This is by far the strangest race I have had in some time. Let me explain... So after a 5am pick up by Paul at ou home Sonya, Paul and myself made our way to the 2009 Afton 50k trail run. I figured what a great way to start the 4th of July by running on a great trail, at a great race with my lovely wife and best buddy Paul. It was real humid outside but not the crazy 90+ degree weather you can get on this day.
When John the race director started us I settled into a nice pace. On the first climb Helen, Sonya and Paul all came up on me. It was nice to see them and start running with them. While I was feeling pretty good I just did not feel like engaging into the "race" so to speak. I think this is one thing that has been a big problem this year and last year. Either way I was happy to be out there which was good and was running the type of race I had hoped for going into it. I wanted a solid run to build on in the next few weeks while I sorted out if I was going to Leadville 100 or not.
After the first 25k in 2:18 running side by side with Sonya much of the way I was pretty happy. I had had one bathroom stop along the way which killed like 2 min's or so but that was ok. As we headed out on lap number two I was just trying to stay close to Sonya as she seemed very strong. I was making a point to power walk all the uphills to save on my legs. While doing this Sonya would gap me some but I seemed to make it up when we got to a downhill. On our way down to aid station #3 by the river I could tell Sonya was slowing allot. She was having very bad tummy problems and had stop drinking for the most part. I was afraid this could be a very big problem. I tried to get her to eat some fruit and drink some coke coming out of aid #3. That helped some but I thing the damage was done. From that point on we pretty much walked like 85% of the time. She could hardly walk in a straight line. I just wanted to get her to aid #4 with the hopes she would call it a day. She kept telling me to go on but I just could not. This is the double edge part of having a wife who not only is a runner, but one that can keep up with you in races. If I left her I would not feel good about it. To me no race was worth leaving her struggle in what I thought was a un-safe position. Once I got her to aid#4 I was off to the races to see who I could make ground back on. Man was I feeling good. I am not sure what my pace was but I know I was making up good time that last 10k. When I got to the finish I was happy I ran it out and not droped. At this point I found Sonya in the ambulance where they where helping her with big time dehydration. I was sad for her but happy she was safe.
While getting my stuff together I was finding myself thinking about how much I like this race and about how I hope to get into "old" kurt super shape some day and try for a sub 4:05 someday. Not sure if that will ever happen but I do know that I will be back and I am sure Sonya will be back !!! Thanks to John, Alicia and all the Afton gang for all the hard work they do to put on a first class event !!!
3 comments:
Hey Kurt - hope Sonya's recovered ok - the humidity ended up having quite an effect I think even though it was cool. Hope to run more trails with you both soon. It's a great race alright - I'd like some day to just do one loop close to 2hrs - don't think I could repeat it on lap 2 though!
When I saw Sonya, I hoped she was going to drop - she looked that bad. After you passed me, I saw Paul across the gap on the snowshoe loop and called out to him. He responded, "Hey, Kurt." He must think you're the only one who cheers for him.
If Sonya's having that much trouble with dehydration, it's probably chronic. She should be loading with water for days ahead of time, not just race day.
thanks for sharing kurt.
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