Running 7:42:00 [3] 50.0 km (9:14 / km)
After my training run on the OC course a few weeks ago, I realized my achilles wasn't yet up for running 100K so I made the painful (no pun intended) decision to only run 50K. For whatever reason, I decided that I needed to make that choice ahead of time rather than see how things went on the day of, since I knew what would likely happen was that I'd get partway through the second loop and regret it. So Daniel and I made a deal...he only had to go 'round once, but he had to shut up and keep quiet about it. Fortunately, he lived up to his end of the bargain and kept his yapping to a dull roar no worse than the past couple of races.
What I didn't anticipate was how psychologically challenging it was going to be to have to tell people while I was running that I was registered in the 100K but only running 50K. Everyone struggles on that course and admitting that I wasn't up to running the distance that I'd originally set out to made me feel pretty inadequate.
Because Tom doesn't let you change distances (I begged and pleaded a couple of times), I knew I was a DNF from that start and that also affected my motivation more than expected. I got to the start line after a good night's sleep and felt ready to go, but once I got running, found that my mind wasn't very cooperative. I have always judged the success of an ultra on whether or not I felt like my brain was in control, and by that standard, yesterday was a bit of a clusterfuck. The weather couldn't have been better and the course was in great shape but for some reason I was having trouble enjoying it.
Felt like I ate and drank well for the first 30K or so and then had some stomach cramps that saw me visiting every toilet on course. It also discouraged me from eating more so by 40K I was feeling pretty wiped. Got through the rest of the course but the last 10K was really slow, and was happy to cross the imaginary finish line knowing that I'd made the right decision (and that Mrs. Tiny was waiting to go to the Blue Canoe for lunch with me!).
So this was a great event but it wasn't my day mentally. I'm not too discouraged by it though and learned a few things to take forward with me to future events. It was awesome to be able to see Tiny come in from his second lap of the 100M looking strong and BiT nail his 100K goal of 15 hours after a super solid season of training. I can see why this event sees people come back year after year - such great organization and aid stations that would satisfy any runner's cravings!