sunday would turn out to be a long day. i had numerous work obligations on friday which ran through the night and into saturday morning. I had a slight reprieve from the work during which i picked my mom up at the airport to start her visit.
got to sleep fairly early saturday, and we were up at 2:30 for a 3am departure to get to ridgecrest for the 7am race start. There were some issues finding the race start sunday morning. We were able to find the race headquarters, arriving around 6:30 am; however, the race start wasn't there.
it took another 30 minutes to find the race start. Got there and had to use the bathroom. As i was making my way back to the start line, i heard the race start. lovely, guess it really is going to be a training run; i still need to get my registration and number assignments.
i found a volunteer, got my race number and goody bag, put the number on, and handed my mom my goody bag. my race started, a couple minutes behind the rest. i didn't even need a horrible swim to set myself up to work my way through the field.
aid station 1 was feeling good, running very relaxed and conserative through the first 3 aid stations. i took a gel, and banana and orange at each of the 1st 3 stations, refilled my water bottle once. 11 miles down, and i was feeling very good, had worked my way up pretty close to the front of the group. The next 3 miles went well, some easier climbs and nothing but running.
after 14 miles there was a nice 1 or 1.5 mile climb which shut my legs down. i walked up about 1/2 of this, then began running and made my way to aid station 5 and mile 17. At this point, i'm thinking, i should have done that damn 30k. who the hell in their right mind runs 50k? did i race too much the last 6 weeks? this is pretty strange, i'm blowing a gasket at pretty much the exact mileage that i blew up on in arizona 2 weeks ago.
i ate some potatoes salt tablets and gatorade. put my head down and began my shuffle, 5 miles of rolling climbs and then i start the descent into the finish. I did my best to fake it, forcing myself to drink and trying potatoes gels, shot blocks and salt tablets. if my legs are lying to me about being tired, they're doing a very good job of it.
at mile 19.5 or so, i came into aid station 6, had just been passed by 3 people, and was coming back onto the course with indivuduals doing the 30k. ok, time for a whole lot of suck it up and go, all that hurting i'm willing to do, so far i've been talking more than walking.
i had a good come to my senses and make it work time to take my medicine and see how honest my legs are. i fake a pretty pitiful shuffle up the next 3 miles of climbing and all of a sudden, there's a whole lot of down to be had. ok legs, lets do this thing, 1 or 2 more hours of faking and it's going to be in the books. time to start taking back those spots that went by.
head down, lots of food and liquid in a couple gels. see where the wheels fall off next. the really good news is my quads are doing great on these downhills, no more of that exploding feeling i've been privy to in the past. the bad news, my hip flexors are screaming and threating to not lift my legs.
by the next aid station i'm moving pretty well, holding a good pace, and feeling all right. my legs are tired, but more of a late in the 100 miler sort of tired where they kind of give up the rebellion and succumb, realizing the only way to make it better is to get to the finish. i'm telling myself, the faster i run the sooner i'm done.
there's 1 runner ahead, that i'm trying to catch, and 2 runners behind that are probably thinking the same about me. one of them catches up and is sitting on my shoulder. i've played this game before, sit on the shoulder until you get close to the finish, then surge and hope the guy detonates. and i remember how much fun it is to be the guy who causes the other runner to detonate.
ok, there's gotta be 2 or 3 miles left, definitely fakable distance, lets see how deep this other guy is willing to go, he's gotta work to pass me, and i'm about to start hurting more and more until one of us drops off the pace. besides gravity is on my side, so i let things go. it's not long until i'm running off by myself, picking up another 2 runners within 1/2 mile of the finish.
i came into the finish strong and relieved that my body held out. now i'm just confused what happened during my 5ish miles where things went so awry. my calves were pretty tight for some time after the run, i moved like an old man for several hours, but am feeling good this morning.
that run marks my official return to long runs, and the begining of preparation for my avalon 50 mile run, which i'll be sending out requests for donations in the near future.
