I absolutely love this race. The island, the course, everything about it is just awesome. Last year I ran the 50 miler as a personal challenge. This year I wanted to see if I could race competitively.
I did a 1 mile warm up and I felt great. The race got under way and I think it's fair to say that I went out a little too fast. Then I settled in and went to work. I was right on pace at the halfway point despite some strategic walking breaks. I hit 8 miles in 62 minutes. I took it easy going up the major climb from 7.5-9 miles, but I held it together until the last major hill at Mile 12. My quads really started to tighten up after that and although the final miles weren't slow, I wasn't exactly racing to the finish, either. Despite the finish I had a great time. The most exciting moment of the race was when I saw my family near the finish and my son ran alongside me for the last 100 meters.
I had set a goal to run this race in 2:15 and I thought that I might be close to 2:00. When I set my goal I was expecting to run approximately 15.5 miles. Given the extra distance and my pace, I think I would have finished a 25K in about 2:09, so I'll have to be satisfied with that. Also, with the numerous back and hip problems that I encountered the last couple of weeks, I was thrilled to run without any pain or stiffness.
Thank you to the race director for hosting such an awesome event and thanks to my fellow competitors for taking part in this event with me. I can't wait for next year!
| 