Texas Trails 50K - RunUltra Marathon


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Huntsville, Texas
United States
Scallywompus Sports
23F / -5C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 25m 40s
Overall Rank = 1/130
Age Group = 20-40
Age Group Rank = 1/
Pre-race routine:

I only did the 12.5 mile run.. I'm a weenie. :)

I had planned on driving up with a few others the morning of the race, but due to weather we figured it was a lot safer to drive up at 4pm the day before. So I ended up staying in a hotel room with three women and I slept on the floor. ;p I didn't sleep too much, not too sure why as the floor wasn't too uncomfortable.

Woke up ate my mix of oatmeal and banana that I brought up with me and then we headed off to the race at 6:10
Event warmup:

I got about 1.5 mile warm up in. My feet were numb during the warm up, and my nose went numb as well. I pushed hard on the hills during the warm up to try and get something going. It was cold.
Run
  • 1h 25m 40s
  • 12.5 miles
  • 06m 51s  min/mile
Comments:

My goal was to have fun. I figured I could go sub 1:20 while still having fun. However, I underestimated the course a bit and wasn't expecting sub freezing temps. Nor the icy bridges that made me nervous.

We started off, I got into the lead and probably took off a bit too fast that first mile. It was all on road and I probably hit a sub 6 mile with a few hills. I felt really easy and relaxed though, but I already had a little lead on the rest of the field. I didn't worry about it as I felt fine and got ready for a solo 12 mile run through the woods in the freezing cold. Since I was already in the lead, I didn't care to hurt and tried to keep it at a steady tempo effort that I knew I could hold for the distance with out a problem. I was having a lot of fun on the trails trying not to trip and bust my butt on the tricky down hills. While at the same time trying to keep my eyes from watering from the cold wind that was making my vision really blury. I had to guess a few times when to hop over things my vision was so blury from the cold. I was having a blast. :)

Got to the turn around on the out and back and my lead was good enough that I figured I'd just stick with my steady tempo plan and enjoy the rest of the run. I tried to give encouragment to all the other runners while on the out and back section and all the aid station workers. Though there weren't too many of them as we had probably a 6 mile stretch of nothing. :) Not that I needed any aid stations at all. At about mile 8(I'm completely guessing) the run became more of a get to the finish in without pooping your pants sort of run... and I didn't want to toss anything more in my stomach at that point haha. It was a close call, I finished and kept jogging to the port-a-potty. :)

Not that I knew where I was at any point of the run. I didn't wear a watch, and no mile markers were on course. Not complaining, just I had wanted to atleast run the last 2.5 miles hard. However I guess I should of looked at the course map before hand. Because when I was about ready to start my run to the finish at what I figured was mile 10ish... The trail turned away from the finish line again(I'm assuming, I may of just been turned around). So I just kept it steady and a few miles later I came out of the woods 400m from the finish. A little suprised at the time, but the course was harder than expected.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, I certainly could of ran faster, but I had a blast and I wouldn't change anything.
Post race
Warm down:

I jogged around 2-3miles back out on the course to run with my friends for a while who were doing the 50k.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Well I choice not to really race it, but even if I did running blind would of made pacing the run well rahter hard. I most likely would of blown a couple miles out if I had gone for it. I only fell once and it was a perfect roll, so it only cost me a couple seconds or so.

Event comments:

If you have done the




Last updated: 2009-12-06 12:00 AM
Running
01:25:40 | 12.5 miles | 06m 51s  min/mile
Age Group: 1/
Overall: 1/130
Performance: Good
None
Course: A trail run through huntsville. Somewhat techincal due to all the roots and several tight turns, with more roots. Constantly up and down.
Keeping cool Good Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3