Leading up to the summer, my plan was to run a BQ at
the Mayors marathon in June. I had run a 100 miles at the D3 24 hour in Philly
(21:40 for 100) in May and followed up with an 8:15 pace 18 mile training run a
week later. True my body recovers rather quickly but 8:15 was a bit fast and
happened to be BQ pace. So no problem right. I then made what was likely a bad
choice in running a fast 30 miler 2 weeks before the marathon. Again, just a
training run but I’ve been known to blow my race on a training run once or
twice in my life. Race day came and went; I blew my BQ and cramped badly in the
last 6 or so miles. I was able to “hold on” in order to run 3:43 but was sorely
disappointed. Before this I had planned to run the Resurrection Pass 50 miler
in August. Generally if there are 50 and 100 mile options, I go for the 100 ~
I’m disturbed like that. The reason for opting for the 50 was because I wanted
to do well the following week in the 49K (30.4 mile) road race that I had
signed up for. But after blowing my marathon, I gave up the notion of running
fast. My crazy running logic reasoned, “What difference would it make if I ran
4:05 or 4:30 or even 5 hours?” So I switched to the 100 mile. That would give
me a pretty aggressive schedule of races; aggressive in that I would be racing
back-to-back-to-back (well 7) weekends in a row, with those up front being
ultras. After the June 18th Marathon, my schedule was barren until
Aug 12th. Then it would be time to party. Here was my schedule:
Aug 12th: Resurrection Pass 100M – Goal was
to finish healthy and to use as a training run for Cascade Crest (sub – 30
hour). Side note: This was my 300th lifetime marathon or ultra.
Aug 21st: United Physical Therapist 49K –
Goal, start out slow, finish strong (sub – 5 hour)
Aug 26th: Cascade Crest 100M – Goal, finish
(hopefully under 32-hours. The cutoff had been extended to 34 hours but I
wanted to hit the old cutoff time). This
is an extremely difficult 100 miler and I didn’t have the mountain training
that is really needed for it. I would rely on my experience on the course, as
well as in past 100 milers in general, my steady diet of 30+ miler road runs,
and some hiking on Pioneer Peak (vertical mile in 4.5 miles) to get my legs
used to climbing.
Sep 3rd: Day at the Beach 24 hour – Goal was
to have fun and run a leisurely 50 miles.
Sep 10th: Bun-to-Bun Trail run – Goal was to
get in a good workout on ski trails. This would hopefully help me at Equinox
next week (sub-5 hour)
Sep 17th: Equinox Marathon – I have done
this 5 years in a row but as a 40 mile ultra. This year they removed the ultra
from the schedule as it was too expensive for them to put no that part of the
race with so few people who signed up (generally about 40 each year). I was
hugely disappointed as this is one of my favorite races in Alaska. My wife and
I look forward to driving to Fairbanks with the arrival of fall and the
changing colors of the leaves. So rather than skipping the race (really? Who
drives 350 miles each way and spends money on hotels for 2 nights, for “just” a
marathon? Well, I guess we do). This is a fairly hilly trail marathon with a
mixture of single track, country back road, a bit of asphalt and wide trail (Goal,
sub 4:15)
Sep 25th: Kenai Marathon – Flat road
marathon. This is definitely a BQ worthy course. For such a small race, I’m
surprised that it’s actually Boston certified. That said, goal sub-3:50. I will
start out with the intention of running sub-3:40 and back off if I start to
struggle too much.
With the order of these “races” I don’t feel like I
actually raced but a couple of them. But they were official races so I will
count them as such and refer to them the same.
Race
1:
Resurrection Pass 100M – For this race, my plan was to start out slow and just
go with the flow; that is, run faster or slower or even walk more depending how
I felt. The object here was to finish and get a training run in for Cascade Crest
which would be 2 weeks out.
