Cayuga Trails 50 miler
I haven't figured out how to file this race away in my memory. It's the 6th trail race I've finished of 50 miles or longer so it wasn't a major milestone. It was my slowest ultra - more than 2 hours longer than my slowest 50 miler - and probably my lowest age group ranking too, 4th of 8. So in some ways, it's hard to feel excited about it.
On the other hand, it's been 9 months since I've gone over 80 km and more than a year since I've crossed an ultra finish line. In between, I've spent months working to resolve a foot problem - and just when that was going pretty well, I smashed my kneecap hard on a rock. So making it through this race without crazy joint pain was a victory of a different kind.
This must not be confused with a real victory but thanks to Spaff, I see I *was* credited with the real victory - however, only for a few minutes until someone wised up. :)
The Ontario runners gathered in the building by the starting line around 5:30 a.m. There was a breakfast buffet including maple yogurt from the Ithaca Creamery - yum.
The Amazing Dee and her twins-to-be were there to provide support.
Gil came up and said, "I think you are the Bash from Attackpoint?", which started my day with a smile and a nice chat.
Before the race, I'd decided that stopping after one of the two laps (25 miles) would be a reasonable plan since that would be my longest run of this injury-plagued year. I was prepared to stop sooner if my knee or foot hurt too much, and I would try to go farther if they didn't.
In other words, I had no race plan whatsoever. What could go wrong? :) With a forecast high of over 30C, I decided to push a little harder in the first few hours when the air was cool since I knew I'd be forced to slow down later. Besides, I probably wasn't doing 50 miles, right?
The waterfalls and gorges were spectacular. Such a beautiful race course!
There were a number of stone staircases around the gorges - hard work for my knees to go down but very interesting and pretty. There were also some steep hills - both up and down - and a river crossing that went over my knees. We did that one 4 times.
The race course is set up in two laps with each lap designed mostly as an out and back. This meant we got to see the race leaders fly by on several occasions, and we got to say hi to our friends too. This was the USATF national championship so there were some speedy runners out there.
After the near silence at UTMB, the amount of social interaction was almost overwhelming. Except for the top 3 runners, almost everyone said, "Good work" or "Nice job" when they met an oncoming runner - and that happened a lot. One of the top 5 runners said he'd like to take my poles when we saw each other on the second lap. :)
Speaking of which, other than 'Bent and me, I only saw one or two other people using poles. When 'Bent had e-mailed the RD before the race to see if it was OK, Ian had replied that poles were legal and he didn't know why more people didn't use them. We'll have them at UTMB so our decision was based more on the need to train with them than the need to use them on this particular course, although they were helpful for my gimpy knee.
I made it to the far end of the first lap - Buttermilk Aid Station - where I met Mrs. Tiny. We ran together for a little while until I had a dip in energy. She went on to run a perfectly paced first 50 miler. Good job!
It was great to see Dee, Timato and Teeny Tiny when any of us passed through Underpass Aid Station. Thanks so much for your help.
The first lap went well enough that I decided to start the 2nd one. At the 50K point, we would be at Underpass Aid Station just a few hundred meters from our car so that was another logical place to quit. But when I got there, I still felt like going on - trying to be cautious since I'm aware of the consequences of pushing your longest long run too far beyond what you've done in training.
My knee had started twinging in the first 15 minutes, and the sides of my hips (IT bands) had started hurting at 12.5 miles. Quads started hurting at 37 miles. But none of it felt too serious.
However, the Salomon gods attempted to strike me down for using Hokas to try to cushion my injured foot. Although I'd done 3-4 hour runs in them, I'd never worn them soaking wet. In particular, I'd never worn them soaking wet on steep downhill slopes. My toes slammed repeatedly into the fronts of the shoes until I had blisters under the big toenails and in a few other choice places. The shoes didn't have a nice toe protector so if I kicked a rock, my damaged toenails took the brunt of it. For about half the race, I had that charming "hamburger foot" sensation. So it's back to the drawing board - and probably back to the Speedcross.
I met 'Bent coming toward me around the 8:45 mark. He was only 13K from the end so he was headed for a great result. When I asked how he felt, he said, "Not good." He'd been stopping in aid stations with stomach issues, and he was about to put on his best performance yet - the grand finale at Underpass Aid Station. Thank you Dee and Timato for taking care of him! (He did go on to finish 6th of 23 in his age group but had been doing much better.)
(Photo taken around 'Bent's 45K mark. At this point, he said he felt "so-so".)
I ate and drank really well - one of the advantages of going slower. The President's Choice Ultra Shakes went down well. I probably averaged about 500 ml per hour of fluid.
The last quarter of the race was almost eerie. In 20K, I only saw one other runner resting on steep stone steps. There were a few places where I questioned if I'd made a wrong turn. Sadly, my Ambit died just before the final aid station so then I really was alone for the last 5K. The sun was on its way down and it was lovely to do a final run through the gorge on the way to the finish line.
'Bent, Charlotte and Chris were there, and a yummy hot dinner was available, including burgers and corn on the cob. 'Bent had a choice between a veggie burger and a grilled portobello mushroom; that's the kind of TLC that went into this event.
Our drive home was pretty awful. We had to be in Caledon before 8 a.m. so we spent the night taking turns napping and driving with frequent stops to stretch our legs. Bedtime after 3 a.m. Next time we spend the night in Ithaca! And I think there may be a next time. This would be a fun event to do again, and we liked Ithaca a lot.
This GPS track isn't my whole race - just the part before my Ambit died. I've adjusted the numbers based on 'Bent's track. For anyone who watched the live tracking, there were a number of errors. At some point, I'll try to figure out my real splits.