Guana River 50K
I attended yet another great event this Saturday! Bill Dunn, the race director did an awesome job! Since I am a back of the pack runner, the post race goodies are usually gone by the time I finish. But Bill had ordered enough BBQ that I was able to sit and enjoy a very nice meal before heading home.

For me the day started at 2:30 am, well actually 12:30 am since I couldn’t sleep. I got in the car and head out to pick up my running partner, Dan and his wife Hazel. We headed across the state to make the 7:30 start. I prefer a few hours of sleep in my own bed rather then spending a night in a hotel and just staring at the ceiling.

We had a good group of our Croom running friends. That was a very comfortable feeling having so many friends at the start. Jerry Sullivan came in from New Orleans, to join his brother Jim for this event. I was privileged to enjoy Jerry’s company through most of the first 3 loops.

The RD gave us course instructions for the 4-loop course and we were off (I heard that each loop was a little over 8.4 miles.) The morning started out warm and very muggy. A large amount of bug spray was definitely required. The first lap was quite a struggle for me. Every step was work, there seemed to be no energy in my body or my mind. The lack of sleep over the past few days was taking its toll. When Jerry finally mentioned that he was struggling with the conditions, I was really relieved. That confirmed that the conditions were causing some of my distress. I wasn’t just having a really bad day.

Dan could see my distress and said he would be joining me when I finished my second loop. Dan was concerned with my fatigue level. Hazel made sure I was loaded up to head out on that second loop. But somewhere in the second loop the mental fatigue passed. I was starting to rally and enjoy myself.

So on the third loop, I was able to enjoy the time with Dan and Jerry. I think we must have seen 20 armadillo along the side of the course. Dan almost tripped on one. When we passed the edge of the course that was directly on the intercoastal waterway, the wind provided a nice relief from the heat.

On the fourth loop…. well Dan and I got lost, not once but twice…. sometime we get so caught up in the conversation…. we do that a lot. But since I was the one participating and he was the pacer, he takes the blame. However, I don’t think we went as far off course as we did at the Trail Luna Chicks run in December, which took us about an hour off track and Luna Pam had to get in her truck to help us figure out how to get back. I was pacing for that one, so it was my fault. So, we are getting closer to even. I digress…we took a wee bit longer to finish then we should have. We just laugh at ourselves. We just got more miles for our money and amazingly enough there were still a few participants still out there. I finished in 7:37.

Maureen waited for the last of the Croom friends to finish (Dan & me). We chatted with Maureen over our BBQ sandwiches…. gosh…she’s a very nice person. Glad that I am getting to know her. As we headed home, and Maureen followed us home across the state. Since the RD fed us so well, we didn’t need any dinner, so we stopped for coffee. Since I wanted something sweet, we had our coffee a little stop at Dunkin Donuts about half way home, and they have very good coffee. I learned that Maureen was planning to do a double and go out to Croom on Sunday morning. Waiting to hear how that went. Dan always preaches the double long runs are crucial. But I always get to pull out my mom card and say I have to wait another 2 years to do back to back.

So now I am resting up to do the Draggin Tail 50K next week. I am hoping to finish 3 50ks events in 3 week. I’m sure a lot of people have done that, but it is a first for me. Wont have any Croom friends there, but am really looking forward to seeing some of those Tallahassee folks again….gosh just another great group of people.