Naked Bavarian 40 Miler - A Conflicted "Race" Report

March 6, 2016 Leesport, PA

The Naked Bavarian in its second year bills itself as "A back to the basics low fee trail run". With a registration fee of $30/$35, I think you'll be hard pressed to find another ultra with such a low rate per mile. I ran the 40 mile race, but 20 mile and Trail Marathon options are available as well. The event is put on by Überendurancesports (Stephan Weiss). I've run his Blues Cruise 50k, The Dirty German 50k and now The Naked Bavarian. Yes, Stephan is from Bavaria and his events are guaranteed to be fun and you're assured they're well run. Stephan is more of an event host than typical Race Director. He's quite approachable and present throughout the events. You can expect fun German music playing, good German food afterwards and if you get swag or any type of award, they're also all German themed.

Naked Bavarian, don't Google it at work...

The Naked Bavarian, like The Blues Cruise takes place at Blue Marsh Lake near Leesport, just outside of Reading Pennsylvania. Blue Marsh (actually Blue Marsh National Recreation Area)is a man made lake as a result of the damming of the Tulpehocken Creek. Blue Marsh was the name of the little town that existed there before eminent domain took it and flooded it in the interest of flood control. As you circumnavigate the lake, you see remnants of the old civilization; like abandoned roads and ruins of old structures. The place is hugely popular in the summer for swimming and sunbathing on the beaches and boating and fishing on the 1100 acre lake. Thirty-six miles of trails are popular as well, attracting hikers, runners and folks on horse back.

Forty miles seemed like a logical progression for me in my ramp up to running the C&O Canal 100 in a few weeks. The Naked Bavarian is a 20 mile lollipop course so for 40 miles, you get to enjoy it twice. I've run two other shorter trail races at Blue Marsh along with the Blues Cruise, so I remembered that the trails were pretty mellow/extremely runnable and elevation gain was just enough to keep you honest on pacing.

The weekend before the event, I came away from my Sunday run with a sore right knee. I tried running Tuesday and it was still pretty bad so I did the unthinkable and took time off. The day before the event I took Mollie and Mojo for a 6 mile jaunt on Blue Mountain, just to assess the state of my knee. My two four legged doctors deemed me fit to race. Had a nice 92nd birthday dinner with my Mom (Dad's 93rd is coming up in a few days) and went home to mix Tailwind bottles and that's when the wheels came off my planning...Janice got sick as hell.

As Saturday evening went on, her sniffing and coughing became non-stop. All night she coughed and sneezed. I can't remember the last time I saw her this sick. When I woke up to eat breakfast, I could feel the heat coming off of her, she had a pretty good fever. There was no way I was expecting her to come with me. She seemed so sick, I wondered even if I should go at all. I kissed Janice goodbye and left her in bed with Mojo and Mollie to hopefully sleep off the crud that had taken control. I've never run an ultra without support. Janice is my crew and she's the best. In the 40 miles, you pass through 10 aid stations and they were all accessible to crew. I had mixed enough bottles that if I needed, I could get a new one each time I saw her. That plan was now out the window.

Early morning at Blue Marsh, overcast and chilly.

I got to Blue Marsh nice and early and got a parking space very near the start/finish. One of the volunteers at registration confirmed that 40 mile runners did need to come completely to the start area before starting their second lap so I set up my Jeep as a drop bag/aid station. I would carry one bottle of Tailwind and revert back to relying heavily on ClifBar gels to get the calories I would need. In the handheld, I also carried ClifShot Electrolyte Hydration mix in handy single serving packets they gave me. I knew there would be water at the aid stations so I could mix my own and not rely on whatever they had. I could visit my Jeep after 20 miles to reload and do it all again.

