Potawatomi Recap 2

Ok, I wasn't going to publish this report but I decided I should for a couple of reasons. First I did take the time to write it back in April and it was a different experience for me that I think is worth noting meaning trying to be a pacer versus a racer. At Potawatomi, I had planned to run one loop by myself as I wanted to give a bit of thought to things from my past, my reason for that is that the race was on my Dad's birthday. He died in 1983 and I thought it would be good to take the time to remember things. This is a long post so sorry about that but I debated breaking it up and decided since it was personal most folks would understand.

As to the race, my plan was to pace Wayne and Karen for the first 2 loops, run loop 3 on my own for myself and reserve 2 more loops for them. As a reminder, Wayne and Karen were doing the 100 and I was hoping to do 50 miles but my main goal was to help them and give my ankle a reasonable test. It was Wayne's second attempt at a 100 and Karen's third attempt at McNaughton. On the drive down we went through many race scenarios all of which were contingent on things going well. If the weather and the course were good, I knew that they would both finish. If conditions turned bad at McNaughton, well it is a tough course and that would be a problem was our conclusion.

The weather when we arrived was in the mid 60's with a forecast for upper 70's the next day. The water in the creeks was low, so we were expecting very good running conditions. Our plan was to try and mimic the pace from last year plus about 10 minutes, that meant a 2 and 1/2 hour first loop followed by a 2 hour and 40 minute second loop. Not too fast, I think we thought that the initial part of the race would be easy, relatively speaking. One thing not in the forecast was the rain we got right before the race. Unfortunately, the rain made the course almost un-runnable. Part of the issue was I chose to run in my Brooks Cascadia's, not a good mud shoe at least with the steepness of the McNaughton hills. The hills were scary on the way down and very slippery on the way up, grabbing small tress and branches was required.  With regards to our plan, the mud made it not happen, the first loop took 2 hours and 50 minutes and it felt like we pushed it a lot harder than we should have had to. The second loop took almost 3 hours.

I wasn't happy that I failed to get them through the first two loops any faster and that it took a little more out of me than I had hoped. I sent Wayne and Karen on their way and took a chair. I was hoping that I had slowed them down and that without me slowing them down that they would find a nice pace. Rick said he was going out on his own to take some pictures. I liked his idea and decided to do the same thing except I grabbed my phone to take pictures. As I started the third loop, I could tell the heat was coming on but it also was drying up the course which was good. I had even more ankle pain. To quantify the pain, during the first two loops every step hurt a little when I landed or pushed off and occasionally the steps hurt a lot. The third loop seemed to be more of the "lot" versus a "little".

To take my mind off of my own issues, I started to try and remember things about my dad, he died in 1983 at the age of 54, he was overweight, smoked, drank too much beer, loved to play golf, listen to the Cincinnati Reds and IU (Indiana University) basketball, he was a caring man and I wish he had lived much longer. He died of a heart attack while in his Doctor's office. He was in a preventative program to reduce his risk of a heart attack and had just completed a stress test when his heart went in a-fib but they couldn't get it stopped (to be honest, I may be wrong about it being a-fib but that is what I remember). On a related note, his father died the evening after he did a stress test (back in the 70's). My older brother has told his Doctor he will never do one. Not sure how I feel about doing one.

I then thought about my mom, she died in 1989 of colon cancer. She was alive when our first daughter was born and I still have strong memories of her with Katie. We have a picture of them together with the Easter bunny. I do wish that my parents could have lived to see our girls grow up but it wasn't meant to be. I have the memories but my girls do not. I also thought of my niece Sarah who was born 6 months ahead of Katie but died before her first birthday. She had neuroblastoma, was diagnosed in 1986 and we thought that part of what kept my mom from recognizing her colon cancer was the time she spent trying to help my brother and his wife as they dealt with their cancer stricken daughter. Those were not easy days on my family and for me living in MN, I felt even more removed and helpless to help out. Thankfully I have 3 brothers and a sister who carried the load of dealing with Mom. I should really write a bit more about my mom but will save it for another post.

Next up in my thoughts was our daughter Kellie who died before she was born. She would have been our second daughter but was stillborn at 25 weeks. Needless to say my wife and I were devastated when she no longer felt movement and then we went in for the ultrasound where no heartbeat was heard. They were able to determine what might have caused her death, my wife has a blood clotting issue (it is called anti-phospholipid syndrome - her blood clots too well). After the diagnosis we decided to try again right away to have another child which led to our miracle baby, Kristin. I remember my brother and his wife the Christmas after Kellie when we discussed her, how one of them said that our loss was harder than theirs, we had no time with Kellie but they were given almost a year with Sarah. That made me feel better but I still can't imagine their loss.

