Another Dam 50K 2009

Beautiful weather, great volunteers, and a fully registered race with 119 runners led to a great day. This is a very fast course with very little change in elevation and many miles of flat easy running. I ran with a lot of experienced and new runners, had some great conversations, and finished with a new 50K PR of 4:54.

The course consists of a figure 8 with one primary aid station and one liquid/gel station. You are never more than 2.6 miles from a station. The real challenge of this course is braving the open field dam area 8 times. It isn't too bad early, but later in the race the sun really beats down hard.

I knew that a sub 5 was certainly within my limits. My only hesitation with pushing for a sub 5 lie in running MMT three weeks prior. Everything went pretty well, but I did feel something like a longer term fatigue in my legs by the 4th and final 8 mile loop. It was the kind of fatigue I feel after back-to-back-to-back long training days.

Final analysis: A Great fast race. If you want a 50K PR, this is the one to do. Registration does fill up (120 limit), so sign up as soon as it is available.