only some little hills.

One guy said the whole course we were running through was covered in poison ivy and that he gets it every year after this race, and then another guy said he doesn't get it from this race. I've never gotten it before (knock on wood) so I reallllly hope it doesn't show up in the next 1-2 days. It would suck if I did because our whole bodies were covered in brush and junk the whole day and my legs are all cut up from the thorns.

The aid stations were nicely planned apart. Some were 2.8 miles away and some were 8 miles away. I tried really hard to eat different foods that I normally don't. I had some oranges, twizzlers, a couple small potatoes, and whatever else. Luckily they didn't upset my stomach. I tried to keep my CamelPak continually full so I wouldn't notice the extra weight of it if I filled it up after being empty for awhile. It seemed to help.

So before the first drop zone, maybe around mile 15 or something, we had to cross a little creek that was maybe 1.5 feet deep. It felt nice to get in but then our shoes were of course heavy and full of nasty gravel and crap.

Afterwards we had to seriously climb up this big, tall section. I didn't use my hands but it wasn't just a steep incline, it was like a tall mud wall you had to climb up. My knees were lifted so high and I realized my thigh muscles aren't as strong as I thought they were. (Chris seemed to have no problem during this section...he's unique)

We then had to get into a big creek and go through it for .25 miles. The water was up to my knees and even though I had my bag of salt in my hands to not get wet, they got wet and all melted together. So I had this nasty, stinky water in my bag but I didn't want to get rid of them because it was all I had. The salt leaked outside the pill and it was so gross to eat them later on. I prayed I wouldn't get some disease from them saturated in crap.

So about the water..it was really nice to get in and I just loved having the course be different than your typical loop and it was just fun to get cooled off like that. I guess last year the water was a lot higher, up to people's armpits.

Soon after the water came the first drop bag zone- mile 19. There was a man dressed up like a devil at the top of hill, welcoming us to Hell. I changed my socks and shoes and it felt so much better afterwards- like a new start.

Speaking of drop bags, it was so hard to determine which one to put different shoes in. There were three drop bag locations and I only had 3 half-way-runnable shoes to bring. Two of the shoes I brought were ones I hadn't run in in over 5-10 months but I knew I'd need something dry. Luckily I made the good decision to put shoes in the 1st and 3rd drop bags. We didn't get wet during the second part.

Up to this point I hadn't gotten lost yet and the course was better marked than I expected. There were a couple of close calls where we had to call runners back the other way. Everyone kept saying that the race director loves to throw you off a perfectly nice trail when you least expect it, so I was trying to be extra cautious.

Now here's the awesome part: Right after I was leaving the drop zone area, I made small talk with this guy, Bill. He asked me what I do for a living and as we were talking I told him I spoke Spanish and he told me he did Peace Core for 3 years in Ecuador. From there I started speaking in Spanish with him and we continued it for the next 6+ hours.

Meeting Bill was seriously such a blessing. It was so awesome- we were the same pace and we both enjoyed speaking Spanish and we ended up running the last 50k together. Speaking Spanish immediately helped us get our mind off of what we were doing and we just got into a great groove. I was nervous though because we started to pay less attention to the course markings since we were talking so much- but WE NEVER GOT LOST!!! WOOHOO! We made it- I was so happy.

But anyway...that just proves how much of a race is mental. Having someone to talk to, and to have good conversation with, makes a huge difference and energizes you. So that was Bill, thanks!

I can't remember much more of the course. Hmm. It wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be. There were a few big hills but nothing we hadn't seen before, and we just walked up them. There were some sections where you didn't run on a nice trail- you had to go off into the brush and forest- but it didn't seem like it was as hard to follow as Gnawbone. I might say Gnawbone was harder, but Hell just takes you longer because of the rain/mud crossings.