My wife had to give herself heparin shots throughout the pregnancy to manage the clotting problem, we dealt with many Doctors, she endured nose bleeds when the heparin dosage got too high, hematoma from one of  the 3x daily injections. It was not an easy time but the result was worth it, our baby girl is now looking at colleges as she finishes up her junior year. I still remember our eldest daughter saying that she hoped that this baby would live. Katie has now graduated from college, is working out in the real world and has developed into a great young lady. Needless to say we are quite proud of both of our girls.

My mind wandered and the miles floated by, the ability to have this happen during an ultra is one of my reasons for loving ultras, it just doesn't happen for me during shorter runs. It was a surreal experience and I struggled to keep it all together. Meaning, there were times I just stopped and had to take a deep breath to hold back the emotions.  I kept thinking how blessed I have been with a wonderful wife and my daughters. Part of my struggle, I admit was that my ankle was killing me, the downhills were brutal, the uphills hurt and the flats weren't much fun either so I was forced to walk more than I ran and I had doubts about if I would be able to help Wayne and Karen. I knew I had committed to do it so I was going to give it my best shot.

I then started remembering the homes that I lived in when I grew up in Columbus. My mind moved through every room at our housed on Pearl street, I remembered friends and things I did in that neighborhood. Then I moved my mind towards our house on 734 California where we moved when I was in high school. Then I remembered my Grandmother's house which was on 732 California. My parents moved into it after my grandmother died. A weird thing was that I was able to remember the house when my Grandmother and Grandfather lived there but my parents redid the house and I could not for the life of me remember it properly. I kept thinking about where the kitchen was and the back porch which got transformed into my parent's bedroom. I think part of my issue was that they redid the house after I was in college or was it after I graduated, anyway the memories I should have had, I struggled to remember.

About then, my loop was coming to an end and it was getting hot, real hot. The forecast had changed to the upper 70's/low 80's. Since we had had 0 days over 60 to train in, it was going to be hard on Wayne and Karen. I made it back chatted with Rick, his dad and his friend. I hung out until Wayne and Karen came through and then I went into the tent to try to get some sleep. Rick was going to finish out his 50 with them and then I would continue. I had a heck of a time dozing off but finally did. They got me up before they arrived so I had time to get my bearings and get my mind back into it. As they came into at 60 miles, Rick told me that they had gotten pretty quiet and that I should just keep them moving.

The ankle was hurting but I was going to try and do my job as pacer for the second time. I asked them what they wanted and they really weren't too talkative, I moved ahead of them, stayed along side of them, asked occasional questions and tried to help at the aid stations. We were mostly walking which was ok by me, it was pretty at night, peaceful and the temps were still very pleasant, not hot but definitely warm like on a summer night. We continued around the loop, I was trying to keep the pace quick and tried to keep our stops in the aid stations short. Frankly, pacing is hard (meaning I am not very good at it, much easier to run your own race). During this loop I kept having an internal debate could I do one more loop with them? Should I do one more loop with them? The battle within went from yes you can, no you can't and as we crossed the last creek, I was really struggling. I moved up ahead of them to try and pull them along. As we came up over the last hill, they started to talk amongst themselves which was odd as they had been quiet during the entire loop. I had decided that I should/couldn't go on and was trying to decided how to tell them, I didn't want to let them down but I didn't think I could make another loop. Turns out their discussion was that they were quiting but they wanted me to finish my 50 so they were discussing that they would do one more loop with me. I told them no and we called it an evening.

We were all disappointed but the course conditions and the weather had been brutal up to that point. If they had continued, the temps on Sunday got up to 86 with a very strong wind. I think they made the right call.

I have to end this post with an update, Wayne finished his 100 at Kettle where he figured out how to tolerate another tough weather day. Karen went down and helped pace him, she was far more effective than I was. I am thrilled that Wayne got his first 100 except knowing Wayne he might now be thinking about running the Potawatomi 150 next year and be looking for a pacer, I think I will recommend Karen :-).

