And I have some experience to support my belief. Last year I entered and finished an event called the PsychoPsummer 50k trail run in Kansas City. I'll keep the story short. I finished. I leave the story at that because the rest of the story would be about the near death experience I had last year when the temperatures reached triple digits with terribly high humidity (I exaggerate, I thought I was going to die but I really had a great time!). So obviously I couldn't wait to run it again this year.
Well this year came today. I'd nervously watched the weather all week long. Hoping that we wouldn't have another 100+ degree day like last year. Hoping the humidity would stay down. Hoping to have a partly cloudy, cool day. Well, I didn't exactly get all that, but I got a fairly nice July day. Some clouds, lower temperatures (high in the mid 80's), but pretty high humidity. Regardless of the weather, I was there in KC and ready to run.This event is great. Its a two-loop 50k. I consider this to be a very hilly course. It isn't terribly rocky, although there are some rocky sections. And it isn't terribly winding, although there are some winding sections. Its tough. And that is why I like it. As the race website says, this is not a sissy paved event!
We arrived fairly early from Topeka, where my wife and I had stayed the night before. Jennifer helped me pick up my packet, filed up water bottles and got set to run.
I started near the back. The first couple of miles had several long fairly steep climbs and descents. Pretty tiring, but I remember the first few miles of the course having some fairly long hills. So I was mentally prepared. I passed a few people on this section, but pretty much tried to hold a steady pace (my goal was to have 2 laps at around 3 hours each).After those few miles settled down, the race got fun. I consider the middle part of the course (miles 4-9)to be fairly fun. There are some very steep parts (those where you use all fours), but most of it is really cool trails (I have one favorite section where the trees completely cover the trail. Its like you are running through a tunnel). Some nice long descents to pick up the pace, and some nice long and windy ascents to keep things interesting. The aid stations at miles 5 and 9 were great sites and perfectly located and manned.
Miles 9-12 are pretty fast (considering how much fun the rest of the course is) as they were off the trails a bit. Other than one pretty long walking hill, most of this portion was very runnable. It was a nice break to start running again and hold it for 20 minutes or so.
After mile 12, we headed back to a windy section, and then into some really muddy sections. The last four miles seemed to take forever. Oddly, those last four miles were just as horrible on the first loop as they were on the second. So I really think those were tough sections, no matter if I was on mile 12 or 28.
I finished in 6:16 and some change. Turns out that I was 15th place out of 50. Not bad for me.
I really felt great when I finished. I joked with my wife after I finished that I could go another loop if I needed to. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to, especially if it meant that I had to go back through those last 4 miles of mud again. But I was trying to save my legs for another 25-30 miler tomorrow. So I think I paced myself fairly well. Just right, so that I had enough left for either another 15 today or 25 tomorrow. Yearly "marathon" update: 27 marathons down, 25 to go!
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