Day Before Race
Registration is the day before and I have to say that it is very well organized and run. The great thing about Trail and Ultrarunning is the cameraderie of the competitors. There is this great sense of togetherness that I love about these type of races that I don't find at Road Races. It is interesting that I found the same to be true when I raced bicycles. Road races were frequently very tense and combative affairs. Mountain bike races, on the other hand, were very friendly, laid back events. Everyone seemed to love the fact that we were all in nature together.
The friendly folks at IduTri http://www.idutri.com/ had their mobile running store set up and I purchased a camo Buff (as seen in Survivor) to wear around my neck. I had read a few other blog and reviews that folks mentioned that the evaporative effect really cools one off when it gets hot. And besides, you never know when you may need to rob a convenient store so you can just pull it up over your nose and away you go (most likely to prison).
Night Before
Spent the night at the nearby Landoll's Castle with good friend and running and all things sporting, Jim Smith. Landoll's Castle and the surrounding land is quite extraordinary.
The room was a one bed room with a pull out couch. I slept on the couch and did not spoon with my friend Jim. I love him and all but not like that (his wife will appreciate that). Got a good nights' sleep despite some loud late night entry by our downstairs neighbor (or so Jim tells me, I slept through it). Got race gear on and headed for an early morning drive to the Start line.
Almost made a HUGE mistake
The race started at 5 a.m. at The Mohican Wilderness Campground. Well, it was supposed to but started a few minutes late. As we all were standing at the Start line I was doing a mental checklist to make sure I had everything and I realized that I forgot one of the most important piece of Ultra running equipment, Band-Aids for my nipples. Yes, after running countless races without forgetting anything, I toed the line for this one with no nipple protection. For those not familiar with this allow me to explain. The nipples can very easily get rubbed raw by the very subtle motion of your running shirt swaying back and forth or the damp or wet fabric rubbing against your protruding nips. If this happens it is very painful.
I wanted to avoid this at all costs. Especially in a 50 mile race. I probably would have no nipples left to speak of. Now, I could have waited until an Aid Station to get some and apply but by then they may have been damp and the Band-Aids might not stay on. I had a slight panic and jumped out of line to do something about it. I ran into the picnic shelter right next to the start line and looked around for some Band-Aids. No luck. Then my saviour, my angle appeared. I saw a woman standing with two children and she had a decent sized purse. I said to myself "if anyone here has Band-Aids it will be her". I asked if she did and lo and behold she produced a box of them from her purse. She said "Take as many as you need". I only have two nipples so only took two out of the box. I thanked the woman profusely and I unwrapped them both and they were Scooby-Doo and friends Band-Aids, I was in luck. I loved Scooby-Doo as a kid (still do) and thought these would be perfect. I applied them, threw my wrappers in the trash and made my way to the Start line with a few minutes to spare. Now, the only thing that was running through my mind at this point was that Scooby and friends would not possibly last the whole race (surely the adhesive is not as strong, right?) and that I was gonna have to reapply. Well, I am happy to report that Scooby-Doo and friends lasted as long as I did and would have had many more miles in them if I had been running the 100 (next year).
Okay, so it has been raining cats and dogs much of the night and it begins to taper off as we are making the short drive to the campground/start/finish line. We all line up in the start chute and the bullhorn goes off. Off we go.
The first 7-8 miles is on a combination of paved road and gravel road. Everyone is in a great "Good Morning" mood and we are loving life.
Green Section
We get to the first section of actual Trail (Green Section) at the Rock Point Aid station and it is a bit damp at first and then degrades into really sloppy. Many parts have good sized puddles in the middle of the trail. At one point, there is a bit of a traffic jam (yes, there are even traffic jams in trail races) and as we come up to the "problem area" we realize that there is a guy with his right shoe stuck in the Mud, Mud, Mud Pit and he is going back in to retrieve it. I remember thinking, I am quite glad that is not me. If you read my last post you'll know that I was wearing my Norht Face Rucky Chucky Gore-Tex trail shoes. Even though the outside of the shoes was getting quite wet and muddy, my feet were dry and feeling good. The nice thing is that the trail is soft and easy on the joints. Here is a photo of Jim on the Green section between aid stations South Park (hey Kenny) and the Fire Tower.
