Greenbelt 50k might be a week after Bear Mountain 50 Miler, but it's only a short trip away, AND not too far from my parents (Okay, so it's probably not THAT close, not that much further than to my house....), why not? Good trails, fun times, let's do it!
I got out there and the skies were grey and we thought, "Maybe the weather will hold out?" They were predicting rain. Lots of it. And just before we started, it began to rain. Yuck. Rain=chafing. And grossness.
I was wondering as I ran, at how I smelled so hideous. Why did the rain make me smell horrendous? UGH.
The course is a lot of fun - you do a short out and back on roads - about 2 miles. Then you do two out-and-backs on this nice trail. It's fairly runnable - lots of short steep ups and downs, lots of roots, some road crossings (including the annoyingly busy Jericho Turnpike), but pretty, single-track, lots of flowers in bloom, green bushes everywhere, and a nice view of the Sound when you get far enough north. Three aid stations, fairly basic, but with those delicious butter cookies you get in those blue tins. YUM! I'll run faster with those in my belly!
I started out pretty hard, 8 and 9 minute miles, feeling good. The hills can kick your butt, and with the rain, some were a lot slicker than I would've liked. I got lost twice early on, losing a few minutes, but what's a few minutes in a 50k? A few extra minutes FUN!
I was pouring sweat in the gross rain and humidity and feeling pretty disgusting. I kept my food intake low - I had 5 gels and a bunch of those delicious butter cookies and a small bit of watermelon.
When I went out for my second out-and-back, it began POURING. Raining cats and dogs and rhinos, as I like to say. I joked with passing runners, "I forgot my lifevest," and "Nice day for a swim." It was miserable and I grew cold and worried I'd get cold. But then it stopped and everything began to be a lot better.
Crossing Jericho Turnpike SUCKED. I ended up dancing as I ran across, partially bc I had Madonna's "Hung Up" in my head, partially because I was hoping if I danced, the cars might stop.
They did.
The last few miles I hammered it. I WANTED TO BE DONE. I ran on the roads to get to the finish, pushing like a maniac. There were cars, but I was finishing.
And then I did...across the finish line. Quite a bit slower than last year, but my PF was hurting a lot, and my asthma sucked every uphill....so keeping a fast pace was really hard. Or as fast as I wanted.
I baby-wiped it up, and put deodorant and lotion and a change of clothes on. And then I really lived it up Long Island-style...I spent the afternoon shopping w my mom (who was there to cheer me on at my finish) at a giant mall named after a poet. FUN!
1 comment:
I think the cars would have gone out of their way to run me over if I tried to dance my way across Jericho Turnpike. ;-)
Great race Cherie, as always. :-)
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