Running a Long Way

Coach Honea and Coach Quick both made their ultramarathon debuts today in Virginia, at the New River Trail 50k.  It was a successful effort for both of us.  Coach Quick was the fourth woman, running about 4:35 (I think).  I finished second overall in 3:46:12.  This is a very long way (10 times a 5k), and we will probably not be pacing any workouts in the next few days.

For my part, I can say that it went a lot better than I thought it might between 15 and 20 miles.  I had a sore foot and cramping calf, but they didn’t really get too bad and things held together until the last aid station at 25.7 miles.  The next ~3 miles after that slowed down a lot (from low-7:00 minute miles to around 7:50) and the fourth place guy closed a lot of ground on me.   But with two miles to go someone said second place was struggling, and somehow I started feeling fairly good again.  The biggest factor, besides catching a few glimpses of second place heading toward the last mile, was that it really wasn’t any worse running fast than running slow, and running faster let me stop sooner.  I was under 7:00-pace the last two miles and moved into second with about 200 meters left, after running alone in third for almost 27 miles.

If you ever have the crazy idea of wanting to run farther than a marathon, this race is as good a choice as you will find.  The course is pretty close to flat and all on smooth trail, the scenery is great, and the weather is likely to always be good.  That said, I’m not going to actually recommend ultra-marathoning to anyone.  It doesn’t say much for your sanity (especially the fourth-place guy, who ran another 50k last week, and is doing a 40-mile race next week.)