Let’s start off by reviewing March and then we’ll get to the American River 50. March was the best month that I’ve had as a runner. I guess this would be expected considering what I am training for. It consisted of 22 runs, 246 miles and 32,081 feet of climbing. All PRs for me. But the best part of March, and what really made it a great month, was the fun I had running with all my family and friends. What a supportive group of wonderful people that I am lucky to have during this time in my life. So many people to run with, get advice from, go to Auburn Alehouse with and just generally hang out and be goofy with. It’s a great time. I also had my first WS100 Crew meeting this month. The crew and pacers are all set and it seems like everything, except for the outfits (skirt color is the current hot topic), are put in place and plans are coming together. Okay…onto the AR50.
So my philosophy and approach to this race was different this year than any other of the past 2 years that I ran it. This year it was a check-point…a training run…so to speak. I read somewhere that saying that a race is “a training run” is an “excuse to do poorly”…I wasn’t planning on letting that happen. This year there were a couple of things that made this race even more exciting. The first was the new course which started at Brown’s Bar (Folsom) instead of the usual start in Sacramento. This actually worked out okay for me because most of the first half of the course is now run around Lake Natomas which is my back yard…a course I run a lot. The second, and more exciting thing about this race was that my brother Jon and his buddy Adrian were running it for the first time. As a matter of fact it was their first Ultra distance event! These two had been training for months in the bay area and neither had run an event that was longer than a marathon before taking this one on. This was really setting up to be a special day on the trails.
To start off with…it was a little chilly at the starting line in the dark. Many of us were packed into the “big top” at the starting line trying to stay warm. I got to talk with my brother and one of his friends from his gym that he ran into as soon as we entered the tent…what are the odds? She’s been giving them advice and encouragement throughout the training and I’m sure it helped for him to see her for some final words of encouragement before the start. Also ended up standing right next to Paul from FTRs and we chatted about some of his upcoming plans including an epic trip to Comrades!
In typical ultra fashion the start was quite uneventful…away we went. There was a countdown and I don’t remember a gun but there might have been one. As we are running down the initial road, not 100 yards from the start, I hear one of the other runners talking about how glad they were that they had a parking pass this year since it was needed here at Brown’s…MY PARKING PASS! I had completely forgot to put it up on my mirror. Luckily I had parked along the starting section and ran back about 30 yards to my car right along the course to put the pass up…whew…ticket averted! I’ve never had to do THAT before in a race. Always something new ;).
The first section is comprised of a short run down a road and then a hard right onto a fire road that quickly turns into a single track trail for about 2.5 miles total. A couple of conga lines but not too bad. The worst part of this is trying to avoid the poison oak in the dark. Then we headed across the one-mile-long Folsom Point Dam where we could quickly turn out headlights off as the sun came up. Now into Folsom Point and it’s clover-loops in the parking area…kind of a goofy thing to do in a race, but it’s all part of the charm. While on this section I see Nicole, Cathleen, Sunny and Kellie. I say hi and they quickly inform me that I’m not allowed to take Kellie from them. Kellie is training for the Pine to Palm 100 in Sept and I am one of her pacers. I laugh at their insistence as I go by...I leave Kellie to her girls this time ;). Now down Nimbus to Folsom crossing.
As Jon, Adrian and I continue to run together down across the Folsom Dam Crossing I continue to glance at my watch and see sub-9 minute pace and keep trying to slow down. I found this very difficult to do on these downhills. I think I ended up with 3 or 4 miles of sub 9s which is too fast for my 50 mile pace. It’s just what felt comfortable…but I think and early fast pace caused me issues later. Typical dumb move…lately. But it is definitely teaching me to push through pain. So we continue down the crossing to the turn to start heading down the bike trail. The cycling traffic starts to pick up a bit here but thank goodness no one got clipped…like last year. Heading down the southside of the lake we pass through the Buffalo Chips aid station at Willow Creek and I get to see a bunch of people that I know and eat my first hummus/avocado wrap…mmmm. Feeling good at this point and just making my way through the miles chatting with Jon, Adrian and others we encounter. Nothing much happens through Hazel bridge, except for the lady offering red ropes and jolly ranchers at the beginning of the bridge, and we head up the first dirt hill on the other side of the bridge. We say hi to more peeps there, including Greg on the megaphone, and head back down to the bike trail.