So speaking of mud- this was an AWESOME/HILARIOUS part. We were running in this little meadow area and the ground just looked muddy. Bill was in front of me and he took a step and was fine, and then on his very next step his leg LITERALLY fell like 3 feet into the mud- up to his thigh. I was cracking up soo hard! I can't explain it. I just stopped moving, bent over, and kept laughing. He was stuck in this gross, thick mud.

I tried to walk carefully and on my next step, I was in the same place. My left leg was stuck in the mud up to my thigh, and I don't remember where my right leg was but it wasn't stuck. I seriously couldn't move my left leg. It was like quick sand only mud. The pressure and thickness of the mud was scary. Bill had to pull me out without trying to fall back. I just loved the whole thing- it was so fun.

So we kept on going, trying to be careful. We were like little monkeys trying to jump onto the little tree stumps that were around and to not fall in. The next part we approached was an obvious mud trap. It was a bog about 10 feet across with a rope hanging over it to pull yourself. There was a cameraman on the other side of it, just waiting to get great pictures of trapped runners.

I don't know why but Bill seemed to think there was no other way to get across but to enter the bog. He got in, up to his chest, and was putting forth so much energy and strength to pull himself through. I was just cracking up watching him.

I was determined to find another path and I somehow managed to balance across a skinny log and jump across, free from mud. Bill was still plowing through the nastiness.

Then at some point near the end of the race, there was a lake we had to go through that was about knee deep. It was maybe .4 miles long and again, it was nice to cool off there. Bill and I were still feeling energized and kept on truckin.

I was able to keep eating/drinking a lot throughout the whole race thus far but even doing that, I felt pretty tired/hungry around mile 40. We finally made it to mile 43- the third/last drop zone. I have to say that the volunteers were AWESOME! They brought me tons of food, filled up my CamelPak, got me my drop bag, threw away my trash, and walked us to the next trail. It helped a lot and was very nice to come to.

I changed my shoes/socks and it felt great. I ate 3 half-PB sandwiches, pretzals, twizzlers, and some crackers. We took off and I knew it'd be a mental battle to finish the last stretch.

We had another aid station around mile 46. I was dragging behind Bill for a little bit at the end and thankfully he waited for me and we stuck together. I kept telling myself to keep on going and we ran a good part of the last few miles.

We could hear the music from the finish line and it teased me because I knew we could still be far away. Finally we heard more people coming and a relay guy told us it was only .5 miles away. Woohoo! We sprinted in together, with people cheering on the sides, and had a great finish. We rinsed off in the lake, grabbed the free pizza/pop, and then headed on home.

Since I finished first in my age group (I was probably the only one in my age group...), I got a free dwd headlamp. Sweet, now I won't get made fun of.

I'm a little sore today, but definitely not as bad as I thought I'd be. That's good news. And, I cannot believe that I don't have any blisters on my feet! I don't know how that happened. Since my toenails were already depleted and purple, nothing worse could have happened to them.

The path was all mixed up with a random course and it was fun. I loved the whole thing. I think it's interesting how I loved my first 50M race (that happened to be dwd), I struggled on the 100k (which wasn't a crazy, mixed up path like dwd), and then I loved my 2nd 50M race (that was dwd).

I think there's a connection between a crazy, challenging course and my life. At work, for example, I have to keep active and I have to be challenged. I have to keep doing different things or else I'll get bored. That's why I like dwd- you never know what to expect and you always keep occupied.

All in all, I'm ready for the next race.

