Jack Bristol - Race Report

Race Recap: Jack Bristol 50m

I wanted to run this race for a few of reasons: 1. It is local (and that is enough of a reason to do it) 2. It was almost on my birthday so it gave me my birthday miles 3. It was a great way to get some miles in preparation for VT 100 4. It was on the weekend of the Virtual fund raiser I was doing for JDRF.  I didn't really do much research on the course.  It was less than an hour from my house and that made it a great option for me.  After I signed up I realized it was all on pavement, ughhhhh, not great for the foot but a great chance to run fast.  The course took me around and around Lake Waramaug which is gorgeous.  My race had an out and back and then 6 laps around the lake.  As the race started off I was floored by the pace.  The front runners were frickin sprinting, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! A mile or so in I looked at my watch to see 8mm flat and thought "holy crap, I can't hold this."  I thought well maybe my Garmin is off, so I asked a dude near me what he had for pace and he had the same thing.  Oh no!  I just couldn't figure out why everyone was going so fast.  Thank goodness for Matt.  Matt was the guy running near me when I inquired about the pace and he commented the pace was fast.  We worked together to get our pace back under control.  It was easier to slow down with someone.  We got ourselves calmed down to a 9mm pace which mind you was still 45s faster than I wanted to be at the start, eaaakkkk! But it was a start.  So we just ran along and gabbed.  Matt was a great running partner for the first lap.  He was doing the 50K so I knew he would have to ditch me soon but it was nice to have a buddy while he could afford to run my pace.  This was his first ultra so we did a ton of talking about that and about his life and what not.  We found another 50K runner who seemed to be zipping along and Matt took off with him and that left me solo which I remained for the rest of the race.  Not to worry I had my Ipod loaded with a ton of podcasts. I ran into Matt again as he was finishing his last lap, it was great to see a familiar face.  By lap 4 I was getting tired of the lap and getting tired in general but I knew I was doing well so I needed to hang on.  I was eating minimally but drinking a ton. That going out fast was catching up with my legs.  They were really starting to hurt.  I began to walk the hills.  Then as I came through the chute on lap 5 I saw them...Doug and Chloe...YAY!!!!!! That is what I needed, the boost to power through and Doug yelled out the best news, I was in first...say what...I was in first, who the heck new...after I processed what he said I really put my mind and body to powering through that last lap.  I had been on pace to break 8hrs but, the last lap had totally busted that so, now I was set up to hit my original goal of 8:30-9.  My right calf started to cramp and I mean that cramp that means you will be lying road side screaming for help so I did my best to not stress it by adopting more of a shuffle.  My watch had died miles back so I was just guessing as to my pace and well I didn't care I just wanted to get back to Doug and Chloe as fast as I could and hopefully win.  How cool to win with Chloe watching.  So I dug deep, I mean really deep, put on my race smile and ran.  As I got to the final turn I got choked up.  I was about to win, yes win, an ultra in front of my husband and daughter.  I was so dang excited.  I told myself I wasn't allowed to cry I still had some work to do and so I charged as hard as I could and came across the line at 8:20.  Wahoooooo a 42min PR for me.  I was so happy.

That was one awesome race.  The volunteers rocked it was well organized and they gave out jackets to the winners, wooot wooot.  I will do it again for sure.  Now I need to run smarter and break 8 and well I think if I go into the race in better shape rather than coming off a winter of not much running I could do a ton better.  Fingers crossed for future Jack Bristol races.