McNaughton Race Report

The Plan
As many may remember the story of this race goes back a few weeks when I was worried about the snow at Chippewa and Wayne and Karen wanted a third or fourth or fifth person to go with them to McNaughton. So with the support of my wife (Karyn, a potential future ultra runner :-) I decided to do McNaughton where I would get to do 5 10 mile loops through hills and creeks and whatever else McNaughton had to throw at us. Wayne and I were planning on doing the 50 mile event and Karen was doing the 100 mile event.

So before we left I plotted out my strategy and it went something like this, run the first loop easy and don't be too bummed if you lose 10 minutes on each loop and under no circumstances do anything that would take you out for the season plus figure out how to take in fuel meaning food during an ultra. The reason behind this thinking was the lack of real training that I had done for this race. I was training for a 50k and probably hadn't done enough for it but I figured hey it's only 19 more miles I could walk a lot if needed as the cut off was 34 hours and even though it was for the 100 milers we 50 milers could use it if we needed to.

The Drive
We left on Friday at 7:00 am from the twin cities and had a relative calm ride to Pekin. We enjoyed a few CDs. One of the CD's was from Vicki, she had sent it to Wayne and it had many enjoyable songs, one of which was about UP'ers which was fairly entertaining. Karen provided a report on the Bon Jovi concert she had attended so of course we listened to a few of his CD's. As the drive continued, we discussed our race strategies, mine stayed the same, Wayne wanted to gain confidence for Ice Age and Karen wanted a finish. By the time we got done, it seemed they figured they would run with me as I was the most probable to set an easy first loop pace. We arrived at McNaughton a little before 4 pm and proceeded to set up our campsites. One of the neat things about McNaughton is that they let you camp right in the park for free, granted there is no water or electricity but hey it's free. We ended up being within a few feet of the start/finish line, can't do that at most races. We picked up our packets and went back to camp to eat. Karen had brought the ingredients for spaghetti and it was very good, much better than what I have had at many marathons. After we ate, we pretty much talked for a bit and then headed to our tents as the sun was setting and the race had a 6 am start.

Race Day
My alarm went off around 5, I got up, ate a bar for breakfast along with a cup a coffee and I was ready to go. It was a relative warm morning, mid 40's but I still chose a long sleeve technical shirt (Surf the Murph) along with my first Chippewa shirt. They gave us our last minute instructions one of which was that there wouldn't be a rope on the golf course hill but Rich said don't worry, you won't need it since it is nice and dry. He also said that they would be renaming the race to something else than McNaughton like "Potawatomi Trail" races, although he didn't go into the why of the name change it all goes back to the previous race director (Andy) who moved to Vermont and decided to continue to use his old race name for an ultra series in Vermont. The new race director has taken a lot of flack from the ultra crowd for continuing the race with the McNaughton name. To me this is absurd. The race is run in McNaughton Park. Does Andy want them to rename the park too? This would be like Larry leaving Minnesota, taking the Superior name with him and then getting people riled up that someone in Minnesota would keep the Superior name for the races up on the Superior trail. Stupid. Everyone should be thanking Rich and his son for keeping alive a great ultra. I hate when adults act like children. Ok enough of my editorial.

Before I get into the details of my race here are pictures that we all took that Wayne pulled together into an album. Between them all you might get a bit of a feel for the course and if you want you can skip the details of my race.

McNaughton Pictures

Loop 1
If you continued on reading, you have my sympathy, anyway after the race director talks we were soon off and running. We started with a downhill into a meadow and then uphill across a field and unto single track. Karen and Wayne were kind enough to let me set the pace. Actually, Wayne has a pretty good knack of always moving to the back of the line. So we meandered our way around at my nice easy pace. The initial loop at McNaughton was an interesting experience, the hills were steep, the creeks weren't too deep as they hadn't had too much rain so the course wasn't as bad as I thought it would be at least concerning the mud. One thing about this loop is that I kind of came to figure out that it has 3 unique sections to it. The initial part through the totem pole aid station and up the steep hill by the golf course where they normally had the rope (we joked that maybe Andy came back and took the rope too), the middle section which took you from the golf hill through the heavens gate aid station and then back by the aid station a second time and then the final section which I think was the most runnable and the most enjoyable. There were two creek crossings one in the first section and one in the last section that were mid calf or so high and many stream crossings through out where you would get wet and/or muddy. I loved going around the loop and getting a feel for the course, we had talked about running the first loop in 2:20, through out the loop I kept looking at my watch and it appeared we were going slower than plan. I was also starting to puff up so I was concerned I was getting behind on my hydration. Turns out I looked at my Garmin and it said 9.5 miles as we crossed under the clock right at 2:20 so apparently all the turns and twists kept the Garmin from being completely accurate.

