A day of firsts

I just completed my 50K race and in the process managed to discover a few things about myself.

I completed two 50K+ races in the span of 14 days (128K's). I also used strictly food instead of gels and this consisted of boiled potatoes with salt and peanut butter and banana sandwiches on white bread both amazingly good. On a funny note. I often bragged to Ken about never having to make a "pit-stop aka bathroom break" while doing either a training run or at a race. He always laughed and said, "don't worry it will happen." Well, after running the first 10K loop I knew that unfortunately this would be the day. After trying hard to fight it off, I knew it was pointless and luckily for me there was a porta-pottie at the 5K turnaround. Maybe next time I'll run with a package of toilet paper (LOL).

While I wanted to use this race as simply a training run for the 100 miler, I quickly found out that my body hadn't fully recovered both mentally and physically from Seaton. I actually found this race harder than Seaton simply because I strayed too far away from a plan. Because this race was run entirely on ashphalt, I decided not to take any walk breaks and simply run to the aid stations which were 5KM's apart. This strategy worked fine for the first 3 loops (30K) but I still had another 20K left to go. I decided to throw in more walk breaks and would run for 2.5KM's, take a little walk break and then went out again. Unfortunately, the damage was already done and I paid for it during the last loop. This was also the time that it started to rain (go figure).

I was able to run with Mike, who will be running with me during my first 100 miler at the end of the month, during the last 8KM and this really helped. We both commented on the lessons we learned today as he also didn't walk enough early on. This is a mistake that neither one of us can afford to make at Sulphur. Then again, with trail races, there are natural breaks where I'll have to walk up the hills so remembering to walk shouldn't be a problem.

Towards the end of the race, with about 3 KM's left, we saw a runner who was doing a 100 KM race and he was walking. We decided to walk with him for a bit and then did a slow run towards the finish. It's moments like those, which I'll remember and it reminds me of why I love trail running in the first place.

As I crossed the finish line I was excited and I knew that this was just another stepping stone for me as I prepare for the 100 miler at Sulphur Springs. Between now and then I'll make sure that I get mentally prepared for that race as it will require every bit of strength and courage to complete.