Weekly Mileage Thus Far

• I knew I needed to average more than 1 run per week so after the race, I had a nice good run on Monday (8/25). My legs were still sore so I didn't want to run that much, but I made myself go and I was glad I did. I probably ran for about 5 miles and it felt good to get all that junk out of my muscles.
• On Tuesday I ran for about 7 miles and it was pretty nice out.
• I had intentions to run on Wednesday and Thursday but I didn't.
• On Friday I planned on having a good 45min-1hr run downtown. My CamelPak was still full with water (and a tiny bit of Gatorade) from the race on 8/23. The water stayed in it until I emptied it some time on 8/24. I didn't wash it, I just hung it upsidedown to dry. I figured it was fine. On Friday (8/29) when I attempted to go run, I took a drink out of the Pak and almost puked. It was the nastiest taste I've ever tasted. It wasn't just a rusty, old water taste. It seriously tasted like a moldy, old dog. There was probably some nasty green mold in there growing. That ruined my run for me. Since I didn't have water to make it on a long run, I decided to just run around the park a lot. Since I get bored with the same old path, I decided that I really didn't feel like running anymore and I quit after 2 miles. Bad pattern.
• On Saturday I wanted to run but I didn't make it out.
• On Sunday I had a good 7 mile run. It was so nice outside in the morning.
• Yesterday I ran for about 5 miles. I ran on the canal and it was nice outside and sunny and pretty. Good to have a day off work.
• 4.6 miles on Wednesday, 9/3
• Hopefully I'll be in good shape for the race this Saturday!!!
  

Silver Lake 50/50 Race Review

I’m finally getting around to writing about the race. Well what I thought was going to be a great, easy 50 mile run turned out to be about a great 12.5 mile run, crappy 4 mile run, and then a crappier 4.5 walk. My first DNF (did not finish). Ohhh well.

Chris and I drove up to MI on Friday and got there around 10pm. We had no idea how many people were going to be at the race since it was the race director’s, Bruce’s, first race. It turns out there were about 27 people signed up for the 50mile race (I think only 22 showed) and about 55 or so people signed up for the 50k.

My race started at 7am and it was warm out but not as bad as I thought it’d be. We were all gathered around in a weird pile while Bruce was talking to us about the course and getting a headcount. Right afterwards he said “okay…you guys ready? Go!” and we all unexpectedly started running right then.

Since I happened to be at the front of the group while he was talking to us, I expected a ton of fast runners to pass me up in the first 1/5 mile. I was really surprised when only 2 people passed me…leaving me in about 7th place and 2nd female (mistake #1- worrying about my stupid place after 1 mile into it).

The course wasn’t too bad at all. Every once and awhile throughout the course I’d smell some really yummy citrus smell. I couldn’t tell if it was the bug spray on my arm or not, but it smelled good. The majority of the trail was shaded and it was a combination of rocks, sand, dirt, roots…the normal. It had a medium-high amount of little hills, and I ran up 99% of them during the first 12.5 mile loop.

I was feeling like I was running at a really good pace and I thought that I’d be able to keep it up. I felt like I was able to walk up the hills faster than normal. However since there were so few people running, I was by myself for almost the entire loop and therefore I couldn’t compare my speed to anyone else’s. There weren’t any super old skinny guys to speed walk up the hill and make me look like a big lazy kid.

At one point I finally caught up to 3 people in front of me and I was about 45 seconds slower than them. I kept trying to get them and finally there was an aid station that they had stopped at (by the way- there were aid stations at mile 4 and mile 9). I felt so proud of myself when I got there because I just grabbed one Gu and left- passing them all. It was a great feeling because that’s something I did in the past- take way too much time at aid stations and slow down.

Speaking of the Gu, it was disgusting! It was double espresso flavor or something and even though I like espresso, the Gu was nasty. I don’t know why I keep writing this because Gu is always nasty but it still seems to surprise me. The Gu was leaking out onto my hand and the humidity was increasing so I was just a gross, greasy mess.

Now probably my one and only complaint about this race was the bikers on the course. The trail was at a public State Park and I guess according to Bruce, the bikers are only allowed to travel clockwise (although Chris said there were a couple of bikers going the wrong way). The path that we were running on was very narrow and there were a bunch of curves, so a lot of times you couldn’t see what was going to be in front of you. I’m not kidding- there were about 4 times that I was seriously scared for my life (or at least body parts).

As we would be running up a hill, bikers would come down the hill full speed with no warning and we couldn’t see them until they were 2 feet in front of us. One guy got super close to me and I screamed and almost went off the path. Haha. I was mad at him for not stopping or saying excuse me. Ay ay ay. Anyway…that’s all. It was scary overall because that really would suck to get run over.

