Cindy was waiting for me at the 20 mile Aide Station and I was upbeat, feeling good, and about 7 minutes ahead of finishing below my goal of under 10 hours. The "fun" was just about to begin! As runners (at this point walke
rs) were making their way up a 900 ft. climb in about a 1 to 2 mile span (click on picture to the left if you want to be able to read the elevation numbers and mileage), I began to realize I was undertrained for these kind of hills. My legs were becoming Jello and others were flying by me like a flash of light even though they were walking too. By the time I reached the next descent the damage had been done, I eased into a trot down the hill but my quads were not happy with the pounding and they let me know it with each step. When Cindy met me at Aide Station #5 I was 10 minutes behind meeting my goal of 10 hours with no hope in site. My enthusiasm was lacking and all I could think about was... boy oh boy, if I didn't love running, I sure would be miserable right now. I stopped and had a bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup and chatted with Cindy for 5 minutes which helped me mentally before departing station #5. I left on my next climb at mile 28 and after about 30 seconds my mental boost was gone. The next 7 or miles are a blur, but after reaching the turnaround point at mile 35.5 I was offered a chair to sit in and have some homemade soup by the great volunteers at Aide Station #7. 
After chatting and having a leisure bowl of soup (anyone arriving would never have known I was in a race, rather it looked more like a social club and I was president) I decided to get going after about an 8 minute rest. I think the looks of "Is this guy ever going to leave?" helped give me strength to start the journey back. Somewhere around mile 40 to my surprise, my legs felt like they had new life. My energy was recharged (it must have been the spinach in the soup) and I began running like I was just starting out on a 10k race with fresh legs. For the first time in many miles I was passing other runners and singing to my IPOD songs. At Aide Station #9 I briefly said hello to Cindy and good friend Teresa letting them know I had no time to chat because my new mission was to make that 10 hour time. After a couple more miles of making progress, reality started to kick in and I slowed a little too much up the steep climb. By the time I caught my last bit of energy and began charging to make that 10 hour time I was just a little too late. After about 10:01:20 of running I was done, and happy with my accomplishment. I felt I had learned some things from my first 50 miler about better pacing myself, being better prepared for hills, and less social time with the nice wonderful volunteers. As the great golfer Bobby Jones once said, "I never learned anything from a match that I won" I think 
in the long run it will be better that I did not run as fast I hoped and the course was more unrelenting than I expected. I am happy I finished strong, and even happier I just plain finished!!!
rs) were making their way up a 900 ft. climb in about a 1 to 2 mile span (click on picture to the left if you want to be able to read the elevation numbers and mileage), I began to realize I was undertrained for these kind of hills. My legs were becoming Jello and others were flying by me like a flash of light even though they were walking too. By the time I reached the next descent the damage had been done, I eased into a trot down the hill but my quads were not happy with the pounding and they let me know it with each step. When Cindy met me at Aide Station #5 I was 10 minutes behind meeting my goal of 10 hours with no hope in site. My enthusiasm was lacking and all I could think about was... boy oh boy, if I didn't love running, I sure would be miserable right now. I stopped and had a bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup and chatted with Cindy for 5 minutes which helped me mentally before departing station #5. I left on my next climb at mile 28 and after about 30 seconds my mental boost was gone. The next 7 or miles are a blur, but after reaching the turnaround point at mile 35.5 I was offered a chair to sit in and have some homemade soup by the great volunteers at Aide Station #7. 
After chatting and having a leisure bowl of soup (anyone arriving would never have known I was in a race, rather it looked more like a social club and I was president) I decided to get going after about an 8 minute rest. I think the looks of "Is this guy ever going to leave?" helped give me strength to start the journey back. Somewhere around mile 40 to my surprise, my legs felt like they had new life. My energy was recharged (it must have been the spinach in the soup) and I began running like I was just starting out on a 10k race with fresh legs. For the first time in many miles I was passing other runners and singing to my IPOD songs. At Aide Station #9 I briefly said hello to Cindy and good friend Teresa letting them know I had no time to chat because my new mission was to make that 10 hour time. After a couple more miles of making progress, reality started to kick in and I slowed a little too much up the steep climb. By the time I caught my last bit of energy and began charging to make that 10 hour time I was just a little too late. After about 10:01:20 of running I was done, and happy with my accomplishment. I felt I had learned some things from my first 50 miler about better pacing myself, being better prepared for hills, and less social time with the nice wonderful volunteers. As the great golfer Bobby Jones once said, "I never learned anything from a match that I won" I think 
in the long run it will be better that I did not run as fast I hoped and the course was more unrelenting than I expected. I am happy I finished strong, and even happier I just plain finished!!!
3 comments:
Good job Chris. Was great to meet you (briefly) at mile 20!
Way to go Christo! I'm proud of you man. All I can say is, we have to get some Delicious Water on your iPod before this 100 mile insanity!
Jeff
Well written article.
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