Sean ran a hot and fast 50k over labor day weekend.
After going through the ordeal at Burning River, I wanted to take this race a little bit lighter, a little easier. This race took place at Six-O ranch outside of Cleburne, Texas, just southwest of Fort Worth on Saturday September 3rd.
On the way to the race
Friday I drove up there and one of the things I did on Friday to change things up, one of the things I decided to do was take in more calories than usual. I've been doing this caloric deficit, but the day before I wasn't afraid to pound down some calories. I can get overly manic of trying to cut down on calories, but Friday I said "fuck it" so long as it wasn't overly fried or greasy, or whatever. I made some food ahead of time and put it in a ziploc bag. Also, that Friday was a cross country meet, so we took our cross country team to a race up in Austin and on the way back we treat them to Whataburger and coaches get a free meal. And hell, I ain't gonna pass up a free meal, so I chowed down on that. That's the tradition.
On the way up, I drove up to Buc-ee's and got some cheap gas. Man, that place was a god dang circus on labor day weekend, I tell you that. I ended up getting some sandwiches there. And then when I got into Cleburne, I wanted to get some dessert, so I got some cowboy oatmeal cookies. I didn't give a shit. Well, I guess I did, but the thing is when I was up in Ohio for Burning River, I didn't eat enough the day before. I don't know how much that impacted the chaos that ensued, but I'm sure it didn't help.
I got myself the cheapest hotel you can get there in Cleburne, there at the Days Inn in Cleburne for $67. It wasn't bad. My room was right next to an exit door, so I was able to park my car right there, but then people started going in and out all night. The next morning, I had that continental breakfast and I didn't have to pay for shit. I had looked at AirBnb rooms, but the deal breaker was having to pay for breakfast that morning, while at the Days Inn I got that free breakfast. And I wanted to pound down some breakfast beforehand, and I didn't have to worry about that shit if I stayed at the Days Inn.
Race Day
The race started at 7:00. It was humid--it had rained quite a bit the day before. When we started off, it was kind of cow pasture-ish. It was mostly single track. We ran on some jeep/ranch roads. Only three or four hills that we had to negotiate. It was steadily rolling. It wasn't a difficult course by any means.
After that experiencein Ohio, I decided to make things a little bit lighter. That allowed me to run with like two guys for quite a bit of distance. I ran with a guy that was like a like a pulmonary nurse. I ran with that guys for quite a few miles. And we also ran with another guy who was a fire fighter. It was interesting running with them to hear about how things have changed in the last couple of years. All three of us have seen quite a bit of stuff over the last couple of years with Covid, seen a lot of deaths and stuff. At one point, we were approaching a hill and I told Kenny, the pulmonary nurse, "Hey, I'm going to run this hill." At that point, I caught up with a marathoner. They started at 8:00 but had a different loop.
So about 11 or 13 miles into the race, I decided to push it, and I felt pretty good, right? and then I got to the start/finish line because it was a two loop course, and I refilled my stuff. You know, you get to some point in the race where the shorter distances go one way and the longer distances go the other. Like with half marathoners and marathoners on a road race. Well, by the time I got out there for the second loop, it was like crickets. I don't see anybody. No one in front of me, no one behind me. My split for that first loop was like 2:40. There was no one around and then I passed two people.
I get to that first aid station, and I ask the aid station volunteer, how far is the person ahead of me. And he said they were over a mile ahead and I was like "oh, damn, ok. I'll still keep a steady pace." And then I get to the next aid station about 2.5 miles later and they were like "oh, he's over a mile ahead of you" and I was like "ok, damn."
I started to get a little discouraged because it started getting warm as shit then. This is like 10:30-11:00, but I'm like slotted in. I'm gonna keep running, but it's just a bit discouraging. Well, I then get to the next aid station that's like 4 miles to the end, but I get to it and it's this weird little aid station that is part of this half mile loop since the RD's were just trying to buy a little distance. Well, it's just this short little loop. And the thing is, you come back to that same aid station a half mile later. You hit this aid station at the 26 mile mark and then again at the 26 and a half mile mark.
So, when I got to that aid station, lo and behold, the guy in front of me is right there. I was like "are you running?" he was like "yeah" and I was like "I think you're right ahead of me." He says, "You're gonna catch me, I'm about gone." He's kinda suffering.
I'm not sure if I've ever been in an ultra race, where I've been like "I'm gonna catch that son of a bitch". I mean, I've run races where I've "reeled them in" but it's not like I'm really fishing. It just kind of happens. This is the first time in a long time that I felt intentional about trying to catch someone. I ran up these two pretty nice hills. I saw him in the distance, and I kind of had to be patient. As soon as I saw his white hat, I was gonna go after him, but then I had to hold myself back and be patient. I caught him with like 600-800 yards to go. I started chatting with him and then at some point he was like "hey, hey man, good job" and he let me go. He ended up finishing less than a minute behind me. (LIterally 53 seconds.)
My time at the end was 5:31. 5th overall, 4th male out of 48 finishers. First place masters male.
When I consider those with at least one lap. There was 64, 65 there.
It ended up being a good day at the office. I was not expecting to run that well, since I haven't been able to train and concentrate on my running with everything going on. It's my cross country season. I've been waking up at 4:00 trying to run before leaving for cross country practice. I have to get on the road for practice by 6:00, so I've been running in the afternoon.
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