Sunday, May 11, 2008

Runnning Hard at Quicksilver 50

To all Moms out there, Happy Mother's Day!

What's 2 minutes and 53 seconds in the course of a 50-mile run? Takes me longer than that to make coffee in the morning. I was on pace for my time goal until miles 31 to 35. It was our last major climb of the day and I fell 10 minutes behind schedule. I made up some of the time however by mile 45 I knew I wasn't going to make it. I came through the finish line at 8:02:53. So close! Now I have to come back another year to try and break through that 8 hour barrier. On the other hand I dropped my personal best for the race and the 50-mile distance overall by 28 minutes. The time to beat was 8:31, the goal was under 8.

I am more sore now than any of the events that I've done this year. Next time I'll share with ya'll my race strategy, hatched in the first few miles. It will make some of you shake your head. Someone might say "stupid", I'd like to go with "gutsy". Haha, sometimes I make myself laugh. I laughed yesterday and I'm still laughing today.

Quicksilver 50-miler
8530ft. Total Elevation Gain / Same for loss
Lots of fire roads and it can be warm.
8:02:53*
10th Overall, 9th Male.

*A new personal best for the 50-mile distance.

My friend Helen also had a great time and finished her first 50k at 7:09. I was never really worried. She had done an Ironman a couple of years ago. I knew that when push came to shove she was going to put her head down and crank those miles.

For the photoset (11 images).

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"No I'm not gonna hold the award for you, people might think it's mine. Ok c'mon here we go." With Carrie Sisk at the finish. Picture's a little dark but so are we after another day in the sun.


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Mark Tanaka and family. Much respect for the athletes who have families and still find the time to practice and race, man thats dedication. Mark's the defending champ at Kettle Morraine and was 4th in yesterday's race.



15 comments:

  1. WHOOOO HOOOOO CONGRATS on the PR! Don't worry homie you'll get that sub 8 ;D ;D

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  2. A PR by 28 minutes
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Sandbagger, about time u stepped up- Haha

    Congrats Again Rick, recover well my friend!

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  3. Congrats!!!! Awesome race!! I am eagerly waiting this strategy!! So close to that goal, you will get it next time!

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  4. I forgot to answer you that it was about 90 when I was out running last night. We are hitting highs of 95-100 right now. Still cool. ;>P But as you know it's all relative.

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  5. 28 minutes is huge, especially when you had such an awesomely fast time to begin win. That sub 8 is in the bag. Congrats on the wonderfully run race.

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  6. WHatever your strategy was, I'd say it worked very well. Sweet PR.

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  7. Anonymous10:27 PM

    Yahooooooo! Way to go with that PR!!

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  8. Wow, way to go on setting a new PR...and absolutely blowing away your old PR! Rick, that is excellent. Congratulations to you. I can't wait to hear what this race strategy was!

    I hope your are recovering nicely!

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  9. Holly cow, Ricko, I got no words to say...shit, what happened to my friend? When did you become a super-star??? It is a great pleasure to see you rising above and beyond, truly amazing:) Congratulation!!! Those of us who know what 8,000 feet of climb in 50M is - know what the hell your accomplishment means. I am in owe.

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  10. Wow! You are getting fast these days, Rick! That is an awesome time for any course, and this was a tough one!

    SD

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  11. Rick,

    I ran with you for exactly 5 minutes and you stated "I like to start slow" . I know now what you mean! What a phenomenal time!! Congratulations.

    Rajeev

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  12. That's fantastic! You'll get down to the 7's in no time, I'm sure. Congrats! : )

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  13. Yahooo...congratulations on the new PR! I'm a wee bit late with the greeting but I'm sure you're still on a high.

    P.S. Tell me your strategy if I do end up running ultras in the future

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  14. Once again, great job, even without cracking 8-- PR's that big normally only go to rookies. Heck, so many front packers dropped, so I think we should just be proud of being able to stick it out. Thanks for the family photo of us too. See you at the Backpack aid station Sunday (and thanks in advance for that too!)

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  15. (Another) great 2008 race Rick...congrats (PR), well done.

    Thanks for volunteering at Ohlone (though I'm guessing it's really just an excuse to rub elbows with Ann Trason & Carl Andersen).

    See you out there.

    Will G.

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