M'kay

50 miles in 9:23:38, 11:16/mi, HR 144.

What a blast.  By far the toughest 50 miler I've done to date, and probably only surpassed in the toll it took on my by my first marathon where I could barely shuffle about 30 seconds after I finished.  My time wasn't what I thought it might be based on some nebulous ideas and comparisons to results from previous year....but I now realize that none of that was realistic and I had a pretty good overall day, so I'm pretty darn happy with my time.  The course itself was gorgeous, the weather nice and the race itself was just plain awesome.  5 falls and numerous near misses....could've done without those.

The course itself had very distinct legs.  Some were technical rolling singletrack.  Others were steep uphill climbs.  One was a gravel road downhill (easily guessed based on my time for that leg, the only leg where I beat my original 8.5 hour projected split).  It was all fun.  Here were my actual splits:

To start the day, I was up at 3am to get some calories and coffee, then make the 2 hour drive to the race start.  Got there early, parked, signed in, and had some time to prepare mentally for the task at hand.  Lined up at 6:20 for the race briefing and it was here I saw a few of the bigger names who'd show up to race, like locals Greg Crowther and Scott Jurek, and the imports, like Anton Krupicka.  Pretty cool.  A brief delay to make sure some runners who hadn't checked in were not in fact running (so they didn't consume SAR resources later) and at 6:32, we were off.

To Camp Shepard.  This section was pretty easy so a nice chance to warm up, starting with a run on the gravel road past the Buck Creek airstrip, then into the woods along a relatively flat trail, cross Hwy 410, and onto some rolling single-track.  Fortunately, it was pretty crowded, which helped me not do something completely stupid like running too hard too early.  Pretty uneventful too.  The aid station stop was a quick one, but I did top-off my water bottle, having decided to only take 1 along for the first half of the day and knowing that the first major climb of the day lay ahead.

To Ranger Creek.  A couple more miles of rolling single-track, and then we hit the first climb.  When they say major climb, they mean it.  From reading Anton K's race report from last year, in my mind I knew all but the small section of stairs was runnable, but that's evidently for immortals.  I probably ran more than I should've, but there was plenty of hiking involved in this section.  The first couple miles of climb in particular were just downright brutally steep.  This section was where I registered the highest overall and average HR of the entire race, so I probably went too hard early, but c'est la vie.  Even just hiking, my calves were yelling loudly at times, my heels not even close to touching the ground from the grade.  Fun.  The really nice thing about the climbs was the views we'd be periodically treated too.  All of a sudden we'd pop out on an overlook and could see where we'd started, and boy was in already off in the distance.  Finally got to the water-only aid station, recharged the water, took a deep breath, and pushed on.

To Corral Pass.  Because of stomach issues my last 50 miler, I wasn't too keen on pushing GUs and was toting some energy bars instead.  I made sure I was consuming calories early and had been a bit worried that with the big climb and no food at the aid stations until Corral Pass that I could easily get behind early.  So far so good.  More climbing on this leg for the first couple of miles, but it was tamer.  The down side was that I was already pretty tired from the climbing on the previous leg, so still plenty of hiking involved.  Sections were pretty technical and I learned one of my major lessons learned here.....technical trail running takes practice, I didn't have enough, and I would pay.  1st fall in this section.  First one was not too bad, nearly caught myself but not quite.  No blood, no foul.  Parts of this section were somewhat exposed too and I started warming up at times.  This is also an out and back section, so a few miles in, the front-runners started heading back our way and we had to yield the trail for them.  That got really old really quickly, but what can you do?  Get faster, I suppose.  Towards the end, the stomach issues crept up on me and I had to take the first unscheduled pit stop of the race.  Okay, not to worry too soon, I got moving pretty quickly and hit the aid station and the turn around.  Took a couple of minutes at this aid station to eat and inadvertely I love Mountain Dew during a trail run.  I accidently grabbed a green-looking cup thinking it was gatorade, started heading back out, slugged it, and exclaimed "Wow, that was freaking great, what was that?" which had the entire aid station crew laughing, then turned around to grab another.  Grabbed some chips and finally took off back down the trail.

To Ranger Creek.  Not 2 minutes into the return trip, wham, another fall.  This one got a "Nice roll" comment from another runner, so I guess I scored some style points, but it did plunge the chips I had yet to eat into the dirt, so no chips for me.   The first couple of miles were back over the fairly exposed section and it was starting to feel pretty hot, but I was putting back the fluids and the Succeed caps religiously, so I was tolerating pretty well.  But not the food.  Second unscheduled pit stop.  Ugh.  Getting far enough off the trail to take care of business was difficult, since most of the section was on the side of a mountain, but I managed.  Just wasn't feeling too great on this section.  Then, to top things off, wham.  Fall #3.  This one hurt and drew some blood.  Now I looked quite the sight, bloody knee, covered in dirt....guess a real (bad?) ultra-runner.  Glad to get back to Ranger Creek.

To Buck Creek.  Switchback section down a different route back to Buck Creek.  Plenty steep in spots, entirely runnable, but very technical with roots and rocks all reaching up their knobby hands trying to trip me.  Since I was already at 3 falls and way-too-many-to-count near misses, I ran this slower than I could've, as a matter of survival, because the trail was narrow and the dropoff quite steep.  Yes, fear of taking a dive down the side of the mountain slowed my pace here and had me very focused on foot placement for this whole stretch.  I didn't enjoy this section as much as I could've because of that as it was very mentally draining, but looking back the scenery was pretty awesome.  Okay, so I didn't enjoy as much as I could've because I also had to take unscheduled pit-stop #3.  Not feeling great, fearing injury or death from a fall, and having flashbacks to the stomach woes from Rainer to Ruston were feasting on my mental state. I was glad to get done with the downhill section and to tackle the technical but merely rolling section back to near the start area of the aid station.  About 500' out of the aid station, wham, fall #4.  This one really hurt.  I hit face first, knocked the air out of me, and for some reason rolled over onto my back.  This one must've looked the most spectacular as it drew the most concerned calls from other runners/onlookers?  Not really sure who.  Got up and made it to the aid station feeling pretty crappy.  I took a few minutes here, took a few minutes to regroup, picked up my second water bottle, drank some more Mt Dew, and ate some watermellon.  Looking back, this was the low point.  The second major climb ahead, feeling pretty beat up, facing the increasing afternoon heat and the reported exposed climbs ahead, I was doing all I could to push back the thoughts of DNFing here.

