Fools 50k - If it don't hurt, you're doing it wrong
Fools 50k
Post-race Swag (may end up on the back of the Subaru)
This is the start of my attempt at three 50k trail races this year and one 50-miler. I completed my first 50k in July of last year at the Buckeye Trail 50k (4th in AG) and then finished my trail running season with the locally well-known Bills Bad Ass 50k and finished 3rd overall. I am digging the trail running quite a bit. Not sure why I do well in this, perhaps better than in mountain bike racing, but I love to just throw some trail shoes on and hit the trail. It's just so simple and peaceful. Me and nature and me against the trail.
Western Reserve Racing puts on a whole slew of trail races and runs throughout each year and I have never been disappointed in any of their events. Not only is their race support phenomenal and their volunteers incredibly, hands-down awesome, but a large portion of the money goes to the Cuyahoga National Parks which is near and dear to both me and my BFF (Angie) since we literally live in the good'ole CVNP.
I thought the Fools 50k would be a good early test to see how I am doing with my trail running training and having this three weeks after PRing the True Grit Epic season NUE opener would be a good test at my ability to recover from a MTB hundie. As luck would have it in Ohio, it rained a solid 2-3 days before race day only to give way to at least one solid day of dry weather the day right before race day. The day of the race ... PERFECT! The starting temp was chilly for me @ sub-30* but the temps climbed steadily throughout the morning and early afternoon into the mid-50s. While this is certainly a challenging temperature range regarding how to dress and layer, I managed the layering well and never felt overly uncomfortable either at the beginning or towards the end.
Side note (one of several): I LOVE Under Armour gear!! The day before the race I did some quick searching to find some sort of 3/4 leg gear that would take the bite of the cold morning temps off the legs yet not be so uncomfortable like wearing full tights which would have gotten to be pure misery some midway through the race and thru the end. I already own several pieces of Under Armour Heatgear ; two full-sleeved shirts, one thicker than the other for differing cooler temps and a pair of their tin compression shorts. Seriously the Under Armour gear is just so flipping comfortable. This new pair of 3/4 length compression shorts is like wearing pajamas. I am totally hooked on their gear!! #socomfy #likepjs
The Race
Got to the race nice and early which is super easy for me since I live 5-miles from the start. Boo-yaa!! Plenty of parking when I got there and had plenty of time to hit the lavatory a couple times cuz you know ... its that or hit the outhouses (or trees) after the running starts to take its natural effect on the ole'man GI system. Running is just a whole different beast when it comes to "cleaning out the system" beforehand. Cycling you can get away with a bit more, but not with running. Lots of shaking going on down there, so yup ... lots of trips!
Got my bin of goodys all squared away (Infint Nutrition Custom Mixes with four 12oz bottles, GUs, homemade Russet Potato waffles sans the bacon, one coke, and various other odds and ends ... just in case) at the drop-bag zone and was off to warm back up in the car for a few minutes before my quicky 8-minute leg warm-up. Got moving about 15-minutes before race start and ran the start of the course at a super easy-peasy pace to warm-up the lil'sausages to see how the body felt and to get the HR to realize what sorta fun it was going to be in for, for the next 5+ hours. If I was actually a fast runner then the race would be shorter for me, but alas ... I'm old and slow ... so there ya go. The warm-up went well, body felt good and I got back to the start line a few minutes before they started the race. On a side note, my legs and body felt rather sore and not all that great 2-3 days before the race. Not sure why ... could be mostly mental (I mean come on ... racing anything ultra and ya GOTS to be friggin mental!!). I used some Elevated Legs on Wednesday after my last hard, shortened, interval track run before the race and took a full rest day Thursday where I just stretched and foam rolled, then did an easy jog on the Stupid-mill Friday and an easy spin on the bike along with more stretching and foam rolling. Meh ... who knows why the body feels good some days and not good other days. Maybe it wasn't happy with the reduced volume and intensity for the taper week. Maybe I was not peeking properly ... or again ... maybe it was all mental.
