Post by brucedenton on May 9, 2010 15:26:26 GMT -5
66+ miles of racing in 21 days is not a particularly wise thing to do, especially for someone with a history of overdoing things and winding up on the shelf with various chronic injuries. I had this race in mind as a possibility early in the spring, and was hoping to wait until the last minute to sign up, but it was almost full a month ago, so I signed us up. We ran the inaugural CV 50K in 1999 as our first ultra, and have done it three times now. It was raining and thundering some the first several miles, then cleared off to a good day for running, sunny but not too warm. I was hoping for a top 10 finish and sub-4:30 time, Mary Jane was hoping for top 5-10 women and around 5:30. There were a lot of good runners, especially on the women's side, and the biggest field in race history. I started conservatively and gradually worked my way into the top 10 after a few miles. About 7 miles in an old friend, Bill Young, passed me. I had thought he was ahead of me, and he had been, till he went off-course and ran an extra half mile! Just one of the things that makes trail runs/ultras different. We ran together on and off for the next 20 miles before he dropped me late in the race. I went pretty minimalist in this race, just shorts, electrolyte caps, and a ziploc bag of Gu chomps and power cubes from NutsOnline.com. Unfortunately, the second time I pulled the bag out (about halfway through the race), the bottom fell out and all the goodies hit the dirt. Hopefully the squirrels enjoyed them last night. There are six aid stations, so I was fine with what they had available since it was a cool day. If it had been hot, I probably would have carried a water bottle. I was alternating running and walking on the uphills, and there were several very steep downhills that really pounded my legs. I felt fairly bad between miles 10 to 15, but better from 15-22 and picked up the pace a little. The last few miles though, I could really feel the effects of the last two races, my quads were cramping on the hills and I was forced to a walk on practically every climb, even the little ones, in the last third of the race. If I had been miked up, my play-by-play and commentary to myself would have been quite amusing, maybe even worthy of my own reality TV show. Luckily, the last 3 miles are pretty much flat and downhill and I was able to get rolling again there and finish in 4:26, 7th place overall, meeting my goals. I found out last night that the course was actually lengthened by nearly two miles, with a couple more hills added, since the previous two times we had run it. That explains why both of us thought it was tougher than we remembered. Being one of the first finishers gave me the luxury of a nice shower before the hot water ran out, then I waited for Mary Jane to come in at 5:31, about what I had expected, but with 12 women in front of her due to the depth of the field. The race is part of the 2010 Trail Runner Trophy Series, and one person in the top 25 (not me, unfortunately) won an all-expenses Cancun vacation at the post-race lunch, which is EXCELLENT, so I think both of those factors had a lot to do with the race enjoying by far its biggest and deepest field of runners in 12 years of running. Karsten Brown won handily in 3:54, only six days after a second place 2:52 at Frederick, that guy is a beast.
This is an excellent trail run, well-organized, close to home, unique awards, tremendous post-race all you can eat meal, and mostly runnable, that would make an excellent first ultra for anyone looking to expand your horizons or take on a different challenge next year. Keep it in mind.
www.runcapon50k.com/index.htm
This is an excellent trail run, well-organized, close to home, unique awards, tremendous post-race all you can eat meal, and mostly runnable, that would make an excellent first ultra for anyone looking to expand your horizons or take on a different challenge next year. Keep it in mind.
www.runcapon50k.com/index.htm
