Race Report: Dragon OCR and Tougher Mudder Carolinas

I've done 2 obstacle races this fall, in addition to Tougher Mudder Virginia that I did back in June.  These were my first obstacle races after having to postpone 2 Tough Mudders that I had signed up for over the summer.  With my sciatica issues now under control, I finally felt good enough to at least attempt the courses.

Dragon OCR is a local event here in Raleigh.  The race director is pretty new to the game, but has a decent event.  He's still building out his portfolio of obstacles to include in the race.  This particular event was Halloween themed, so a lot of people were running in costume.  It also was not timed, although the next occurrence will be timed, according to the RD.  The venue where the event is held does not allow for mud/water obstacles, so the next occurrence may move to a different location.

The event went pretty well.  Most of the obstacles were pretty easy.  There were two obstacles, though, that were very challenging.  The first was a horizontal "salmon ladder" that was much harder than I thought it would be.  The second was similar to American Ninja Warrior's "Rolling Thunder" obstacle, but much shorter and easier.  "Easier" being a relative term because it was quite challenging to get through.

The course could have been marked better, so hopefully the RD fixes that for next time.  It was only billed as a 5k, and my gps watch logged about 2 miles.  So either I took an accidental shortcut, or he overestimated the distance.  Either way, it was over pretty quickly.  (As contrasted with Tough Mudder, that has a 10+ mile course.)

Tougher Mudder Carolinas was just a week ago.  Late fall in NC is hit-or-miss on the weather.  On that day, it was sunny but quite chilly.  (~48 degrees at the start).  And you're pretty much guaranteed to get wet on the course.  Like many TMs that I've done, it started out with about a mile of running - which is good to spread everyone out before you hit any obstacles.  I may be running a little slower now than I was earlier in the year, but I think there were also faster people here.  TM started giving out prize money for the first wave (that I was running) and the fastest guy (and gal) would take home $2500 each.

So I was getting passed A LOT in that first mile.  But I was there to run my own race.  I settled into a rhythm and eventually got to the first obstacle - Kiss of Mud, where you crawl under barbwire through mud.  In this case, it was also about 1-foot-deep water.  So now we're all soaked head-to-toe.

In Virginia, the "tougher" wave had to to Kiss of Mud twice, and Mud Mile twice.  Not so in NC.  Other obstacles (Everest, Pyramid Scheme) were modified for the "tougher" wave and were similar to what they were in Virginia.

I made my way through the course without too much trouble.  Arctic Enema was *super cold*.  I mean, ridiculously cold.  Everest was more difficult than it was in Virginia.  For the tougher wave, there is a rope to help to climb up.  But it must have been positioned differently in NC.  In Virginia, it was super easy.  In NC, it was hard enough that I had to get help from someone at the top.

Going in to the last couple miles, I was trying to maintain my placement within the runners around me.  Still, I'd get passed every now and then.  But I was able to pass a few people at Funky Monkey.  

All of the obstacles in the "tougher" wave must be completed or else you get a DNF.  Two obstacles, though, Funky Monkey and Kong can be skipped if you fail to complete them.  But, you have to run a "penalty loop" if you can't complete the obstacle.

So I was able to complete Funky Monkey without much trouble.  Several people fell while I was on it, and I imagine there were other people that I didn't see running their penalty laps while I was on the obstacle as well.  I was able to complete Kong (the final obstacle) without incident as well - but they apparently weren't enforcing the penalty laps by then anyway.

I finished with a time of 2:25:24 - much slower than my Virginia time of 2:01:42.  Now, every course is different so it's hard to make direct comparisons.  My placement in Virginia was 42nd overall, and 5th in my division (Men 45-49).  Now in NC I was 75th overall, and 8th in my division.  So not bad, but definitely not as good of a performance as I had back in June.

I'm already signed up for Toughest Mudder Midwest for 2018.  I'll probably run Tougher Mudder Carolinas again next year too.  But most of my focus will be on trail running over obstacle racing.  I do have one more obstacle race this year - the Green Beret Challenge.  That's two weeks away, and looks a little different than the Tough Mudder races I've been doing.

After that, it's all trail running events on the calendar to start getting ready for.  So time to start ramping up the distance on the trail!

Race Report: Athens to Atlanta 2017

I've skated Athens to Atlanta every year since 2001, except for the one year that I broke my shoulder 2 weeks before the race.  That includes the "outlaw" year when the event was officially canceled, but many people showed up over the course of a few weekends to skate the route unsupported.

Anyway, in all the years I've done the event, this was the worst weather by far.  With the remnants of Tropical Storm Nate rolling through the state, many people either changed their registration from the full distance to the half distance - or just opted not to skate at all.   

It would take more than a little (actually a lot) of rain to stop me, though.  So Sunday morning I lined up at the start line with everyone else ready to brave the storm.

As luck would have it, the start was actually dry.  Or, rather, it wasn't raining.  The street was a little wet from overnight rain, so we would have to be careful from the beginning.  The race started and I kept up with the leaders for a much shorter time than in recent years.  I backed off almost immediately and watched the speedy guys drift away.  But before too long, someone caught me from behind - Jack from Canada.  So Jack and I skated together for a while.  He was skating pretty strong - maybe too strong.  It turns out this was his first time attempting A2A, so I gave him some advice about the course - the most important being not to push the pace too hard, since there was a lot of road to cover.

Maybe 20 minutes later, a group of 3 skaters caught us.  I immediately recognized Luke, who I've skated with in the past.  It turns out they were all skating the half distance (Luke switched the day before based on the weather forecast.)  But we would make good time with 5 skaters in the pack.  After another hour or so, we caught Sam - who was also skating a shorter distance than usual.  "Only" the full distance.  In recent years, Sam had skated from Atlanta to Athens overnight, rested maybe an hour, then turned around and skated from Athens to Atlanta with everyone else.  A2A2A...  The rain started maybe an hour into the race and wasn't too bad.  But it did reduce our grip on the road, so we had to be careful.  It also took more effort to climb the hills.

As we started the climb into Dacula (the half/38-mile finish), Jack started to struggle on the hills and eventually dropped.  So, when we finally reached Dacula, we bid farewell to 3 of our group and it was just Sam & I skating.  There were times the rain was practically horizontal, the wind was so bad.  It would sting my eyes, and felt like hail/sleet.  It was pretty miserable.  The temperature wasn't too bad, at least - so no worries about hypothermia or anything like that.

