I did it! 50 Miles in under 13hrs. Before I go on my race report. I want to thank all of the aid station workers. If it was not for them I would not have finished!
We woke up at 2:00am to be on the road by 3:00. I am a freak about getting to places early, even if it means less sleep. Lucky for me my lovely wife feels the same way. It was worth it. We arrived at Mt. Wilson to a closed gate, CRAP ! We are early. Soon a line formed behind us of anxious racers chomping at the bit to get in. We waited about ten minutes and the gate was opend. A mad rush for parking and then we settled in to our spot for the next few hrs (about16). Registration...smooooth. It is nice when to RD's are organized. I hung out at the truck slowly getting my crap together when I noticed a man loitering by the truck. I said, "you must be Cartocracy". Indeed . We had chatted though the Runners World forum. It was nice to have somebody to hang out with. I finally got my self together and made my way to the starting line. After a brief opening ceremony and race dedication we were OFF!!!!
Lucky for me the first few miles were down the road. Plenty of room to pass people and find my groove. By the time we reached the single track the race was spread out enough that people were not jamming into each other. I had run this part of the course in a training run and was comfortable not go out too hard. I knew I had some 50 miles to go. I hit the Red Box aid station (5.7m) and, oh my, they had pop tarts. I don't have them at home so why not. We continued down hill for a spell, hit some uphill to the Clear Creek aid station (10.8m) and guess what ? Mmmmm more pop tarts. On my way to the Josephine Saddle (13.4), which was almost totally uphill my stomach said, pop tarts, eh......... Dumb ass we don't eat that crap reguarly so why the hell would you stick it in me when you are racing? OK not tooo smart. BUT, I have ginger chews ah........ Dropped one down, tummy problems all gone. The next section was another power hike interspersed with running, still going to be a long day. It was a long haul back to Redbox (21.2M). I hit Redbox, dropped my pack and the aid workers were filling it as fast as they could, checked my drop bag for a hankie, gave some duct tape to Tom and I was off. The next section was great, mostly all down hill. The good kind. The kind that allows you to run and not worry about hammering your quads. I made up some time. But now we are at Westfork( 26.2m) ! What to do? What to do? I have just covered a marathon. Should I pack it in and head up the hill with a respectable 50k finish? Or should I go on into the unknown? If your gonna be a bear be a grizzly......So I'm off to Newcomb (30m). It was a good streatch. I had met Joe as I was leaving Westfork. It was nice, we ran together for the next few hours. We hit Newcomb and dropped our packs right there. We had a short out and back to hit to fill in the miles. As we ran the aid workers filled our packs. It felt soooooo Good to run without them for a while (1m out,1m back). On our return the aid workers were barking drink drink drink. The next section was going to be tough. Tough? Well I summed the next section up with one word: demoralizing......... Eight miles, no aid, no shade, and up up up. I had spent the last few hours enjoying conversation and good company with Joe but I just could not keep up. I was "running" my own race. By mile 38 I was Ok with dropping. I had already run further today than I had ever run before. Not bad for a 40 year old ex-smoker. I reached Shortcut (40.85M) and was quickly asked "WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DRINK RIGHT NOW!!" " SIT ! WE WILL SPONGE YOU DOWN!!" Crap I had to ask them to stop I was getting chills. They were magificent. I thought I was going to quit right there. They were not going to let me. How do I look I asked in my hoarse voice? " Oh, you look GREAT , You can make it no problem. Thats all my male ego needed. Tell me I look good and I'm off........Since I had not really "run" in three hours it took some time to get my leggs moving at a running pace. Did I mention that breathing had become really painfull by now. Apparently my sides had had enough of this shit and were not letting me take full breaths. Mmmmmm problem? Do I hike back up to the aid sation to quit. There is no way in hell I'm going backwards uphill only to quit. Who needs to breath anyway. I'm still moving forward. Not to mention I'm going down hill. So go for it. It was very pleasant all the way back to Westfork (44.7M). Now I have not really eaten much because of the pop tart fiasco. I did have a little beef jerky I packed away in my drop back, It was tasty!! At Westfork I was asked what I wanted to drink. Well, they did not have any Gatoraid and I sure as f*ck did not want ANY MORE Heed. So I loaded up my handheld with Mtn. Dew., over the counter green speed....... Boy was it yummy. I will say that I had sense enough to sip it during the last 5 miles (all, up hill 1900ft). This section was tough, but OK. I had made one training run and I knew what to expect. Thank Goodness. I was ready to see my wife and started power hiking up the hill. I passed a guy. Damn I'm going to make it. Well, I went a little too hard and my quads started to bark and lock up. I had to take a few sitdowns to rest them. Sitting was something I forbade myself to do (I had relented at Shortcut) for fear I would not get my lazy ass back up. This became the norm: walk for a while, sit for 30 seconds, repeat when necessary. I new I was getting close to the top. I could hear the fire engines that came to take care of one of the runners. As I poked out of the trees I did not see any people. Where in the hell is the finish line? I yelled. Felt like yelling I'm sure it sounded like a whisper. Up there I heard. I rounded the corner and saw my lovely wife. She screamed my name and I took off like a rocket........ I had not run that fast the whole entire race. I was moving, no really I was really sprinting. I have no Idea where all the pain went , I just had to get to that finish line where my wife was. I crossed the line, fell into her arms, squeaking " I did it, I did it". Then I collasped.....Once again there complete strangers ready to do anything they could for me. It was incredible. I had never pushed myself that hard before. For a guy that never thought he was going to make it to 25, 40 is looking to be damn good.
