Race Report: Wicked Grit 50k

Well - I haven't had an update in a while.  After my DNF on the VM150, I refocused on getting ready for the Wicked Grit 50k.  The hotter, sweatier, chaffier version of the Wicked Root 50k I ran back in March.  This is the 3rd time I've done the course (the other 2 times being Wicked Root).  Great event, great race director, and really a great course.

Wicked Grit differs from Wicked Root is a few ways.  First, the course is unmarked.  As it turns out, this isn't much of an issue.  It's super easy to follow the trail blazes for the 5 different mountain biking loops that make up the course.  Whenever you have the opportunity to switch to a different color blaze, you take it.  And MTB traffic is (supposed to be) one-way, so you follow the arrows that accompany the blazes.  Not bad at all.

The second important difference is that the RD gives everyone the option to run whatever course they want to.  The basic rule is that, at the end, your GPS watch must show 26 miles.  In theory, 3 loops of the Wicked Root route should come out to 26 miles...  In theory...

I had preloaded the Wicked Root course into my watch already (so I could get off-course alerts).  And, except for running up the "mountain" (which isn't part of the course), that really gives you maximum suffering.  Although I guess if you really wanted to maximize the suffering, you'd run to the yellow "Spencer Mountain Loop", and repeat that until you had 21-22 miles, then run back to the start.  That's the most difficult part of the course.  I wasn't really trying to maximize the suffering -- I just wanted to do the normal Wicked Root course in the sweltering North Carolina heat to see how I would do.

The were others that ran the normal Wicked Root course too. Some chose to omit the Spencer Mountain Loop (which was totally allowed).  I think one person may have opted to just run the Lake Loop over and over.  This made it difficult to know what position one was in.  Not that I really cared about that.

Anyway, the race started fairly uneventfully at 9am, and people were taking it relatively easy from the start.  But probably within the first 2 minutes, the pack split because it wasn't clear which way to go on the trail.  As it turns out, half the pack took a "shortcut" - which again didn't matter since the rule is you have to have 26 miles showing on your watch at the end.  It doesn't matter how you get the mileage.  Still, it was pretty amusing.  I took the longer fork with a few others, since there was an orange blaze on a nearby tree, indicating that was the way to go.

Just like the other times I have run the race, the packs tended to bunch-up on the downhills.  I started walking the uphills pretty early on (the steeper ones anyway) but would frequently catch people on the next downhill.  After a while, the faster guys pulled away.  I started passing a few people (almost always on downhills.)  It probably didn't take more than a few miles before all the passing was done.  Because of all the switchbacks, I'd still see people - but I didn't pass anyone else, and no one passed me.

One new experience - a damn bumblebee stung me in the shoulder about 30 minutes into the race.  I didn't even antagonize the little bastard (as far as I know).  I guess I did kinda look like a bumblebee - maybe he was pissed off because of some "cultural appropriation" or something.  :-)  Hopefully the fucker died after stinging me - but I didn't have a stinger embedded in me - so he probably lived.  If it wouldn't have been such a pain to dig out my mini first aid kit from my pack, I would have taken some benadryl.  My shoulder hurt in that spot the whole rest of the race.

The rest of the first loop was fairly uneventful.  I was making pretty good time, even though (I thought) I was running a fairly conservative pace.  There was one guy "on my tail".  He'd start closing the gap on the uphills, but I'd increase the gap again on the downhills.  I could see a guy in front of me too, at points of the course where there were switchbacks.  But he kept increasing his gap on me, too.

I figure I had about a mile to go before I got back to the start, and my hydration pack stopped working.  I figured the hose was kinked, and didn't feel like stopping to fix it.  I opted instead to wait the 15 minutes or so it would take to get back to my truck - then I'd fix it when I refilled it.  Given that I've been getting super dehydrated the past few events, I set an alert on my watch to beep every 4 minutes, reminding me to drink.  That seemed to work well in training.

I saw a volleyball court and remembered from my previous Wicked Root experience that it was very close to the end of the lap.  Sure enough, the start/finish line came into view shortly after that.

I made it back to the start at 1:49:38 - way ahead of my expected pace.  And I felt great.  Of course, the other 2 times I did Wicked Root, I felt great on the first lap - only to fall apart sometime on the 2nd lap.  I refilled my hydration pack with ice (I bought 40 pounds of ice on the way to the race and had it in a cooler).  Same for the 2 small bottles I used for gatorade - ice first, then gatorade.  It was a quick stop overall - I started the second lap at 1:54:50 - so just 5 minutes.

