Heather and I started at the McDonald's at Crabtree Valley Mall at 6:35am. We did a supported run with crew support from my husband McCrae and Heather's husband and father-in-law.
Sunrise was 7:14am, so we started off running in the diffuse light of summer golden hour ☀️
I was really worried about the first stretch of greenway because I'd heard it had washed out in 2017 with a hurricane and they were *just* about to reopen it, but we managed to get through the stretch of Crabtree Creek Greenway with no trouble.
Shelley Lake was pretty, and just as we ran past the overlook a big flock of geese honked and flew across the water that was all pastel pink, yellow, and blue in the dawn light.
Honeycutt trail was pretty scenic, but had some big (relative to other greenways) hill climbs. McCrae had parked at Honeycutt and rode his bike out to meet us, so it was fun seeing him ❤️ Basic top-off of supplies at Honeycutt Park and I switched to the Altra Timps on anticipation of the short bit of singletrack.
At Durant Road, the Honeycutt trail paved portion ends and turns into singletrack, and after a bit that singletrack runs into the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST) along Falls Lake. It was a good, rolling, rooty trail that was fun to run (I ❤️ singletrack!)
We met up with our crew at the Falls Lake Dam/trailhead. Downed an Uncrustable and refilled water flasks and we were on our way!
From Falls Lake we got on the Neuse River Greenway, which I know pretty well from doing some long runs and bike rides there (plus my bff lives right off that trail). But pretty soon the sun was beating hard and I could tell Heather was having a hard time. We tried to do some triage -- do you hurt? (Not more than expected) Are you nauseous? (no) -- Heather's complaint was pretty much "I can't breathe and I feel awful." Finally I noticed she was struggling even more when we were in patches of sunlight, so I said, "I think you may have mild heat exhaustion." And that seemed to make the most sense as we went on -- a lot of the symptoms seemed to line up over the day, and so we kept a close eye to make sure she was doing okay. And that meant pulling back pace a lot, adding in extra aid/crew stops, emphasis on electrolytes, and lots of ice and ice cold towels for Heather at aid stops.
Our next planned aid stop was Buffaloe Road Athletic Park, but since Heather was hurting and I was low on water I asked McCrae to meet us earlier. I sucked down some Gatorade, filled my water flask, and Heather drank some cold water and that seemed to help a bit.
At Buffaloe Road Athletic Park I changed clothes (my clothes were DRENCHED at this point) and started putting Nuun in a flask. McCrae is literally the best person in the world and brought me my hydration bladder full of cold water (I had just packed the two front flasks. I'd meant to pack the hydration bladder, but I didn't think it was totally necessary based on the stop intervals, and I forgot. But that hydration bladder? ??)
A little after Buffaloe Road I got a great surprise! My best friend and her three kids came out to see us!! I was seriously so ecstatic to see them!! ??? (It's been a while since I've seen them, and I love these people so much ❤️) Stella and Swayze (the younger ones) were all smiles and cheers (and were such good troopers even though they mentioned a couple times how hot they were out there). Jack...oh bless him, I love this kid, but he asked, "why are you walking?" "Because we're on a walk interval." "But I thought you said you were RUNNING 50 miles?" lolololol busted ???
After Buffaloe Road we crossed the river and were on a long stretch of trail that was in full sun, and it was not a very forgiving sun. But I did find a big boulder so of course I had to stop and do my obligatory mid-run boulder problem! ?
Our next aid stop was Anderson Point. I ate an ice cold peach ?? and stocked up. Emily was there to meet us and said she'd run a couple miles with us ? So those couple miles went very quickly. She turned back just after we got into Walnut Creek Greenway, and we were officially in long run territory for Heather since we were well past the 50k mark.
Our next crew stop was planned for Apollo Heights Park, which according to the GPX file I downloaded from FKT should have been a little under 8 miles after Anderson Point. We hit a lot of intensely exposed spots of trail under the sun -- weather data says it was 88°F and 100% humidity, with a suspected much higher heat index in the blazing sun. Between the brutal heat and the fact that the mileage was definitely longer than I'd mapped out, and the not very scenic section of trail, it was a bit of a slog. But we got it done!
Since that last stretch was not very fun, I asked McCrae to meet us again at Dorothea Dix. And while we didn't necessarily need a lot of fresh supplies (I just grabbed a banana) it was such a boost to buoy us for the last 6 miles.
From Dorothea Dix to the finish line, we followed the trail past Pullen Park (which looks a bit like a zombie movie scene when it's empty), along sidewalks of some major roads, through NC State (which was entertaining seeing all these fresh-faced college kids flocking to the rec fields for some "Recfest" -- we considered crashing the party, lol, but we were borderline heat delirious and I was getting odd looks because of my gnarly heat rash).
Then came the big hill up Gorman to Meredith College, where, I am sad to report, Sushi Tsune (a sushi restaurant I've frequented since I was a kid) is closed, and on that corner there is now a crab shack which is definitely NOT what I want to smell at mile 46 of a 50 mile run
We started to lose the light as we got past the far corner of Meredith, so it was interesting to see the contrast of light in the open spaces vs. light in the wooded spaces. But on the upside, the heat broke and we were able to pick up the pace (I mean, who even negative splits a 50 miler, right?? ?)
It was full dark by the time we got to Glen Eden Pilot Park (and shortly after we almost got attacked by a doggo who was very angry for no good very bad reason). I was glad McCrae had harried me to pack a headlamp -- I was convinced we wouldn't need one, joke's on me! -- and we bobbed along behind the light along the trail when finally, FINALLY! we saw the McDonald's straight ahead, and we knew we were done!
Hallelujah! We're doing it! We did it! Heck yes!