CR24 2017

The only race I ran this year was CR24.  You may remember I ran it last year and had an excellent experience.  It's a 24 hour run on a one mile loop, and you stay out however long you can.  Last year I completed 46 miles.  I injured my IT band during a 20 miler, training for the race this year, about a month out from race day.  The IT band takes a while to heal, so I knew that I wouldn't be in good running shape for the race.  But I thought I would still show up and do what I could.

My friend, Trina, came this year.  It was her first ultra.  I ran the first few laps with her, but by mile 3 my IT band was really hurting.  So I switched to walking.  She continued running and was able to run 27 miles, and then walk enough miles to complete 50K. 

It's very humbling to just walk a long race like this.  Walking certainly takes a lot longer than running.  At 1:00, I was discouraged I wasn't near marathon distance yet.  But we had good weather, and the volunteers were supportive, and there was plenty of good food.  So I just kept at it.

This year was the first year they gave out medals if you made it to 26.2 (marathon distance).  It took a loooooong time, but I did grab my medal.

 

 

So I walked and I walked and I walked.  Turns out you can walk really far in a day if you just keep pushing.  In the end, I covered 32.98 miles (let's just call that 33 miles to console my mind that prefers whole numbers, shall we?).  I stayed long enough to do a few laps in the dark and eat pizza for dinner.  Then I headed home for the night.

 

It was a fun race again, and I enjoyed it even though I didn't get to run much.  I loved seeing how successful my friend Trina was with her first ultra.  Hopefully I'll be back next year, and in better running condition next time.