Race Report: South Mountains 50K

So a January 50K always seems like a good idea. Something to keep me motivated to train throughout the late fall and winter. In practice, it doesn't seem to happen. In fact, I read through last year's SoMo race report and it echoed pretty much what happened this year.

3 week vacation around Thanksgiving with no training. Christmas & New Year with minimal training. Go into the first race of the year very undertrained.

I did do a little better this year - got a slightly longer long run in, and had a 31-mile week (actually 5 days) as my "peak" two weeks before the race. I also hit the stair climber at the gym several times, since this course has a fuckton of climbing. (7500 ft total ascent.)

All things considered, I felt okay going into the race. I drove out the night before so I could sleep a little longer. Temperature was right around freezing the whole day. But virtually no wind. And, at the start at least, no precipitation. Really, the weather was perfect all day - or at least as perfect as you can expect for January in North Carolina.

This was the first year for the 50K, which just adds an additional 6-mile loop before joining the usual marathon course (which I did last year).

I wasn't sure what to expect for that first loop, but it was pretty similar to the other segments on the course.  Pretty challenging, sustained climb for a couple miles - then it kinda flattened out a bit. Then, a long descent down to the aid station.

I was in the back third of the pack on that first climb. I was purposely taking it easy. I knew it would be a long day, and didn't have the training to push myself too hard on the uphills.  I definitely got passed more than I passed other people.  When we would get a (brief) downhill, I could make up a lot of ground, catching up to people that had put a pretty big gap on me.

The descent into the first aid station was a blast! A little technical, but very runnable. At this point, I'm feeling great and I'm all smiles as I get to the aid station. I quickly refill my two bottles with gatorade, grab a handful of potato chips, and start walking as I eat the chips.

A note on gear...  I opted to not use a hydration bladder in my running pack. Bottles are much quicker & easier to fill. My pack has pockets for 2 bottles on the shoulder straps. I modified the pack a little bit so I could use 20oz bottles without them falling out. I wasn't sure that would be enough, so I had a third bottle in the big outside pocket in the pack itself. It wasn't reachable unless I took off the pack, but I'd have it if I ran out of fluids.

Aside from gatorade, I had 7 or 8 Gu gels (vanilla) to eat between aid stations. I also carry a 'hot shot' for cramps and a 5hr Energy. (I also drank a 5hr energy before the start of the race to get a little kick of caffeine.) I carry some bandages, space blanket, and some miscellaneous stuff in the pack. Not too much - it's pretty light, but enough to deal with common stuff that may happen on the trail.

Back to the race - I start the second leg of the course about 20 minutes ahead of the cutoff. SoMo 50K has some pretty tight cutoffs, so you can't screw around. You need to keep moving, and can't take much time at the aid stations.

Since the remainder of the course is what I ran last year, some of it is familiar. In particular, there are a ton of steps you have to climb to get to the top of this waterfall. It's hard enough doing that at the beginning of the course (for the marathon option) but even harder with 6 miles and probably 1000ft of climbing already completed. It's uphill almost the whole way to the second aid station - probably 5 out of the 6 miles. Once you finally crest the hill, you stay on the ridge and cruise in the 11-mile aid station.

My 2nd pit stop was pretty much a repeat of the first one. I topped off my bottles, grabbed a PB&J sandwich, and started walking. It's downhill, so I actually was jogging as I was trying to eat, so it took a little longer to choke down the sandwich. It turns out that it's downhill almost the whole way to AS3, and I passed several people on the way.

On that descent, I noticed my left heel was bothering me. I could tell a blister was forming. This was almost certainly because my foot was sliding slightly inside the shoe on the downhill descents. I knew I'd need to take care of that.

The organizer does allow runners to have 'drop bags' with whatever supplies they want to throw in there. I had put a complete change of clothes, and some other supplies, in mine. I thought my bag would be at the 21-mile aid station.

