The results have been posted from last Saturday, and I was pleased to see that I was not last! I knew a few people had come in behind me, but did not expect to be right in the middle of the pack. Of 21 50K finishers, I was number 11. The winner, a guy named Paul Terranova, won in 4:43:35. Not bad!
My 7:33:11 finish sounds really slow, especially compared to my only other 50K race, El Scorcho in July 2009. At that race I ran a 5:19:23. However, I can hardly compare the two, since El Scorcho is run at Trinity Park in Fort Worth, on flat, groomed trails. At TNT, my Garmin recorded 10,600 feet ascent/descent. I think I can justify taking a little longer on that course!
Race director Tim Neckar said he got some negative comments from people who got off course. I thought the course was exceptionally well-marked. I think they don't recognize that one of the many additional pleasures of trail running is the challenge of staying on course.
I read a report of the A-OK trail run in Oklahoma. (This is the one put on by Mary Ann Miller, whom I met briefly at Cross Timbers a couple weeks ago.) One runner, Eunsup Kim, whom I've met at a number of races, walked the first 7 miles, then ran the rest, to win the master's division. Maybe I need to take a lesson from him.
Paul, look at your 11th-place finish this way: You are the 11th-toughest guy in Texas! By the way, I can relate to your 7-something vs 5-something 50Ks; in the past few months I've had the same experience--in the Conquer the Bear 50k at Big Bear Lake, California, and then in the Calico Trail Run 50k. That's part of the beauty of trail runs--the incredible variety of terrain.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a lot of that variety over the years (I'm in my 54th consecutive year of long-distance racing), and have had a lot of thoughts lately about the qualities ultrarunning engenders in us--endurance, patience, and ability to envision what we have not yet reached--and how valuable those qualities may be to humanity in the coming years. I explore this idea in a new website (www.willhumansendure.com) and in my running blog, http://enduranceandsustainability.blogspot.com. I hope you will visit, and comments are always welcome.
Ed Ayres