Hell's Hills 50K

The Hubby and I after race.. we looked fresh, dun we:)

"I do not feel Hell's Hill ready".. the hubby told me on Thursday. Nor was I. It was hard to be ready for the "race" when we did not taper at all. The intent was NOT to taper but to use it as our long training run for our race in September. We started our serious training 2 weeks ago and were both feeling the effect of the training. Our bodies were tried and legs were dead. Yeah. blame it on the long 3 months break.. it was hard trying to coming back. We could not finish our long run last week due to fatigue and so were kinda looking forward to this race as our long run. It is definitely easy to have 100 people doing a long run together: with us :)

The plan for this "race" was to run at easy-medium pace with the goal of NO faster than 7 hours. We learned our lesson in Nueces. We raced a little bit in that race and were too hurt to train for a week. As coach Gary always says.. "do not race if its not your race". So the plan was slow and easy.

Race day at 6am was not appealing at all ! We spent the night at Days Inn at Bastrop. The new sleeping arrangement did not go well with me and I was awake most of the night. I was about to fall asleep when the alarm clock rang at 4.45am.  The hubby did no better than me. 

But here we were, whether we like it or not, at the starting line. The 6am start means darkness and head lamp. The first few miles were done in the dark which was blessing in disguise. It forced us to start really slow and gave us time to wake the tired body. It was a while since I last ran in the dark with head lamp. It took quite while to get used to it. The first few miles were bumpy. It started out with flats which slowly lead to hills. We kinda run/walk the the first 3 miles. The darkness and hills made us go slow cautiously. The ground was very soft due to the rain earlier in the week and there were a few spots which were really muddy and wet and the shoes just sunk and stuck in the mud.  One of the runners in front of us fell in one of the bad patches. No major damage and everyone around had a good laugh including the runner himself. 

Day break was a welcome sight. The head lamp was getting irritating. By then, we were at almost mile 3ish and I was still feeling lousy. It was hard to get going. The will was there but the body was not responding. The thought of running for another 28 miles was blah.  I looked over at the hubby and he had the same painful look in his face. Good... there was one other out there suffering and not me alone:)

We continued to run together at an easy- medium pace. The plan was to brisk walk the hills and run the runnable portions. We caught up with 2 runners training for leadvilles 100 after mile 3. They were going at a very steady easy pace. We decided to run with them. The 4th and 5th miles were bumpy rides. Not exactly big hills but irritating bumps. 

The aid station at about Mile 5 was very much welcome. We did not stay long at the aid station. Refilled our water, grabbed a few banana and continued to the chase with the 2 runners. We stayed with them about 2 miles after the aid station and decided to pass them as they were running a tact too easy.So it was me and the hubby in the trails.. trying to motivate each other. The thoughts of dropping to 25K popped out. Yeah.. we were feeling so bad that both of us wanted to drop to 25K. We talked about it and finally decided to chase the 50K instead. The 2 loops course just made it easier to entertain the thoughts of dropping to 25K. 

We were ok once we decided that it would be a 50K run. There was a renewed energy and more motivation as needed for another 18 miles. Miles 5 to Mile 10 was the best stretch of the course. Not exactly bumpy. It had a lot of switch backs but were all runnable. We picked up pace significantly during this stretch. 

It was a relieved to reach the second and last aid station on the course. We knew that we were about 4.7miles out from the start/finish line. The last stretch of the course was a mix of flats, switch backs and bumps. No actual big climbs like Nueces but the switch backs and bumps were a drain on efforts.

We made it to the start/finish line in 3 hrs 24 mins. Not too bad considering how crappy we were during the first half of the course. 

The second loop was started with renewed energy. We probably did the first 5 miles faster than the first loop. The sun came out after mile 20 and it started to get a bit hot. But no complains here. Hell's hills is known not for the hills but the heat. We were lucky that the weather was great in the morning. We did not get the sun till mile 20 ! A welcome change from last year. 

 

Mile 20 to 25 was done at an easy-medium pace- not to push too hard and also not to walk. So we were running easy-medium pace. I had to drown in a pack of gu to keep the energy though. By then, my feet was started to hurt. I could feel the top of my feet swelling and it was starting to hurt. I continued to keep running and try to push the pain out of my head. We ran through a few streams and I intentionally soaked my feet in the stream and let the cold water run through the shoes into the feet. The cold water made the swelling more manageable. 

We hardly see any soul in the second loop. We passed a few runners early of loop 2 and hardly see anyone in the course after that. It was very much the hubby and I together in the trails. We talked and sang and kept each other motivated. The hubby said that it felt as if we were running away from the "walkers" ( think walking dead !) Totally isolated... totally just us. 

It was not until mile 24 that we saw other runners. I was so happy to see them that I shouted to the hubby " I see humans !". Yeah.. finally some souls.  We could see 4 runners ahead of us running to the last aid station. We caught up with them at the aid station ( mile 25ish). 

We left the aid station and passed a few runners... then it was us alone again. I was running in front when I heard the hubby shouted " hey Rabb".. I turned back and saw our friend Scott Rabb chasing the 50 milers. He was an elite runner and was into his home stretch for the finish. Rabb smiled and waved at his and he was gone in a second. ( For the record, he came in second for the 50 milers)

It was the hubby and I again pushing the home stretch. My feet was hurting and I was trying hard to focus. I took another pack of gu and continued the home stretch. We looked at our watch and knew that we could probably hit our goal of 7 hours if we pushed a little bit. We try to pick up pace but not too much. 

It was a relief slight to see the camp site. We knew that we were about half mile to finish. I looked at my watch. We were 8 minutes from 7 hours. I knew we had this. The hubby and I decided not to sprint  but to take an easy slow jog to finish.

We cross the finished line together 6 hrs 58 mins on my watch. 

Another training run done and another medal ! And it was awesome to spend 7 hours "us" time with the hubby in the trails :)