Back to running…I managed to stay in front of 2/3 of those people that I passed and I finally made it to the start/finish line again. I filled up my CamelPak and got some food. Right when I headed into the woods again to start the 2nd loop, it felt like a huge wall just came and hit me. It was the weirdest feeling…one that I hadn’t had in awhile.

All of a sudden I was walking up the tiny hills that were right at the beginning of the path. I had the weight of the filled-up CamelPak on me and I just felt soo physically tired. I had enough food and water and salt and I was drinking my protein drink that had 20 grams of protein in it (I drank half of it and then threw it away…no cap on it to save it for later. Lesson learned- stick with Ensure).

I kept on trucking and continued to run ¼ mile and then walk, run a tiny bit and then walk. I immediately thought of quitting (which I hadn’t done before in a big race) but then I told myself to keep going and then I’d get a 2nd/3rd wind on the next loop. I was still by myself on the path and I was really surprised that no one else had passed me yet even though I slowed down a ton. I was still in the top 3rd.

The more I kept going the more I thought about quitting. I tried to keep telling myself to stop thinking negatively until finally I said to myself, “you know what…who cares? If I don’t feel like running then why do I continue to run?”. I ran/walked to about mile 16 and then made the decision to DNF.

I walked the rest of the way until mile 21, where there was an aid station. Right when I walked out of the trail to the station I told them I was quitting. One said, “maybe you should eat some solid food and you’ll feel better”. I said, “nope…I just don’t feel like going anymore”. Another said, “ya…it’s pretty hot out there so it’s hard to run”. And I said “no…that’s not really it either. It’s just not my day and I want to stop”. It was funny…I wasn’t sore, I didn’t cramp up…I just felt like quitting because I was lazy and didn’t want to push myself. I really didn’t mind stopping.

So good ole Bruce drove me back to the start line cause I didn’t feel like walking 3+ more miles there myself. I got there around 12pm and took a little nap in the sun. It was kind of nice to know that I wouldn’t be getting home at 1am anymore. Now I knew I just had to wait for Chris to finish his 50k.

After I woke up, walked around some more, ate pizza, and after an hour or so had passed, I was seriously confused as to why I had quit. I couldn’t remember the feeling. Maybe I could have pushed myself more to finish but at the time I didn’t want to, and I didn’t want to finish if it meant walking more than 50% of it.

It is a weird feeling to DNF. On a physical level, I don’t mind not finishing a race. It was a good “training” run and I have another 50 mile race in a few days. However on a different level, I didn’t feel like explaining to other people why I didn’t finish. Chris told me as he dropped me off at home that I’m not immortal. Thanks Chris. 

Now on a separate note- the 50k path consisted of a different 6 mile loop, and then they finished out with 2 12.5 mile loops- the same loops that the 50 milers do. I wonnnnder if I would have finished a 50k had I signed up for it. For me, it’s all mental. So I’m thinking that if the order of mileage would have been broken up differently (as it was for the 50k), if I would have finished it.

I would have for sure felt fine for the first 6 miles…and so of course I would have continued on the next 12.5 mile loop. I’m assuming that after having done 18 miles, I would have made myself finish the last loop since the end was in sight. That may or may not be true…I just think I could have been able to trick myself to run more had the order of loops been different. Doesn’t matter.

Speaking of 50ks, Chris did the 50k and he had a good finish. Good job! I think the female winner finished 2nd place overall at a time of 5:20. That’s pretty fast.

Yes, I would probably sign up for the race again. Like I said, the course was fine and the weather wasn’t too bad. So as long as I feel like running that day, it’d be a good race.

It was nice to get home around 8:30pm that night instead of 2am like it would have been, had I finished. I was surprisingly sore the next couple days….and only from a 15-16 mile run! Maybe I need to start training more. Hmm.

(How’d you guys read all of this? It’s too long)