OT 50

(Left: Brother and Law and First Place finisher, Right: Myself)

The Ouachita Trail 50 Miler was my Ultra Running Debut in 2011.  This year was my third time to run this race, which turned out to be the hardest effort for me on the course.  I started out at a very fast pace (for me), holding around 8:30-9:00 minute miles before and after the climb at Pinnacle Mountain.  I told myself going into the race that I was either going to experience one of two things:

1) I was going to run fast, feel great, and smash my old record...

2) I was going to finish, but I would endure much pain due to my initial plan.

Of course I relished in pain for over a majority of the race.  When the hardest part of the race is the flat sections, I learned that it means that I probably went out too hard in the beginning.  By mile 20, I started feeling uneasy in my legs.  My feet and knees felt fine, just my hamstrings and Quads started to act up, which usually is fine around mile 35..BUT MILE 20!!??!  I always hear the best way to learn is to experience, well, this was one of those moments when I realized, that even though I knew not to go out hard because it would really hurt in the end, I did anyways.

Before the turn around I was experiencing a ton of pain in my leg muscles, and was feeling hopeless.  Once I reached the halfway mark, a light started to shine, and I knew I could mentally think past the pain and finish, hopefully breaking last years time, worst case, simply just finishing.

The last half, turned into a race from aid station to aid station, just try to make it to the next one, and the next.  My other Brother-In-Law paced with me the last 14 miles from North-shore aid station to the end, and was a huge help.  I probably wasn't very fun to be around for the first four miles, but as soon as we hit the last 10 mile mark, then 9, then 8 and so-on, I started feeling great..It might have been the Red bull, V8 Juice, and tylenol I took, but I am just going to say it was my positive mental game taking over. HA!

The last 2 or 3 miles or so is a finish on the road, leading to the finish.  We stepped it up to run a blistering 10 minute pace(which felt as though I was a full on sprinter at the time) to get me to the finish line.  Last years time was a 10:09.  This year I finished in 

10:05.

So even though I blew up before I even hit the turnaround, I still got a PR, which was kind of bittersweet.  I should have held back the first 15 miles, stepped it up a little, then come the turnaround turned on the jets.

Of course that was not what I did this year. Next year I will change my strategy and go for a 9:30 finish, maybe even better.