All was going according to plan to the first of 2
aid stations (mile 42) where I stopped only long enough to get some food, water
and drink a cup of coffee (Starbuck via packet). A friend, consistent and
strong ultra-runner Laura McDonough was bundled up sitting in a chair. I could
see she wasn’t getting up soon; I asked her how it was going. She told me she
wasn’t feeling it; that was the same thing she told me at about mile 20 when
she pulled away from me; Still here we both were. I continued to drink my
coffee as well as a coke and ate some cookies there. I started to get cold
which was my cue to get moving again. So I asked, “Ready to go Laura?” She
responded as I’d hoped and got ready to continue. We walked out slow and threw
in some running every once in a while. We were doing more running and less
walking by mile 50+ when I started to get sleepy. Laura was definitely feeling
better and took off leaving me to take a short nap under a tree which was the
first dry spot I’d seen it a while (it had been raining a bit). I finally got
moving and had an uneventful run down to the second aid station at mile 70. I
wasn’t too far back to see the lead runners coming back. I saw Teri Buck and
Laura coming back a couple of miles before the aid. I was in and out of the aid station in 10
minutes flat (ate, replaced water, replaced pack, and dumped my headlamp).
I
didn’t feel spunky but felt good enough to run-walk out until I got to the
pass. Again, no big moves or problems from here to the end; just a slow slog to
the finish. It was fun seeing friends who were in the 50 as they passed
effortlessly by. It took seemingly forever to get to the hill that marked 2
miles to go. I was whexting (whine-texting) to Shawn by this point. I was
pretty beat trying to get in. FINALLY, I finished in just under 27 hours. It
felt slow and I felt way more tired that I should have. Still, goal met. I had
planned on sitting around eating a bunch of food while watching 50 milers and
the last of the 100 mile runners come in. Instead I ended up getting cold so I
got into my car, ate the Subway sandwich I had brought, and then promptly fell
asleep. I woke up in time to get to the general store 4 miles away before it
closed. They have a shower there which I was in desperate need of. After the shower, I parked in Jeremy’s camp
site where there were several family and friends of his camping. It was great
to hang out for a couple hours before going to sleep in my car. I woke up at
1am to pouring rain; we dodged that bullet. It was a beautiful drive to
Anchorage where I would meet Shawn for her triathlon on Sunday.
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| Just beyond the pass |
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| Juneau Lake at 11:00pm |
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| Tired boy |
Race
2:
After feeling hammered during the last part of ResPass, I felt it prudent to
take it easy during the week between races. I walked a couple of days and ran 4
milers Tuesday-Thursday. The race was on Sunday so that gave me a full 7 days
to recover as much as possible. I started out the race conservatively, so much
so that I was passing people by the 2nd mile.
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| Photo: Andrea Hambach |
I continued to pass people until I found my pace spot
and was basically alone on the course (around mile 8). The turn-around is at
mile 12 and the only “real” hill on the course. This would allow me to see what
place I was in. At about mile 11 the first guy came flying by. That put him 2
miles ahead of me. The second guy followed closely behind but he didn’t look as
comfortable as the first guy. I went another half mile before I saw the 3rd
place person closely followed by 4th and 1st woman, so they
were a mile ahead of me. Then a group of runners went by. Before I got to the
top I saw Steve Walters (he ran 115 miles the week before in a 24 hour race)
who was in 10th place and then Lisa Drumm in 11th,
putting me in 12th place. Not bad considering there were about 100
starters. Lisa gave me an awkward smile so I wasn’t sure if she was struggling
or if it was something else. I focused on trying to catch Steve as he wasn’t
too far ahead. Since turning around, I now got to see who was behind me and by how
much. I had a pretty decent lead on the others so I focused on who was ahead of
me and tried to work on keeping my pace as it was. I was clocking the run with
both my RunKeeper app on my iPhone and my new Suunto watch but I wasn’t looking
at my splits or time. This was mainly for an after the fact analysis. I soon
caught Lisa who gave me the same awkward smile as I passed. Now at about mile
13 I focused on comfortable pacing and looked for opportunities to catch
people. I still wanted to remain conservative at least up to 20 miles and did
so. I had seen my friend Dave Johnston who was trying to run a sub-3:20 (his BQ
time is 3:25) before he hit the marathon turn around. It was too hard to judge
how he was doing but I could see he was focused. He caught me by mile 22 (for
me) and I calculated that if he was running 3:20, I was running over 4:30 for
the ultra. I continued to pass people all the way up to mile 24 where I saw the
“leader” bike and the first woman who was walking. The cool thing about this race
is that it’s an ultra, a marathon (that starts an hour later) and a half
marathon. Each race has two leader bikes, one for lead guy and one for lead
gal. So this guy was sort of weaving back and forth because the lead woman was
relegated to a walk. I passed by her and one more guy putting me in 5th
place. I still did not see Steve so the likelihood of my catching him was
remote. One more turn around and I saw how far I was behind Steve. He looked as
tired as I felt and had a good lead on me, confirming my previous assumption.
