Sunmart Trail Endurance Run (50k)
Huntsville, TX
Dec. 13, 2003

I was definitely better preparedfor this years' Sunmart. I had visions ofrunning a sub 4 hour 50K, but I still had serious doubts that I would be able to do this.  The weather was muchbetter than the previous years. Even though it had rained the night before, the course conditions were great when compared to last years. Conditions were in my favor that I would break 4 hours. My pre-race routine consisted of using some pain relieving gel on my legs, some lightrunning (approx 1 mile), lots of stretching and a bagel with peanut butter. I used my ear warmers and my favorite pair of gloves which I later removed after the first 6 mile out and back loop. For running shoes, I called up my Nike Pegasus from the bench. These shoes had gone through some wear and tear, reached their retirement miles (over 550 miles) and been through the washing machine once (after last years Sunmart). I figured trails are soft so cushioning is not much of an issue. Besides, they still had plenty of bounce when I wore them a couple days before Sunmart for a short run. I also did not want to get my fairly  new white, bright and shiny Skylons dirty. They treated me good last year so I figured they would bring me some luck this year.

I started off at what I thought was a good pace. The entire time I was out running I never had any idea on how fast my pace was since I never studied the course map to determine the mile locations for each aid station. My stop watch recorded only one lap and that was the start and the finish.  I am a bad judge of pace and I usually rely on other people running with me to tell me how fast we are going. I did this at only one point in the race and this was at the beginning of the first 12 1/2 mile loop. Liza Hunter-Galvan, who was the overall female winner at the San Antonio Marathon passed me at this point. As she flew by me, I could not help but notice how fast she was going so I asked her what pace she was running. She replied and said she was going at pretty close to a 7-minute mile pace. Holy cow! I never would have guessed I was going that fast. I had already slowed down by the time she had passed me. The best I can figure now is that I was running about a 7:15 to 7:20 pace - much faster that I had anticipated.I pretty much kept that pace until the completion of the first 12 1/2 mile loop. I definitely slowed down after that. During the race, I ate two fig newtons and drank gatorade and coke. The coke was during the last loop. I had received a tip from a runner last year that defizzed coke was good for the sugar and caffeine boost during the last part of the race. Seemed to make sense.During the last loop, I wanted to stop at the last aid station before the finish and walk the rest of the course. I walked for about 1- 2 minutes at this point and finally decided that I wanted to get this over with and seriously didn't care about breaking 4 hours. At this point all I wanted to do was finish and possibly not allow any more runners to pass me.  I managed to keep a decent pace and not allow any runners to pass me. Later, I calculated about an 8:20 pace for the last 5-6 miles.Breaking 4 hours was not even considered at this point where I cleared the trails in the woods. Up until this point I had never looked at my stop watch once during the race. When I reached the last straight before the finish, I finally looked at my stop watch and noticed it wad 3:58 and some seconds. I picked up the pace not actually knowing if I could break 4 hours. From a distance I could see the finish clock. Looks like I just might break 4 hours. As I passed the finish, I clocked myself at 3:59:57.  Wow, what a feeling of exhilaration to finish Sunmart in under 4 hours. I felt great - like I could run more. NOT! Looked at the results later and found out I got third in the masters division. What a great feeling knowing that I placed third in masters for the largest 50K in the US.

As I look back now at my performance at Sunmart, I feel like I may still have had some room for improvement. Next year my 50K PR time may just have to wait, as I think I may try my hand at the 50 miler next year. I can definitely place on the 50 miler.