Women's 50K...

People have asked me to talk about my trek through 50K land.  So I thought I'd start my first real blog going over my 50K history.   Ever since I can remember I was always described as "not too fast, but she can go forever..."  In high school I went to a cross country camp where I set the record for most miles run in a day.  I've always enjoyed long distances.  In 2010 I decided to give the 50K a shot.   I had done a 50K somewhere around 2007 and it was awful, over 6 hours, and I spent a fair amount of time sitting on the side of the course contemplating the meaning of life, the pain in my legs, and if I wanted to finish.  I did finish, but it hurt.  Just like childbirth (so I've heard) you tend to forget about it over time.  So in 2010 I wasn't thinking about that pain from before, I was thinking, I can do this!  I'd completed a couple 40Ks since then and hey, it's just 10 more K!  That race went well, I did a PB by over one hour, breaking the 5 hour mark. 

Doing that race got me thinking, if I trained more for it, I believed I could do a 50K under 4:45.  That time is significant because it is the qualifying time for the 50K Olympic Trials.  I thought if I could make that time standard I could race in the Olympic Trials!

In 2011 I raced the national 40K.  Elliott Denman and the Shore AC host a great race with the option of going the additional 10K for qualifying times/records.  So after I won the 40K outright (I beat all the guys) I kept going.  The last 10K was a bit slower than I would like, but I still made it under the qualifying time, walking a 4:42! 

That night after the race I went home and composed an email to the race walking Yahoo group and the RW executive committee, stating that I had bested the qualifying time for the 50K Olympic Trials and wanted to be allowed to compete.   I learned quickly that asking for a woman to compete in a "men's" event is close to religion and politics; people have their opinions and they are STRONG opinions.  I had lots of people who were very supportive and excited for me.  And then there was the other crowd.  The crowd that said I should stick to 20K and be happy with that.  There were people who said, "They will NEVER let a woman compete with the men."  There were people who said that letting a woman compete with men would be an embarrassment. 

Luckily my parents raised me to fight for what I believe is right, even if it's not the popular opinion.  So when the executive committee voted not to let me race, I didn't take that as the final answer.  I went to USATF and asked.  They also said no.  I asked again.  They said no again.  Then Elliott contacted a friend of his that worked for the NY Times.  He started writing an article about how a woman was not going to be given the same opportunities as the men and suddenly USATF changed their story.  Now I was welcomed with open arms!  I was going to be allowed to compete in the 50K Olympic Trials! 

I thought the hard work was done by this point, boy was I wrong.  Now even more words started flying around.  I had women from all over the world telling me how excited they were for this to happen, how they would love to race a 50K and hopefully their country would start hosting a 50 for women.  Women who told me how badly they wanted me to succeed.  On the other side of the coin I had people saying I was going to be an embarrassment, that it was going to detract from the men's race.  How I shouldn't be allowed to compete.  And what really got me is some of these comments were coming from women!   I went into the race knowing that there were men in the field that did not want me there, that some of the race organizers didn't want me there, and that there were people just waiting for me to mess up and fail.  Thank goodness for my amazing hubby Dave and the people who did support me.   I don't know what I would've done without them.  It was one of the most stressful times of my life beyond a doubt. 

Okay, I just realized how long this is getting, so maybe I'll tell the story in installments.  More later!