Still I felt strong and was trying to hold off even the marathoners who were gaining
on me. I didn’t note my marathon time as I had the previous two years as I was
trying to keep my steady pace. I felt pretty strong and kept pushing the best I
could through to the finish. I ended up running a 4:25 (8:45 pace) which was
good enough for 5th overall and 1st in my age group
(55-59). Ends up Dave ran a 3:11. He was worried about getting his Boston time
as this would be his last chance for the year. He runs Boston every year so
this was an important race for him. Our goals, both met.
Race 3: Feeling good about my 49K
but wanting to be conservative before my next 100, I ran 4 miles again Tuesday
and Wednesday. It was hot in North Bend, WA the day before the race and I was
hoping the weather reports of a cooling trend were correct. 90-95F coming from
mid-50s could be trouble for me. As it turned out, it was just gorgeous
Saturday and Sunday. Nothing to worry about. I approached this race with
cautious optimism. 100 miles is far; 100 miles with 23,000 feet elevation gain
alone is too tough to fathom. So as I tell others, I took it one aid station at
a time.
I felt good most of the race and felt like I was doing well right up
until it got dark (about 40 miles into the race). Then I struggled to stay
upright. I’m not a very good trail runner and I’m even worse of a night time
trail runner, so I fell more than was acceptable. I pushed through until I got
to the tunnel (same as the tunnel marathon but in reverse, and in the middle of
the night), where I could relax and not worry about my footing. At the end of
the tunnel, mile 56 or so, I changed into warm clothes, ate lots of food, got
water and headlamps, and then took off to run the second half of the course. I
was hoping to gain some ground on this section as it was forest service roads
and not too steep. But my legs felt like lead and others were gaining on me
versus the other way around. I made it to the top of the ridge another 7 miles
away and changed the batteries in my headlamp. Unfortunately it was not
working; it wouldn’t stay closed. FORTUNATELY for me, Glen Magiantini lent me
his spare. So I left with him and 2 others down the other side of the ridge
which was still forest service roads. They were mostly walking but I had to jog
to keep up. I normally would have run but I was having trouble staying awake by
now. When I did try to pull away, I ended up staggering off the road so I
decided to stay with the group. Their yammering kept me awake and we made the 7
miles down to the next section in no time. I got a Starbucks Via coffee here
and ate some grilled cheese sandwich halves before heading out on the next
section. This section is called the trail from hell. Usually run in the dark,
this trail elicits some not so kind words from runners which are directed at
the race director.
