Barn Burner 24 Hour 03-25-2017

Last weekend I set out to run my first really long run of 2017.  I ran The Barn Burner in Sanger California.  This was a race that had a 6, 12, and 24 hour option and was a 1 mile loop.  My goal was to run 105 miles.

The race started off fine.  I hit mile 25 right on time at 5 hours.  My next goal was to hit mile 50 somewhere around 10 to 11 hours.  I guess my lack of overall training had caught up to me.  I had a lot of stuff going on over the last couple months, jiu jitsu and work mainly, so my focus on running took a bit of a back seat.

I wasn't feeling very good about the race the week before the event.  I knew that I was under-trained, and if I was really going to break 100 miles in 24 hours it wasn't going to be easy.

Samantha ran with for a little bit after I hit the 6 hour mark, and my friend Megan ran from about mile 40 to 50 with me.

Around mile 35 I was already dropping my pace.  I was getting a little slower each loop that I ran.  It took me 12 hours to hit mile 48.  I was way behind schedule.  At this point I had to decide on what I wanted to do.  I didn't feel like I could honestly push for the next 12 hours to make my 100 mile goal, so I decided to just back off and plan a new goal.  I talked to Samantha and Megan about what I was thinking.  Since I have a 50 mile race the weekend after this event, I really didn't want to kill myself so I can make my goal today and then possibly not be able to run very well the next weekend.

I decided to run until I hit mile 50.  Once I did that I took a rest for about 90 mins.  I took a short nap and Samantha gave me an awesome leg message.

Once my rest was over I ran 12 miles.  This put me at 62 miles (100k) and then I took a 3 hour rest and slept in a chair for a little bit.

After I woke up from my second nap, I told myself that I would try to finish at least 75 miles at the event.  Samantha ran the last few miles with me, and my friend Sunny ran with us for my last mile.

At the end of the 24 hour period I had ran 75 miles.  I was pretty upset with myself.  I've ran 100 miles in under 24 hour enough times to know what I need to do to train to pull that off.  I was really disappointed with myself (and still am) with how I handled this race.  I know I needed to work harder than I did, and when things got hard... I simply didn't push hard enough.

This coming weekend I'm running the American River 50 miler (AR50) for my 8th year in a row.  I'm not going for a crazy fast time.  I'm actually really excited because I'm planning on running it the entire time with my friends Sheri and Dave.  Sheri and I met running AR50 a few years ago.  We figured out that we were both from Fresno and we also ran the lasts 20ish miles together.  We decided to keep in-touch, and have been friends and training partners ever since that race.


Things didn't go the way I planned at Barn Burner.  I know what I need to do to train and improve for my next big race (Dirty Dozen 12 hour this July) and right now I feel motivated to do it.

This coming weekend I'm going to have fun running 50 miles with a couple friends.  After that I"m going to relax for a week... and then it's back to business.  I can't wait to get faster and stronger again.


until next time...

KEEP RUNNING!!!!