Monday, March 17, 2008

Mud but no rain at Chuckanut

After DNF-ing last year with a poor attitude, I finished this year's run in a personal worst time of 5:44:52. This is 15 minutes slower than my previous slowest time and 53 minutes off my course PR. I'm not surprised by the time, nor really disappointed; I simply haven't been running enough to have any endurance. My calves were cramping quite a bit on the downhills and I never felt smooth or comfortable when running. Part of that was due to my footwear selection - my trail shoes had the soles falling off and I wore an old pair of road shoes. I should have looked to see how bad the tread was when selecting the shoes. There was nearly no tread left under the balls of my feet or the heels. This didn't help my progress in the mud, either uphill or down.

Enough negativity. I got to see and chat with a great number of my running friends and ran a fairly smart run, given my current fitness level. On the important score card, I got multiple hugs from Krissy, Olga, Ronda, Karen, Cheri, Chris, and Christel. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone. You can see I had my priorities straight. I also left my watch in the car and had no idea of my time until I crossed the finish line. Glenn T. was everywhere on the course and took several photos that actually look like I was running. This photo is one of his. Next up - Mt. Si for my 10th running of the event. I hope to have my miles up a bit before the 50 miler. After logging my race, I realized that this was my 80th marathon or ultra and my 9th running at Chuckanut (with 8 finishes).

2 comments:

shawn said...

Hey Mr.-I'm-just-going-to-take-it-easy-and-hang-out-with-good-friends-today-Kreft! Liar!!! You've obviously been flying under the radar as I had no idea you were so freaking fast. Really? 5:44 is 15 minutes slower than your slowest - now I am really impressed.

Congratulations on number 80! With no stopping in sight!

Olga said...

You can say it's your PW because your PW is DNF! Ha, gotta! And if you ever come down, you'll get more hugs than you can handle. isn't it why we run? Congrats on 80th, if you slow down just a bit, I may catch you in a couple of years:)