A 'Walk in the park'

Here is a post I wrote about a 100KM or 62-mile run in the park where I live; 100 laps in total....

 well friends and runners, here is an update on the challenge i did yesterday. I was planning to run a 100 km (62 miles) in the park here; 100 km on a small loop which I wanted to do on purpose because of the mental training it takes to run such a long distance on a small loop. I've done long runs before but never on a small loop. I always think running a loop over and over again is too dangerous for me. Once I get tired, I think I would get too tempted to stop - it's easier to stop when you pass your car every 5 minutes than if you would have gone out for a long run whereby the loop is 100 km instead of 900 mtrs.Changes that you can quit on a 100 km loop are much slimmer since it would be too tough to get back to your car.

I got up at 4:15 am, same time I would get up for the Keys100 next month. Got some caffeine in my system and a banana and then got off to the park. I started running around 6:15 am, as soon as it was light enough. Early morning here, you don't see runners. literally didn't see a runner for the first 3 hours so I got to really focus on the mental part. Around 11:30 am, just when I was about to pass my halfway point, my sister showed up, as planned, to be my 'race crew on location'. That was great, because till then, i had to get my own water in the car every hour and that really breaks up your rhythm. Anne put up a small table next to the course and got all my well needed supplies.; water, more water, bananas, energy gels, socks, caps, shirts, sun lotion etc. It was really great to have here there. At 80 km, I realized that I was going too fast. OK, I actually realized it earlier in the run, but then it still fell good. Passing the 80 km mark I realized that if I would continue this pace, I would run a sub 10 hour - something I couldn't imagine in my wildest dreams. My PB for this distance is 10 hrs 55 min; Of course I wanted to get a sub 10 in, but on the same time, you know from experience, that you can still crash in the last 10 km which would result in a finishing time past 10 hours. I decided to slow down a bit but to still stay at a 9 hr 50 min time. This way I would still have 10 minutes leaway. At 90 km I realized that I was still OK enough to push the last 6 miles although it did get really warm which usually slows you down. At the last 5 km I got really excited since I now was certain that no one could stop me from beating my time by over one hour...WHOOOHOOO - with still 2 km or two laps to go, i was able to maintain a steady pace and when finally the finish was in sight, I then was thinking that my 'go slow to go fast' idea indeed worked for me. Pace yourself; it's better to run slow and stay fit then trying to run too fast and crash after 50 miles when you still need to go 12 more.... I would like to thank my little sis, Anne, who helped me during the challenge. I loved every minute of it.