It has been quite some time since my last post. As I write this, I am still wondering if people find this and read it or if it is simply serving as an online journal for myself. Either way, I think it can prove useful for me as a way of tracking my personal progress as I find my way further into the world of ultra-running. I love this sport!!
Last week I completed my second ultra, a 12 hour/50K race in Reading called The Labor Pains 12 Hour Ultra Trail Run. It is put on by Ron Horn, an exceptional race director who works very hard to put on interesting and fun events just about every month at his Reading Liederkranz base. He loves what he does and it shows. This race was stocked with great people, awesome food, and a rad course as always. I ran with my oldest friend/brother Don Gidusko, his brother Jason, Mustache Man, and a few other folks who train with MM; they make up the Lords of Coventry Crew. They are all great guys and are great to hang out with!
We started shortly after 7:30am on the five mile course of 5% road 95% roots, rocks, mud, and logs. This is what I LOVE! It began raining and rained off and on for the first few hours or so, sometimes fairly hard. I am not going to give a mile-by-mile or lap-by-lap account of the day, I can't imagine anyone wanting to read that... But what I will say is running with the LOC crew made this an easy event! The part of ultra-running that can be very difficult is the isolation of running for 7, 8, 9, 10 hours all alone. Occupying your mind can be every bit as exhausting as the muscles in your legs as you log 30, 40 or 50 miles, it's
so true. The miles just fell as we ran, it was really quite effortless. The only thing that slowed me down was my bad wheel. About mile 18 I started to feel some significant pain in my right foot, the same sort of pain I had felt the previous weeks in my left foot. This pain was tendonitis and it was what initiated my doctor telling me no to run this race. I decided I would try and as soon as the pain returned in the top of my left foot, I would stop. It NEVER happened...in my left foot that is. I most have been over compensating because boy did I feel it in my right foot.
It was incredibly painful! I felt like Tonya Harding was hitting me every time I took a step. I pushed through this and completed another 13 miles on the bad foot. If it hadn't been for my injury, I had 50 miles in me for sure. My split times for the five mile laps, however slow, were 1:03:02, 1:11:44, 1:14:24, 1:20:53, 1:17:58 - with a final time of 7:59:33. Three of those hours with EXTREME PAIN! I wish I could have kept going, I want a 50 miler under my belt! Hats off to the LOC crew and my brother of 25 years Don Gidusko for putting down 40 miles. Impressive. Jason was a monster out there, he
hates running and did what he does so well, mentally kicked the Labor Pains' ass. The guy is tough, one of the Worlds Toughest Mudders for sure.
With all that said, my next post will be my top five 50 Mile races for so for 2013. It will be done, more than once I imagine...
I have to add a big THANK YOU to my boy Zippy for being there for me, cheering me on and driving my wounded butt home. He is such a great guy! He woke up at 4:00am, drove two hours each way, and hung out in the rain for eight hours by himself just so he could say good job every hour and a half or so as I ran by. Thank you my friend, it meant the world to me.
