It's amazing how much better you can feel on the eighth and final 12.5-mile lap of Umstead 100-Miler after a THREE-HOUR NAP. :-)
Synopsis: 27:14 finish. That's out in 10:45 for the first 50 miles and home in, well, I can't really count that high. Looks, however, can be most deceiving.
Out pretty fast. Temps in the low 80s, so gradually slowed down on purpose and tossed the sub-22 out the window. Retained the sub-24 until falling asleep RUNNING on Lap 7, so I plopped on a cot at an aid station and fully awakened three hours later. Got up, ambled the five miles back to the start/finish, then posted a 2:48 for my final 12.5-mile split, the fourth-fastest of the day. Dunno what happened to me energy-wise, but MAN did it hit hard when it hit. Prolly just didn't eat enough, I guess.
Ran the early laps with Fred Dummar, a great, REALLY funny guy who is Army Special Forces; ran laps 6 to 7.5 with these two crazy women who had an entourage so large that they had five different pacers for each of the final five laps. First ultra for both of them and their peeps. They toughed it out to finish just a bit behind me. Very impressive show of grit.
Good news: No stomach maladies. Drank plenty. Prolly could have sucked it up and gotten off that cot 2.5 hours earlier, but didn't really see the point in it at the time. It's Thursday now, and I haven't felt the need to do anything more than 20- to 25-minute runs so far. :)
So that's Finish No. 8 at Umstead. Yeah, I'm officially one of the old farts now. Made some new pals. Felt strong at the finish. Fun day-plus.
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