Quick course summary
Race Location: Camp Manatoc a Boy Scout Camp closed most of the year 5-miles from my home
Lap Mileage: 7.75 miles (give or take cuz we think it was closer to 8) but maybe not
Elevation per lap: over 800ft (oh so ouchy ... bunch of classic Ohio STEEP, punchy climbs)
Trail/Road: 90% trails (sloppy muddy trails) and some connector gravel and paved roads
Trail Conditions: Deteriorated quickly into a wet sloppy mud-fest with 12-inch+ peanut butter
Customized Bibs - So Cool! SO0naturally I went with the whole Pup Theme.
GO! The race started promptly at 8am and we were off. I started in the very front figuring I would get passed by all the younger engines and guys that like to throw down and go out hot (nope ... not me). One guy shot out like a cannon, there's always at least one that does this, and I managed to slide into the top 10 positions from the very beginning. I never expected to stay up with the front group, this coming from my mountain biking experience and history. Nonetheless, I stuck with the lead group for most of the way around the first half of the first loop. I then got it into my head that perhaps I can work to stay with the lead group for at least the first full loop and then I will let them run off into the sunset. Well, that seemed to work out fairly well for me. The body was getting into a good tempo, the trails were nice and solid for the most part due to the below-freezing temps at the start (and overnight), so the pace was solid. I did a quick head count of the front group since I was keeping touch but barely and I guesstimated that I was sitting 7th-ish place. Figured I would let 1-2 more by me when I start to explode and I would still be top ten. Yes, this is how my mind tends to work during any race. I know my limits, I run or ride within my limits and have gotten fairly efficient at pacing myself. I know when I am going too hard and when I can push a bit harder, it comes from years of going long and learning what my body can and cannot handle. Its also why some of my lap-based races tend to have some scary close lap times, like within minutes of each other. Maybe I can push harder, but hey ... in the end, I am having fun and for me, that is what this is all about. Having fun!!
We all made it back to the start at the end of the first lap which was fairly uneventful sans two spot where a couple guys got a bit off track, but the group helped each other out, ensured the course was well marked for everyone else and motored on. I was pleasantly surprised to see a time of 1:12 + change for the first lap time. When the training run was held on the course the weekend after I raced the True Grip Epic I had a lap time of 1:20-ish, so I was using that as a basis to figure out my rough lap times. I figured I would be between 1:15 hours and 1:30 hours for my lap times. I was mostly right on that. More on that later. Ugh.
Heading into the second lap, I never stopped to collect $200 and just kept it rolling. I know my body would start to feel the aches and pains that come with trail running and especially while trying to keep pace with the lead group. After the first 1-2 miles into the second lap I did another quick head count ... dropped two more ... cool. I was somewhere around 4th-5th place so I had room to give up a place or two when ... not if ... but when the body begins to explode. Wait for it ... cuz it'll happen. I am very VERY new to trail running and it takes years to get the body tuned for this type of abuse. Don't get me wrong, mountain biking it silly stupid hard, but its a different type of stupid hard. Trail runners legs take a friggin pounding and the hardest part is the downhill stuff. While MTBers can "coast" downhill (and YES I a fully aware that descending fast on a mountain bike is NOT easy) I firmly believe that it is just harder specifically on the legs for trail runners than on MTBers (hope I don't get crap for saying that). I don't know many MTBers that also take a shot at ultra trail running either.
