Hachie 50k; Waxahachie, TX 2017/05/06

_goal pace
9:30 ~ 10:00 pace first 10 miles. Maff HR.
9:00 ~ 9:30 2nd 10 miles.
9:00 3rd 10 miles.
8:00 final mile.

_start
The timing mat was in the middle of loop for runners of both directions.  50-mile and relay were already on the course.  We had 1 minute to stage the start.  I ended up leading the race for a few minutes in the midst of confusion.  I kept looking back to make sure I’m not the only one going in that direction.

Pro runner Shaheen Sattar caught up to me.

We ran at similar cadence but somehow her strides were flowing.  She said a few nice things then took off.

I waited for the right person to follow.

[Frank McStay with headphone passed me.  His effort didn’t seem sustainable; I let him go.]

 I chatted w/ high-pitch and bearded Cary Collum for few minutes about shoes

3 women caught us.  I decided to run with women.  They seemed to have more fun.

_settling in
I kept Cary in sight every long straight.  Our lead on 4th place man grew at every turn.

_course
There were 3 U-turns per lap.  I had 9 chances to see the distances between competitions around me.  The top 8 50k runners held our positions for 18 miles.  Then top male runner started to look erratic.

_struggle
Cary didn’t seem so smooth toward end of the lap 2.  I planned to shadow him before blowing by him during final 5k but ended up passing him earlier.

My legs started to tighten up; heart rate rose with temperature.  No surprise.  I was losing ground to the women.  Shaheen was so far ahead, I could no longer quantify her lead.  I couldn’t see the lead man.  I was determined to protect my 2nd place.  I just needed 9:30 pace for final 6 miles.  I would attempt sub 8 final mile.

_hemorrhaging speed
Running felt harder during the modest ascend toward finish line.  Garmin showed 17:xx pace.  This felt like final miles of Boston.  I urged my tire legs.  The next split was 16:26.  Wow.

This was the scenic section of the course with lots of tree.  Everyone around was nice and encouraging.  The legs feel OK for mile-25.  I considered maybe Garmin wasn’t using GPS signal for speed.  But the first 2 laps was mostly in the 9’s.  I accepted the meltdown and focused on final 10k.  “I will hang on to the next passer.”

_surprise finish
The next passer never came.  I noticed the speed I overtook walkers--Garmin had to be wrong; I stopped looking at it.  I wish I had a pacer like Eliud Kipchoge.  I tried to relax and be grateful for the gift.  Mile 26 and 27 felt very long.

I heard the announcer at mile 28.  I never had this much leg left at end of 50k.  I was stoked to finish 2nd place male.  Top 4 women were already posing for photos at the finish line.  Someone told me I won men’s race.  I passed Frank miles ago.


_#
Garmin 630 w/ missing GPS signal
Distance: 28.55 mi
Time: 4:38:20 (including pee stops)
4:37:17 (moving time)
Pace: 9:44 min/Mi
HR: 143/166 bpm
Cadence: 180/240 spm

Official
Distance: 30k; 31.07 mi
Time: 4:38:10
Pace: 8:57 min/Mi

_afterward
The left knee acted up during the short walk to car but recovered quickly.  I joined Raluca for her final 10k.  Her knee hurt and decided to end her day early.  She finished her first marathon distance race > 6 hours.  We celebrated at Sushi Rock.

Legs became less stiff after skate and bike the next day.  Left hamstring recovered the slowest.

I became more optimistic about qualifying for 2019 Boston.