Another (incomplete) race

Registered for 50K, ran a (almost)marathon.

Does it matter that I was carrying 20 lbs on my back? Well, my back and shoulders thought so! And that the terrain was kinda run-unfriendly? 

Dahlgren Heritage Rail (in King George, VA) was a pretty decent race. There were ZERO hills! What!? And they had PBJ on the race course (may be that will explain why I couldn’t go all the way, too full to run – yes that’s a real condition)! There options at the end of the race, a medal or a koozy or a drinking glass. Guess what I took?

Oh, and no points for guessing how far Ellen went. But the best part of her race (I’m guessing) was the fact that she finished just 15 minutes after I did, after running 6 additional miles!

20 days to go! Fuuuuuuucckk….

PS: Watch this space for a lot of whining on what I could not accomplish during this training season.

To run or not run, that’s the question!

How many miles will you run before you quit in 100 degree heat?

For me it was 11 miles.

For Ellen, it was a fucking 50K!

We both were registered to run a 50K trail race at Upper Marlboro MD. After carefully evaluating (bahaha) the conditions, I decided to do just 25K. In the first 10 miles though, after wiping out FOUR times and losing my sun glasses and getting pissed at the sun etc. I decided call it quits at 11 miles. 5 miles short what I wanted to and 21 miles short of what I planned to do.

Shame.

It was a tough trail, an impossible amount of roots sticking out, some steep hills, mostly single track. If you took your eyes off the ground for a second, the roots will trip you up. What was inspiring tho, was to watch super runners finishing 50K in less than 5 hours in probably some of the worst conditions you can imagine!

Ellen is a beast. 

And I got this!