Loop 2
We stayed together throughout loop 2, I knew I was slowing down a bit and we walked a few areas that we had run in the previous loop which pretty much fit right to my plan. One thing that I became aware of in this loop was that I was noticing the hills a bit more than in the first loop. I think if I remember correctly, McNaughton has 6 to 8 steeper hills per loop or at least ones that really catch your attention. My hydration seemed to still be an issue as it was continuing to get hotter so I was a bit worried about how I would hold up. Do I take more S-caps, slow down, drink more water, drink less, hope? I had told myself that I was going to figure out how to eat during an ultra, that concept started to disappear in this loop as I was more worried about my hydration. We completed loop 2 in 2:33, pretty much on schedule and at the end of this loop we all changed shoes. Wayne was wearing his monkey shoes which we ended up dubbing as Fred Flintstone shoes. I was impressed that he did 20 miles in them. Karen changed out of her gore-tex shoes as they were retaining water and I changed as my toes were getting crunched and I thought the other shoes I had would be better.

Loop 3
I talked early on about separating from Wayne and Karen as I figured that they would hold the loop 2 time and I needed to get the swelling down in my hands and by now my stomach was beginning to cramp as well. So I let them get ahead of me a bit by the first aid station, I thought I was right where I wanted to be. I lost sight of them after a bio break but figured I might still see them during the loop so no worry as I thought I was still on pace. After the 1st creek crossing, I came across a runner who was struggling, it was the guy whose was camping right next to us. He was running the 100 and he said he was cramping up so I asked if he had any S-Caps and he said no, so I gave him a few and we soon separated (meaning I took off from him). As I was climbing up the golf hill I took a fairly big step and I received an immediate sharp pain in my right achilles. I took another step and received confirmation that something wasn't right, I kind of hopped, crawled the rest of the way up the hill. I thought to myself great, what am I going to do. I sat down on the trail and tried to massage the achilles to see if I had a pain point. I couldn't really isolate it to an area so I decided to try and walk it off. Of course the thought going through my head was did you just blow your entire year? In the flatter areas, it seemed ok, on the hills though it was a problem so I tried to turn side wise, tried going backwards, tried taking baby steps with my right leg and longer steps with my left, pretty much anything I could do to avoid going straight up the hill. It was a struggle. I decided to do more walking than running to make sure that I wasn't doing anymore damage and I thought if nothing else maybe I would get my hydration under control. It was during this loop that my tolerance for my Clif Shot Electrolyte pretty much ended and I switched to Heed, it tasted ok, so maybe something good would come of this. As the loop went on and things didn't seem to get worse I tried to either fast walk or run whenever I could. Loop 3 ended up taking a little over 3 hours.

Loop 4
I grabbed some more fuel and changed my shoes and socks again as I was starting to get some hot spots on my left foot and I figured it couldn't hurt and maybe the change would prevent me from getting a blister. As I left camp I even tried to eat and drink a bit but as I walked down the hill I gagged and had to quit eating, great a sore achilles and now major stomach issues. As I walked around the meadow getting baked by the sun, I thought, man am I having fun? My answer was NO. Why do I do this was what kept popping into my head. I am a failure, what was I thinking by doing this, I am not an ultra runner, if only I had gone to Chippewa, I would be done and maybe I wouldn't hurting so much, as I went on I continued with this type of internal dialogue. Basically nothing but negative thoughts. As I climbed the hill coming out of the meadows section, I struggled, the pain was high and I had to stop multiple times to allow it to settle out. I finally got to the top of the hill and was walking across the field towards the single track when I told myself I am done so I sat down under a tree to ponder what to do. I was within a few hundred feet of the start/finish and I knew the smart thing might be to walk over and call it a day. As I sat there, two things popped into my head, I still had 25 hours to finish and I wanted to get Illinois done on my state list, but should I go on? So I called my wife and asked for her opinion, she is usually more sane or level headed than I on such decisions. She suggested since I had a lot of time that I walk over the finish area and ice it down for awhile and then decide. So I hobbled over to the aid station, they gave me a bag of ice and I went over to our campsite and there I sat pondering more what to do. After about 25 minutes, I came to the conclusion that I should try so I threw the ice into our cooler and off I went. About then my Garmin popped up to inform me that my last mile was 45 minutes, now that is not a mile pace to be proud of but I figured I could maintain it and get done in time :-). The first hill I came to had me thinking maybe this wasn't a good idea and what really had me bothered was that with all of the walking and sitting my hand swelling and stomach were still issues. I finally came into the totem pole aid station and they offered me Ginger Ale and that hit the spot, I also found that standing in the creeks for 2 or 3 or more minutes felt good. After I drank the ginger ale of cousrs I remembered that I had brought along ginger chews for this exact reason, too bad I had left them in the tent. Loop 4 finally ended after about 4 hours and it seemed like the pain in the achilles area was less or at least not worse unfortunately the hot spot issue on my left foot was a whole lot worse, I debated seeking some assistance but I didn't want to deal with taking off the wet shoes and socks and frankly asking for help is not something I am very good at.

