When I turned 40, I ran my first marathon. When I turned 50 I decided that I’d run another. Then, after running the Running Monkey Challenge in December and meeting some endurance racers, I decided to try the Wilson Creek Frozen 50 in January. That was a 32 mile race and it was a ton of fun, so having done that, I had already satisfied my marathon race for the year. </span>
But I had so much fun trail running that I decided to sign up for a few more. Then it occurred to me that my goal shouldn’t be one marathon this year, but a marathon a month for the entire year. February was one of the months without an official race, so I headed up to the foothills to run my own race.
Dollar’s loop got it’s name when Lynette and I use to do a “horse back pack” ride around the loop. She’d ride Dollar and follow me on foot as I trained for my next mountain. It’s a great 5-mile loop with a good amount of elevation. I ran 5 loops for a total of 26.2 miles (I had to add a few hundred feet down the road and back at the end of the run to get the last .1 miles or so.
I was anxious to try out my newly discovered fueling system. I’d read about the Endurance Fueling System (EFS) made by a company in Utah, First Endurance. EFS comes in a powder form that you mix with water like Gatorade crystals, only it has more electrolytes and all the proteins your muscles need to keep going. I intentionally didn’t eat breakfast just to be sure my tank was empty before heading out.
I didn’t break any speed records, but after 26 miles and over 6600 feet of elevation, I still felt pretty dang good. Way better than after running my marathon ten years earlier. I also tried their recovery drink, and I’m sure that it was these products that not only kept me going, but prevented any kind of sore muscles in the following days. My ankles and knees were a bit sore for a while, but not my muscles.