So, my first east coast ultra done back where it all started for me (well, not running and definitely not ultras but where life started for me, so yeah- bad analogies will be all over this little essay here, bear with me…)

I have to say that I didn’t really have my nutrition dialed in like I had hoped, my parents threw me and my fiancee an engagement BBQ the day before the race so I had to forgo the day-before sweet potato I have come to know and love. I did get that little bit of carb I try to get in the day or two leading up to a race in the form of white bread (gasp! GLUTEN?!?! What was I thinking?)

That being said, I ran the exact race I wanted to, give or take 1 or 2 minutes. I had a 4:39 (or a 9:00 per mile) target that I missed by a little more than a 2 minute margin (official results: 4:41:43) which was good enough for 15th overall.

Here’s my splits:

7.5 miles / 1:02 (8:16 per)

15.5 / 2:14 (8:39 per) (segment pace: 8 @ 1:12 for 9:00 per)

23 / 3:25 (8:55 per) (segment: 7.5 @ 1:11 for 9:28)

31 / 4:41 (9:04 per) (segment: 8 @ 1:16 for 9:30)

I remember thinking, am I going out too fast? I felt really good, legs felt light, the weather was perfect (probably 52 degrees at start time, which was about 8:14 am, first time I’ve ever been to a race that didn’t start on time…) I figured I’d stick to my game plan which was to try to run as close to 9/min miles as I could.

I figured on this terrain I’d be able to really push the pace when I needed to and run as much of it as I could- which was about 99% of it. Since there was such an alarming lack of hills and climbs there really wasn’t a lot of the walk breaks I’m used to taking in ultras, so that contributed to a faster than average pace.

The volunteers at the aid stations were really friendly and had their stations neat and orderly. The only downside I experienced was the fact that they had Gatorade (wtf?) as their electrolyte drink, so I stuck to water until mile 23.

Anyway; official results:

4:41:43, 15th overall (of 118), 13th male, 8th in the 30-39 age group