Monday, October 25, 2010

24 The Hard Way Finish

The event was "24 The Hard Way".  And the name says it all.  There was nothing easy about this event.  This is the first time I've ran a 24 hour race on pavement.  The object was to cover as many miles in a 24 hour period.  There were also 6 hour and 12 hour portions of both pavement or trails.
Saturday morning, we were greeted with some pretty strong winds, and possibility of rain.  We got the rain during the day, and went away.  But the wind was to stay...and it was brutal for the roadsters.
9am sharp..the 24 hour race began.  My plan was to start out slow, and keep a steady pace for as long as I could (10-12 min./lap).  I did for about 30 miles.  For there, the wind took its toll on me.  I was fading away slowly.  But still tried to keep a 15-18 minute per lap.
At 1am, I finally ended up taking a short 20 minute nap.  Sometime around 4am, I took another nap, about 40 minute.  It was tough to get going again after each nap...but just gotta do it.
At the 20th hour, I was around 80 miles.  I thought..should I push hard for 4 hours to reach 100 miles, or should I just keep steady pace and make it to 90?
Of course, if this was the only race for awhile..I would've done everything I could, but since I've got another run in less than a month..I thought I better play it safe and opted for 90 miles.
I completed 90.4 miles (94 laps) in 23 hrs. 28 minutes.  It was a great run...no blisters, no major soreness, just some pain in the right calf muscle.

One more note... big thank you to all the volunteers...you guys are the best!
Chisholm Deupree (RD) and crew put on a great show.  Thanks a bunch.

Congrats to all runners!!

Awesome Bling!


3 comments:

Julie said...

Great race AB!! That wind was very brutal. Made me glad I got to duck onto the trail out of the wind but I felt bad for your roadsters. Good luck at MR100!

DavidH said...

Great finish!

Such a relative world..."I thought I better play it safe and opted for 90 miles". I had to chuckle when I read this...and as a fellow ultra nut, it makes complete sense. :)

Good luck on your next journey!

AB said...

I was telling a non-ultra person that I sucked to only do 90 miles, instead of 100+...they had this funny look...like...you are weird. It's all relative.

Then again...I wonder sometimes. But it's all about having fun. :)

Thanks for the well wishes. MR100 will be a blast!

Happy Trails!