Fast forward to the Main Bar aid stations and we run into Tim Twietmeyer who is pacing his son Austin to his first 50 mile finish. At first we saw Tim and I was thinking…holy crap we are going WAY too fast! This is also the first place that we see Mary and Jon’s wife Therese. They are in good spirits as they saunter down the gravel road towards us in the beautiful weather the day has to offer. We offload some equipment and visit a bit, exchange kisses and move on. We run the bluffs with Tim running in front and behind us, back and forth checking on Austin. I wish I looked that relaxed out there ;)…It all seemed so effortless for him. We all roll into Negro Bar, and the FTR aid station, all together. This is always one of my favortite sections of the race since I get to see so many friends. Some great pictures were captured by friends there and we get a huge boost from all the great friendly support from Hassan, Barbara, Veronica, and all the others (sorry if you were there and not listed…my memory gets fogged in these things..you are still appreciated ;)). I eat another wrap and start the push towards Beals.
Beals Point Aid Station, mile 24, is the traditional halfway point of the race. I tell Jon and Adrian as we pull in that “now the real race begins…the first part was just a warm-up”. That’s just the way I view it. One marathon done (almost)…one to go. Again we see lots of great people here including Kamran and Nancy and our wives again. Time for a quick hat change and some food and out we go again. The crowds at Beals are always a huge boost in the middle of the run. As we head out it starts to warm up on the course with the blue skies and lack of any cloud cover…as in previous years.
We separate a bit as we run through Cavitt and start moving towards Granite Bay AS. Adrian takes off ahead and Jon is slightly behind…so I start running alone a while. I come across the Twin Rocks course extension loop faster than I expect and start making my way through this rolling section. I glance at my watch and it seems to end up being around a 2 mile addition to the traditional course. I try to keep a good mental attitude about the additional mileage and continue to look around at the scenery and others on the trail. I also start to notice that the Poison Oak is starting to show up more on the trail and is harder to avoid. Previously you just had to keep an eye out for it and just not rub on any plant life on the side of the trails but now you’re starting to see it sticking out across the trail…harder to avoid. Lots of it!
I eventually get back on the course and catch up to Adrian. We start hike/running through the meat grinder, a section of the trail with lots of log steps, rocks and twists and turns where it’s hard to get a rhythm going. We grind through it, avoiding the poison oak, and twisting and turning through the little mini canyons. On this clear day the view of the lake and the river are really amazing. As we continue to run I start to hear some yelling ahead and it takes me a couple of minutes but I realize that it’s the Buzzards Cove aid station (mile 32ish). This is an aid station that where everything is hiked in and set up on the rocks just off the side of the trail. There I see Meghan Arbogast (elite women’s running legend) and Craig Thornley (Western States 100 Race Director) there among the other volunteers giving out water and cheering on the runners. It’s great to see how the ultra community comes together for these events. This aid station is an oasis to runners because the stretch all the way to Horseshoe Bar is a long one from Granite Bay. This station has ice cream too if you know to ask for it. I skip the icecream but do top off my water and refill my tailwind bottle with water and powder from one of my prefilled baggies. Adrian says he’s going to go ahead and takes off. I chat a little with Craig and then finally head out.
This next section that goes past Sterling Point is rolling and fairly shaded. I just keep running and do a quick mental status check…legs-ok, energy-ok, feet-ok, attitude-ok, hydration-ok. Good to go. I hook up with some other runners, some I pass and some I run with for a while, and this always seems to make the miles go by faster. Rolling hills, shaded trails, views of the river, and poison oak avoidance radar in full swing! It’s must look hilarious to others to see me running down a trail and then contorting my body left, then right, stopping, starting, to avoid hitting the poison oak. It’s down at your feet, it’s at knee level and sometimes coming right at your head! I’m glad I didn’t hurt my back or something with all the twisting and turning.
Now the other runners and I get to the short but steep hill that leads to the Horseshoe Bar aid station at the top. Yes…I walk the hill…what do you think? It’s about mile 37 now and I’m starting to feel a little tired and hot. At the aid station I open my hydration pack and ask for some ice. The young volunteer, bless his heart, gets a small Dixie cup and starts scooping ice out of an ice chest and dumping it into my hydration pack. Can’t be more than 3 or 4 small ice cubes at a time. I start thinking…maybe this is a ploy to make the ice last because people won’t just stand there and wait. So I do wait. I finally get enough, top off my water and take off towards Rattlesnake. I shuffle slowly down the hill from Horseshoe AS…it’s a little painful on the quads coming out of there with 37 miles on my legs. The legs loosen up again and I just get myself into a groove running the trails. The cold water in my pack tastes good and the sweet sound of ice sloshing in there is music to my ears. It’s the little things in life… I see the signs that say 2.8 miles to Rattlesnake and just keep on moving. During this section I start looking at my watch and start calculating out the miles left, the time remaining, and a new goal. Now I want to get to the base of the final 3.25 mile hill by 8hrs 30 mins. I start doing the calcs some more, start thinking through the miles, and I can feel a “push” coming over me. At this point I tell myself “STOP!”…it’s a training run…relax and run…just relax and run. I can feel my whole body relax after I do this and I can feel my stride become easier and smoother. Important stuff for me to learn for States.
