The 50K was supposed to be slow.
I was doing it with a couple of friends on a flat, fast path around Poughkeepsie. An 8:45 average pace would have been great. Speed was not the point. We would stop for a couple quick refuels and get through 31 miles without making it a whole production.
This was a training run for races that were much less reasonable.
I was aiming at a 50-miler at Mohonk in May and the Vermont 100 in July. The bike was out for a while. I wanted to focus on running, keep building the weekly mileage and learn what my body could handle.
There were enough warning lights to pay attention to. My back pain was getting better and my left leg was getting stronger. I was also coming off several weeks above 80 miles and had been underfueling badly enough that friends pushed me to change breakfast and stop weighing myself for a while.
The 50K fit because it was long without needing to be fast.
We got it done.
I do not have a polished finish-line photo. The owned pictures from that day are much more accurate. There is a found-item sign from somewhere along the route. Later, there are several photos of me lying on the couch with Eva pressed against my chest.
That was the finish line.
The run stayed in my legs for a while. By early March, I wrote that I had finally absorbed the 50K. Fatigue was low again and fitness felt high. I was able to run a hilly 17:43 road 5K workout, then turn toward the New York City Half.
At the time, I was trying to hold several goals at once. A faster half marathon in March. Fifty miles in May. One hundred in July. A 2:45 marathon later in the year. An RRCA coaching certification in the middle of it.
The 50K was the easy, social version of all that ambition. Run with friends, stop for food, finish the distance, go home.
Eva handled the recovery shift.