Buckeye Trail 50K Race report

This is a picture of our cat as I was preparing my clothing for the race. I think that she is the smart one and was trying to tell me to stay home and snuggle in the warmth of the indoors; I didn't listen...

Winter Buckeye Trail 50K
26 Jan 08

I have run this race the last 2 years. The first year was 35 –40 degrees and very muddy. It was my first trail race and I managed to eek out 18 miles, per my plan. Last year, the weather was a bit cooler, starting in the upper 20s and rising to the mid 30s. The trail started off frozen, then transitioned to slippery mud again. I wanted to go the full 50K, but stopped after 5.5 hours at 26 miles.

This year, I wanted to complete the entire 50k. I wanted to use this race to kick-start my training for next summer’s Burning River 100. The weather forecast for the day was the complete opposite of what we can expect next summer with 15-25 degrees and some wind. There was a couple of inches of fresh snow, making the landscape milky white and clean.

This year’s race had a record 225 people sign up. I retrieved my bib number and then prepared for the 7am start. The night before I had purchased a facemask and some thicker fleece gloves for the day due to the cold forecast. This was good decision #1.

Due to the high number of people, they split the field into two groups: The 50K and marathon group would run the 5-mile Brandywine Falls loop first, while the ½ marathon group would run the 8-mile Pine Lane loop first. This was a great idea and the trail was not congested at all.

My plan for the day was to be consistent; start off at a nice conservative pace and hold it all day. I also wanted to keep my nutrition on track. I have experienced some significant mood swings during my long training runs that I can attribute to inadequate nutrition.

Shortly after the race started, I fell into step with a guy from Indianapolis. Chris and his training partner heard about this race from reading someone’s blog and decided to come out and run it. We had similar goals for the day and a compatible pace, so we decided to stick together. This was good decision #2.

We completed the first Brandywine loop in 50 minutes, a bit fast, but we did not push the pace at all. I told Chris, now the fun loop begins. The Pine Lane section is a bit more challenging but a very nice area to run through. Chris could not believe how beautiful the area was and how nice the trails were. There were a few frozen mud ruts, but it was much better than the thawed version.

47 minutes to Pine lane and 46 minutes back to Boston Store. It seemed to be easier running back to Boston Store since the net elevation change is downhill. The people around me did not really buy my story about this since I was telling it as we climbed a major hill to a ridgeline…bad timing I guess…

We stopped at Boston Store to eat and get more fluids. The aid stations at Ultra runs are great! They typically have PBJ, m&ms, nuts, water, Gatorade, cookies, muffins, etc. The aid station at Pine lane even had chicken noodle soup for the second lap.

Brandywine loop #2 went well also. The crowds had really thinned out by now and Chris and I kept running the flats/downhills and walking the hills. We joked at times that we were starting to look forward to a hill so that we could take a walk break. I learned from Bob Combs that walking is ok as long as you walk with a purpose, not the death-march shuffle. This loop took us 51 minutes to complete. Pretty consistent with the first loop; so far so good.

The second Pine Lane loop was interesting. Some strange geological phenomena occurred to cause the hills to become higher and steeper. At least it seemed so…

Chris started to fight some cramping issues and I realized that I had not been keeping up w/my food intake. I broke out the secret weapon: Gummy bears! Although they were almost frozen, they tasted really good and kept my mind occupied for a mile or two. Around this time, two guys caught up with us. One of them, Brian, stayed with Chris and I since the other one was going “just a little too fast for me”, per Brian. I had a dumb song (so dumb that I cannot even admit it to myself) in my head and could not shake it. I mentioned this to Chris and Brian; big mistake. This started a very bad Karaoke session with Chris and Brian belting out bad song after bad song. It was however pretty amusing and it did purge that awful song from my head!

Chris’s cramping had been getting worse and then during one of his singing episodes, he took off like a mad-man. I told Brian, “I think Chris has caught his second wind, we may have created a monster! He agreed as we tried to catch up with Chris.

We made it back to Boston Store with a round-trip time of 1:55:00 since neither Chris nor I remembered to hit our splits at Pine Lane. We had covered 26 miles so far. Now, off for Brandywine loop #3, the last 5 miles! Brian took an extended break at Boston Store as Chris and I departed, just wanting to finish this day. I realized that as long as we kept moving, I would PR today. Chris realized that he could crawl the rest of the day and still PR! This was turning out to be a very good scenario. We proceed to run when we could and walk when we could not run. Our mantra was “Just keep moving!” There was a guy in front of us that was having a rough time and we were slowly reeling him in. As we climbed the ridge, we heard Brian behind us still singing…badly!

We made it to the aid station and it was only 2.5 miles to the finish. Chris was able to run downhill faster than me and I told him to take off if he wanted to. His reply was that I had gotten him through the first 28 miles; he was not leaving me now. Our highs and lows had been opposite each other so that when one was down, the other one could help bring him up. It was working out well for us, and I would not have had such a great day had I been running alone for that long.
My calves were starting to feel the ‘tickle fingers’ of an impending cramp but thankfully, the cramps stayed away. We exited the woods and onto the towpath for the last bit to Boston. We crossed the line with each of us setting a PR for the 50k distance! I had a 6:05 for the day where my previous time was 6:23 from last summer. Great day!

Post race damage report:
I am happy to say that I have no blisters from this race. Just a bit of chaffing and some sore legs.

Oh yeah, I still have a smile on my face…