Loop 5
Off I went with my lights as I knew barring a complete healing and a miracle I would be finishing in the dark, oh well, something else to experience. The first half was a struggle, I just kept trying to go forward, running was barely happening as I would have pain as things got extended and each foot strike on the now probable blister hurt. I was still struggling with the hydration and swelling but at least it was getting cooler and I wasn't getting any worse but I was still bumming that I wasn't getting better. I finally made it to the heavens gate aid station as darkness descended, during the heavens gate loop I actually passed a couple of other 50 milers in this section, I guess despite my issues, I was better off than some. As I started into the final 3 mile section, I thought to myself, you are going to do this. Your time will suck but you are going to do it. During this section the owls were going nuts and I was constantly thinking I heard things around me. Running in the dark is an interesting thing to experience especially on a loop that I somewhat knew but not completely, at least I hadn't missed a turn. As I got to the final creek crossing, I waded in and stood there, shut off my lights and looked up at the stars, it was so peaceful and that cold water really felt good. This is so cool was all I could think of, I wanted to be done but I just couldn't budge myself. About then, I heard some 100 milers coming up and since I was trying to stay ahead of them I waded on out of the creek and off I went with a little more than a mile to the finish. As I approached the finish, I passed another 50 miler and as I hobbled or wobbled my way to the finish all I could think of was I am going to do this. Loop 5 completed, finish time 15:07:xx something. I was tired but satisfied.

Post Race
Wayne greeted my at the finish and helped me get things as I was pretty much useless. I wrapped up in the blankets I had brought and iced the achilles. As I did so, I kind of determined that the tender spot was right at the achilles/calf junction point which I thought might be ok. I had torn the same calf muscle years ago so maybe it was nothing but a mild calf strain caused by dehydration and overextending it. As I sat there I had multiple muscle cramps. Eventually, I crawled into the tent and changed into dry clothes. This took a while too as I continued to cramp. I also clearly learned that tents aren't ideal for getting into or out of after a 50 mile adventure, probably 10 or 15 minutes later I emerged and of course I uttered that infamous phrase "I am not sure I am cut out to do this" as I thought to myself never again, knowing by the next day that I would be thinking it wasn't that bad. About 20 minutes later, Wayne and I walked over and got food, I actually ate a 1/2 of a hamburger without getting sick. It tasted so good I went back and got another 1/2 as I hobbled over, I noticed that they were dealing with a blister on a 100 miler so after she finished with him, I asked if she could take a look at mine. She looked at it and said I should have dealt with it earlier, I nodded and said I had thought about it, she proceeded to pop it, cover it in antibiotic cream and tape it all up (for anyone curious, the blister was a couple inches across right behind my toes). It still hurt but at least I had dealt with it.

Odds and Ends
Wayne finished and did well, he will probably post about it in a few weeks. Karen ended up dropping after 70 miles with stomach issues. I know she was disappointed but I think she made the right call, she was still having some issues the next day and I think there is only so much one should push through as one runner who finished at McNaughton ended up in the hospital. I came to learn that I can't imagine how anyone finishes a 100 mile race, there are so many things that can go wrong and the determination I saw is beyond me. Turns out that the guy in the tent next to us (the guy I gave the S-caps to) thought he had won and so did the race folks but they ended up later saying he only did 9 laps. He thought otherwise but that is where it was when we left, his story from a few years back is kind of interesting, check it out.

Why?
When I left for McNaughton I said I was going to ponder the "why" of why do I want to do ultras. So I thought it fitting to wrap up this post with the result of this pondering. The reality is that I never once thought about the "why" until Wayne asked me in the car on the way home if I discovered the "why".

