dr_wu002
Well-known member
I ran a 50k in April (TARC Spring Classic) but after that a foot injury limited me to biking for a good part of the spring / summer. In July I started running again but I was feeling frustrated trying to really get back into it. In late August , on a whim, I signed up for the VT50 thinking that maybe it would encourage me to run more or something. Bad idea: I immediately regretted paying the $115 entry fee. My body started to feel sluggish on even easy training runs. I only managed just one 13 mile trail run, my other runs were usually about 7 miles and the pace got slower and slower as September 25 got closer. Then I started fretting about not doing the race because I felt so lousy. The Wednesday before the race I could only manage 3.5 miles run at a 10 minute pace (normal weekday workout is about 7 miles run at 7:30 pace). Then I just decided to run the dumb race anyway.
Jess and I drove up on Saturday to check in. We stayed at Sue Lee’s house that night – thanks a lot SueBiscuit for letting us crash! My brother-in-law, Jim also was going to run the race so he came up as well. Sue fed us and I had a few beers that night but didn’t go crazy. Next morning at 6am I was at the start line and the bike riders were starting to go off. Fortunately it was pretty warm out in the morning so shorts and a t-shirt were fine. Jim was there and also Rob (Sasquatch) was there as well.
The course is some kind of a loop: starts and ends at Mt. Ascutney Ski Resort. This was the first time I ran it, and it seemed like the course was mostly split 3 ways between single track, dirt roads and gravel roads. There was also a little regular pavement. For the geeks, I was wearing my New Balance Minimus Trail Shoes and had a camelback waist belt with a holster for my water bottle. I had an array of honey stinger waffles and Hammer Nutrition Electrolyte Tablets with me. And Hammer Gel in my little flask thingy. There was 9 aid stations and 3 of them had drop bags. In my drop bags I had a change of socks, a full water bottle to change out, and some more waffle things, plus replacement energy shots and maybe some other stuff that I didn’t end up using. The camelback waist belt sucked ass because it kept loosening up and falling down. Luckily, I had been smart… since it was my first time using this pack, I stowed away the thing to use to make my water bottle into a hand held water bottle. This was good because I used it like that for about 45 miles of the race.
All I wanted to do was finish under the cutoff time of 12 hours. That’s all I cared about. I had heard that in these sort of ultras, people walk the uphills so that’s what I figured I’d do. I was just going to follow whatever the crowd was doing. This worked to my advantage. About 5 miles into the race I started talking to 2 dudes from Worchester MA (brothers) who were wearing Hoka Dum Dums. They seemed cool so I ran with them for a bit – in the end though, I’d pass them, they’d pass me etc for nearly the entire race. This gave me a lot of confidence because for the most part, there were about 30-40 people running near me the entire race and I figured, if they could do it, so could I so I just stuck with my pace. They were probably thinking the same thing because most of them were also running their first 50 mile race as well and just focusing on having fun and finishing.
Well, it was fun for a while but then you have a big up hill to the aid station at Mile 18 or so, Garvin Hill. Sue Biscuit and my wife, Jess were working the aid station but I really struggled (mentally and physically) the 3 or 4 miles up to the top. I wasn’t thinking about dropping but I did feel a bit frustrated (after the race I found out that a lot of people felt the same way). Oh, and here’s a funny story: at the 2nd aid station one of the volunteers offered me some Hammer Nutrition HEED electrolyte replacement and energy drink. I said that I’d like to try some despite hearing that it was gross and chalky. Mmmmm, the stuff tasted like chocolate milk to me! It was good. What flavor is it, I asked? Lemon-Lime. Yikes, they started to ask if I was ok and I was like, F-yeah, hit me with some more of that tasty chocolate milk stuff. That probably also worked to my benefit because at every subsequent aid station I downed a bunch of the stuff where ordinarily I’d avoid a flavored “drink.”
