Jimmy , Congrats on your award and a very intelligently run race. Thanks for sharing your experience with us, Greg

Nice races Jesse, Jimmy & streeetch. Jesse- hope you have a great trail marathon Sunday. My wife has her first test race coming up soon as well- her first race since last October and first since becoming an aerobic machine.

Unfortunately I went to sign for the B&A trail marathon (which is not really a trail marathon - it's just a marathon on the B&A trail, which is a mostly-flat asphalt bike path) a week or so ago and it was full, which has never happened before. I am considering a local trail 50k on Saturday, though, if I can fit the family constraints.

Race report: Seneca Greenway Trail 50k (sorry, this a bit random and discombobulated) Highly regretting my missing the boat on signing up for the B&A trail marathon, I decided yesterday to sprinkle this race in. Can't really beat it for $20 and the ability to sign up on race morning! Ultras are almost always a good deal, but this one really takes the cake. There is a "marathon" option and a "50k" option, both of which are known to be approximate distances, the marathon being more like 27.5 miles and the 50k being probably around 31.5 miles (not too far off). I thought of this race as just a bit beyond a fatass race, so I planned to push it just a touch, but try to stay far enough below the pain bar. The race being 95% dirt trail, I had expected lots of mud with some of the recent rain storms. I thought considering all, the course was in great shape with muddy areas, but pretty much all runnable. It was quite cool at the start with temps not too bad, but a very cold, brisk wind. I rode down with Melissa, who was doing the "marathon" option because she's doing B&A trail marathon tomorrow - her first double! Hence, she was taking things very conservatively. This is a point to point race, so you park near the finish at Seneca Creek and you take a bus to the start in Damascus, about a 20 minute ride. We ran into my friend Martin at the start, who is clearly now fully infected with the ultra bug. You must be prepared for this race - there are no mile markers and no cups at aid stations. I carried one 20 oz bottle, which was sufficient, filling up with ultima generally, until the 2nd to last aid station, which had gatorade endurance. I'm fine with either, but ultima has almost no calories so you need to factor that in. I didn't eat much during the race, but I did snack on a PB&J quarter, a few handfuls of cheez-its and potato chips, and some other crackers. One aid station had Coke which is my favorite ultra drink, so that was probably the bulk of my calorie intake! The race started at 8, with a good downhill segment covering 95% of the asphalt that makes up the course. After that we jumped on the trails, which were your typical trails with ups, downs, roots, rocks, and a few stream crossings. Frequently, you were running along the river, which made for some nice views. I felt fairly well through the race, taking things very conservatively, just wanting to make sure I felt good at the end. At roughly mile 14 or 15, you come to an aid station where for 50k, you add a roughly 4 mile loop, or for the marathon, you continue on. So I started the loop, which had some pleasant new scenery and more riverside running. However, it also had many roots, bringing back memories of Rocky Raccoon a few weeks ago! About 1/2 mile into the loop, I missed one of the guiding streamers and headed onto the wrong path. After 1/4 - 1/2 mile, I was dumped out onto a parking lot, wondering where to go. I finally saw a streamer onto one of the trails and headed in that direction. About 10 minutes later I found myself on a path that looked very familiar, like the one I had come out on at the beginning of the loop. Shortly thereafter, I came upon a pair of runners going in the other direction. Not having seen anyone coming in the opposite direction on my way out, I came to the conclusion that I had added a loop by missing a turn. I turned around and followed the two runners, this time noting the streamer I had missed the first time through and heading on the proper trail. Ok, I'm back on track now and I slowly but surely pick off the 10 or so runners that I was ahead of before the loop. Well, for me it ain't an ultra if I don't get lost or add distance somewhere. At least it's only a 50k! I finished the loop coming back upon the aid station, thankful not to have been thrown off too much. At this point, I came upon Martin, who was doing very well, moving along, apparently with plenty of time in the bank to choose the 50k option. After this point, you begin to approach the marathoners, so from here on, it was just a matter of passing folks on the single track. Around mile 26 or so, I came upon the "peepmania" aid station, where the main course was peeps (the little marshmallow kind). You knew this was coming because for the 2 or 3 miles before, there were a number of signs with a peep theme. At this aid station, I avoided the peeps, but loaded up with Coke and some chips. The aid station crew told me it was about 10k to go. I was happy to know a distance and I then started to watch my GPS and count the miles down. With about 4 miles to go, I came across Melissa, who was doing just fine and I ran with her a bit. She wasn't happy with her race, but, really she had to be conservative for tomorrow. I went on my merry way because it was now time to have this race end. I've had enough. I had picked up the pace a bit to minimize the rest of the time I would have to spend out there. With about 3 miles to go, I came upon the 3rd place woman, who was doing quite well, but not interested in pushing the pace. She stayed close behind because she finished not too long behind me. I counted down the miles from the aid station and just longed for that one mile to go point. It happens to be where you leave the trail and head out on a dirt road where everyone was parked. This road lasts forever. You just keep going with no sign of the finish, just wondering if you're going in the right direction. My only solace was my GPS which was still within the 10k "promised" to me. Sure enough, the finish line appeared, 6.23 miles from that aid station! I was none too disappointed to be done with the race! 5:11 - certainly not my best 50k time, but nonetheless a decent day. Lots of good food afterwards, and even a hat! Then to follow that, they drove us the mile back to the car! Never had so much for $20. I would certainly do this one again. Oh yeah, for those desiring the GPS/HR data, here it is (GPS crapped out for about 40 minutes so the total distance is short, but it's mostly there): http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5073945

great report, Jesse. Enjoyed it. What you got against Peeps? Keep going, man. You're doing awesome things as usual. --Jimmy

Nuthin' against peeps at all. But now that my stomach works in ultras, I don't want to mess with it! Just like I love peanut butter cups (I eat them in 1000 calorie batches). But I'll never touch 'em during the race even though they're out at a lot of ultras!

Hey Bill, Nice job. Just take your time. If you have the patience, you will improve gradually without really trying. I have found lots of runners who run PR's after 8-10 years of running. I won't tell you what happens after over 3 decades of running. Are you going to run Springtime Tallahassee 10K? I plan on "fun running" it. I am still basking in my BQ effort from 2/3/08. Again, super job. Nick

nice job, havanrnr! Great to see such good results. After some trial and error, you'll learn how to pace yourself.

Jesse, That was a great read. Great race. Congratulations on the 1st place. Thanks for posting. You always make me laugh in a Karno-eating-a-whole-cheesecake-at-mile-165-sort of way. I think you could have gone faster if you would have tapered for 12.25 miles the day before, instead of 12.5. You have to learn to do it right! Thanks for leading the way in the no-carb during a marathon experiment. Keep going! --Jimmy

Nice RR's Havanarnr and FF! Jesse, you are still using your 305....is the battery dying prematurely, or just losing signal and getting "bad" data?