As I make my way towards Rattlesnake I remember my first year running this race where I passed a couple people standing at a card table near the first parking lot handing out waters and telling Helen, who was pacing me, that I was disappointed that Mary wasn’t there at the aid station. Helen looked at me with bewilderment and said “uh…that wasn’t the aid station”. Only to run another half mile and find the huge aid station and crowds of the true aid station. I wasn’t going to be fooled this year…but it did make me smile running through this section. Eventually I get to the hard right turn that we usually take down to the aid station and first of all I can’t hear it and second of all there are no markers on it. The ribbons are on the trail ahead so I keep on going. This is where your tired mind starts to ask whether you missed something. A few hundred feet later I see people running up another trail, which is the one we used to exit the aid station in the past and the ribbons are taking us down this trail. Okay…problem solved. I see Adrian on my way down and he and I exchange “looking good”s and I make my way down the path against traffic to the Rattlesnake Aid Station. All I really wanted, besides seeing Mary, is to get some cold Pepsi from the cooler Mary had. I was thinking about it the last couple of miles…and that was going to taste great. When I got there I said hi to Therese on the way in, and by the aid station saw Veronica, Theresa L. and Mary. I said my greetings and I walked over to Mary and looked for my cooler which she didn’t have. She said she could run to the car and get me a Pepsi and in my grumpy hot attitude I said “I’ll be gone by the time you get back with it”. Then I made my way to the aid station to grab some coke. Mmmm…nice warm coke…actually no…wrong temp and wrong brand. I put some ice in it but it was not the same. I walked back to say my goodbyes and saw my wonderful wife running back from the car with my Pepsi. Icy-cold! Perfect. I drank about half…it’s amazing how wonderful something you take for granted in regular life tastes like magic at times like this. Veronica is now reminding me to get my ass moving and Theresa yells (at least it sounded like a yell) “Don’t be a Pussy!”. This especially snaps me out of the little funk I am in, as a smile comes across my face. I kiss Mary and say my goodbyes and leave the other half of my Pepsi for Mary. 10 more miles to go!
I always break this last section up into pieces. Get to Avery Pond (about 1 mile away) and cool off in the spring, get to Dowdin’s Post AS (about 6.25 miles from the finish), the bottom of the last hill climb (3.25 miles from the finish), Last Gasp AS (2.5 miles from the finish) and the final runnable climb from there to the finish.
So I start out running, now in a little bit of heat, towards Avery Pond. I’m starting to get tired now and start guzzling the now replenished tailwind in my bottle to try and get my levels up a bit. I make it past Avery Pond and run down past the power plant to the creek…which is raging with water today. Pretty cooling to see. As I cross the bridge I think to myself…why isn’t there a way down to the creek to cool off!! I looked from the bridge…there isn’t.
So I keep going. Now I’ve got the quest for a creek on my mind. As I continue running towards Dowdin’s I check my watch and start calculating again…can I still get to the base by 8:30? Is 9:00 more realistic? Stop…relax and just run…relax and just run. I can feel the relaxation poor over me again. Just keep running. I get to Dowdin’s Post AS and fill up my water and ask where Ken and Bob are since this is the SacFit run AS…Ken’s running and Bob’s busy doing something else. Bummer…always like to say hi to these guys. As I depart one of the volunteers yells after me…”10k to the finish!” This aid station was my first exposure to ultras…in 2011 I helped here all day by making soup with the SacFit group. I remember saying this same thing…and adding “you’re almost there” to some runners as they took off. One of them turned around and scolded me…”Don’t Say That! It’s not true.” I was surprised by this. Now Kellie is one of my running friends and we laugh about that day when we recall it. But today I am thinking “yeah…it’s not true” because not only are we still over an hour plus from the finish but the distance is actually closer to 6.8 from here according to my calcs…but what’s a few hundred yards in an ultra…right? So I leave and just keep on moving.
As I’m making my way to my next mental checkpoint, which is the bottom of the hill, I stop at the top of a small rise and bend over with my hands on my knees to rest my back a little. Then I hear from the trail behind me “alright…let’s go!” It’s my running buddy Bruce. He really saved my bacon in last year’s shortened Miwok (60k) when I was ready to bail. He may have been expecting a repeat performance. I said “nah…I’m good…just resting my back” and took off behind him. He and I ran together for a while. He mentions that he still hopes to finish under 9:43 which would be a PR for him…I tell him that’s my PR too and would love to do that. So he says “well then…let’s make sure we get there with plenty of time to spare” and we keep moving. I now start peaking around the corners, up the river, to see if I can see the bottom of the hill next to the river. It gives my mind something to do…that and all the calculating I’m doing again…Relax and just Run! I clear my head and keep going. I’m hoping that the big dip in the trail ahead, before we run along the river to the hill base, will have water flowing for a quick cooloff. We get there and it’s dry. Oh well. I reach the bottom of the last big climb with Bruce.