As it turned out, I was so slow that it was just about light
by the time I made it there. So at least my trail legs could do better running
in the day time. I passed a few people and felt good about this section as my
sleepiness had gone away. There was a crowd of racers at the next station. I
changed to a short sleeve T-shirt, ate a little, and then took off running the
next road section which was 7 uphill miles. I walk-ran this section and passed
about 8 racers. From this point you get on a section called “Cardiac needles,”
aptly named because it’s so steep that you feel like your heart is coming up
your throat. I actually climbed well in this section and was pleasantly
surprised by the sound of a stampeding goat ~ thankfully he was heading down a
different trail than the one I was on. But it was cool to see him move. I
continued on and started to struggle on this section. We would climb to 6500
feet (the highest point of the course) up Thorpe Mt. I was having difficulty
with a pain under my ribs about the location of the liver. I have no idea what
that was about but it was precluding me from pushing through. I got up then
down Thorpe and continued on.
A few folks started to pass me on this section
and someone advised me to sit down in the middle of climbs if I felt that
extreme pain again. I did that on the next climbs and that got me through it. I
struggled from about mile 82 to about mile 93 or so until I got to some nice
single track trails. I knew how far it was to the finish so I pushed it from
here on in. I caught and passed all but one of the people who had caught me on
the previous climbs and then a few more who had been struggling the last few
miles. I went through the last aid station at mile 96 without stopping. I was
feeling too good and knew that I could push through to the end without walking.
Shawn had already been finished for 2 ½ hours and was sleeping. Finished in
about 31:30 – goal met.
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| The Views are spectacular |
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| My friend, the log |
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| Mt Rainier |
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| View from Thorpe |
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| Photo: Ron Nicholls |
Race
4:
This would be a 24 hour race on a 4 mile loop trail. The race started at noon.
I had not run on this trail before so I wasn’t sure how hard it would be. Ends
up it was a tough trail in that there were lots of ups and downs and one
couldn’t get a good rhythm going ~ not for a road runner like myself anyway. It
was also a recovery run and I had only planned on doing 50 miles (or 13 loops
putting me at 52 miles). I was in the lead for 4 loops which was not good. I
was trying to take it easy but everyone was being conservative. I was had
determined to continue to run until the
first person passed me but it was becoming too much for me and I didn’t want to
hurt myself. Too bad it wasn’t on the road. Anyway, I walked and ran until I
got in 44 miles and it was time for a nap. I had set up a tent with a sleeping
bag and I slept for 6 hours. Woke up in the morning and hung out by the fire
they had going for a while. I only had 2 more laps and more than 5 hours to do
them so I took my time. Again, this was just a fun recovery run so there was nothing
spectacular about my race. I did have a great time and spent some time running
with Shawn in the evening and again in the morning. She had to go home and back
twice to check on the dogs and still got 40 miles in. I got in my 52 miles –
goal met.
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| Photo: Brandon Wood |
Race
5:
I sound like a broken record now but this was just another “easy” run for me. I
had done this run two years before. It was a low key trial marathon; but a
tough course. Lots of rolling ski trails and ATV trails to follow. I had run
just over 4 hours that year on fresh legs. This year was billed as a 25-ish
mile trail run; it ran on some of the same trails but was in whole, quite
different. Plus I would have to run extra to make it a full marathon. 2 of the
10 starters took off fast. Unlike the first year, I let them go. The gal was
the one had won the first year with me coming in 2nd. I figured she
would kill me on this day. I also had seen the guy in a race before and felt
like he would fade. Not that it mattered because I wasn’t going to start fast
anyway. I took about a dozen pictures as it was a beautiful sunny day, a first
for this 3 year old race that usually has wind to add insult to the rain. I
went off course a bit early gaining an extra half mile which was fine – I
needed the extra mileage. Eventually the half marathoners started to pass by
and I got in with a group at about mile 15 for me. They pulled me along for a
few miles until I could no longer keep pace. By mile 20 I passed the first guy,
who was walking, and I had already seen that the first gal was close to 3 miles
ahead of me while on a loop section of the course. I added a bit of distance on
the last turn around and put in a bit more at the end to make it 26.2 and close
to 4:30. Goal met.
