Saturday, October 24, 2009

Ridge to Bridge Marathon 10/24= Superhero Dennis

Dennis and I about 1:30pm today-running a fun 26.2, soaking in the river and eating pizza (me) drinking ultra beer (Den)! He was maddingly speedy at 2:58:45 (unofficial) and 4th overall on the new USATF certified R to B Marathon this am. I squabbled in at some 11ish minutes later..Top finisher awards were leaf pottery! WOW!
THE DENNIS himself demonstrating post race ritual of an ultrarunner and furiously accomplished dirt road marathon runner! Yip, yip, yippeee!!!

Today I had the privilege of running David and Ronda's new course for their Ridge to Bridge, 70%ish dirt road USATF certified marathon course. What a glorious fall day in the Appalachian foothills!

I am psyched for and proud of my kindred spirit running friend who trained for this event and vowed to go sub 3:00 for this marathon. Dennis is a strong, versatile runner who is a couple years older than me...44 or 45? Anyway he wanted a sub 3:00 marathon.

AND he got it! I don't even know my real time, but Dennis ran 2:58:45! Agghhh! Mr Superhero!
I am so thrilled for him!

I hope he enjoys his accomplishment..his crew was great to be around- I scammed a ride this am and this afternoon and got to bask in their company too!

....My clock time was somewhere around 3:09:38...I was thrilled. Lots of downhill-which has always been good for me. I did not race, but ran smartly and then sat in the River for 12 minutes afterwards. I got 2nd girl overall and 1st Masters. Pretty cool!
Tomorrow I plan to run/hike 17-27 miles depending on what George wants to do...hope to make it to Doughton Park ...yet that is many hours away! I am "in training for JFK" and "cramming" for Masochist!

Great job DN and especially kudos to David and Ronda for hosting a tremendously gorgeous and professional event! Full results here.

9 comments:

jennifer Nichols said...

AWESOME!! to you both!! I am so incredibly proud of Dennis going sub 3!! WOO!!!! ( things like that inspire me so much! I really hope that 15 years from now I can still be improving and getting faster!!!) and you ran beautifully as well my friend!!! 3:09!!! Kuddos to you for running smart! I'm so excited about jfk and mmtr for you!!!
it looked like a beautiful day! and I really want to run this marathon next year for my fall marathon! The leaf pottery: VERY NICE!! I love it when Races give things like that instead of plastic trophies. :o)
have a great week annette!
jenny:o)

Rick Gray said...

What a day for both of you. 2:58 and 3:09 are both totally awesome. I am so proud of you both. I can't wait to hear all about this great race. Rick

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Rush Wickes said...

Congratulations on such a fast time. What were the dirt roads like? Were they smooth and sandy or did you have to hop over a lot of protruding tree roots and rocks?

I'm considering doing the 2010 Ridge to Bridge.

annette bednosky said...

Rush,
I think the most "technical" part was dealing with slippery white pine needles on paved part of the course within the first 1/2 mile!

The roads are US Forest Service roads, well graded and without lots of stuff to jump over. Of course there is water damage and some gullyes on the roads an occasional big hunting Pickup to watch out for...yet it is a fun and fair, mostly downhill course. Parts of the course are quite steep!
The Wilson Creek section is very beautiful. I highly reccommend this event. The Lee's do an excellent job RDing...and volunteers were enthusiastic and very helpful.

Rush Wickes said...

I ran the Wild Hare marathon on the Ridge to Bridge course yesterday. The first 14 miles were fine - I was in the lead throughout the entire race. However, when after I reached the base of the hill - within about two miles of running on NC 90 towards Brown Mountain Beach, my quads became like iron and I could hardly run. I used GU, gatorade and shot blocks on the way down the hill.

What did you do if anything to keep this from happening once you reached the flat part of the course?

annette bednosky said...

Rush,
I am sorry to hear your body locked up...I know all who read our posts can relate! Run on up and down and hilly surfaces... I have no choce because where I live is like a rollercoaster of Mtns!
Yet if life gets in the way of ideal training...run repeats of downhill when you can! Follow that by at least a mile on the flats! Your quads need to know they are tough and strong and are expected to keep up with you "will". I am no expert, yet I believe running and stressing the quads and then running flat to engage other muscles too will be good training! Please do not under estimate the value of hydration and nutritian....You are looking to intake enough to get by, yet to perform to your hearts desire!!