Around mile 50, I could definitely tell my legs were not going to be able to sustain the pace for the remainder of the race.  But it's definitely more efficient (and safer) to skate with another person, so I pushed myself a little harder than I probably should have.  Another 10 miles and we catch up to Herb (another Canuck) who had been skating by himself for hours.  About mile 65 is when we start getting into some more serious climbing again, and Herb and I are both struggling.  I tell Sam to just go on without me, since I plan to sit down at the next aid station anyway.

At this point, Herb and I were within sight of each other, but not skating together.  With the way were struggling, it wouldn't have made much distance.  I got to Silver Hill (~ 70 miles) and I notice by left skate is pronating to an extreme I've never seen before.  I thought maybe my frame had shifted, but I could still keep my wheels vertical with a lot of effort and concentration.  Still, I didn't feel very stable, so I ended up using my brake almost the whole way down Silver Hill.  I'm surprised I didn't burn through my whole brake pad.  After the long downhill, there is a long climb up to the aid station.  Once I got there, I did sit down as I planned on.

I checked my frame and it seemed to be in the right spot.  So that was good, but also meant that my ankle and the stabilizing muscles around it were completely fatigued.  I ate a PB&J and bag of chips.  I also drank half a beer while sitting down.  I poured the other half into one of my (empty) water bottles, and got back on the road.  I only sat down for maybe 5 minutes.  While I was sitting, Herb made a quick stop and got back on the road, encouraging me to catch him.

So, I set off the catch up with Herb, which probably took a good 30 minutes or more.  From there, we skated the rest of the way together, and scored it a tie as we crossed the finish line.

Herb and I finished in 7:11:17 - almost an hour slower than my time from last year.  I definitely did not think that the wet roads would impact my time that much, but it really does take a lot more energy to climb the hills.  I had special "rain wheels" on (MPC Storm Surge) but I honestly don't think they made any difference.

I placed 16th overall (tied with Herb) out of 26 finishers.  7 people DNF'd (including Jack) and another 7 people opted not to start at all.  In my division (Men 40-49), I finished 4th out of only 5 people.

Looking at the historical results, you have to go all the way back to 1990 to find a year with fewer people registered and fewer people that finished the 87 mile course.

I have already signed up for A2A 2018 - so I'll be back again next year, hopefully with a sub-6hr finishing time.  :-)

DIY energy drink/gels

So...  I've been curious about making my own energy gels for some time now.  There are numerous recipes on the interwebs to do it.  But I recently stumbled onto a product called UCAN that a lot of ultra runners use.  And then stumbled onto a great article and recipe here: http://theplantedrunner.com/tag/cornstarch-endurance-fuel/.  I recommend reading Claire's article on the background for using starch as an endurance fuel (scroll down the page to the oldest article.)  It's a quick read, and very interesting.

It took a couple tries to get my version of the recipe right, and I'm still working on it.  But I have my own "chocolate fudge" recipe that I tried this weekend.  It turned out pretty good!  My goal was to have something that was nutritionally similar to Vanilla Gu (which is what I usually have on long runs/skates).  I also wanted to add protein to it, and increase the caffeine.  Unlike Claire's version, I wanted to add sugar to mine (instead of Stevia) so that I could make it more calorie dense.

During the skate, it was a little tough to get it out of the bottle.  I had to squeeze & suck a lot harder than I wanted to.  (Insert dirty joke here you perverts!)  Halfway through my skate, I added a little more water to the bottle and the consistency was much better.  So the next batch I will probably use a full cup of water and see how that goes.  I'd also like to find some Morton's Lite Salt, so that I can just measure that instead of separately measuring table salt and 'NoSalt' for the sodium and potassium.  Anyway, here's the recipe if you want to try it!

Mark’s DIY UCAN – Chocolate Fudge

Liquid starch-based fuel that is an alternative to gels or chews.  Recipe makes roughly 16oz and is nutritionally the equivalent of around 10 gels.  The amount of water can be adjusted to make the consistency thicker or thinner.

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups Argo corn starch (https://www.amazon.com/Argo-100-Pure-Corn-Starch/dp/B00JPT9BFW)
• 2 scoops Dymatize Chocolate Fudge Whey Protein (https://www.bodybuilding.com/store/dym/elite.html)
• 3 tbsp Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate cocoa powder (https://www.amazon.com/HERSHEYS-SPECIAL-DARK-Cocoa-Ounce/dp/B00J50PJUM)
• 1 g (~ 3/16 tsp) table salt
• 1.3 g (~ 3/16 tsp) “No Salt” (https://www.amazon.com/NoSalt-Sodium-Free-Salt-11-ounce/dp/B019G3FI7G)
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 4 "Motivation" Herbal Caffeine capsule (https://www.amazon.com/Motivation-Caffeine-Vitamin-Supplement-Capsules/dp/B00C5U96FI/)
• ¾ cup water – can adjust more or less, depending on preferred thickness

Instructions

• Mix all dry ingredients except water in a small measuring cup with a spout.
• Slowly add enough water to your desired thickness.
• Stir thoroughly and pour into a small running bottle.
• Shake before drinking.

Notes

• 1056 calories, 204.4g carbs, 51g protein, 5.5g fat, 640mg sodium, 495mg potassium, 400mg caffeine
• Based on absorbing 60g glucose/hr, entire amount could be consumed in 3 hours (or more)
• About 25% of the energy comes from protein.  Research I found online seemed to indicate 15-33% was okay.
• Most of the carbs are from glucose.  Only 12% are from glucose.  Ideally 33% of the carbs would be glucose.

I'd like to play with some more flavors - I may experiment a bit with a lemon flavor like Claire has on her page.  The chocolate tastes great, but I'm sure I would get sick of it after 7-8 hours.  I do plan on using this at Athens to Atlanta this year.

If you try it, or have ideas to change/improve it, please let me know!  :-)

Training Update!

Well, ideally I would have had some race reports over the summer...  But I unfortunately had another sciatica flare-up that knocked me back for a few months.  I had to cancel a 50k trail race (Wicked Grit) as well as a Toughest Mudder race that I had signed up for.  But I'm feeling better now, and gearing up for my fall events.  I'm slowing ramping up my trail miles (did 15 last week - next long run will be 18 miles).  I'm also ramping up my skating miles in preparation for Athens to Atlanta in a couple weeks.  (48 miles today!)

