The first Ultra of the New Year has come and gone....and I'm
still dragging my ass to write the race report. Apparently, I'm in a bit of a
blogging slump. I'm really sorry about the delay in quality race reporting material, I'm just going through a lot right now
and sometimes I'm going to drink six miniature bottles of rum and then draw horses. That's just the way the world works.Three days later...
UPDATE: So I decided to draw a graph to better represent the psycholgical predicament I'm in. This is it:
No, that's not exactly right. I completely fail to illustrate my point, but burritos are pretty awesome. But then you get a fighter jet and the burrito isn't so awesome anymore because burritos can't fly in the air and kill things from a great distance. So using a burrito in my graph wasn't really the best choice after all.
Here, this is better:
One day later...
UPDATE: It is now morning and I feel like maybe I accomplished the opposite of what I was trying to accomplish because now I feel even more pressure to write this post to make up for this monstrosity. Anyway, I won't delete this rambling testament to my psychological shortcomings, but I think in the future I should probably either drink more, go to bed or eat something really awesome keep all of this in my head. Please still respect me after this, okay?
One day later...
OK, I was just messing with you. Here's the race report you came here to read:
The Harbison 50K on January 8 was a great gathering of friends come together to run on a new, challenging course. My friend Dan Hartley was the RD for this one and for as long as I live, I doubt I'll see a better marked course. Not even I could get lost.*
Just a week back to running after a 13-day layoff, my thinking going into the race was just to put in the miles and enjoy the trail. That plan made total sense until we started running and I began to think that maybe I would run it hard. Yeah, I could run it hard, that would be okay.
We got to the race early Saturday morning and before we knew it we were at the starting line and off we went. It was a nearly perfect day for running and right away I started to toy with the idea of running this thing hard. That lasted for exactly 13 miles. My mind was willing but my body was not and as I chugged along the trails I began to question who had poured cement into my legs. Man my feet and legs were so heavy, unbelievable really. I decided I would acccept this and just enjoy the run.
This race lasted long beyond its entertainment value, kind of like this post. I've put more effort in to rehabilitating injury and tendonitis lately than into my running and it showed. I just wanted it to be over.
This course is deceivingly challenging and the 50k is made up by running 2 loops of about 16 miles each. Towards the end of the first loop, my left calf cramped really hard, and it was pretty much hobble-jog-hobble back to the starting point. By the time I made it to the end of the first loop my calf was &*$#ed. I was forced to sit and deal with it at this point. I lost about 8 minutes or so as I worked out the cramp. Then it was off again.
The second loop was just a grind. There's not really much more to say, other than we did enjoy the company of Lynne and Steve somewhere around the marathon distance. Talking to them was a nice distraction and made the time go by so much faster. We ended up coming in a little over 8 hrs, and feeling very satisfied to have the first Ultra of the year under our belts. Dan did a fantastic job at organizing this race, and it's a must-do next year. Unless, of course he implements his ill-timed ideas about making the course much harder (what is wrong with you, anyway, Dan?).
Now, back to training....
Full results can be found here: http://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=10280
* My camera did not fare as well. I set it down next to the trail somewhere near mile 11 on the first loop, thinking I would pick up on loop #2. Of course, by then I was chatting away with Lynne and Steve and Charles and ran right past it. Amazingly enough, though, we came back the next day and as if by magic...I found it.
