50k - 4th/ - 3:39:35
Oliver, Chikara, Eduardo, and I decided to carpool for this event. We met at Oliver's house at 5:30 and left at 5:45 to pick up Eduardo on the way. It was supposed to be about a 2:15 minute drive but we did it in about 1:45. On the way I had a big bowl of spaghetti which I didn't quite finish and a 6 ounce box of Hot Tamales Cool Mint flavor. We took a quick survey and determined that I was racing as fast as I could and the other three were using the race as a training run. It was Eduardo's first ultra and my 8th. Oliver has done a handful I think and Chikara had done more than I could count on my fingers.
We had plenty of time to get our numbers and chips, warm up, and get ready. The weather was overcast and mid 40's. It was cold just standing around but looked to be good for racing.
The course consisted of an out and back accounting for 1.6 miles and then had to run a 3.3 mile loop 9 times. The 3.3 mile loop was actually like a figure 8 with the overlapping section being about a half mile. One end of the loop was road, the other end was a trail which got muckier the longer we ran. It was not a day to keep the shoes clean.
When the race started 2 guys started well in front of the rest of the pack. I started with Chikara and 2 other guys. I didn't really pay attention to who was in back of me. One of the guys asked if I was planning to run 7 minute pace and I said yes.
About half way through the first loop I backed off into 6th place. The first 5 loops were pretty boring. I debating taking a restroom break whcih turned out to be smart. I started wondering where the other 3 were. By the end of lap 5 I saw Chikara had a 7 minute lead on me and I had a 5 minute lead on Eduardo and Oliver (Oliver slightly in front). I could tell because we started passing in the overlapping section. On loop 6 i started to gain ground on Chikara because we stopped passing in the overlapping section. On the next half lap Eduardo said something about Chikara being close and I let him know where Oliver was. Very shortly I caught up to Chikara who looked fine but obviously he slowed down from racing mode. He said he was fine. Eduardo (who looked fresh the whole way) ended up catching Oliver.
Half way through the last lap I saw a guy just in front of me going about my pace. I guessed (correctly) that he was finishing as well so I made a point to catch him. I was prepared to sprint if necessary, my legs felt fine but I didn't need to. I passed him with a half mile to go, he maintained and I picked it up for a finishing kick. I ran the last lap under 23 minutes (6:57 per mile). Initially I was very happy with that but after finding out my average pace for the whole race was 7:04 the last lap turned out to be nothing special.
My legs were more sore than any race under 26 miles but less than they usually are for an ultra. This race was not a typical ultra anyway, it was more like a marathon+5. Given the weather and muddy conditions I was happy with my pace (under 22 minutes per 5k!). This was my 8th ultra compared with only 7 marathons so I've made a milestone that I probably won't be able to undo. It was also my fastest pace maintained in an ultra (by far). Actually it was a faster than 4 of the 7 marathons...
It was cold after we finished. I was less than impressed with the post race meal which basically consisted of aid station food. I also noticed the shirts were less than spectacular (kind of plain), not that I care about shirts, I have enough. We all waited for the entire group to finish, we got food together and left. We made it home quickly other than my first time inside a Jack in the Box (I didn't eat anything).
