not giving up on the comeback

Chatooga River 50K

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Member Since:

Feb 19, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Half Marathon Finish

Running Accomplishments:

2:43 Marathon

1:17:45 Half Marathon

59:09 10 miles

17:15 5k

Still Running (again) after all these years

Short-Term Running Goals:

get back to it and not be a fat blob

Long-Term Running Goals:

Enjoy running my whole life

Personal:

Married 21 years- - two kids - 18 year old boy and  15 year old girl

Click to donate
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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Race: Chatooga River 50K (31 Miles) 06:45:00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
31.000.000.000.0031.00

Returned to this race after missing it the last two years.  I'm not injured this year, so I didn't want to miss it.  It is a beautiful course along and around the river.  

The family came along this time, which was cool  We got a hotel in Greenville, SC, which is about an hour and a few minutes from the race.  I left them sleeping at 5AM and headed out for the mountains.  It was a perfect morning, if not a little chilly.

I really had not trained for long distances since I did the marathon in March, so I just wanted to finish today.  I am not in the best of shape, so I thought maybe 7-8 hrs.  Plus my feet never seem to hold up for these distances.  The goal was just to get out there to see what happened.

The first 3+ drop about 1100 feet and then you turn around and climb back up.  It is a good way to wake up the cardiovascular system.  I didn't want to take it too hard like I did in 2010.  I stayed behind people who i thought were at a decent prudent pace.  

After that section, there is a 10+ mile section without any aid station.  Of course I should have taken both of my water bottles, but I didn't.  It wasn't too hot so it wasn't a huge deal, just not as much liquid available as I would have liked.  I stayed behind one of the other runners for a while, until I had to stop to collect my heart rate.  I lost a few spots here but wasn’t too concerned about that.  I really enjoyed the section by the river.  It is very run-able and is quite beautiful with all of the waterfalls and such.  

After the aid station there is about 2 miles mostly downhill and then you turn around and run back up to the aid station.  Once you hit that, you have about 11 or so to the finish without aid.  Luckily some saint set out a Gatorade bucket at the road, with a mile to go.  It was a great way to spend the last hill climb/decent.  

I finished in 6:45:xx according to my watch.  It was within a minute of the time in 2010 which is really encouraging.   

I fought the concept of quitting a lot in the first 12 or so miles.  I wasn't hurting or anything.  I think it was just part of the lazy me that I needed to face.  So I just motored on as best as I could, doing the run walk thing as needed.  I think I hit 15 or 16 at 3 hrs and then slowed down a little after that, as expected.  

I felt mostly good at the end.  I was tired and started cramping in my calves but other than that, I wasn't totally wiped out, like I normally am at the end of a 50k.  And for whatever reason, I never really reached that point of total despair.  Usually in one of these long races I feel like just sitting down and not moving.  This time it was hard, but it never felt hopeless.  Maybe having my GPS watch this time helped put a concrete number of miles to go on the seemingly endless trail.  

After I drove back to the city we walked around Greenville that night and the next day before heading back to Atlanta.  It turns out that Greenville has quite a fun little downtown area.  

The biggest plus this year was that the soreness was much less than years past.  I'm not sure if it was because of my running strategy, wearing my regular running shoes, or that I'm in awesome shape ( :)  ).  I usually can't run or do anything normally for several days after a long race, but I was able to run very normally yesterday (Monday) and today.  

 

 

Weight: 0.00
Comments
From Rhett on Tue, May 28, 2013 at 10:57:20 from 74.41.239.14

Nice job Tim. Are you hurting today? That is a long ways to run and a long time on your feet. What is your PR on that course.

From timp on Wed, May 29, 2013 at 07:09:06 from 159.63.144.194

Hey thanks, Rhett. No real hurting at all this time. Not sure why, but I'll take it. Turns out the last time on this course was the same time (within 30 seconds). I've run the race faster but it was a different route.

From DaleG on Fri, May 31, 2013 at 00:03:25 from 152.216.11.5

Tim, way to go. I had no idea the race was this last weekend. Very cool that you're not very sore. Sounds like you had a good time with your family.

From timp on Fri, May 31, 2013 at 08:30:09 from 159.63.144.194

thanks Dale - I didn't mention it in case it went horribly wrong -- :)

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