Well, I always rag on my friends who don't train as well as they should for their particular event - yet I found myself in the same place on a cold day in March. I had signed up for the HAT run, a 50K (31 miles) with a group of friends, back when we were all putting in plenty of miles. But with a surgery, and some pretty lame winter training - this race really snuck up on me.
This was my second ultra distance - My first was the JFK 50 miler over a year ago. Though the JFK is a longer distance, the HAT has a greater degree of difficulty due to elevation changes, river crossings and some rocky trails. Some of the hills were just plain mean. I had on my fairly new, and not nearly broken in enough Under Armour trail shoes, which really held their own, considering my lack of breaking them in appropriately. Took the first loop of the race slow and easy, and actually felt fairly strong for the second loop. And what can you say about a race that has hot and salty french fries at the aid stations - wonderful! All in all, I finished at a better than hoped for time - but really paid for it a bit the next week. I know my recovery time is always longer when I have not trained, but I am glad that I did the race.
