Ok, so the fatass I’m going to talk about isn’t mine, it’s the VHTRC’s Magnus Gluteus Maximus 50k… better known as the holiday fatass. The day had a glorious start. Before I even pull into the parking lot at Hemlock Overlook in the Bull Run-Occoquan park system, I decide to change out of my long sleeve into my short sleeve T. Getting out of the car I ditch my pants. It’s latter half of December and the mid-40s at 8 in the morning! Ditching the warm clothes was the right call as it was pretty warm by the end of the run.
I made it to the start just in time to get in the annual start photo. At least they tell me it’s an annual tradition. While this is my fifth holiday season as an ultrarunner, I was doing the whole work full-time/go to law school at night the previous four years… and it just so happened that the holiday fatass is the end or just after exam period. I was excited to make it for the first time.
As hard as it may be, I’ll keep my description of the actually running brief. My legs were heavy by mile 14. I was really tired by mile 26. I pushed the last 4 or 5 because I desperately wanted to be done running. I finished in 5:18, after adding a couple short detours here and there. Even with the detours the course clocked in a couple hairs short of a mustache at 30.5 miles.
While a couple folks pushed the pace while treating the event as a race or workout, the day, at least for me, was all about catching up with folks I hadn’t seen in a while, and there were plenty of such folks, as I’d been away all summer and hadn’t been active in the fall ultra scene. For the first half of the run I got to catch up with Scotty Mills (now in San Diego, we ran the last 70 miles of WS 06 together), Derrick Carr (who I often race near), as well as locals Prasad Gerard, and Keith Moore. Later in the run, I spent many miles running with Andy from last weekend’s Blackrock Gap run. Afterwards I continued catching up with old friends from near and far (Mike Wedemeyer was in town all the way from Oregon), as well as make some new ones. I like it when I meet new people, tell them about my desire to run across Mongolia, and instead of thinking that I’m cuckoo, they want to join in the fun. =-D