So when I cruised into the 15-mile aid station, I was delighted to be wrong. All the drop bags were there. So I grabbed a chair, sat down, and got my shoes & socks off. I figured as long as I was going to take my left sock off, I might as well put dry socks on both feet.

I had a really big blister that pretty much took up my entire heel. I put an extra-large bandaid on it to try to protect it as best I could. Once I had my shoes back on - I decided to change my shirts, jacket, and hat too - the ones I had been wearing were soaked already. (I may have overdressed slightly.) I didn't change my shorts - but those were soaked too. I started sleeting ever-so-slightly during all this. Not a big deal. It would have been worse if it was rain.

I quickly topped off the bottles again and grabbed some chips. Total time at the aid station was only 10 minutes - not bad considering. But many people I had passed had come and gone in the meantime.  At this point, I'm still 40 minutes ahead of the cutoff, so in a pretty good position to finish in time.

The next part of the course is another long climb, broken up into 3 parts.  So a long climb, partial descent, another long climb, another partial descent, and another long climb. I leapfrogged a few people along the way, catching (or passing) them on the downhills, only to be passed again on the next climb. I did manage to stay in front of them on the 3rd part of the climb, even stopping for a picture at the top. (They had a guy taking pictures right before you got to the aid station.)

At some point during the section, I felt like my brain was getting "fuzzy". I'm 4+ hours into the event, so well over 5 hrs since my initial 5hr energy shot. So I grabbed one out of my pack and downed it. Concentration is so crucial - one misstep and you can take a fall. 15-20 minutes later, I could definitely feel more alert.

AS4 (Fox Ridge) was awesome. Aside from the usual far, there was a guy cooking up bacon and pancakes on a camp stove. So after filling my bottles, I made a "sandwich" consisting of 2 pancakes and a bunch of bacon. (The pancakes were probably only 3" in diameter - they weren't huge.) I think I was about 45-minutes ahead of the cutoff at this point.  

The next section has a 1-mile road section, mostly uphill, before it goes back on the trail. After I ate my 'sandwich' I dug out a tylenol from my pack. My left shoulder was killing me (I broke it several years ago skating). And, of course, just about everything else hurt too. Left heel, right ankle, right hip, quads... But mainly I took it for the shoulder. Ibuprofen used to be my painkiller of choice - but there have been some recent studies that taking it during endurance events is especially hard on your kidneys (since you're probably dehydrated). So I've been using tylenol instead.

After the brief road section, there are about 5 miles of gentle downhill. (Maybe with a very brief climb in parts.) In other words, it's a very fast section. I was able to run (jog) most of it, and caught a few more people before I got to the next aid station.

I didn't waste any time at AS5. Just the usual refill drill. I grabbed some chips and started walking... I think I'm 50-55 minutes ahead of the cutoff now.  Probably far enough ahead that I could walk the rest of the way if I had to). That wasn't totally unthinkable. During that long descent, I could feel my left heel slipping again. Now, I think the bandaid was probably doing more hard than good. I decided I would just grit my teeth and bear it, though. There probably wasn't much I could do about it at this point.

I'm also regretting not changing my shorts (or at least re-applying some anti-chafing stuff) when I changed clothes. Running in wet/sweating shorts for hours makes you chafe in places you definitely do not want to chafe. At this point, it's a minor nuisance, but I figured the shower after the race would be pretty painful.

Last year, I remember someone had given me the advice to save my energy for the climb in the last section, which starts shortly after the last aid station. So I was ready for it - or so I thought.

That last section is a real asskicker.  There's a 500ft climb, over probably 1.5 miles, followed by a 500ft descent. That's the climb I remember from last year. At this point, I was about 3 miles from the finish and I thought it was flat the rest of the way. Then I hit the next climb - probably 600ft over 1.25 miles (so, steeper). It seemed to go on forever. About halfway up, I saw another guy in front of me, and I was slowly gaining on him. I caught him at the crest of the hill, and started running the downhill, leaving him behind.

