TARC Spring Classic 50K trail race

DNF (Did Not Finish) - Not to be dramatic, but it's a first, and hopefully the last, time I ever post those letters next to anything...

Woke up at 4:30, gear already packed, had a quick coffee, shower and light breakfast and hit the road for the 1.5 hour drive to Weston, MA.  Gorgeous little village outside Boston, and the course was awesome.  Pretty flat, user friendly wide trail, and I was able to check in easily and get my bib and shirt.

Ran into Mike G., Jonny, Seth, Mark and Shira, and got mentally geared up.  Felt great!

So the race starts (10K loop run 5 times), and I'd written on my hand the words "Keep your Pace", to remind me that I wanted to stay at about a 10:00 mile average, getting me home in a 5:30-ish timeframe.  For the first half hour, Shira was about 50 yards ahead of me keeping the same pace, then I caught up to her and we chatted until the first loop ended.  I stopped to refill my bottle; she kept going and I never saw her again.  Second 10K loop?  About halfway through, my stomach started doing something funky, and I realized there'd be a pitstop after the loop was through.  I also proceeded to royally jam my toe on a rock in a swampy area right before the end of the loop, which hurt like Hell.

Loop done, pitstop made, I still wasn't quite right but set out for loop #3 anyway.  This would be where the wheels came off the bus...I was still making good time, but the stomach thing came back with a vengeance (Sidenote:  I have no idea what did it - I ate the most benign foods for two days leading up to the race, and can't figure it out), and I was now thinking I might have lost my toenail, and it hurt like an SOB.  In spite of everything, I finished loop three at just over three hours and was still doing OK timewise, and a guy who passed me right before the turnaround gave me some advice:  "If it's not your day, it's not your day, but at least start loop 4 and head up the trail.  If it still isn't looking good, then turn back and call it a day."

So that's what I did:  got to the start/finish, changed shoes and checked the toe (nail still there, but I must have bent it way back, kind of whitish), and talked myself into heading back out.  I got 3/4 of a mile down the trail and realized two things:  first, when I changed shoes I forgot to put the chip timer on the new pair, and I believe I'd have been DQ'd without it, and two: there was no way I was doing another 12 miles, so I did the walk of shame back to the start, grabbed the chip timer and turned it in.  Sucks.


On the other hand, I did get 20 trail miles in today, in perfect conditions, and realized I'm not always going to have an ideal race, but it was still fun.  I'm sore, showered and hanging out with the dog, having a beer.  Not sure about tomorrow's race in "Gansett, I'm registered but it depends on how I recover the rest of the day...either way, I'll be there, either to run or to cheer my WTAC crew on!