Staten Island Green Belt
5 December 2015
16 miles finished in 4:02:57
My 2015 running schedule didn’t end as expected, as I had to drop out of the NYC Trail Festival 50k at the mid-point.
The race was tough from the beginning. I didn’t sleep well the night before, I got lost on the way to the event (luckily hooked up with two other runners who were also lost and we helped each other), and my trail fitness was very low. I knew the 50k distance was kind of a long shot and I came >thisclose< to dropping down to the 25k distance, but I didn’t. At the starting line, I was tired, but optimistic.
Right away I wasn’t feeling it. My legs and feet were heavy, my heart rate was up early, and my hands got puffy pretty quickly. The course was reversed from the last time I ran this event and I couldn’t get my bearings. I tripped several times and eventually couldn’t recover. I fell, twisting as I did, and ended up bruising my left shoulder and spraining my right wrist. That was at mile nine. I shuffled along with my right hand up in the air for awhile and gently began running again when the pain dulled. I knew long before I made it back to the start/finish that I didn’t have another 16 miles in me. I told the time keeper I was dropping and went looking for the medical tent. There were several people there, so instead of waiting, I decided to go home.
This event was a perfect example of everything going wrong at once. I might have been able to pull it together to finish minus the fall, but we’ll never know.
Have you tried any NJ Trail Series events? I think you might find them enjoyable!