It was pretty chilly at start time, my dashboard thermometer read 34°. I had on warm gloves and a long sleeve 2XU compression shirt on under my Clifbar t-shirt. With the temps expected to climb to the 40's, shorts were fine for the day. In between every thought, I was wondering how Janice was. I was hoping she was sleeping soundly and getting better. I saw speedy Clayton Bouchard at registration and I saw that his Wife and dogs were with him and again my thoughts went immediately to Janice sick at home. I ran into Tim Nash and Rick Martin, which was cool; they accused me of taking PEDs as I chomped down a salt tablet. Then I saw David and Ashley Lister and their dog and my thoughts went right back home to Janice and our dogs. I realized then that it was really bugging me that I was there without her. I had to keep telling myself that she'd be fine and that this was good practice as I was running the C&O Canal 100 crewless.

Thankfully I didn't have much time to dwell on it and after a brief welcome from Stephan, we were off. The first miles passed quickly and it really wasn't until after the climb at 10 miles that I settled into a comfortable sustainable pace. While the early (and late) miles in the stem of the lollipop have numerous nagging hills, the course offers one sizable climb up the back side of what used to be the Mt. Heidelberg Ski Slope. I ran through the initial two aid stations, but stopped at the third to top off my Tailwind with clear water and I ate an orange slice. I forced myself to drink most of it before reaching the next aid station so I got clear water and mixed ClifShot Hydration in my bottle and repeated that at the aid station 3.5 miles from the start/finish. Staying disciplined with taking in salt, GU Electrolyte Capsules and ClifShot gels my nutrition went pretty well on the first lap.

I was running up the road towards the start/finish and I heard my name and I turned to see Leon Lutz and his daughters out "cheering on the tribe" as he says. Just a kind exchange with the likes of Leon was the perfect thing to lift my spirits. Seeing him also changed my mind about missing my best friend who was home coughing and wheezing. From that point forward, if I had a thought about her I wondered what she would be doing if she were with me. When I saw friends along the way, like Clayton, Tim, David, Ashley and Rick, I used it as a positive lift. Thankfully my brain had turned around.

Moving along on lap #2*

When I run an ultra, I do exactly that; I run it and I don't consider it a race. Sure, afterwards I'll look to see how I shook out amongst the other runners, but to me an ultra is really nothing more than an extremely long training run with clock timing. This time was different for a couple reasons. First, the race director had sent an email that said to check the ultrasignup.com list to make sure we were on it. I checked and I noticed something on the page I had never seen before; ultrasignup assigns a "Target" finishing time for each registered runner and I got 9:05. I thought, wait a minute I can cover 40 miles in less than 9 hours so I left the start with a chip on my shoulder. Second, throughout the first lap and into the second, I noticed I was basically running with the same runners. This happens at every event, but as the second visit to the climb at 30 miles drew closer I began to wonder if I could go faster and get away from them. So now I had my second motivation to go faster. There was a climb in a farmer's field just before the ski slope and I decided to see if I could open a gap on them. I did and I was able to maintain it. I actually felt like I was racing. As I got closer to the finish, fatigue was taking it's toll and I consciously thought about doing just enough to maintain the gap, but not too much to implode. I beat the hell out of that 9:05 projected target and I outran some folks who I'm sure didn't even notice, much less care. (I hope they didn't notice anyway as I probably looked pretty foolish racing for 50somethingth place)

41.4 miles...ya' gotta' keep smiling*

All in all it was a good day on the trails for me. It took 10 miles, but I eventually slipped into a pace I could maintain and even though I slowed toward the finish, I escaped without a catastrophic visit from the pain monster. The hills just before and after the start/finish seemed to take a bigger toll than the bigger climb at the ski slope. The rest of the course is a pleasant site seeing trip around the lake with well stocked aid stations manned by worthy volunteers. Like at The Dirty German and The Blues Cruise, the majority of the volunteers are from the Reading based Pagoda Pacers Running Club. They're definitely a class act. My Plan B nutrition plan went well until I realized on the second lap that I had no more ClifShot electrolyte mix in my handheld (I found it later on the ground behind the Jeep, right where I had dropped it). I drank Gatorade the rest of the way and ate orange slices at the aid stations and I was fine. (Note: I also resisted the yummy Great Lakes Brewing Sampler at the aid station at the base of the ski slope descent.)

