Saturday, June 9, 2012

North Face 50 Mile Endurance Run- June 2012

The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 mile run was held near Dulles, VA.

Heavy rain until 3am the morning of the race, I woke up several times to ensure I didn't oversleep.  The alarm went off at 3:45 and I quickly got dressed and drove with a friend to the start.
Gun went of at 5am and I started slow with a 11-min mile pace.  After the first 3 miles there was a 7 mile section of 6-8 inch deep mashed potatoes mud.  Some uphills were so slippery that racers had to help each other by extending hands and pulling the other racer up.  At the 14 mile mark racers were treated to 3 - 7 mile loops in which you were either running uphill or downhill, nothing in between!  Good thing was in between every loop you get to hit your drop bag for snacks and fresh socks.
I tried Endurox RX4 for the first time and loved it.  After each bottle I spent 1-2 hours drinking straight water.  Seems to do the trick with no other electrolyte supplements.

I kept the pace nice and easy, looking at my watch I saw a possibility to break the 11 hour mark, but would have to increase my current 13 min pace back to 11 for the remaining miles.  I decided to just hand back and enjoy the experience.  My last mile I decided to pick it up a bit and finished strong.

Official 50 mile finish time- 11 hrs and 9 minutes

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