So I think that is my answer, I really don't think about the "why". I think I just do them for no other reason than I enjoy the challenge. Beyond that simplistic answer I do know that the training and the events themselves do give me peace, serenity and satisfaction and help me feel closer to God as I ponder the wonders of life and the world.

Recovery
On Monday the only thing that was really sore was the foot that I had the blister popped on and a lower left hamstring was sore and tight. I did notice that the calf/achilles was tender to the touch. It took a few days longer for the blister to start feeling better and I have yet to run as my work schedule has had me distracted but I am pretty sure I will be fine when I do. It was a fun trip to take, Wayne and Karen helped me get through this and we had a lot of great conversations who knows maybe I will even do another one with them some day. I am sure I have left out many details but hopefully I have included enough for me to remember this trip for a long time, my thanks to Wayne and Karen for bringing me along.

McNaughton short version

I completed it, had issues, took a lot of time, had a lot of fun and I think incurred no major damage.

Long report and pictures will follow soon.

Surf the Murph pictures and other facts

A few pieces of additional info which I failed to include in my race report.

First I read Kel's report (great job Kel) and she reminded me about the bridge which we all were sliding off of. My thanks to Steve L. who pulled me up.

I am pretty surprised as to what was sore the next day, mainly my shoulders and back. My feet seem fine and my legs are fine. I did take it real easy on Sunday but on Monday I was able to walk the stairs at work with no issues. Today I had planned to get a run in but it didn't work out right after work and then I wimped out going in the rain and the dark. So a few days later all is well and here are a few things about the race some might enjoy.

Imported from BimActive

Route

Route Name:	Surf The Murph 2009
Location:	--
Distance:	51.34 miles
Elevation Avg:	953 ft
Total Uphill:	+4868 ft
Total Downhill:	-4868 ft
Elevation Net:	+0 ft
Difficulty:	4.5

Elevation (ft.)

Pace by loop per my garmin (as I left the start/finish on each loop)
Loop 1 - 16.01 miles - 3:47:15 - 14:12 min/mile
Loop 2 - 32.06 miles - 7:54:55 (loop 2 time = 4:07:40 - 15:26 min/mile)
Loop 3 - 48.22 miles - 12:39:19 (loop 3 time = 4:44:24 - 17:36 min/mile)
Loop 4 - 51.34 miles - 13:40:36 (loop 2 time = 1:01:17 - 19:39 min/mile)

Pretty easy to see how I ran out of gas as the fueling issues and the pain increased. When I looked at my mile splits I was where I wanted to be up through mile 44. Now the last 6 miles, I believe the best way to describe them is as "a walk in the park". I think my training worked out except the longest back to back mileage days on a weekend oddly enough was 42 miles, pretty much where I tanked. I may want to push an extra 6 miles out on a few weekends and see if that helps next time. I also have to admit I was fairly freaked out during loop 2 as I was afraid of what I would experience in loop 3. Once in loop 3, I was afraid if I would be able to walk the next day. Now that I know what to expect, I think I can push it a lot more in loop 3 and a bit more in loop 2 especially if I get the fueling working a bit better.

One last thing, although I thought I was on the verge of dehydration at times, when I got home I weighed myself and I was only a pound down so I think I did get myself rehydrated with the slow down in loop 3.

I also wish I had a camera with me to take a few picture out on the course. Maybe next time I will have one to take with me but here are a few my wife took during the race.

Wayne and myself coming in with loop 2 almost complete.

Me after I stooped to talk with my family, feeling good still but if you look close you can almost read my mind and based off of the look on my face it probably was "I can't believe I have one more lap".

Wayne and me coming into the finish

At the finish, yes I was happy to smile and I felt better than I expected but I was tired.

Ok, maybe I wasn't doing that good after all, feel free to laugh at me for this picture but I couldn't resist posting it. I could not believe how hungry I was when I got done nor could I believe that I ate pizza. It normally takes me a few hours to be able to eat after a race.

I still know I am forgetting a few things but that's it for now.

Surf the Murph 2009

Here's my short report:

I finished my first 50, great course, great family support, great volunteer support, great aid stations, great job Les and Cindy and great runners to share it with.

