Catching Up and North Face Endurance DC results

Well since I am trying to get this blog up and running...lame pun intended...I guess I should catch up on things.  In my first post I mentioned that in April I ran, and finished, the American River 50 out in California.  After returning home form the run I expected to be able to ride the high from finishing that race and keep up with my training as I moved forward towards my next race.  Prior to even finishing the AR50 I had signed up for the North Face Endurance Challenge DC event.  It seemed like a great idea because it was close to home (as in a 15 min drive) and having finished a 50 miler a 50k should be a breeze.  To make it even better my wife agreed to run the race with me and it was the weekend after my 31st birthday.  Well, we did train but I feel like I really didn't give it my all and kinda slacked.  However the morning of the race I was still feeling pretty good and my only real concern was the weather.  Unfortunatly it had been raining for the previous 3 days and by rain I mean get out your hammers and start building an ark sort of rain.  Never-the-less, the race started and off we went.

Prior to the race my wife and I had agreed to run seperatly as with distance races I feel like you really have to run at your own pace and she agreed.  The first few miles were ok with the one exception being the EPIC mud.

This picture pretty much sums up what the first 8-9 miles of the course consisted of.  Even in this mud I was making really good time (for me) averaging around a 9 min/mile pace.  However that would quickly catch up with me.  I made it through the mud and into Great Falls National Park but was suddenly reduced to a very slow death march.  Somewhere around the 13 mile mark my wife caught back up to me, and I was thrilled to see she was looking great and felt good.  I told her to go ahead as I was struggling.  The next 7-8 miles are all a blur as dehydration started to kick my ass and I just sort of stumbled along.  I vaugly remember putting my headphones in at some point thinking music might help and about an hour later realizing I had forgotten to turn the music on...not a good sign.  With all this in mind, I reached the 20 mile Aid Station back at the beginning of the Great Flass loop and called it a day.  My first DNF!!!  Well I guess it had to happen at some point and I really wasnt that upset given the conditions and my current physical state I feel like I made the right decision.  I caught a ride to the finish line where I grabbed something to eat and drink and waited for my wife to finish.  A few hours later I saw her pink top come running out of the woods and I waited for her to cross the line.  She was hurting pretty bad, but had just finished a very tough and very muddy 50K for her first ultra.  I couldnt have been more happy and proud.

Well, here are a few more pictures from the race including pre and post race.

Since the DNF at the NFEC I have been doing my best to keep up with running.  It hasnt been a huge success but I'm working my way back into it.  Also I did take the time to have some fun and ran the RUN AMUK at Quantico with a bunch of my co-workers.  It was a 5k mud run and a great time

Now Im just getting back into the groove and picking out races for the upcoming year.