All my training has been leading up to this day. Fifty miles of non-stop running through the collegiate peaks of Colorado. Starting at 8,000 ft and climbing up to 10,000 ft, the run was two loops of 25 miles each. The total elevation gain/loss was 10,000 ft, Five thousand feet per 25 miles. Needless to say it was also the hottest day they have had in Buena Vista to date this year.
We headed down to Buena Vista on Thursday afternoon. Dan Helm had come down from Fargo, ND to run the race as well. Dan, Liv and their son Foster stayed at our house on Wednesday evening and we all headed down to Buena Vista the next morning. The house we rented was about 10 minutes outside the town.
We had a pretty lazy day on Friday. Dan and I went out and ran a bit of the course. It made me a nervous with how hilly it was.
Everyone was up the next morning to go to the start line with us. There were about 400 total runners between the 25 mile and 50 mile course. I had a great breakfast and was feeling pretty good.
Here is a shot of the gang hangin' out at the start line.
At the start line, Dan, myself and Matt Mach, who was running the 25 miler, started in the back. We were just chatting when the race started, so there wasn't much time to be nervous. Although once we started moving, I did get a little nervous. To think I would be running between 8 - 10 hours was quite daunting.
You can't see us cause we are at the back, but here is a good picture of the starting line.
Here is a passing shot of Matt and I at the start.
I don't have any pictures of the race itself as I tried to carry as little as possible. The run overall was absolutely gorgeous. The terrain was a ton of fun and the views were spectacular. You could see for hundreds of miles and long stretches of mountain ranges.
Overall, my first lap was pretty good. I was wearing my NB trail shoes, so I didn't have a lot of support, but they seemed to be working. When I'd pass some of the better runners, many would question my decision to wear such a minimalist shoe and it made me nervous, but overall, it worked out pretty well.
The first lap I ran in 3 hours and 45 minutes. After the first twenty five miles I was about 20th out of 400 for the 25 and no more than 30 - 45 minutes off the leader for the 50 miler, so I was probably 10 - 15th place out of 120 at the time.
One of the worst decision came when I met up with Jenny and family at the 25 mile mark. I cleaned out my gels and filled up with some new gels. I had been getting pretty warm and I was wearing a long sleeve shirt. I decided to take it off. One thing I should have done is put one some sun screen. I actually denied Jenny when she was trying to give me some. We'll come back to how bad of decision this was.
Soon after Dan and I checked in and checked out, Matt came in to finish the 25 miler.
Some got a little tired waiting for Daddy to get back.
The second lap definitely hurt more than the first. Lots more walking and it was quite a bit hotter. There were about five of us that kept trading off positions for about 10 miles. I started to become a little mentally drained the miles ticked on for some time. Unfortunately, the course finished on 2-3 miles of flat road, and when my feet were killing me, this was about the worst thing to finish on. The last five miles or so, my feet were hurting so bad. The only thing I could think of was getting my shoes off. The shoes I was wearing had barely any support so every step felt like my foot was actually hitting the solid pavement.
A couple of guys had passed me, but I eventually caught and we all finished together. I finished ahead of them as the video shows, but the official scores online show me finishing after them. I think there may have been some confusion with the tickets at the end. Oh well, I was just glad to be done.
Here's a shot after I got to sit down and hang out with my support crew.
And my tired feet.
And some pics of Dan finishing.
My final time was 8 hours and 50 minutes. I went in with the tough goal of trying to finish under 9 hours, which to my surprise, I did. Overall, I was very pleased with how the day went. It was a lot of fun and was a great learning experience. We had a great trip down to Buena Vista with Jenny's family coming into town, Dan and fam coming down from Fargo and Rob and Jenna coming down from Boulder. I'm pretty sure I'll continue training for more ultras and hopefully can continue to progress.
Now, back to the decision of not to wear sunscreen. The day after the race, I wasn't feeling too well. I hardly had any appetite and I was throwing up a bit. I learned about two days later that it wasn't because of the 50 mile run, but because I had extreme sunburn. For the next week, I was lathering myself in lotion trying to get my skin to heal just a bit faster. It was so extremely painful. I could barely sleep and had to take sleeping pills to make it through the night. I also ended up have some major blistering on my shoulders. Here are some pictures of my body a couple of days after.
Enjoy my stupidity!
