Notes
Cloudy and cool, no wind, great conditions to run. Ran the 5th leg as usual. When I started we were in 3rd place, the rest of the team did awesome! Almost forgot my bib and had to run back to the car and get it before Bob P. got back. Then when he did get back I realized I didn't put my watch on, so Bob ran back to get it. Lost some time there but it didn't matter. Started out feeling good. Left hip was a little sore but came out of it after a couple miles. Probably went out a little too fast, but wanted to stay ahead of the 4th place guy. My quads already felt tired as I went right past the Middle Earth aid station. When I got to Bradford intersection my quads dead. Once I got into to the hills, it just finished them off. My legs were toast by the time I go to Conant. Took some water there, but didn't stop long. Headed back running pretty slow. Took 2 S-caps. I also had a GU about every 50 minutes to go with the Tailwind in my bladder. All the way back was pretty brutal on my legs. My goal became to not trip and fall. So in the dark with nothing left in my legs, it was painfully slow. At about mile 12 the 4th place guy finally blew by me. I saw lots of solo runners with pacers and some relay people, some were Lap 4 runners. I ran as much as I could, walking the technical sections, running some hills but not the steep ones. I picked my way down the down hills, very slow. At about 2 1/2 hours I noticed my Knuckle light didn't seem to be putting out much light. I got out my other one and wow, what a difference. Finally made it back to the Bradford intersection which was a bit of mental boost. My mood was always positive and my energy was good, just no legs to go with it. I did hear some owls, loons, and peepers. The weather was perfect for me. When I got to Middle Earth I stopped to have some water. The volunteers thought I was flying when I came by the first time. Oh well. My right hamstring started to get a little crampy so I took my other 2 S-caps. Then I headed for the Homestead. At this point I figured I had almost 2 hours to go as I was at a 15 minute pace. I ran up as many hills as I could, then I realized it was faster to power hike. I took my last GU as I was starting into Homestead. I had to walk the beginning technical section and the 5th place runner went flying by. I saw a headlamp coming down the hill from Fox Run and they were now right behind me. When I got to all the rocks I normally bypass, I lost my balance and almost fell. On the other side I let the solo runner pass. It was a girl who was moving really well. It was a little embarrassing that someone who had already run 72 miles was moving faster than me. She had a smart strategy I decided to keep up with her. She was walking the hills and technical stuff but running the smooth stuff. I saw Sam and Craig heading out for their last lap and then Bucky. On Porcupine I ran into Jasmine and Billy starting his last lap. I stopped to chat with them for a bit and told them about my legs. I can't believe she came back to pace him, crazy! In the meantime the girl got way up ahead on Harrington Path. I decided to chase her down the best I could as I was moving a little faster when running. I finally caught her a little ways before getting back on the ATV trail. I pulled up beside her and we ran together chatting a bit. We finished together and I wished her luck on her last lap. I never saw her face or her bib number or even her name. The guys were cheering me on at the finish, which was really cool. I felt bad keeping them there so long but not much I could do. We didn't stick around too long, it was late and getting cold.
So this was a fun day seeing all the runners and hanging out with the crew. It was good up to the time I had to run.
Not totally sure what happened, I knew I was not trained up as well as I normally am but didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. I think it was a combination of being in the middle of the outage, running around handling the Turbine guys, getting called at 1:00am Thursday and spending 2 hours on the phone with the Motorman and never really going back to sleep, then being up all day race day. I'll have to figure it out for next year.
Gear: UA compression shorts, shorts, Nike long T, headband, water pack with Tailwind, ate 4 GU's. A cup of water at each aid station, except Middle Out.