This section of the trail is beautiful, as is all of Mohican. The ferns are gigantic, as you can see, and everything was very lush. The trail conditions were wet but runable. The trail marking here was very good and I don't think anyone got lost here. We continued on to the Fire Tower.
Here is a shot of me at the Fire Tower right after the aid station.
There are some runners that run up to the top of the fire tower each year. I was not one of them this year but I would like to try it. It was built in 1934 and renovated in 2005. It is 80' high and has 106 steps to the top. I just didn't feel like adding an extra 212 steps to our race.
We continued on the Green section through the woods to the Covered Bridge.
The Covered Bridge is the busiest aid station at this race. It is a crossroads for the Green, Purple, Red, and Orange sections.
Purple Section
We ran off to the left here and started our Purple loop, which goes from mile 21 to mile 25. The Purple loop goes up to Little Lyon falls, past Pleasant Hill Dam, and then back into the woods down Big Lyon Falls and back on the trail to the Covered Bridge. The trip up to Little Lyon Falls was beautiful. Lots of cool flora to be seen...
As we ran (climbed hand over hand in one part) up Little Lyon Falls and then onto the road and past Pleasant Hill Dam, it started to get hot. The sun was out at this point and there was not much breeze on this part of the course. We ran (walked up hill) about a mile or so and then back into the woods. This part was well marked and as we progressed down the trail, the markings eroded and it was kind of a crap shoot for us. We found our way okay and there were 4 of us together at this point. We met up with others right after the Big Lyon Falls that had gotten lost to the tune of about 2 miles. Ouch! The trail not being very well marked here was very unfortunate. The rains had washed away all of the lyme that they use to mark this section of the trail. Some runners laid out sticks in the shape of arrows to show the way but from talking to people, that happened after we passed through. Luckily both the 50 and the 100 mile race only pass the Purple section once so when you did this section you were done with it. It would be very dangerous to run this section at night.
Done with the Purple loop we are back at the Covered Bridge Aid station for some Aid. Here is Jim changing socks, I think, and trying to feel better.
He didn't tell me until later in the race but he said that he did not feel well at all for most of the Purple loop. He hid his discomfort well and soldiered on.
Orange Section
We cross the Covered Bridge, on the road not down in the river, and go into the woods for the Orange Section. The Orange Section goes from mile 25 to mile 37 with an aid station at mile 31. So it was 6 miles from the covered bridge to the Hickory ridge aid station. I have to say that this was a VERY long 6 miles. It just seemed like a long time to both Jim and I. It didn't help that at about 3 miles into it we ran around a corner that looked like the part right near the aid station (or so I thought) so I blurted out "It's just around the corner". Of course, I was wrong. It is weird how the trail can play tricks on what you remember. I guess that's what happens with a living course. Much of this first part of the Orange section we walked due to steep hills and Jim trying to shake that crappy nausea feeling. Once in a while Mother Nature would throw us a bone and let a wonderful breeze into the woods. I would keep walking or running with my hands stretched out as if to take in as much wind as I could. It seemed to help. We got to the Hickory Ridge aid station, finally. Jim visited the Port-a-John, I filled up water bottles, and grabbed something to eat, banana, PBJ sandwich, pretzles, a few M&M's, and a Hammer Gel. I love me some Hammer Gel. In fact, Hammer Nutrition provided all the carbo gel and electrolyte/energy replacement drink. If you have used their HEED product you know how good it is. If you haven't, then you need to do yourself a favor, try it. It works and that is no bull. Here is their website:http://www.hammernutrition.com/?gclid=CJGpnZCXt5sCFRBM5QodLmy0BQ
Search for the HEED page and read on. In fact, their website has a veritable cornucopia of athletic nutrition knowledge. It is backed by scientific research and I have found to work very well for me. Their stuff is the best.
We rested here for a few minutes, I hit the Port-a-John, felt better, and on we went. Back on to the trials. There are lots of roots on this Orange section and it is only a matter of time before you trip on one and either stumble or actually roll to the ground, as in my case. I was quite graceful and didn't get hurt but fell nonetheless. I have fallen at every trail race that I have run thus far and probably would have been disappointed if I didn't "hit the deck".
