AR 50 Week Fourteen

4/4-4/10

Finally, my last week of ultra training and race week. After 14 long weeks of early morning runs, good days and bad days, a few awesome races, some epic trail runs, and nearly 500 miles logged, AR 50 finally came and went. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget, full of fun, nerves, excitement, doubt, determination, pain (oh, the pain!), and elation after crossing that finish line after 11 hours, 29 minutes, and 38 seconds. The rest of the week I obviously took things easy and only ran once to keep the legs loose. Otherwise I tried to rest, hydrate, and relax as much as possible. Ironically though, this ended up being my highest weekly mileage ever (I guess 50 miles in one day can do that!).

Monday
4 miles, 10:12 avg pace. Easy afternoon run with my dad along the river. Warm day, but a nice breeze kept me comfortable. Starting to notice that allergy season is here - couldn't seem to get in a good, deep breath. Kept the pace easy and legs felt good.

Tuesday
Rest.

Wednesday
Rest.

Thursday
Rest. Had planned on doing another short, easy run to shake out the legs before Saturday, but woke up feeling exhausted so I decided to take the day off from work and running to really rest up for the big race.

Friday
Rest. Although trying to control my nerves and not freak out about running 50 miles almost felt like more work than a run!

Saturday
50 miles, 13:45 avg pace, AR 50. I think the word epic describes it best. Looking back two days later, it all seems surreal... did I really run 50 miles??? I did, I finished, and I'm still trying to make sense of it all. Hands down the hardest and most painful day of my life. Working on the race report, hope to have it up soon!

coming down the final stretch...

Sunday
Rest (obviously!). After a miserable night spent tossing and turning thanks to my aching body, I somehow managed to wake up pretty early to go spectate at a Fleet Feet race, Zoo Zoom. My dad was signed up for the 10k, while my mom (fresh off her beginner's running program) was doing the 5k. Although I looked like a cripple and was still in a lot of pain, it was great to be out there cheering everyone on. I saw a couple speedy coworkers place in their AG, got to see my mom finish her second 5k with a big smile, and cheered my dad on as he smashed his previous 10k time. Very proud of both of them, and glad that running has become something we can share as a family. While it was fun spectating, it also made me really want to race a 5k and 10k!

Total: 54 miles