The final part or this run is a 3.25 mile climb up what is called The Dam Wall. It's not terribly steep but it's exposed , all road, and experienced at the wrong time of the race. I’ve done this climb during the last month as the end of a 16 mile run and as hill repeats just last weekend. My best was 31 minutes to ADO from the river. I don’t think I’ll be hitting that today…but I decide to move as quickly as possible. I eat a GU packet and I start the climb at exactly 9 hrs. We walk up the first section together to the base of cardiac. Then I start jog/walking up to the stretch at the bottom of the levee and the 3 mile marker. Then I start running steadily to the base of the last climb to Last Gasp AS. I walk the last hill and skip stopping there…I have everything I need. I start running again from the AS and only stop one for one more quick walk, just before the wood piles, before the final push. I just keep grinding…slow and steady…just keep moving. Running at a snail’s pace but running all the same. Past the 2 mile sign I come to part of the climb that actually is a downhill section for a few hundred yards and it feels like floating. I get some renewed energy from this and it carries me past the 1 mile sign and to the last right turn that leads to the biggest insult of the run. You can hear people screaming, you can hear the announcer, you know the finish is right there on the right…you make that right turn and there staring you in the face is a steep climb. Those of us who’ve run this are well aware of it…but it still sucks! I tough it out though. I see Mary and Therese yelling for me at the top (please let that be the top!) and I make the last two right turns and sprint to the finish line. They hand me my jacket and it’s another AR50 in the books. Time: 9:44:29 (1 minute off of PR!)
I see Mary jogging into the finishing area and hug her after I receive my medal and cold bottle of water. I see Adrian there who has already finished (9:20:53). I congratulate him hardily and find the area where Mary has set up our stuff. I ask her how Jon is doing and she says that Therese received a message from him around mile 33 that he was hurting. So I eat and drink, including a beer of course, while we wait for Jon’s name to be called. We see Kellie come in on our way over, as well as Robert, Joe, and others. All doing great to finish. Kellie has come in an hour earlier than her previous PR. This bodes well for her continue training for the 2014 Pine to Palm 100. After a few minutes of waiting we see Jon come in. Thank goodness we all made it. He finishes with a time of 10:26:00 and had to fight off a major bonk in the 30s. A great job for his first ultra!
After some more social time, massages for some, and resting for me…we are ready to leave. We give a couple of runners (one from Portland and one from Texas) a ride back to the Lake Natomas Inn since that’s the way we are going anyway they both asked. Ultra runners are such awesome folk…it was fun chatting with them on the way and hearing all about the running scene in their area. They both mention how wonderful the running scene is here and how lucky we all are. We are definitely lucky to have such a great community here. I never stop appreciating it. Thanks to all who helped get me through yet another fun and dirty day! Special thanks, of course, to Mary who supports all the hours of running I am doing preparing for these things and being such a great crew and positive influence in my life!
What went well:
- As always…great friends, family and Mary’s the best crew ever!
- Running with my brother and his friend most of the first half of the race. Longest I’ve ever got to run with him and it made the day that much more special. Congrats again on your first 50!
- Getting myself to keep going by relaxing and stop looking at the watch. Just run…
- Equipment was really good. Feet didn’t hurt at all during the race so shoes are working.
What can I improve:
- Pacing earlier in the run. Way too much downhill at the beginning and got me in a speed mentality
- Continue work on nutrition. A little more Tailwind might have helped. Something more substantial during the run
like pizza or a burrito or something
- More regimented nutrition and hydration might have staved off the fatigue better at the end
- Need to look at better lubrication. Too much chaffage. Different shorts maybe
Day-after Pain:
- Behind left knee. Felt this pain during last 10 miles of race and on-and-off during prev week
- Left plantar
Gear:
- UltraRunning Hat switched for Fleet Feet Hat at Beals
- 2012 TRT Race Shirt
- Nike Two-in-one short
- Balega anti-blister trail sock
- CEP Calf Sleeves
- LaSportiva Wildcat Trail Shoes
- Nathon Zelos Hydration Pack
- AR50 2013 Houdini Jacket (shed at Main Bar)
- Arm Sleeves (shed at Main Bar)
- Gloves (shed at Main Bar)
Nutrition:
- Water and some ice
- Tailwind (4x1 scoops with 18oz water over duration)
- 1 GU Packet at bottom of last hill
- 3 Hummus/Avocado Wraps
- 4 SCAPS
- 2 Powerbar Performance Energy Blend (blueberry/banana)
- Some cups of coke at aid stations towards end and half a pepsi at Rattlesnake
- ¼ PBJ at Horseshoe Bar
Next up: Miwok 100k on May 3rd, 2014