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| View of Denali (Bun-to-Bun) |
Race
6:
I would have to work hard for this one as it was a trial marathon and I wanted
to actually race. A legit course with a big field of fast runners. Matias Sari,
5 time champ and who had won the last 3 years, was hoping to hold on to his
title to add to promoting his new book about the race itself. He would have to
run around 2:55 and hold off some tough competition in the process. Christy
Marvin, who had won almost every mountain race in Alaska this year would also
have to work hard by running under 3:20 and holding off a young up and coming
speedster. Christy had run and won this race once before setting a woman’s
course record of 3:17 in 2014. We also found out after the race that she had just
turned 35 so she was in Shawn’s age group this year. On fresher legs, I have
hit about 4:20 at the marathon split in the 40 mile race that we usually run.
Given that, I was hoping to be able to run under 4:15 on tired legs and the
shorter distance. The first 20 miles of the ultra was the same as the marathon
so there would be no surprises ~ I know these hills. The last 10K of the
marathon would be all new to me. I heard that it was downhill and on road.
Well, slight exaggeration but that’s coming from trial runners. Any road is too
much road; you get the picture. I started out like I had in previous years. The
start is a steep uphill that no one in their right mind would run, but everyone
did anyway. I was close to last to the top and started running along the side
of the throng of runners once we got on the flat surface. I continued to run
pretty fast, passing people on the trail, weaving in and out and taking the
puddles rather than skirting around (no one wanted to go through the mud early
so that lane was all mine). I caught some friends who were talking about
running 4:30 before the race. I felt like I needed to be ahead of them if I
wanted to run the 4:10-4:15 I had planned. I felt strong and passed people for
a while until we got to some real climbs. I was surprised to see Shawn at about
mile 7; and she was a bit surprised as well. Was she going slow? Was I going
too fast? Or a bit of both? I moved on ahead and worked on the hills. There
were some sections where I could run faster than others and some sections where
I just could not keep up. My mile 10 was a 13 minute mile and my worst mile of
the day. I ran the entire road section up to the dome. I normally walked part
of this in the ultra. I tried to push the rolling downhill to the turn-around
but I didn’t feel like I was making good time. My splits (seen after the race)
showed that I was correct. To my surprise and delight, Shawn had almost caught
me by the turn around (14.5 miles or so). To my consternation, I was not able
to keep up with her on the climb out of there. Eventually she was just a small
vision, a blur, then gone. By mile 17 I had been passed by a number of people
and was trying to hold on. Down the shoot (I hate that downhill section ~ too
steep for me to run) I was passed by Amber McDonough and then by Christie
Haupert who SAID they were planning on 4:30. Amber asked if I was ok to which I
replied, “Yes, I just suck on downhills; and trails!” Amber pulled away even
after reaching the flat part and I kept Christie in my sights. I used her to
pull me through that section until we hit the road. It was a dirt road but it
was hard packed and very runnable. I moved on and started passing people again,
running mile 20 in 8:00 and mile 21 in 7:21. I was trying to hold back a little
but couldn’t resist hammering when I was on my type of surface. I caught a few
more before heading onto trail again in the powerline section. There was no one
in front of me that I could see and I didn’t want to turn around to give away
my fear of someone catching me to those behind me. Mile 22 and 23 were at 9
minute pace. I hate that I can’t run faster on grass, even flat stuff.
Thankfully mile 24 was asphalt and I put in another 8 minute mile. On this mile
I saw a gray haired guy and thought he might be in my age group so I passed him
fast and didn’t look back. Mile 25 was another steep climb that I eventually
had to walk part of (quads were burning) and where I got passed by a younger
gal. I tried to hang close to her to the top and was hoping to hammer the last
¾ miles to the finish. She hit the top and took off and I was not able to catch
her. I finished in 4:05, 1st of 17 in the 55-59 age group. I was
very pleased with my effort on this race. I pushed hard most of the time and
felt like I was racing. Goal met.
