Every
once in a while you have to do a race you are totally unprepared for.
It lets you know you are not invincible; it wakes you up, and makes you
realize how much work you have ahead of you for the race you want to be
prepared for. With Headlands 100 on the horizon, I decided to enter SOB 50k at the last minute for a training run. I had raced SOB
10 years ago and recalled struggling up a long climb toward the end of
it, but not much else. I knew, at the altitude, with the amount of
climbing in the race, and the speed it was being run since I tackled it a
decade ago, racing to win was not going to be the plan.
The
start was fast and I watched a young girl take off with the guys, I was
wise enough to know that trying to stick with her would be my doom, but
when the next girl passed me, it was hard to just let her go. As soon
as we hit the single track and started even a mild climb, however, I was
gasping for air and quickly decided she could go, too. Then #3 came on a
steep, switchback climb. I couldn’t even hike fast without my heart
racing and my breathing going into overdrive, and so, reluctantly, I let
her go. I had a moment of glory when I passed her on the long flowing
downhill section through the forest, but knew that as soon as the trail
started climbing again she would be gone.
Once the climbing started, I settled in to a pace that wasn’t killing me, ready to accept 4th place, although hoping one or more of them might falter somewhere along the way. The relentless climbing took its toll but when we started to descend I began to feel a little better and enjoyed the downhill running, thinking I was in the clear. I arrived at the second to last aid station with about 9 miles to go and headed out on that long forested climb that I had enjoyed so much as a descent. Shortly after leaving the aid station I was caught and passed by another woman, and knowing what climbing was ahead I was almost ready to concede to her, until yet another one passed. Oh no, this was not going to happen at this point in the race, so I sucked it up and started a gasping but steady jog up the hill and very quickly overtook the 2nd woman who had just passed. I vowed to stay in contact with the other and held on as best I could. She was about 20 yards ahead going into the final aid station and when I reached it she had not yet left, so I powered through and got out ahead of her.
At this point I had a strange burst of energy, I kept telling myself I had less than 5 miles, and this section was fairly flat and full sun hot, pretty much what I am used to. I kept a steady pace through the meadow and as I was coming onto the gravel road I knew I had it if I could just hold on. I held steady and got to the first of the campers where people started cheering for me. About 6 seconds later I heard them cheering again, either it was for a guy I had just passed, or the woman I was trying to stay ahead of. Either way, I had to dig deep and finish this off. I picked up my pace as much as my sore feet could handle and heard someone say “wow, I wouldn’t think you could go that fast after running for that long already”. She was either talking about me or whoever was behind me, and I didn’t have time to find out. About a ½ mile later, I crossed the finish, and it seemed that no sooner had I received the finisher medal and turned around, the next woman was coming to the chute.
I can’t say it was a fun race, there were certainly fun times, usually when I was going downhill, but I really struggled on the climbs, gasping for air when I really shouldn’t have been. It was definitely a lesson and a great training run. I’ve got work to do. Thanks to Sunsweet and Sporthill for keeping Team Sunsweet/Sporthill going!
Once the climbing started, I settled in to a pace that wasn’t killing me, ready to accept 4th place, although hoping one or more of them might falter somewhere along the way. The relentless climbing took its toll but when we started to descend I began to feel a little better and enjoyed the downhill running, thinking I was in the clear. I arrived at the second to last aid station with about 9 miles to go and headed out on that long forested climb that I had enjoyed so much as a descent. Shortly after leaving the aid station I was caught and passed by another woman, and knowing what climbing was ahead I was almost ready to concede to her, until yet another one passed. Oh no, this was not going to happen at this point in the race, so I sucked it up and started a gasping but steady jog up the hill and very quickly overtook the 2nd woman who had just passed. I vowed to stay in contact with the other and held on as best I could. She was about 20 yards ahead going into the final aid station and when I reached it she had not yet left, so I powered through and got out ahead of her.
At this point I had a strange burst of energy, I kept telling myself I had less than 5 miles, and this section was fairly flat and full sun hot, pretty much what I am used to. I kept a steady pace through the meadow and as I was coming onto the gravel road I knew I had it if I could just hold on. I held steady and got to the first of the campers where people started cheering for me. About 6 seconds later I heard them cheering again, either it was for a guy I had just passed, or the woman I was trying to stay ahead of. Either way, I had to dig deep and finish this off. I picked up my pace as much as my sore feet could handle and heard someone say “wow, I wouldn’t think you could go that fast after running for that long already”. She was either talking about me or whoever was behind me, and I didn’t have time to find out. About a ½ mile later, I crossed the finish, and it seemed that no sooner had I received the finisher medal and turned around, the next woman was coming to the chute.
I can’t say it was a fun race, there were certainly fun times, usually when I was going downhill, but I really struggled on the climbs, gasping for air when I really shouldn’t have been. It was definitely a lesson and a great training run. I’ve got work to do. Thanks to Sunsweet and Sporthill for keeping Team Sunsweet/Sporthill going!
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