Notes
Woo pig! Immediately post-race, I was pretty shelled. 24 hours later, I actually feel reasonable. Not amazing to be clear, but okay enough that I'm walking stiffly but walking well.
Race Summary:
The full race was 5 "outside loops" (4.87 miles) then 2 "inner loops" (3.19 - 5k). I'd call the course more cross country than a trail race, but it would have been a challenging cross country course, especially the inner loops. Everything was pretty dry, but by the end of the race there were a few slightly slick spots and some beaten down grass in the last half-mile or so. It was reasonably hilly, especially the inner loop - but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Weather conditions were good - at the start, it was about 35 and breezy. No sun though, which did help quite a bit. By the end of the race, it was about 45 and the sun was starting to poke out slowly. I wouldn't have called it sunny at any point, but there were a few patches of more sun.
The outside loop was really nice - I would have happily run that loop all day. The first half mile was a rolling kind of woodsy section, then the next mile and a half was more exposed and heavily rolling. This felt the most like a cross country course, a bit like Moore State, but less hill-forward. Once the loops came together, it was mostly woodsy and covered in leaves. The water stop was around mile .4/3 for the outside loop and came at a good point. I'd say that there were two tricky hills on the outside loop, but in the shared section. There was a woodchipped descent shortly after a gentle climb, but the drop was immediately after a hard left and into another hard left.
The inside loop was fucking awful. Okay, that's partly a factor because of going too hard into it, but talking to the 50K winner and the race director, there was some grousing about that loop. Personally, I think starting with it would have been okay-ish, but it would have then blown up legs really hard. The first half-mile was shared between the loops, then the inside loop took a left toward a lake. That section was rolling for maybe 200 meters before having a hard left into a huge drop toward the lake. It probably isn't that big of a hill, but it's around 40 feet according to the course map. (Note that the course maps are backward to my chagrin.) Then it immediately switches to a bigger uphill on woodchips. This repeats three times - there's no chill or flat terrain for the entirety of the inside loop's unique section, which is rough three hours into the race.
I hemmed and hawed over what to wear for this. I ended up settling on the adidas slim fit pants (I think it's the aeroready line, but they are a pants cut in the waist and thighs, tapering into something more akin to tights in the calves), the light black adidas top (I like adidas) over the neon t-shirt. I wore the Bostons, which again are not quite enough shoe for (a) 50k and (b) more cross country-ish terrain. Socks were the balega hidden structure, which held up admirably. I started in gloves, but fully expected to shuck them at some point.
Lap 1: 39:00 (8:01 pace)
Problem 1 - a 50K runner should not ever be starting on the line in a race with a 5K, 10K, half, or full. But if no one else wants to start on the line - okay, fine. The first mile was much, much too fast. After that, I managed to tamp down the energy to a low hum, which was helped by the number of people on course. The 5K and 10K only ran the inside loop, while the half/full/50K ran a combo. Because of that, I saw a pretty good portion of the runners out and about. Maria was camped out after the loop around the football field, about 150 meters from the finish/lap line. I stopped there to grab a mouthful of water. I grabbed a gu (mint chocolate) here and chewed it down. I probably could have done with a few bites of something more solid, but that's a bit of hindsight. I think I shucked my gloves after this loop, but I don't totally remember - I know I went to take them off during one loop, but ended up putting them back on after a few minutes.
Lap 2: 40:04 (8:14)
I ended up catching up with a guy running the marathon (thanks John! There were two of you who finished together, and I'm pretty sure you ended up as the second one, but I'm not totally sure). We stuck together for about 20 minutes and that was a fantastic thing because I needed to temper my speed a lot. Again, a note for the future - I should have stuck with him more since his pace was more inline with what I was aiming for and it would have been good to have another person holding back the pace. I ended up separating from him around the drop toward the lake (if I remember correctly, so mile 8 ish). Again, stopped at Maria and grabbed some blue Powerade and half a pretzel rod. This is were I definitely should have had something more solid or at least more pretzel.
Lap 3: 41:45 (8:34)
My mouth was pretty dry at the start (see pretzel), so I grabbed some water from the water stop. That water stop was excellently placed in my opinion - if I hadn't had a drop bag, I probably could have unhappily struggled through the water stop. They had a good spread of stuff and two different friendly volunteers. This was a pretty low-key loop overall. This was were I started settling in a bit more and people started winding down. I think this was definitely quieter, but also the loop where I saw the most non-racers out and about. Stopped at Maria's spot and said hi to Katja and Drew since they came out. This was a slow refuel - had another gu (cola, which really still doesn't taste like Coke/Pepsi, but is pleasantly spiced. I want to say cardamom, but that's not really based on anything). I also swung by the porta-pottie here, which is partly why this was a little slower. Also, I put gloves back on here.