I started going to physical therapy to address the muscle imbalance that's contributing to the sciatica.  I'm going to do a running gait analysis this week (on my birthday) to see what I can do to correct any imbalance there.  The goal now is to reduce the chance for injury going forward.
Every time I've gotten injured in the past 10 years, my weight has gotten out of control.  Last year, I lost 40 pounds to finally get back into racing shape, only to get injured again.  You can see on the charts below, that my weight and body fat percentage started going up as soon as I had my flare-up back in May...


Unlike previous setbacks, I didn't let my weight get too far gone before I started exercising some discipline in my diet.  And it wasn't too long before I was maybe 90% better, so I could start running a little bit again.  So the weight is coming off again, and (more importantly) body fat % is going down.  And I'm doing it without obsessively tracking every calorie I eat - although I'm certain I'd get the weight off faster that way.  But I think I'll see if I can manage it this way a bit more first.

Upcoming events:  Dragon OCR (5k obstacle race) on Sept 30.  Athens to Atlanta (87 mile skate) October 8.  Tough Mudder Carolinas (10 mile obstacle race) on Oct 21.  Eno River Run (11 mile trail run) Oct 28.  Green Beret Challenge (5k obstacle race) Nov 11.  I'm also super-tempted to sign up for Frozen Rock 720 (12-hour trail run), but I'm not sure I'll be ready in time for that.  It might be a last-minute decision...  :-)

Further out, I have South Mountain Marathon (26-mile trail race) in January.  Umstead Marathon (26-mile trail race) at the beginning of March.  And of course Georgia Death Race (70ish mile trail race) at the end of March.  I want to get a 100-mile trail race in sometime in 2018, and eventually do the PR150 run in Puerto Rico.  (You have to have previously completed a 100-mile event to qualify.)

Race Report: Grayson Highlands 50k (May 6, 2017)

My first mountain race!

This is waaay overdue and may be shorter than other write-ups, just because the race isn't as fresh in my mind.  But what a great time!  The event was EPIC for a number of reasons:  the scenery was great, there were tons of friendly people, and barbecue at the finish.  What more can you ask for?

Anyway, I drove up to Virginia with my friend Terry the night before and stayed at an airbnb cabin about 20min from the park.  As it turns out, the cabin had no internet, and no cell phone signal.  I of course use my phone to navigate everywhere, and had neglected to download offline maps for the area ahead of time.  Terry and I left over an hour before the start of the race, to allow time for navigation mishaps - which of course we had.  Long story short - I arrived at the start line about 5 minutes before the start of the race.  We didn't even park.  I jumped out, Terry drove back to the cabin, and I made my way over to packet pick-up.

While waiting in line to grab my bib, it started snowing!  In May!  (We were pretty far up on the mountain - but still...)  I pinned my number on, and pulled out a windbreaker that was in my running pack.  By the time I got back to the start line, everyone was gone.  So I tore off down the road.  By now the wind had picked up and the icy snowing was pelting me in the face.  For a few minutes, it would have definitely been helpful to have goggles on.  Visibility was bad, but we were on a smooth, wide, paved road.  So no tripping hazards or anything like that.  The snow and wind decreased a bit as I made my way down the road and tried to catch up to the runners that had a 2-3 minute head start on me...

The first mile and a half (or so) was paved park road, and downhill.  I'm a pretty strong downhill runner (there is a technique to it) and probably passed at least 100 people before we turned onto the actual trail.  I wasn't running excessively hard, just my normal downhill gait.  At this point, people had spread out a bit, so it wasn't super crowded on the single track - but I still had to slow down a little while waiting for opportunities to pass other people in front of me.

Now that we were in the shelter of the trees (and had descended quite a bit), the temperature was noticeably warmer, so I unzipped a couple layers.  Throughout the race, I was frequently zipping or unzipping layers to adjust for the temperature changes.  In the trees, or at lower elevations, it was quite pleasant.  But if we got to an exposed area, or at higher altitudes, the temperature was quite a bit lower.  So having multiple layers I could unzip as needed turned out great.

The race director had emailed some updates leading up to the race, and one of them mentioned that there was been enough rain that we would definitely get wet on some creek crossings.  We'd also see a lot more little creeks and mud.  He wasn't joking.  The first major crossing, there was no way to avoid getting wet.  The water came up to mid-calf or so, if I remember correctly.  And it was COLD!  Like barely above freezing cold.  Like you have to watch where you're setting your feet because they've already gone numb cold.  There were several of those crossings during the race.

Of course, I started off trying to keep my feet as dry as possible.  But at a certain point you just say "screw it".  They'd dry out for a while, then get wet again.  I'm happy to say that I didn't have any blisters, though, thanks to another tip from the RD:  Two Toms Sport Shield.  It's a silicone-based lube to prevent chafing, etc.  I put a bunch of that on my toes.  I also had my trusty Ezeefit booties on to protect my heels & ankles.

Anyway, the course was mildly technical - nothing I wasn't prepared for.  VERY scenic.  The most technically challenging parts were several rocky downhills.  I made up a lot of time on those, but a misstep could have been disastrous.  But I still had fresh legs at those points, and you have to trust your training that you're not going to trip.

The RD was out running parts of the course and I actually got to run with him for a mile or two.  As luck would have it, we passed some of the famous Grayson Highlands Ponies  and he got a picture of me with them.  He wasn't actually running the race - just going from section to section checking the flagging and such.  So I wasn't with him for long.  He did mention that the first 20 miles are intended to be scenic and relatively easy, but the last 10 miles are tough.  So that was good to know.

Everything was fairly uneventful and I eventually made it to the mile 17 aid station, which is also the mile 25 aid station (with an out-and-back in between).  I quickly refilled my pack, grabbed some food, and got back on the course.

Now at the time, I couldn't remember how far out I had to go before I would reach the turnaround point.  I didn't think it was too far.  (It was *only* 4 miles.)  But of course fatigue is starting to set in, and the course is getting hillier, so it seemed a lot farther.  Anyway, at one point, I see someone coming the other way - the person in first place.  We waved to each other, and I wondered how many more people I'd see before I got to the turnaround.

Minutes passed.  Many minutes.  And I didn't see anyone else.  Again, I didn't know how far away the turnaround was.  And I wasn't sure where I was in terms of my placement.  I had passed a bunch of people.  Surely I wasn't in second place?  But more time passed and I didn't see anyone...  Finally, I *did* start to see other runners, but they were waaaay behind the front runner.  If he didn't make a mistake, he would win by a very comfortable margin.

Anyway, I started counting the people I saw coming the other way, so that I would know how many people were ahead of me.  There's a pretty long gradual climb on another park road to get to the turnaround.  It seemed to go on forever.  By the time I reached the turnaround, I think I had counted around 41-42 people ahead of me.  A couple more people passed me at the turnaround while I was refilling, but I got back out there as quickly as I could.

