Another Ultra Marathon? Sure ... why not! #bt50k

Back at it again. One might start to think that I enjoy Trail Running more than Mountain Biking. Truth be told I enjoy them in equal amounts because they each bring their own unique challenges and frankly any activity that puts me outside, enjoying nature, getting dirty, getting gnarly, and cranks up the HR ... heck yay baby! Bring it!!


If you read my last race report (if ya didn't no worries ... I still love ya), then you know this is my fifth Ultra Marathon in one year's time. The Buckeye Trail 50k is also the first Ultra Marathon I had ever run, so of course, there was motivation to do well, go faster, go harder, and hey ... maybe do better. The first goal for me is ALWAYS to finish safely and come home to my family. I can't say that often enough because it is ABSOLUTELY TRUE! Of course, who doesn't like PRing the crap out of any event they race and just maybe bringing home a bit'O hardware!

Heading into the Taper weeks ... man I hate taper weeks because it means I have reduced volume and reduced intensity in order to ensure the body is fully recovered and ready to fire on all cylinders. Maybe I enjoy the training process more than racing, who knows, but one thing is for sure I seriously LOVE LOVE LOVE to ride and run ALL the time. It quiet's my mind, quickens my heart, and keeps me in the sort of shape (roundish) that I like to be. Plus I get to eat anything I want (even though I don't partake most of the time) and it un-grumpifies me where I can tolerate human interactions.

So taper week ... I felt good all week. No aches, pains, squeaky knees, whiney IT Bands, or fatigued feelings at all. Not bad considering it is two weeks after the Mohican Trail 50-Mile race so I was feeling really good about all that. Thursday was a BIG struggle as I try to take one full day of recovery where the only thing I do is stretch, foam roll, and take advantage of owning a pair of Compression Boots (Air Relax ... get them and you will NOT regret it). It's a struggle because while I understand that full recovery is way important, i.e. not doing one bit of exercise and sitting on my arse, and necessary ... I hate not being active. So I spend the day trying to stay focused on work, take care of odds and ends around the house, wash the bikes or anything else that can take my mind off of not working out in some capacity.

The threat of storms all week was a bit stressful and while we did not get all the rain that was forecast, we certainly got enough to make portions of the Buckeye Trail muddy, oh so muddy. Namely the Bog aka Pit of Despair. This is always a wet area but after rain, it becomes quite difficult to pass at speed so I prefer to just take it easy and not tear up my IT Bands (both legs suffer from IT Band pain now and then ... getting old sucks flying donkeys). The rains did hit on Thursday so there were a few folks asking how muddy the trail had gotten. In my mind .... it just doesn't matter. You'll find out when you get there and I certainly am not going to bow out of a race because of muddy conditions. Anyone recall Mohican MTB Race of 2010? Just wow!

For race day the temperatures were PERFECT! Sunny with a start temp of 60* and only hitting a high 70*s for the day. Awesome! While I do like it hot and humid (I am told that I am one of the few that enjoy it) I certainly appreciate that the body works much better when the engine is not overheating, spewing steam out of every orifice like an unmaintained jalopy, and able to keep the HR from exploding out of one's chest like from the movie Alien circa 1979 (man has it been that long ago??).

Race Description - Buckeye Trail 50k

• Race start was at 7am from Oak Grove Park in Brecksville, OH
• Number of Registered for the race was 175 and it sold out
• Distance is 50k so 31-ish miles
• The course is an out and back on the Buckeye Trail w/ few road crossings and 8-ish river crossings
• Aid stations on the course were 3-6 miles apart with additional water oasis
• The weather was sunny, 60* at the start with a high of mid to high 70s #soperfect
• The Fuel - Infinit Nutrition all the way!! #gofarcranberry #jetfuelandspeedapplecinnimon

Vince, Race Director, is awesome!!

The start was the usual scampering for a quick warm-up run and then heading to the back of the potty line to dump the warp core (star trek reference) instead of having to blow the warp core only a few miles into the race. That just gets messy and nobody wants that, of course, it doesn't stop the horses from dumping all over the trails but hey ... a different situation I suppose and while I certainly am not a fan of seeing pony potty all over the place ... at least we can run and share trails and all enjoy nature. So ... there's that I suppose.

Can you spot the goofball?

Cycling tan ... DOH!

