October
7, 2012
Nothing
seemed to be going right leading up to this race. I felt as though my training
was lacking, I caught a cold 2 days before the race and the weather took a turn
for the worse. I didn’t get enough sleep the night before the race and for some
reason I couldn’t finish my breakfast on race day. Earlier in the year I had
two disappointing ultra finishes and I was hoping for a little redemption here
and that idea looked in jeopardy before I even put on my shoes. (So that’s
the negative part of this post.)
The Blues Cruise 50k is
put on by The Pagoda
Pacers at Blue Marsh Lake near Reading, PA. Considering the
high for the day was to be 52° with rain, the Jeep was packed with
various combinations of clothing. The race advertised 7 well stocked aid
stations, but I came prepared with hand-helds and a hydration vest. At the
last minute the race directors also emailed that they would not provide gels at
the aid stations due to racers pickiness for specific gels in the past.
It made sense to me, but I think they still could have provided gels by
some generous sponsor. (That’s just my opinion & it didn’t really
matter to me, I typically carry my own gels) Running caps for those registered
& a cool jacket for finishers! Janice had an area map
and planned to make it to most of the aid stations so I was all set for
support. I planned to start carrying a bottle and then depending on conditions
I would switch to a hydration vest later.
The
race started down a short park road before hitting the trail. In the first
half mile I felt awful. My body temperature felt like 120° and
my lungs felt like cement. Maybe this little cold I had was worse than I
thought. I looked down at my watch and my current mile time just over 7 minutes
and I thought well I can fix that, just slow the heck down. That became my
mantra on the day, “slow the heck down”. My goal was to finish in under 6
hours and I was determined to run the smartest race I’ve ever run to achieve
that. Averaging faster than an 11:30 mile wasn’t necessary and I knew I’d blow
up if I tried to maintain that for 50k. With all that said, every time I
checked my watch, I was still going too fast. It felt great, but I knew I would
implode eventually. It’s very easy for me to get caught up in the excitement
of a race and run outside my ability and ruin my day. I kept telling
myself to just let it happen, ignore the other runners, stop forcing the pace,
think more about refueling and the next aid station and the things I needed to
do to keep going. Even in the early miles, I was forcing myself to power walk
the short steep hills, even if I could run them. If I felt like my walk would
be as fast as my run, I walked it. I ran only the hills that I could actually
run. I was certain to conserve energy for the finish. I would go back to real
running on the flats and down hills making up for the slow climbs.
Everything
about the aid stations was perfect. The aid stations were no more than 5 miles
apart, so there were 7 for a 50k which may be more than you’d expect, but it
pays off for that runner who may be experiencing a bad patch and needs
something quickly. I was carrying Gatorade and they had that. I like
Coca-cola for energy and they had it. They seemed to have everything a runner
could need (except gels). They also had incredible volunteers who would take
your bottle as they were asking what it was you needed and it was refilled and
back in your hand in seconds. Near the end of the race, my bottle had become an
extension of my left hand and this nice guy at an aid station tried to take it
from my hand and I guess I wasn’t paying attention. I heard someone say,
“you’re gonna havta’ let go” and then I heard (directed at me) “let go!” ~with
a laugh. I figured it out eventually and let go and my bottle was refilled and
back in my hand in no time. I survived the day on Gatorade,
PowerBar Gels (Berry Blast) and Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes tablets, all of which Janice
had a supply of in the Jeep. I really only used the aid stations for guzzling
Coca-Cola and Mountain Dew. With the temperatures being so cool and the aid
stations being so nicely spaced apart, I never did change to the hydration
vest. (That’s a big deal to me, that hydration vest is like a security blanket
on longer runs.)
The course
was like that old wooden roller coaster we’ve all ridden. It had plenty of
rolling small hills, with some nasty steep ones thrown in and one big
climb that used to be a ski slope. This year the course was run in the
clockwise direction which meant we climbed the ski slope from the back and
descended the steep face. The treacherous downhill may have been tougher
than the climb. My watch recorded 6700’ of elevation gain(unofficial). The
trail is rustic and rocky in places and smooth dirt in others, or it was
deteriorating old abandoned roads. Running through forest, farm land or along
the lake bank itself made for quite an enjoyable 50k loop around the lake.