That magical aid station at the base of the ski slope*

The temperature got up in the 40's and when the sun was shining it was a beautiful day to be on the trail and it was pretty cool to see so many members of the "tribe" out enjoying it too.  I highly recommend this low/no frills race, I give it an A+ the whole way around.

Other stuff I used:

Altra Lone Peak 2.0

Superfeet Insoles

Injinji Trail 2.0

Zensah Calf Sleeves

Pearl Izumi running shorts

ClifBar Trucker Hat & HeadSweats ClifBar Visor - thanks for the cool stuff ClifBar

SportHill lightweight gloves (2nd lap)

Nathan Performance Quick Draw Plus

Suunto Ambit3 Peak HR

Stephan said, "ya ya and it really works! When the weather's nice the

pretty lady comes out and when the weather's bad the man comes out."

For those wondering, I got home and even though the dogs kept a close eye on her, Janice wasn't any better; in fact she missed work Monday. As I write this she's starting to feel better.

Next up for me on my Ultra of the Month membership is the C&O Canal 100 in Knoxville Maryland. I'm returning to avenge my 2014 DNF.

*Photo note: No Janice not only meant no crew, it meant no fun photos, as she's our family photographer. Huge thank you to Christopher Hand and Caroline for kindly lending their photographs.

Frozen Heart 50K - A Fun Training Run With A Friend

February 20, 2016 Callaway, MD

The state of Maryland seems to have a pretty cool multiple personality disorder. There's Western Maryland, Central Maryland, Maryland's Eastern Shore, the Maryland you experience around the cities of Washington D.C. and Baltimore and then there's Southern Maryland. Janice and I had never ventured to this beautiful portion of the state until The Frozen Heart 50K drew my want for a low-key/grass roots February ultra. <More on the region later.>





Years ago I used to enjoy running small community 5K's and it seems the 50K has taken their place. You know the 5K's where everybody knows each other, you get a Road ID bib number and the field is small. I found this little gem for February called the Frozen Heart 50K. It seemed low-key and the back and forth activity on Facebook made it seem that The Chesapeake Bay Running Club was a fun bunch of folks. To accumulate 50K of trail you had to run three 10+ mile laps around St. Mary's Lake at St. Mary's River State Park near Callaway Maryland. The event offered a 17K (one lap) and a 34K (two laps) as well and while you were expected to designate your distance at registration, I was pretty sure I heard they were cool with you changing your distance up or down during the event. This year the race was included in the 2016 RRCA MD Ultra Series and for the first time, it sold out. I wanted to run a 50K in February and this one seemed perfect.

When I signed up for The Frozen Heart I was delighted to see that Rob Tidwell, an Ultra Legend from Virginia, would also be running it. A couple years ago at The Stone Mill 50 I found myself leap frogging with another runner along the way. I passed him at an early aid station and then he passed me and it happened a couple more times. A missing marking at a fork in the trail sent a bunch of us off course. After getting back on the trail I realized I was right behind this guy I had been swapping back and forth with. His pace seemed to match my shuffle so I hung with him. He eventually grew weary of his shadow and asked me who the hell I was. We ran the last 30+ miles together to the finish. We discovered that we were cut from the same sarcastic smart-ass clothe and got along famously. Those who know me, know I run primarily on my own and I struggle when there are others around me especially when they talk incessantly. I'm not sure what it was, but Rob and I hit it off that day and I hoped to get to tag along with him at The Frozen Heart as well. The other interesting piece was that I noticed a volunteer, active on the event Facebook page was also named Perry. In my life, I have met one other and that was decades ago in high school. I hoped I'd get to meet Perry Rapp and at least be able to add my second Perry-acquaintance to that extremely short list.

