The new year was brought in with a run - 24 hours worth with the Freedom Park New Year's Ultra Run - a 24 hour event in Morganton North Carolina. It's a shame that this is the last year this event will be held because it was a fun, low key race with great support and some amazing athletes. The winner ran 131 miles and an a 85 year old runner set a national age group record for 50k. It was an honor to be running on the same track as these guys and all the other talented, determined runners. I closed the year with a distance PR of 83.7 miles. It wasn't easy though. Coming into the race sore and tired but with a thought of 100 miles I ran my best and kept on track for this distance until early evening. The asphalt and strong winds wore me down and made for a long upcoming night so my pace slowed considerably. Still I kept moving through the night and let the miles slowly build. My plan was for a big finish as I did at Croatan 24 in November but the hard surface of the track really did beat me down. I few slightly faster loops in the morning and I was done at the 24 hour mark - happy - but done. I'll take the PR and the lessons learned and come back strong for my next timed event in March - a 100 miles in the cards and I'm excited about it. In fact I'm really excited about these timed events and the challenges they present - not too mention the fun and party like atmosphere they offer. I hope more people take advantage of them and rack up some miles. Next one for me is in March and I'm already looking forward to it!
Peace,
Eric
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