North Carolina State University Athletics
Poppleton Finishes Third at WC-50 Ultra Trail Marathon
10/21/2014 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
The race was spanned throughout the entire U.S. National White Water Center with a 50k and a 50-mile option. Poppleton started at 5 a.m. and ran the 50-mile race option in 11:27.51.
“It was very mentally challenging, especially toward the end of the race trying to stay focused on finishing; you’re pretty much just running through the woods by yourself because it was a trail run so it was kind of difficult,” Poppleton said.
“It felt really good afterwards. I felt a great sense of accomplishment, but during and especially towards the end I started feeling the mental wear and tear.”
For Poppleton, this was her first 50-mile race but not her first endurance race.
“I’ve done three full marathons and about eight or nine half marathons. Endurance running has become like a new passion of mine within the past few years,” Poppleton said.
“In the past few years I’ve been consistently training for different types of races, but this race I’ve been training for about three months.”
With endurance running as a newly found love and a 50-mile race under her belt, Poppleton plans to continue training and competing more often.
“I’m going to move toward doing two to four races a year, but I don’t think I’m ever going to go that high of a mileage again. I’m probably just going to stick with full marathons,” Poppleton said.