What a
beautiful place! Blue Marsh Lake was created in 1979 by the Army Corps of
Engineers when they dammed the Tulpehocken Creek to create the reservoir. With
6100 acres surrounding the 1150 acre lake, it's a perfect place
to host a 50k trail race in a single loop. Of course through eminent
domain, property was taken so now remains of homesteads and abandoned roads are
evident throughout the park. There was a fox hunt the same day as the race so
in the first 10 miles of the course we heard baying hounds on the chase. I
saw a few dogs on the trail, but other runners said they saw the
actual pack of fox hounds. At one aid station there were parked Amish
Buggies and Amish girls in their traditional clothing chasing others, out
enjoying the nice weather.
As usual,
Janice appeared everywhere, even some places where I didn't even see her.
We crossed over some old dirt road early in the race and there was the Jeep
with Janice waving to me as I passed. Crews weren't allowed at the first 2 aid
stations, but I think she was at each, just not with the Jeep and she didn't go
where she was told not to (now I'll probablty be DQ'd). Other runners
and supporters came to associate Janice in the yellow Jeep with my position
on the course. Two men knew there wives were keeping pace near me so if
the yellow Jeep was near so were their wives. One guy said, "your
maintaining a good pace, your driver's having trouble keeping up". I knew
better.
When I
reached the aid station after the ski slope, I saw Janice and I told her that
the climb “wasn’t nothin’” which means a lot coming from me, I’m the worst hill
runner I know. Maybe was it that my strategy of conserving energy was working.
I had given her a paper with splits on it and she told me I was 10 minutes
ahead of my goal and I now had about 10 miles to go. By my estimations, my
pacing was working and with a 10 minute cushion, I even had time if
something went wrong. Then I hit mile 26.2. I like to check my watch at the
marathon point and when I did it I was faced with mountain bikers coming
down an extremely steep hill while I climbed it. Two got by me safely and the
third lost control and bailed hard. I saw bike parts skidding by me and when I
took a weird step to avoid the carnage, my left thigh cramped. Oddly having some dude body surfing downhill
on his chest helped me to ignore my pain. I was able to walk
through it quickly and considering the steepness, I was already
walking. I lost minimal time because of the cramp. Was that it? Was that
all that was going to go wrong? I hit the aid station at mile 27ish (the one I
forgot that Janice had to remind me of), refilled my bottle one last time,
climbed some short steep gnarly climbs in those last miles and got to the
finish line in 5:50:31. I would have been happy with a 5:59:59 so I was elated
to know I beat 6 hours by 10 minutes! I didn’t do stupid stuff and get myself
into trouble. I raced within myself and just let it happen instead of forcing
it or chasing it and it all worked out in the end.
Another fun
day running while flying the Team Refuel colors. By the end of the day, I was answering
to "hey Chocolate Milk Guy”. Countless runners asked me about refueling
with low fat chocolate milk or they had stories to tell of how that’s their
refuel drink of choice now. A woman asked me about my Team Refuel jacket and
told me she was a finalist for this month to win sponsorship with Team Refuel.
I wished her luck and encouraged her to get all of her family, friends and
co-workers to vote for her every day. One runner had to point out his quart
cartoon he was drinking from and told me it’s been his refuel drink for many
years. Others stopped by the Jeep while I was changing and refueling with Rockin’ Refuel to talk
refueling. I’ve been getting the choclate milk word out, one mile at a
time.
Other stuff
I used on race day:
Asics Running Shorts -
so old they're no longer sold
Garmin Forerunner 205 Watch -
trusty & simple - also no longer sold
Headsweats Running Cap -
got it from the nice people at Gu
Energy Labs
Injinji Socks - love 'em! Janice got 'em for me at the
Philly Rock 'N' Roll Half Expo
Nathan Performance Quick Draw Plus Handheld Bottle -
got it from the nice people at Nathan
Nike Pro Combat Compression Shorts - support for quads
& exhausted stabilizer muscles
Salomon
XR Mission Trail Shoes - simple shoe with great fit
Zensah
Calf Sleeves - keep those calf muscles firing properly to the finish
line
Zensah, Injinji & Salomom - Great Combination
