9 10 to 9 16

took a really easy week. all short runs 3 to 5 miles. a couple days off.
thursday bowling was not a good night for me. neither of us were tearing it up, and i was just little bit worse than naj thru 4 games. then we played the 5th one and i was a lot worse than naj. he got hot and rolled a 224 to put him ahead on the night by 119 pins and 104 overall. ugh! i need to figure out how to get more consistent hitting the pocket and stop missing easy spares.
sunday was the pisgah 50k. i went into it with the best training ive ever had, but still i did not have the speed that i had a few years ago. i expected to run about 4:45, way slower than my best time of 4:22. all i wanted to do was run steady the whole way and then finish strong, instead of falling apart like last time. i started off very slow, forcing myself to keep it under control. i felt good for the first 8 or 9 miles, climbing well with minimal effort on dogwood and up the steep road to the reservoir. for some reason, my hamstring tried to cramp up. the thought of running over 3 more hours with a leg cramp didnt seem enjoyable, or likely. it went away quickly. sweet. at about 1:20 i took a gel and headed up chestnut. i was still feeling pretty good on reservoir all the way to the start of the ridge. i had been fighting the urge to stop and piss for at least a half hour, but i reached the point where i couldnt hold it anymore. i didnt want to stop because i felt good, so i tried to let it out while running. not smart. i tripped on something and went down. as soon as i stopped rolling, my hamstring cramped again. i quickly straightened my leg and got it to loosen up. i got up, finished my piss (standing still) and pushed on. the good news was that somehow i didnt wet myself when i fell, but the bad was that i tweaked my hip flexors when i went down. it took a few minutes until i felt loose again. i felt tired for first time, so i took another gel. the caffeine kicked in and felt i strong again. i passed two people going up the ridge and two more on the way down. i hit kilburn at 3 hours, and felt like i could hold my pace all way to the finish. i got a little hungry and had a slight bonking feeling at about 3:20, so i ate a clif bar and i was fine again. i drank some gatorade at the final aid station and climbed up to parking lot still feeling good. i took a gel and got up davis no problem and still had energy to manage the technical descent without issues. i took my last gel right before the gate at about 30 miles. i was shocked to hear footsteps behind me. this guy (not al t) was coming up fast. i had to do something. i sped up a lot and battled him. we passed hammetts house and i got a huge shot of adrenaline from everyone out in the road screaming at me to go. i was running outside myself, and had no clue if i could hold it to the finish. we hit the hill and the other guy surged. i wasnt willing to give in and stayed even with him. i got about halfway up and the adrenaline was gone. i went from 6 minute pace to about 10. once i got to the top i was able to hammer again but i couldnt reel the guy in. if i hadnt stopped early in the race to tighten my shoes, i wouldve beaten him. no big deal tho. i ran as well as i could, finished in 4:35. way faster than i thought. solid hermathon after. greg got his course record back, jen and jonny pr'd, glenn ran great, and james kicked ass in the 50k on his 50th birthday. awesome day all around. wow that was a lot of typing. no way i am checking for mistakes. church.