Just a short report for now. I had a great race today. All of my races this year have been mediocre at best. Today it came together. I had this delusional thought that I could pull off 50 mile PR today. My previous PR was 9:15 in Chicago on a flat, very fast course. Today's course started in Mountain Green, went up Trapper's Loop, past Snowbasi Ski Area, down Old Snowbasin Road, around Pineview Reservoir, back up Old Snowbasin Road and down Trapper's Loop. I rocked it today. I pushed hard the entire way. My 25 mile split was 4:20 while the second half was 4:39. Not too bad. Tried something a little different today. Water only for drink the entire day. Used EFS gel from 1st Endurance, it rocks, and ate bananas. Stayed well fueled and hydrated the entire day.
Anyway, a PR at the ripe old age of 51 on a course that ranges from 4800' to 6600' and has over 6300' of gain ain't a bad thing. Just goes to show I was a real slacker in my younger days.
Ok, here's a little more to the story. Just random thoughts on the race in no particular order. The weather was pretty much ideal. In the 40's to start, which is unusual for this race. In years past it's always been in the 20's to start. The day was mostly cloudy, with teh sun occasionally peaking thru to light up a mountainside. There were some pretty dark clouds over Mt. Ogden, and on the way back up Old Snowbasin Road, I did get sprinkled on and even sleeted on, but nothing more than a little bit.
Took one water bottle. With roving aid stations I figured I'd see someone every couple of miles and did. The roving aid is unique for a race. Basically there was one fixed aid station at miles 15/35. The rest of the time there were about 3-4 vehicles that roamed the course and would pull off the side of the road if you needed anything. I could hand off my water bottle, keep running and they would catch up to me and give it back. If I needed food, the stop would last at most a minute. Saved a huge amount of time by doing this.
Traffic on the road around Pineview was dicey at times. Lots of hunters. Most were courteous and would go into the opposite lane but there's always a few jerks that think it's fun to see how close and fast they can go by you.
Hit the marathon point at around 4:30, 50K point at around 5:20, neither a PR. got back to Old Snowbasin Road aid station (mile 35) in 6:00. Much to my surprise, I actually ran(as opposed to walking) probably more than half way UP Old Snowbasin Road. I figured that I would end up walking most of that. Caught and passed two other runners on the way up. I actually felt pretty good other than being tired. When I finally hit the downhill, I was clocking sub 7:30's at times and even managed a sub 7:00 for a mile or so.
Probably the worst part was the last 2-3 miles to the finish. I had been pounding down Trapper's Loop pretty much as fast as I could at that point and I could feel the wheels finally starting to come off. I knew that a sub 9 hour finish was going to be tough but possible, so I just gritted the teeth and went. That last half mile from the Sinclair station to the finish was the hardest. A 20 mph headwind and I'm trying to run. I kept looking at the Garmin and 9 hours was fast approaching. When I got to the park entrance I looked and the time said 8:59. I panicked and sprinted to the finish hoping that I would go under 9:00. When I crossed, I immediately asked what my time was. John, the RD knew that I wanted a sub 9 hour finish and asked if I could have cut it any closer. 8:59:30, nope not much closer than that.
Even though I run trail races most of the time, it's good to hit the roads once in awhile and realize that ultras aren't just on trails and road races don't always end at 26.2 miles. | 