41 miles in the Valley..

The Fool's FA 50K was held today at Happy Days Visitor's Center. 41 people turned out to run on an absolutely beautiful day! My plan was to run two laps of the course, making for 50K, and then run some more to see how far I could go. The day was too nice to waste, besides I had a "Running Pass" from Denise since she was still high from her 17 mile run yesterday. (Gotta love those endorphins!)

The course consisted of a 25K loop starting at the Happy Days Visitor center parking lot. A FA (fat-ass) run is a loosely organized event where there are no awards, course markings, fees, whining, or whimps! In other words, a glorified group run. The course traveled on the Ledges Trail, to Pine Grove trail, to Kendall Lake trail, to the cross-country ski trail, to Salt Run trail and back to Happy Days via Ledges trail. There is a wide variety of surfaces and terrain. It also covers miles 64 to 75 of the Burning River 100 course.

The first lap was fun since I hooked up with an old friend, Derek, from my old swimming days at Twinsburg Fitness Center. Brian also ran with us. If you remember, Brian was the bad karaoke singer from the winter 50K run. I told him that every time "Rock you like a hurricane" comes up on Guitar Hero, I flash back to that run. He tried to start up another round of trail running karaoke, but it was too early in the day and everyone was still thinking clearly...

The miles passed quickly as we ran across a variety of surfaces and terrain. Mud, gravel, grass, rocks, etc. It was really a great course. Derek stopped at Happy Days and Brian took an extended food break so I completed the first lap alone and finished in 3 hours flat.

I refilled my bottles, restocked my gels and clif bars, and started lap #2. I was pretty much running alone for the rest of the day. Most people stopped at the 25K mark and the only people I saw on the course were other people out hiking and enjoying the fantastic spring day. This lap was going a bit slower than the first lap, but I was feeling ok. My legs started to feel a bit tight so I took an electrolyte capsule as a precaution, to see if it would do anything. My legs felt much better in a few minutes. So I planned to take one every 1 hour or so since I only had 4 tablets with me.

I returned to the parking lot with 5 hours 30 minutes elapsed time. Lloyd told me that I was close to finishing the 50K in 6 hours. I knew better. I ended up completing the 50K in 6:13. I was the 4th 50K finisher! That proved that not too many people ran the extra lap! :)

Lloyd suggested some options for more miles and I had pretty much decided that another 4 miles would be good enough for today. I again refilled bottles, restocked my supplies, and left the parking lot for a few more miles. I had called Denise to check in and they were at South Chagrin Metropark hanging out in the sunshine with the dogs. She said there was no reason to hurry home so I had no excuse not to make the most out of this beautiful day.

My plan for the extra miles was just to run, no time pressure to get anywhere. As I was running, I kept thinking about options for the extra miles and how far I really wanted to go. I was toying all week with the idea of 3 laps, or 75K. I decided that plan B would be a third lap and chop off the Boston Run Trail and the Pine Grove trails. This would give a 10.75 mile loop. As I ran I was thinking that I really did not want to run the Salt Run loop, which would give me 39 miles for the day. This did not feel right either, but I decided that is what it would be. I refilled my bottles at the Kendall Hills bathroom and started toward the Salt Run trailhead to make the connection back to Ledges and Happy Days.

I stopped at the trail and stood there for a minute, trying to decide if I should just run the entire loop or cut it short. Then it hit me, there was a short-loop for the Salt Run trail, which would give me 41 miles! THAT'S IT! I had a huge smile on my face as I started down the trail singing "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen.

I was still feeling ok, not good, but ok. I just tried to keep moving, drinking, and eating. The ledges trail was pretty crowded with people hiking and that kept me moving. I made it back to the parking lot after a total of 8.5 hours of running and was very happy with how the day had turned out. Besides my 45-mile birthday run of last July, this was the longest distance I have run. I rounded out the week with a grand total of 60 miles. That's a new record for me, but I know I will have bigger weeks and longer runs to come.

I drove home and it is always a shock to get out of the car and hobble into the house. I was greeted by the usual barking dogs and you-stink-and-are-muddy comments from my two girls. I showered and we went out for dinner where I had my traditional post-big-run burger. Denise and I have walked once around the block to flush the legs. I hear my bed calling me...