After the long drive from Harrisburg we made it to packet pick up, stopped at the hotel just long enough to check in and went off to find dinner. Rob had suggested the Olde Towne Pub in Leonardtown, in fact we had hoped to meet he and his Wife there, but our arrival was so delayed we called it off (long story, but we just missed them as they ate in a restaurant across the street from the pub). The pub was packed with happy-hour lingerers, but we eventually got a seat. We got some crazy appetizer, Fried Pickles served with Boom Boom Sauce, loved it. They had a good beer selection on tap and Janice enjoyed her Fish and Chips. My burger wasn't very exciting, but that's ok I just wanted something to fill my belly the night before the race.

We made it to the race start easily. The 250 acre St Mary's Lake is the result of the damming of The St. Mary's River and it's part of the bigger St. Mary's River State Park. The race started and finished at The St. Mary's Boat Launch. After the race I saw that the runners were gradually replaced by fishermen. There's a 7.5 mile trail that circles the lake and the race organizers added some additional trail/dirt roads to make the loop a little more than 10 miles. I'm not a huge fan of ultras that require laps, but in this case the trail varied enough that you never really settled into a boring groove. Yes, you recognized trail from your previous visits, but it was broken up enough to keep it fresh. For example, on the first lap I stepped in a water hole that went up to my running shorts and I never found it again on laps 2 or 3. It was a beautiful day in Southern Maryland as the temperatures reached the low 60's. This race known for it's snow and ice covered trails this day was known for it's mud bogs and ice cold pools of standing water. The El Nino Winter had struck again.

As I was standing with the shivering crowd waiting for "Go!" I noticed Rob so I made my way over to him and asked if I was supposed to stand behind him. It was pretty cool to reunite with my running buddy from Virginia. Team RWB was there with American flags and a woman with an incredible voice sang our national anthem. Rob told me I needed to sprint to avoid a bottle neck at the trail head. Remembering his sense of humor, I asked him if he was serious. I could see myself taking of full bore while he had a laugh. He wasn't kidding and when we got our "Go!" we took off faster than usual and successfully avoided the traffic jam. Rob's speedy daughter was running the single lap/17k option and she was with us for a brief moment and then we watched her disappear as we approached the dam crossing along the southern bank of the lake. (At 1:41:52, she was 2nd Female finisher in the 17K and the only runner in her sub 20 year old age group for that distance - congratulations!)

The course was a mix of single track and grassy dirt roads. The single track was muddy, but the real mud lived on the dirt roads. Some of it stuck to your shoes, but most of it was about 5 or 6 inches deep and extremely slippery. You had three laps to figure out a way to tip toe through the slippery mud patches or find a way around on more solid ground. No route really seemed like a great idea.  The roads were the location of most of the standing water as well. The ice cold water was a lot of fun. Yes, old men have fun splashing through deep mud puddles, but the real amusement came from watching other runners trying to keep their feet dry. Runners would pass us and we'd catch back up to them at the next sign of mud or deep water. We'd plow through as they scattered into the forest to avoid it.

There were 2 aid stations, one at the start/finish and the other at the 5ish mile mark. For me that felt like perfect spacing and Janice had access to both. I was carrying a handheld and on the first lap I used ClifBar Cranberry Razz Electrolyte drink. I had a good breakfast (English Muffin with Sunflower Seed Butter and a Banana) and I was pretty well hydrated so I didn't feel like I'd need Tailwind, the true endurance fuel, until my second and third laps. I also ate Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches at the aid stations just to convince my brain that I was actually eating something. I carried ClifShot gels in my handheld, but never ate any. After all, Tailwind is "all you need, all day. really." ;-)

Perry, Perry & Rob - Two Laps/22 Miles Done

I think it was halfway through the second lap when a guy seemed to join Rob and I. After brief introductions, it became clear that Rob was now running with two Perrys. Perry and I shared the coincidental story that each of us had only met one other Perry and it was in high school. He knew the trails well as he lives nearby and runs them often. We were sure to thank him for the watery conditions. Both Rob and Perry talked of the difficulty in past years when the trails were covered in snow and ice and the temperatures were frigid. I'll take the mud and the sunny 60° temperatures any day.

