I don't run many races, so I thought I would share a report about my Saturday long run this past weekend.

A trail running group was holding a Fat Ass 50K run on the Laurel Highlands Trail....planning on running Gate-To-8 twice....Gate being the start of the trail at mile marker 0.  Their plan was to start running at 8am.   I wanted to get in 20-22 miles so I knew I wasn't in for the whole two laps and my wife informed me that I had to be home by 1pm.   After talking to a friend who was going to run, I decided that I would go early and park at the mile 11 trailhead and run down to the mile 0 trailhead and meet them at 8am.  This meant a 5:30am start time for me....not a big deal....I'm usually up by 5 anyway.  My friend, Athena, was going to bring extra water so I could refill my two bottles and then I would run back to mile 8 with the group. They would turn around at MP8 and I could continue back to my truck at MP11.  I'm thinking this is the best of everything, I get my miles in, I get to spend some time with friends, enjoy the beautiful LH trail during sunrise, and my wife would be happy that I made it home by my 1pm deadline.  

I leave my house at 4:45am....right on time and drive the 45 minutes to the trailhead....eating my PB&J sandwich for breakfast.  I pull in and don my headlamp, grab my handheld and my running pack with the spare water bottle and other goodies in it and head down the trail.  Like a lot of the LH Trailhead, there are a few criss-crossing trails and I wondered around a bit in the dark until I found the real trail.  Just a few minute detour and I'm heading south on the trail.   I start descending much quicker than I remember this section trail doing....but it was dark and I haven't run this section in about a year.....finally I come to the first mile marker and it says 18......18...how the fuck did this happen....I stare at it blankly for several minutes.....then, finally it hits me.....I went to the wrong trailhead!  I parked at mile 19 instead of 11.  I let loose a long string of expletives and proceed back up the bastard of a hill that I just ran down.  (anyone who has run laurel ultra know what a bitch the last climb up to the mile 19 aid station is....its short.....but extremely steep.)  Also, a big thank goodness that the LH Trail has mile posts at every mile or I would have been really lost when I got to the next trailhead!

Back to the truck.....round trip...2 miles.  At this point, I don't have time to run from the mile 11 trailhead and get to mile 0 by 8 o'clock....so I drive to mile 0.  Its now 6:30 so I set off to get some more miles in before the rest of the crew shows up.  I manage to get 6 miles, out to MP3 and back.....and was waiting as the rest of the crew arrived.  I stood around in the 24 degree temps for about 20 minutes and by the time we were heading out again, I was shivering uncontrollably.  Finally, we were running again and I was warming up.....my plan at this point was to make it as far as I could by 10:15 and then turn around so I would be back at the truck by noon.  I only had two 20ox hand helds with me as I was only expecting to be running 11 miles....I made it to mile 7 before turning around.....unfortunately I had already gone  through about 1 1/2 bottles of water.....turning around, I bid farewell to my running partner, Todd, as he was continuing out to MP 8.  coming back, I knew that I was tired....but I expected that as this was going to be my longest run to date.  Then with about 4 miles left (and still two big climbs ahead of me) I hit a wall.....I felt exhausted....my core muscles hurt....my legs were cramping.....and I was out of water!

The last 4 miles back were a disaster....I was suffering badly....I was alone....I thought to myself many times "WTF are you doing out here?"....it was the worst mental state I have ever been while on a run.  One good point was that I had eaten continually all morning....my calorie intake was decent.....but I was dehydrated....and getting worse by the minute.  I finally finished the last climb and was heading down the last hill......at this point even running downhill hurt......I thought this was the lowest I could get....and then Todd and another runner he picked up came blowing past me....looking as if they were just starting out.  I felt like eeyore by this point.  LOL

Finally, I made it back to the truck.....replenshed some fluids....and still made it home by 1:15pm  (my wife really didn't have pans until 2:00, but knowing me as well as she does....she told me 1pm).

Final totals were 22 miles and nearly 5000' of elevation.....and some really tired legs.

Lessons learned:

1) I'm not experienced enough to wing it when it comes to hydration and nutrition.  Last time I ran gate to 8, I planned exactly how much water to drink per hour (20 oz) and what I was going to eat and it worked out really well....this time....no planning=disaster.

2) Drive to the proper trailhead.  LOL  I think I would have still come up a little short on water had I only been doing 11 miles back to the truck, but I would have been a lot better off being 1 mile short rather than 4 miles short.

3)  I'm REALLY glad I signed up for the 50K option of Laurel Ultra rather than the full 70 miles.  I had not given the 70 mile distance near the respect it deserves and would have been doing a grave disservice to the race and myself by attempting it this year.  I'm confident I will be ready to knock out the 50K by June 8th.

Thanks for letting me share!

Nice write up, Mike.  Figuring out hydration and fueling just takes practice -- everyone makes mistakes sometimes!  I think you'll do really well at the 50K this year.  Perhaps I'll see you at the full 70 in 2014? 

The 70 in 2014 is the long term plan.   50K this summer....12 hour race in the fall, hoping for 45-50 miles.....then a 50 miler next spring....then the Laurel 70.

My biggest fear is running out of water, it has happened to me several times in HOT conditions as an inexperienced marathoner (definitely NOT implying anything about yourself! ) So at the risk of overburdening myself, I wear a hydration pack on every long trail run now. In the summer, I'll even do it on 15+ mi road runs (though there are way more opportunities for handheld refills on the roads.) That's only my preference, and of course, you had a very detailed plan with refueling that just didn't work out properly. Glad you came through ok, and now you'll be even better prepared for the 50k!

Thanks all.....it was a good learning experience.

Jamie....while a lot of the write up was focused on the negatives....overall it was a really good morning of running up to the last few miles.  I'm very green at this distance running thing so I fully expect that some runs are going to be worse than others....plus...I have never run with a handheld bottle before....and it was probably a bad decision to do this run without my hydration bladder filled up and in my pack.  I hope to see you at LH someday soon.

TnC....you don't have to imply...I am *very* inexperienced.    I normally run with my hydration pack but I don't care for running with it and wanted to test my ability to run with just two handhelds.  Had I executed my plan better....things might have gone a little better.  

Birdman....thanks.  Hydration is definitely something I'm still working on.  16-20 oz per hour seem about right....and I went on a 4 hour jaunt with two 20 oz bottles......guess I should have seen this coming.

One of the things I'm trying to figure out for the 50K is what I need to get to the first aid station.  The first AS is at mile 11....and the first 8 miles have something like 2700 feet of elevation.   It will probably be about 2 1/2 hours until I hit the first AS.  I think 2 24 oz bottles might do the trick.....I really don't want to run with a pack on for the race.  After mile 11 AS, the next one is at 19....then 25 and then the finish.