The Pisgah 50k Mountain Trail Race was this past Sunday, September 9, 2007. I really enjoyed the experience and will provide a few details about the race now that I’ve had a few days to think about the whole thing. Yesterday, I talked about my experiences during the race. Today I’d like to talk about what happened after the race.

The first order of business, of course, is that the race results are finally available. I officially crossed the finish line in 4:27:37, which means that during the race I stopped to chat with aid station volunteers for 5 minutes and 9 seconds.

Finishing at Pisgah

It has been a while since I have run a race that involved tearing off a tab from your bib, and it has been even longer since that tab was used on the results board itself. Not that this was a problem! The workers at the finish line were all cheering, and a couple of the people that finished ahead of me were also clapping their hands as I came in.

My legs were pretty sore at this point, but I felt surprisingly well. I walked around a little while and finished off my bottle of water while I sent my wife to the truck for some dry clothes and more nourishing refreshments.

The awards at the race consisted of (I think) apple pies for the winners, and whatever you want for the rest of the finishers. They had a large number of gift certificates, cases of organic energy bars, bags of potato chips, cookies, and chocolates. They were available on a first-come, first served basis. I wound up taking a box of the energy bars, but probably should have opted for the chocolates and given them to my wife. Live and learn!

Resting after Pisgah

I did take the opportunity to grab another one of the wonderful bagels that they had available before heading back outside. There was soup and pasta available inside that runners could help themselves to, but I did not grab any and I never got around to going back inside for it.

Sitting down in the grass after the race was quite comfortable, although I have to admit that it was pretty difficult to find a way to get down there. I did some light stretching, mixed up a pouch of PowerBar Recovery Formula that I randomly found before leaving for the race, and enjoyed a hamburger. They had a grill set up near the finish line and were making burgers and dogs for the runners.

It began raining maybe 10 minutes after I finished and I began to get a little cold. I went back inside the firestation to use the shower in the rest room to clean off my legs. Somehow, they had gotten a little muddy. The firemen must have shut off the hot water, but since I was only rinsing the back of my legs off it actually felt pretty good.

I got to meet quite a few people after the race, some of whom are readers of the site. That was fun and interesting. The cold was still a bit chilly, though, so I thanked the race director in between finishers and started the long drive home.

Recovering from Pisgah

My legs did not feel too bad. I was chafed really bad on the thighs from my wet shorts, and everything in between my legs had some measure of chafage, but a little aloe and a day or two of healing took care of all of that.

I did not have any trouble moving around on Monday, but sitting at work all day turned out to be a bad idea. Tuesday morning I was much stiffer, although I managed to stretch out throughout the day.

Wednesday I was feeling fine walking around or sitting, and I ran a 5k race. It was not the first time that I ran a 5k 3 days after a marathon, but it was much tougher than the last time.

I was hoping to be able to run a sub-17:28, just to improve my series time a little. I realistically felt that I would run in the mid-18s. My lack of a warmup, my first run in new shoes, and oh yeah, my sore as hell legs when I was running decided that I would run a 20:16 instead. And I had to work for that 6:30+ pace.

When the gun sounded, I felt great and thought that maybe I’d stick to the leaders for a little while. That lasted all of about 200 yards. I was pretty miserable the rest of the way. I got to be “that guy” that wheezes with every breath and curses with every other breath. A young girl caught up to me and kept me honest by basically running on my shoulder the entire way. She passed me at one point, and was doing her best to catch me at the end.

As soon as the race was over and I stopped running, my legs stopped hurting. That was nice.

Life after Pisgah

It has now been 5 days since the race, and the lingering soreness in day-to-day life is gone. I am not having any trouble walking or sitting or navigating stairs. I will probably get an easy 5 to 10 miles in this weekend, and then the game plan calls for getting back into the weight room next week.

My mileage next week will depend upon how I feel. I do not plan on doing any sort of speed work, and will probably keep my runs short until the following weekend. If I am up for it at that point, then I will get a long trail run in, probably on the Bradbury course.

The week after that I will get a couple of short and easy interval sessions in, because the next goal race will be Elliot on the 29^th. I will run under 16 minutes for the first time if everything is going according to plan. If not, then I will be embarrassed and will just have to start concentrating on getting ready for the Marine Corps Marathon. The Craig’s Cup cross country race will be nestled in between Elliot and MCM.

I hope that you enjoyed this slightly long-winded race recap and course review of the Pisgah 50k. I am not sure whether I will get back there or not next year, but if it fits into my race schedule than I will certainly try.