Monday, February 9, 2009

Race Report for Rocky Raccoon 50 Miler



First things first – g ## dam, SOB MFing roots! The only good tree is a desk! Let's give the park some of the Obama economic stimulus money and get this course paved.


OK this is a bit of an overreaction. This course is beautiful and the roots were not all that bad. But, why was there the constant battle between my toe and the roots over occupying the same space at the same time. Needless to say the roots won.


Now that I got off my chest -- the Rocky Raccoon 50 was a perfect race. For once in my life the planets aligned in my favor.


Here are some highlights


I arrived in Houston and went to pick up my rental car. Unfortunately, the plane was early and they did not have my sub economy POS compact available. "Would you mind taking this brand new Mustang instead?" Not wanting to make a fuss, I agreed to their request.


When I arrived at the Holiday Inn, I was upgraded to a suite. This room was huge. The walk from the bed to the bathroom was further than some of the pit stops at the race. A rookery ;) of Snails could have occupied the room and we still would have room for more.


Race packet pick up was a breeze; in and out in less than 10 minutes. This was slowed by being recognized as a Snail and engaging in the usual pre race banter. There is a saying that "you are known by the company you keep", the Snails have a strong identity in the ultra running community.


Saturday morning came quickly. Prior to the start, I met Misty Pilgrim AKA Geekgrl. I have been following her blog for about a year and it was a pleasure to finally meet her in person.


The weather was perfect. There was no second thinking about wearing shorts and a tri top. At 7 am we were started on our way. Everything was going perfect until around mile 6, I got something in my eye (the women's 100 mile leader I think) and fell. It must have been a good on since she stopped to see that I was ok. Everything seemed to be still in place and there were no bones showing so I brushed off and continued on my way. Lesson learned… keep your eyes on the trail. A difficult task given that I was surrounded with the prettiest trail runners west of York Road. Yes, this is a haphazard attempt to cover my ass. It must have been a good fall because I had a group of Texas Trail Runners at pit 2 wanting to see if I was ok. I was a little bloody but they refused to shoot me!


Speaking of the Texas Trail Runners … they rock! Great pit crew that had anything you needed. They quickly got you watered and fed and back on the trail. The other pits were great too, but there was something special about the service at the Texas Trail Runners stop.


The pits were very well stocked. This enabled me to accomplish one of my goals for the race – eat only real food. I had a feast. Breakfast Burritos PBJs, quesadillas, Peanut butter and Banana sandwiches, hot dogs, soup… everything went down easy and better yet stayed down. Heed was the drink of choice, with a shot of Coke every pit. While it was hot, I limited my electrolyte intake to 1 tabulate every hour. This helped prevent the kidney problems I had at Umstead.


I finished lap 1 in about 3.5 hours feeling real good. The second lap was a bit hotter and I walked quite a bit but still came in around 5 hours. I don't know my split time for lap 3 but my overall time was a few seconds over 13 hours. Lap 3 was comfortable, had a slight stomach issue at the first aid station where I downed a cold coke too fast and had instant cramps. Darkness fell with about 8 miles left. I walked most of the last miles and still managed to do a second face plant. Stupid roots!


I felt great at the finish. The only thing that hurt was my shoulder from two falls in lap 1 and 3. Otherwise I was in very good shape. In reflection, 50 miles were enjoyable, but I am thankful that I did not have to go out in the dark for another 50.


I was able to get back to the hotel in time for a scotch, shower and shave and then walk a mile into Huntsville to do some celebrating at the local college bars. I staggered back to the hotel to meet some of the early 100 mile finishers also staggering. I guarantee I was feeling much better that they were. Life is good!


Things that worked:



  • Eating real food

  • Gel free diet

  • Bag Balm feet

  • Foot taping

  • New Under Armor shoes that I am test piloting

  • Walking before I needed to

  • Sauna training

  • Accepting that this was going to take a long time



Things that need work



  • Drive / desire to run through the pain

  • Forgetting my Garmin

  • Practice on harder trails

  • Times GPS – never could lock on signal



Next stop – Iron Horse 100K

2 comments:

RBR said...

Great race report! I so wanted to be at Rocky for to do my first 50, but other training has to take precedence right now (READ: I am training for a tri and SUCK at swimming and biking)

Those root dives are pretty legendary at Rocky, glad you had pretty girls to blame, ...err I mean help you. ;o)

Derek said...

Great race report, I think I saw you a few times on the course, it looks like our times were close until the end when I faded hard!!