Apparently I Never Wrote May or June Race Reports: Farm Park Challenge
It's almost November, and I still haven't written about my May or June races. In March and April I performed well at Shamrock Marathon and Cherry Blossom Ten Miler, finally breaking 3 hours in the marathon and running just over my goal 6:30 pace in my first 10-miler ever. I thought I had a lot of leg speed built up that I'd be able to use in ultras throughout the year, kicking butt at the Massanutten 100-miler in late May, for example. That did not happen, however.
Farm Park Challenge
May 4 I ran the Farm Park Challenge. It's a bit like a last-person-standing race, but instead it's a fastest-person-on-the-last-lap race. You run a 5.2-mile loop every mile, and there are multiple races held concurrently, a 3-hour, 6-hour, and 10-hour. The last hour/loop of each event is the real race, you just have to run a full loop every previous hour to compete in it. It sounded fun and some runners in the group-for-which-I-cannot-wake-up-early-enough-but-of-whom-I-am-jealous were running. I of course signed up for the 10-hour.
It wasn't terribly hot, but it was warm, and it was extremely humid. April was wonderful, a month that actually made me not-depressed about living on the east coast. Then on race day in May, awful humidity descended, and my inner thighs started hating each other and getting into a big ol' chafing fight. My shirt must've weighed an extra pound with sweat.
I managed fine through 6 laps, when there was plenty of competition and other runners on the course. Only four runners started lap 7 though. I joked and said we should all introduce ourselves, but immediately after we did (everyone was nice), I couldn't really keep up any more. I still managed to come in on time on laps 7 and 8, but 8 was a squeaker with probably under two minutes to do the turnaround. Lap 9 I struggled, with no single mile under the sub-12:00 minute pace necessary. I finished almost 6 minutes over, and wasn't allowed to go out on the last lap, as per the rules. This felt especially grating once I learned that the last lap doesn't have a cutoff, so I obviously could have finished if it I'd made it on lap 9.
GF had an excellent question for me after: "Why didn't you just try harder?" Ugh, exactly. I really thought there would be some benefit from having just set a marathon PR. But nope, hills and humidity are a different sport, I guess. I went in thinking I might have a chance to win an event like this; instead I didn't finish.
Farm Park Challenge
May 4 I ran the Farm Park Challenge. It's a bit like a last-person-standing race, but instead it's a fastest-person-on-the-last-lap race. You run a 5.2-mile loop every mile, and there are multiple races held concurrently, a 3-hour, 6-hour, and 10-hour. The last hour/loop of each event is the real race, you just have to run a full loop every previous hour to compete in it. It sounded fun and some runners in the group-for-which-I-cannot-wake-up-early-enough-but-of-whom-I-am-jealous were running. I of course signed up for the 10-hour.
It wasn't terribly hot, but it was warm, and it was extremely humid. April was wonderful, a month that actually made me not-depressed about living on the east coast. Then on race day in May, awful humidity descended, and my inner thighs started hating each other and getting into a big ol' chafing fight. My shirt must've weighed an extra pound with sweat.
I managed fine through 6 laps, when there was plenty of competition and other runners on the course. Only four runners started lap 7 though. I joked and said we should all introduce ourselves, but immediately after we did (everyone was nice), I couldn't really keep up any more. I still managed to come in on time on laps 7 and 8, but 8 was a squeaker with probably under two minutes to do the turnaround. Lap 9 I struggled, with no single mile under the sub-12:00 minute pace necessary. I finished almost 6 minutes over, and wasn't allowed to go out on the last lap, as per the rules. This felt especially grating once I learned that the last lap doesn't have a cutoff, so I obviously could have finished if it I'd made it on lap 9.
GF had an excellent question for me after: "Why didn't you just try harder?" Ugh, exactly. I really thought there would be some benefit from having just set a marathon PR. But nope, hills and humidity are a different sport, I guess. I went in thinking I might have a chance to win an event like this; instead I didn't finish.
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