The day I ran my first 50-miler, Jim Walmsley set a new 50-mile record, running 50 miles at an average pace of 5:48. I wanted to see if I could run one single solitary mile at that speed. This race gave me the chance to try it. I thought it would be a fun little drag race, but instead it was like a marathon in miniature: a quarter mile of “holy shit here we go!” followed by a quarter mile of “Hey I’m feeling pretty good” followed by a quarter mile of “why am I doing this with my life and what conceivable reason is ther for me to finish it?” and then a final quarter of “fuck it I’m going to finish this if it kills me.”