Tough run.
I hadn't been on a good long run since Silver Falls Marathon well over a month ago. I think I got out for a couple decent 2-3 hr. hilly efforts a couple weeks back and had been pushing things a bit here and there with the weekday workouts so fitness felt fine despite the past 2 weeks schedule being whacked by holidays. Like too many "runless" days whacked versus lack of miles or something like that.
That said, I think I was in better 15 mile shape than 50k shape. After 13-15 miles I experienced an early period of fatigue and hip soreness that I'd never felt before and I don't know if it was was my (lack of) preparation or the tough terrain. With each step needing to be carefully placed to save my ass from a slip maybe I was overworking some muscles? It was tough going that just got tougher as the race went on.
The various loops that made up the course involved a network of trails around and up and over a hill on the outskirts of Eugene. These trails consisted of a section of slick as snot ice, a section of snow encrusted "chunky" ice, a section of clumpy grass (to avoid ice), a section of slimey mud, a nice bog of standing water, a section of water running over mud and rocks, and a very short section of buttery soft forested trail and some gravel that was nice but had that shiny look to it like maybe it would send you to the ground if you got to comfy with it. The loops also involved 4 steep ups and downs that presented some of the finer running surface, which was welcome given the pitch in which you where climbing or descending.
But enough complaining... I'll try and keep this a happy post. I went into this thing knowing it'd be messy and that's what was delivered. I also went into the race with high hopes of breaking the course record time (a local fast dude's training run time of 4:34). I even thought I could get down to some place significantly below that (say 4:10ish) given the pace I recently did the trail marathon which I thought boasted similar conditions and the same-ish vert.
I went out a little too gutsy (fast) with all this on my mind and didn't take into consideration how much the terrain and uniquely steep the profile was until I was reminded by my own body's signals and by getting passed by the winner, new course record holder Joe Uhan. He passed me about 2/3rds of the way around loop 3 and held the pace all the way through. I am impressed with his run. I had no idea who he was while we raced but enjoyed a brief conversation with him after the race. We discussed the trail conditions (the mud was better than the ice... or was it?) and how we were both were anxious to get on the interwebs and geek out to Desert Solstice happenings ( where our friend Pam Smith went on to take the world record for women's track 100 mile!!!)
Anyway, back to the race... after finishing the 3rd loop I almost bogued out. I'd never run a loop course and it's mentally kind of tough to keep going when the car's right there not to mention hot soup and BEER. But Kattie was there to remind me that afterall it was just one more loop... sheesh, what's one more loop?
Well what seemed like it would never end finally did. As I was headed up the final 1000'+ climb a dude named Walker caught up with me and we chatted some. Nice young guy. I told him to go for it on the descent as I wouldn't put up much of a fight. He must have been happy in my draft as he stayed there until we crossed the finish line. He started the race right behind me as well so he actually beat me according to the chip timing system. So I finished second and got third, which made no difference to me who was happy to have finished within my goal time with a 4:27.
Soup and beer. Then Kattie and I headed home with a car full of Christmas presents that Kattie was able to shop while I was out running.
I am sore today but look forward to recovering best I can before the final race in my December Trifecta: the Santa Paws 5k! Very serious stuff.
Also looking forward to a flat and hopefully fast 50k outside Eugene in the beginning of February as it is more accessible than any marathon I could find.
Kids, if you don't keep moving forward the race will never end... so keep going.
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