2019 Hill Country Trivium

This race, which is outside of Marble Falls, has the hilliest course in Texas. It goes through many steep hills for 31 miles. I was fully prepared for this race. I was in good enough condition to run 31 miles and even had a strategy to follow. I was carrying, in addition to water to drink, the properfuel to keep myself going. My body was strong enough and I had enough nutrition to keep it going for the duration of the race.

I knew that if I maintained a 9 minute 30 second per mile pace I could finish the race in 5 and a half hours. I know, based on my training and experience running marathons and ultra marathons, that maintaining such a pace is something I can do. I finished in 6 hours 2 minutes because I ran the race with intelligence.

I realized, by mile 18 or 19 that I needed to run the hills slower in order to preserve my energy. Although I could have maintained the same speed on those hills I would have burned through too much energy doing so to finish the race strongly.  So I ran slower on the hills. Sometimes I even walked and took shorter strides.

Did I reach my targeted time? No. I was, however satisfied with my finish. I was able to run the last mile and a half at a solid, strong pace. I would have crossed the finish line walking, or maybe even crawling, if I had run over the hills in the last 10 miles of the race.

Running an ultra marathon involves both having the endurance to do so and the ability to follow a good strategy. I finished this one running strongly because I was smart enough to adjust my strategy to the condition of the course.