After seeing Jess at mile 18, I did great on the downhill that followed. In fact, I felt awesome for the next 12 miles! I enjoyed myself and kept going pretty strong on the course. I ran for a while with the dudes from Worchester and sometimes I even got way ahead of them. At about mile 30 though I started to struggle again. Nothing hurt and mentally I felt ok but physically I felt like I was starting to fade. To keep going I told myself that all I had to do was get to mile 40 because that’s when Scott Barras (Mookie), my pacer was going to meet me. You can have a pacer for the last 10 miles and I felt like I could use the company and Scott volunteered so it was good. Actually, at about mile 35 (after mile 32 everything from there on was the longest that I had ever run) I felt good again and was going at a good clip when I met up with Scott. The next 6 or 7 miles with Scott were fun running and talking on some great single track trails. My legs still felt good and I was happy because I knew I’d finish at that point.
Mile 47 was the last aid stop (Johnson’s) and pointlessly the last drop station. At that point I started to really hurt. My legs were starting to seize up and I had to walk most of the next 2 miles, the part going up Mt. Ascutney. But with about 2 miles to go I could start to hear the crowd cheering at the finish and that started to motivate me. Also, until this point I hadn’t looked at my watch once but I knew that the race cutoff was at sunset and the sun was still plenty high in the sky so I was definitely comfortably under the cutoff! With about a mile to go I looked at my watch and it said 10:55… Scott is like, dude, you can still break 11 hours. Yeah, sure, sub 5-minute mile while hobbling. But the best part was to come…
The last mile you break out onto the ski trails and about 500’ below you is the finish line. You snake your way around the ski trails and the crowd is cheering. It’s actually quite a personal feeling because there aren’t a ton of people finishing at once so you really get the feeling that they are cheering just for you which is really awesome. I felt great and I was running well on mile 50 (it was all downhill) and as I approached the finish line I saw Jess there (and Jim who had finished 30 minutes ahead of me). It was quite nice finishing my first 50 mile race (in 11:05). I got a medal. And some food. I actually felt fairly decent too.
It turned out to be a pretty great day and a nice race. I was especially thankful to have Scott there for the last 10 miles because I was able to convince myself that all I had to do was get to mile 40 and then I’d have someone to talk stupid too for the rest of the way. Also, it was super nice seeing Jess at the finish line (and the aid station). I’d definitely do this race and other 50’s (maybe a 100 miler some day?) as well. It was a good challenge and good to overcome some of the annoying physical and mental hurdles that were plaguing me in the weeks prior to the race.
-Dr. Wu
Jess and I drove up on Saturday to check in. We stayed at Sue Lee’s house that night – thanks a lot SueBiscuit for letting us crash! My brother-in-law, Jim also was going to run the race so he came up as well. Sue fed us and I had a few beers that night but didn’t go crazy. Next morning at 6am I was at the start line and the bike riders were starting to go off. Fortunately it was pretty warm out in the morning so shorts and a t-shirt were fine. Jim was there and also Rob (Sasquatch) was there as well.
The course is some kind of a loop: starts and ends at Mt. Ascutney Ski Resort. This was the first time I ran it, and it seemed like the course was mostly split 3 ways between single track, dirt roads and gravel roads. There was also a little regular pavement. For the geeks, I was wearing my New Balance Minimus Trail Shoes and had a camelback waist belt with a holster for my water bottle. I had an array of honey stinger waffles and Hammer Nutrition Electrolyte Tablets with me. And Hammer Gel in my little flask thingy. There was 9 aid stations and 3 of them had drop bags. In my drop bags I had a change of socks, a full water bottle to change out, and some more waffle things, plus replacement energy shots and maybe some other stuff that I didn’t end up using. The camelback waist belt sucked ass because it kept loosening up and falling down. Luckily, I had been smart… since it was my first time using this pack, I stowed away the thing to use to make my water bottle into a hand held water bottle. This was good because I used it like that for about 45 miles of the race.
