Palmer Lake is honestly my favorite race all year, aside from Dopey. This is certainly one of my forever races!
A local homegrown event, 24 Hours of Palmer Lake typically features favorable weather, fall colors, and an easily accessible loop trail that makes it impossible to get lost or to run out of food. There’s a glorious aid station that is fully stocked with goodies. The volunteers that run the event are upbeat and positive. There’s runners of all abilities that come out for this race…some of them who go for the gold belt buckle (100+ miles). Others who come for the vibes. I come to get my training miles in, since I typically rearrange my Dopey schedule to line up Palmer Lake with my 5.5+15 week.
I was running a bit late on the morning of the race, so I trotted from the parking lot while chatting on the phone and carrying my coffee. I picked up my race bib after someone mentioned that they recognized me. It must’ve been from my Halloween costume last year. I pinned my stuff on and once the race started, I began my leisurely stroll around the lake. I was drinking my coffee and enjoying the morning and decided that I was not going to really run much of it. After a few laps, I walked back to the car to stow my coffee thermos. When I got back to the trail, I put on some music and was prepared to do more intervals. After that I decided just to run the long portions of the loop and walk the short portions. Then I negotiated with myself to walk the long portions and run the short portions. My music was boring me and I wasn’t particularly energetic that morning, so I ended up deciding to walk and trot whenever I felt like it. I turned off my music and listened to an audiobook called “Running with the Kenyans.” I really enjoyed the book and will likely give it another read. It was an autobiographical account of a runner who wanted to unlock the secret of Kenyan runners by…well, running in Kenya. The author talks about their experience training, interviewing local celebrity runners, getting his gait and form analyzed, cycling through footwear recommendations, and more. Overall, a really good book to tick off the miles.
I had a few goals for the day. First off, the non-negotiable goal was that I had to get my 15 miles of training in…zero exceptions. With enough energy, maybe I could beat my mileage from last time (18.8ish miles). With more energy, maybe a 26.2. With strategic breaks, maybe even 50K. I focused first on the 15 miles and figured I could reevaluate when I got there.
Well, I got to 15 miles and was about an hour away from finishing the book. My feet were tired and I was feeling pretty beat. I turned in my timing chip, grabbed my swag, and headed back to the car. I was tired enough that I took a 45-ish minute nap in the car before stuffing my face with goldfish crackers and drove home.
I say this every year but I do want to do 26.2 or 50K here eventually. I love seeing all the tents set up by runners and their families. I saw a few air mattresses too, which I can imagine being very helpful for the ultrarunners. Anyway, 15.5 miles was more than enough for me! I couldn’t end on 15 miles exactly since it is a 0.82 mile looped course, but that’s fine with me.
Amara in Training 