Paleface

This past Saturday was the Hells Hills 50 mile, 50k, 25k and 10k.  Myself, my wife Misty and cousin Amanda ran the 10k.  I realized after our 10k two weeks ago that we did no warm up before the race.  Not a huge deal if you're running 25k or longer but starting a 10k cold isn't a great idea if you're really trying to race and do your best.  We arrived plenty early, did some easy running and I did a few easy bursts so I think we all felt good at the start.  The conditions were great, temperature was low 40's and clear skies.  The finishers awards were on a table at the start.  I looked at the Masters awards and made up my mind to do the best I could do to bring one of them home with me.

The race got under way and I saw at least 12-15 people ahead of me and I figured that a couple of the men were around the age of 50.  Oh well, just run my race and let things take care of themselves I thought, that's all I can do.  It felt so good to be running fast for a change.  The first few miles are the most challenging on the course, lots of short steep hills.  I mostly focused on maintaining a good tempo and not getting to excited or carried away with the pace.  About halfway through I figured I was running about a 1 hour race and that's how it turned out.  I felt like I gave it everything I had and ended up coming in at 1:01, good for 3rd Master.  I was very pleased with my time and effort but......I still want to run long.  I'm signed up for the Paleface half marathon next month.  The 2nd half of the year I'd like to have myself in position to do some ultra's.  Misty and Amanda had a great race too finishing in 1:11!!  They've only been running a few months too!!

I texted Mark L the Friday before the race asking him if he was ready for his 50 miler.  He replied back that he thought he was and asked if I wanted to pace him the last 16.7 mile loop.  I thought about it for a few minutes and told him yes I'd be happy to join him.  The only problem was the 4 hour wait time between my finish and his starting on his 3rd loop.  It turned out to be no big deal.  After Misty and Amanda left I took a short nap and then went on a tour of Smithville, the small town close to the race venue.  I lived there for about 18 months 23 years ago.  I drove through the neighborhood I lived in and took a tour through some old backwood country roads that I used to run.  I also drove out to the ranch where I used to work part time.  Lots of old memories reminded me of how quickly time passes and how much faster it will go.

Mark and I got out on his 3rd loop at the 8hr mark of his race.  I could tell pretty quickly we weren't going to be doing a lot of running.  A little disappointing but not that big of a deal.  A pacers job is to just be there for whatever encouragement his runner needs, reminding them to eat and drink regularly.  A runners brain can get a little coo coo during a long run and may need to reminded of very obvious things.  Mark and I shared some excellent conversation, mostly about running.  One of the the things we talked about is what keeps us coming back to these long races.  Mark had had a conversation with a non runner friend who assumed that our running was all runners high and gliding along in nirvana.  Mark told him that yes, sometimes that is the case but more often than not it's a lot of concentration and work.  He explained that we have a lot of training and racing miles in between those periods of blissful running.  He also told him that those moments are so exhilarating that that's what keeps us going between those periods.  When we line up for a race or a long run we're always hoping for that experience.

Mark and I had one of those experiences in the last mile Saturday.  As Mark and I got out on that last loop he told me all he really wanted was to hold onto his current place.  I think we were less than halfway when the runner that Mark wanted to hold off snuck up on us with his pacer.  As they eased past I whispered to Mark, "we'll get them later".  He said he really didn't care that much, his adductor on his right leg was bothering him.  Fast forward 3hrs.  We had about a half a mile to go.  We came around a corner and were about to get to the pond we had to circle when Mark yells out, "there's that dude"!!!  At first I didn't realize who he was talking about but then I saw the guys yellow shirt I knew it was fixing to be a race to the finish in the last half mile of a damn 50 mile race.  They didn't see us right away so we had a little jump on them.  The course goes around a small pond and through a small patch of trees.  When you come out of the trees it's a straight shot to the finish, mostly downhill about 200 yards.  When we got to the clearing they had about a 40 to 50 yard lead on us.  We were running our asses off, getting faster and gaining steadily on them.  I knew we were going to do it, it was mostly a matter of how close we'd be to the finish when we passed them.  I kept thinking about all the power hiking and how little running we'd done the last 16 miles and now to be giving it everything we had was pretty insane but we were doing it!!  We got closer and closer to them and finally passed them with about 30 yards to go.  By this time there weren't a lot of people still at the race but the ones that were there were on their feet, yelling and enjoying the show.   When we were getting pretty close to passing those guys Mark said very low under his breath while we were chugging, "this is one of those moments Mr".  He was right, this was one of those moments.  As we're nearing the finish line having passed those guys an old memory entered my mind.  In October of '99 Mark and I were part of the inaugural Marathon a Month club and had only known each other for several months.  We were entered in the Rocky Raccoon 50k.  It was the first of what would be many, many memorable events in Huntsville S. P. for me.  Mark and I ran the entire race together, two, 15k loops finishing in 5:05, still my 2nd fastest 50k and we finished 12th and 13th!!  What I was remembering at the finish Saturday was he and I holding hands at the finish in '99.  When we neared the finish Saturday I peeled off and let him run the last 20 yards across the finish alone.