Here's my long report (and it is long):

I got to the race a little after 5 which gave me plenty of time to get things organized. I had already dropped a bag at the horse trail station so that was a go. I picked up my number. Along the way I saw Wayne and Karen. I made a few last decisions as to what I wanted to carry versus throwing in my other bag. The weather was brisk with a bit of breeze but all things considered it was looking to be a good day. As we waited around, I even stepped out of my shell and introduced myself to Carl G. I have seen him at many races and figured I should say hello. Before I knew it, I was standing in line and we were off. We had four loops ahead for our day, the first loop was a short 3.2 mile loop followed by 3 longer 15.6 mile loops. Since I had run my training runs down in Murphy, I wasn't too worried as I knew the course well. We would be running 9 or so miles in the northern section which was hillier and more sheltered and the other 6+ in the southern section which was much more runnable. The time seemed to fly by and we had to be nearing the right turn that would start our return back to the start/finish and end the first short loop. Something didn't seem right as I thought it should have come up already. Did we miss the turn? No way, I knew the course we hadn't come to the 2nd gate. Granted it was in the dark and I was following a group but there is no way I could have missed it. We were trying to decide what to do as we were all getting nervous that we had missed it. The first loop was 3.2 miles and we were at 2 miles (I was thinking we missed it but how) then 2.5 miles (I knew we missed it) and then we came upon the first aid station (Yup, we missed it - this aid station was staffed by a friend from work, Paul and Steve G). Which caused another concern the aid station wasn't where we thought it should be. We had thought that we would be taking a spur back into a clearing, if so we missed it too. We figured we might as well continue to run the big loop and make up the short loop on the 2nd loop and we were hoping that since the aid station was moved maybe Les had changed the course, let's hope so.

We soon were looping our way to the horse trail aid station when another group of runners were coming back, they too had missed the turn and were trying to decide what to do. We told them we had too and that we were going to continue on and let Les know, figuring that as long as we ran the loop we would be ok and if not well, a DQ would be a first too. I felt pretty good as we ran along and then I looked at my watch 56 minutes into the race, I had not taken a drink. I had been so pre-occupied with where we were that I had forgotten to drink or take any S-caps. Great, my first 50 and I was well on my way to dehydration, I told myself to relax and start drinking. Onto the horse station where Londell greeted us warmly. We would be coming back to his aid station another 5 times since the southern loop basically starts and ends at the aid station. I was running with a small group that included Wayne, Karen, Rick and a few others and I was catching up on the fluids and S-caps so I was thinking it was going to go well. I should also mention that I did not have the gumption to come in a costume but Wayne (convict), Karen (SuperWomen) and Rick (an outhouse complete with toilet bowl) all did. I hope someone got a picture of Rick's a it was real creative.

Soon we were into the next aid station which was staffed by Helen (and I think Don), Helen is a great ultrarunner. Yet another fact that makes me love the trail and ultra scene, when was the last time you saw a marathon winner staffing an aid station? She had brought banana bread which I declined, I asked for a beer which she said she had, I then declined and said maybe on loop 2 or 3. It was neat leaving her station as we had a quick singletrack section that took us back to the trail, we continued on around and I was starting to pick up many other course changes from the loops I had run in training. It had me a bit lost but I loved the fact that it was different. We continued around the loop until we came back into Londell's station (there were some folks who helped at his station so my apologies for not knowing their names). I ended up running with Wayne for a lot of this loop, it sure made the time pass quickly. From there we had some more single track and then back into the northern section where Les gave us another course change from our training runs. We turned left and climbed a hill, it was the hill that would give us a view of Minneapolis. We continued up the hill and where I figured he would loop us back for the view of Minneapolis we continued on up the hill further and then went back down a steep hill when all of a sudden we turned right onto a singletrack trail that I didn't know existed and the truth be told this one was much more like a deer trail than anything else. We worked our way through it and then we climbed up a very steep hill where we popped out of the woods with the view of Minneapolis. It was a great change to the course. We worked our way through a bit more singletrack, over a few logs and on back to the start/finish. Loop 1 took about 3 hours and 45 minutes, right on my goal pace, my fast goal pace but it meant I was on track for my time goal of 13 hours. We talked to Les who said not to worry about missing the turn on the short loop he would have us finish it at the end.

