Well I did it! I ran a 50K- that’s a whole 30.97 miles to be exact, and I lived to tell about it!

Drove down to the race at 6:00am and got there with an hour to spare. The weather was clear, in the 50’s with a fairly strong wind….As all of us racers waited in line for the portapotties we were discussing how we hoped the wind would stop-but that we were glad it wasn’t raining..
The course was an 8 mile loop which I would be running 4 times. There were 2 aide station w/water and nutrition.

8:00 rolled around and we all gathered at the start. I was w/my coach Andrea, and friends Becky and Laura. Laura and Becky were running the 25K and Andrea and I were doing the 50K. Laura, Becky and I started the first 4 miles together until the first aid station…At that point they took off and Andrea and I began our journey together!

The goal for this run was to use it as a training run- I was to run the first 3 laps as a “warm-up” for the final (4th) lap. I must say that I had a ball! I had such a good time on this run-especially since I was with Andrea the whole time. We worked together on the hills and on the flats-helping each other with the “load” of 31 miles of trail running.

The day and laps seemed to pass by. We ran through each steep/challenging section saying- “only two/one/no more times through here.” We would stop at the “4 mile” aide station to refill our water bottles, and carry on our way up the next section of hill. Then we’d hit the top and say “it’s all down hill from here now”. The day just kinda went like that- marking off the steep sections w/the downhills…..Lap by Lap by Lap……

And then there was the final lap. Andrea and I both were feeling strong and kicked butt the last 8 miles. We cut around 15 mins off our previous lap times! We ROCKED it! It was a glorious feeling to finish a 31 mile run. Something I had never done before! That’s what I like about this Ironman training. I am discovering new strengths in myself that I didn’t know I had…both physically and mentally!

So, we finished the run off strong- walked around for a while-ate a little bit of food-and then got in our cars and headed home. The day was perfect and doing this with Andrea was the highlight! Being with her on this journey was such a gift! Thank you Andrea!!!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 11:16 am and is filed under Distance, Race Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.