Tuesday, September 08, 2009

T-minus four days to Superior 50 miler!

Ok I admit I'm nervous. But excited at the same time.
When Guy and I did 25 miles of the actual course a couple weeks ago, the conditions were perfect (sunny, crisp, cool - ok freezing at the finish, but we learned from that!)... and now the forecast for race day is 45 at the start, 40% chance of rain, going up to 60 during the day, and 50 degrees at the finish. That'll feel pretty cold if we've been soaking wet for 15 hours!
So now all our planning needs to be adjusted for more warn dry clothes, more attention to chafing products, more attention to our clothes being in waterproof containers...
According to our pace times on our trial day, we ran 15 minute miles during the day. We were HAULING ass because it was getting dark and we needed to get to the headlamps and long sleeves that we'd stashed in the grass at the checkpoint. So based on that pace, we are scheduled to arrive at the last cutoff (43.2 miles) at 6:00 p.m. Anyone who arrives there after 7:00 p.m. is pulled from the course with a DNF. So we only have one hour to spare. That's cutting it a little close for me but it is what it is! You just can't go any faster. If you think 15 minute miles is slow -- you'll be impressed to know that the best we could do once it got dark was 21 minute miles.... this is a whole different animal from road running!


Above is our team photo from the 24 hour mountain bike race. The first two on the left are Reese and Laurie - they did the two person co-ed team - they came in 3rd place. The four to the right are my team - Kraig, Chuck, me and Guy. We did the 4-person coed team and we also placed 3rd in our division.

8 comments:

PoorAxl said...

Good luck, Jenny!

~ Kristine ~ said...

Hey Jenny ~ Best of luck!

Iron Girl Nyhus said...

Good luck... have fun :)

SteveQ said...

I'll be seeing you at the Sawbill aid station (decided to volunteer rather than race)!

Fe-lady said...

Trails rock...have fun on your 50 miler! (I predict WAY faster than 15 hours...WAY faster!)

SteveQ said...

Spoiler alert!

Congrats on the finish. You were complaining a bit when I saw you, but remember that you picked one of the hardest courses on a hot day. You did great.

brendaj said...

So what happened?!

KC said...

I'm dying to hear how it went!!