On Friday abunch of us headed to the mountains s/o Tucson to run the Old Pueblo 50 mile endurance run. This is one of my favorites and this will be my 4th yr in a row. I have finished under 10 hours every year and that was again my goal.
After a healthy off season of pizza, beer and getting married, I felt as fit as a pro bowler from Wisconsin. I ramped up my training over the last month to try to get ready for 50 miles in the trails around Sonoita. I felt pretty good going in but a little heavy. This race is a good training run for the rest of the season.
As the gun went off at 6am on Sat , about 160+ nutjobs headed out for a day of running in the Santa Rita mountains. Running with Chipper for the first 7 miles was fun as we did many training miles together back in Phx. Joe Galope was on a mission from the get-go. He was looking strong and would have a really good day.
Running straight thru the 3 mile aid station (AS) with a quick hello, we got on to the AZ trail section still feeling pretty good. This is a great single track section looking east to the sunrise and the food and drink of the 7 mi aid station. This early in the race, we are still bunched up together and many people talking and settling in for a long day.
Thru the 1st few sections I was walking every uphill fast and hitting the downs pretty hard, trying to save energy and my calves. After getting thru 7 mi and 13 mi with little trouble we started the long climb up to gunsight pass. This is the high point of the race and rewards your eyes with great views of Tucson and your quads with a 3 mile screaming downhill. Ouch! Coming off the pass with about 7 runners including Bob and Jerry of AZ and Neil Blake of NM was a lot of fun. I have run many times with them and that made me feel good about where I was in the race. I went ahead of all them and pulled into 19 mile AS on fumes.
It had been just over 3 hrs and I had only taken 2 gels. Should be 4-5. Oh well. I sat down and started eating, drinking and just hanging out. Joe Galope caught up and left before he even saw me. Then, in came Bob, Jerry, and Davy Crockett of Utah. I said adios to them in favor of a chair and a PB & J, my favorite ultra food. I started getting up as I heard Honey coming in. If she saw me sitting, she would yell at me, so I started heading out for box canyon. Every time I looked back, there she was about 100 yds back but we never ran together in that section. This is a section I usually lose it on but I kept up a pretty good pace that day. As we pulled into 25 mi AS, I sat down again and had a choco milk and PB & J. I was still trying to make up for the lack of calories in the first 3 hrs. Honey sat next to me and said hi and off she went. She is running a good race so far. Someone at the AS offered me a V-8, I looked at it and said if I drank that, it would probably end my race. Not a bad idea now that I think about it. No, thanks and off I went to the box canyon section.
Miles 25-29 are pretty much an uphill dirt road that goes on forever. I hear it is very pretty but I never looked up from my shoes except to make sure I wasn't running off a cliff. This is tough, hot and getting old really quick. One by one I am getting passed by Honey, Davy, Pam Reed and Paul Grimm, who cruised up Box Canyon like it was downhill, trust me, it is not. I came into 29 mi AS on fumes again. My fueling plan was not working. I sat down again as everyone I just caught up to left me again. Bad thoughts were entering my head.
After a 5 minute break I started back out to the AZ trail section. We did this part 22 miles ago and it was much tougher the 2nd time thru. It is now hot and uphill with no one around. I started getting some energy back and got it going pretty good. Now I am passing trees and rocks like they were standing still. As I pulled into 33 mi AS, I saw Honey, Neil, Bob, Jerry...all the folks I thought were way in front of me. They all took off and left me with my chair. Then Kirk and Lizzy came in. They looked great! They asked if I was o.k. and I said, "sure, just having lunch" they filled up and took off. Now with the bad thoughts out of my head, I powered on down the trail. The next section is long, hot but mostly downhill. This is where I caught some energy and passed everyone except for Honey. She was gone. Lizzy and I ran together for the rest of the way into 40 mi AS. Lizzy was running real strong and left me when I sat down to eat again. Kirk took off again also.
Now we have 10 miles to go and the first three is the most boring tedious dirt road ever. It just goes on forever, a little uphill but runnable if you can talk yourself into it. I did barely and was slowly catching up to Lizzy. At the end of the road is a long steep climb. Getting to the top is great, the reward is another long cruising downhill section thru streams and covered in pines. This is starting to get longer than I remember, then boom 46 mi AS and Lizzy and Honey. They must have slowed down because I felt like I was barely moving.
We all took off for the finish and after the last big climb at 47 mi I just hit the wall. No energy and even worse, my mind pretty much gave up. I sat down on a rock and watched as Honey and Lizzy faded away towards the finish. I took a gel and a couple salt tabs and washed it down with water. It all came up as quickly as it went down. After throwing up, I usually feel better, but not today. I took so much to just get up and walk it in. I gave up on breaking 10 hrs and just decided to take it as a good training day. As I turned to get on the single track to the finish, I started to feel a little better and started to run it in. A mile later I was turning the corner for home and I heard everyone yelling, "1 minute, 1 minute" I knew what this meant. I started running and crossed the finish line at 9:59:38. Under 10 hours. My goal was complete.
What a tough day, but also very good. I learned a lot from this race that I will be able to use in future races. Thanks to the new RD's Steve and Lynda, they did a great job! Thanks to all the volunteers and friends who helped me along.
