Forget the PR 50K - great race, challenging course

Yesterday I finished another 50K race. It's the Forget the PR 50K, which I signed up last year. I heard good things about the race and many of my friends have been running it since its inauguration.

Last week when work got crazy and stressful (April and November are the worst months of the year for teachers) I had some thought about quitting ultramarathons and just sticking to the marathon or shorter races. Training for an ultra is time consuming and requires a certain level of commitment even when you just want to finish. Then, a couple of friends in academia told me that I inspired them to keep moving and reminded them of a work-life balance. The comments made me feel better and reminded me why I chose this kind of lifestyle.

On the race day, I woke up at 4am to leave for Mohican. I got there a little bit before 7, picked up my packet, and chatted with friends. The weather was nice (50F) but we expected some rain in the afternoon. My goal for the race was 1) not to die 2) to finish 3) to finish in 8 hours. The race has that name for a good reason. They threw in all the hills they could find in the course to make it difficult.

The 50K runners run 2 loops. The first loop is about 18-19 miles because the course makes us go around the dam. The first 15 miles were all rolling hills plus the Big Ass Hill. Many people told me about the Big Ass Hill that we had to climb TWICE! I've run at Mohican several times but didn't think I'd been on the Big Ass Hill before. It's pretty steep. I could not remember the number of curse words that I said while going up that hill but it's a lot. 

The first loop went well and it started to get warm when I was about Mile 15-16. I slowed down a lot because I'm not used to running in the heat. At the end of the first loop, I told myself I was going to walk the 2nd loop (because I felt I was dying). After getting some food and drink at the start/finish aid station, I went back out. Mentally, I felt strong but I wanted to be conservative and listen to my body. So, I walked until the Big Ass Hill. 

Before I went up the BAH, I found a nice-size stick on the ground and thought I could have used some help from the stick. So, I used the stick to help me go up the BAH and it was awesome. My legs felt light with the help of the stick to go up the hill. It's also the same time the temperature started to cool down. After I passed the BAH, I felt really good so I started running again and was able to keep a consistent pace until the finish (I also believed that I was in the "flow" state of mind for about 6 miles. 

I finally caught up with R. who was ahead of me at the last 2 miles. We ran together until we reached the paved trail (about 0.5 mile away from the finish) and that's when I started to speed up and also heard R. yelling he hated me LOL. I finished the race 10 minutes earlier than I expected. So, I was happy with my result.

After the race, I talked to a couple of people, waited until other friends came in, took a shower, ate the post-race food before I drove home. Overall, it was a very well-organized race with great volunteers. I highly recommend this race if you are looking for a challenge.