Arriving at the aid station - Lap 3 Mile 26ish

My start of lap three wasn't so good. I drank a ton at the start/finish and had classic aquarium gut for the first few miles. I did everything I could to not let it affect my pace, but I was feeling awful. My stomach and breathing settled just before the 25 mile aid station. Heading out of there, Rob had said he was going to duck in the woods and take a leak. I talked with Janice briefly, grabbed a Peanut Butter and Jelly and started walking figuring Rob would catch up while I ate. I had a big wad of sandwich in my mouth when I realized he wasn't behind me, he was ahead of me waiting for me. I took off to catch him, sandwich got wedged in my throat and I barfed. I started this lap with a bad gut and I'd finish it that way too.

We chugged along the trails we knew pretty well by now and I felt like I was going good until we had about 3 miles to go. I had been leading our friendly threesome and somewhere in there Rob came around me and I was now dragging. I was in trouble, dropping off his pace and surging just to stay in contact. He started singing, yes singing. Rob's a horrible singer and to make it worse I didn't know or recognize any of the songs (except for Rolling On The River, but I had no energy to join in anyway). It didn't matter I was back in my "awful" place (FYI - that's the opposite of "happy place"). I had enough to hang on in my delirium and at the finish Rob mentioned something about me being "the guest" and that I let him "go first last time" and I found myself finishing just ahead of him.

It's not uncommon to slip into misery while running an ultra, but I can't say it ever happened to me right before finishing, so that kind of sucked. The cute kids at the finish line needed the tear-off from our numbers and as I fumbled with the safety pins with sausage fingers, the little girl also asked how many laps we had run. As I answered "three" all I could think of was "wow, do I look that slow or that bad that they think I may have run less?"...ugh...but no, it was just so she knew what to give us. Every runner got a cool medal that noted all the distances, but 50K finishers also received an oval race magnet. I drank some chocolate milk and I was back on Earth. Rob said some women he knows from the area tried to speak with him right after we finished and now he had to go back and make amends for his post-ultra inability to talk. Janice and I hung out for a little while, I changed my muddy clothing, took a baby-wipe bath, bid Rob farewell until next time and we hit the road to do some sight seeing.

Rob & I After Our 32.5 Mile 50K

Janice asked if there was somewhere close we could buy good beer to take home from the region and we were guided to the Beer Cave. I loved the name, so off we went. The Beer Cave is a gas station where you can buy beer, wine, liquor, guns and ammo. There was a sign on the counter that said, "yes we have clips for your AR" right next to "Make You Own Six Pack" sign. Everything you could need. We snagged beer from various Maryland Craft Breweries and Washington DC and Delaware too.

The Piney Point Petroleum Pier

Then we went total tourist and checked out the beauty of the region and headed to Piney Point. Nearing Piney Point, there's no missing the enormous petroleum terminal. There's a pier there where oil tankers pull up and off-load their oil. The oil is then piped to the huge tanks you see onshore. Piney Point also has a pretty cool lighthouse. It's small in comparison to some other lighthouses we'd seen, but full of history. I enjoyed the story I read about how the Confederates warned the house keeper to get out because they were going to destroy it. The light house allowed the Union ships to be able to recognize the point at night and give away the Confederate smuggling operation. It's still standing today so obviously they never blew it up.

In 1880 a bell tower was added to aid the lighthouse in dense fog, but it was dismantled
after being badly damaged by Hurricane Hazel in 1954. The bell still remains.

Piney Point Lighthouse

The area had been a popular resort as well, one historical marker described that tourists would come by ship from points north. The Piney Point Hotel operated until 1933 when it was badly damaged by a hurricane. Presidents Monroe, Pierce and Teddy Roosevelt all visited as well and the lighthouse became also known as the Presidents' Lighthouse. We drove out onto St. George's Island just to take a look, but we had to get on the road so we didn't stay too long. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the one last stop we made at Yo Mamma's Hot Wings in Prince Frederick Maryland. We've kind of become hot wing snobs. At Yo Mamma's we tried five different flavors and simply put, they were great. They also had locally brewed craft beer on tap. If you ever find yourself in Prince Frederick Maryland, I highly recommend Yo Mamma's Hot Wings. All in all a fun trip to run a fun 50K with friend(s).

