It has been a couple of days since the toughest race I have run to date. After the initial shock of DNF and missing the cutoff time, being a annoyed that I didn't get credit for the 50K. Which I have gotten over and totally understand. My toes are still numb. I need to realize it was a tough race, tough conditions on a tough course. I probably held back a little too much, but it was tough and there is not much that I could of changed.
Going to race with Scott was great, I can learn a lot about running tough trial courses from Scott Martin. He picked me up at 79th and Broadway at 5:!5 am. Then we drove up to Millborn, NJ. Stopped at the library and it was a little confusing were to park. We went over the race site, where Rick and Jennifer were doing packet pickup. The best packet pickup of my life, I just had to give my first name. Nothing like it. They put on some great races, and are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. After packet pick up Rick called the local cops to see where to park, he told everyone to park at a certain section of the train station.
As the race got closer, everyone was putting there stuff where they could access it easier after each loop. It was great seeing Mark who i met at the trail mixer a couple of weeks ago. He had a great reace coming in third. That is where I met Cheryl, whom I have heard a lot about. Took some pictures of the start and then headed off. It was icy at first, and I was glad I had my ice spikes. They made the footing a lot easier. Then there were the spots with no ice, they were muddy. The race was picking up, a lot of up hills on the first section. It was also strange running without the Garmin 405, because I was trying to save battery life.
The course was pretty neet, two sections that were tough running. A few runnable sections, a lot of ice and a lot of mud. After the first loop I was feeling good, took my pants off and just went with my shorts. I lost a couple of minutes, but think I caught up with time pretty quickly on the second loop. I caught up to the woman from the DC area i met and her boyfriend and passed them pretty comfortably for a while. They finally passed me near the end of the race. I guess the third loop is when it seemed the course was getting muddier, slicker, and the paint showing the directions were starting to fade. I was trying to keep in eye distance of the guy I nicknamed "the navigator" at Mountain Madness. I ran with the Navigator till the end, when I reached the finish line. Rick told me I was done, and had a DNF. I was told I could run 42, but I would still have DNF. Since this was my first DNF, not on my own call. I was a bit shocked, saddened. But I couldn't of done better and didn't have the will to go run a another 3 hours on that course. Decided to partake in some of Rick's beer and cheer on the rest of the finishers. Hell a good shirt, and a pint glass not too bad. Rick puts on great races and I will be back for the Ultra Fest next month. I should of signed up for the 50K after, realizing it took Carol who runs close to a 3 hour marathon 14 hours to win the 60K in the spring on the same course.
Overall Febapple 50 was a great time, great course, very technical and very tough conditions. Great training for Umstead 3 30plus mile runs, 3 weeks in a row not bad training.