I re-passed a few people on the paved road descent.  One the trail section getting back to the final (mile 25) aid station, one woman and I passed each other a few times.  I'd pass on the downhills, she'd pass me on the climbs.  (She obviously had fresher legs than me at this point.)  But I had a pretty good lead on her when I got to the aid station.  Another quick refill, grabbed some food, and started on the final leg of the race.

There was a LOT of climbing in the final 5-6 miles.  A LOT.  I didn't see anyone else except for the same woman I saw before the last aid station.  We passed each other a couple times again, then she started increasing her lead on me.  (There weren't enough downhills for me to make up any ground - it was mostly climbing.)  She was in sight most of the time, but I couldn't close the gap.

I was running (slowly) at about mile 28-29 when I heard a bunch of noise.  I rounded a turn and saw the finish line clock!  I didn't think I was that close...  As it turns out, I wasn't.  As I got closer, a volunteer yelled "two more miles" and pointed me toward a turn that would take me out on a small loop before I'd get to the finish line.  Now that's just mean...  But I should have known.  This is the same RD that does Georgia Death Race and he has a similar "tease" at the end of that one too.


The last two miles were uneventful.  I got back and crossed the finish line - all smiles.  I survived my first mountain race, and actually felt pretty good.  I got some barbecue, but didn't stick around long because it started snowing again.  So it was back to the cabin to get warmed up and cleaned up!

My official time was 6:14:12.  39th place out of 177 finishers.  (189 started.)  33rd out of 133 men.  13th out of 40 for men 40-49.  Not bad!

Some pictures:
http://www.werunracephotos.com/Event-Favorites/2016-11/Run-Bum-Tour-Races/Mark-Siberts-Favorites/n-MD27Sg/

http://www.werunracephotos.com/Run-Bum-Tours-Races/2017-Races/2017-Grayson-Highlands-50k/

https://www.facebook.com/events/1541340556115474/permalink/1882676798648513/

https://www.facebook.com/events/1541340556115474/permalink/1883007635282096/

Video:
https://vimeo.com/217499157 (can see me for 1/2 second at 1:35)

https://quik.gopro.com/v/GjDxE1aZQL/

Event results:
https://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=38827#id1171850

Route:
https://www.trailrunproject.com/trail/7028111/grayson-highlands-50k-trail-race

Race Report: Jordan Lake 12-hour Challenge 2017

Well, this was originally going to be the weekend that I ran the Illinois Marathon, but that trip got canceled.  So I found a local event to do instead - the Jordan Lake 12-hour Challenge.  The idea here is you run lots of laps on a relatively short loop (1.35 miles) and whoever does the most laps in 12 hours wins.

Doing the math, I thought this might be an opportunity to do my first 50-mile run.  As a stretch goal, I thought it would be cool if I could pull off a double marathon (52.4 miles).

Once my Illinois trip got canceled, I switched back to trail running for my training.  (I had been doing my last few long runs on the road.)  My last 20-mile long trail run was pretty miserable.  But I wasn't well rested that day, so I didn't get too discouraged.

On race day, I stopped at McDonalds on the way and got my usual order of 2 sausage egg and cheese McMuffins.  The night before, I had half of a large Mellow Mushroom Mighty Meaty pizza.  Needless to say, I had plenty of calories on board.  I also loaded up on caffeine with a Diet Mt Dew that I drank on the way, as well as a 5-hour Energy shot before the start.

Side note:  I downloaded all the male racers' split times from the live tracking site that the race used.  I plotted the data in Excel to reconstruct how my position was changing during the race, and when.  Otherwise, I would not have remembered the exact lap numbers when I moved up/down a spot.  If you're interested, you can see the charts here:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3HzHd5-7-xzaFJLRWxmUnpaU1k

Anyway, I arrived about 30 minutes before the start - plenty of time to pick up my bib, fill my water bottle, and line up.  The race director went over the instructions for the race, and then we were off!

The first lap was all about getting familiar with the course.  It was fairly well-marked.  They also had volunteers out on the course directing people on the first lap, to make sure everyone knew where they were going.

In addition to the 12-hour solo race, there was a 12-hour relay race.  The relay racers were easy to spot because they had to carry a baton.  There was also a 6-hour solo and 6-hour relay race.  It wasn't possible (as far as I could tell) to determine who was in the 6-hour event versus the 12-hour event.  Except, that the really fast solo people were probably in the 6-hour event - although you never know...

So, not knowing who was who, I went out at a somewhat reasonable speed (probably a little too fast).  The course was pretty flat by "trail race" standards, and not technical at all.  In other words, it was a fast course.  I did about a 9 min/mile pace on the first lap (12:08 lap time) and when I crossed the timing strip, saw I was in first place.  Now I definitely knew I was going too fast!

It was still pretty comfortable temperature-wise.  I had on a short-sleeve cycling/skating jersey and a headband.  I settled into a moderate pace on lap 2 (12:39 lap time) and when I crossed the timing strip, saw I had dropped to 4th place.  There was a big tv near the timing strip that showed your name, # of laps, current placement, and time behind the leader.  So, that was really the only information I had during the race to know where I was relative to everyone else.  I suspect the people that had friends/crew there were getting more detailed updates since the data was posted live during the race.  But I never knew how close behind the next person was, for example - or how close I was to the person in front of me.  I only knew how far behind 1st place I was.

So lap 3 was 13:05 - getting a little more reasonable/sustainable on the pace now.  But I dropped again to 5th place.  Lap 4 I regained 4th place.  At this point, we're just over an hour into the race.  I held onto 4th place until lap 10, where I dropped back into 5th place again.  My lap times have settled into about 14 minutes per lap, or just over 10:00 min/mile.  

Another side note:  I had run into a minor problem before I left the house in the morning.  When I grabbed my GPS watch, the battery was dead!  (It was fully charged the night before.)  I'm not sure what happened, but I grabbed the charging cable and charged it in the truck on the way to the event.  It got up to 91% before I had to unplug it.  Fast forward 4 or 5, and I notice it has already dropped below 70% - it's never going to make it.  By lap 8, it was below 65% - so I ended up turning off GPS for the remainder of the race.  I wanted to make sure I had heart rate data, which was more important than GPS data since I was just running a loop.

