Warda: My second marathon in back-to-back weekends

I was very excited to run my second marathon in two weekends!! I remember earlier this year when I had run a marathon how I chilled out for weeks to come and here I was running a marathon a week after my last marathon and a half.

One issue with attempting the 50 miler was that I was supposed to meet the 37.5 mile checkpoint within 9 hrs (actually 8-1/2 hrs as I recently found out). I wanted to know if I could increase my speed to cover a decent distance at a good pace.

Warda was a great opportunity to try it out. It was kinda a family event organized by the owner of the Bull Creek Ranch (BCR) and his family and friends. It was the smallest race I have participated so far ~ 60 ppl. Some 15-20 were running the ultra of 50 miles and the rest of us were running the marathon. It was a 6.5 mile loop that we needed to do 4 times.

We drove to BRC in the morning. It was quite cold when the race started and at 7:00 a.m. the people running the 50 miles that day started off. We still ahd most of our winter gear on and though our race was supposed to start at 7:30 it did not start till 8:00 a.m. because some runners got lost on the 6 mile loop and needed to be put back into course! This was ofcourse band news for me since I easily get lost :), but things were not so bad. It was also the first race I started right at the begining which was funny. There were probably some 25 of us.

I tried running a little faster than usual and Doddi who is part of our training team was running at just the speed I needed to be. I just decided to track her as my pacer. The course was not as easy as I had imagined there were some really steep hills and rough terrain. Anyway, I was able to keep up a healthy 13 min/mile for the first 6.55 mile loop and actually finished ahead of Doddi. I also had my first fall in a sand pit in an abrupt right turn. At the end of the first loop as I was taking my layers off Doddi kept going and was up a little ahead.

I had a really nasty fall in the second loop and as I just brushed myself and ran on I could feel the area get warm and sting a bit. I had started bleeding at my knee and elbow. Anyway, I continued and at the end of the second loop as Doddi took a little break I went on a little ahead.

At this point I started getting a pain in the muscle connecting the upper thigh to the groin. This was the pain that had made it difficult for me to run any further after my 25k race at Huntsville. I tried walking some distance, but as in my previous experience the pain continued whether I walked or ran and I had to slow down quite a bit the next couple of loops, but still finished my race in 6 hrs 7 mins.

There is hope for me to yet meet the cutoff of 8-1/2 hrs for 37.5 miles in my 50 miler on 9th Dec.

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