Below are my splits from the NJ Ultra. I didn’t have any targets heading into the race and pretty just ran what felt comfortable. Or as comfortable as possible. I ran fairly even splits for the first three hours until the heat started taking a toll on me. I’m a little surprised not to see my times improve from the 3-4pm area when it started to cool down because I felt a lot better. I guess just because you feel better doesn’t mean you run better. The overnight slowdown was due to some combination of fueling, more time spent in aid stations getting weather updates and enjoying the company of another human being, and getting a little drowsy. Quicker times from 85-95 were due to the adrenaline rush of contending for the win and spending zero time in aid stations. And the final split was my victory lap when I finally slowed down to enjoy the moment. Well, that and my legs were pretty much toast from the prior 10 miles. My tank was pretty much empty by the time I hit mile 97.
My relatively fast finish ended up making this my best second 50 split of the 100s that I’ve done. The chart below is missing 2 of my races, however one race I walked in and the other was a 31 hour finish so I’m pretty sure they would be in the 58-60% range. The two Eastern States are a little skewed as the 2nd 50 is really 53 miles. Basically, what the chart shows is that contrary to popular belief (and all math textbooks), 50 miles is not the halfway point of a 100 mile race. In many ways, it’s just the beginning.