But I forgot to verify the hydration pack was working again.  I went to take a drink just a minute into lap 2, and still couldn't get any water.  So I had to stop for a couple minutes to fix it.  There's a "quick release" on the tube which had come lose.  So I snapped it back in place and it started working again.

I resumed lap 2 and, just like my previous experience with Wicked Root, I started declining after a couple miles into the lap.  I walked less-steep hills that I had run on lap 1.  About the same time, my stomach started bothering me.  (Another issue I've been struggling with at races.)  It was really hard to push myself at all - I felt like I'd throw up if I ran too hard.  I forced myself to run the downhills, but it was miserable.  Eating anything was not going to happen.  I did still drink whenever my watch alert went off - and did get a few calories from the gatorade when I drank that instead of water.

About halfway through lap 2, it finally occurred to me that I had been carrying tums the whole time, and they were in a pocket on my running pack - literally right next to my mouth.  So I ate a couple and they eventually did help.  One thing about endurance events is that you have to be able to recognize problems and solve them as they happen - preferably before they become too troublesome.  I should have recognized this one sooner - especially since I had put those tums in that pocket, for that very reason, just the day before!

I also noticed that the tips on my toes kept ramming into the end of my shoes on the downhills.  This is a sign that I was "braking" on the downhils and not running with the usual reckless abandon that I normally do.  I also didn't help that my socks were soaked with sweat by then.  My socks would occasionally bunch up slightly as well, but would work themselves out.  So I didn't need to stop during the lap - but I did decide I would take some time to change socks when I got back to the truck.  (I brought extras of everything.)

Nothing else eventful happened on lap 2, other than my gps really short-changed me on the distance.  Lap 1 had been about 8.5 miles.  When I made it back to the start, my watch showed 16 miles total.  (So only 7.5 miles for lap 2.)  This was not looking good with respect to the "26 mile rule".  But I figured I wouldn't worry about that until the end, and see what the watch showed then.

It was 4:03:58 when I got back to the start.  Still not bad!  About 2:09 for the lap.  Much more in line with the pace I thought I should be running.  I grabbed some ginger ale at the aid station (My stomach did start feeling better toward the end of lap 2 - and I had even been able to eat a gel.)  Then I went to my truck to refill my pack/bottles and change socks.  When I took my socks off, I noticed my shoes were also soaked.  I brought an extra pair of shoes, too, so I changed those as well.  My feet immediately felt better.  As I was doing all of this, though, everything wanted to cramp up - my feet, my calves, my abs...  I had no urge to pee at all.  I had peed a little after lap 1, but it seemed I was getting dehydrated despite my best efforts.

I grabbed some pretzels and bacon from the aid station on my way out and started lap 3 at 4:14:48.  A few guys I had seen on the course (including the guy that was tailing me on lap 1) completed lap 2 just as I started lap 3.  So they weren't too far behind, but there was no way to know how much time they'd spend before starting their third laps.

At this point, I'm walking even the slight inclines.  But, with almost 4 hours before the 8-hour cutoff, I could easily walk the rest of the way and finish in the allotted time.  So that was a comfort, even though I would certainly do my best to at least run the downhills.  I also pre-emptively took some more tums early into the third lap, just in case.  (I may need to add an alert for that on my watch in the future.)

About 1 mile into lap 3, the most annoying setback of the race happened - my mp3 player started to malfunction.  My shorts were soaked with sweat (like everything else) and sweat had gotten into the player.  So it thought the volume-up button was pressed and was stuck at maximum volume.  I eventually had to turn it off.  My phone was down to 33% at this point, and I was using it for live tracking.  So having it play music would likely drain the battery before the finish.  So I ran lap 3 with no music - which made it all the more difficult.

Lap 3 was a very lonely lap.  Runners were nowhere to be seen. Even on the longer switchback sections, I couldn't see anyway ahead or behind me.  That took a little pressure off to run hard (not that I could anyway).  But it also made the lap seem longer.  