As it turns out, disabling GPS was even less of a problem, since the watch reverted to "treadmill mode" and estimated my speed/distance according to my cadence.  It wasn't exact, but I could periodically compare it against the official distance on the timing screen and know approximately how much it was off.  By the halfway mark, it was off by about 1 mile.  At the end of the event, it was overestimating by 2 miles.  

On lap 13, I took a quick pit stop to grab some more gels, and apply some lube to my underarms that felt like they might start to get chafed.  I also ditched my jersey and went shirtless for the remainder of the race.  The sun was starting to get pretty intense.

Yet another side note:  I put some 2Toms Sport Shield on my toes before the race, and it worked great!  I highly recommend it...  This was the first time I tried it, which could have been a disaster.  But it all worked out...  I used Gold Bond Friction Defense in the chafing-prone areas (that I was aware of) and that worked pretty well too.

On lap 18, I retook 4th place.  My lap times are slowing a little more - probably 14:30 - 15:00 per lap.  At this point I'm thinking 4th place would be a pretty legit finish!  So I kept chugging along.  We're about 4 hours in at this point.  I haven't had a pee break yet, although I've had the urge for a while.  My strategy going in was to minimize my stops, even if I had to walk.  Just keep moving forward.  I figured people might linger at the aid station, and that's where I could gain some distance on them.

On lap 22, I finally took a quick pee break.  It's around noon now, and the temperature is quite warm.  The porta-john was like a sauna (worst sauna ever) but fortunately I wasn't in there very long.  The quick stop didn't cost me in terms of my placement - I was still in 4th place when I crossed the mat.

The first place guy had steadily been increasing his lead this whole time.  In fact, he was about 35 minutes ahead of me and had lapped me twice.  I had no idea where #2 and #3 were.  Looking back at the data now, though, I can see we were all pretty close to each other - within a couple minutes.

Toward the end of lap 24, I started to feel kinda crampy in my stomach/abdomen.  Felt like it was more than just gas, or an upset stomach.  I soon realized "uh oh - I have to poop".  No way I was going to suffer in the porta john.  Fortunately, there was an actual bathroom for the park maybe 100-150 feet off the course, just after the start/finish line.  So I finished my lap, refilled my bottle, and bolted for the bathroom.  That added a solid 6 minutes or so to my time for lap 25.  But, when I made my way around again, I saw I was still in 4th place, and considerably lighter.  :-)

Now we're about 6 hours in, which was nice because all the 6-hour event people are off the course and I know if I pass someone (or get passed) they're in the 12-hour event.  I'm also starting to wish I had signed up for the 6-hour event!  My legs were already pretty tired.  I also couldn't stand to drink any more gatorade, or eat anything sweet (including gels).  I did drink a can of Mt Dew, which was tough getting down - but I thought (incorrectly) the carbonation might help.  Up to this point, I was alternating between the Vanilla Gu gels I brought with me, and PB&J sandwiches and bananas that the race had.  (They had lots of other stuff too, but I figured those were safe.)  Of course I never train with that type of food, so that could have contributed to the GI distress.  I've also been running longer than I ever had previously - so I was in uncharted territory with respect to everything.

It's getting *really* hot out too, as if it wasn't difficult enough already.  But I kept moving.  Lap times are averaging about 17-18 minutes now.  I'm walking the hills - which I probably should have started doing earlier.  I'm still running the flats and downhills though.

On lap 31, I moved into 3rd place and suddenly was much closer to 1st place!  I was no longer down 2 laps - I was only 3:30 behind!  What I didn't know at the time was the guy that led pretty much the whole race had dropped.  So now 1st-3rd place were all pretty close to each other.  We're now 8 hours into the race - 2/3 done!

On lap 32, I moved into 2nd place!  This is nuts!  My GI distress had settled down somewhat, so I was able to eat again.  I was still just drinking water though.  I figure my heart rate was low enough (on average) that I was probably able to tap into some fat reserves, instead of relying solely on carbs for energy.

About this time, we finally got a break from the heat!  The sky darkened, the temperature fell, and we got about 5-10 minutes of rain.  After the rain stopped, it probably stayed cool for another 15-20 minutes.  Then, the sky cleared and it became miserably hot again.  From that point on, I started filling my water bottle with ice, and topping it off with water.  The water was pretty cold on its own, but this kept it cold.  I think it made a difference.  There was one lap where I could feel myself getting a little lightheaded.  I may have been starting to overheat.  After drinking some of the ice cold water, my head cleared a bit.

In the meantime, I slowly fell further behind 1st place.  At lap 38, I was almost 10 minutes behind.  But I still held onto 2nd place.  That definitely kept me motivated.  Although I really would have liked to know how far back 3rd place was.  For all I knew, he was only a minute behind.  (As it turned out, he was about 5 minutes behind at that point.)

Lap 39 came, and I hit my double-marathon stretch goal!  10:15:09.  So now I had 1:45 left to see how much I could add to it.

Unfortunately, this is about the time that my calf muscles decided they wanted to start cramping up.  Fortunately, it was usually if I tried running a little of the uphills, so that just forced me to keep walking the uphills.  My pace slowed a little bit, but I was still doing about 17:30-18:00 per lap.  At this point, I was thinking in terms of how many laps I could complete before time ran out - since "4 laps to go" actually sounds pretty reasonable.

Everything hurt.  My quads, as expected.  My hips were really bad.  Knees, shins.  I had taken a couple doses of ibuprofen throughout the day, but it was hard to tell if it had made a difference.  At best, it took the edge off a little bit.

I fell further behind 1st place.  At lap 42, I was about 15 minutes behind.  But I also noticed on the timing screen that 3rd place was doing sub-15:00 laps now.  Depending on how far back he was, he might catch me!  (Fortunately, he was 16 minutes behind - almost a whole lap - but I didn't know that at the time.) 

I cranked out another lap, and the leader passed me (lapped me).  Up until that point, I thought there might be a chance I could still do the same number of laps as him, since partial laps don't count.  At the rate he was going, I knew he could fit in two more laps.  I *might* be able to fit in two more laps, but that would still leave me a lap behind.  At the end of lap 43, there was just under 34 minutes left.  It would be close.  I tried to pick up the pace, but I was close to cramping the whole time.  I managed to complete lap 44 in 17:22.  The clock said there was 16:00 remaining, and I knew there was no way I could finish another lap before time expired.  So it was a relief that I didn't have to run anymore, but now I needed to worry about whether the 3rd place guy would cruise through and still have enough time to hammer out another lap.

