2013 Stonecat 50 Mile Race Report

I went into this race full of jitters, but still feeling like I had a pretty good chance to hitting my "I'll be pretty darn proud if I do this" goal of running under 10:00 hours. The base goal was just to finish. The "pie in the sky" goal was to gain the Snowplug Household 50 Mile Title, which was 9:23:19. I did not quite reach my "pie in the sky" goal, but I came pretty damn close, finishing in 9:24 and change. My Garmin died a few miles into lap #4, so I'm not quite sure of the time, and the results aren't up as I'm typing this, but 9:24:xx is good enough for me! So, Snowman retains his title, but I really am not upset with this. It was a great goal to shoot for.

Pre-Race:

Well, pre-race actually started earlier this week. I was a jittery, hyped up, crazy tapering runner all week, and I didn't do well maintaining calm. I also got a lot of race instructions from my pseudo coach Ryan. Eat! Drink! Walk the hills in the first lap! Don't go out too fast! I knew I didn't want to undermine my race by not fueling, but I admittedly have issues with fueling, so I agreed to Ryan's instructions to stop at each aid station, drink a cup of Gatorade and eat at least one thing. I was also determined to stick with my 30-minute fueling plan for as long as I could. I really did not want to meet my demise because of fueling issues.

Onto race day morning - the day started with a wake-up call of 4:00 am, which is way too early but it didn't matter much anyway; neither of us slept well. Ryan's mom very nicely took over the monitor at 5:00 am when we left the house, although Sam apparently didn't sleep either as we later heard she was up at 5:45. Sorry Irene!

Not many people out at 5:00 am on a Saturday morning, except when we turned onto Linebrook Road and got into the trail of cars all headed to the school :-) We met up with all the Trail Monsters in the gym, and I anxiously waited and paced and went to the bathroom a million times. Then it was time to head out and listen to the bagpiper and the pre-race annoucements. And then, off into the field in a sea of headlamps.

Pretty cool!

Lap #1:

The start of the race was slow. I had decided not to push it, and I resigned myself to walking up the first hill behind a congo train of runners. But it was incredibly annoying! I couldn't pass because then I'd waste energy needlessly but man, some people were going slowly! AIE. This went on through the first and second stretch of singletrack, and I was very happy to hit the stretch of carriage roads and be able to find my own groove and get around people as necessary. I ran with Sean for the first little stretch, but then he backed off before the first hill, and I ran alone but not alone for most of the first lap. The trails were definitely full! I felt good, and kept the pace reasonable. No sub-10:00 miles as far as I know :-) It finally got light enough to turn off my headlamp right after the first aid station, and the woods were just lovely. Also, the trails were in great shape - very dry. Although also very leaf-covered, hiding the myriad rocks and roots. I also stuck to eating every 30 minutes and stopped at both aid stations - the first was a cup of gatorade and one fig newton; the second, more gatorade and one nilla wafer. Hey, I was fulfilling my promise :-)

I got back to the field in around 2:13. Ryan was a great crew person and took my pack to restock it as I ran to the porta-potty, which made it a bit of a long stop, but hey I didn't have to poop in the woods, so I am happy to have wasted a few minutes :-) A quick gulp of Gatorade and one chip ;), and I was off at in around 2:17.

Lap #2:

As I headed out, Sean was headed in. Not far behind at all! The second lap went relatively smoothly. There was a lot more room on the trails and it was light out too the whole time, which made it much easier. This was my quickest lap, and there's not much to say about it, except that I felt pretty good, was eating on time, and stopped at both aid stations. The only issue that was starting to show it's face by the time I got back to the start/finish at the end of the loop was that my gag reflux issue began to surface right around the final time I took a gu on lap #2. My stomach wasn't feeling bad, but I was starting to have trouble getting the fuel from my mouth to my stomach - things just seem to get caught up in my throat. Not quite sure why that is. It doesn't seem to matter the food - real food, sweet treats, salty chips, gels, chews. It's all the same. I also got that way with HEED and later with Nuun. Switched this training cycle to plain old water and that definitely helped though, both with hydrating and getting the food down for as long as I am able.

Lap #3:

At the start/finish area, saw Sean headed in as I was headed out, and also picked up my first pacer of the day - Amy! Hurray! We headed out at 4:33 according to Ryan, and had a great time catching up. Amy did a great job reminding me to eat and drink and keeping me entertained for the first half of the loop. After that, I sort of just put my head down and ran. I didn't have the energy to talk, but I was more than happy for her company. It was awesome to have her out there with me, especially after she hurt her foot at TARC a few weeks ago. I am so glad it worked out!

I imagined this lap to be the toughest, and in part it was. I was getting a bit tired, and I was also running more than I've ever run before with each step past 31 miles. We did a lot more walking on this lap, and the pace slowed, but I still feel like I held it together pretty well. I wasn't discouraged by the walking, and I wasn't discouraged by the mileage. I just wanted to keep moving. This was also the lap where I knew, for sure, that I was going to finish this damn thing. I was feeling solid, if feeling the overall effect of time/effort/miles as one might expect at this point in a long race, and despite the above gag reflux, I still managed to get down 2 gels, plus one packet of chews, although those last were spread out over a pretty big time-frame. I did discover that I could more easily get the fuel down if I walked, so that is what we did.

Could also feel on this loop that the day was indeed warming up. I was pretty well covered in salt on my neck and face throughout this lap. But we did see 3 swans on the lake along the 2nd stretch of singletrack before the 2nd aid station, so that was cool. Plus I loved how Amy loved the woods so much - it was fun to share that with her, and it truly was beautiful out there today!

