Last winter I asked on here about if anybody thought it be possible for me to do a 50 K in a few months, everyone who responded was very encouraging and seemed to think it would no problem, and for that I say Thank You, as I never would have thought it would be possible by myself.

At the end of last year I had a pretty decent base of running, then I had a Mortons Neuroma cut out of my foot, took five weeks off. When I did start running again,I started slow and just took my time building back miles. It was around this time I found a horse trail through the woods that went off the rail trail I was on, and that's how I got hooked on trail running.

My training was setback by a pulled groin muscle I got  two weeks before the dirty german 25k in May. So I ran that race,  took three weeks off and started to build miles slow so as not to aggravate my groin, wasn't that easy as the groin still a bother all summer, but it's slowly getting better (I hope).

The concept of labor pains is simple, just run five mile loops, as much or as little as you like in 12 hours. My original goals for this race were just to have fun, and hopefully hit at least 26.2 miles, maybe 50k, and the stretch goal of 40 miles.

On race morning  it was 72° and 71 dew point. I lined up in the back of the pack so I won't start to fast and off we went. The course starts on a small road section, cuts through someones back yard then into the woods. After a mile or two it started to thin out a bit and I got into my pace, I was trying to keep my pace slow because its a long day. Around there I ran into AT runner (who I met earlier in parking lot) and ran with him for a while, just one of the many nice people I'd meet all day. I crossed the finish line in 1:01 miles 1-5.

Got a little something at aide station and off for second lap. On this lap I tried to walk more hills, and remember to have a gel halfway through and a S cap every 45 minutes.  Lap time of 1:02 for 5-10

I changed my sweat soaked clothes before this lap, but the sun was coming out so it didn't last. I started to walk a bit more as it was getting warmer, and just kept moving forward.  Miles 10-15 1:08

I would say the fourth lap was my most difficult of the day. It seems as though I ran most of it by myself, wasn't  anybody nearby talk to, so that meant I was in my head thinking too much. Thinking about all these damn rocks, how hot and miserable it is, how that damn race director has us running up all these trails, full of rocks, then we run down a nice smooth road go back into the woods only to go up some more rocky trails I twisted my ankle twice this section so that didn't help.About this time I was ready to clothes line a mt biker to steal their bike so I could ride home ( Actually the mountain bikers were all very polite and stayed out-of-the-way, I was impressed with their manners, not like the normal ones I run into).  I wasn't a happy camper at all!  I also noticed my left hand was really swollen and took an extra s cap, trudged my way to the finish line in 1:15 and decided it was time for a break. So I went to my car, got my ice cold flat mt dew, dipped a towel in cooler to cool off with and sat down for a bit, ate a few fig newtons (of the strawberry flavor) and after a bit I felt better, the hand swelling was down so I changed clothes again and set out for another lap.

On the 5th lap I felt so much better, everything was so much better, even my legs felt good, started talking to people again, and that helped time go much faster. At mile 21 i passed the distance PR for me. Twisted my ankle a third time, but wasn't to bad and I just carried on. Time of 1:14

Yea lap 6! Got something at the aide station, I left my watch in the car so I could just run and not look at it every minute,  and I was off. I just trucked right along, ran a lot more than in last few laps. I also finished my first marathon ( they had different distances marked) wasn't that exciting. Said my goodbyes to the different sections and was back at the start line, so now I just had to run out a half mile and back in. And that's what I did, crossed the finish line and I just ran my first 50K!

All in all it was a great day, even if it was 87* and 73 dew point when I got done! Meet some great people, ran into lace up at the one aide station, talked to extreme taper for a bit, ran with AT runner for a while and even ran with his DW for a while too. Ran with so many great people, always heard great job from people passing me or ones I passed, just simply awesome people running on the trails!

Two days latter I feel good, legs a bit sore and for some strange reason my shoulders are really sore, but over all I'm very happy with the run and starting to plan the next 50K!

Nice job, and congratulations on your 50k.  Glad we were able to meet up.

I think the humidity really got to most of us by the 4th or 5th lap.  I felt pretty good until lap 5 (on the long climb after the AS up toward the water tower).  My fingers were white and my head was pounding.  After that lap I sat down for a bit and then soaked under the shower to try and cool off.   My DW was going for 50k, but had a real rough time on lap 4.  She ended up with 26.2, and was happy with that since she's dome a few ultra's before.

erbur78 - Hope you enjoyed your anniversary.

Impressive indeed! I stepped outside Sunday morning and the humidity was just straight oppressive.  So for reaching a distance PR in that - congrats.

What's next on your radar? 50 miles????

Nice job, and congratulations on your 50k.  Glad we were able to meet up.

 

I think the humidity really got to most of us by the 4th or 5th lap.  I felt pretty good until lap 5 (on the long climb after the AS up toward the water tower).  My fingers were white and my head was pounding.  After that lap I sat down for a bit and then soaked under the shower to try and cool off.   My DW was going for 50k, but had a real rough time on lap 4.  She ended up with 26.2, and was happy with that since she's dome a few ultra's before.

 

erbur78 - Hope you enjoyed your anniversary.

Thanks! The "real" date is tomorrow, but LP will be an annual thing. Yours is Friday, correct?  Am I remembering 28 as the number of years you mentioned on Sunday?  Congrats!

Great job Muppy!!  You made quite the jump in distance here, no stopping at a paltry marathon, you went for the gusto!  Bravo!

Thanks everybody!

Erbur78, sorry I missed you there, and Morton's neuroma is just a bad nerve in the foot, when it swells up it feels like your stepping on a nail every step.

Jamie, I'm thinking about the Dirty German 50K in the spring, however if things go good maybe 50 mile!

Snowdenrun, now that I think about it, I was slouching a lot toward the end, so that's probably why shoulders so sore.

Congratulations!!! That is awesome.

My one thought on the sore shoulders. Were you carrying a bottle and you weren't used to that? If so, there is your pain.

Congrats on the run.  That loop format seems easy to back out early...nice job pushing through.