Run for the Toad 25K
The main event for us today was 'Bent's first 50K; I did the 25K mostly to be sociable. I've got the Oil Creek 100K in two weeks but wasn't as brave as Tiny, who did the 50K today and will also be racing Oil Creek.
Probably I shouldn't have "raced" today during my taper but I decided to give it a shot. I haven't done a 25K race since July 2011 so I'm out of the habit of pushing myself in trail races. I don't have a fast gear but I focused on good posture, Chi lean and quick turnover. If I ever felt that I was in my comfort zone, I pushed myself just a little outside - nothing too crazy but I wouldn't have wanted to carry on long conversations. (This is the opposite of my ultras where I consciously try to drop back into my comfort zone if I move beyond it for very long. Much easier to do that!)
For me, it was a decent result. My pace stayed fairly consistent around 6 min/km as the course wove through hills and valleys, and grass, dirt, pavement and tree roots. I ran it all including the "No Whining" hill (twice) for kicks since I can't risk doing that in longer races.
Unfortunately (!) about 40 minutes from the end, I realized that I could finish under 2.5 hours if I maintained my pace. Sure, it's just a number but I'm an engineer and easily swayed by such things. So I had to keep my nose to the grindstone right to the end, and I finished with less than a minute to spare - phew! I knew I couldn't hit the podium in a huge, short distance event like this but I hit my goal of top 10% in my age category (9th of about 100 runners).
It was great to see Myka looking fresh after her first 25K. She has really taken her game up a notch this year. Let's make that two or three notches! There are no pics of her or of me - oops.
Mrs. Tiny was today's Rock Star, finishing in virtually the same time (2:32) that she ran last year before giving birth to beautiful Teeny Tiny. Her two lap times were only 16 seconds apart! Considering how much more time she had to train last year, today's run showed off her natural talent and determination. When she is able to get back into a regular training schedule, look out world!
Mr. Tiny aced his 50K run too, running all 4 laps in virtually the same time. His last lap was the fastest. When people look up the expression "Race smart" in the dictionary, they see this photo of Tiny.
'Bent and I had talked a lot about his pacing, and things started out well with 1:05 and 1:02 on his first two laps, putting him in 16th overall at the halfway point. His 3rd lap was 1:07 and he looked good as he ran by. Still in the right ballpark. Then the 4th lap... Myka and I waited and waited along the course. It had been too long so we went to the finish area. Ultra Char and Chris were there, and she said that 1:20 wouldn't be unusual for a first-timer, so not to worry.
But 1:20 passed and no sign of him. I figured that he either had such an amazing 4th lap that I'd missed him - which didn't seem likely - or else his knee had given out, and he had stopped racing. Then at 1:24, he came running up looking surprisingly strong. It almost seemed like there must be some mistake - until he staggered over and half-mumbled about nausea and washroom breaks in the final lap. Off to the massage tent for him, where he collapsed on the grass. My thoughts: "Yay, it wasn't his knee!!"
After a massage and some squash soup, he felt better - and when we checked out the results and found him in 3rd place of 23 men in his age group, he got downright perky! :)
Not an easy first ultra for him but in the second half of the race, he moved up from 16th to 13th place overall out of 125 runners. So even though he fell apart in the last 10K (read his log for the full story), he held his own. Good job, 'Bent - well done to keep going when you felt so bad!