50K Race Report

Today I am sore, tired, bruised AND loving every minute of it. Why you ask? Because I know that I truly left everything I had on the course yesterday.

The day started with me getting up at 3:45 AM. The weather was perfect for running which meant a warm day with little humidity. I really couldn't have asked for a better day. My goals for the race was to go all out for the first 30K of the race and then see what I had left in the tank for the final 20K. I had to complete a 10K loop of the course which included a massive hill climb which seemed to take forever to get to the top of. Once the 10K loop was completed, I had to run 2, 20K loops for a total of 50K. I was very familiar with the course as I had attempted my first 100 mile race there just a year ago. This helped me prepare mentally for what I had to do.

I was very happy with my 10K time of 55 minutes and I know that I really pushed myself. The first 20K loop I finished in 2:08 which put the first 30K at 3 hours and 3 minutes. I was looking to do a 3 hour time for the first 30K so I wasn't too disappointed overall.

The final 20K was extremely difficult as I felt like I had run out of gas. I kept telling myself that this was a training run for my race in September but I still felt like I hadn't given my all at times. With about 10K left in the race I got a burst of energy and really picked up the pace. I ended up passing runners who were about 5 minutes ahead of me at one time. This also fueled my confidence greatly and I picked up the pace even more during the final 5K.

The finish line featured a steep incline and I was in no mood to walk it so I pushed up the hill and sprinted to the finish line. My legs started cramping badly and as I crossed the finish line my legs seized up. Although I was in pain, it was well worth it to know that I had really pushed myself hard.

My final time was 5 hours and 26 minutes which placed me 8th in my age category and 19th overall out of 55.

I improved from Seaton by 1 hour and 20 minutes so I know that the speed work I have been doing has paid off. I also learned that I didn't need or want to use my mp3 player. There were times when I was really tired of listening to music and I simply turned it off. This is something new to me as I usually listen to music the whole time.

Today I am recovering nicely and will probably go for a long walk in the Seaton Trail and reflect on my race. My rule is that I have 24 hours to think about my race and then I must let it go and work on my next goal.