To Fawn Ridge.  Not even 1/4 mile out of the aid station and wham, Fall #5.  I didn't know it yet, but this marked the turning point.  I knew the increasing rate of falling was not sustainable and morale was pretty low but I kept thinking to myself it won't always get worse and pressed on, basically hiking the uphills and running any really mild uphills, flats, or downhills, even if it was only a few steps.  After a short flat section, the climbs began and I just focused on not stopping.  At this low point, some things started looking up.  First, the exposed sections were not nearly as bad as I'd feared and while hot, it was manageable.  Second, I was passing people, or at least sticking with them.  Oh, I got passed by a couple of runners, but I passed more times than I was passed and I seemed to be staying stronger than most around me.  My stomach was finally settled, which helped tremendously, so I just kept plugging away and before too long, popped out at Fawn Ridge.  I took to the watermelon, Mt Dew, and PB&J squares, staying away from most solid food to try to keep my stomach on my side.  A quick stop and pressing on.

To Sun Top.  Mood still picking up.  Plenty of uphills to hike through and all thoughts of a 8.5 hour finish long gone, but energy is still decent and if I can just make it to Sun Top, its all downhill from there (not true, but I didn't know that).  And I was passing more people.  On the uphill sections, I was basically just staying even, but on the downhill sections here I was rocking.  Or at least moreso than others.  I passed another runner whom I'd beaten at Mt Si but who'd beaten me at Rainier to Ruston, so that was an unexpected boost.  I was using the runners ahead to help pull me along as I reeled them in, and the ones I'd passed to spur me on so I wasn't passed by them again.  The last mile stretch was hot and steep but it too passed and I arrived at Sun Top to volunteers spraying us with cool water....ahhh.  Some more watermelon and Mt Dew, ice water, and now the long gravel road downhill. 

To Skookum Flats.  My best section.  By this time, I'd figured out that my downhill running ability is better than my uphill ability, and I'd trained on plenty of gravel roads, so I was pretty sure this section would hurt but would go well.  It did.  I passed 15+ runners on this section, and while my quads were literally screaming masses of jello by the bottom, I averaged sub-7 miles the entire way down, the only leg where I beat my 8.5 hour finish projections, even with a couple minutes of aid station dwell time.  It was not easy holding a running pace the whole way but I knew if I could just get to the bottom the downhills would be over and I'd only have one section left.  Passing people really helped.  At the aid station, I refilled for the final stretch and ate a final energy bar, feeling pretty hungry and tired by now.

To the finish.  The last section was advertised as the most technical of the entire race, scary considering roots and rocks had been grabbing my feet all day.  A comment one of the volunteers at the aid station made stuck with me though.....pick up your heels.  I'd been picking up my feet all day, but really hadn't though of it that way before and it really helped.  This section was very technical, gorgeous scenery, and rolling (should've known, but really wasn't counting on *any* more uphills).  It was also slow...I was out of gas.  The most memorable moment here was when I crested a rise to see 3 runners headed back my way saying they'd made a wrong turn.  The course was well marked the entire way, and they were running back up what looked like a nice trail, but I took them at their word and we headed up another "trail".  Well, it wasn't a trail but rather markers that in retrospect was hung as logging markers.  So here we are, 6 people not climbing over logs, desperately trying not to slip and fall down the side of the hill, following these stupid like-colored streamers while looking 100' down at the nice wide trail we should be going on.  About 5 minute into our cross-country expedition as we finally realize we screwed up and just need to get to the trail, we see another runner blissful unaware that we're idiots running along the correct trail below us.  Ugh.  Finally made it back to the trail and the order pretty much sorts itself out, and I even re-passed the guy who didn't make the routing error.  Finally popped out on the gravel road leading to the Buck Creek finish line, spent a minute figuring out if I was supposed to hit the trail on the other side of the road (part of 2 legs of the course already) when I finally spotted a couple of runners up the gravel road and headed to the finish.  Not much (anything) of a sprint but finished to cheers in 9:23:38.  Tired, hurting, but happy.  51st place overall, chicked 6 times, not sure of AG placing.  Afterwards, mingled a bit with the runners, feasted on the BBQ, then hit the road for home with a smoothie stop mid-way.  

So lessons learned.  Stomach issues are not stictly GU related....really need to sort this out.  Technical trail running takes practice and I need more.  Lift my heels.  I'm stronger at downhills but don't entirely suck at uphills.  Sunglasses were useless and stayed on my head for 99.9999% of the race.  Even something that hurts can be fun. 

Finally at the finish

A quick post-finish show with RD Scott McCoubrey in the background

Top 10 Men.  19-year old took 2nd....wow.

Top 10 Women.  The 6 on the left all soundly trounced me.

----- Edit -----

Official results posted.  50th place and by my count 19th in my AG (10 year increments), but the first 39-year-old male across the finish :).  More pics from the race and I finally look good in a few:

Nearing Corral Pass at mile 16.9 

Almost done climbing at Sun Top mile 37, with plenty of sweat and dirt to prove it

Coming into the finish