Notes
Sunny, pretty warm, great day to run. Hot in the sun, but ok in the woods. This is the race we've been thinking about all year. Got there just before 9:00am to set up, I was the first one there. Bob Poirier helped me set up and he shared my canopy with me. Visited with the other runners, Billy, Bob, Steve Lapointe, Glen Gordon, Val, and George. Pretty big crowd but lots of empty spaces too. Started out wearing at tank top, hat and sunglasses, and water belt. Alternated between tailwind and water. 1st 3 laps were pretty easy, completed each in less than 50 minutes, which was plenty of time to eat a 1/2 of PB&J and some watermelon or apple slices. On the fourth lap, my nipples started to get sore and I knew I would have to switch to my back soon. So on the 4th lap I ran without a shirt. The 5th lap I put on a tech t-shirt and my pack with plenty of Glide. Felt ok. About a mile into this lap my right knee started to feel some IT band type pain and by the final mile it was getting pretty sore. Tried stretching out my stride and it felt better, so I ran hard the last 1/2 mile and it was good. Changed socks and put on my road shoes. Started out hard again, but knee was getting worse. Never got to the point where I had to stop, but the downhills were a struggle. Tried to keep the pace up but knew I wasn't going to get through 2 more laps. Stopped after 6. Top of my right calf just below the knee was really sore after. Hung out for awhile to support the other guys. Glen stopped after 6 too, for lack of training. Bob Poirier stopped after 5 for the same reason. Steve did great, 8 laps his longest run ever. Bob did 10 laps, his longest by far. Billy did 12, just over 50 miles, which was his longest. This was a really fun race. Wish I could've run in the dark, but not enough longer runs before the race. Need to get some of these in before next year.