Lance's StumpJump 50K report

Going into the race, I felt as though I was in the best shape of my life. I had completed a 50k in May and had run some training runs on the trails around Auburn, so I was feeling prepared. As I soon learned though, you can never be fully prepared for what was in store. The race started well and my goal was to break the race up into five individual 10k races. I wanted to complete each 10k portion less than 1 hour so that I could come close to my goal time of 5:10. The first 10k went well, close to 0:50, I was still very satisfied with the second 10k being around 1:10, and even with the third 10k being 1:30 I was still very satisfied with my progress. After that point though, things started to go bad both mentally and physically. I was 3:30 into the race and still had 20k left to go but I drag myself up the “Rock Garden”, sit down on a cooler at an aid station, and say that I want to quit the race. My mind and body had completely given out of me and I just wanted out of the race. Luckily, the aid station workers were very supportive, put some cold towels on my neck, and provided me with some snacks and water with an electrolyte tablet. I sat there for about 5 minutes just watching the time tick away on my watch and finally just got up, thanked the aid station workers, and just started putting one foot in front of the other. The next 3-4 miles went really well and I thought I could still finish with a respectable time. The body though started to give out though on a tough climb where I must have taken too large of a step. My hamstring tightened into a ball and did not loosen up the rest of the day. I just keep pushing and would run when I could, finally finishing the race 7:48 after I had started. It was a very long day! I was very disappointed in the time but very proud of myself for not stopping the many times I felt like stopping. In training for the Atlanta Marathon on Thanksgiving Day, I know I need to train my mind as much as my body and this race really helped with that. I know I can keep going even when everything in my mind and body are saying I should stop. With more practice, I should become a stronger trail runner but for now, I am very happy with the way the trail races toughen me mentally and make me a stronger road race runner.

-Lance