He didn't.  He completed lap 44 with about 4 minutes to spare.  So we tied on distance, but I completed the laps quicker, so I got 2nd place.

The winner ended up doing 46 laps, so he definitively beat everyone!

Race results:  http://my.raceresult.com/71326/results

Race results (ultrasignup):  http://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=42694#id1171850

Photos of me:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10212274491519605.1073741846.1297879624&type=1&l=0929a13d54

All event photos:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/chathamcountypartnershipforchildren/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10154726048881225

So now I guess the next step is to try a 100k event - probably one that's hillier than this.  In the meantime, I need to figure out a nutrition strategy that'll work.  The key I think will be to find something I can tolerate eating that isn't sweet - since I'll be getting more than enough 'sweet' from whatever sport drink I'm drinking.  Potato chips seemed to work okay this time - but they'd be difficult to carry without turning into crumbs.  (Maybe that's not a bad thing anyway.)

I didn't notice it during the race, but I had some pretty bad chafing when I finished.  I was walking around like a cowboy that just finished a two week cattle drive.  So perhaps more lube in the trouble spots will be in order.  It hasn't been a problem in the past, but this was more than double the duration of my previous longest run.  And it's not like you can go out and run 12 hours to find this stuff out ahead of time - you just have to be prepared to deal with things as they come up.  Improvise.  Adapt.  Overcome.

I expected to be more sore the day after.  I certainly am sore, but it's manageable.  The chafing is healing quickly.  Depending on the weather, I may go for a short run Monday or Tuesday.  (Although the current forecast calls for rain, which I'm not thrilled about running in right now.)

My next event is Grayson Highlands 50k in two weeks.  We'll see if I have enough time to recover.  If not, I may be stopping a lot to take pictures during that one.  :-)  No more ultras on the schedule after that - just a couple Tough Mudders.  I'll probably try to incorporate more skating to get ready for my fall inline races.

Race Report: Wicked Root 50k 2017

(Also known as - how not to run a 50k!)

It's been a busy week for sure, but that's given me more time to contemplate everything that happened last weekend.  This was my first 50k event, so I guess I'm officially an "ultra runner" now.  I felt pretty prepared going into it - I've been running all my long runs on the Mountains-to-See Trail, which is moderately hilly and technical.  My longest trail run up to that point was 22 miles, and I felt pretty good after that.  Still, I know from other experiences (A2A 2002), that being prepared isn't everything.  You have to have a plan for race day.  And a plan b.  And a plan c.  There was a great quote in one of the late 90's A2A videos.  I'm not sure who said it, but she said "you have to respect the distance".  So true...

Wicked Root is held in George Poston Park in Gastonia, NC.  (Near Charlotte.)  Jaime and I drove down the night before and stayed in a hotel 10 minutes from the park.  I got my usual "A2A" breakfast of double chocolate muffins and Gatorade.  Before the race started, I also ate a Little Debbie Oatmeal Pie, and a Vanilla Gu.  I figure I had about 1000 calories before the start.

This is a small race - registration was limited to 50 people for the 50k, and 30 people for the 10-mile option.  So it's pretty relaxed and casual at runner check-in.  The race started at 8am for the 10-mile, and 8:15 for the 50k.  I arrived around 7:15, since we had to check-in by 7:30.  At 7:45, the race director went through the race information (how the course is marked, what's at the aid stations, etc).  After that, we waited around for a few more minutes to get started.

It had rained overnight, but was barely sprinkling while we were waiting.  And I think the rain stopped altogether by the time we started.  Temperature was cool - I think mid-40s.  I wore shorts, a short-sleeved shirt, and a long-sleeved jersey.  I lined up near the front of the pack, and suddenly the race director just looked at us and said "go" (or something to that effect).  And we were off.  No countdown, no buildup - just a casual "get the hell out of here", basically.  :-)

The 10-mile and the 50k courses are identical.  The 50k is just 3 laps of the 10-mile course.  We started out with a loop around the parking lot, which was useful for spreading people out before we hit the single track trail.  I was running close to 3 other guys - I wouldn't call us a "pack", but we were within 50 feet of each other.  I figure I was somewhere around 6-7th place.  We're crushing the uphills and downhills, and having a pretty good time.  Some of the downhills were pretty tricky because of the rain, and parts of the trail were a bit muddy - that's something I had not really trained for, so I was very mindful of my footing.

About 2 miles in, we came across a runner laying down on the trail.  This was about halfway down a semi-tricky descent.  We stopped to see if he was okay, and he wasn't.  Bad enough that he didn't even want us to help move him off the trail.  There wasn't much we could do except keep running to the first aid station, where we could send back help.  Later, we found out he had dislocated his hip...  :-(

The first few miles were pretty good.  I knew from looking at the route ahead of time, that miles 3, 4, and 5 were the toughest in terms of climbing.  That definitely turned out to be true.  They were also the most technical parts of the trail, I think.  Very rocky in parts of it.  At this point, I'm still with a couple other guys, so feeling good and not paying too close attention to pace, etc.  My watch doesn't pick up a good signal when trail running, so it's hard to know exactly how far you've gone, or how fast.  I'm bombing down the descents with much gusto, and running up the hills.  We get through the technical part to the "soccer field loop" - and that was really nice.  Lots of cushy pine needles, much flatter than the previous few miles...  It was my favorite part of the course.  There was one part (perhaps just before the soccer field loop) that I nearly made a wrong turn, but the guy right behind me yelled and got me on the right path.  I was following another guy - so we made sure he turned around as well. 

The three of us made our way through the last few miles of loop one. We were joined by a fourth guy a couple miles before the end of the loop.  At one point, we came out onto a gravel road for maybe 200 yards.  With more room to spread out, they all ended up passing me and put a significant gap on me before we got back on the last section of single track that led to the start/finish line.

I came out of the woods to the aid station at the start/finish line, called out my number, and refilled my water bottle.  The race director said something to me about my time, and I commented that I was pretty sure I shot my wad on lap 1.  I looked at my watch and saw it was about an hour and a half, which is pretty fast (for me) for 10 miles on single track.  But I didn't feel too bad - yet.

I started lap 2 with another tour of the parking lot.  I ran past my beautiful wife who came out to support me.  Just before the turn onto the trail, I remembered that I had intended to ditch my long sleeved shirt.  So I quickly took it off (with the help of a volunteer) and left it there near the start line.