Now, the Orange loop is also a Mountain Bike Trail and is marked with mile markers. Well, when we got to the one that had a "1" on it I said "I don't think that is right for us, I think we have more of the singletrack trail to go". Of course, I was wrong again. We popped out of the woods in 1 mile and made our way across what is ostensibly the front yard of the Mohican Campground, went underneath the Route 3 bridge, and came out on the other side to run South on Route 3 to the ever glorious Grist Mill Aid station.
Grist Mill Aid Station
This aid station is at mile 37, only a half marathon to go (roughly). This aid station rocks. The others are great as well in their own ways but this one is located at a place in the 50 where changing shoes and really topping off the tank is a very welcome experience. We got into our drop-bags and began the process of continuing. I checked Scooby-Doo and Friends and they were fine, woohoo. I changed my shirt (very welcome as my other was soaked), socks, shoes, and hat (that was equally soaked). I have never felt so good. My toes and feet were fine thanks to great socks, Darn Tough and Balega trail socks. I also smear my feet with Desitin to seal out the moisture. I read about this trick a while ago I it really works. Plus it acts as a lubricant and your feet are lubed up inside your socks, quite nice. I topped off the tank with half a banana, half a PBJ, some pretzles and a Hammer Gel. I was good to go.
Jim had some foot blister issues on his little toe that the podiatrists on site at the Aid Station took care of for him. I suggested that they amputate and we continue but they felt their industry standard of triage was superior to my idea. What do I know. Jim finished up that, changed his socks and shirt (I think), topped off his tank and we were off again.
Blue Section
This was our last section to run but it is 13 miles and change long. Coming out of the Grist Mill aid station we are back heading South bound on Route 3 (paved asphalt) running on the left side of the road so we can see cars (that are about to kill us). Now this is the longest hill in the race. This road section is probably a 2 mile stretch of a long uphill sweeping to the right slightly hill. We both walked and ran up it. When we got near the top we turned around to look back. It's only then that you really realize how steep that son of a bitch is. Next year I will take a picture from that point but I still don't think you'll be able to "read" how steep and long it is. So we then turn left off Route 3 and are on a paved road for a while. This section is rolling hills and is quite pretty. As we continued on we got to a part at the top of one hill and I said to Jim "I think the Landoll's Castle aid station is just up here after we turn left" Well, of course, I was wrong again. But I was only wrong in the "just up here" part. Somehow at this point in the race your "distance meter" gets really thrown off. You think that 1/4 mile is 2 miles so some sections seem very long. There was an older gentleman there with a Mohican 1000 mile buckle on. Meaning that he had run the Mohican 100 a total of 10 times to get that buckle. I am sorry that I did not get his name but he was helping at the aid station and was one of the most helpful aid station workers of the day. He gave us a great mental boost of confidence by telling us that we had plenty of time left and if we only ran 2 miles an hour we would still finish with plenty of time before the official cut off time. We left that aid station and continued. This section has gravel roads but they are mostly surrounded on both sides with tall trees, which is great as it shades us as we run. By this point the sun was fully out and blazing down. It was probably only 75-80 degrees but all that sun made it feel hotter. Then the roads switched back to paved
Here is a shot of Jim running on this section. In the background in that field you can see one of Ohio's most beloved sights, the large roll of straw. Well, I can never remember if it is hay or straw. I know that animals eat one and sleep on the other but can't remember which one of these they roll up like this. In the country in this time of year in Ohio you see these all over he place. I love them.
You'll notice I said running because on this whole blue section we tackled it with a combination of running and walking. I let Jim dictate the pace here and he did a terrific job of reading his body and adjusting when he felt necessary. This is one of the keys to running these kind of distances. This is a race to finish for most of us and being able to read the signs and adjust is the key to finishing.
As we continued we got to a left hand turn and I said that "I think the last aid station is right up here after another left hand turn. Well of course in keeping with the theme of the day, I WAS WRONG AGAIN. We continued.
