First ever 50k Ultra is in the books!

Well I chose the Harbison 50k Ultra on Jan 7th to be my first, kinda by accident, but great choice for a first Ultra. I decided I wanted to run an Ultra soon, so I did what most people do...get on the computer and search for a 50k. Stumbled upon the Harbison 50k down in Columbia, SC, signed up (there was only a couple spots left) so I was lucky to get in. Woke up early saturday morning on the 7th (3:30am) and made the 2 hr drive down to Columbia. First off, what a gorgeous day and very well organized race, the morning was in the low 50's so it was perfect morning weather for a 50k foot race. Going into this race I was nursing a very sore achilles tendon in my right foot, so wasn't sure how this race was going to start out let alone end up. There were a total of 200 runners and this mostly single track, rocky, rooty pretty hilly 50k was going to put my foot to the test. I started back in the pack so I didn't hold anyone up if my foot started acting up, well about 1 mile into the race I felt good and so did my foot. So I made a break to the front, picking off runners one at a time till i got up to 7th overall by the 6 mile mark. I held the 7th overall spot till about mile 17 and then my achilles starting acting up on me, so bad that I had to slow to a jog and sometime walk. I had a big enough lead on 8th place to where it took him quite along time to catch me, like 3 miles. When I got to the next aid station I popped 3 advil stretched the achilles and walked for about 10 min. By then I was 10th overall. Well the advil started to kick in and so I made a mad dash to see if I could make up any time, I caught 2 of the 3 runners who past me during my foot dilemma and ended up running in 8th place for the rest of the race and putting 18 min on one of the runners I past. So I was feeling good. Toward the end of the race the temps were in the mid 70's, kinda warm for a January day. The last 2 miles of the race I did  some thinking. I had a big enough lead on 9th place (like 6 min) So I asked my self...Did you run a smart race? Did you go out to fast? What have you learned from this? Well to be honest I was pretty happy with my overall finish but would do a few things different. Some equipment changes, running strategies, training strategies (like don't run a total of 51 miles of hilly trail the weekend before the race), but all in all it was a good day. I was extremely proud of myself and my time of 4:48 and for sticking it out and overcoming my achilles issue. Now its time to take a couple weeks off of all training to rest my body. The last 8 months has been really intense with training, running and racing. Over 80 miles a week will take its toll on you and so some rest will make me come back even stronger. Now I'm in the process of searching for my next endeavor. A 50k? 50 miler? We'll see and hopefully its soon!