White River 50 Mile

I was looking forward to running in the heat but it turned out to be cold. I used my pack instead of bottles so I would always have about 20 oz. more than I needed to get to the next AS. I really hate running out of water and you never know maybe it will get hot. I did the early start (58 minutes early) so that even if things went really wrong I could still do a death march to the finish and continue my “never DNF’d streak”. I staggered out of the tent trailer at about a quarter to 5:00 for the 5:30 start. I didn't get much sleep from the kids having to go to the vault toilet to the dogs barking at people driving by to the Porto Potties being dragged right past us because they were delivered to the wrong spot. Every hour and half, just as I was getting to the good stuff something would wake me. Jennifer says it is good training for CCC.
After getting checked in and doing all the rest of the preparations needed to run, it was just light enough to see and we were off and I was already tired. It was only 3.9 to the first AS which is pretty flat and 3.91 to my first trip into the woods. Time 42 minutes. There would be 2 more pit stops in the woods, which is not like me. It must have been the Oatmeal. I didn't have my usual half a pizza the night before nor did I have my usual pre-race breakfast.
The race went very well all day. I took it easy to the 2nd AS. I did a run until it got too steep, walk until it leveled off which took 2 hours to get to the 2nd AS where the race leaders started to catch me, about 11 miles in. Time 2:42. They started pulling me along about 2 miles later. The out and back was great because I got to see everybody but it's dicey in stops where it's "less than a single track". At the third AS I took about 5 minutes to refill my pack and change shirts and grab some food. WAY to long. Total time 3:48, 1:05 for that leg. The first uphill to the turn around seems to take forever as does the downhill through the woods back to the start. I didn’t stop at AS 4 because I had plenty of drink. Total time 4:52, 1:03 for that leg. I continued to cruise down the single track, trying to save some leg for Sun Top Rd., to AS #5 where I got to see the family and change into my third shirt. Again I took way to long talking with the kids and consoling the dogs. Total time 5:50, 58 minutes for that leg. I started out the day in my NODM shirt which was perfect, long sleeved and turtle neck then changed into a short sleeve at AS #3. It was still cold but I knew it was the right choice with the sun starting to come out. And then a cutoff short sleeve at AS #5 which kept me more than cool all day but would and did give me a nice rash from my Hydro pack. So off I went again to another climb that again seemed to go on foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I was definitely feeling the hills by the time I came into AS 6. My run walk the ups had become mostly walk. Total time 7:03, 1:13 for that leg. After filling up my supplies and not being able to talk James Varner out of DNF’ing I was off. It had turned into a nice day but still not as warm as I would have liked. I walked pretty much all the ups in this section. My up hill muscles were done for the day and both calves had been cramping for a while (not from lack of salt). I get to AS 7 and it feels like my legs are done but my mind is thinking Fly! Total time 8:35, 1:31 for that leg. Now all the long climbs are out of the way, I'm at the top, 38 miles down and a couple of easy 10K's (actually they updated it to 7 miles each) to go. My plan was to fly down Sun Top Rd. as I did at the end of the training run which was only 25 miles then, some how, stagger the last 10K to the finish. Well as I'm changing into my light soft road shoes TP comes into the AS and is gone before I could get my calf and hip un-cramped from sitting and changing shoes. He got about a 200 or more yards head start and it looked like we going the same pace. Well I've never run with him before so I tried to speed up. It took me what seems like 2 miles to finally catch him, but it was worth it. We chatted for a while, all the way down to the bottom, passing 4 or 5 maybe 6 runners. I don’t know it's kind of foggy now. But as soon as the road flattened out at the bottom he was gone and I was left wondering how I was going to make it the last 8 1/2 miles to the finish. Soon after that I came to the end of the road and my "crew". They were in the van watching a movie. I got my bag of goodies back that I had left in the van at AS #5 and I was off, into the woods, paused at the last AS to grab a couple a GU's and some coke. Total time 9:36, 1:01 for that leg. I was able to go at a good pace but I got passed by a few people. I don't know what it was, maybe I got a second wind or maybe it was that I was smelling the finish or maybe it was the light Kayano's that were giving me a boost. I picked up the pace and passed three or four people some of whom had just passed me. I would say "don't worry about me; you're still 58 minutes ahead of me". I ran most of that section even the ups. Some people don’t like this part; it’s kind of technical especially when you’re tired. I ran it on fresh legs two weeks ago and it was great. I guess in my mind I was remembering that run which gave me the extra speed. I finished strong at 10:51, 1:15 for that last leg. After the race everybody hung out and ate and talked and would cheer on the finishers as they came in, some just making the cut-off of 7:30 pm.

Mileage this week
Total 62 miles, 1053 ytd