A Bridesmaid again

Yesterday I ran the inaugural Lake Sonoma 50 mile in Healdsburg, Ca. It was the hottest day of the year and I was told that it was 93 degrees out there. It felt like we were running in the desert. Very few people, if any, were heat trained and nausea and cramps were striking everyone. It was a beautiful challenging course and I think many people were surprised at the difficulty of the race. I felt that I ran a strong race but as usual I found myself low on salt, hydration, and fuel. I bonked several times but food just didn't look appealing. I kept telling myself to, "eat early and often", but I didn't take my own advice. Yeah, I know, that was Stupid, with a capital S. Besides bonking, cramping hamstrings, and sweating every ounce of liquid out of my body... things went well. No really, they did. I got passed by the second place women sometime around mile 30 and the rest is history. I watched her until she was just a figment of my imagination. At mile 37.9 she was 4 minutes ahead of me but she was running strong and I was content with being 2nd women. Fast Andy Black and I ran together for more than 45 miles. I enjoyed running with him very much. At the end, he kicked my butt too, but that's okay. I was 10th runner overall with a time of 9:53:06. Being a bridesmaid isn't really that bad. In fact, I rather like it. :)

This pic is Andy Black and I at about 45 miles. Thank you, Steve Patt for this photo.