It's taken me nearly a week to finally clear all the mud off of me from last Saturday's Seneca Creek 50k, which turned out to be a 34 miler, but who's counting? We endured some really crappy weather last week and there was a brief period when the race site had even mentioned cancelling the event. This notion made me a little anxious because this was not only my first race of the year but an important part of my Vermont training.
I left my place at 5 a.m. Saturday morning with a cup of coffee, a nutella and peanut butter sandwich, and a cooler full of beer, chocolate milk, and coconut water. All but the beer were consumed sometime throughout the day whether it was during the race or afterwards. The beer would wait until much later.
The race started shortly after 8 o'clock just as the rain had stopped. It seemed that within 15 minutes of running we were crossing the first of many water crossings and then we sloshed through miles of ankle deep mud and water. My feet were completely wet the entire time, but no blisters!
The course was very similar to that of the Stone Mill 50 miler which I ran last November so a lot of it wasn't stored too deep in my memory. I feel that I ran a fairly decent race. I did good with pace and did a pretty decent job with nutrition. I made sure that I was taking in salt on the :50's and then had a gel on the hour. I also ate my share of all the great food at the aid stations.
My only low point during the race fell somewhere between miles 26 an 28. I decided to take a couple walk breaks, take some extra salt, and have a small pity party. It wasn't long after that I caught up to two runners who were both running new distances, this was their longest race. It was fun running with them and hearing why they loved trail running and how excited they were to cross the finish line. I left them with some encouraging words and picked up my pace a little. It wasn't too much longer that I was crossing the finish line myself, grabbed a chair, and watched the rest of the runners cross the line.
I really enjoyed the Seneca Creek 34 miler. I ran a pretty good race and it's nice to see that consistent hard work is finally starting to pay off. I loved watching the runners that finished behind me cross the finish line. It's so fun to watch how proud people are, to watch someone cross the line and almost feel the closure. Everyone that crosses the line has a different reason and a different purpose. For me this time it's all part of the puzzle, part of my ultimate goal. My life now is incredibly great and indeed my own puzzle pieces are slowly falling into place. I am at peace in so many different ways and am convinced that it's because I believe in selfless happiness.
It's hard to imagine that Vermont is only 4.5 months away, in fact it's a little frightening. But in all honesty I can't wait for the experience. The next puzzle piece is National Marathon on March 17th. It's a road race, not my favorite running surface, but will be a whole bunch of fun, and it's on St. Patrick's Day, need I say more? Until next time my friends...
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