The heat kept building here and as you can see, no tree cover. I noticed that Jim was not drinking and that he was out of water. I gave him one of my little Fuel Belt bottles and that got helped. As we hung a left and ran up a hill we approached a farm house on the left. I noticed two young people sitting on the porch out back and asked Jim if he wanted me to ask them for water. He declined as we thought we were close to the last aid station. As we rounded a slight hill that turned to the right we saw the steeple to the church that is the last aid staiton.
Last Gasp Aid Station
I wish I would have taken a picture of this as it was the second most glorious sight of the day. There were two young people running this aid station and they were incredibly helpful and caring. Giving ice in water bottles, ice in cups with Coke, and ibuprofen. The Coke really hit the spot here. Jim sat down briefly to recover. He had some Coke as well, topped off with HEED, and off we were on the last part until the finish. We head up the road and turn left onto a gravel road. This section is very beautiful as there are big trees on both sides of the road for shade and the road surface is pretty forgiving. As we got to the top of a hill we noticed this sign in front of a nice house on the left.
Now, it probably tough to read but that yellow sign with the person icon that looks like he is dancing says "Drunken Pedestrian Crossing". We laughed our asses off at this. Were there enough drunken people at this house that were getting hit by cars that they had to erect a sign?Is it the same person that keeps getting drunk and wandering around un-teathered and getting hit by drivers? Apparently, there is enough of an issue here somehow that others needed to be warned. We finished laughing, took this photo, and continued. That laugh really helped us at this point in the race.
We kept going on one of the best running surfaces ever, packed sand. This section of road had long stretches of packed sand which made for a great, soft running surface. We ran past one little open vista that was the place I would love to build my dream house someday. Perfect setting but of course I forgot to take a picture. We got to the top and turned left on to Big Hill Road. Now, that name is no shit. This gravel road is actually closed in the winter. It is very steep and the fact that it is right at the end of the race and you are running downhill is someone's idea of a sick joke. Now I know why it hurts so much to walk down stairs for a few days after the race. This hill is basically a controlled crash. You pray to God that you don't fall because you would just keep rolling down the hill and crash into whatever got in your way to stop your progress and I think it would probably not be until the little white restored school house at the bottom of the hill.
We turn left onto paved road and this is the last little section to the finish. Shade trees on both sides make it pleasant. We continued until we saw the Mohican Wilderness Campground in sight. This is where the Finish Line is. On the side of the road near the campground we saw two folding camp chairs and Jim said "Those look like our chairs". Sure enough they were as Jim's wife Mary and their two children Avery and Carson came up to watch their dad finish. They ran up to run with us for the last 100 yards or so to the finish line. My kids did the same thing last year and it really made my day. They were so proud and thrilled to just run with their daddy. We ran into the finishing chute and under the glorious FINISH banner. We had done it. WE FINISHED THE 50 in 13:37! Awesome. The feeling is one of utter jubilation, exhaustion, relief, and sense of accomplishment.
Here is a picture of Jim and I at the finish.
We had finished something that most of all of our friends and family (all of us) think is insane.
I do it because I love to run and I love being outdoors. I love to spend time with my good friend Jim. We have the best conversations (and sometimes no conversations) and come up with the best ideas when we run. The thing that I love the most about running ultras is finding out what my boundaries are and pushing through them to keep on. I guess it is kind of a very long embodiment of the human spirit. Things get tough. Things suck sometimes. But since we run this race we keep on. That's what we do. We keep going.
This is my second 50 miler and I am really excited and anxious to run the 100 miler next year.
I want to personally thank all of the race organizers and volunteers that make this race possible. Without you and your giving spirit we would not have this great race. Thank you to my family for allowing me the training time to complete this race. I could not have done it without your support and love. To my sponsors HeadBlade and FrontRunner.
And a huge thank you to Jim Smith. We could not have done this without each other and you made it the most enjoyable 50 mile torturepalooza ever. Thanks for your friendship.
Congratulations to the 50 mile winner: Dale Holdaway in 8:27.
Congratulations to big 100 mile winner: Wyatt Hornsby in 19:52
You guys are studs.
Thanks for reading this entry. Sorry it's a bit long but an event this epic deserves a blog entry this long.
I am looking forward to Mohican again next year.