A couple miles into lap 2, I knew I was in trouble.  Sure enough, fatigue was starting to set in with a vengeance.  I had definitely gone too fast on lap 1.  Soon, I was walking up every hill - even hills that should be runnable.  I was by myself pretty much all of lap 2.  But due to the nature of the course, I would see people running the other way on the switchbacks.  Some were ahead of me, some behind me.

About halfway through lap 2, I had my first fall - another sign I was fatigued.  BUT - I had the presence of mind to "tuck and roll" and came out unscathed.  That's the only time I've run so far that I've been able to do that.  Honestly, though, I think I was just too tired to try to "save" the fall.  But I was very proud of myself nonetheless!  And it definitely didn't take as much energy, so I'm hopeful I'll be able to do that more in the future.  A couple miles after that, I fell again, but was going so slow I basically just dropped to a knee and caught myself with my hands.  The fall was caused by me kicking something with my right toe - hard...  My right calf also started spasming after that, and gave me trouble the rest of the race.  (Similar to what my left calf did at the end of the Umstead Marathon.)

I continued my slow pace through lap 2, and eventually made it back to the start.  Lap 2 time was about 1:51.  Another refill, and a quick bathroom break, and I was off again for lap 3.  It was certainly tempting, though, to just say "screw it" and call it a day.  I literally had to run right past my truck (and loving wife).  But mama didn't raise no quitters - so I kept going.

I slowed down even more on lap 3.  I was (again) walking every uphill.  I was very conservative on every downhill.  I didn't trust my legs anymore, and didn't want to risk an injury on a descent.  I did manage to pass a couple people that were suffering more than me.  I also lapped several people.  One person told me I was in 6th place, which I didn't believe - but it still motivated me to keep going.

During the "soccer field loop", I became aware of a woman that was gaining on me.  I didn't have the legs to outrun her, so she eventually passed me.  I think that was the only person to pass me on laps 2 or 3.  I completed lap 3 without any falls or injuries - just over five and a half hours.  

Later I learned that I finished 9th out of 37 people.  There were perhaps 8-10 people that DNF'd.  My finish time was officially 5:33:15 - a few seconds faster than what I recorded on my watch.

Official results:
https://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=41030

Splits from GPS:
Lap 1:  ~ 1:34:40
Lap 2:  ~ 3:26:02  (1:51:22) 

Lap 3:  ~ 5:33:21  (2:07:19) - includes (short) bathroom break

There wasn't much happening at the finish line, so I didn't stick around too long.  After I stretched out, I thanked the organizer, packed up my stuff, and took off.  Post-race meal was a bacon double cheeseburger, fries, and milkshake at Cook Out.

Other fun facts - I figure I ate around 6100 calories that day.  Garmin says I burned about 3750 calories during the 50k, which I think may be a little low.  (I would have guessed around 4500.)  

It took a while, but my calf eventually recovered - probably a week later.  Rumor is that there will be a 100k option next year.  That'll be tempting if I do that event again.  Although I'd rather do a course that wasn't repeating the same lap again and again.  We'll see what else is on the calendar that time next year.

This was a really low-key race, and a great first 50k.  The organizer did a great job, as did all of the volunteers.  Definitely recommended!

What's next?  Well, the Illinois Marathon is in a week and a half - which may be my last road marathon that I do.  (Trail running is definitely more my thing now.)  After that, Grayson Highlands 50k - which will have TWICE the ascent that Wicked Root had.  So pacing on that one will be critical.  I've been training on asphalt the last few weeks getting ready for my road marathon - after that it'll be back to the trails to prepare for Grayson Highlands.

So I think my major takeaway from Wicked Root is to not get caught up in the excitement at the start, and to be more conservative in my pacing.  Looking at the finishing times, I think I could have placed as high as 6th.  Still, 9th place is nothing to complain about!  I think I managed my eating/drinking well - though I should train more with gatorade leading up to Grayson Highlands.

Finally, there's only 361 days until Georgia Death Race 2018 - which I'll definitely be running.  Assuming I finish Grayson Highlands, that'll qualify me to participate.  And, since I volunteered at GDR 2017 this past weekend, I should have a spot for 2018.  I'll be better able to gauge potential finishing times after Grayson Highlands - but I'm guessing GDR will be a 19-20 hour effort.  So I have a year to get stronger and faster, and maybe bring that time down a little bit.

Race Report: Umstead Trail Marathon 2017

Well, I had been meaning to post a "training update" - but, for the most part, it was pretty uneventful.  Just the standard ramp-up of distance and then a taper before the race.  The only "interesting" thing that happened was me getting bit by a dog on one of my training runs!  I'll have a good scar from that one.  (It's still healing.)  But the training went well - my longest "long run" was 22 miles on the Falls Lake Trail, which is similarly hilly to Umstead Park.  So I felt I was pretty well-prepared going into the race today.

I slept pretty well last night, but woke up 45 minutes before my alarm this morning.  After trying to go back to sleep, I finally got out of bed at 5:15.  (Alarm was set for 5:45.)  I killed a little time at the house, but I needed to gas-up and planned on grabbing breakfast at McDonalds on the way, so I left around 6:20 I think.  We weren't supposed to arrive at the park before 7:30 (so volunteers could get settled in, etc).  So I had to park in a nearby shopping center for 15-20 minutes and kill some more time.  Once I finally parked at Umstead, it was maybe 7:45.  (It takes a long time to get from the park entrance to the race start.)  By the time I picked up my packet, it was still only 8:00 - the race starts at 9:00.  So I sat in the truck until 8:45 reading email, etc.

Between the two McMuffins I ate, some "stinger chews", gatorade, and a gel, I ate around 1000 calories before the race.  This was spread out over 90 minutes, so I didn't feel uncomfortably full or anything.  I planned on drinking gatorade and eating gels during the race.  The aid stations had water, gatorade, and "stinger" gels (not my favorite, but they'll do).  I was carrying maybe 5 of my preferred "Gu" vanilla gels, and a water bottle filled with gatorade.  It's a cup-less race, which I didn't know was a "thing" until recently.  I definitely approve, since I prefer to carry a water bottle anyway so I can drink between aid stations - and that ensures that it'll be easy to fill my bottle since everyone is in the same boat.

I lined up maybe 1/4 back from the head of the pack.  The race started, and we were off.  The first 2 miles were on "bridle trail" (gravel roads), and it allowed the pack to spread out nicely before we hit the "single track" (hiking trails) part of the course.  My gps/split data from the run is kinda screwey, since my watch was short-changing me on every mile.  (By mile 20, my watch was a full mile off, only showing 19 miles.)  But each split was off by the same percentage I think.  So it does show one of my "rookie mistakes" in that I started out waaaaaay too fast!  "But I felt great, coach!"  Yeah - so does everyone at the start line, and the adrenaline of starting the race certainly just feeds into that "irrational exuberance".  So keep in mind my splits were actually *faster* than what my data shows.  And for my training runs, I typically run about 10:30 min/mile.  Now, granted, those runs are 100% single-track, so they're definitely slower than running on the road.