The two guys that I had passed were still well within striking distance of me so I knew that they would likely catch me at some point. All I could hear, other than the heavy metal tunes (I like to call it my angry music ... gets the adrenaline all cranked up ... not like the caffeine doesn't do that already .... LOL) I had cranking away from my iPod, were the footsteps of the guys catching and passing me. Heading to the halfway point of the second lap I could see both guys closing in on me. The one guy that was right on my tail looked young. We got to chat for a few minutes and it turns out he is 25. TWENTY-FIVE?!?! #craptastic Yup, he sorta just kept motoring and I was back to roughly 5th or 6th place. That's fine ... the body is hurting and I have two more laps to cover. The first goal for me is to always just finish what I started, regardless of how pretty or ugly it is. Side note, that guy came in first place, so I don't feel so bad but was happy that I could hang with him for a good portion of the race. I actually came to the end of the second lap just barely behind him, maybe no more than a couple minutes ... chalk one of up for the ole'dudes. #winning #wheresmywalker #maybenotwinning
Coming up to the final lil'steep climb to the start/finish I noticed that I was closing in on the now 4th ... or maybe 3rd ... oh who the frak knows. Ugh. What I really took notice of was that while he was slowly running up the little, rather miserable and humiliating climb, he was stripping off his layers. SMART!! I followed suit which would save time instead of waiting until I got to my bin'oh-goodies. Glanced at the clock and realized I had yet another solid time and was only 3-minutes slower than my first lap @ 1:15- + change. Sweet!! But dang my body is starting to HURT!! By the time I got to my bin, I had my top layer off and my gloves off. I threw my stripped off gear (top layer, gloves, and hat), grabbed a pre-loaded second bottle of Infinit (I had only drunk one 12-oz bottle by this time), a 1/4-piece of the russet potato waffle (shoved that bad boy right into the ole'piehole), closed the bin lid and headed out.
Heading out onto the third lap I figured I was actually sitting top five, somewhere in that range, so I was feeling really good around that mentally, but physically ... bad things were starting to happen. Trail running takes its toll and the longest run this year for me so far was the Winter Buckeye 30k trail race that I took the overall win at, but that race only lasted 2.5-ish hours, so this was gonna hurt ... BIG TIME!! I was running at a 30k pace for the first half of this 50k but ... had the entire second half to go. Oooof. I mean, think about it, after the third lap, I will be only two miles shy of a trail marathon. Oy vey. SCOTTY ... WE NEED MORE POWER!! Well ... sure enough ... as I was rolling through the third lap ye'ole hip flexors began to tell me what they thought about 50k trail races. Not.Happy.At.All. The pain I started to experience made me wonder if I was going to finish at all. What I had begun to realize is that because the trail conditions deteriorated quickly and had become peanut butter that my lower-body was working harder to stabilize my upper-body to just stay upright (happy to say that I never hit the deck during the race ... there's a first!). Seriously ... to say that the trails turned into peanut butter is the understatement of the year. his was by far the muddiest trail race I have ever done and while I have not done many, I heard the exact same statement from seasoned runners at the end of the race. The Race Director also said that this was the toughest Fools 50k. Yes, it was an Epic Slip and Slide!! #somuddy
I did mention it was muddy, right? Mud in places that mud should not be. #naturemudbath #notsosoothing
Just as I was having those thoughts, I passed one of the lead guys only later to find out that he dropped out due to pain. Yes, even the mighty fall and there is no shame at all to know your body and call it quits to race another day. I'm sorta stupid that way as well ... stupid stubborn. The pain in my hip flexors was manageable and with many races, when it gets later into the events it, at times, can come down to simple pain management. If you can tolerate the pain, find ways to rid yourself of the pain by walking or perhaps riding in an easier gear, then that's what you do to make it to the finish line. Having passed this guy, I was more mentally motivated knowing that I was possibly in fourth place. #gigiddy #manihurt #wheresmywalker Kept things rolling and by the time I got around to the end of the third loop I was just plain hurting and things had turned into more of a walk/run/hike-with-a-purpose sorta deal. Before I got to the end of the third lap, I passed another lead runner who stopped to pick something up off the trail. I figured he would pass me back soon enough as he was definitely a very strong runner but I never saw him again until after the finish. Just goes to show that you never know whose body will break down, how much pain and discomfort everyone else is in, and when you think you cannot push harder than the guy in front of you, sometimes all you really need to do is making forward progress ... cuz you just never know.
