2010 "Forget the PR" 50K Race Report

"Run for your Ride"

I had so much fun at last year's inaugural event, I just had to do it again this year. Contrary to the race name, I also wanted to better last year's time of 6:33. My stretch goal was to actually set a 50K PR. (6:05)

Denise, Gina, and Abby accompanied me to the race this year. We spent saturday evening in the Mohican Resort Lodge after taking a side trip to Kenyon College where Gina will be attending a swim camp this summer. The weather was very cool and breezy which squashed anyone's enthusiasm for a hike. We instead relaxed and caught up on some reading.

I went to packet pickup at the starting line, setting way-points on the TomTom for Denise in the morning. She was going to drop me off for the start of the race and then go back to the lodge where her and the girls would have a nice breakfast and wait for me to pass by. Then they would travel to the finish line and wait for me there. Denise told me that they were leaving for home at 2pm, giving me 6 hours to finish the race or I would just have to keep running to get home! I hoped that she was joking but I did not want to take a chance...

Hence the subtitle of my race report: "Run for your Ride!"

Rob Powell, the race director, gave some last minute instructions and before long, we were off and running. My goal for the race was to not kill myself in the first 2 miles of climbing, and then settle down into a nice solid steady pace. I found myself in a conga-line of around 15-20 people moving at a 9-11 minute/mile clip. Just where I wanted to be.

A quick refill of my water bottle at the Hickory Ridge aid station and off I went towards the Covered Bridge. The crowd started to thin out a bit after the aid station making the running a bit easier since the roots and rocks were easier to see. The hills at Mohican are larger than what I am used to running on but the scenery more than makes up for it. I was feeling fine and enjoying the day.

I refilled water/heed and grabbed a stack of pringles at the Covered Bridge aid station before I started towards Little Lyons Falls. This has to be the coolest trail ever! You follow a small valley upstream, crossing the water several times over rocks, trees, sometimes through the stream itself, until you arrive at the water fall. A turn to the left provides you a hand-over-hand climb up some tree roots to get up and out of the ravine! It is really really fun. After the fun of the trail, we were dumped onto the 'dam road' to climb up out of the river valley towards the lodge.

Back into the woods again to make the out-and-back loop to the lodge. The leaders of the race were now coming back towards me and I was surprised that there were not too many people ahead of me. The trail takes a tour of the shoreline of the lake before we pass by the lodge. I stopped to say hello to my family at the lodge before I was reminded that the clock was running and that I had better get running! I had been running for 2:51 so far and my 6 hour goal was close! The lodge was half-way so things were looking good.

Back through the out-and-back section and onward to Big Lyons Falls. The trail here goes DOWN a steep pitch without the aid of the roots like little Lyons. Last year, it was really muddy and my descent was more of a controlled crash than anything else. This year was much dryer, but not much more control... Back to the covered bridge again and off for the hardest section of the race: The fire tower. This leg is only 2.5 miles, but almost all of it is up, up, and more up. Here is where my fast aid station stops caught up with me. I had not been eating nearly enough food. I had food with me, but I forgot that I needed to eat it!

I was feeling apathetic, tired, and I really did not want to run anymore. I was in a group of 4 at the start of the climb and before long I was in a group of one. Not where I wanted to be... I started to eat some powerbar and ginger snaps. I was looking forward to the potato soup at the aid station; I just had to get there.

Finally, I could see the tower through the trees and I refilled my bottles, ate some soup, and took a couple of fig bars with me as I started back towards the covered bridge for the last time. Again, I was alone and started to panic a bit as I did not see any course markings. I almost turned back to make sure that I was not lost but then saw a flag! Good, I really did not want to climb back up that hill. The course was now back on the mountain bike trail and I was able to clock my slow pace...12 minute mile! Hey, that is not bad. It felt more like a 25 minute mile. Maybe things are not so bad after all. I caught up with a couple of people who looked as bad as I had felt and my energy levels were coming back.

Once again, refill bottles, grabbed a couple of cookies, and off I went for the finish. I had 49 minutes to go 4.25 miles to make my 6 hour cut off. I realized that indeed a PR was possible!!! I quickly flashed back to a memory of setting a PR at the Spring Classic 1/2 Marathon with my friend Andy. We were both tired but we pushed each other to a strong fast finish! No one in the group was willing to back off the pace and we kept building until the end. Today was different in that I was alone, but I could feel Andy there beside me. The last section of trail follows the river and Rob took us as close to the river as possible. In fact, I think that if there had been anymore rain that week, we would have been IN the river! I knew from last year that one monster hill remained and I was not going to let it demoralize me this year. I kept running and managed to catch a couple of people before I allowed myself to realize that I had a PR. As I rounded the corner towards the finish line, I saw the clock at 5:59:55 and tried to make it. I crossed at 6:00:11... Whoohooo!!! A PR by 5 minutes over a much much harder course. It was a great day!



Many thanks to the volunteers and to Rob Powell for putting on yet another fantastic event! That course is tough, but oh so nice to run! Thanks to Denise, Gina, and Abby for once again tolerating my strange hobby.

Lessons learned:
1) EAT! I had gu and powerbars with me. I guess I need to actually ingest them for the calories to help.
2) I need to run some more hills!
3) Never give up. Bad patches happen, and then they go away. Keep moving!


Denise, Thanks for not making me run home...

Oh yeah, Mark C. asked me how I was going to recover. This photo is a start...