I was in the wave that started early at 5 AM in the morning. The temps were a bone chilling 19 degrees. Fortunately, the weather did heat up to a snowman sweating high of 37 degrees by the afternoon. Thank you Carolyn in CO for sharing how you layer up in this cold weather. I wore nearly everything you described and was just right for the entire race.
I had e-met a very nice woman through a mutual friend and we had decided to do the appalachian trail (AT) section of the race together. This made up the first 15 miles of the race. Most of this leg was either up hill, very rocky, or both. It’d be a safe we hiked about 75% of this. I saw the most beautiful sunrise while we were on top of the mountain while doing the AT. I wish I would have had a camera phone so I could have taken that picture to share with this report.
At mile 15 we came down and off of the AT and met our crews for the second time. I’m going to take a moment and say my crew was absolutely amazing. They had my shoes waiting for me to change into and a drink of some yummy Acceleraid for me to drink. (BTW, the drink in my camel back had frozen in the drinking tube so I went about 6 miles without a drink).
The next 26 miles were on the C&O canal tow path. Most people hate this part as they think its sooooo boring. From my perspective it was anything but boring. I loved every mile of this section. The path was decorated with incredible birch trees with their bright white bark and the river was always to the left of us providing such nice scenery.
I picked up my first handler Susan at mile 27. Thank Goodness! The scenery was brilliant but my own company is dull. It was so nice to have someone to talk to. She kept me well distracted with corny jokes about the lone ranger and tonto, she told me stories about anything and everything. The next thing you know it was mile 38 and time to switch handlers. My next handler, Maria, was just as wonderful. We traded corny jokes (of course I stole Susan’s jokes and passed them on as my own) and Maria would start singing songs from 80’s. I joined in with my squawking goose of a singing voice and **poof** we are off the tow path and back onto pavement heading to the finish line.
OK, I’ve got to say I HATED this section of the race. It’s cold, my camel back has frozen up again and after 42 miles of progression there are what was described as rolling hills. OK, rolling hills? My tushie! I was reduced to a walk the last 6 miles or so. I was so ticked off about this that my walk became a super sonic speed walk. (I didn’t know that I had that in me). About ¼ mile from the finish line the rest of my crew Charlie and Susan were waiting for me. Seeing them there was actually more emotional for me than crossing the finish line. We ran in together and I finished in 13:29:53.
I’ve read that you learn a lot about yourself on races like this. I guess it is true. I learned how incredibly lucky/fortunate/blessed I am to have so many wonderful people in my life. I might have been the one that crossed the finish line but there were so many people that helped make it possible. The first big thanks of course goes to God who gave me the strength and ability to go the distance. Another big thank you to my friends, co-workers, and folks I’ve never met except on the internet who have consistently given me such positive feedback during my training. A special thanks to the ladies who ran the race with me to ensure I didn’t slow down too much and miss the cut offs. A very big thank you to my very good friend Charlie (who often gets mentioned in this blog as Elvis) who was my crew chief during the race and made sure my ladies were where they were suppose to be when I arrived at each meeting spot. More than that however, it was Elvis that first believed that I could do a 50 miler….even before I did. One final thanks goes to my hubby who doesn’t understand why I want to run 50 miles but has still given up every Saturday morning to watch the kids so I can do my long runs.
The picture below is me and "the crew". Susan, Maria, me, and Charlie.
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