Race
7:
I haven’t run this race in 5 years. Shawn and I had run it the first year we
were in Alaska and a week after the 40 mile ultra in Fairbanks. Still just one
week out, I would try again.
Kenai is a flat road marathon. This is definitely
a BQ worthy course. For such a small race, I’m surprised that it’s actually
Boston certified. That said, goal sub-3:50. I will start out with the intention
of running sub-3:40 for a BQ and back off if I start to struggle too much.
After Equinox, I decided I would recover by
running 6 slow easy miles Monday through Friday, rest Saturday and race Sunday.
I felt good Monday and Tuesday but I caught a head cold Wednesday. I still ran
6 miles but took Thursday off following my wife’s recommendation. I did run a
slow 4 miler on Friday and felt terrible. I took Theraflu Friday night and
Saturday morning hoping to clear my head. I was still undecided on going to
Kenai Saturday night. The race was 200 miles away and I would have to leave a
4am to get there an hour before the start. Was it worth it to travel 400 miles
if I could only run a slow marathon. I would be truly disappointed if I went
down there and ran over 4 hours.
I woke up to my 3:30am alarm and popped out of
bed. My head seemed clear so I left by 4am to run the race. It was pouring rain
in Palmer and all the way to Eagle River but that subsided by the time I got to
Anchorage. It rained off and on all the way to Cooper Landing and it remained
dark most of the way to Soldotna, just outside of Kenai. I spotted 5 moose in
Soldotna and 4 in Kenai and made it to the race HQ right at 8am.
It was a cool 45F, breezy with dark rain clouds
in the distance. The weather called for 30% chance of rain during the time I
would be out there so I wasn’t sure if I would wear a jacket or not. I jogged
for about a mile warming up with my rain jacket and small mittens on. It was
too warm so I ditched the jacket, kept the mittens. I used the bathroom one
more time before the race hoping to go 2 weeks in a row without having to make
a pit stop during the race. That would be a minor miracle.
Kenai is a small marathon that includes a relay
that runs concurrently with the solo. At the start, no one wanted to move to
the front. There were 4 guys who finally stepped up and when the race was started,
they took off in a flash; I never saw those guys again. Two women also moved
out quickly along with another guy who I guessed could be in his 50s; a few
relay runners, then me. I caught one of the two women and the old guy who hung
on to my tail for the next 16 miles. When the guy passed me he said thanks for
the pacing job.
I hurt the first mile just trying to get my legs
to move at an 8 minute pace. Here is a good time to mention that I no longer
know what an 8 minute mile really feels like. In the winter I run 10 minute
miles or slower on the hard packed snow. During this summer, with all my
racing, I run my training runs, whether 4 miles or 30 miles, between 9 and 9 ½
minutes per mile. I do try to throw in a faster mile in the middle of my
weekday runs. Other than that, all my speed is natural and I contend really comes
from the strength I get from doing my very long runs, those over 30 miles.
I did not wear a watch but I was using my iPhone
and RunKeeper app to track my general pace. I had the audio set to give me the
mile distance split and the overall time only. That would keep me from dwelling
too much on my current mile split if it varied too much. Mile 1 was close to 8;
mile 2, 7:49; and I went crazy on mile 3 running my fastest mile of the day at
7:42. My intention was to attempt to run sub-3:40 which meant that I could run
between 8:15 and 8:20 pace. But contrary to the way I “preach” one should pace
themselves, I know from experience that I have about 16-18 good miles in me on
tired legs. This was my 7th race in 7 weeks after all. So I usually
just go with my gut and plan to hang on as best as possible. It works for me; I
don’t recommend it. I backed off a bit on miles 4-6 and felt tired legs on a
slight hill during miles 7 which was an 8:16. By this time I was committed to
running 8 minute miles as long as I could hold them so I picked up the pace. I
felt good through mile 15 and started to tire on the 16th mile where I slowed
to an 8:19. Mile 17 had a hill and it took all I had not to walk – 8:29. The
wheels were falling off and I knew that the rest of the race would be mental
and repeating Phil 4:13 I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me. At mile 16, with 10 miles to go,
I figured that if I could run 8:30s I’d be close to 3:35 or 9s and be just
under 3:40. I opted to struggle at 8:30s if possible. By mile 20 I was a couple
minutes over 8 minute pace (2:42+) but was really struggling. It was all mental
at this point. Just to be clear, I know it takes physical endurance to push
through but whether I made my goal or not would depend on whether I gave into
the desire to walk or slow down ~ all mental and prayer. My legs were not
hurting but my quads felt extremely tired. I had to focus on not going into
ultra-running mode where I walk when my legs start to burn, then start running
slowly once I restart. I hit mile 21 and let out a groan of exasperation. I
allowed myself walk 8 steps then started running at a slower, controlled pace.