Lap #4:

So happy to be back to the start/finish after lap #3, but I was also feeling fairly focused. I don't think I said or smiled much at the crew as I ran by. I just wanted to get in and out and on with it! Ryan said I headed out at 7:02, this time with my second awesome pacer of the day - Mindy! She was great. She was very positive, telling me I was running well and holding pace; reminding me gently to drink; and helping me keep moving. No stomach problems, but not much interest in food here. Also, my Garmin died somewhere before the first aid station (Boo! But it is 4 1/2 years old and doesn't owe me much), so I didn't have my alarm going off every 30 minutes. On this lap, I broke my promise to drink and eat at least one item at each aid station - I only managed a cup of coke at the first aid station, but I did get down two gels during the loop, so I'm calling that pretty good for me. The first true sign of "trouble" cropped up on this loop - I told Mindy my legs were beginning to cramp a bit somewhere between aid stations. But, it was also somewhere in that stretch where Sean and Val caught up to us and that was a boost. We ran together all four of us Trail Monsters for a while, which was just so cool. I felt so proud! But at the start of the 2nd singletrack stretch along the pond, I slowed to walk and eat my second gel, and off they went. I was sad to see them go, but so excited for Sean! He was having a great race! So much for just "finishing" :-) And then along the little loop before the 2nd aid station, I tripped and fell, and my right calf cramped up horribly. OW! I got up quickly though and walked it off before running the final hill into the aid station.

And who to my wondering eyes should appear? No, I wasn't hallucinating and seeing Santa, but I did see Ryan! I was so surprised. I told him I was cramping, so he said salt. He told Mindy to go on, so she left us with a wave to finish up the loop. I grabbed a piece of potato, dipped it in salt, and took a cup of Gatorade and said, "let's walk." We walked for a ways as I wrestled with the potato, which was GROSS by the way. Ugh! But it was salt, and it was needed. Those final 5 miles were slow. Neither of us had a Garmin so I don't know how slow, but I am sure they were. I ran whenever I could, but we had to keep stopping for me to massage my quads and the outside edge of my right calf. The cramping was definitely an issue. It was great to have Ryan with me though! I was so glad he had the chance to share some of my experience with me. Many thanks for Mindy for keeping me in the dark about the secret and not being upset to not get to run the whole loop!! Ryan caught me up on all the news, and kept telling me how great I was running. In fact, I felt like I had great energy, my legs were just betraying me. I tried to drink as much as I could. It was warm out now. We would run, stop, massage, walk, and run as soon as I felt I could again. I didn't want to get lulled into walking too much. The finish was too close. I was so frustrated, though! I couldn't believe my legs were trying to do me in. Well, I could - I was asking a lot of them, but I wanted to finish strong! Then with about 2 1/2 miles to go, my water ran out. All 40 oz. gone. Ugh! So, nothing to do but suck it up and finish. I was so thirsty. And mad at my legs. And wanted to be done! But, best of all, I was going to run 50 miles! I was doing it! This was enough to motivate me to pick up the pace as soon as we hit the top of the final hill with the turn-off to the first hill on the loop. And it felt good! The legs appreciated the change of pace, and I was psyched to be able to still run, and run strong! We picked off a few people here, and I felt like I was flying. Quite sure I wasn't, but I'm sticking with my story! And then, the jersey barrier, and the final downhill, and the turn to the field, and everyone cheering, and Sam, Irene and Dana there too, and I was all smiles. Then, boom! 50 miles! DONE! Holy sh*t! I had done it. It was a great day, and I felt like I ran a good race. Sometimes I don't know why I do these things, but the feeling of satisfaction as I crossed that line this afternoon was pretty cool.

Team Snowplug - almost to the finish! So happy!

So happy to have been able to run with some of my best friends out there today! I am honored that Amy, Mindy and Ryan agreed and chose to pace me in this race. You guys are the best! Thank you so much! I couldn't have done it without you.

It was also an awesome day for all the Trail Monsters running. Sean also finished his first 50 mile race, coming in at 9:22:xx, and George, after running 100 miles last weekend (not to mention the three 100's he ran in the past few months plus a few other races thrown in) finished the marathon in under 5:00; Tom came in in 3:5x, Bob in 3:44, Rick in just over 5:00 and Anne in 6:00 or so. So cool to have so many of us out there having good days! I love it. Not to mention, we had a great crew - Ryan cooking up pancakes and pacing, and Nathan, Mindy, Val and Amy cheering and crewing and pacing all day long.

Master Crew Chief Ryan, cooking up pancakes while we were out running

We are incredibly lucky to be friends with such a good (and crazy!) group of people - the Trail Monsters sure know how to represent and support their fellow runners at races. It really was great having everyone out there today!

Post-Race:

We hung out for a bit while I got myself organized, and Sam gave me me her "Go Mommy" sign, and wanted hugs. I cleaned myself up with wipes - boy was I sweaty! - and hobbled over to change. I was the last one in, so the party broke up soon after, but not before a few photos :-)

Tired runner, and happy friend and pacer #1

Hugs from Sam make everything better! 

From there, we headed back to Irene and Dana's, where I gingerly played with Sam as best I could, and almost fell asleep before dinner - I was so tired and hungry. My legs went from just slightly wobbly to hurting pretty badly, so I laid on the floor and put them against the wall in the air for 10 minutes. Wow, that was painful! Sam was very sweet and make me a few crafts to make me feel better :-), and I perked up after some yummy lasagna. Luckily, Sam was tired out from the day and went to bed fairly easily so that I could come down and sit on the couch and eat a big bowl of ice cream and relax a bit. And since it's daylight saving time tonight, and I know I likely won't sleep much anyway, I'm up typing this :-) A bit long, I know, but there is so much to say, sorry, and it was a great day all-around!