New River 50k Race Recap
The last time that I darken the New River trail was 11 years
ago. I was a little younger and a little faster. Today, I had much different
goals in mind. I am using this race as tune up for my 100 miler because the
courses are so similar.
I headed up yesterday evening so I can spend the night in
Galax. This would get me to the starting line in about 15 minutes vs. the
nearly 2 hour drive from my house.
It was still dark-30 when I rolled in to the parking lot
this morning at 6:45.
I will say that Fries, Va has not changed much at all in 11
years. Fries is still a quant small, little town which reminds me of the towns
of my youth. As the sun pushed back the darkness of night, I listened once again to the roar
of New River which is just yards away from the starting line.
5 minutes before the start, we received some brief prerace
instructions. At 8 AM on the nose, the horn sounded, and we were off.
Two guys shot out fast. They were clearly looking to run
fast today
I settled in to a comfortable pace, and I readied myself for
the miles ahead.
The runners quickly strung out. I found myself running with
a young woman from Richmond, Va. She had only done a couple of marathons, and
this was her first 50k. We chatted back and forth for the better part of next 5
½ miles.
Then, she dropped back when we made the turn to head toward
Galax. For those not familiar with this course, the first 5 miles follows along
the New River downstream so it is essentially has a net elevation drop.
Everyone enjoys this part.
Turning toward Galax, we run along what I believe is Clark
Creek but we are running up stream. The elevation gain is every so slight, but
after 5 or 6 miles of it, the quads start to feel it.
Then, we turn around, and get to use the slight downhill
coming back. However, at this point, you are working miles 16 – 26 so the legs
are not exactly feeling the greatest.
Helping to encourage us to run faster, we had 60 degree
temperatures and over cast skies. At point, coming back from Galax, we enjoyed
a slight drizzle.
This front quickly pushed out of the area, and by the time I
reached 26 miles, the clouds had broken, and the sun was out in force. I could
definitely feel the temperature pushing up.
Those last 5 miles were a bit of a struggle for me. I wanted
to push hard but I just could not get much more than 7:30 pace out of them. May be I went out harder than I thought. And, even thou, I knew where I was going, the
last couple of miles seemed like they took a life time to complete.
I finished in 3rd overall with a time 3:48:37.
This was some 19 minutes slower than when I ran it 11 years ago. I had no aspirations
of running 3:29 this year. I am older and slower, and I know my limits these
days. Plus, today was about preparing me for my 100 miler. That's the goal race not this one. I walked away with some ideas that I want to use for my 100 miler
because of it.
Wrapping up this post, I want to give a shout out to this
race but also to the postrace crew providing the post race meal. They had like 8 or 9 different soups, side
items, and deserts. Other than the Derby 50k, I don’t know of any race offer
such a good post race meal. And, this was a home cooked meal. Every bit of it
tasted awesome. Runners that do this race rave about the after race meal. I had
forgotten how good it was, but I was reminded today. Might be just the reason
to start making a yearly trip to Fries, Va.
Kickin’ up trail dust,
The Cool Down Runner
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