50 Miles Ahead
Sometimes I must ask myself, “what the hell am I thinking running 50 miles?” This in front of my the upcoming Dick Collins Firetrails 50 that takes place this Saturday. In front of my second attempt at this distance, I am feeling mentally strong, but physically not ready. Knowing I ran a strong race this past April at the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run, I feel confident in my abilities to finish the race inside of the 13 hour time limit.
The key to this race, which has twice as much elevation change than the AR50 did, is to keep moving and stay injury free. During the last race, Brian N. twisted the ankle and raced on for another 21 miles before calling it a day, just 9 miles short of the finish. I picked up a knee pain about mile 10 that stuck with me the remainder of the day, making for a very long day of running. Like any race once you lose the mental aspect of running it makes it very difficult to finish the race. Those thoughts never entered my mind during the previous race and I feel that after about 12.5 hours we will cross start/finish line.
That total time is contingent on how well I have planned this race based on our average mile time over the entire course. The challenge, which could be seen as the entire race by some, will be making the turn at Tilden Park, where we face a 1200′ climb up Steam Trains. While I had intended to run this portion of the course, I failed to get up to that part of the course, but was able to knock out about 10 miles around Lake Chabot, so our split chart is based on what I have already run. With any luck on Saturday we SHOULD finish with about :24 minutes to spare. Yet, as we saw at the AR50, you can quickly loose that “extra time.” I know I don’t need to remind Brian about “the meat grinder.”
I swore I was going to fuel myself better during this race, but haven’t really come with any new alternatives. Right now I am considering burritos, every 5 miles and a bowl of mac & cheese at mile 26. Based on the room in my hydration pack, I should be able to get enough burritos to cover the first half of the race and reload at the midway point. The mac and cheese will be “dairy free” and cheese free. I can see many scratching their heads, “how is that cheese?” What I need is for my fuel to stay fresh as the day rolls on. I got tired of dates and my homemade Larabars before we were halfway through the race.
The other issue was my hydration. While I felt hydrated all race, water got boring to drink. I made the mistake of picking up a cup of lemon line and talk about sugary! It was a nice change, but no way am I going to hydrate with liquids like this. I do plan on picking up some Nuun Hydration tablets. I have used these a few times during training runs and while I had hoped to remain supplement free, I feel confident this decision will be beneficial during the race.
The best part of the race, running with my partner, Brian N. This will be our third race together and our running abilities are very similar. We were makes great time (for us) during the AR50 until injuries beset both of us, which slowed our pace. But being able to communicate, as well as lead and follow over the course of the day really helps. Listening to music is nice, although I won’t be bringing any, just talking and having someone keep pushing you really helps. I also expect to see Amer B. at some of the aid stations. It was his grin and hug that really gave me that second wind and made me believe “yes, I will finish this race!” While it would be better to have Amer racing along side, injury has him sidelined, but what better way to support those who run?
As with my first 50 mile race, the goal is to finish. While not worried about my overall time, as long I cross the finish line, I win. It’s another opportunity to see how far I can push my body. Hopefully I can provide some images and text via Facebook and Instagram during the race. Looking forward to the challenge.
