A 50K Closer...

The wind was howling and it was cold, cold, cold as I headed to Columbia for the Mid-Maryland 50K on Saturday.  I brought a bag filled with clothes, not completely decided on what to wear.  Sometimes being in the woods can really block the wind, and I didn't want to be too hot.  Then again, as I sat in the car before the start and watched the trees bend nearly to the ground, it didn't look like there would be much protection.  Luckily, we came through the starting pavilion 5 times, so wardrobe changes were easy.  The first 10K loop was not!  For some reason, everything felt hard. The ground was frozen and that seemed to extend right into my shoes and up my legs.  I felt as if nothing was bending right and I had cinder blocks on for shoes.

Warming up a little before I started running might have been a good idea, but the thought of moving from the pavilion (and my coat) didn't hold much appeal.  Thankfully, after the first mile and a half of open field, gale force winds and stinging cold, we moved to the woods, where indeed, the wind settled some.  There were still times when it sounded as if the trees above would just crack and land on my head, and in fact, I narrowly missed a chunk of ice that fell off one tree, but for the most part, the running in the woods was a welcome reprieve.  This course was 5 10K loops with a longer field area start, and I wondered how I would do with that.  Umstead is also loops and I have never done a loop course that repeats more than once.  After the first time, knowing that it is halfway over is a big mental break.  Here, after each return trip to the pavilion, I would still have 4-3-2-1 loops to go.  Surprisingly, it didn't bother me all that much.  I think that trails are wondrous in the fact that each time you pass, even if only an hour+ later than the previous time, everything looks and feels so different.  I know the footing sure changed.  What started as rock hard frozen brown ice transformed each time we came through, until the last loop, when it was sloppy, slick, mud soup.  Another aspect of this trail was the runnable nature - other than the mud, there was nothing preventing runners from going all out.  This is good and bad for me.  I have always known that climbing up and running down hills is much easier for me than continually running steady.  Although my garmin had the total elevation being just under 8000 feet, it was a series of little ups and downs that really didn't justify walking.  Slow running, maybe, but not an all out walk. I tried to make sure to take little breaks and stretch, and it must have worked since I am not at all sore today. I haven't seen my splits yet, but I think I probably ran my slowest split on the third loop, and my fastest on 1 and 5.    My watch (which stops when I do) had me running a few minutes faster than the actual finishing time, but it was still my 2nd fastest 50K, and not too shabby for having already run 30 miles in the preceding 4 days.  Bring on Hashawha!