TNF Endurance Challenge...in Brief

It was a long day in the saddle, as they say, at the 50 miler. For one thing, they made it 51.5 miles this year, which I didn't appreciate much. I ended up 7th, which was not the race I had planned to run...but then again, running 50 miles over some serious terrain doesn't necessarily go according to plan.

I had a lot of issues out there on Saturday...stomach problems starting very early (before 9 miles), which led to electrolyte issues around halfway. Once I figured out what the problem (or problems, rather) were, I pieced the race back together and finished in a respectable manner. The damage was done by then, however, and the race for the lead had gone away from me. Still, it was great to be a part of it, and I enjoyed running with some really great guys. For those who have followed my foray into ultra-running, you'll be impressed to hear that I did not go off course at all on Saturday! That's a testament to the thousands and thousands of ribbons that marked the course.

Hopefully I'll get a more thorough post up at some point soon, but for now I just want to thank all those who wished me well and offered their good luck or other forms of support. Chikara...thanks for the tip about soda. Coca-Cola saved me. And thanks to my brother for being out there on the course.

Results are posted HERE.

Updates...TNF 50

Lots of great coverage of the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 miler are up at http://www.irunfar.com/. It appears that some of the contenders have opted out due to injury. As I told my high school coach Pat Foley earlier in the week, 50% of people either don't make it to the starting line, get there significantly over- or under-trained, or end up racing stupidly and taking themselves out of the game. My aim is to not be among that 50% (or whatever percent it actually is...), and then to challenge myself over the second half of the course. Let the chips fall where they may.

For those interested, Twitter updates will be posted tomorrow during the race at irunfar.com.

I stayed with my bro last night in Napa, and just enjoyed a delicious banana pecan pancake. Had a nice easy jog this morning -- it's nice not thinking about wind-chill! I'll be heading down to Marin soon, settling in early I hope, as the shuttle to the start loads between 3:00 and 3:20 a.m.