All I can say at this point is . . . . . . I FREAKING FINISHED!!!!!!!
Details later . . . . .
I thought of you guys A LOT out there. You were definitely with me the whole time. Now I gotta get cleaned up so we can start the long drive home.
Love you -
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
Top 'O the World!
Queen of 3rd Place
582 finishers out of 622 starters at AR50, one of those finishers being our own Leslie - woot!!! Way to go! Total badassery!!! Hope you get some good rest now!
Waitin' on Joe.
Ex runner
jfa
Awesome Leslie !! You did it kid!!
I had a lot of fun on my trail race but that's nuthin. FIFTY friggin miles!!!
Trails are hard!
Need a fast half for late fall. Then I need to actually train for it.
Ultrachick
Yay, Leslie!!!! You made it....and lived to tell the tale...which we are wating to hear
And Joe, don't think for one minute that you are going to get away with not telling us more about the race that came to your hotel!
Leslie, we are all so proud of you........
50 miles, and you finished! Rest up and then fill us in!
Let's go Joe.......how was your trail race?
Jewels
Oh alright , while we're waiting for the main attraction....
My first trail race, as Carol pointed out, arrived just outside my hotel room door at 9am yesterday morning. Crisp Mass morning, temps in the high 30's with a westerly breeze that didn't feel like much going into it on the 'out ' ,but it was nice having it at our backs on the way back. I'm supposed to be tapering for next weekend so I started at the back third of a pack of about 200 souls anxiuos to play in the mud . About a half inch of rain fell through the night, so it was pretty sloppy. I did ok but saw at least 3 folks take diggers and go down. Helped one guy up who was kind of slipping down towards the river. Made an early attempt to keep the feet dry, but that didn't last long. As Kevin could testify, the Merrimac River is probably a quarter mile from one side to the other. The race is on a single track trail that goes right on the shoreline most of the way. It's not too hilly for the majority, but climbing the power lines around mile 4 and 6 was a real chore. It's pretty much walk or else, it's that steep.You can view the course here.
I had been passed by a few on the way out, but passed by none on the way back. You have to pick your spots to pass and at one curve, I pulled a cool Apolo Ohno move and ditched 4 at once. Ran the last two miles the fastest and held out for a decent time of 1:41:16 for a 10:03 average pace. Last two were 9:11 and 8:56. Some photogs out there and I found this one -
It was a great crowd of folks and the RD had prizes of Apple Pie for the FOA females and male finishers, and his sister's Banana Bread for the second place finishers, It was quite nice to be able to go up to the room right after and get cleaned up for the ride home.
Overall ,it was a lot different than any road race I've run and certainly something to think about for the future.
Now, as far as doing that for 50 miles, over really really big hills, well that my friends,must be pretty darn tough.....
flatland mountaineer
Cool pic Joe, sounds like you had fun!
Congrats Leslie if you didn't see it from me on the old thread already, looking forward to hearing all the details!
easy 11 for me today
The whole world said I shoulda used red but it looked good to Charlene in John Deere Green!!
Support Ethanol, drink the best, burn the rest.
Run for fun? What the hell kind of recreation is that? quote from Back to the Fut III
Very nice race, Joe! Sounds like you're all sharpened up for your marathon, and had some fun in the process. The pic is good too, except for that shirt you're wearing .
Speaking of football, have to admit I got a little teary eyed when they imploded TX Stadium. It's one of those things that's just always been there.
Beautiful weekend here, so I did some serious yard work on Saturday, and my hamstrings are still paying for it. Did get out for a Katy run yesterday, and about to see if another one will loosen things up a bit.
Speaking of hoping things will loosen up....waiting to hear from Leslie about her adventure.
Joe - nice pic and sounds like a really fun day for you. Nice work over the last two miles, especially considering the hills at the end - hope your quads aren't too beat up today! I had to dig a little to find the course, here
Hope Leslie got some good rest! Poor thing is probably at work!
Jim - good to hear that you're having an easy time with those long runs, you know you wouldn't have to do all that much more to be ready for the Las Vegas full in December....
Ev - should be enjoying your taper, funny how those weekend runs seem so short!
Carol - you have to post yard work as cross-training, don't forget..
Went out for 8 yesterday, should have done 6, the last two were hard - but, darn it! I was sick of letting being sick get to me! Going for a more reasonable 5 today.
Arla
MTA - oops, I see the hills were in the middle for Joe's race, not at the end. Still...tough course.
Beginner all over again
Hi everyone,
I'm going to try and join your 40s50s60s weekly threads. Nice to Meetcha'all
I have my first HM in a couple weeks.
I'm at my 1-year walk/jogging mark here, and I'd been super sedentary for a full decade prior so I'm happy with my progress
I'm still slow (age grade 40%) and just trying to keep on exercising and avoid injury, so I don't mind being slow and I like avoiding injury
I'm going to spend the next 50 weeks training for a Full Marathon so I'll be Logging slow basebuilding mileage for most of the year. I will keep the training log here on RA.
Great Going, Leslie and Joe -- congrats on your races, and I enjoyed reading about i!