Duel Ferries 20 miler... hot but a motivator

14 gentlemen (including myself...minus the gentleman) treked out to Edwards Ferry for the infamous Duel Ferries run. Some of the team ran slightly shorter than 20, but about half were at the point of their training reg that it was time for a 20miler. This was my first 20 miler in 7 years... I didn't realize until today that 2003 was 7 years ago... It just hit me that time has really flown by! We got out on the run and had a pack of 14 through the entire first half of the run together in 1:06-1:07 for 10miles. I was at 1:06.48 through the first 10miles. I felt very good and relaxed... I knew in the back of my mind things would feel different after mile 15... and they did. Karl, Dickson, myself and a fellow named Annish (visiting from the lone star state) broke away a bit at the half way point after we got water and fuel. We cranked sub 6's for miles 11-14.... We stopped quickly for water at the old water pump... and then began together. At this point, Jake Klim, Chris Sloane and Chris Bain caught up to our group. I got to the gravel at mile 15 and began to feel a bit woozy. I was nervous about being able to drop the pace to marathon pace or quicker like i planned... but when jake gave the signal that he was still going to have at it, i decided to go... I went around mile 16 with a nice jump in pace and felt really good doing so... much better than I thought i would. I continued to up the pace at mile 17... mainly due to eagerly trying to catch a biker... who i got onto his back wheel just at the crest of a hill he was slow to get up... He looked back at me and started cranking down the backside of the hill until he was far in the distance. I continued to push into the final mile before the "easy mile" at 19 that would take us back to the start/finish of the run. My total time was 2:02.10. 1:06.48/55:22 I stopped and shuffled a bit and as the guys came through, finished the final mile.
besides being a bit dehydrated, I felt really good. To much surprise for my first 20 miler in some time. Though, these longer runs are funny in that you may kick the crap out of one like i did today... but the next one can be a totally different story... I like adversity... so bring on the next one!