50 Miler - sta 9

I get done with the 4 mile loop in 1:20 - which i was ecstatic about bc I literally dominated ski slopes. Its about 7pm when i leave the lift aid station and dusk is ending. I have a little more than 9 miles left in the race - if i can keep my pace i can finish before the cutoff time of 1030pm. So i start the last 9+ miles climbing this hill:

50 Miler - sta 8

I was three minutes past the cutoff time. she said, "if you think you can finish the next loop in under four hours, ill let you go"  i thought to myself there is no way that i just ran 37 miles to stop now. i go for it. by the way, this was the ski slope loop again...

50 Miler - sta 6 and 7

I didnt have a gps so i just was estimating my distance traveled by doing the simple math of dividing the distance between the stations by the time it took me to get to the next station. my knee had not been cooperating since mile three and it hurt very badly to walk downhill (let alone run downhill - which is what one is supposed to do) so I was averaging about a 20min mile. about 20min from the midway station - im approximating it was mile 26ish - my stupid grin and all my good feelings that went along with that were gone. i just did not want to be in the woods anymore - i would have rather been at my old job than to be there - and that's saying a lot. 

my knee was killing me - of course its my luck that it would hurt on the downhills and be ok on the uphills - therefore causing me to make up for lost time by running up each and every hill. i get to the rock pile station again and take a little more time eating the chips and getting my camelback filled. its the long 6.1 miles to the next lift station but once i got to it i would be less than 15miles to the finish.

i get to the lift station at 5:20pm - almost 12hrs of running at this point. the person who checks me in says "i have good news and bad news. good news is you look good (and no she wasnt hitting on me). Bad news is you missed the cutoff time by 3minutes"...

50 Miler - sta 5

The halfway point - not gonna lie - i had a stupid grin when i got there. 25+ miles at 7:40min. At the rate i was going i was going to finish under my 16hr projection. I don't spend too long at this station bc im halfway done and, to quote me and coaching catch phrase, "it's all downhill from here"...

50 Miler - sta 3

This was the longest distance between aid stations: 6.1 miles. The Rock Pile (cleverly named after the pile of rocks it was set up near by) marked 20 miles in. This would also mark the farthest i had run - ever! 

In general - all the volunteers at the aid stations were extremely nice - this one was no exception. Got some very kind words from the guy who refilled my camelback and then it was off to the halfway point.

about 2miles in i see my ffl. she is on her way back. It was great to see her and that she was happy. i, on the other hand, was none too chipper. by this point i had come to realization that i am not a natural born runner and could think of nothing else but finishing the race so that i wouldnt have to run another race in my life - i was clearly getting cranky. a 30sec hi and bye and off i go again.

50 Miler - sta 2

So I get to station one and my knee is hurting. took the first mile way too fast, did not preserve my shoes (really couldnt because the whole trail was muddy), and felt i was holding my ffl back. so i told her to leave me. next mile i was able to slow my pace down and get to the second aid station called the lift.


this is why:

if you zoom in, you'll see there is a guy in a red shirt on the hill that we had to climb. the hill was part of a ski slope (hence the station being called the lift for the ski lift). that was an awful way to run miles 10-14. off to the next station...

50 Miler - sta 1

Finally got my timer hung on my wall at the box (thanks bean) and got to cook some food at my house tonight! so what did i do new on race day:


first time running with a camelback
first time running with a hip pack
first time running with a full hip pack
first time running in the dark
first time running without my self-created warm up


its raining at the start of the race saturday morning at 6am. its been raining since wednesday. one mile in, we hit mud.


first time running in the mud.


i always told my ffl during our runs to 'preserve the shoe' - good luck with that happening.

Dinner

Had a good dinner with Jared where we commiserated about our respective 50milers - sometimes its good to just complain. here it goes.

the most important piece of advice any runner usually gives is: don't do anything new on race day. I knew that yet that's not the way it worked out...

1month

Starting your own business is not for the faint of heart. It'll be a month this week that 615 Morris Ave (i.e. CrossFit Veracity) has been open and there are good days (when I have full classes and people pay me without asking) and bad days (when one person shows up and/or people skip classes because they haven't paid yet). Overall a rewarding experience - especially when a new person comes in, does their first wod, and afterward says, 'that was great!' Let's see how month two goes :)