not giving up on the comeback

I'm up at 3AM and dang it is early.  Off to my race.  :)

Yesterday I got up early and drove up 2.5 hours to The Sumter National Forest for the Chattooga 50K.  I did this race the last two years, with varying success.  I haven’t run trails in a while, but I really wanted to go back and test myself again this year.   It is a beautiful, challenging romp through the trails along the Chattooga river. 

I had a great drive up to the mountains.  I got to blast my music as loud as I wanted and I was able to see a beautiful sunrise over the mountains. 

I just wanted to pace myself and not go out crazy at the start. 

3.5 – great downhill section 1100ft drop  – got stuck behind some guy who kept going slower and slower – I should have done the same. 

3.5 – climb back up the 1100 ft – I felt good and was just chugging along.  I caught some of the guys who lost me on the downhill but I used too much energy here I think. 

.5 – Staight up Climb over the rise and down the other side to the first aid station.  I grabbed a cookie or two and moved on. 

2.7 – A very run-able section with a nice downhill section at the end. 

7.5 – This section is the Foothills trail that wanders towards the river and away from it.  Lots of trail cutbacks and elevation changes.  Plus there are lots and lots of roots and rocks to dance through and around.   Towards the end, this section has a lot of climbing that really took me out of my game.  I didn’t get lost at least.  The aid station was a big welcome.  I took part of a peanut butter sandwich and some Heed and moved along.  I was start to get wobbly and generally not good.  The deal I made with myself was to get back to the aid station and then I could drop out and have someone drive me back to the campground. 

2  - Big downhill section.  I tried to do my best to run the down hills well.  I wasn’t feeling very well and I just tried to chug along.  This was a bad stretch which shouldn’t have been.  I had to stop and collect myself a few times and got passed by a couple guys here. 

2 – I finally hit the turnaround and started climbing the mountain again.  It is a very challenging section.  I was doing a whole lot of counting of my steps.  I was doing the 100 running steps and then 25 walking steps.  This went well here last year.  This year I tried and just didn’t have as much to give it.  A few times I had to stop and collect myself.  Towards the end of this section, I decided I’d finish the race no matter how long it took.  The aid station was a welcome site.  I downed some more soda, grabbed some poweraid, a couple of electrolyte tabs, and cookies.  It took me a few minutes to get the gumption to continue, but I walked away from the volunteers and towards the trail. 

7.5 – Luckily the start of this section had a lot of decent.  It helped me get back in the flow a bit.  I got into a rhythm of running and walking that was working for me.  I started to feel a lot better.  I think it might have been the electrolyte caps.  Now that I accepted a slow race, I started to enjoy it a little and even stopped to look at the waterfalls as I passed them.  Towards the end I ran across a couple of the guys who passed me earlier.  They got lost, or at least thought they were lost.  I got them sorted out (imagine that) and we kept going. 

2.7 – I started getting a 2^nd wind in this section.  The other two guys slowed a bit for some reason so they let me go.  There is big uphill section at the start but I actually coped well with it.  Knowing the finish was near really helped. 

1 – Up and down the hill and back to the campground.  It felt good to run on the road in the campground.   FINISHED!

I ended up in 6^th place I think.  6:44:58

A few conclusions now that I'm a day removed

1. I am happy that I didn't quit.  I'd really be down if I had done that. 

2. I'm glad I found my 2nd wind there at the end.  If I had felt that well the whole time, I would have shaved a bunch of minutes off of my final time.  Once I started to get down and frustrated, I really lost it for a while. 

3.  I'm glad I didn't get lost, and was actually able to help a couple of other guys get back on the right path. 

4. I tried to eat but I don't think I had enough early enough.  Also, with the way I sweat, I need to take the electrolyte tabs early and often.  I drank alot but still lost a ton of water weight. 

5. I need to get out to the trails if I want to get better at running them.  Last year I put in more miles on them, but this year, so far, I haven't.  The pacing and the way to run is so much different than road running. 

Someone just sent the elevation profile for the race -I'm not sure it is 100% right cause of all the tree cover, but it gives an idea.