The weather was good at the start at 7am: low 50's and sunny. Even though
there were well-stocked aid stations every 3-4 miles, I decided to take some
of my own food and wear a 2 bottle belt so that I could drink whenever I
wanted. I also carried a small pace chart to check my split times.
Start to 3.5 mile Ball field aid station
36:12 HR 159 - 84th place:
The first 2.5 miles are on roads, and I hate to run on roads, so I went
fairly slow and warmed up, and about 100 people were in front of me. I
passed about 15 people going down a really steep trail section called "two
beers" hill just before the aid station. My split seemed good to me, but I
thought maybe too fast. I was in a pack of runners still, but because I had
the belt I didn't need to stop yet.
3.5m to 7m Buck run aid st.
38:41 (1:14:53) HR 167 - 70th place:
This leg is net uphill but it has good runable trails, and I passed 14
people here, still trying to find my pace, arriving alone at the split.
Nobody passed me in this section as far as I recall. I felt really good and
at this point I was asking my body - "can you hold this pace for 6 hours?"
Though my HR was high, I felt relaxed and was going by feel and not paying
much attention to my HRM or my splits. I concentrated on getting my bottles
filled quickly: I put the clip 2 powder in the bottle and had it ready to
fill before arriving at the aid station.
7m to 11.2m 7 Springs aid st.
46:39 (2:01:33) HR 156 - 70th place:
The 3rd and 4th legs form an 8.1 mile loop that is then repeated in legs 5
and 6. Here you get a mix of very runable straight trail, some twisty trail
sections, and some extremely steep hills that you are forced to walk at a
very slow hiking pace. During this leg I slowed my pace somewhat and 3
others caught me when I stopped to [censored]. I was still feeling good, but a
little worried about my pace being too high.
11.2m to 15.1m Buck run (1/2 way)
40:59 (2:42:32) HR 158 - 71st place:
On this leg I was trying to drop the 3 others who caught me on the last leg,
and pulled into the aid station ahead of them. Carrying the 2 bottle belt
helped alot because I could fill up then drink while running, while some of
the others would take much longer stops. One woman who had been having
stomach problems finally got over whatever it was and dropped our group on a
long uphill; she ran while we walked. It was starting to get hotter, and
ended up being in the low 80's at the finish.
15.1m to 19.3m 7 Springs again
46:00 (3:28:33) HR 157 - 70th place:
On this leg there was still a group of 4 of us shadowing each other, but
then me and this other guy Brett dropped the other 2 for good, and ran the
rest of the way together. This was really the first time I got an idea I was
on a good pace. Prior to the race I really had no clue what kind of time I
would run, having never run the course and having never run an official 50k.
A loose goal for me was to run under 6 hours.
19.3m to 23.2m Buck run last time
42:10 (4:10:43) HR 159 - 67th place:
I was still feeling pretty good, though my quads were starting to get a
little beat up from all those steep ups and downs. We passed a few people
and I was happy to finish the 2 loops and start heading home - 7.9 miles to
go!
23.2m to 27.3m Ball field
47:06 (4:57:50) HR 158 - 64th place:
On this leg the return route is longer and takes you up this VERY steep
nasty little hill. We passed a few more guys in here. At this point my quads
were hurting bad, and as I filled my bottle for the last time I knew I only
had 30-40 mins left in me. The heat wasn't helping at this point, and
though I was drinking a 20oz bottle every 40 mins, I was getting dehydrated.
(I took 4 succeed caps throughout the race).
27.3m to 31.1m Finish
41:13 (5:39:02) HR 158 - 63rd place of 124:
This was the suffering part - my quads were shot and alot of this final leg
is on roads which sucked. Luckily the guy I was running with was shot too
so we chose to walk certain sections but we still passed several people. I
don't know why the race results don't show us picking up places here; the
guys we passed didn't look like trekkers. I kept my running form the last
1.5 miles to the finish, but the other guy had more left and took off down
the final hill, beating me by 25 seconds or so.
Summary:
A 5:39 was a great time for me. My previous 50k time was a split time in a
50 mile race, and was 6:28, so I was 49 mins faster than that. My HR
profile showed a drop-off in HR during legs 3 and 4 (the first 8 mile loop)
, but my lap time for the 2nd loop was almost the same. Overall I think I
paced myself well, and passed people throughout the race. In retrospect I
maybe should have held back a little in leg 2 with my HR at 167 vs. my race
HR avg. of 159. The final 2 legs were very tough and were slower, but my
form held up pretty well. The pace chart I took with me had split times for
5:40 to 8 hours, so I expected to be somewhere in that range - but surprised
to be at the lower end of it.
- Tony