As we started loop 2 I debated what to grab for fluids as I had it all planned it all out for the short loop and then a big loop. Now what to do. I again told myself to relax, grab what you think you need and get going. There were plenty of aid stations if I needed more. I had lost track of Wayne at this station but I knew he would be coming by me soon enough. Sure enough he did and we again ended up running much of the second loop near each other. I did enjoy a comment Paul made to me as I came into the first aid station, he said something like you look tired. I was as had been running with Karen. As I continued on, I was trying to slow my pace down in this loop and had encouraged Wayne, Karen and Rick to get ahead of me. I ended up staying fairly close to them which wasn't good as I was convinced I couldn't keep pace with them. My race plans were to allow 15 minutes more per loop that way I wouldn't freak out if I started to slowdown, my goal was just to keep moving. Now I did hope that each loop would be consistent but I had no idea what I would go through in loop 3 so I wanted to err on the conservative side. As we neared the end of loop 2, I had a nice surprise my whole family was there to great me (my wife and both of my daughters had come out, what a nice surprise). We finished loop 2 in about 4 hours, again right on my planned pace. I remember coming into loop 2 thinking how nice it would be to just be running the 50k.

Loop 3 was a bear, my feet were real sore, my legs were cramping up and it felt like I was consuming my body for fuel. I had not been able to eat much as I had been on the verge of nausea for part of the first loop and pretty much all of the second loop and of course it continued in loop 3. Every time the nausea got bad I would take an S-cap. I had a real difficult time keeping track of time as it related to my S-cap consumption was it 10 minutes ago or 30 or ?.

My wife and I had discussed that she would pace me in the southern loop which I had hope would give me a boost. Another thing that I had planned on doing was switching coats as I was getting a bit chilled at times. The day was interesting when you were in the trees or sheltered from the wind and the sun was out you would heat up, then the breeze would hit and I would get cold. I was running by myself along the northern section which was fine and I was thinking that I just might be able to do it as I climbed the second hill along a stretch that I call the section 6 hills. They have markings at Murphy that I have never quite figured out and the hills from section 6 are the hardest to work your way through.

I continued on to the horse aid station where my wife was waiting for me. I switched socks and shoes and grabbed my gore-tex jacket. I could not believe how nice the dry socks felt. I also cramped up as I changed into the socks, it was funny when I looked down and saw two toes at basically right angles from the cramping and I would have laughed except it hurt, I grabbed the foot and got the cramp to stop, finished putting on the socks, slapped on the shoes and we were off. Except, I was pretty much useless as my feet were pretty sore, basically it felt like I had plantar fascia in both feet. Every step hurt and it really hurt when I tried to run. We made it to the lake and I knew I needed to do something or I was in trouble. So I sat down and laced the shoes as tight as I could. When I got back up (which I was happy to see that I could do), I was able to bear the pain of shuffling along regardless of the style I was glad to get going again. We made it to the Helen aid station and as we pulled into it I had caught up to Wayne and Rick. That caught me by surprise as I figured they were way ahead of me. As we left the station we kept them in sight all the way to the Londell station. From there my wife was going to drive to the start/finish area and we had planned on running the final 3 miles together. Wayne and I took off and we worked our way through the singletrack and back into the northern section. We both were pretty well content with walking it in. I had hopes that I would recover some and be able to run but as we walked along talking I was real happy to be finishing with Wayne. We both kept telling each other to feel free to take off and neither of us did. As we took in the final view of Minneapolis from the hilltop, we both knew we had it. We made it to the start finish where we were loudly cheered on. They had told us they had placed cones 1.55 miles out and we could not miss them so we headed out. On the other loops I had figured out the turn (each time through I made a mental note, turn right at number 4, second gate) so I was thinking we would do the actual loop but as we thought about the course change they made for us, we figured they were right as we might have missed it again or taken another wrong turn. My wife was enjoying the night run, she had never run in the dark on trails before and I am sure she will doing the 25k or 50k next year. Wayne and I continued the walk to the cones and on the way we passed Karen and then Rick, it was nice to see that they were still going. We made the turn around and on the way back we passed Kel and a couple of other folks whose names I don't know. As we approached the finish, I had a great feeling of satisfaction come over me. I was an ultrarunner.

A couple of other things, my Garmin made it the entire race and it showed 13 hours and 40 minutes and 50.9 miles which when uploaded into SportTracks came in at 51.34 miles.

I have a lot of things still going through my mind concerning this race but I figured I should get this post out so don't be surprised to see a few more posts coming out fairly soon and some of them may have a picture or two. One thing that did go through my mind is 100 miles is still beyond my comprehension but another 50 mile race might be kind of fun.

My thanks to all of the volunteers, you were great, to Les and Cindy for putting this event on, your hard work is appreciated, to my wife and family for putting up with me during the fall training, for your race support and to my wife for pacing me and to Wayne, Karen and Rick and for the many other others who helped me get through this. It was a blast.