It hit me the other day that I haven’t run a 50k since Bryce in June 2016 – almost 2 years ago. That kind of bummed me out. Life has gotten busy and I can’t bring myself to pay registration fees for races. I keep telling myself, “Oh, I’ll just run a 50k on my own for free.” But of course, I never do. I actually did try in December 2017, but it didn’t pan out.

Well, fast forward to a couple days ago when a fellow professor in my department mentioned that he was heading down to the Wedge. THE WEDGE?! Dang. I’ve been dying to get back down there. The Mrs. gave me the go-ahead, I drove down Friday night, slept in the back of the car, and at 6:30 AM on Saturday I was on the trail. I dropped aid station supplies at Campsite 5, as usual, and set out with a 50k plan in mind.

The 2 previous times I did the Good Water Rim Trail, I did the 16 mile trail from West-to-East, and then took the 5.5 mile road back to the start for a 21.5 mile loop. I haven’t been training, at all, but hoped that if I took it slow I could just to the 16 mile trail out and back for 32 miles – a 50k. Over the past year or two I bet my average run length has been 4-8 miles, with the longest probably being Timp summits. In other words, I hadn’t run this far in a long time.

I set out and tried hard to maintain a slow easy pace – in the mid 11min/mile range. It was hard. My body wanted to go faster. On the roads lately (I know, I know…roads?! But yeah, I’ve been putting in more boring road miles lately than I used to) I have been getting faster and faster – it has been exciting. So, consciously slowing myself down was a challenge. I hit the 9 mile aid station feeling great, resupplied, and headed out on the west 7 mile leg of the trail. About 1/2way there my legs started feeling pretty heavy and my pace slowed. I even caught a toe, fell, and bloodied my knee a bit. When I got to the end of the trail my friend (who left about an hour later than I did) caught up with me. Even though I wasn’t feeling great, I figured I could make back to the aid station via the 7 mile trail – and assess there if I would bail to the road for a quick 2-3 miles home instead of the last 9 miles back. I jogged and walked and jogged and walked. At the aid station (mile 23) I felt good enough to head out for the last 9. Those were a slow 9 miles, jogging, power-hiking, jogging, slow. But, I finished – a 50k. 51.5, actually.

It is the 5th time I’ve done a 50k and came in as my 3rd best time – right in the middle. The two slower the two times I’ve done Bryce. That’s understandable since Bryce is a lot higher in elevation and has a lot more climbing. Could I have done this one faster? Definitely, but I was out there simply to finish, to prove to myself that I could still do it.

Update – one day later, my legs felt great and I did a 10 mile bike ride with the family. Two days later and my legs still feel great. So, in terms of “recovery,” this has been my best 50k. I’ve never felt this good afterwards.