Bull Run Run 50 miler

This weekend was the 19th annual Bull Run Run 50 Miler in Clifton, VA.  It was the second year that husband ran the race.  The weather wasn't ideal for either runners or crew at 48-52, damp, and very cloudy. 

This is one of my favorite races that husband runs.  It's local = no 3+ hour trips on Fridays to the mountains and 3+ hours home with a sleeping runner.  It's local = tailgating.  It's local = friends can come with me to crew!  It's amazing how much more fun sitting for hours and staring into the woods can be with friends!

Because of the Bull Run location, the run includes a Civil War theme that respects the battles that occurred here 150 years ago. The theme includes a competition between runners from the North and the South.  This year, the South only lost by .19 points, which is much closer than usual!  This is partially due to the large numbers of runners who come down for the race from the north.

The start was at 6:30am.  The crew gathered at our house, loaded the truck up with lots of food and snacks, drinks, and chairs, and off we went.  We went to the Marina aid station first, and that was at mile 21.8.  He came through right on time, just around 10:40am.

We weren't there too long, and moved on right as he left the station.  The next place for crew was Fountainhead.  After a few wrong turns, we found it.  We would be there for about 3 hours, so we set up camp - 2 ugly (free) Veris chairs and 2 bright pink Komen chairs.  We waited...and waited...

Right on time, husband came in - 28.1 miles, about 12:10pm.  Starting to feel a little fatigued, and extremely muddy, he sat for a minute for a coke, banana, and some pringles.  And a new clean pair of socks and shoes.

And off again he went!  We had 2 hours before he would be back...so we headed back to the car for some snacks.  He was back around 2:30, moving a little slower than he'd originally hoped. But he was 38 miles in, and still moving well.

Ginger Ale, banana, Pringles, and new fresh water bottles...

The girls were such great sports - after we sent him off again, we packed up camp and headed back to the marina.  We made some friends with the other crew teams at that station...we were all waiting for our runners and cheering on the others!

44 miles in...only 6 and change to go to the finish line!

He finished at 5:30, 11 hours later.  He said the mud was crazy on the course, especially in the first part - comparing it to ice skating.  He finished #211 out of 320 official finishers.  The winner of the race set a course record, which is amazing with the wet and muddy conditions - he finished in 6:08:13. Yes, that's 6 hours!  It was a good all around run, and good training for the upcoming 100 in May!

Thank you to the crew and cheer teams - it was so great to have friends out to support husband in this race.  I certainly had a fun day, and hope they did too!

Sometime before the next big race, I'll do another post about what aid stations are like, and what all the crew is there for - lots of friends have asked about it so I'll try to give more detail about the races.