Thacher Park Trail Running Festival 50k - Run

Wasn't sure what to expect having never run this far and also coming off a very hard effort at Crystal Lake yesterday. Goal was to finish happy, and I thought 1 hour 10ks was reasonable. Ran with Josh, who I met at the recent STRS for almost the entire first half. Hit the first two 10k points at 59:25 and 59:26, incredible consistency on the muddy trails with brief stops at aid stations. I felt surprisingly great at this pace, and when we stopped to pee somewhere between 20-25k, I went off on my own at a quicker pace.

I knew I had to be careful, with 25k at the hang gliders cliff being only the halfway (!!!) point. At times it was a little lonely running solo, but I saw enough others on the course, volunteers, and fans that it wasn't so bad. I kept an eye on the watch, but mostly ran on feel. Stopped at every aid station for Nuun, and once to fill my bladder with water. Had some Pepsi from my bag drop, and replenished my nutrition there once.

Found out I was about 9 minutes back from the leader at the marathon check point by the finish line, but was only a little back from second place. Caught up to her on the final climb by the road crossing and finished strong. I ended up only about 3.5 minutes behind the winner (what could have been with a different race strategy, as it seems he was fading fast). But my goals were not related to finish place, and I really had an absolute blast taking on this challenge!

Nothing, my goal was to be conservative early and finish with a smile. If I was trying to win, I wouldn't have done a triathlon the day before and had a different race plan. No regrets.

Going hard at a triathlon the day before this.


AREEP put on a great event, it's super cool to have this festival so close to home. By the time I finished the post-race BBQ was pretty subdued, but to be expected with the majority of people doing the 10k and half-marathon.