During the Spencer Mountain Loop section, you get pretty far in, and then traverse several switchbacks to climb back out.  It's heavily wooded, so it occurred to me that it was like climbing out of a pit back into the sunlight.  (There's a brief section where you're in an unwooded area before getting back on the Soccer Loop.)  Then my mind wandered from there to the "Pit of Despair"...  It was pretty lonely there, after all.

Just before I emerged from the woods, another runner entered.  So I did get some brief human contact as we waved and said predictable words of encouragement to each other.  :-)

Everything hurts at this point.  Quads are really, really complaining on all the climbs.  I'm still running the downhills, but they're tough.  There aren't many completely "flat" sections, but I'm walking those too.

I didn't see any other runners until I got within 1.5 miles of the finish.  I saw 2 people (at different times) running the opposite direction on the trail.  I figured they had probably "finished" but were short on miles - so were doing "out and back" runs to get to 26 miles.  I also started doing the math, and figured that I would have - at most - 25 miles when I got back.  Now I was pretty sure that my watch shorted me on the 2nd lap.  I also wasn't sure what the RD would think, since I had run 3 full loops - which should have been 26 miles.  (Actually, 30 miles - but the GPS reading is always shorter because of the tree cover and the constant switchbacks.  The RD said he has measured the course with a wheel and verified it's 10 miles.)

My brain is pretty foggy at this point, and I'm (very, very slightly) dizzy.  Heat, exhaustion, dehydration - probably some of each.  I was wishing I had a 5-hour energy shot.  Although at that point, it probably wouldn't kick in until I was done anyway.  I focused as well as I could and made my way to the finish.

Anyway, I finally get back (at 6:36:53) and the RD congratulates me on finishing.  I thank him, but also tell him I'm short of 26 miles.  "How short?"  My watch showed 24.85 miles.  I could tell he was thinking about it, but I didn't want it to be an issue - so I said I would run the extra mile.  After all, the rule is the rule -- I was 95% sure I didn't accidentally cut the course somewhere, but anything is possible.  He suggests to run the Lake Loop, which is 1.3 miles.

So I start out on the course again.  I decide to take the "shortcut" that some of the group took on lap 1.  After all, I didn't need the full 1.3 miles - just 1.15 miles.  Unfortunately, I got turned around and ended up at the volleyball court.  I decided to just cut through back to the trail (which again, is fairly close to the start/finish). When I got back, I had only ran about 1/3 mile.  So I continued running backward on the course for about another 1/2 mile.  Just before I turned around (25.45 miles on my watch at this point) the same runner that I saw starting the Spencer Mountain Loop went by.

I got back to the start, and still wasn't showing 26 miles, so I had to run around a little bit more still.  But at 6:55:45, I finally had the full distance.  I chatted with the RD a few minutes, and tried to get a picture.  But my phone was at 1% when I opened the camera app, and it shut down before I could snap the picture...  Maybe next time!  (Good thing I didn't try to play any music on lap 3...)

The building with the bathrooms had a garden hose - so I literally hosed myself off, then changed into some dry clothes before leaving.  I wanted to wait until getting back to Raleigh to eat dinner, but knew I needed to have some kind of snack.  There was a Hardees just before getting back to the highway, so I stopped and got a "Double Charbroiled Slider" and a diet coke.  The slider was one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted.  Of course, I was very hungry and had been eating gels and gatorade all day.  So any real food was going to taste incredible at that point.

Legs are feeling surprisingly good now (that I'm not running).  But I suspect tomorrow will be pretty rough.

This is the last year for Wicked Grit - so I'm glad I got to do it once before it went away.  Next year, Wicked Root will have a 2-day "50-50" option.  50k Saturday, camp overnight, and 50k Sunday.  As much as today hurt, I do plan on doing the 50-50 next year.  I'm actually about 20 pounds heavier than I should be - so if I can lose that by next year, it'll make it a heck of a lot easier!

Congrats to all the other finishers, and thanks to Richard for putting on a great race!

PS - you can see my GPS track from the event here, which definitely had some weirdness going on in lap 2 (and 3).  https://www.plotaroute.com/route/652421

Results aren't posted yet, but I'll add a link in the comments once they are.

Lap Split Times:
lap 1 - 1:49:38
break 0:05:12

lap 2 - 2:09:08
break 0:10:50

lap 3 - 2:19:05
break 0:01:00

lap 4 - 0:17:52  (extra 1.15 miles to get to 26 miles total)