The Endurance 50 - Texas

Hey bloggers. I finished! I'm exhausted. Dean ran it in 4:12:20, and I was about 5 minutes back, finishing in 4:17:12 (9:49 m/m). You can read his report here.

Here are my splits:

1 : 10:11	11 : 9:10	21 : 10:13
2 : 9:11	12 : 9:16	22 : 9:27
3 : 9:25	13 : 9:09	23 : 9:54
4 : 9:43	14 : 9:21	24 : 10:14
5 : 9:54	15 : 9:20	25 : 10:55
6 : 9:14	16 : 9:15	26 : 9:47
7 : 9:25	17 : 8:54	26.98 : 8:53
8 : 9:03	18 : 9:13
9 : 8:53	19 : 9:45
10 : 9:26	20 : 9:49

It rained very hard at the beginning, and less hard later on. But I'll take cold rain over hot sun any day of the week.

The distance on my GPS came out longer than expected, and it had lost signal a bunch of times, but I do think the course was a bit long too, and I made a wrong turn around mile 23 that cost me a couple minutes. Another thing that cost me a couple minutes was the dead legs and no energy after mile 22. It was pretty rough at that point. The last couple of miles were incredibly exciting, knowing that I was going to be able to run the whole way in, and run a decent time, like I thought I could. Did you think I could?

Dean was all over the place, pacing very inconsistently. I'll bet it hurts him to go so slow. For the first five miles, he was out of sight way behind me, and then somehow, with no notice, he passed me. And then later he was way way behind again, and then, at mile 15, boop - there he is, and just as quickly, beep - he was out of sight behind me. I started struggling around mile 21 and he passed me for the last time. He asked how I was doing, and I said "I might make it." He was very reassuring, and encouraging. It was at this time, when someone else asked him what his heartrate was at that moment, and he looked at his watch and said "110." 110!

So, I didn't get on the bus, but as it turns out I don't think there even was a sag-bus, sucking up runners that dropped off pace, like I expected. There were even several runners finishing well over 5 hours. But knowing the course was a problem at the end, and it was unclear which way to go, when everyone was spread out. It's basically my first marathon, not counting the time I hobbled through the NYCM - 66 minutes slower than today. When people ask what my marathon time is, I usually say, "well, I've only done one, and I was injured." Not anymore. I'm proud of my 4:17.

I got a bunch of stuff in the goodie bag, including:

An Endurance 50 tee-shirt

A Timex running hat

A NorthFace visor

A pair of running socks

A water bottle with Dean on it.

Another water bottle that says Endurance 50, and one of those stretchy things that make it easy to carry.

A Luke's Locker ID tag

A sample of Optimum Power cereal

A Cytomax Gel

A package of Cytomax Drink Mix

A coupon for some free insoles

I think I get one month of coaching, but there's nothing in the package about it. We got some emails about it.

A copy of his book "Ultra Marathon Man," which I got signed.

A picture frame for our group photo, which is also signed.

Dean told me that they send a finisher's certificate, which would be valid for the TMC, but I'm not sure how they know I finished or not. I got him to write something about the TMC inside the book, so at least I can scan it and send it to Roger Soler, so he knows that Dean vouches for me for running the whole way. And I vouch for him, Dean ran the whole way too.

Listening to: Ben Folds Five - Narcolepsy (I know you don't know what I mean... yet.

Whoo hoo!
Keith.