Thursday, April 13, 2017

Brazos Bend 50 - 2017 - pacing

Training

I've run a couple of marathons in the beginning of the year and run 4 - 5 times a week with my GTS group and also on my own. I'm not fast but I can go far.

Pre-race

Woke up at 2 am to get to the race site by 5 am so I could meet my runner. April was attempting her 2nd 50 miler and wanted to PR her race doing a sub 12. If you do the 50 miler than you can have a pacer for the last loop (16.67 mi)

Race

I rode up and down the course finding April to get footage and found her at different points. I probably rode 15 miles trying to get everything. It was amazing to see all the runners push themselves on the course that day. After Aprils 2nd loop I rested up so that I could get ready to pace her.
By the time I got to pacing April she was slowing down but was still going at a good walking pace of about a upper 13 to 14 min pace. We chugged along but during a rest stop she took some electrolyte pills and after that she got nauseous. I was a bit scared for her but she kept on going but was bending over in pain every so often. I made her slow down and was lucky enough to find a runner who had cold water from the aid station up ahead. We poured that water over her and she felt much better. We both knew that her 12 hour 50 was in jeopardy and I made sure she knew it. This along with reaching the aid station got her to once again walk at a steadfast pace. At the last aid station I told her that we would have to make it short if we were going to break 12. She decided to go ahead and skip it and run. Boy did we run! The last half mile we sprinted to the finish line and she made it! 11:58:16!
I'm so proud of her and was glad that I was able to help her get to her goal.

Post-race


We ate an awesome double cheeseburger and headed home

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