“Running through the Mud and Muck, trying not to get our feet Stuck.” This is what I kept singing over and over yesterday during our wet 50k run in Maryland. Yesterday was such a long day, Alarm clock going off at 4:30AM and on the road to the car pool meet up location by 5:30AM. The car pool was slated to be on the road by 6:00, but the first timers delayed us with their nervous butterflies. We still arrived with plenty of time to pick up our race packets and set up BCRR Base Camp. Camp consisted of 4 (1 for changing) tents, 1 table (going to need more the next time), plenty of chairs, 1 grill that acted as a heater for most, plenty of food and beverages. We must have had close to 30 club members, in addition to their families, and friends. It was a shame that the weather didn’t cooperate, but at the same time no one allow it to affect their spirits.
There were many first time Ultra runners toeing that moist start line yesterday morning and many of them pushed through the damp weather, muddy conditions, and the new mileage milestones to cross the equally moist finish line hours later. I’m proud that the majority of you stuck through all the training and it paid off. This was the 5th time I was at Hat (3rd time running the entire thing) and the first time under wet/muddy conditions. So, I could easily say that the conditions this year were not ideal. I will say that I did enjoy myself and felt pretty strong mentally and physically.
I went into this event with the same mindset as the previous year, have fun, run with fun people, and get to the finish line in one piece. I achieved each of those goals with a PB (Personal Best). Yeah I said PB! I’m bringing the PB back, not sure where it went, or how it fell off, but at some point the PB gave way to the PR (Personal Record). Isn’t this a tad backwards? Think about it, Records got replaced a long time ago by cassettes because they were better. So, why does it make sense that Personal Records replace Personal Best. You really think about a lot when you’re out on those trails for 5 hours and 19 minutes (my PB).
This year will be my last time running Hat in its entirety for quite some time, I will return each year as a last half pacer if need be, but I really need to focus on completing the 50 marathons in 50 states and the only way I can do that is if I replace Hat with a Spring marathon in addition to my Fall marathon. Well, I’m off to hit the books once again, before Allyson and I head off to get well deserved, full body massages!
Till we run into each other again…
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