hey Laura, how did you race go? I hope you had fun!
Hi! I kept meaning to post about it but was waiting for race photos to come back and then they did and I just didn’t get around to it oops!
A quick recap!
First of all- I have the best friends? My pals here knew I was very nervous getting back into racing. I received several good luck texts and Cody and Logan were texting/tracking me during the race. I got the sweetest video of Logan and baby wishing me luck. Claire sent me a care package with our favorite frozen mac and cheese (dirty mac for the Mac) and nerds clusters and Dani got me flowers and loaned her javelina bracelet for good luck (it said pony up bitch).
The race was so well run and I loved the local feel. This is the only race the directors put on each year so it’s a total labor of love and has a long history! This was its 30th year running. The weather was gorgeous, the trails were buttery, and I got to share several miles with Penn and Alli! Penn and I kept leap frogging the entire race. Overall, I felt really strong and ran a fair amount during climbs. Penn did pull ahead when I started experiencing some right leg cramps around mile 27. Luckily, salt tabs seemed to be a quick fix and I ended up catching her with about a half mile to go and we crossed the finish line together!
This was actually only my second official 50k race. When I ran in my first in 2018, I managed a second place female finish. Funny enough, I squeaked out a PR by about 5 minutes on this course (which was very similar in elevation gain to my first), so that felt like a huge win. But I did feel a little disappointed with how I stacked up competitively in this race (which is to say not at all haha!). My coach and I did talk through some of those feelings and I’m feeling fine about it now. This was a really strong performance for my first race postpartum and I put in a very solid and consistent training block and landed a PR. In the end, I do think my strengths lie in longer distances (👀). It’s funny that the 50k distance, which is still so long, attracts such speedy people but it does! And this race was far more competitive than my first one I did.
Here are a few race day photos! Highly recommend this race (Mac Forest 50k)