Got to the end of the third lap with a rough time of 1:25 (yup, definitely slowing up) but not too terrible ... yet and while I felt the pain in the hip flexors whenever I ran, I was going to give my best shot at finishing the race. I really hate to give up, most competitors do. This is where it was all about managing the pain and discomfort. I took a quick minute to fill up a bottle with some rather caffinated Infint Nutrition custom mix I like to call Apple Crack Cinnimon. It is a highly caffinated mix with an Apple Cinnimon flavor. #sotasty I also grabbed another 1/4-piece of russet potato waffle, shoved that into the pie-hole, and grabbed a GU as well. If you are keeping track, at this point I was on the fourth lap and had drunk two 12-oz bottles and eaten half of a russet potato waffle and one GU. Prolly not enough, but my energy level was just fine.
Headed out on the fourth and final lap and at this point, I was in third place overall. That's just nuts man. Seriously I never expected to be doing that well and based on how my body felt ... I wasn't doing all that well to be perfectly honest. I spent most of the lap between walking, running (rather slowly), walking more ... rinse repeat. Oh, and a WHOLE lot of time looking behind me waiting for the wolves to eat me alive cuz man the last loop was HORRIBLY slow. All I could think about was getting to the half-way point and knowing that from there I would have mostly flat trails with only a few climbs left. All the while I kept looking behind me. #thewolvesarecoming
Well, almost like clockwork, and just like it happened at Bills Bad Ass 50k last fall, a guy came up to me and passed me. I did chat with him a few minutes. Turns out he is 31-years old and has been doing trail running for longer than I have. Nice guy, like most if not all trail runners are, and I just saw him and third place overall disappear up the trail. That's ok because behind me, other than 25kers ... there was just nobody. Felt good about that and did not hesitate to save the body and walk quite a bit of the trail. Descending was brutally painful on the hips so I took those slow, walked the climbs and ran as much of the flats that I could muster. In the end I lost 4+ minutes to the third place runner, so yes ... he smoked me within the final two miles.
Heading up the final climb I passed, what I suspect to be, an elderly lady, trucking along and having a good'ole time. Oh, and earlier there was a kid, not more than 6-years old, trucking along with his father. THAT is why I do this ... I absolutely LOVE to see all walks of life doing these events. It is SO motivating to see both the young and older doing this stuff. #traillove #iamoldaswell #thestruggleisreal
The BEST part of the race came at the end when as I climbed the last bit of miserable, painful, muddy, crappy, steep climb I could see my one and only BFF Angie at the top waiting for me ... Das'Boot and all. She is such a trooper, my one and only love and soul mate. She means the world to me and seeing her at the end just about put me into tears. Never in my life did I think I would have such a strong, independent, loving, caring, woman by my side through thick and thin. Yup, true love for sure with this one!! #mushyscott
In the end, it was a muddy, MUDDY, day but I prevailed, my body made it happen, God made it ALL happen, and the love of my life supported me the entire way! No matter how my day went ... with God and my wife by my side ... I can do ANYTHING!! My nutrition was fairly on point but perhaps a bit on the low side as is typical for me. Infinit Nutrition kept me going for sure and Christopher Bean Coffee got me mentally focused when I woke up for the task at hand. Love love love our sponsors!!
Ended up 4th overall and 1st place in AG 40-49. Total mileage tracked was 31.7-ish with 3600' of climbing. Boo-yaa!! Where's the couch?? Dang I hurt!!
Thanks to the Rescue Racing teammates for the encouragement to go beat the crud out of my body. Thanks to the awesome sponsors that support the team and our incredibly awesome cause!! For the Paws and Bones of #charlessmithgallhumanesociety
This first place award is one of the best I have ever received. Its all on a piece of slate! Sweet!!
My BFF was there to take a post-race pic. While she was super proud, I was just happy to be standing.
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