After DNFing Javelina, then running a good 50 miler two weeks later, and now three weeks after that 50 miles, my goal for today was Discipline and Patience.

Set the watch for 3:2. The terrain made it a bit difficult to stick to the intervals but I did fairly well for the first three laps. When I got to lap four and I was still feeling good, I didn't turn the watch off but pretty much decided that if it was downhill I would run it, if it was uphill I was definately walking it and anything in between I'd just kind of get through it.

My four lap times were:
2:25:01
2:28:34
2:38:51
2:36:10

I feel like I met my primary goals well during this race. Winning the Masters was an added bonus.

I stayed well within myself, did the walk breaks but walked strong when walking.

The idea was to get comfortable with this course. I was expecting the tree roots, although I was secretly hoping that there wouldn't be quite this many. What I was not expecting was the amount of loose sand that we ran through. I'm hoping that after a couple of hard freezes before early February that the ground will be a bit more solid for Rocky and this won't be quite as bad.

This was a good course for 50 miles but will definately be a major challenge for 100 miles. I am going to have to slow down A LOT. Walk all of the hills from the beginning. This is a lot easier to do at Umstead then it is here. At Umstead the hills are well defined. Here you end up running too many sections that are inclines but in the first 30ish mile you might not really consider them a hill. After a while they will be a mountain.

I did have some issues with the aid stations. They had a problem with bees and flies. The race orgainizers are locals and have been putting races on in this park for a long time. I'm sure this was not the first year that the buzzing insects have been out. They are not a problem when running but they swarmed the aid stations. Especially the main aid station. I had a very difficult time making myself eat. They really could have done a better job of having things in closed containers. Especially the sweet stuff, but they were on everything. It was also very humid so the salty chips/pretzels,crackers options were completely soggy because they were not covered or sealed either.

Carry the bigger water bottle for map three.

It was nice that they had showers there and I could at least rinse off before heading back to the hotel.

The post race food was very unappealing. They had pizza, burgers, and hot dogs but it all looked like it had been sitting out for hours and there was no way I was going to eat it. Grabbed a small bag of fritos which was the only thing I could find that was sealed and left so I could go find some food. I would have hung around longer if I had felt comfortable eating something there.