50k Race

So its been a while since I've posted on here.  Training has been going okay for the most part.  My mileage has been down a bit since the middle of June when it started getting really hot out.  I raced a 50k road race in Kansas City this last weekend as a part of the North Face Endurance Challenge.  The weekend before the race I did a 34 mile run on the 50 mile race course so the plan was to just get another easy training run in.  The week leading up to the race after the 34 mile run I was definitely tired and didn't know what to expect going into Saturday.  The plan was to go out and run at about 8 min per mile pace for the first half and then see how I felt and hopefully pick it up from there.  As I got into the run I didn't feel like I could slow down from the 7:30/mi pace I was holding and better yet I felt very comfortable at that pace.  After 6 or so miles I decided I would just roll with it and see how it went.  The entire race felt very comfortable until the last 4 or 5 miles.  By the end of the race the temps had reached 85 degrees and I think that hurt me more than anything.  I ended up finishing 4th place overall and running 3:50:59.  I now have 5 weeks to be ready for the big one.  After this last weekend I'm feeling much better about being prepared to go the whole 50 miles at the pace I want to go.  More to come soon....