March 21, 2015
I've read and enjoyed race reports from so many other runners that I figured I should start my own. I don't think I have any great insights but if someone can glean something from my experience then all the better. This report is about the Grasslands Trail Run in Decatur, TX.
I started running half marathons in 2008. By 2010, I had finished two marathons. I pretty much stopped running after the second marathon. In the fall of 2013, I started reading Born to Run followed by Ultramarathon Man. This really peaked my interest. The idea that someone completely ordinary could do something so extraordinary was seductive. I started back up and completed a half marathon in February of 2014. I continued my training and completed my first semi-altitude marathon in August of 2014 - Run with the horses in Green River, Wyoming.
This buildup got me a good base for six months of training before the 50 mile race. I read Relentless Forward Progress for a lot of great information. I tried to use the 70 mile a week training plan but kids, sickness, and work responsibilities caused me to miss a lot of runs. The highlighted squares are missed runs.
I moved to the bag drop area to set up my cooler and a chair. This race is made up of 5 loops. For each loop, the runners had to come back to the starting line where we could access the aid station and our drop bags. The mileage for each loop was: 4.8, 13.5, 12.8, 10.4 and 8.9.
Before the race, I was mingling with some other runners. I explained that this was my first trail and first 50 miler. They grinned and said that I should be OK. They were sure that nothing would happen like it did in the past. I asked,"what, what happened?!" They said that there had been animosity between horseback riders and runners. One year, some horseback riders moved markings on the trail to throw off runners. They assured me that I would be fine this year. All I could think was, "great, first the chip guy and now this." When the RD was starting the race, he said, "This is the 50 mile start so I hope you are all ultra runners." I blurted, "I hope I am too."
My nutrition plan was to eat one 200 calorie, Cliff Shot Block between each loop and 3 GU packs during each loop (except for the short first one). I also had bananas, chips and pretzels at the aid stations that were on each of the loops. That nutrition plan seemed to work pretty well. In hindsight, I probably didn't have enough. I consumed about 1800 calories during the 13 hours it took me to complete the race. 140 calories per hour might be a little light.
My race plan was to be at the 31 mile mark (3 loops) in 6 to 7 hours. The conditions slowed me down a lot. It took me 7 hours to complete a marathon. I normally run a road marathon in 4.5 hours. Drudging through the mud in seven hours was seriously demoralizing. I had to have completed 4 loops or 41 miles in under 10.5 hours to beat the cutoff. As I came in from the third loop, I was contemplating dropping. It took me 8 hours to run the first 31 miles. I had to do the next 10.4 in 2 and a half hours. Here are my shoes at the end to give you an idea of the conditions.
I didn't drop and it was because of 2 huge factors. First, I asked a friend to pace me for the last loop. She drove 2 hours and sat around for 2 hours waiting on me. I didn't want her to give up 6 hours on a Saturday for me to DNF. Second, the aid station workers were absolutely incredible. I asked them if they would extend the cutoff because of the trail conditions. They said no but encouraged me to hurry... get out of here... you can do it... you have time... Before I could give dropping a second thought, I was off on loop 4.
As it turns out, my fourth loop (miles 31-41) was the fastest split. I made the cutoff by 2 minutes. My pacer was communicating with my wife (who was going to come out with our kids to see the finish). There were frantic text messages... 5 minutes left, is he there?... not yet, wait, I see him... gotta go...
We were off and had one last cutoff. We had to make 3.8 miles in one hour. After the last cutoff, there was no time limit for the remaining 5 miles. We managed to do the 3.8 miles in 53 minutes. My pacer was awesome. She kept a positive vibe and kept me moving.
The final 5 miles would be done in a steady rain.
With no cutoff, I couldn't find the motivation to run. We walked the next three miles in about an hour. Oddly, that walking seemed to rest my legs enough to run the final stretch. We ran one minute and walked a minute for the last two miles. I ended up finishing in 13:14:58. Unfortunately, my wife and kids missed the finish, but I got to see them by the aid station after.
The RD was at the finish to congratulate me.
63 people started the race and 43 finished. I finished 40th Here's a pic of the 50 mile finisher buckle:
My pacer and I after the race
I learned a lot from this experience and would definitely do it again. Some things I would do differently:
- Embrace the mud or skip to number 2. I started out trying to avoid it and wasted a ton of energy. It's much easier run through mud than jump around it.
- DNS if the course is that muddy. I ran 50 miles with a pound of mud on my shoes at any given time. I hadn't trained for those conditions. The race was fun... the mud was not.
- Salt. I had quite a bit of cramping in my quads and calves very early. It could have been from the mud on my shoes. It also could have been all the extra, wasted movement trying to avoid it. I think I need to experiment with salt caps.
- Trail shoes. I never bought or trained in trail shoes. I really liked my Sauconys and was afraid to try anything else. Trail shoes might have helped me cope with the mud a little better.
- Running vest. I had one hand held water bottle and could fit a few GU packs in my back pocket. It might be nice to have that stuff in a vest rather than carrying it.