Lap 4: 41:17 (8:29)
The course was noticeably emptier at this point. I also started doing some focusing, since I could feel my brain starting to unfocus and get a little fuzzy at this point. So I started deliberately picking people and saying that I could not pass them unless they started walking. It didn't completely work, but it was pretty nice to have some slowdown at this point. Also on this loop, I ended up catching up to a guy in blue socks. As it turned out, he was also running the 50K! And had one big loop and two small loops to go. I ended up getting past him, but only by around 15 seconds. Once I stopped at Maria et al, I realized that, until blue socks went by, I was leading the 50K. Which, first, yikes! And second, this was a bit of a longer refueling. I definitely stood for longer than ideal here and had another few pretzels.
Lap 5: 45:12 (9:17)
Final outside loop! I was definitely slowing down pretty aggressively on this loop. I want to say this was when I started walking the biggest hills. There were a pretty good number of runners still out, which was pretty nice overall. I kept catching glimpses of Aaron (blue socks, I looked him up in the results) about a minute or two ahead of me. I wasn't fully crashing here, but there were definitely a lot of warning signs at this point - my legs started to get that glossy pre-cramp feeling, which was not ideal at all. Stopped at the aid section and choked back about half a blackberry gu, but my stomach was pretty well settled that more food was a non-starter. Honestly, that's going to be the main choke point for ultras now. I need to figure out how to eat after three hours of running, since that's been a recurring issue. See Rockin' Brews, Grandma's 2021, and the Mckee Park fun run. I think I need to try eating more earlier so that I have more in my stomach once I get later in runs. Alternately, trying some different things would be a good idea.
Lap 6: 33:03 (10:18)
This was the first inside loop and it was a DOOZY. So I didn't quite realize how hilly this loop was and really didn't realize how much steepness there was. I caught up to someone on this loop and we commiserated on how much this honked. The section unique to this loop was absolutely savage and there's no recovery sections until you rejoin with the main loop. I was feeling pretty beat by this point, but there was some dead cat bounce in the flatter sections. But at this point, the pain cave was looming.
Lap 7: 35:46 (11:09)
Final loop and at this point, my legs were done. I never actually fully cramped up, but I was also definitely in a pretty sketchy pre-cramp status. I also suspected that I was comfortably in the top three overall and potentially second, but I also had no idea where third was. This loop was an exercise in pushing where possible - mostly downhills - and walking with any semblance of form on the uphills. Once I hit mile 30 (back woods of the shared section about a quarter mile after the water stop), I knew it was going to be a struggle from there. There was a slightly tricky descent and a brutal final uphill. I realized that there was someone moving reasonably well about 90 seconds behind me. Since I couldn't tell who was running what race, I realized that I needed to start pushing a bit in case he was in the 50k and finishing up. As it turned out, he wasn't, so I needn't have worried. That said, the winning woman was only about two minutes behind, so I did need a little pushing.
At the end of the race, I did lay down for about two minutes and that was very, very nice. I ended up chatting with folks for about 15 minutes and cheered on a handful of other folks while waiting for results and medals. There wasn't really a ceremony (as expected, that would have been a brutal wait), but I did get a first-place medal, so that's nice.
Overall, this was fun! I'd run this course again with a bit more training and planning - the race organizer is very good and the course is lovely. I'm pleased with this - and it's super cheap, which is excellent.
Takeaways:
1) Fueling. I know this is a broken record, but this is going to be the limiting factor for me. There's some practice that would help, but at the same time, there's probably some tricks to try as well. I do think that I have not done enough 2-3 hour runs and that's an issue.
2) Training! I really, really need more 2-3 hour runs to build this back up. I think that would help strengthen everything up and allow my ribs/back to get a little more used to the extended running.
3) Gear - I need to try some more cushioned shoes for longer runs. I think the Bostons work, but (a) they are no longer made and (b) they are a bit thinner than ideal after 4 hours.
For a first 50K, I really enjoyed this. What's next? I think it's sub 3, but I don't think that I'd rule out another 50K in that training.