Rhett

Avalon50

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Location:

Lake Havasu City,AZ,

Member Since:

Sep 29, 2008

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

23 marathons

6 Bostons (2007-2011, 2017)

3 Half Ironmans

2 Ironmans

3 50 Milers

1 Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim

Marathon PR:

     2:59:00 St. George 2008

     2:58:03 Boston 2010

 1/2 Marathon PR:

     1:25:41  Havasu Half 2009

     1:24:09 Painter's St.George 2010

 Half Ironman PR:

      5:25:02  HITS Havasu 2014

5K PR:

       18:23  LHC Turkey Trot 2014

        18:22  LHC Turkey Trot 2017

50 mile PR:

        7:56:14 Avalon50 2016

Short-Term Running Goals:

Break 3 hours again

Doing it a Boston would be sweet!

It was sweet!

UPCOMING RACES

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Have fun!

 

Personal:

Married

4 kids

Optometrist

 

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Salomon Sense Pro 4 Lifetime Miles: 320.00
Salomon Ultra Pro Lifetime Miles: 387.00
NB 1500 V6 Lifetime Miles: 219.00
Adizero Pro Lifetime Miles: 57.00
Hoka Clifton 8 Lifetime Miles: 346.00
Brooks Ghost 14 Lifetime Miles: 343.00
Brooks Ghost 14 #3 Lifetime Miles: 163.00
Inov8 G270 Lifetime Miles: 20.00
Race: Avalon50 (50 Miles) 08:10:57, Place overall: 10, Place in age division: 3
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
50.000.000.000.000.0050.00

AVALON 50 (Miles that is)

I came into this race undertrained by last year's standard, but hopeful that I could run a smarter race and therefore beat last year's time.  To make a long story short, I was about 15 minutes slower this year but finished 3 places higher in the overall standings (10th) and received a nice little plaque for 3rd in my AG.  I think I was 5th or 6th last year, once again proving it's all about who shows up.

Now for those interested, here's the long story.  The main reason I ran this race this year is because last year Blake felt undertrained so only ran part of the race and wanted to do the full thing this year, so we signed up a couple of months ago to do it together.  An injury about 6 weeks ago made it so he couldn't run, so I went to the race by myself.  Although I met a lot of runners and had a good time, it was definitely way more fun with Blake along last year.  

On Friday, I drove the 5 hours to Long Beach, took the hour ferry ride to Catalina Island, checked into my hotel, did the bib pick and drop bag drop off thing, had some dinner, and was in bed falling to sleep about 8:30 California time.  I had my alarm set for 4:15 but I woke up at 2:30 after sleeping soundly for 6 hours and couldn't go back to sleep, so about 3:00 I got up ate, took a shower, got dressed and ready to race.  I left my hotel room about 4:50 and walked about 2 minutes to the start and we were off at 5:00 sharp.  It was dark so everyone had on head lights.  The first 4 miles climb about 1500 feet so it is really cool to look back down and see the long string of lights going down the mountain behind your.  I started off very conservatively and was at 55 minutes 5 miles into the race. Then all the ups and downs started. I had a bunch of miles in the 7's (Miles 8, 9, 15, 17, 18, 24, 25, and 34) but also a lot of miles in the 11s or higher (2, 3, 4, 20,29, 30, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42-45, and 47) with my 2 slowest miles being mile 3 and mile 45.  I even had a couple miles in the 6's (14 and 50).  It's just such a crazy race that is dictated by the elevation changes.

Through 28 miles I was exactly on 9 minute pace to the second.  If I could have held that I would have finished in 7 1/2 hours.  Unfortunately at mile 41 my calfs started cramping mildly so I had to back way down and do a lot of walking for a few miles until I could run without cramping.  After I knew I wasn't going under 8 hours I started just finishing with easy running in the 8's for the last few miles (downhill) and right as my watch hit 49 miles the #1 female caught up to me and excitely exclaimed that she was the first female.  I gave her some congratulations and told how amazing she was doing and then, like any gentleman would do, dropped the hammer so I wouldn't get chicked. :)  I ran as fast as I could just hoping that my legs wouldn't cramp up and turned in a 6:53 last mile.  To her credit she finished just 6 seconds behind me.  I couldn't believe she had kept up with me.  After they took her picture she came up to me and thanked my for running hard to the end because it helped her finish faster, so I felt less of a jerk for not wanting to get chicked.

Anyways, I don't think I will do that race again.  I would like to run 50 where elevation changes are not so much of a factor and where I don't lose my toe nails.  Until I ran this race last year I had never lost a toenail running and I'm going to lose another one this year.  Darn steep downhills.  Now it's time to recover and to start to think about Boston.

Sketchers Sonic-orange Miles: 15.00Altra Superior Miles: 35.00
Comments
From Tom K on Mon, Jan 09, 2017 at 05:21:02 from 66.87.148.255

Great race. Great report! That last mile is fantastic! Funny stuff!

From Hillbilly Runner on Mon, Jan 09, 2017 at 05:52:00 from 173.191.121.34

Great race and report. Congratulations!!

From Yasir on Mon, Jan 09, 2017 at 10:07:06 from 99.20.240.16

wow wow 6:53 mile 50 wow again what a gentleman :-) yeah you are under trained. Gongrats and enjoy your hard work.

From Burt on Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 08:29:22 from 72.210.41.152

Outstanding job!

From DaleG on Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 18:55:51 from 152.216.15.5

Wow, way to go, Rhett!!! When I got to the part where you didn't want to get chicked, I started thinking she would use it as motivation to run faster, lol, and she did. Nice job!

From Yasir on Sat, Jan 14, 2017 at 09:56:55 from 99.20.240.16

I hope all of your body parts are ok :-) just checking on you.

From Rhett on Sat, Jan 14, 2017 at 11:18:33 from 66.87.64.59

Thanks Yasir. I am actually surprised how quickly my legs felt normal again. Buy Tuesday all soreness was gone but I am trying to respect the recovery so I haven't done any running this week just some easy elliptical. Monday I plan on getting back at it again. I need to get some speed back before Boston.

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