Feeling satisfied!

Yesterday I completed my 50K race and I was very pleased with my performance. Here is a recap of how my day went.

I woke up at 3:30 AM and picked up my friend at 4:30. We then met up with another two runners and drove to Niagara Falls. We arrived at about 6:15 which gave us plenty of time to pick up our race kits, mingle around and make a few pit stops before the race (bathroom breaks).

The race started promptly at 7AM on a grass field. This was different than most of the races that usually start on pavement. The funny thing is that except for the first 500M, the rest of the race was run on asphalt.

It was a great day weather wise and the 4 of us started out together. I was feeling good and started to push myself a little earlier at around the 8K mark. For me, this race was more about battling my own personal demons. I wanted to accomplish 2 goals:
1) Have a better race this year than last year
2) Have a "cramp" free race

I'm happy to report that I was able to accomplish both of these goals. At the 35K mark at this race last year, I had nothing left and those last 15K turned out to be the hardest 15K I've ever done. This year, while I still had some mental barriers to cross, It was not until much later in the race and by then, I knew that I was going to beat my time from last year.

With regards to the cramping, it was interesting how it would almost start to come on but then slowly it went away. This happened several times towards the end of the race. I think this is why I wanted to push myself a little bit to see if the extra supplements I was taking were going to make a difference. While I did experience cramping after the race, it is much easier to deal with than during the race.

Each race brings with it several interesting stories and I have a whale of one. With 1 mile of the race left I was chasing down a runner. At this point I was using him as motivation to keep going. During this race there were long stretches where I didn't see any runners. I am probably the worst one when it comes to getting lost and coupled with the fact that my brain wasn't exactly functioning properly, this wasn't a good combination. I followed this runner but he ended up going off the course and we both got lost and did an extra 3KM's. Initially I was very upset as I didn't get to run through the finish line but as I look back today I can chalk it up to a funny story that I can tell people about.

The bottom line is that I know how I did and the overall time that I did it in really is insignificant. This race has taken some pressure off of me and I can relax a little more and plan out my races for the fall. I've erased the bad feelings from my Marathon and from the 50K race from last year.

Beyond even that, though, I have an amazing memory of running and spending time with some truly remarkable friends. One of the best parts of the whole day was the feelings we all shared immediately after the race. This continued as we drove home and culminated with a great bonfire in the evening. Running this race really made me appreciate the fact that I can and should enjoy my running more and not focus so much about my time. I think the running Gods were watching again because the pin holding my Garmin came off as I was "high fiving" one of the runners in the middle of the race.

I'll continue to do more races and will still keep Boston in my sights but I'm also going to go back to running trails a little more. The people who run trail races are not concerned with their time as much as they are concerned about having a good time and enjoying the fact that they are running. In the end, you can't ask for much more than that.