This was my 8th trail race, fourth ultra-distance effort, and first 50K (My full BR profile - http://www.bibrave.com/users/4). I paced a friend for 52 miles of the Leadville 100 this year and maintained a pretty decent schedule on the trails since August. I live in Portland where hilly trail runs are easy to find, so I felt fairly confident going into this race.

Holy. Shit. I knew this would be a challenging race, but the elevation gain over 50K (31 miles) ended up being MORE than I experienced in Leadville over 52 miles – about 7,500 feet over 50K. Three days later I am still extremely sore :).

So, overall I thought it was a really good race. There were about 100 total runners across the 50K and other distances (I think 20 and 9 miles). Getting to the race was easy, registration super simple, and the SWAG was really nice (long sleeve shirt and a large sport bottle – in addition to tons of pizza at the end). This was also a no-cups race, which from a trail/ultra runner’s perspective makes a ton of sense because almost everyone has their own bottle anyway.

Race start was right on time after instructions from the RD (Aaron – super nice guy). Not a huge deal, but it was confusing and seemed unnecessary to start all distances together. If they’d just started the shorter distances 2-3 minutes earlier, those runners would have been off and gone - very unlikely to be caught by the slower ultra distance runners. Really, any separation would have kept the three groups separate and avoided confusion (there were lots of people saying, “What distance are you, what distance are you?”). As it was, the field was pretty small so congestion wasn’t the issue – was really more a matter of wanting to know who my competition in the 50K was so I could try to stay with them. For non-competitive runners, this likely didn’t matter, so not a huge complaint.

Along the same lines, all three distances had identical bibs. So again, if you were looking to stick with the 50K runners, they were indiscernible from the 20 mile runners. Different number schemes, colors – anything to set the runners apart would have been very easy and very low cost. Again, on the trail you heard a good amount of (“What distance are you?”). As the race went on, I’d ask aid station volunteers (who were great) “Any other 50K runners come through yet?” Most had no idea. But, I finally got word I was in 2nd (back 3-4 minutes) at about mile 10.

Here’s where my own screw up comes into play. Shortly after the aid station at mile 10, I took a wrong turn and went off course. This ultimately added distance to my race, added about 200 feet of extra climbing, and moved me from 2nd to 4th. The next climb – Squawk – was one of the most intense I’ve ever experienced, so even if I’d stayed on course I can’t say I would have kept 2nd or even 3rd. That climb absolutely demolished me. But I was definitely frustrated by the misstep.

Of everyone I talked to – zero other people got lost, so I’ll definitely own that the wrong turn was likely my unique screw up. I did feel there were dead zones in the race that had long patches of no marking – usually on straightaways so I get why there were fewer markers – but sometimes on windier sections too. When there were lightly marked areas, I definitely ran slower because I was constantly looking up for markers, rather than down at the trail, so I also stumbled more. Again – I didn’t hear this from anyone else, so maybe I just go paranoid after my little detour :).

Post race was super laid back – much like other trail races, but with lots of pizza for which I was eternally grateful. During ultras, I ONLY take in a liquid fuel source, so solid food afterward was a real treat.

My Race
Up until mile 11 I was moving really well and feeling strong, then I got off track, fought my way back on (lots of aggressive off-trail plowing), hit Squawk, race collapsed a bit, then I got passed with authority so slipped to fifth place, entered a dark emotional place, kept on going just trying to pick up whatever pieces I could and telling myself to keep going because you never know what’s happening ahead of you. Then with about 1.5 miles left I saw someone having a worse day than me and I was able to pass him to finish in fourth (and won my age group). Huge character builder and a good reminder that I still have a long way to go before I can contend in a race like THAT in the PNW.

Fun race, good SWAG, nice post-race food, outstanding challenge, beautiful setting, and solid management. If I’m glutton for punishment enough, I’d do it again!