The Spokane River Run 50k winds through the beautiful trails in Riverside State Park. My legs felt pretty good before the race, even after I pushed hard on a tough marathon last week. I thought I'd start at a decent clip and see how long I could hold on.
I've made a couple trips up to Spokane over the past two years to run only a few of the miles through the park, so I was excited to finally get the full tour. I love running trails.
Race Morning
Start of the Race (video)
I played caboose on a long and winding train of runners for the first 3 or 4 miles. There was a bit of climbing, but my legs felt pretty good. I told myself from the beginning that I would be very conservative on any climbs in hopes of having something left in the tank for the last leg of the course.
My legs felt very good through mile 10 and I was holding a good pace. A couple climbs here, some gnarly rocks there, and lots of sweet single-track everywhere else.
View after first climb
And then a little more climbing
Shattered Ankle Alley
I hit the 15.5 mile mark at 2 hrs and 24 minutes (9:17 pace), which was much faster than I had planned. But my legs were still feeling good, so I kept pushing. "Let's see what you got, Scott," I said to myself in third-person. Hey, you'll never know where the edge is until you come face-to-face with it.
Mile 20 - still feeling good. I was following a couple runners for a mile or so and I followed them right through a missed a turn. When we finally caught up with the correct trail and the next mile marker, my Garmin said we'd ran about an extra half mile. Yeah, it could have been much worse, but it was still no fun running that extra bit (wasn't even a scenic section).
Mile 25 - still strong at 9:30 pace. Sun warming up.
Mile 28 - Bonk! I came face-to-face with the edge, and I didn't like what I saw. Mostly stomach issues, but I think the juice ran out of my legs too.
I walked the majority of the final 3 miles and finished with a time of 5:25:29 (10:29 pace) -- still a new 50k PR. Results.
Running gives me views like this
Spokane River
Rocky Cliffs and Rock Slides
This is what I look like on an empty tank (Mile 29)
Keep running!
It's a great course with some great views. I should probably rest my legs a little this week, but the weather is so nice. I suppose I'll just keep running. Sadie's missed out on my last two long runs, so I'm feeling a little guilty when she looks at me with those "you went on a long trail run today? without me? don't you love me?" puppy dog eyes. :)
Keep running!
-Scott