The surprises weren't over yet, though. After a short runnable section of downhill, it turns into a very steep technical descent. Steep and technical enough that I can't run it on my tired legs. So it's a long tedious hike down. I had been hoping to finish under 8 hours, but it appeared that would not be possible.  I could see quite far in front of me, and there was no one in sight to try to catch. The guy I had just passed was already out of sight, so no real danger to him catching me. And I certainly didn't want to take a fall this late in the race. So I was patient and cautious as I made my way down.

Once I got past the technical stuff, there was probably a half-mile of runnable trail to get to the finish. I crossed the finish line around 8:06.

I changed into some dry clothes, which was a challenge in its own right. Everything wanted to cramp/spasm as I'm trying to get these wet clothes off of me in the handicap stall in the bathroom. I was able to assess the chafing and blister damage too - which was significant but actually not as bad as I thought it would be.

They had chili at the picnic area near the finish, so I grabbed a bowl and sat by the fire to warm up a bit before finally packing up to leave. I saw the organizer and asked how many people were still out, and if everyone was safe. There were still about 15 people on the course with about 40 minutes remaining before the 9-hour cutoff.

So despite being unprepared, I was able to finish. On one of the podcasts I listen to, the hosts insist that if someone can run a half-marathon, they can finish a 50K. Now, that might depend on the 50K - this particular one has a LOT of climbing. But I think the point is that most of this is mental. You have to have the will to keep moving. You have to be able to adapt to changing conditions. You have to take care of small problems before they become big problems. You have to be mindful of your pace, nutrition, and hydration.

I struggled with hydration in several events last year. I think I executed it almost perfectly on this one. Two 20oz bottles were enough to get from aid station to aid station. (I never needed my "reserve" bottle.) I peed a couple times during the event. (~ 2.5 hrs and 5 hrs.) Both times, the color indicated I was sufficiently hydrated. Just the fact that I needed to pee was a good indicator. There was a point early (1-2 hrs) in where I felt a little "waterlogged", but kept drinking anyway, and it went away. I have a 4-minute timer set on my watch and drank almost every time it went off.

Nutrition is rarely an issue for me, but I have a 30-minute timer on my watch as a reminder. If I'm between aid stations, I eat a gel. If I'm close to an aid station (before or after) I may skip it because I grab & eat food from the aid station. I felt pretty good from a calorie perspective the whole day.

Pacing-wise, I think I executed pretty well too. I didn't get caught up in the "irrational exuberance" of the start. I took it easy on the uphills, and saved my legs for the downhills and flats. I minimized my time at the aid stations. I had some fuel "left in the tank" at the finish - so I maybe could have gone a little harder, but to do so would have been inviting injury or a DNF.

I think the only thing I could have done better would be to take care of the blister and chafing earlier/better.  If it had been a longer race (50-100 miles), it would have definitely been a problem. Since this was "only" a 50K, I could get away with abusing my body and still finish. Looking ahead to the other races I signed up for, I'll need to be better about it.

Huge thanks to the SoMo race director and volunteers. This course kicked my ass, but it was a great day! I'll probably sign up again next year, and probably go into it just as unprepared. But I can pretend that it'll motivate me to train over the holidays. lol

And one last treat for you, since I had to run on this damn blister for 15 miles, you get to look at it.  :-) The loose skin is just what broke open during the race - the blistered area is about twice that size...  And, no, there are no pictures of the chafing! Hahaha 

Left - Saturday night after the race.

Right - Monday morning.





Looks like I placed a slightly worse than I did last year. But events with lots of climbing like this definitely don't play to my strengths. Last year, I placed 65th out of 100 starters (8 people did not finish). This year, I placed 66th out of 89 starters (10 people did not finish). Looking at the other finishing times, there was no way I was going to catch anyone ahead of me in that last section.

Next up is Rut Rogue 40-miler on February 2nd! That will have half the climbing that I did in SoMo 50K, so should feel a bit easier. :-)