Dirty German 50k,  What a fun race.

Some highlights: Not necessarily in chronological order, but mostly..

Spent Saturday in Troy NY attending My youngest daughter's graduation.  Oldest daughter drove us back home, so I was able to rest.  Woke at 4:45, arrived at 6:50 and got prime parking.  Got dressed and Met Dani (TrailsNCocktails).  Never did meet up with BadMotherRunner or RunMuppy.
We started about 15 minutes late and ran across the field in a mob flowing  over obstacles like park benches and boulders like a swarm of lemmings. We soon had a major back up to get through a narrow gate and another to get over a silly log.
Perfect weather 45*F and sunny, but in the shade since most of the race was under the trees and next to Pennypack Creek.  The course was two 15.5 mile laps along the creek and up and down a few hills in Pennypack park.
Aid stations stocked with everything an ultra runner could want, including boiled potatoes with dipping salt, a first for me.
Trails were easy, smooth dirt, with just enough puddles and rocks and scrabbley hills to keep it interesting.
Ran with Julie for several miles, who had DNFd the NJ marathon three weeks earlier when her hip gave out and was seeking redemption.  Stayed with her along a few miles of paved bike path, and was finally glad to be on the trail again. Finally out ran her on some downhills and did not see her again.  Kept leapfroggin a small girl with a pink camelback.    Was alone for a while and found my self singing odd bits of songs; mostly Blue Oyster cult "godzilla", and some C&W song about "rock me mama like a wagon wheel", both of which are around 180 BPM, just right for running.  Caught a guy with grey shirt in the middle of a serpentine section of trail that reminded me of the twisty trails in my home park.  Came by a road and a full parking lot and though I was back at the start, only to hear the 11:00 bell announcing that church had started. Last section was narrow single track with lots of twists and abrupt elevation changes.
Usual conversation when passing or being passed was  "what race are you running?"  since there was a 25K, 50k and 50 mile race being run concurrently.  Since the 50 milers had a four mile add-on at the beginning before they started the main loop, all the 50 mile leaders wound up passing me at some point.  Lots of encouragement passed both ways, of course.
One mile long section had two way traffic  through some narrow single track and a rough down hill.  This was my favorite since there were people to meet and cheer for, and the downhill ended at the river and immediately went under a bridge. so I would always let out a whoop of victory after a successful exhilarating downhill, under a very reverberant bridge, and make a huge echo.  and the aid station was right there.  The bridges were great fun to holler under whenever I came across one, since they were usually pretty long and smooth concrete arches.
Finished the first lap in around 3 hours, reloaded from my drop bag, unloaded some of yesterdays graduation dinner and regretfully left the finisher party and headed back out for lap 2.  Much less crowded since all the 25 K runners were back at the party. Leapfrogged a few times a Guy with tats who was a triathlete running his first run > 20 miles..said he preferred biking, when I passed him at mile 23.  I had been trying to hold about an 11 pace on the flats, but this was getting harder since that flats were, just so ..FLAT and the same muscles were getting tired.  Climbing hills seemed a relief just to switch it up a bit., and I had a few flat walk breaks here; I had until now been walking the hills only.  Stopped for  gel at one point and saw a doe come into a clearing in the woods.  I was dragging by mile 24...but then came to the last aid station.  That seemed to trigger something in me.. only 4 miles to go, no need to conserve energy for the finish..so I picked it up a bit.  Came to a hill and power walked up.  came to the next and almost ran up.  Passed the tat man (hands on knees resting at the top of a hill) and his pacer, picked it up.  Voices behind me.. I'm not the only one who can smell the barn.. two women are back there .. somewhere..zoom through the twisty trails with the 6 foot roller coaster hills, past the church, past the houses,  through the stream since I don't need to keep my feet dry anymore, they are gaining dammit..burst out of the woods and hang a right, the pavilion is in the distance and I stretch it out and run for real now on the smooth grass..Uh oh, where IS the damn finish..there!!  and beat them out by a few seconds. Turn and high five all around.  

The swag lady becons:  "DO you want a glass or a cuckoo whistle?" A cuckoo whistle?? HUH?.. nobody said anything about a whistle!! I can get a glass anywhere...but a wood whistle with cuckoo birds on it?  Priceless!  Also got an embroidered hat and swag bag, and a tech shirt.  After a change of shirt and shoes It's Food time!! Bratwurst, potato pancakes, chocolate chip banana bread and Ummmm...

Tat guy finished a few minutes later, and soon after that The first place 50 miler came zooming in..he couldn't find the finish either.

Just before I left Julie (whom I ran half of the first lap with) came in for her finish.

So, lets see.. a 50k PR (6:14:48, beating my previous 50k PR by more than an hour).  Great weather, an absolutely gorgeous course not too far from home, good food, best swag ever, no injury (well, except for a few blisters and two toenails sacrificed to the running gods)..all in all, a great day at the races!  Danke, Uberendurance!

Congratulations on a solid race and a new PR, 1 hour faster! Also congrats to your daughter's graduation!

You were right, it was a fun race on a beautiful day to be running, sorry I missed you before the race, maybe next time.

Sounds like a great day!  Sorry I missed meeting up- I was running later than I would've liked, and I needed to ensure all my supplies were properly in order.  That's a fantastic PR!!

Loved your RR. It captured many of the details I could not put into words. Glad to have met you, and great job with the PR!

Great job, you nailed that race! Congratulations on the new PR!

Darn, I'm gonna have to look into this one...   Bratwurst, potato pancakes, chocolate chip banana bread?  I'm all in.

Congratulations !!!!

6:14:48, beating my previous 50k PR by more than an hour

 

Wow. Impressive indeed.  Way to go.  Thanks for sharing.

Indeed- good job man!