 The race got started only a few minutes after 7am due to the potty line and we were off rather quickly. I made sure to put myself in the front group simply to try not get bottlenecked when we hit the trails. There is a paved All Porpoise trail we run down and then a quick left switchback gets us on the dirt and where the race really started to turn the heart rate up. I kept myself in the top 15 or so and was happy with how well the start went. Last year I was back a bit further due to some IT Band pain cropping up during the week leading into the race, so this year with no IT Band pain I was happy to just keep the cadence at 180+ and motor right along.


Race Highlights

• The first aid station is at Snowville Road, roughly 6.5 miles into the race. Just prior to reaching Snowville you are met with the well-known section aptly named The Bog (aka Pit of Despair) and it did not disappoint. I made it thru fairly well but this stuff was ankle deep mud and I got a solid dose. It leads to one of several river crossings, there are roughly 8 total river crossings, and while I made it through the river just fine and onto the bridge ... exiting the bridge was not so pro. Left foot slipped out from underneath me in the mud and I went down. Not too terrible as far as it being a hard hit or full-fledged Superman, but definitely had the good'ole mud-badge-of-honor all up and down my left leg. The hand bottle I was sporting was rather coated. Good News? I was less than a 1/2 mile from picking up a new bottle from Angie. Bad News? Angie had to take a rather unsightly muddy bottle as I flew past her. Of course, she had it all cleaned by the time I saw her at the next aid station. Like I said ... Angie is a Rockstar!! Oh, and I made it to this point a couple minutes under last year's time. Given the muddier conditions, I consider that a win!

• The next aid station is at Boston Mills and about another 5-miles into the race. Nothing too eventful happened during this section other than a couple runners passing me. Ugh. I am actually ok with getting passed. Seriously. I don't let it eat at me or let it push me into the red zone. No way. I know my time, what I am trying to accomplish, and I visualize every race, no matter the discipline, as me vs. the course. This section has some very steep climbs, some gnarly descents, and some steps that are always challenging no matter the pace. I made it to Boston Mills w/o incident and as for those guys that passed me? I managed to reel them in a bit so was happy about that. A SUPER quick bottle hand-off and I was off to the turn-around point. Of course, not before hearing off in the distance someone yells out ... "Man ... all that work and she doesn't even get a hug". #feelingguilty #sheunderstandsthough #cantstopwontstop #ilovemywifetilltheendoftime

One of my favorite sections w/ all the roots.

• Next stop ... the turn around point at Pine Lane and 15.5 miles into the race. I had yet to turn on my music, not sure exactly why. Perhaps I was enjoying the peacefulness of the trail, chatting with other runners now and then, keeping things simple, steady, and keeping the hammer down. I knew once I started into the second half of the race the body would likely begin to break down (it actually didn't this time) and music would help me stay focused and motivated. As I neared the turnaround point I began to real in a runner, then another, and then a third. I felt great and just kept my pace a'going. Figuring they would pass me at some point I didn't bother checking behind me but instead ran my own pace looking for the ever so elusive turnaround. The plan was that Angie would go get some food after she saw me at Boston Mills (the previous aid station I saw her at) and then I would see her again at Boston Mills on my way to the finish. She surprised me and was at Pine Lane when I got there. It was awesome!! So awesome that I gave her a quick smooch, after downing an Apple Cinnamon Numa Gel (love those gels), and I was off. The stop was likely less than 10-seconds. I got a good look at how far off the runners were that I had passed and was feeling good that I created a gap and they would likely stop to refuel. At least I was hoping they would stop, go to the bathroom, get a massage, stretch for a while ... LOL! I also got a good glimpse of the next few runners that were ahead of me. They left only a few seconds beforehand but were off in a flash and I was like ... ain't gonna happen and don't shoot your wad trying to catch 'em. It may just happen naturally and on your terms.

• At this point, it was totally game on! I flipped on the tunes and just started to crank out miles. My plan heading into the race was to pace the first half and then make an attempt at going harder, or at least as hard as I could without imploding, on the second half. On my way back one of the runners heading towards the turnaround point told me that I was about in 12th place. Cool! I was 14th overall last year and while 12th isn't as big of a leap that I was hoping for, it was still an improvement nonetheless. I managed to get within sight of the 4-5 runners that had left the turnaround point just ahead of me so I wanted to make a VERY quick stop at the next aid station so as to not lose the time I had made on them. Angie was there, of course, handed me the bottle, reminded me that I needed to switch the hand bottle carrier to the new bottle (man I need to buy another one), and I was off in the flashiest of flashes. Oh, and when I entered the Aid Station I got to see Bob Liggett and Jen Mangino as well! Bonus!! Both are avid runners and volunteers at the local races and are just awesome people!! Love all the runners and cyclists in the Commandos Running Group!!