So my first 2 splits were 8:18 and 7:53!  And it's not like I wasn't paying attention - I saw the alert on my watch.  I just couldn't help myself.  I kept thinking I needed to slow down, and I figured I would once we hit the single-track around mile 2.

Well, I slowed down a little - 8:40 and 9:33 for miles 3 & 4.  10:29 for mile 5 (that's more like it.)  Then 9:11 and 9:15 for the last 2 miles of single-track.  Still too fast.  It was fun, though.  I really like running on single-track, despite the constant danger of falling and potentially getting hurt.  I passed someone while flying down a particularly "technical" descent, which was really fun, but perhaps a little reckless.

Throughout the race, the times I passed people were almost exclusively on downhills.  Whether it single-track or the bridle trails, I almost never passed anyone on the flat or while climbing a hill.  I made up *lots* of time on the downhills though.  I try to just let gravity do its thing and not fight it.  I figure it's only a little more energy to run fast down a hill, as opposed to running slow (or "controlled") down a hill.  Your quads really get beat up from all the "braking" force if you try to control yourself too much on the downhills.  So that's where I tend to have a slight edge over others that are running a similar pace as me.

My nutrition/hydration plan is always to take a sip of water (or in this case gatorade) every mile, and eat a gel every 3 miles.  Another rookie mistake - I haven't been training with gatorade!  So my stomach did protest a little bit - although I think the "stinger" gels (which I also didn't train with) that I ate from the aid stations also contributed.  But I got through it, and I don't think it impacted my performance.

I did dress way too warm for the event.  The forecast said 35 degrees at the start, and 47 degrees at my anticipated finish time.  So I had running tights, running shorts, a short-sleeved shirt, a long sleeved jersey, and a short-sleeved jersey on.  Running hat, ear warmers, and gloves too.  Ear warmers and gloves came off before I hit the single-track (~ mile 2).  I took off the short-sleeved jersey right after the single-track (~ mile 5).  I took off the long-sleeved jersey around mile 8 I think.  I was a little chilly, but I think that helped.

I ran most of the uphills, as long as the grade wasn't too steep.  I don't think it was until at least mile 11 or 12 that we had anything that I had to "power hike" up.  That was another place where I was able to pass a couple people - they were taking a much slower pace to walk up the hill. Of course, they got a little rest in the process while my heart rate was higher.  And I was still probably going harder than I should have for a 26-mile effort...

Around mile 11, it occurred to me that I was on pace for a sub-2-hour half marathon.  I don't have an exact half-marathon split, but I think it was around 1:55.  Then it occurred to me that I might be able to finish in under 4 hours, which was insane.  So I started doing the math on every mile after that and it definitely seemed within reach.

Everything was going great...  I felt great, my legs felt strong.  I had a smile on my face.  That all changed around mile 20.  By this time, we had climbed a lot of hills.  It could have been that, or going out too fast at the beginning, or both.  But my legs were definitely *tired*.  And my left calf started to spasm a lot - it felt like it really wanted to cramp up, but fortunately didn't.  It kept getting worse, too.  I'd go for stretches that lasted several minutes where it would spasm every time I landed on that foot.  Then it would stop for a few minutes, then start again.  I definitely was worried that it might force me to stop running at some point, but I kept going.

By this time, there wasn't a lot of passing happening.  I could only see a few runners (way) ahead of me, and I wasn't gaining any ground.  Around mile 22, I did catch someone, and we passed each other a couple times.  Approaching mile 25, there was a sign - "Welcome to Cemetery Hill".  Appropriately named, since I could definitely appreciate the sweet release of death about then.  It was steep enough that I decided to power-hike it, although I probably would have run it earlier in the race.  The guy that I had been passing (and passed by) did run up it, and put enough of a gap on me that I wasn't able to catch him the rest of the way.  He had also commented that "it was going to be close" - meaning he was also now looking for a sub-4-hour finish.  At this point, I needed to run 10-minute miles to finish under 4 hours, which would be tough in my tired state, but doable as long as my calf muscle didn't take me out.

I got passed by 3 more people in that last mile and a half, but I didn't mind too much.  Even if I didn't break 4 hours, I'd still set a new marathon PR (personal record).  My previous PR was set on a flat road course, and was 4:09.

Cemetery Hill was the last real hill before the finish, and was probably 1/4 mile long.  Shortly after cresting it, I hit mile 25.  At this point, I felt like I was just putting one foot in front of the other, but my pace did get a bit faster for that last mile.  I went from 10:30 splits to 8:55.  I made the final turn and still hadn't hit mile 26 yet.  It seemed to take forever until I saw it.  And I swear that last .2 miles was longer!  :-)  But eventually I rounded the corner and saw the finish line and clock, and the clock showed 3:58.  I kept going and crossed the line somewhere around 3:58:30.  (Results haven't been posted yet.)

I was exhausted, dizzy, and a little nauseated.  A volunteer handed me my finisher pint glass, which was already half-filled with water.  I drank that pretty quickly, and another volunteer refilled it for me.  I wandered inside the lodge (the start/finish was in the campground area of the park), still dazed, and sat down at a table for a few minutes, drinking some more water.  After maybe 5 minutes, I stretched for 15-20 minutes, paying attention to my calves too.  After that, I was feeling better and decided to grab a little food.  They had burritos from Moe's, so I grabbed a chicken burrito, took a bite, and suddenly felt like I was going to hurl.  Nothing against Moe's - I love that place.  :-)  But obviously my stomach wasn't ready for real food yet.

No beer was allowed in the park, but they did cut a deal with a microbrewery near the park - so we could go there for our "finisher beer".  I wasn't sure my stomach could handle it, but I earned that beer dammit!  So I grabbed my stuff, jumped in the truck, and wandered over there (with my mostly intact burrito).  I got a pint of Gizmo Arachibutyrophobia, which is a peanut butter brown ale.  Time & beer settled my stomach to the point where I could slowly eat the burrito too.

Results and pictures should be here eventually:  http://www.umsteadmarathon.com/

Now, time to rest & recover for the Wicked Root 50k in two weeks!  :-)