Race Report for Rocky Raccoon 50K (Read 935 times)

50K run on wooded trails, some sandy soil, but dry and great condition overall. Woke up to more light than there usually is from a just over half-full moon at 4:30, dressed quickly and headed from campsite (Huntsville State Park) to the S/F area. Met the race director and received assignment for working prior to the 7 am start of the 50K (25K started at 8 am). My assignment was to direct cars in the pre-dawn darkness into a parking near the pavilion we were using for registration and breakfast bagles for the runners... FF to 7 am, director thanks the volunteers (who did a fabulous job all day), and said Mark, set GO! About 150 runners were off in just enought light to not need a flashlight. I ran with a friend, catching up for the first 1.5 hours, but dropped her after the next to last aid station of the first loop. The morning was incredible, a bluebird morning! I felt pretty good, holding the pace to finish the first 15.5 mile loop at 2:41:31, a good bit faster than I thought. As we started the race, I made a mental note that, not knowing what to expect since I had not raced this distance in 1.5 years, I would be happy with a 6:30, a good pace for me at this distance (good, but I had run faster 2 or 3 times before). Out for the second loop, I realized that after 17 miles of running, I felt great and was still holding a really good pace. I decided to push it a bit, hoping I wouldn't injure myself. Well, it seemed like the blink of an eye and I was 3 miles from the finish after only 5 hours of running! I realized that I would break my PR of 5:54 or so, and even had a very good shot at breaking 5:30! I pushed it where I felt I could do so safely (lots of roots on the trail) and found myself bounding down the trail near the finish only to be greeted by a decent crowd at the finish line cheering me on. I wasn't sprinting, but not knowing how much difference there was between the clock and my watch, felt I really needed to push, probably about a 6/6:30 pace for the last 1/2 mile! Anyway, crossed the line at 5:26:11, just about 3 minutes short of negative splits for the loops. I was a little bummed when I realized I didn't get the negative split, but overall, am ecstatic about beating my old PR by almost 30 minutes! Great day! Lynn B