What happened this weekend.. 02/14/2009-02/15/2009
Saturday:My Valentines Triathlon, Gavin’s Kids Duathlon, Gavins Birthday Party Train ride.
Sunday: Kimberlys Escape Triathlon, Kimberlys Birthday Celebration @ Disney.
V.day results..http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?orgID=216352&rsID=75109
I went out to Dade City & ran the Michigan based Dances with Dirt 50k run Saturday. It was chilly so I waited in my car for the start @ 7:30am. I sat there fueling up, staying warm, and all of a sudden I saw a big group run past me @ 7 am. I peaked out of the car & asked a spectator “what was that?” He told me it was my race. Phuck! Rookie mistake number one. I stripped quickly and off I went. I quickly made it thru the field by about mile 10.
I took some wrong turns & spent a lot time back tracking and even passing the same people twice. I was pretty bitter when I hit the second to last aid station & my garmin had 31 miles showing on it & asked the volunteer how much further I had and he said 3 or 4 miles. I would then run another four for the longest/toughest run of my life to date. Finished with 35.4 miles on my Garmin. Ran an additional 4.4 miles.
The course was well marked and I accept full responsibility for my wrong turns. It is just very hard to stay focused on a 31 or 50 mile one loop trail for that long. Also..some of the course was not true trails. It was running in the woods from hash (tree w/ a pink ribbon) to hash. I would run-stop-look for next hash-run-stop look for next hash etc..
Luckily I held on for the victory so I couldn’t beat myself up too much for all my mistakes. Here is a picture of my Alligator award I was given; very cool.
http://www.dwdgreenswamp.com/results/50kresults09.htm
Next up…the Valentines triathlon this saturday at Lake Louisa.
A week back, I went back to Alafia for the Florida Challenge Trail Run. Things started out ok but I soon realized I was way out of my league running in a group of six guys way out in lactate land in the front of the race. The first 3.5 is very technical & at the end of the section I had realized I had blown up. I started damage control at about mile 6 and realized I needed to slow way down. My buddy Tim Johnson passed me about mile 8 & made me feel like I standing still. Tim ended winning the Masters title & my wife Kimberly placed 3rd overall (women).
http://www.coolrunning.com/results/09/fl/Jan25_Florid_set1.shtml
Learned a bunch about my fitness level that day. This next weekend I have a 50k coming up on the Green Swamp Trails out in Dade City. I am curious to how intense these trails are. If they are anything like Alafia, I may have to rethink some strategy. I will keep you posted.
BTW…here is Gavin on my dream toy growing up..The Green Machine. Notice the foam block on the seat & the legos on the pedals.
KJG