Pacific Rim One Day 2012

I'm past the point of feeling like writing a full report for this race.  Which is unfortunate since this is the first time I've completed an actual 24 hour race.  I went into this race without a plan except knowing that I wanted to finally be there at 9am Sunday morning when the race officially finished.  My only goal was to get in at least 40 miles, mainly so I could get in a minimum 50 mile training week.  In hindsight I should have been more thoughtful about this race.

For me, timed runs are about the camaraderie and friendships,  So it makes sense that the highlights for me included getting to run with Gail H. for about 5 miles as she finished up her planned 50k and spending a lot of the night in belly laughs and giggles with another friend Karen W. 

The LG was there taking pictures early on.  But as the afternoon came, I noticed he had begun counting laps.  He stayed there into the night, taking his job seriously and whipping the high school kids who came to count too into shape.  My proudest moment wasn't winning 3rd place woman with 77 miles, but all the people who told me what an awesome kid he is.

The weather was really mixed, but probably the worst of the 5 years I've been attending this race as a runner or volunteer.  It poured right before the start but then was fairly nice with just intermittent light rain throughout the day.  However at around 6pm the sky let loose and it poured again for about 15 minutes.  Luckily I was in the van at the time changing for the night.  Then I waited under my canopy for a few minutes before walking a lap with my umbrella.  That almost felt like cheating.  After that downpour a lot of people left.  But the night was really nice.  The stars even came out.  It was cold and in the early morning hours a chilly fog hung over the lake. But really not as bad as it would have been if it had rained all night.  In the morning it rained and snowed and sleeted the last two hours.  But the race was almost done so it didn't really matter.

Speaking of 3rd woman, if I had known I was  doing that well, I might have tried a lot harder earlier on.  I certainly don't think I could have caught 103 miles, which was the 2nd woman's distance.  But I think I'm capable of getting at least in the 80's and maybe 90, a much more respectable 3rd place distance.  If I feel so inclined next year, I may just go for it.

The full album of pictures that the LG took is here. 

Unfortunately I  tweaked my knee around mile 50 and had to walk and run/walk the rest of the miles.  Call me stupid but I've decided to take each race as it comes.  Who knows what might happen in the future?  So I didn't stop as someone smarter than me might have.  I've paid the price since I haven't been able to run the two weeks since the race.  I feel fine in normal activities and hopefully the running will come back this week.  I've been seeing my sports chiro who thinks I should be fine for my road marathon in 2 weeks.  We'll see.  I do know that I don't want to do any long term damage for a road marathon.  After that the rest of the year is trails, trails, trails and I can't wait!