At 9:00 AM last Nike Air Max 95 Femme Saturday morning I stood at the starting line of the Hat Run 50K in a grassy field in Susquehanna Sate Park, MD (photo at left by Jeff Hinte, HAT Race Director). I was contemplating the fact that I was about to run Nike Air Max 90 Mujer 31 miles on hilly trails that would take me over some 9,800 feet of elevation gain (see elevation profile below), and I knew that pain was coming. Some might think that doing such a thing is crazy, but at that moment, I couldn’t have been in a more perfect place. I was completely relaxed – the butterflies and pre-race jitters that normally hit me just before the starting gun fires were nowhere to be found. I relished the challenge that lay ahead.Over the next 5 hours, 52 minutes, and 48 seconds I ran through fields, along gravel roads and forest trails, through streams, and up and down hills. Endless hills. I ran Nike Air Max 2017 Femme fast, I ran slow, I walked, I hobbled, and at one point I even sat down and took off my shoes (they were filled with sand). I had moments where I felt like I was flying, and I had moments where seemingly all of the Nike Air Presto Womens muscles between my knees and my hips were screaming at me in unison. At one point my quads, groin, and hamstrings were on the verge of cramping all at the same time, so I stood in a cold stream until the pain subsided. I ate boiled potatoes dipped in a bowl of salt (pure heaven!). I ate peanut M&M’s on the run and had to use my hydration pack to get the rainbow of color off my hands after I scarfed them down. I ate multiple bananas. In the final mile much of this food almost came back up, but I fought the waves of nausea and held it down. And through it all, I had fun. Scratch that, I had an absolute blast!The details Nike Air Max 95 Femme of the race are not so much the important part of the experience. What made this day so special was the people. I had so much fun because I was able to share the experience of running the HAT Run 50K with good friends,www.arqueoymas.es none of whom I had ever met before in person, but several of whom I feel like I have known my whole life. The reason I had decided to come to Maryland in the first place was to meet up with friends from the dailymile social training network (see photo above). They had done the HAT the previous year, and the stories they’d told of the experience in the Maryland woods had become legendary. A bigger group was in attendance this time around, and it was great to finally meet my friends Andy (thanks for the Panera breakfast!), Steve, Ally, Thomas, Brodie, Jenny, Jeanne, Smitty, as well as several others. I saw many of Nike Air Max Classic BW Donne them out on the course, and we hung out both before and after the race.I also was looking forward to meeting up with Chris McDougall (see photo above). We’ve exchanged emails off and on for awhile, and as I was mulling Nike Air Max 90 Femmedoing HAT last Fall I got an email from him saying “If you’re in, I’m in.” Hard to turn down an offer like that! Chris was gracious enough to put me up at his house the evening after the race, and I discovered that we have more in common than our fascination with running form and footwear (or lack thereof). Let’s just say it’s comforting to know that I’m not the only father who thinks the Barbie Princess and the Pauper soundtrack is a musical masterpiece worthy of being belted out when alone in the car. Chris’ family was eminently hospitable, and I owe his wife a huge debt of gratitude for allowing me to fill his Nike Air Max 95 Dames house with running talk for a day.
My honest plan for the race was that I really had no plan. After the starting gun went off I settled into a comfortable pace alongside Chris and a few others. Being an Ultra newbie I Nike Air Max 720 Femme followed everyone else’s lead and walked the uphills and ran the flats and downs. The pace was more than manageable, and I felt like I could go all day. I had a nice time chatting with Chris about running, shoes, etc., and we had some nice conversations with surrounding runners. I remember the topic of hashing in Laos coming up at one point – funny the topics that come up when on the run.
