Trail Mix 50k

It was a beautiful clear morning at Hyland Lake Park Reserve in Bloomington, MN. The clear night saw temperatures drop to the mid-30's and were supposed to reach the mid-60's by the afternoon. The first question of the day was, what to wear? Decided on shorts and t-shirt with my Injinji socks and Brooks Cascadia shoes.

The 100 or so 50k runners started the first of four loops at 7:00am. It was a beautiful rolling course that included a couple of steeper sections in the Richardson Nature Center. On our first trip through the nature center several wild turkeys showed their support for us as they gobbled away! 

On the first loop I realized my first and fatal mistake of the day. I was told this was a well supported race but there was an inadequate supply of liquids and this would come to haunt me later. Lesson learned, never run an ultra without your own supply of fluids.

Finished loop one in 1:10, right on track for my goal of breaking five hours.

Loop two was very uneventful and I enjoyed conversation with several other runners as I came through in 1:12. Half way in 2:22, five hours was looking doable.

Loop three started fairly well and I hit the 20 mile mark in 3:10, but I also hit the wall at the same time! Lack of fluids was starting to have an impact. It would take another 32 minutes to finish the loop. Over those 3.25 miles I wondered if I should drop out but ultimately decided to continue running. 

I ran the first mile of the final loop very slowly and then went to walk, a long walk through the park. My mouth was dry and I couldn't spit, at the aid stations I was stopping to drink several of their tiny cups of water but to little affect. My upper back and shoulders seized up and my calf muscles began to cramp. I didn't want to risk injury so I spent considerably more time walking than running. When I tried to run I felt horrible but I knew the end was in sight. 

Breaking five hours disappeared from my radar as I lumbered on. Finally crossing the finish line in 5:32. Yes that was one hour fifty minutes for the last 7.75 miles or just over fourteen minutes a mile. Ugh!

I'm home now drinking lots of juice and feeling good.

BTW this was my first ultra wearing Injinji socks... loved them, not a single blister.  

Comments

[Brian]

Nice job, Neil -- way to persevere through the last brutal stretch. Even if you didn't hit your goal, you can chalk that up to a great long run for Grandma's. Are you running any more races between now and Grandmas?

[Neil Craigan]

We have one 5k on the calendar before Grandmas otherwise its all training.Start working on speed this week.

[Kam]

Neil,

I totally agree with your lack of fluid comment about the 2010 Trail Mix 50K. More than that, there was next to no food! No one is going to eat peanut trail mix while running! I did take 1 oreo towards the end as hypoglycemia set it.

I guess the lesson is that we need to pack everything we need for races. Every race i have ever done has spoiled me into relying on the tables for the later parts of the race. This was the worst stocked race I have ever done - fluids and food! I emailed the race director about this issue but never heard back.

Anyway, congrats on finishing. I was in a simlar spot by the 4th loop. Happy running-

Cheers-

-Kam

[Neil Craigan]

Kam, I food the food selection particularly disappointing. When they said the aid stations would be well supplied I had imagined bananas, gels and PBJ as Ive enjoyed in the other ultras Ive run. Oh well, lesson learned!