The Umstead marathon is a doozy. It's not an ultra which is more of a doozier, but it's pretty tough.
My goal was to beat my 2016 time, which I thought for most of the training was 3:53. A couple days before the race I looked up the results and saw I actually ran a 3:48. Whoops. I adjusted my sneakers a little bit and tried to stay focused. Could I do it? Would I do it? The tension was palpable. You could cut it with a banana.
The weather was perfect, in the 40s and 50s, and the crowd was only missing 3 of the 200 enrollees. They got a quiet boo for not showing up. We started. We ran. A couple buddies I had influenced into running took off immediately. I followed my plan. My plan was to not hurt and stay relaxed as long as possible. We ran the trails. We came out of the trails. I passed a couple people. A couple people passed me.
Then it was high five time.
I felt pretty good and kept it rolling through the miles. There is a nasty downhill uphill section from mile 22 to 24 that I stayed even on despite the discomfort.
I finished, in a 'race' to the finish with a 50 year old. He beat me. Then some youngster sprinted by as well. But my time was 3:45.45. Yay for me!
In training I only did a couple 20 milers at an easy pace, but having run several marathons and knowing that the final miles hurt whether you run, walk, or crawl, I pushed through and held steady.
This weekend I will trot at a medium pace in the Tobacco Road half-marathon, having never done it before. I feel reasonably well recovered from the marathon but not full force 100%. Then a few sprints:
Sampson County Super sprint
White Lake sprint
TBD through summer
I'll finish with the B2B (NC 70.3) half. Biking has definitely been in the backseat.
I'd post more about the family and Bri's excellent Ironman training, but I don't want to right now.
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