Race #203
Timed Race #2
2022 Race #11
2022 Timed Race #1
Resolution Run #2
This “Race” functioned as an opportunity to get in a long run with minimal elevation gain and a medal. I had 16 miles on the plan so I signed us up for the three hour version. (The race also has 6 and 12 hour version.)
On Saturday morning (the race takes place over the whole day with all three races ending at 7pm.) Mom texted me to tell me that she had some hip pain that felt like a pinched nerve. We both hoped that it would go away by the time evening rolled round. Unfortunately, it did not. (In fact, it lasted over that day and stretched into Monday before getting much better after a chiropractic appointment.)
The evening start meant that I got to miss the rain in the morning although since sprinkles ended just before we started running, the ground was quite wet for the first few laps.
On the way over, I realized that I forgot my headlamp so Mom dropped me off and headed back to the house to pick it up. I also left my hydration in the car since Mom would likely be back somewhere around the third or fourth mile.
After waiting a few minutes, we started right at 4pm. The first minor issue presented itself in the form of copious puddles and overall rather wet ground. Even though I managed to avoid the biggest puddles, I could not miss all of them. Thus, my shoes started to get a little damp. Thankfully, the ground got marginally drier with each lap and my shoes and socks did not get uncomfortably wet.
The second, and only other, minor issue came around every lap with the slight camber of the path along the section adjacent to the drive by the entrance. My right leg let me know that it was not happy with this camber. Many laps later, I decided to swing wide on this section so that I could run on the actualy driveway portion which helped significantly.
Around the forth or fifth lap, Mom returned and from that point forward I stopped briefly at the car to drink a couple sips. She stood outside the car the first time and of course I told her that she didn’t need to do that. Thankfully, she listened.
Most of the laps blended together, as I expected with a loop course. I thought I might get a little bored of the lop course but instead I discovered that if the loop is long enough I really enjoy this type of course. The other thing thta helped the time pass was listening to the Two Towers. I love this story so much, know it like the back of my hand and imagined these scenes playing out in front of my eyes.
As the laps continued and the sun started going down I tried to calculate how many laps I could get in before grabbing my headlamp from Mom. I didn’t figure it out exactly right but I did get within a partial lap. Even though I had the headlamp, I could tell that I need to get a new headlap with a brighter bulb.
Once the dark started to settle in, I started contemplating going to 15 laps rather than 16 for reasons that the passage of time has claimed from my memory. I considered it, discarded the idea, reconsidered it and decided to go ahead with it as I started the last mile aka my 15th loop.
After the 15th lap, I saved the run and started my cool down walk. Since I completed that lap within the race time frame, it counted for the race as well.
Although this most definitely did not feel like a race, it did get me thinking, once again, about doing the longer version though I will likely not end up doing that.