All I wanted to do was finish under the cutoff time of 12 hours. That’s all I cared about. I had heard that in these sort of ultras, people walk the uphills so that’s what I figured I’d do. I was just going to follow whatever the crowd was doing. This worked to my advantage. About 5 miles into the race I started talking to 2 dudes from Worchester MA (brothers) who were wearing Hoka Dum Dums. They seemed cool so I ran with them for a bit – in the end though, I’d pass them, they’d pass me etc for nearly the entire race. This gave me a lot of confidence because for the most part, there were about 30-40 people running near me the entire race and I figured, if they could do it, so could I so I just stuck with my pace. They were probably thinking the same thing because most of them were also running their first 50 mile race as well and just focusing on having fun and finishing.
Well, it was fun for a while but then you have a big up hill to the aid station at Mile 18 or so, Garvin Hill. Sue Biscuit and my wife, Jess were working the aid station but I really struggled (mentally and physically) the 3 or 4 miles up to the top. I wasn’t thinking about dropping but I did feel a bit frustrated (after the race I found out that a lot of people felt the same way). Oh, and here’s a funny story: at the 2nd aid station one of the volunteers offered me some Hammer Nutrition HEED electrolyte replacement and energy drink. I said that I’d like to try some despite hearing that it was gross and chalky. Mmmmm, the stuff tasted like chocolate milk to me! It was good. What flavor is it, I asked? Lemon-Lime. Yikes, they started to ask if I was ok and I was like, F-yeah, hit me with some more of that tasty chocolate milk stuff. That probably also worked to my benefit because at every subsequent aid station I downed a bunch of the stuff where ordinarily I’d avoid a flavored “drink.”
After seeing Jess at mile 18, I did great on the downhill that followed. In fact, I felt awesome for the next 12 miles! I enjoyed myself and kept going pretty strong on the course. I ran for a while with the dudes from Worchester and sometimes I even got way ahead of them. At about mile 30 though I started to struggle again. Nothing hurt and mentally I felt ok but physically I felt like I was starting to fade. To keep going I told myself that all I had to do was get to mile 40 because that’s when Scott Barras (Mookie), my pacer was going to meet me. You can have a pacer for the last 10 miles and I felt like I could use the company and Scott volunteered so it was good. Actually, at about mile 35 (after mile 32 everything from there on was the longest that I had ever run) I felt good again and was going at a good clip when I met up with Scott. The next 6 or 7 miles with Scott were fun running and talking on some great single track trails. My legs still felt good and I was happy because I knew I’d finish at that point.
Mile 47 was the last aid stop (Johnson’s) and pointlessly the last drop station. At that point I started to really hurt. My legs were starting to seize up and I had to walk most of the next 2 miles, the part going up Mt. Ascutney. But with about 2 miles to go I could start to hear the crowd cheering at the finish and that started to motivate me. Also, until this point I hadn’t looked at my watch once but I knew that the race cutoff was at sunset and the sun was still plenty high in the sky so I was definitely comfortably under the cutoff! With about a mile to go I looked at my watch and it said 10:55… Scott is like, dude, you can still break 11 hours. Yeah, sure, sub 5-minute mile while hobbling. But the best part was to come…
The last mile you break out onto the ski trails and about 500’ below you is the finish line. You snake your way around the ski trails and the crowd is cheering. It’s actually quite a personal feeling because there aren’t a ton of people finishing at once so you really get the feeling that they are cheering just for you which is really awesome. I felt great and I was running well on mile 50 (it was all downhill) and as I approached the finish line I saw Jess there (and Jim who had finished 30 minutes ahead of me). It was quite nice finishing my first 50 mile race (in 11:05). I got a medal. And some food. I actually felt fairly decent too.
It turned out to be a pretty great day and a nice race. I was especially thankful to have Scott there for the last 10 miles because I was able to convince myself that all I had to do was get to mile 40 and then I’d have someone to talk stupid too for the rest of the way. Also, it was super nice seeing Jess at the finish line (and the aid station). I’d definitely do this race and other 50’s (maybe a 100 miler some day?) as well. It was a good challenge and good to overcome some of the annoying physical and mental hurdles that were plaguing me in the weeks prior to the race.
-Dr. Wu
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