So this seemed like a good idea months ago when I signed up... LOL Two 50km trail runs on consecutive days. I just finished day #1 (a few hours ago) and I'm seriously questioning my sanity. :-)
Seriously though, this is part of my ramp-up to Umstead 100 next month, and the Veterans Memorial 150 on Memorial Day weekend. I swear, though, it would be easier to run a 100k straight through than it is to break it up over two days. I say that only having run 50k today, of course! But we'll see how miserable tomorrow is when it comes. As an added bonus, DST starts tonight, so I'll have one less hour of sleep!
So without further ado, here are some thoughts on DAY ONE:
We got lucky at the start - it had rained overnight, but the rain had stopped. It was still very humid though, so it felt colder than it was. In fact, I was wondering if I should have dressed warmer. I was wearing running shorts, a short-sleeved shirt, and a long-sleeved shirt. My hands were cold, and I didn't bring gloves. I was debating whether to grab an extra pair of socks to use as mittens... :-) I didn't, though.
Once we got moving, I warmed up pretty quickly. As usual, I probably went out too fast on the first lap. To my credit, though, I did start walking the uphills a lot earlier than previous runs of this course. It's really hard (for me) to resist the urge to chase people down, or to try to stay ahead of people that are behind. I figured I wanted to finish somewhere around 6.5-7.0 hours, which means averaging 2:10-2:20 for each 10-mile lap.
I felt awesome the first lap! And my heart rate was pretty low. The course was a slip-n-slide though. Super muddy. Downhills were tricky - I couldn't safely "bomb" down them like I normally would (of course, no one else could either). I'm pretty weak on uphills anyway, so I figured the slippery conditions were probably a bit of an equalizer there. I suspect people were walking up the slippery hills, since it was hard to get traction anyway. So that probably helped me to stay solidly in the middle of the pack despite being a lot heavier than I'd like to be.
The RD has measured the course and verified it's a 10-mile loop, but the GPS signal in the woods is kind of sketchy, so it only comes out to around 8.5 miles on your watch. (Mine measured 8.6 miles for laps 1 & 2, and 8.85 miles for lap 3.) There are 2 aid stations on the course, in addition to the aid station at the start/finish line. So no need to carry a lot of stuff. I had my running vest with two 10oz bottles, and it was just enough liquid to get between the aid stations before refilling.
I've had a lot of problems with getting dehydrated during races over the last couple years. I now have a 4-minute timer on my watch to remind me to drink. The cool temperature helped today too - but I was certainly hydrated! (Perhaps over-hydrated...) I did manage to complete the first lap before stopping to pee. Lap 2, I had to pee twice. Lap 3, I peed three times... Of course, when everything hurts (like it did on lap 3) having the urge to pee is just that much worse.
The first half of lap 1 there was some shuffling of the pack, but not much after that. In fact, I don't think I passed anyone (or got passed) at all in the 2nd half of lap 1. I finished lap 1 around 1:55 - which was faster than I planned on. After refilling, ditching my long-sleeved shirt, and peeing - I started lap two almost exactly at 2 hours.
On lap 2 I still felt pretty good, although my right ankle was bothering me a bit. (I broke it in high school, so it's always been a little problematic.) Maybe 1 mile into lap 2, I slipped on a muddy downhill. My feet slipped out sideways to the right - I almost saved it, but ended up having to catch myself on my hands. I popped up pretty quickly. There was a guy behind me that asked if I was okay. I was just laughing - mud runs are fun, after all. :-)
The rest of lap 2 was fairly uneventful. I might have passed 1 person - it's a little fuzzy even though only a few hours have passed. :-) Lap 2 took 2:10, more in-line with the target pace I was trying to hit. I spent less time at the start/finish aid station since I had already peed out on the course. :-) Probably 1-2 minutes at the most.
Lap 3 was tough. My quads actually felt okay. But my ankle was really bothering me. Also, my forearms were sore. I'm guessing maybe the fall on lap 2 tweaked them a bit. Every now and then, my hamstrings would ache, but it didn't last too long. My pace slowed even more, but I still managed to pass 2 people. I went a long time without seeing anyone ahead of me or behind me. But there's one part of the course "deja vu" where you can see people pretty far ahead or behind. That's just shy of the halfway point. I didn't see anyone in front, but I did see the two guys I passed - they were about 1/3 mile behind me.
So I figured I wasn't going to catch anyone, but I also wanted to stay ahead of those guys. I kept moving, albeit slowly. I still ran the flats and downhills. I walked all the uphills. I kept looking behind me in case I saw anyone closing the gap, but never saw them. There's a gravel road section with about a half mile before the end - it's probably 1/10 mile before you turn back into the woods. I didn't see anyone behind me, so I figured I was probably safe. :-)
I still jogged the flats and walked the uphills in the last 0.4 miles. Pretty soon, the finish line was in sight. Without much fanfare, I arrived and collected my day-1 finisher medal. That's not entirely fair - the people that were hanging around the aid station did cheer a bit. :-)
I immediately started stretching out, so that maybe I'll have a small chance of not being completely screwed tomorrow. :-) Of course, I'm doing this on the cold cement under the pavilion where the start/finish aid station was. By the time I finished, I was shivering. I changed into some dry clothes and drove back to the hotel. (Heater and heated seats cranked up on the way.)
I did make a pit stop at Five Guys on the way, and had a ridiculously decadent bacon cheeseburger and fries. I took a hilariously long hot shower when I got back to my room. Fortunately, chafing was almost nonexistent - so I have that going for me.
So I'm pretty sleepy now (at 6:50pm LOL). But I'll force myself to stay up a while so I don't wake up at 2am. And I'll probably eat again - I'm already hungry again!
So stay tuned for the day two report. I predict epic suffering... :-p
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