The Semi-Short and Sweet

Where's the fireroads?

I got my behind whooped by a lot of people yesterday, some of them friends. I in turn passed on the good deed and kicked some behind of my own:) en route to a PR on the course. But as mentioned, this was my first 50-miler and I had not run it since. I've come a long way since then and it would have been incredibly disappointing had I not beaten my old time. What I am ecstatic about is that I finished faster than I hoped. After an honest appraisal of my current shape, I predicted a 9:30-10 hour finish. I wasn't going to repeat my blow up at the Big Kahuna Tri with more unrealistic expectations. I crossed the finish line at around 9:12ish ( I forgot to turn off my timer after I crossed the finish line, exact results will be posted later). Considering I'm 5 pounds heavier and on a pared down training schedule I was more than happy. Moreover, I finished in excellent shape, it did mean however that I could have gone harder. I've come back from shorter training runs feeling a lot worse. I was overly cautious for the first half and on the second half my heart maxed out before my legs did. I was "redlining" from miles 40-47, running at lactate threshold and loving it but my heart couldn't keep up. When I crossed the finish line I felt great overall. I was able to run the 100yds to the car with no discomfort and this morning they feel fine. I could go a run today if I wanted to...but I won't:) Today will be a walk to the edge of the bay to watch the air show and the last show of the Blue Angels for Fleet Week. Lot's of walking and hanging out.

I'm very happy with my finish and my excellent condition after the race. In retrospect I could have gone harder, could've started attacking the course a lot sooner but overall I came away with a time that was much faster than I expected. Since my body feels so good I can go right back on training for my last race, the Quad Dipsea, without any downtime. I'll be a little slower for a few days but nothing more than that. Only one blister! After experiencing 16 at Western States, I'm pretty confident I can bully this one to do what I want.

The trails on this race were awesome. With a name like Firetrails you would think it was mostly fire road, nope. Lot's of beautiful, tree lined, soft single track - the type you encounter in Marin. The course was extremely well marked. 8000+ total elevation gain. Excellent post race bbq with enough picnic tables for tired runners to sit on. Chikara Omine won the race with a 6:54 beating his time of 7:04 from last year. Ultra legend and race director Ann Trason personally handed me my goodie bag at the finish, as she did for all the finishers - unbelievable.

Full report and ramblings later. As well as pictures.