During the 3100-Mile Race I imagined how I’m running the 47 mile race on the adjacent course in the night of August 27th quite vividly . It was the last week of the 3100-Mile Race (first week of August) – I had low energy and was walking, but this vision came – I’m running with good speed under the yellow light of the street lamps. I remember as I said to myself “Can you imagine?”
I was recovering quite fast after 3100 miles: I covered 7 miles on mountain bike on the second day after the finish and on the third day I already started to run. I had 3 weeks to prepare for the 47 mile race. And with my training, the feeling came that I can do it. the 47 mile race definitely requires more intense speed then 3100-Mile Race. I started to do interval running, speed-ups and stretching to recover sore muscles after the longest footrace in the world. My legs became more and more obedient and my pace started to pick up.
Before the start itself at midnight, I had a deep feeling that it will be a special start for me. It was my third start in the 47 mile race after my participation in 3100 miles within the last 12 years. To have the capacity to do the 47 mile race after finishing in the 3100 doesn’t happen often for me. This year I was the only one among 3100 mile runners who participated in the 47 mile event.
After the start I managed to have quite good and stable pace. the peak of my pace of 5:10-5:25 min/km happened to be 3 hours after the start. From 3 to 5am I had natural decrease in speed, but with the first rays of the sun, a thrill went through my body and energy started to come back. I finished in fourth place with the time of 7 hours and 12 minutes! My average pace was 5:43 min/km. This is my second best performance after 3100 miles.
I had a complete feeling of happiness after the finish! Although I still felt the flavor of suffering after 3100-Mile Race, this 47 mile event definitely became a good concluding milestone for my sport summer of 2016. And also – a good present for Sri Chinmoy’s 86 Birthday!
Leave a Reply