50K

After a long, stressful week in the working world, a good 50K trail race was just what I needed to remove and refresh myself (barring the sore legs). As physically exhausting as it can be, there is something mentally rejuvenating about pushing yourself to completing an event like this.
The course is a 10+ mile loop and there were three different races held - a 10 mile (1 loop), a 20 mile (2 loops), and a 50K (3 loops). Between the three events, there were over 200 runners.
Loop 1 - The first time around went great. There were people around almost the whole time as all the 10 and 20 milers were still on the course. I was glad I had spent a little time on these trails in the past weeks re-familiarizing myself with them. I quickly realized though that I didn't run the same course in training as what were on now - oh well, close enough to have a feel for what the race would bring. I spent most of this loop simply getting into grove, getting comfortable with the mud, and trying not to bite it on the icy portions of the trails. I made it to turn, refilled my water, grabbed a few handfuls of peanut M&Ms, a boiled potato dipped in salt, and half a PB&J sandwich and was off again. (The Trail Nerds have awesome aid stations)
Loop 2 - By this time, the field of participants hand thinned considerably, roughly a third were already done after 10 miles, and the remaining 20 milers and 50K's were spread thin over the 10 mile track. I was still running well and feeling good, but starting to pay a little more attention to the need maintain energy levels through fuel, hydration, and up-hill walks. Some of the icy portions of the trails were starting to melt as the temps rose, but the course was still very treacherous - not sure if the mud or the ice was more slippery. I had witnessed several wipe outs by now, and had narrowly avoided several myself. Somewhere on this loop, my feet slipped out from under me to the side while taking a sharp turn too fast - luckily I caught myself with my hand before anything else hit the ground and was back up running in an instant with no damage. Soon, I found myself in a line of 6-8 other guys all running the full 3 loops. The small talk within the group and the camaraderie of simply having others around made those miles go by pretty fast, but eventually we all set back into our own paces and spread back out. By the time I made it back to the turn with 2 loops down, it was time to trade my heavy gloves in for a lighter pair, let one of the volunteers refill my water for me, and graze over the buffet of food a little longer than last time. I took a big swig of Red Bull and was off again.
Loop 3 - Although I was still feeling relatively good, I could tell I had slowed down quite a bit. I had no major problems - no stomach issues, no serious pains, just tired - and I was extremely happy with that. It was somewhere about this mileage at my last 50K that I hit a wall for a few miles and was completely miserable. This wasn't happening today, just the normal fatigue you would expect from running this far on a tough course. Most of the ice had disappeared by now, but the mud had been churned up and was at an all time high. I felt like I was running through 6 inches of creamy peanut butter through several stretches. About the time I would start to get really tired, I would come across another runner. We would give a few words of encouragement to each other, and then move on. I realized that I was lapping a few of those folks - considering the lap was 10 miles long, this was a huge morale booster for me inside. I made sure to refuel at each of the aid stations this time around despite skipping a few earlier on. I ate everything from cookies, to potatoes, to pretzels, energy gels, bananas, mountain dew, and red bull over the span of the entire event. It was a smorgasbord of crap - but perfect for keeping your energy up during an event. That said, I highly discourage eating 99% percent of these things any other time. While crossing of one of the many fallen logs on the trail, I didn't get my rear leg up quick enough causing my shin bone to hit hard and scrape along the bark. Ouch! Unfortunately it hurt much worse than what the wound let on, so I wouldn't even be able to tell any cool war stories about it. There was broken skin, but no flowing blood to mix in with my mud caked legs. The final aid station had soft chocolate chip cookies! Perfect, my favorite - I grabbed a few to eat as I ran the final few miles to finish.
5 hours and 55 minutes later I crossed the finish line - tired, happy to done, but ready for the next one. Mendy and the boys were there to snap a few pictures, and we headed home to clean up for a date night for Valentines Day.
Finishing times for the 50K ranged from the fastest male time at 4:22:31 (a blazing speed and almost 20 minutes faster than 2nd place), first place female at 6:14:25, and the final competitors finishing in just over 9 and 1/2 hours. My official time of 5:55:19 was good enough to earn 16 place overall out of 77 finishers.
Overall, a great race that was well organized from all aspects. Can't wait for the summer version.