The following is taken from Dan O’Brien’s Facebook Post on the Pegasus AC page regarding the recent 50 KM Race in California.
January 30 at 10:00am
Time to talk about the 50K. The results for our club were pretty good. On the women’s side, Teresa Vail had a very good 50K debut, placing fourth in 5:10:51. She started a little faster than she might have, perhaps, but hung in there when things got tough. Her 25K splits were 2:16 and 2:54.
Katie Smith did well in her first 50K, placing 7th in 5:48:33. She slowed quite a bit at the end (her 25K splits were 2:34 and 3:14), but she hung in there. Good job, Katie.
On the men’s side, Ray Sharp started fast and got DQ’d at about 32K for bent knee.
Adrian Zamudio had a successful debut, finishing 11th in 6:08:09 (2:47/3:21). Adrian has a lot of potential in this event, IMHO, and will go much faster in his next 50.
My goal for this race was just to finish, and my plan was to start out at about 7:00/km. I was 2:55 at halfway and 4:43 at 40K, then slowed a bit to finish 10th in 6:02:55. 25K splits were 2:55 and 3:07. Lots of room for improvement here, too.
The conditions were fair – much better than last year’s Olympic Trials, but far from ideal. The temperature was chilly for the 7:30 am start, about 43f, but warmed up quickly into the 70s. The humidity was low, and a mild breeze was increasing throughout the day. There was no shade or protection from the wind. The course was a 1.25km out-and-back, with wide turns and relatively good pavement. There was a small hill, not so much, but we had to go over it 80 times, so it was significant.
Tracy Sundlun did a great job organizing the race, and the public support in Santee was good. There were lots of volunteers, and it was nice to see some spectators, too.
We should think about hosting a 50K. I’ve got a course we could use, a 2K out-and-back on a bike path, with trees alongside to break the wind and provide shade. If the weather’s good, it would be a PR course.