2024 Dawn to Dusk to Dawn 50K
A Disaster With a Bright Spot

I should have seen this coming with all the issues I'd been having with recovery in training. I joke about being under trained for these races, but this was taking that to an extreme. In March I ran the Livingston Ultra 6-Hour and was generally pleased with the results and hoped that was an indication that I was on track with my training in preparation for my more important races. Following that race I fell into a cycle of running some good workouts, then needing extra time for recovery. As a result I wasn't able to increase my mileage and my long runs were barely over two hours. I think this was a deciding factor in how the race developed.

Approaching race day I was stalking the weather. D3 seems to have either torrential rain or hot temperatures and sun. This year it looked like it might be near ideal with temperature at the start of 52F/11C and a high of 64F/18C with at least some cloud cover. My taper, however, was not going well. Leading up to the race I was not running relaxed and still did not feel fully recovered from my last hard run. As a result I tried something different for my and took a full rest day the day before, rather than my usual warm up jog with a couple strides. Just in case there was a last minute change in the weather, I packed everything I thought I could possibly need from extra shirts, shorts, and socks, to rain jacket and a long sleeve fleece shirt. That all went in my D3 gym bag. Then I packed my knapsack with Gatorade and granola bars just in case I needed to supplement the aid station offerings. I thought I had everything I would need, then halfway to the race Saturday morning I realized I'd forgotten my signature Tilley hat. It was too late to turn around and get it, but it didn't look like I would need it anyway with no rain in the forecast and it wasn't supposed to be sunny. That brings me to the start at 9:00 AM, two hours after the 24-Hour runners began.

The race amazingly did start off well. The first two laps were a little fast before I settled into running 3:30-3:35 per lap. Add in the time I needed to grab something to eat or drink and I reached 10K in 1:29:58, about a 14:29 pace. I did slow down slightly for the next 10K, but it was also getting warmer and as I approached 20K my legs were feeling the effort. I decided that at 20K I needed to shift to walking exclusively, at least until I felt I could kick it in to the finish. The second 10K was 1:31:25, a 14:43 pace so there was a definite slowing. The sun was also breaking through now and then, enough that I got sunburned a little on my arms and neck. This is when I really missed my hat. Fortunately Bill Schultz, the race director found one and offered it to me. I was really grateful as it made more of a difference than I expected. I had turned down an earlier offer of a hat from another runner, former RD Josh Irvan.

This is when the race started downhill. Much to my chagrin I wasn't walking nearly as fast as I had anticipated and my legs were feeling more and more fatigued. By 16 miles I needed a break and took a 7 minute rest. It wouldn't be my last or my shortest. At this point I actually began considering whether I should call it a day and leave for the comfort of home. It was apparent that 8 hours was unattainable. Obviously I didn't, but neither was it the last time that thought crossed my mind. Three miles later with the day getting hotter, I took another long break; this one was 14 minutes. Now I was running some quick figures and wondering if I even had the energy and motivation to continue an attempt at setting the PA resident single age 77 record. That was, and still is, 8:41:10, held by Al Emma, who happened to be in the race again this year. From this point on it seemed to be walk 4-6 laps, take a short break, and repeat, all the while wondering why I didn't stop. Of course by this time I was also a lot closer to the finish, and stopping no longer made any sense. I even tried to incorporate some short 30 second runs, but after a few laps realized my legs might not hold up to the finish if I continued to push it like that. Now even finishing under 9 hours was no longer in sight. My only incentive, I thought, was to avoid a DNS. I was taking another break, which turned out to be my last, with 13 laps left, when Mike Melton, the timer stopped to inform me that I was in second place. Somewhat in disbelief, I immediately pushed myself off my chair to begin my final push to the finish. Mike hadn't said how much of a lead I had, so I did my best to see that I wasn't passed by any of the other geezers in the race. (The three left to battle me for second place were ages 69, 74, and 83.) I tried to get a good glance at the monitor, but was never able to see how much of a cushion I had. I'm counting down in my head now, reaching first single digits to go, then down to my last mile, then a verbal check with Mike to be sure I was starting my final lap. I couldn't even bring myself to run across the finish.  My final time was 9:11:09.

There's not much of a denouement to wrap up the day. Mike removed the timing chip from my shoe. I couldn't have bent down to cut if off if I tried. Then he brought out my coffee mug as a finisher and this huge plaque for runner-up in the 50K. I still have a hard time believing that happened. Enough time had elapsed from when the winner finished to when I did, that he could have run another 50K with plenty of time to spare. The gap was 5:43:50. I had a lead of 37:56 over third place.

These results are prompting me to rethink my goals for 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour. That's five weeks away, so I have some time to prepare. Part of that preparation will be the Bubbletown What the Duck 12-Hour which will be primarily a social run for me, but also an opportunity for a final good long run before the Dome. The first few days of recovery have gone well, so I still have some hope for a good distance there. I will also be rethinking my race strategy, particularly the duration of my walk breaks, to see if I can extent the time I can run, then work on being able to walk at a faster pace.