I did that two more times before the finish with my miles being 22-9:00,
23-9:06, 24-9:12, 25-9:20. I mustered all that I had to get that last mile in
as fast as I could, running mile 26 in 8:55. I could see the clock reading 3:38
as I turned the final corner – I was going to make it. I think my official time
was 3:38:20, a BQ. Goal met.
I had a great drive back enjoying the autumn leave
colors of bright yellows and some red thrown in. There were folks out on boats
and standing along the shore of the Kenai river fishing. It was mostly dry and
the views were awesome. I resisted the temptation to take pictures as they
never turn out that good on the phone camera anyway. I wouldn’t do the views
justice.
Race 8: Actually, this was not a
race. It was my 8th run of 26 miles or more in 8 weeks. It was Saturday,
October 1st ~ my birthday run. My goal was to run one mile for each
year of my life ~ 56 miles. Kenai was on Sunday which gave me only 5 rest days
in between. I ran Monday-Thursday taking
only Friday off. The temperature was good for a long run but cloudy, so not as
pleasant as I had hoped for. I waited until 7am to start so that I wouldn’t
have to carry a headlamp. I chose shorts and no running pants. It would be
chilly but not too cold I thought. I wore a winter base layer and my Hudini
wind breaker, small skull cap and mittens.
I started out a bit slow and was hitting the bushes every so often as I
had drunk too much coffee beforehand. No matter; the goal was to get in 56
miles. I had a good 13 hours to do it before it got dark. I was set on not
wearing a backpack so any food and water I needed I had to carry or purchase at
stores along the route. I carried a 20 oz water bottle, 4 GUs, some Cliff
shots, and a power bar. Shawn was doing tri training all day and would meet me
on my return trip on her bike ride. Things went pretty smoothly all day. There
seemed to be more traffic than usual but other than that, a very pleasant day.
I turned around when I hit 28 miles and started back. My time was under 5 hours
(too fast) as I was just cruising along. I still had on my jacket and skull cap
because it had not quite reach 40F yet. I did end up taking them off at about
50K and ran the rest of the way without them. Shawn met me at mile 39 with a
half PBJ. I had gotten to a point where I thought I was going to be walking a lot
so the short break really helped me out. I continued on and gave Shawn an ETA
on when I would finish. She would ride back; grab some pizza; drive to the
finish; and run back to meet me. I saw her heading to pick up the pizza as I
was nearing 49 miles. She passed by a few miles later then stopped to see if I
needed anything. She met me with 1.5 miles to go and ran in with me. I actually
felt pretty good the last 5 miles. I finished in 10 hours and 35 minutes. That
included potty break as well as time to stop at a couple of convenient stores
for water. I drank about 100 oz of water, half a PBJ, 2 GUs, and 3 Cliff shots.
I didn’t consume many calories at all and would happily stuff myself with pizza
later.
 View mile 52 | ||
 O'Doul's Mile 53
I was extremely happy with my 56 mile run. I wasn’t sure how I was
going to feel with the string of races the weeks before but my old body held up
just fine. Now time for a break and planning out the first half of 2017 races.
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