Avalon Benefit 50 Mile Run

It was somewhat terrifying to start another 50 mile race, especially after what had happened on my last attempt. But desire as well as fate brought me there to that little island off the coast on California. I needed to check my fears at the door and concentrate on why I was there. One setback would not keep me from pursuing my dream of running Western States.

At 5am, Brian and I headed out into the dark together but soon we were seperated. I got to know some other runners quickly as we laughed, talked and shared stories. It was a friendly croud and that helped block out the 4 mile ascent that started the race. As we reached the top, the sun began to rise over the hills at Catalina. I took a deep breath and tried to forget how scared I was of DNFing and remembered again why I loved this so much.

18 miles in I was still feeling good but it was certainly way too early to celebrate. That is where I met Jim and Donn, two runners local to the LA area. We shared stories and ran together for miles... talking about everything from relationships to where to pee in the woods during a long run. They were strong runners and I certainly pushed myself to stay with them. Around mile 38, we reached a long stretch of nothingness. Donn was feeling good so he jogged ahead. Jim was feeling dehydrated so he decided to take it a little slower. I was out there on my own, 3 hours from the 12 hour cut off time wondering if my goal to make this one of my three races in under 12 hours had just been squashed. Somehow mile 44 came up quicker than I expected. I had 1 hour and 45 minutes to run a 10k. I smiled and thought 'in my sleep!'

I bypassed the aid station at mile 46 and just kept running. I teared up a little as I reached the last descent into Avalon. I could hear the cheers from miles away. I crossed the finish line in exactly 11 hours and 31 minutes.

Brian finished in the top 1/3rd of the runners, finishing in his best 50 miler time yet as well as qualifying for Western States by a landslide. I am not a natural runner and am one of those people that will always have to work harder for that type of thing, but I'm okay with that. I haven't always been. But amongst the great company of Dann and Jim, how could I be unhappy being one of them? One down, two to go!