Notes
GCI 50k - having an 8 week old, I haven't put a very large priority on training for the past few months (although the past few weeks have been starting to come along) so I knew I wouldn't be mixing it up with the front runners for very long. I also know my personality, though, and that I'd want to run up front with folks for at least a *little* bit, so the strategy was stick to the leaders for the first 5k loop, stop and get some watermelon from my cooler and let them get away a bit, and then run slower the rest of the way. Followed that strategy pretty closely. I was the first to the 5k mark at 21:04, and then ran each 4 mile loop at a slower pace that progressively slowed down: 28:49, 29:21, 31:58, 35:06, 36:19, 33:24, 35:51. A lot of my early loops were run with Ty until he fell off pace a bit but that was around the time I started lapping people so I got to slow down and chat with folks on the course for a minute or two at a time. Late in the race, I knew Amanda would be catching me soon, so I took a slightly longer break at the start of the second to last loop for her to catch up and then ran that loop with her. We thought she'd have the win at the first turnaround; at the second I turned to her and said, "Yeah, you need to pick up the pace now." Erica Zornig absolutely blew away the last 3 loops which earned her an almost 50 second win. Both races were fun to watch; The Canadian Daves ran very consistent races while everybody else seesawed ahead of and eventually behind them. The usual GCI shenanigans and lobster bake took place after the race, and I discovered that despite applying sunscreen 3 times that I had a really bad sunburn on my shoulders and back (but my singlet provided plenty of protection from the sun at least.) Good time, good friends, can't wait for next year.