Loooong Run

By way of training site DailyMile I found out about a "Fat Ass Run" taking place just down the street from my house - Kent and BJ's Recover from the Holiday 50K. I'd never heard of a Fat Ass event. A Fat Ass is a no-frills "race". No awards, no spectators, no bibs, but best of all no entry fee. Bring your own water/food/gatorade. Kent was one of the originators of Fat Ass, and this was his 27th annual event. It was being run on the Perkiomen Trail, where I do a lot of my running. The course was a 10K loop starting/ending from his garage just off the trail. After each loop runners wrote down their times on a poster board and decided whether to continue on, or stop and drink beers and eat the smorgasbord of food provided by Kent and other runners.. I believe this was the largest running on record with around 50 runners out there.




I started with another runner I "know" through DailyMile. We got caught up behind a large group of runners going much slower than we planned, so after about a mile we passed them and ran our own paces. John took off on me and I settled in to a pace that I figured would catch the next group of people in front of me within the next few miles. Around mile 5 I caught up with them, and then that group dispersed. After the first loop John continued on together over most of the first 30K. 30K was my goal given my recent injuries. My previous long run since the marathon was 15 miles... but those were trail miles. So, after 18.6 miles on the flat Perkiomen trail I was at just about 2.5 hours of running, which matched my 15 trail mile time. I was feeling fine except for a little blistering, so I headed out for a 4th loop after a stop at my car for a change of shoes. Around 20.5 miles into the run I really started to feel the miles in my legs. At this time there was no more than a handful of people that chose to run more than 30K so I was pretty much on my own. I had just put on my iPod for the first time all day, and with my music, and comfort with the route I've run 100 times I cruised fairly comfortably into my longest training run ever - 24.8 miles. Two days later I feel pretty ok. A great confidence booster in my HatRun training.



When I finished most of the other runners were inside enjoying lunch and beers. They all knew each other pretty well and my introvertedness prevented me from feeling comfortable there, but it was a great day all around.

Garmin data - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/140036750