Notes
Catoctin 50K, my first DNF. This race was super tough especially for someone who totally lacks coordination. Took a gnarly fall at about mile 2 while running way too fast and hit the ground hard. I jumped up and took a quick assessment and seemed ok. Hurt my left hand and bruised my left knee but nothing too serious. That set the tone. I couldn't run much of the course without tripping. I met up with an experienced ultra runner and she paced me and we kept up the conversation so that got me through a good 10k but we got to a steep descent right before halfway and it was clear I was going to hold her up so I said goodbye. The descent was killing my stiff bruised knee. A guy offered me some advil, I happily took him up on it. At halfway with a nice cool creek to soak the lower leg I felt better. After turning around I felt strong and starting running consistently until I got back to the climb up the hill that killed me coming down. It was literally 2 miles long and very steep. At the last aid station i just made it after the cutoff but they let me go. I left with another struggling runner. We agree to get back to the finish together. After about two miles in he started getting sick and quickly got dehydrated. I wasn't about to leave him there so I stayed with him and tried to keep him cool until the trail sweepers came through. We ended up getting a ride back at about mile 30 once we could get to a road. My Garmin took a shot and stopped working after my fall so I have no idea what the exact time or distance was. My running mate said about 31 over like 1000 hours. The race was rough but the people were the best.
*Update morning after. I feel ok just a little beat up but mostly from the fall. Swollen hand and bruised knee and lacerated side of my leg. I'll be ok to continue on with normal training schedule and will test out things a bit with core work this afternoon.
I need to get in a good 50K soon. My first two were both very technically challenging. A friend of mine who runs several ultras a year said this was the toughest 50K he's ever run. The race director actually said for this race take your marathon PR and double it and add 20 minutes. I need to pick something on a more average course. Maybe just a 50K on my own on the horse trails by my house.
Here's the elevation profile on this one: http://www.dailymile.com/routes/1237107-running-route