After the 48 miles on Saturday I wasn't feeling too bad on Monday morning but I can't say I was looking forward to lacing up the trail shoes for 22 miles. This is where it is so helpful to be running with a group. You can always find someone else who looks and feels worse than you! This usually works until that person passes you and asks if you are feeling okay!! Just kidding. You can feed off the energy from other folks which can pull you through rough spots on long runs.
This run was pretty sluggish for the first 10 miles. My legs just were not awake. Around mile six I followed a group of five runners and just tried to keep pace. At about mile 10 I started to feel a little better. This part was also tough because the first aid station was not until roughly mile 14. As I mentioned before, food really can make a difference in my running and as I was just coming into the aid station I was ready to grab some oranges and keep rolling. At the aid station was a gal who was a part of the crew that ran 50 on Saturday and the first thing she said was to try the sausages.
There was a guy cooking sausages on the bbq. My first thought was how cool it was they dragged this bbq onto the trail to cook for the runners. My second thought was how horrible sausage sounded at that point. The gal insisted I try the sausage and wouldn't you know it...they tasted incredible. It was really similar to my experience with eating oranges at the Quicksilver 50. It was as if this was the first sausage I had ever had. I proceeded to eat a few more pieces and then I stuffed a few more pieces in my pockets. Needless to say, the folks at the aid station were having a good laugh. I was laughing as well as I ran off up the trail. I couldn't help but think of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry stuffed the mutton in his pockets and then Elaine took his coat and dogs started chasing her down the road. I had a vision of a mountain lion chasing me for those sausages.
The sausages did the trick. My legs felt great and I was able to finish the last eight miles really strong. I think the experimenting with different foods will really help during the race since there will be 24 aid stations with all types of foods. I have heard some people describe the WS 100 as a 100 mile buffet.
This run followed the last 20 miles of the actual course. It was real fun to run through Auburn and get a feel for what it will be like to finish the run at the end of June. It was also nice to finish this run as it marks the toughest weekend of running. I still have a few more long runs but I have made it through the tough portion and now I need to focus on staying healthy!
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