After a healthy off season of pizza, beer and getting married, I felt as fit as a pro bowler from Wisconsin. I ramped up my training over the last month to try to get ready for 50 miles in the trails around Sonoita. I felt pretty good going in but a little heavy. This race is a good training run for the rest of the season.
As the gun went off at 6am on Sat , about 160+ nutjobs headed out for a day of running in the Santa Rita mountains. Running with Chipper for the first 7 miles was fun as we did many training miles together back in Phx. Joe Galope was on a mission from the get-go. He was looking strong and would have a really good day.
Running straight thru the 3 mile aid station (AS) with a quick hello, we got on to the AZ trail section still feeling pretty good. This is a great single track section looking east to the sunrise and the food and drink of the 7 mi aid station. This early in the race, we are still bunched up together and many people talking and settling in for a long day.
Thru the 1st few sections I was walking every uphill fast and hitting the downs pretty hard, trying to save energy and my calves. After getting thru 7 mi and 13 mi with little trouble we started the long climb up to gunsight pass. This is the high point of the race and rewards your eyes with great views of Tucson and your quads with a 3 mile screaming downhill. Ouch! Coming off the pass with about 7 runners including Bob and Jerry of AZ and Neil Blake of NM was a lot of fun. I have run many times with them and that made me feel good about where I was in the race. I went ahead of all them and pulled into 19 mile AS on fumes.
It had been just over 3 hrs and I had only taken 2 gels. Should be 4-5. Oh well. I sat down and started eating, drinking and just hanging out. Joe Galope caught up and left before he even saw me. Then, in came Bob, Jerry, and Davy Crockett of Utah. I said adios to them in favor of a chair and a PB & J, my favorite ultra food. I started getting up as I heard Honey coming in. If she saw me sitting, she would yell at me, so I started heading out for box canyon. Every time I looked back, there she was about 100 yds back but we never ran together in that section. This is a section I usually lose it on but I kept up a pretty good pace that day. As we pulled into 25 mi AS, I sat down again and had a choco milk and PB & J. I was still trying to make up for the lack of calories in the first 3 hrs. Honey sat next to me and said hi and off she went. She is running a good race so far. Someone at the AS offered me a V-8, I looked at it and said if I drank that, it would probably end my race. Not a bad idea now that I think about it. No, thanks and off I went to the box canyon section.
Miles 25-29 are pretty much an uphill dirt road that goes on forever. I hear it is very pretty but I never looked up from my shoes except to make sure I wasn't running off a cliff. This is tough, hot and getting old really quick. One by one I am getting passed by Honey, Davy, Pam Reed and Paul Grimm, who cruised up Box Canyon like it was downhill, trust me, it is not. I came into 29 mi AS on fumes again. My fueling plan was not working. I sat down again as everyone I just caught up to left me again. Bad thoughts were entering my head.
After a 5 minute break I started back out to the AZ trail section. We did this part 22 miles ago and it was much tougher the 2nd time thru. It is now hot and uphill with no one around. I started getting some energy back and got it going pretty good. Now I am passing trees and rocks like they were standing still. As I pulled into 33 mi AS, I saw Honey, Neil, Bob, Jerry...all the folks I thought were way in front of me. They all took off and left me with my chair. Then Kirk and Lizzy came in. They looked great! They asked if I was o.k. and I said, "sure, just having lunch" they filled up and took off. Now with the bad thoughts out of my head, I powered on down the trail. The next section is long, hot but mostly downhill. This is where I caught some energy and passed everyone except for Honey. She was gone. Lizzy and I ran together for the rest of the way into 40 mi AS. Lizzy was running real strong and left me when I sat down to eat again. Kirk took off again also.
Now we have 10 miles to go and the first three is the most boring tedious dirt road ever. It just goes on forever, a little uphill but runnable if you can talk yourself into it. I did barely and was slowly catching up to Lizzy. At the end of the road is a long steep climb. Getting to the top is great, the reward is another long cruising downhill section thru streams and covered in pines. This is starting to get longer than I remember, then boom 46 mi AS and Lizzy and Honey. They must have slowed down because I felt like I was barely moving.
We all took off for the finish and after the last big climb at 47 mi I just hit the wall. No energy and even worse, my mind pretty much gave up. I sat down on a rock and watched as Honey and Lizzy faded away towards the finish. I took a gel and a couple salt tabs and washed it down with water. It all came up as quickly as it went down. After throwing up, I usually feel better, but not today. I took so much to just get up and walk it in. I gave up on breaking 10 hrs and just decided to take it as a good training day. As I turned to get on the single track to the finish, I started to feel a little better and started to run it in. A mile later I was turning the corner for home and I heard everyone yelling, "1 minute, 1 minute" I knew what this meant. I started running and crossed the finish line at 9:59:38. Under 10 hours. My goal was complete.
What a tough day, but also very good. I learned a lot from this race that I will be able to use in future races. Thanks to the new RD's Steve and Lynda, they did a great job! Thanks to all the volunteers and friends who helped me along.
It's great to hear you pulled through! I am always so far behind all of you that I would never have known ;^) I think you'll be ready for W$ and HR, just keep on rockin' man!
ReplyDeleteRobert