Last New Year’s, Kimber and I sent out a holiday card to
family and friends that had a few of our goals to be accomplished over the
course of the year. We decided it would be a good way to hold ourselves
accountable. One of my goals was to run 50 miles.
The Dick Collins Firetrail 50 mile race fit perfect with
7800ft elevation change that is 100% on trails along the East Bay ridgeline
overlooking Oakland and San Francisco.
Training was to schedule until about 3 weeks before race
day, when ankle pain convinced me to take 10 days off in an attempt to get it
feeling perfect. When I started running
again, feeling good, two days later Kimber decided to give me the flu, sore
throat, foggy head and all. So, I started the race with only 16miles on foot
and about 60 miles on bike under my belt for the last three weeks. Luckily
these three weeks were my tapper, meaning my training was supposed to
decrease. I was taking naps and gargling
salt water up until the night before trying to get over being sick!
Start time was 6:30am and check-in before that. There were around
250 participants and we all packed in along the trail getting instructions and
encouragement. Some people were decked out with all the latest backpacks,
headlamps, arm and leg covers, hand-fitted water bottles and shmansy GPS
watches. I kept it semi-simple with my trusty Brooks Pure Grit running shoes,
basic running shorts, shirt, my nerdy visor, Suunto watch, MP3 player(loaded
with medical lectures) and a phone strapped to my arm in case of emergency. It
was chilly and seemed like they would never say “go”.
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| 6:15am check in and number pickup. Stars were still out on the drive over. |
On the start I tried to just keep the same pace that I would
if I were doing a long training run. But my “training run” pace had me passing
the majority of the pack. Oh, well…I heard a couple talking before the race
that they were going to keep a 13-15min/mile pace or something. Not acceptable.
I felt a bit weaker than normal but, all considering, I felt pretty good for
the first 26 miles. I got through about 2.5 General Medicine lectures as I ran,
preparing for an upcoming exam. At about mile 23 the trail takes a 3 mile
decent dropping roughly 1200ft to the turnaround point. I met Kimber and
Richard Byler, my pacer, along with my requested two large Baja Blast Mountain
Dews and a 5 Layer Bean Burritto from Taco Bell. My legs were pretty destroyed at
that point. I was to schedule, hitting
mile 26 at 3hrs 45min.
Richard paced me in our power walk up the ridge line and for
the next 11 miles. Aid Stations were available every 3-5miles and I had high
times and low times. It helped a lot having someone to talk to and take my mind
off the run.
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| Mile 26. |
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| Me gusta Taco Bell! |
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| Mmmm...5 layer burrito and Baja Blast. |
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| Mile 37. |
At 6hrs 20min, mile 37, I met Jeremy Koons and he paced me
all the way to the finish. Things got
pretty difficult. Luckily the majority
of the last quarter of the route is downhill. Every slight hill often required
me to kick down into power walk mode. At the last aid station (mile 45.5) I was
on the verge of passing out swaying and stumbling as I was grabbing food from
the huge table of random calories. I
remember being a little nervous when I saw the paramedic watching me, thinking
he might pull me or make me stop. My energy sources at the beginning were mainly
Gu power gels but near the end I was downing Coca Cola, oranges, grapes,
bananas and mini PB&J. It was hard
to gauge how much I should be eating because I didn’t have much of an appetite
but knew I needed fuel. It would have been helpful to get my blood work done
there on the trail to know exactly what liquids and electrolytes I needed to
make me feel good, not that it was an option.
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| Finish Line!! Mile 50! |
The last 4.5 miles were long. The trail went along Lake
Chabot and every little roll was a challenge. I kept looking at my watch
knowing that a sub 9hr finish was just within reach. I never told Jeremy how
close we were though because I didn’t want him to push me harder than I already
was going (I know, weak!). At about 8hrs
58min I made the last push with all my effort and rounded the corner to the
finish gate. 9hr 44sec! Sub 9hrs not to be had. I collapsed on the ground.
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| Me and my pacers, Jermey Koons (L), Richard Byler (R) |
The rest of the day left me with intermittent cramping of my
calves, quads, hamstrings and abdominals.
While we were sitting there by the finish line you could just see the
muscles in my legs twitching randomly almost looking like worms in there
wiggling around. I got a massage that was excruciatingly painful but seemed to
help. I pounded a whole ton of food but
should have stopped before the protein shake. Later that night Kimber described
me as “vulnerable” as she helped me take an ice bath after vomiting all of the
finish line food into the cammode. Why
do I do these things? Why not?
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| Their name, Monster Massage, fit them perfect. |
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| Got a free shirt and jacket out of the deal. Love the swag! |
Final race stats:
·
50 miles
·
7800 ft elevation change
·
9hrs 44sec finish time
·
Placed 39th of 254 participants
Thanks Kimber, Richard and Jeremy for being my support
crew!!!
**all photos compliments of my beautifully awesome wife Kimber.
