Still haven't collected all my thoughts to write a full race report so here is the very brief story of this past weekend.
First 50-miles - Took it very easy, but never really felt like I was having a good run. Struggled in the middle, felt better near the end, but finished thinking that I should be feeling much, much better having run the slowest 50-miler I have ever done (11:42). Worried that if things continued to deteriorate, it could get very ugly during the night. Ate lots and hung out at the start/finish aid station for a while. Beat Jegerlehner ran in with me for the last half. He is an experienced 100-miler, but was taking it very easy as he is nursing a bit of an injury.
Miles 50-75(+2) - Started easy, walking and hanging out with Beat. Enjoyed the cooling as the night set in. Ran the big fireroad down to Rodeo Valley and started feeling better. Left on my own out of Tennessee Valley and felt better and better still. Really enjoyed running at night alone. Enjoyed it too much, missed a turn, ended up doing a couple extra miles. Fired up by anger and self-loathing, I kicked it in a bit and tried to make up some time. Returned to Rodeo Valley (19:48) to find Beat having only been there for about 5 minutes before me. Headed out with him again after letting him berate my lame route finding abilities.
To the finish - Took it easy on the start climbs until Beat told me that I should just go as soon as we hit the downhills as he knew he wasn't going to be strong on them. At that point I knew finishing was in the bag for me and wanted to see what I had left especially once the sun came up. 5am was the toughest hour as my body decided to finally let me know that I'd been up for over 24 hours. I pushed through and once I hit the downhill to Muir Beach, I decided I was going to push to the end. Push I did going as strong as I could on the tough uphills and speeding the downhills all the way back to Tennessee Valley. Then it was time to leave nothing on the course and repeat my Miwok finish of shuffling up the steep hills and powering down to the finish ignoring the accumulated pain of nearly 27 hours (26:58:52)
I realize this brief report does nothing to convey the incredible myriad of physical and emotional ups and downs that really constituted the race. I'm not really will be able to express it all properly. It will probably be until this next weekend that I can write up a long report. Physically I actually feel much better than I expected. Mentally, I just feel sort of contemplative.
12 comments:
Hey, awesome job out there! You were the one I met on the coastal trail, right? I'm looking forward to the full report, but glad to hear for now that you had a good race. Congratulations on the 100 mile (plus) race :)
Yep, that was me Addy. Good to see you out there. I will get my full report done this weekend.
Steve-
Congrats on your succesful first 100...good to meet you at mile 17 Muir Beach aid. I'm sure we'll cross trails again soon.
Will G.
Thanks Will and especially thanks for being there volunteering at the race. You guys are a great help out there. I hope your injury heals fully soon.
Hey Harry, thanks for the comment (and the shared room before the race). You will be more prominently featured in my full report :-). I will definitely see you at Firetrails and you may notice that Javelina is now listed in my "Under Consideration" table on the sidebar...we'll see.
Hey Steve-
I enjoy the aid station duty, just another side of the sport.
Been back running/training on the knee since 7/29, kept my fitness prior to that on a stationary bike and continued resistance workouts.
Going pretty well...I'm registered for the upcoming PCTR Redwood Park 30K (actually ran there today), and the November Quad Dipsea (which I see you have also entered). Probably the PCTR Big Basin event in-between, we'll see.
Will G.
Actually...I started treadmill workouts on 7/16, hit the first trail run trainer on the 29th, so it's been about five weeks altogether.
Will G.
Congrats on a great 100, Steve! Rick said it wasn't as easy as he anticipated:) Good run!
Looks like you've signed up for JJ! Good luck!
Sorry for the delayed congrats. Great to see you and be able to cheer for you! I was happy to hear that you had finished and look forward to reading your LONG report!
meredith
Steve (or anyone else reading this who feels moved to answer this question):
I'm planning my 1st 50 miler. It'll be Headlands 50 on 08/09/08. I'm wondering what's the furthest distance I should run in training. Furthest I've ever gone is 50k, in 2007. I"m planning a 50k in July. Thanks much for any tips you might have. Take care.
-Dan
Dan, someone just posted the same question on the PCTR message boards here.
My response was as follows:
I ran 3 50K's before my first 50 miler. Other than those races I never went longer than 26 miles in a training run. I know some people that have done 40 milers in prep for a 50, but I don't personally think it's necessary. I basically judged my preparedness by how I felt in the 50K races and how well I recovered. By my third one I felt reasonably comfortable with the distance. My feeling after that race was that with a proper taper and taking it at an easier pace I could handle the additional 19 miles.
I also did a number of runs on the course including a 25 mile run doing one direction of the out-and-back. Again, not something that is absolutely necessary, but it certainly helped my comfort level in approaching the race. Knowing the course, I had an idea how I was going to approach some of the different sections. However, if you can't get in any runs in around the Headlands area in preparation for your race then I would just recommend doing some long runs (20+ miles) that integrate some good sized hills.
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