Saturday - Hairy Bison 30k

Hairy Bison 30k "race" report.

Got up early to do a 30km club run/race that was put on by my trail running group.  30km comes out to about 18mi.  Really all it would be is two laps of the regular 9mi trail that we run every Saturday.  The first lap would be in the regular direction, the second lap would be in the reverse direction.  The second lap was optional. but for each lap you did, you received a buffalo nickle at the halfway point.  After the race, there would be a drawing and how many tickets you got depended on how many laps you completed.  I don't normally (ever) run 18mi but what the hell, its free, and I would double my chances to get free crap in the drawing.

Probably 50-60 people showed up.  A lot of my Saturday morning trail group, a few guys from the road racing club, a few ladies from the Sunday trail group, among others.

I started out towards the front.  The super fast girl Anna was there, along with Hunter and Kyle, so I knew I wouldn't be anywhere near the fastest person there.  Wanted to take it conservative on the first lap, and then just struggle through the second.  Whelp.  Not so much.

First lap went great.  Paced along behind 3 of the road racers.  Got to the turn around point in 1:11.  Felt awesome.  The last couple miles I actually took it easy because I knew I'd have another lap to go.  I probably could have gone well under 1:10 if I had pushed it.  Made the turn and started back slowly.  Felt tough but doable.  Got maybe 2 miles into it and the body said "no more thank you."  Started with both calves seizing up, then both hamstrings, then hip flexors, then groin, and finally because why not, my arms seized.  Pretty much total body failure.  Had to jog/walk the remaining 7 miles.  Towards the end I could only run for maybe 10 seconds before having to walk for several minutes.  Second half ended up taking 1:52.  Ugh.

Afterwards, I won a nice bpa-free bottle and a second Conquest pint glass in the raffle drawing.  So I guess there's that.

After thinking about it, I probably didn't eat enough beforehand.  I only had my usual half a banana, which is fine for 9mi, not so much for 18.  Should have had a full banana and added peanut butter.