I keep thinking I will get a race report worked up for the Elkhorn 52K race that I ran back on August 1st, but I keep not getting it done. It was exponentially harder than I anticipated. I had run a flat 50 miler in 9 1/2 hours back in April and ran a flat 36 miler in 6 hours in June so I thought I would be able to finish it in 7 1/2 or 8 hours tops.
My official time ended up being 10 hours 46 minutes and 36 seconds! An average pace of over 19 minutes per mile! It was hot (97 degrees that day in Helena, unofficially 93 degrees at the start/finish line), but I just wasn't prepared for the elevation gain and loss. At mile 12 after a drop of 1,500' in just over 2 miles my quads pretty much exploded. I started cramping leaving that aid station and still had 21 miles to go. I finished but I'm not sure I ran more than 2 or 3 miles of the last 21 miles. I had muscles cramping that I didn't even know existed by the end.
I still find it hard to comprehend that I can ended up going that slow. The trails were pretty technical in spots and my GPS ended up showing 8,250' of elevation gain/loss, but still I would have thought I could have walked the entire course faster than I ended up finishing and I was trying my hardest.
I think this link should work if you want to check out the route and some pictures I took during the race. I have the settings to public on this workout so let me know if you can't see it.
http://runkeeper.com/user/npaden/activity/625235019
I got in some hiking later that week and have been trying to get back to running, but only logged 20 miles the week before and 22 miles last week.
I still haven't decided if I am going to try to redeem myself and do another mountain trail race or if I just need to stick to hiking in the mountains during hunting season and running in the flat lands during the rest of the year.
Oh well, good to see everyone still getting it done. Hunting season is right around the corner so don't slack off now!
