Mountain Masochist 50 Mile Trail Race

Well, it's finally over. Despite of my worries and doubts, it went better then expected.

At first the only thing that went well, was that my daughter decided to go with me. She's been with me on all of my ultras and I consider her good luck. Before I traveled to my parents house in Galax Va on Thursday. I had to drop my daughter off at Beauty School. As I pulled up to let her out, I told her that I'll miss her and that I would see her next Tuesday. She said, "Where are you going?" When I told her I was going to my race she asked to come with me and I thought, "Why not?".

It was a real joy having her with me. She kept me good company on the six hour drive and before I knew it, I was pulling into my parents house. We played a trick on my mother by having my daughter wait in the van for five minutes after I went in. My mom wasn't expecting anyone other then me so she was really shocked with my daughter ran the bell.

Friday morning around 1000 we - to include my father and mother - pulled out toward Lynchburg. It is about a three hour trip from Galax but we decided to travel to some points on the race so that I could get a feel for the course. We left I-81 and traveled through Buchanan to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It took awhile to travel to the James River Visitor Center where the race will begin early the next morning. It was really rough on my daughter. The curvey and hilly roads made her car sick and turned her into a nag. She didn't really appreciate the beautiful scenery and what scenery it was. The colorful leaves had yet to fall and the scenic overlooks were amazing. I just wished that I had taken some photos.

We finally arrived at James River and scouted a little. We then drove to the halfway point where they would be meeting me. We found the pull off and then timed and marked the route to Madison Heights where we were staying. After arriving at Madison Heights we had some problems finding the motel. Unfortunately this would not be the last of our inability to find places we needed to go.

The motel wasn't up to my daughters standards and I had to listen to her complain for awhile. You would have thought that I was making her sleep in a barn or something. She also didn't want me to sleep on the floor. There were four of us and only one bed. My mom and daughter ended up sleeping in the bed and my dad and I slept on the floor.

At about 1730 we started to drive to the Heritage Valley High School where the prerace dinner was being held as well as the packet pick-up. According to Google Maps it was only a five minute trip. Well stupid me took Business 501 instead of just 501 and we ended up driving around for over an hour trying to find this H.S. Even after finding the HS we still had problems find were we entered at. We walked around almost the whole school before we saw some people leaving with bags in their hands. We also picked up someone else who was lost. As a result we were late so I just picked up my bag and then we went to Country Cooking for dinner. It turned out to be a very good decision. The food was great and we had a good time.

I finally laid down to sleep at aroung 1130 after laying everything out for the next morning. I had just went to sleep with the alarm went off at 0245 - time to get up. My father and I got up, got ready and pulled out at 0315 - I wanted to make sure I would have enough time if we got lost. The best thing about getting lost yesterday was that it kept us from getting lost this morning. We found it very easily and I got on the bus with my drop bag. My father left to return to the motel. They would meet me later on around 1030 at AS 10.

I spent the ride to the starting point wondering what to wear and when could I take a piss. The tempature was in the low 20's. I knew it would warm up a little but I didn't know how much. I finally decided to just wear shorts, an undershirt, and two long sleeve shirts. I quickly changed my mind when I got off the bus and stood in line with others at the portapotty. It was cold. I returned to the bus and put on long tights and added a light jacket. At about 0520 everyone started to filter off the bus to the start line. I got toward the back where I belonged and anxiously waited for the start while the National Athem was sung. I never did hear anyone say go, the crowd just started to move forward.

As we started moving, I ran at a pace that I thought was slow enough to get me through for the next 50 miles. I tagged along behind a runner (Roy) who looked as if he had run this before and knew what he was doing. I was able to catch conversation between him another runner that confirmed this. Little did I know that I would be passing and being passed by Roy numerous times throughout the day.

It was dark as we headed up the parkway toward the turn around point. I had purchased a flashlight the day before but had left it in my drop bag. I figured that there would be enough light from the other runners, plus by the time we got to the trail it would be daylight. It wasn’t long before the lead runners were returning back down the parkway. It is amazing to see how fast there were moving and that they could continue that pace the rest of the race.

As I reached the turn around point and headed back, I was already wishing that I had left my tights and jacket in my drop bag. I was starting to warm up and I actually enjoy running in shorts in cool weather. As I passed the starting point I contemplated running by the bus and dropping off the jacket and the tights. I decided not to because I didn’t want to waste any time, not did I want to lose sight of my unofficial pacer – Roy. We quickly reached the bridge that went over HWY 501. You could see the lights of the runners ahead as there were going up the hill of the highway. I passed AS 1 without stopping. My water bottle was still full and there was no need to stop after only 3.3 miles, plus the next AS was just 2.5 miles away.

The run on the HWY was the start of the first hill. I walked it to the top and was passed by Roy who had a very fast pace when walking. The hill is short one and you quickly come up to the top. The down hill is pretty steep and this is where I run best. For some reason I’m able to just lean forward and let it go. I quickly pass Roy and others on my way down. This would be a recurring scene throughout the next 10 hours.

