Getting the Hang Quickly
Eric Herdman (Las Vegas, Nevada) owner of the Red Rock Running Company catches on quickly. At Saturday’s Running From an Angel 50 Mile in Boulder City, Nevada, he realized what “Relax and Run” really means and how effective it can be. Starting in the wee hours of the morning, the first hour of the race was in the dark in a downpour and 25 mile per hour winds. Even when day broke, the cloud cover kept the day unusually dark. The race was a 25 mile out and back with a headwind and rolling hills providing as much challenge as the competitors to a good performance. A pack of six during the first hour dwindled to a pack of three aggressively pushing the pace. Eric stayed just off the pack through the turnaround running relaxed and conserving energy in the headwind. At the turnaround, Eric moved into second place and began to whittle away the gap between himself and the leader. Climbing a 1.5 mile hill at the 40 mile mark, Eric remained smooth and relaxed and climbed with ease as if it were much earlier in the race. From 40 miles on Eric said he felt like “a man on a mission” running as hard as he could run all the while maintaining his stride length and cadence. Eric stormed to the finish line in 2nd place with a new PR by 17 minutes despite the wind shifting and providing a headwind for the second part of the course.
Nick Whited (Raven, Virginia) mixed it up on a familiar course at the Frosty 50K in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. On a road and packed trail course around the perimeter of Salem Lake, Nick found himself feeling out the competition with a pack of 4 after the first 7 miles. The early pace was aggressive but relaxed and Nick hovered in the 3rd to 4th range overall. Trying to maintain eye contact with the leaders, Nick went through half way at 1:43:30. The pace of the leaders proved a bit too aggressive for Nick to contend for the win, but through a strong second half running mostly alone, Nick came home with a time of 3:37:42—A PR by 17 minutes.
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