Commando teammate Bob Liggett at Boston Mills aid station.

• Off I went, trying to catch the group of runners that were my next carrot and hopefully, victims! Surprisingly, I caught them. There were 4 of them that I was able to pass and eventually create a gap. Sweet! I did not let up but made a harder push to try and stay ahead of them. You just never know if the body is going to tank, crash, break down, or completely enter failure mode.  I did not want to take any chances that they would catch me so I just kept pushing my pace and I saw the ole'ticker creeping into Z4. Well ... this late into the race that is not normal for me, however, I felt fine so I just kept trucking and did not think anything of it. I did keep looking back, quite often, actually too often and well one thing led to another aaannndd ... WHAM!! I was down. Hard crash, tripped on a root hidden in the mud. Wacked the right knee on a root HARD and took a real good shot to a finger on my right hand by bashing it straight into a root where I bent the nail back. I have black and blue toenails, but this is gonna make a mark on my finger for sure. Ouch. Instead of sitting there licking my wounds I always find the best way to recover is just keep moving. Get up, maybe brush yourself off, and just friggin GO! It takes a bit to get going and get the ole'bones a moving into a good rhythm again, but ya just do it. Within a mile I was feeling better and moving at the same pace I had been before I bit it. Soon I made it to the Snowville aid station and I knew there were only 5-ish miles left. Got my last bottle hand up from my BFF and just kept hauling arse!

• I was back to the Pit of Despair taking my time trudging through the mud infested trails, picking my way thru mud covered roots, ankle deep swamps, and I did my best to make headway but not risk slipping out and going down. I knew there were a couple of solid, steep, climbs in this section before I made my way back to the bridle trails. It felt like it was taking forever to get to the climbs and after I finished one climb I would hit another and another. Even though my body felt good I had eaten very little, two gels, and survived on four bottles of Infinit Nutrition (awesome fuel!!). I likely was running low on fuel and the bottle that I had gotten from Angie was not holding the fluid very well. By the time I was a couple miles from the last aid station the water was gone and my mouth was feeling like the Sahara Desert. I was about a mile from the next Oasis so I just focused on getting to the water while picking my way thru each climb and the final short road section to get to the much-needed water. As I approached the Oasis I scanned the pile of gallon jugs of thirst quenching sustenance for the one that was open and still had water. Found it! I laid eyes on my water-jug victim, had the cap off of my bottle before I reached the jug, stopped, refilled, and headed out in less than a few seconds.

• This was it, the last few miles of trail, then bridle trails, and finally the home stretch! Passed some horses on the way which I kindly slowed down for several times, hit the paved All Porpoise trail and headed home. Looked at my cadence and son of a  gun I was holding a 175+ cadence. For me, to hold any sort of descent cadence this late in a race was pretty cool to see. I have worked hard at maintaining a higher cadence and on trails that is a difficult goal to achieve but I have seen good results because of that hard work. As I approached the finish line I continued to look behind me but there was no sign of anyone. Good times! Happy days! Even better, my wife was there waiting for me taking pictures. She ALWAYS brings a smile to my face. Always! 

Crossed the finish line in 5:08:08. PRd the course landing me in 6th place overall (14th overall last year) and snagged a 1st place finish in the 40-49 age group (4th in AG last year). #soawesome #sostoked

Holding my 1/2 of a Tom & Cheese Sandwich - one of the food sponsors for the race + my race swag.

Thanks of course to the most awesome sponors of Rescue Racing!

Chamois Butt'r for such a great product, my first time using this one, and keeping my lil'piggies all lubed up resulting in NO blisters!! #winning

Infint Nutrition for making the tastiest, most effective custom sports nutrition ever that keeps more fueled and charging hard towards the finish line!

Of course, if it wasn't for my favorite morning brew from Christopher Bean Coffee, that I look forward to EVERY morning, to get my energy level cranked up past level ten on the energy meter, then I'd be hitting the starting like looking like a zombie. So many flavors to choose from and all roasted to order!!

Lastly, Thank you Angie! My one and only true love that supports me through thick and thin. I'd be a shell of a person without you.