I just spent some time taking in the crisp mountain air and beautiful scenery. About halfway down Gashouse I had to hop into the woods to take a crap and then kept going at a nice easy pace. That was sort of the theme of the run, nice and easy, get to the finish feeling like you could go out and do it again. The loop out around on the Colorado Trail and then back to FS Road 543 was excellent rolling singletrack in shady trees. Something I did was try to eat some flavored gels because I think I've been stuck in a rut with my eating habits and tried some new stuff. I got to say I was surprised how well it went. The chocolate mint GU was especially surprising and tasty in the cold, it was like Christmas. Also, ate some CarbBOOM! gels which were awesome. They have real fruit in them, the apple was the best, and watermelon was worthy as well.
No Gatorade, just water, gel, and an endurolyte. The rolling climbs were really fun on the way back and sort of wished I could just stay out all day running. I never had an energy lull or a "bad patch" and came through the NF50K finish in 5:16:24 then did about a 10 minute cool down through the picnic tables along the river. Checking the site, that would have been good for the win at this year's race but I think the heat was a factor there. Still, I never pushed it at all and think that a strong CR there would probably be well under 4 hours. If Timmy Parr could run Sageburner in 3:46, he could do it here, it's a much faster course. I think it'd be fun to do the 50K next summer, but we'll see.
In short, it was a great day. Loving this weather. Oh, and The Town was awesome. When I come out of a movie with an urge to drop f-bombs, talk in a Boston accent, and quit my job to start robbing banks, it's a good one. Also, it has become apparent that Ben Affleck should never be allowed to be in a movie that's not about Boston in some way.
7 comments:
Nice job cruising the course easy in a solid time! It was definitely hotter the day of the race, but you would have won it that day too...it wasn't a competitive field. I totally bonked and was laying on the side of the trail and still finished 10th. I think you're right that a really competitive time on that course would be under 4. It's a fun course...I may do it again next year too...we'll see.
Gartside, the guy that won the 50K last year, is a roadie and was out for a hot training run that day. Former CEO over at Newton Running (and an Evergreen-er). I too ran the course once...but on a nice, cool April day. Great place to put in some miles. All runnable...scenic and many options for extensions (or way to cut it short).
Hey, where did you get the Carb BOOM gels? Online? They sound good. I'm trying the EFS liquid shot right now. It works so far, but it's thicker than I thought it was going to be. They only have one flavor (vanilla) and I don't think I can use it exclusively for an entire race.
Aaron- Thanks, sounds like it was a rough one, I was on the course the weekend before the race and it was wicked hot.
Jim- Interesting, damn roadies ;) I think the course might be close to as fast as Greenland, but 100 times better. Yeah, you could (and I'm thinking) do a REALLY long run without overlapping much. I've got to look at the map, but I might do my long run out there in two weeks, 40ish night/morning mix. Like a 2am start.
Woody- CarbBOOM gels were at the Roost. I think you'd like them, really liquid, even more so than GU gels. I was all over the place with flavors, and I think that helped my stomach not get sick of them, though I only had 2 CarbBOOM's and I was jonesing for more.
Okay - the weather is nice, but I am starting to feel sinful. We need water from the sky.
GZ- Yeah, that area is proof of that, some of the trail reminds me of the scene in The Lion King when Simba runs in with Scar and the Hyenas. Soon enough, looks like this week is the start.
Very cool to see you like the trails out there. I was thinking about doing the 50K there next year though the Dirty 30 might win out as my training race next year.
Let me know if you want to hit up another midweek night run.
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