After passing AS 2, the route takes to the trails. The start is a foot path that goes up hill. It was at this point, 6 miles into the race that I came to the realization that I was going to finish this race and under the cut-off time. For some reason all doubt was erased from my mind and it never came back. From this point forward, I knew that I would finish.

I quickly went into a routine of running from AS to AS. This is easy to do, because they are all 2 – 4 miles apart. As I approached an AS, I would grab whatever looked good. I mostly ate bananas, brownies, and quarter pieces of PB&J sandwiches. I would also fill my water bottle about every other AS. I tried to take a gel pack about every hour and right before I reached an AS. I would also take a SUCEED tablet about every 2 -3 hours. This is what sustained me throughout the race.

It was on a hill somewhere between AS 5 and 6 that I discovered something that helped my time and will assist me on future ultras. I’m usually slow on hills and my calves get very tired. As I was being passed by Roy on a steep uphill, I tired to run a little to keep up and I discovered that the tiredness in my calves went away. After that, I started a routine of walking 25 steps – counting one every time my left foot hit the ground – and running 25 steps. This alternating would use different muscles and give rest to the ones that I was using before. I also noticed that by doing so I was passing a lot of runners who were only walking. I ended up running everything but the hills and then walking/running those. This worked out great and I look forward to testing it at the next ultra.

Another thing I learned was that I didn’t need my camelback and that I could get by with just a hand held bottle. I had run with my bottle before but only during short training runs of 10 to 15 miles. I didn’t feel comfortable carrying it. This time I didn’t have a choice because I had left my camelback at Mom and Dad’s house. I noticed that during the race I forgot I was carrying it and it wasn’t a problem at all. I’m glad that I found this out, so now I have another option for water, depended upon the weather and the distance between AS’s. I’m pretty sure that if the weather isn’t too hot and the AS’s are no more then 4 – 5 miles apart then I’ll carry my bottle.

After meeting my family at AS 10 which is the halfway point, I decided to keep the running shoes that I was using instead of changing into my trail shoes. I found out that my feet has swollen and that the trail shoes were a little too tight. Also, the running shoes that I was using had been working pretty well on the jeep trails. On the single track trails, they were causing a little trouble because there were slipping on the leaves. Other then that, they worked great. I also grabbed a resupply of Power Gels. This time I supplied myself with the ones with caffeine and double caffeine. I used the ones without caffeine on the first half of the race.

I quickly told my parent bye and kissed my daughter. I headed up the infamous Buck Mountain. This was a long climb of 2 – 3 miles. I passed a lot of people climbing up the mountain by using my walk/run technique. Close to the top I could hear the Rocky Theme playing at AS 11. It made my mouth water, because I knew that they had hot soup there. I pulled into the AS 11, grabbed a cup of soup and took off back down the other side. I now knew that I only had to make it to the “Loop”. The loop is 5 miles of single trail. I was looking forward to it, because I had read in the various race reports, that once you completed the loop the rest was in the bag.

The loop was tougher then I expected. It came at 34 miles and it seemed to go uphill forever. The rocks on the trail weren’t a factor because I had trained on the trails at Raccoon Creek State Park. It just took awhile to get to the top and my shoes were slipping on the leaves. After reaching the top, then it went sharply down hill. This is where my photo was taken. Going downhill was starting to hurt. My feet were slipping in my shoes and my big toes were taking a beating. I’m pretty sure I will lose a couple of nails.

I quickly reached AS 15 at mile 43 and was told that it would be approximately 5.5 miles to the next and last AS. This was a single tract trail which included some altitude gain. Roy and I ran together for a ways, but he wasn’t feeling good and said he needed some food. I asked him if he needed some gel and he said that he had some. I left him and continue on. I passed a couple more runners on this part and then reached the last AS.

Here I was told that it was only 3 miles to the end and it was all downhill. It was, I believe a little farther then 3 miles and may have been one of the places that Dr. Horton squeezed in some extra mileage. I know that from AS 15 to 16 there is some extra mileage, as confirmed by an AS worker.

It was, in fact, all down hill just like they said. My toes were hurting but I pushed it hard. I was hopping to break 10:30. I was pouring it on and kept looking for the “1 MILE” sign. I finally saw the sign and came out on the highway. I was pushing as hard as I could and could see the store at the end. I was wondering if the finish was on the left side of the road or the right. I could see people on both sides. As I approached the store I saw the Finish line on the left. I pulled into it and crossed at 10:30.06 and ended up placing 101 out of 232 finishers. I was greeted by Dr. Horton who asked if this was my first ultra. I was tired and excited and replied yes – I thought he has asked if this was my first MMTR. He started yelling to everyone that this was my first one. I didn’t want to correct him there but would return later to set the record straight. He gave me a running belt that held a water bottle, with MMTR 50 miler Finisher on it. We took some photos of me and family under the finish banner and then I was ready to head for home.

Now after the soreness is gone, I’m planning my next one. I believe that I’ll give the Laurel Highland 70 miles race a try.