Hey everyone,

I managed another personal victory this past weekend at the Old Dominion Memorial 50 Mile Run in northwestern Virginia...a PR of 9:25, 35 minutes faster than my previous PR of 10 hours set at Rocky Racoon in Huntsville in early February!
I was 2nd female overall, and 8th finisher overall...yay!

I was really nervous about this run because it's in the Shenandoah Mountains, and has 7000 feet of gain. So, I estimated that I would finish between 12-15 hours given the uphills and downhills. What a surprise to set a PR!

There are a number of factors which I think helped in my success:
(1) the course was about 8 miles on the road and the rest on hard packed dirt/gravel roads, which meant that I didn't have to expend energy dodging roots and rocks like on the Huntsville trails, and about 1/3 to 1/2 of it was in the shade;
(2) I tried to walk relatively fast on the uphills ("walk with a purpose") and since the course was fairly smooth, I could run relatively fast on the downhills, and I think my average pace was therefore faster than on level ground;
(3) the weather was good, with a low at race start at 5 AM in the low 50s, getting to a high of around 75, with mostly high cloud cover throughout the day, maybe 3 hours total of sunshine, rain for 1/2 hour around lunchtime, and very low humidity.

In terms of other stuff, the aid stations were great, with all the usual ultra fare spaced about 3-4 miles apart; the scenery was beautiful, with lots of rolling hills through farms and pastures and meadows; and the other runners displayed all the usual comraderie typical of ultra participants (even the folk doing the 100 miler!).

So, I am still on a runner's high, though my body is feeling the effects, especially my quads.
Next ultra: Rocky Racoon 50K in October, so I get to take a rest this summer!
Michelle