Run when you can, walk when you have to

Race day came early. In my case, it came at 5:30 a.m. After eating and having some coffee, I packed the jeep and headed out. No traffic and the drive was peaceful listening to the radio and thinking about the race and my goals. Frankly, I wanted to finish, then get in a good workout and then run in 6 hours. Arriving at the registration tables, I saw a long line except for one table. Of course the long lines were for the 9K, 21K and the 30K. The empty table was for you................you guessed it. The 50K. Number in hand, I walked back to the jeep, drank some more water and rested.

At the start, it was pretty packed at the trailhead. Thinking that I should start slow, I waited 10-15 rows back. The race starts and the pack starts walking. And walking, and walking. Almost 3 miles up the singletrack. This section is 7 miles round trip and is called the Orange Loop. At first, I am not happy. Then I decided that since I didn't want to start out too fast, it could be a blessing. Finally getting to a fire road, I can run. I am feeling fine and it is going well. With some walking at the really steep sections. I reach the top of the peak and turn around and the fun begins. Flying down the trails, I probably ran the couse in half the time it took me to come up. Now on the two loops of the Pink Trail. This goes pretty well and I am making good time. Down we go to a large path that connects to the other half of Pink Loop. This is hard. Here I have to walk for longer stretches than I want to, but its just too steep in sections for running and walking ends up being faster. Finally, its a downhill section and I am coasting. Reaching the aid station, I gulp some fluids, wolf down some potato chips and pretzels and start back up the Pink trail again. This trip is a little harder. On the section part of the loop, I am really feeling pain in my quads, calfs, ankles, eyebrows, pretty much the whole body except my nose. I get to the aid station and check in, then its another trip on the Orange loop.

Here is where I reached the point in the race where I start thinking that this really wasn't a good idea. I am going so slow that I consider for a second that I should finish this loop and call it a day. Every race and every racer reaches this point in the race where they think about bailing. For me, I came up with the mantra, run when you can, walk when you have to. For the second loop, I was walking large parts of the Orange loop. Still, after pausing at the top to drink a lot of water from my bottle, I savored the view for a second and noted that there were people behind me. coming down, there was a really nasty section of loose rocks that had to be walked over and was so narrow, my ankles were being rubbed raw. Still I kept going.

Reaching the aid section, I gulped down some Coke and filled up my bottle with Cytomax and water. Loaded up on pretzels and chips and stumbled down the trail. Going up I was passed by 4 men and 2 women and I felt no shame. I was doing the best I could and wasn't quitting. Finally reaching the peak, I gulped down the rest of the bottle and went downhill. Going down, I passed by a couple of men that I knew were in my age group. But I knew I was going to finish my longest run ever. Reaching the bottom, I felt fine and even picked up the pace a bit. Collected my drink coaster for finishing my first Ultramarathon and wandered over to the cooler where I downed a couple of cokes in a few seconds. Grabbed a couple of sodas for the road and a handful of red vines, I made my way to my jeep.

The drive home was an adventure all by itself. Wanting to avoid nodding off, I drank the sodas and ate the red vines in timed intervals to keep the sugar boost coming. Normally, the split off the bridge to 24 is no problem, but in this case, I was feeling so loopy, I was one lane too far away and had to take 80, get off at Powell and turn around. Oh well, better than getting into an accident. Everything after that went smoothly. Talked to the radio to keep awake and pulled into the driveway, safe if not necessarily sound. Took a shower and the basically passed out until 8 this morning. Had some breakfast and wrote this. Walking like a tin man.

Results. 7:05, good for 8th out of the 8 men in my age group. Beat a number of 40 year olds and 30 year olds which surprised me. I am beginning to think that the 50 year old age group may be the most competitive because the times are so close. Still, feeling glad for the experience. Good training for Boston.