I better get this one down on paper before I begin to
remember this race without the details. First of all, I rarely compete in races
where I travel overnight; I try to stay local or not race at all so I minimize
time from the family.
I had signed up for this race since I needed a 50miler
before Leadville and was unable to get the time last year to run it. This was
meant to be a training run, no taper, just train straight through…to add to the
mix, I have been traveling for work for a few weeks and arrived back in CLE
late Thursday night, went to a party, got home by 2am, worked the next day and
then drove to Mohican for the night. Dave Wank & I stayed at the extremely
posh Mohican River Inn about 5miles from the start. You can sit in the bed and
brush your teeth at the same time since the sink is so close. Gotta love it.
So, did breakfast (S-Caps, UCAN, whey protein, chia, coffee,
water, & some CLIF mini-mojo bars) then headed over to the race start. I desperately
needed the morning bathroom stop which became a theme of the race for half of the
race. After a quick photo with Tapatha, Kevin, Gale, Leghorny, & Michael,
the race started at 5am and off we went. Dave & I ran together in the dark
at what felt like a very easy pace, kicking roots, rocks, and wishing I had
brought my headlamp rather than relying on the moonlight and fellow runner’s
lights. My goal was simply to run an easy race…..shooting for about 9.5-10hr
total time.
The trails at Mohican are gorgeous; there are sections that
looked like something you would see in the Pacific Northwest, ferns, moss, &
pine needles. We continued to run easy and I found myself directly behind
Connie Gardner which for me, was probably a clear sign that I needed to slow
down, regardless of how I felt. I thought if I feel this good now and can
simply maintain the effort, I would easily make top 10. I ran behind Connie
watching her steady pace, conservative, deliberate, & light steps, walking
the steeper hills, and slowing just slightly on the lighter hills. I stayed
with her through about 13-14miles before I decided that I should slow it down. I
had been looking for an opportunity to find a restroom the entire morning and
finally about mile 15 I saw a porto, ran in there seeing my friend Keith coming
out, ironically. We said a quick hello, and then I tried to shift from running
to relieving…something that took a few mins.
The miles went on, and I plodded along the hills…realizing
that these hills were going to put me closer to a 10hr finish time. No worries,
it’s just a training run right? By mile 20 I was searching for another trail
bathroom, which I eventually found… I hit the end of the first loop (26.2)
miles about 4:55 in and had my last bottle of UCAN, changed my shoes/socks and
then took off. It was hot, hilly, but I was moving forward and over 50% done.
Time to just get it done. The aid stations were awesome and I admit that the
buckets of ice water were simply amazing! I took my time at aid stations, then started
to walk after realizing I had been pushing too hard in the heat & hills.
About mile 34 I met up with Richard Cook who had a solid pace going….I hopped
on the Cook train, chatted, ran, kicked up the pace, and really enjoyed the
time spent. At mile 44.2 Richard looked at me and asked if I had a time goal. I
told him I had re-evaluated my 9.5 hr goal to be sub 10 hrs, but as I looked at
my watch, I was at 9hr 44min with essentially an hour to get in 6mi. Not going
to happen…I had lost time going to the bathroom, at aid stations, and walking
for way too long during miles 26-34. Lesson learned….I needed to feel more pain
and stop relaxing. I looked at Richard & another runner, Kevin who had been
with us and said “It’s doable” and after one last bathroom break I decided that
I had 60mins to run a 10k. I dug a little bit deeper and dropped the pace. This
was my biggest lesson…I had the ability to run 9min miles and didn’t. I kept
thinking “it’s just a training run” and with that attitude, I allowed myself to
slack. I hit the finish at 10:50, happy to be finished and happy that I wasn’t doing
the 100 that day….but realizing that I should have pushed harder. Dave came in
about 9:38, which was strong and where I should have been.
Overall, I was happy…happy that I just ran 50 very hard
miles without a taper…but still learned that I need to slow the heck down for
the first half of the race… Lastly, to take the time to go to the bathroom early
and not to let the attitude of a “training” run dictate my effort level.
Recovery was excellent; I left for Texas again very early Monday
morning and continued training that evening. I took Sunday off running and got
to sleep in for Father’s day. The training in Texas has been brutal with temps
well into 110 degrees. I’ll have to write a separate entry on it.
z