Other stuff I used:

Altra Lone Peak 2.0
Superfeet Insoles (orange)
Injinji Trail 2.0
Zensah Ultra Compression Calf Sleeves
Brooks Running Shorts
ClifBar Trucker Hat (until it got too warm)
ClifBar Headsweats Visor
ClifBar wicking t-shirt - THANKS ClifBar
Nathan Performance Quick Draw Plus - handheld 
The North Face Arm Warmers (until it got too warm)
Manzella Light Weight Gloves (until it got too warm)
Suunto Ambit3 Peak HR

Bonus Bloggery:

I promised our dogs Mojo and Mollie that I'd take them for a run on the mountain after we got back from Maryland. The next morning Janice and I loaded our 4-Legged children in the Jeep and headed to nearby Blue Mountain. I was surprised by the amount of snow that remained on the trails at Boyd Big Tree Preserve, especially after running the previous day in late-Spring/snow-free conditions. We run an easy lollipop route from the Blue Mountain Parkway parking area. The dogs and I continue across the power line clearing and Janice hikes and turns right down a rocky portion of the Janie Trail just East of the power line. After a steep descent and climb, the dogs and I return on the Upper Spring/Janie Trail until we meet up with Janice and then we all hike back together from there. The dogs and I get a little run and we all get a nice hike.

There were two cars at the parking lot so I started with the dogs on leashes. We saw one hiker almost immediately and shortly thereafter another hiker with his pup. After that I thought human inventory was complete so I left my two Hellions off their leashes. They're very good about staying with me and if I think they've ventured too far, a simple "Hey" brings them back. That all works great unless they sense a human ahead that they absolutely need to meet. Just before the power line, they took off and wouldn't return on my command. As I got closer to the power line, I could now see the lone hiker and Mojo and Mollie were making friends as I yelled, "I'm sorry" and "they're friendly". He assured me that it was ok, that he knew they only wanted to play. Mojo was laying at his feet like he was his dog (suck up). I said, "yes they only want to play, but the black and white one has a habit of jumping to give kisses". He said, "oh yeah, he did that, but it's cool I'm a dog person, I get it". Thank goodness! Not everyone's a dog person and some people definitely don't "get it". I know, I know, I'm an irresponsible dog owner and they shouldn't have been off their leashes. I was carrying their conventional leashes and when we're running they wear collars with retractable leashes in them, so I always have some kind of handle if I need to have hold of them. People don't usually venture from The Boyd Big Tree parking to the top of the mountain in bad conditions, so I thought we had seen the last of the humans till we found Janice.

Mojo & Mollie Running To Meet Janice Without Me

We continued and then started our snowy descent which felt like running down a ski slope, made a hard right turn and soon we were climbing back towards the power line. We still had more than a quarter mile to the power line when Mojo and Mollie took off again. This time however I was running up a snow covered hill the day after a 50K and I stood no chance of keeping them in sight. I was hoping they sensed Janice ahead, but in the back of my mind I was wondering which direction the man we met earlier had gone. We saw him on the south side of the mountain and I thought he was going the same direction as us so he should be behind us, but if he crossed over the ridge and hiked down the steep portion of the power line...I thought, oh well they met him once, they can meet him again. I came around the final bend and was able to see Janice and the dogs together at the power line. She was completely out of sight when they took off and for a good distance as I chased, so how they knew she was there I don't know. After that, the four of us had a nice (uneventful) hike back to the Jeep.

Mollie & Mojo With Their Irresponsible Dog Owner

Next up for me - The Naked Bavarian 40 Miler at Blue Marsh Lake near Leesport, PA - gonna be a blast - see you all there!