50 Mile Indecision

This is the header image that greets you on the homepage for the Saint Sebastian 100. Telling, eh?

Yesterday, I had a grilled cheese date with my husband and a friend. The friend has done ultras and ironmans (ironmen?) in the past, so I was running (heh) the idea of a 50 miler by him. We live in DC, so the JFK 50 is the obvious race. I don't like trail running*, so I had kind of talked myself out of it. He explained that only about a dozen miles were real trails and the rest was flat / easy. He convinced me, and I signed up right there at the lunch table.

But then I started looking more carefully**. This year, there's no early start. There's a 13 hour limit. I'm not a fast runner. My normal marathon time is about 5:20, and when I've tried to go fast, my best is 4:51. JFK starts with a steep uphill. I am fine on hills, but when you're doing 50, saving energy is good. Maybe walk part of that and lose time? Then, I find that the AT sections are more technical than I expected (thanks to the runners who posted some GoPro videos so I really could get a sense). I could handle those, too, but would want to take it very carefully. More walking and lost time.

After 15 miles, all is smooth and easy, pretty much, but those first 15 miles are ones where it would be smart to go slower. The 15 miles where you feel the best. I'm just not convinced I'd make the cutoff, and JFK is strongly committed to their cutoff. If the course were reversed and the AT / uphill part were at the end, I'd be less worried - I'd take the hard part slow when I want to go slow anyway! But, yeah, the prospect of getting pulled from the course with an hour to go gave me some anxiety.

So I started looking at other November 50 milers and found a tiny one in Florida - the Saint Sebastian 100 (which has a 50). It's mostly flat, basically on sandy fire roads, and totally non-technical. Also, there's a 30 hour time limit. Even the 50 milers get the 30 hours. Also, the race is run by researchers who do science on the participants, and as a scientist, I love this. So I registered for that one, too.

As of today, I'm 85% committed to the Florida race, but 100% committed to my first 50 in November, barring any injuries!

* I know this makes me weird for an ultra runner, but the joy of running for me comes in  that feeling when my body is running on autopilot. Having to watch every step for a root or rock kills that joy for me.

**yes, probably should have done that before signing up