50/50 part 2

50/50! (parts 1.75 and 2)

After perusing Josh's blog I realized I totally omitted a small but fun part of yesterday's running. While we were in the Gorge, I asked Josh if he want to "run the pipe." He asked what the pipe is, and I refused to answer, demanding a yes or no. He rose to the challenge and said yes, to my chagrin...."Damn" I said. There is this large pipe along the trail bridging a small cut with a stony creek bed below. The trail goes around it and has a nice wooden bridge, but every time I come down that trail, I contemplate crossing on foot over the pipe. I always took the safe way out, now I was going to be "testosteroned" into doing it.

Josh went first, and I almost followed on his heels, when I had a vision of potentially rusted, corroded inner pipe walls, and decided one should cross at a time. Kim graciously took photos as she is too wise to join this idiot party.

Who knows what else I forgot from Saturday...it was all so fun, but it is time to move on to Sunday, and recount this next day of lunacy.

As planned, mostly via blog comments, we would meet Sunday morning at 5am at Happy Day Visitor Center on Rt. 303, and run the last 35 miles or so of the Burning River 100 course. This was a good fit because it matched Josh's desire to run back to back 50k runs along with Kim's desire to see a lot of the course (in fact all) that she will be pacing me on a month from now during the race. I hope to make her run every foot of it again! I also posted an open request on the Vertical Runner forum for runners to join us, but it seems like this kind of distance is not one at which there is going to be a whole lot of people showing up for a "training" run. I will admit, knowing that does make one feel cool while covering it. As an example, later in the day when the cashier at Szalay's fruit stand right at our halfway point remarked if we were almost done with our day....and I told her no, about halfway done, we have 18 miles to go....she says, well it is a nice day for a bike ride....I say - walking away at this point - we are running. I loved the look on her face.

A flat tire on Tony's van at the last minute required some changes in our plan for leaving supplies on the longest stretch of the course where there would be no water. We recovered and were about 15 minutes late to meet Rob Powell at Happy Day for the start. I think he was still too happy that he found it with no issue to be ticked at us for showing a bit late.

We got started and it was designated right away that Josh would be the pack mule. He was the only one wearing a back pack. Actually it was a hydration pack as well, but provided a great place for carrying our maps and course description. It was two pages of course description, and 7 separate maps to cover the whole route. There was no single map with sufficient detail to keep us on course. Now Josh only had to carry 9 pieces of paper in addition to whatever he had in there, so the "pack mule" designation was a bit of a stretch. I much prefer the "office bitch" appellation that he has attached to himself over "pack mule" and since he was only carrying paper, "trail office bitch" seems to work.

Josh did have a fall on the trail fairly early in which was pretty graceful and uneventful, but provided Rob with a whole day of laughter (on top of AAP.) His was the only fall for 5 runners all day and that is pretty good in my book. I caught a toe maybe three times and started to fall, but always had room to correct before doing the full faceplant.

We really were enjoying everyone's company, and working on what everyone needed to work on. We reigned in Tony, making him walk uphills, and get somewhat used to something wildly different from the marathon pace he is so used to targeting and training for. Kim and I were very careful to understand EXACTLY where the raceday course would be...this was going to be a little over a THIRD of my race course. Josh - well he didn't need anything specific...Rob - he had some issues at Mohican a few weeks back, and he was gracious enough to share with us where he went wrong there so as to help us avoid some possible mistakes. He is an ultra veteran and also had a lot of advice to share with all of us. In fact, Tony and I were the only two that had not finished a 100 mile race so we were listening with all ears! Rob....the monkey will die! I know it!

Kim and I identified some course areas where I should try to be running later in the race, and I think we are in a good position to get it done come race day. I had also been encouraging Tony to run through some streams and get his feet wet, so he knows how he will respond come race day. Unless it is very dry over the next month, there should be a few streams where he will have to get feet wet. Better to know now what it is like, than August 4th.

Being the map maker, I was also the direction giver, and we only went off course once. I would almost refuse to accept any blame because we were on Wetmore Trail headed back up to Pine Hollow aid station #2 (on Quick Road) and we ran past a side trail that was completely blocked and marked "trail closed" and no one thought to check the map. We were, of course, in the middle of some semi-illicit conversation as well. 8 minutes or so later we pop out on Akron Peninsula Road, and I am scratching my head....we were supposed to hit Wetmore road, and then Quick Road, not AP road. Right away, Josh and Rob knew the trail we had passed must have been it, so we backtracked to it, and upon closer inspection it said "Trail close to horse traffic." Josh did think that this would exclude him due to his enormous tallywhacker, but he decided to risk trouble and follow us onto this trail anyways.

At most junctures of significance, and at aid station locations in particular, there was a lot of attention (read TIME) paid to making sure we were going down the right paths and trails. At many points in the woods, Rob's GPS was giving him indications that the satellite signal was temporarily lost. At this previously stated sidetrack, and once later, we went a half mile or more (mile roundtrip!) down the wrong trail, adding to our distance and time. These things and more contribute to tell me that the pace we held will be plenty fast come race day for a finish as there will be no doubt on course direction...we will be much faster individually through aid stations as far as filling water bottles etc. There will be none of the time spent where we looked at maps, deciding where to go...teaching each other the course essentially.

I feel that I am getting so much from my fellow ultra runners in terms of race preparations, mental preparation, and so on, that the only thing which can prevent me from finishing race day will be a physical breakdown.

On we go. Coming off of the Butler Trail we cross back over Akron Peninsula Road (this time we are there on purpose) and follow the Valley Trail until we reach the Bolantz aid station on Bolantz Road. Saturday when scouting this location to verify water for Sunday's run, Josh and I were shocked to see a pickup go by with a pallet of shingles in the bed, and a yellowish Irish Setter type dog standing on TOP of the pallet, unrestrained, at about 30 mph. One tap of the brakes and that driver gets to watch his dog fly over his hood.

After we all pull into Bolantz it is decided we will spend some time and money getting some real food from the Szalay's fruit stand 50 yards down the road. This probably added 20-25 minutes of time to our run...

I abandon food restrictions during runs of 3 or more hours and will eat all kinds of crap I will NOT eat at any other times. Several times I have seen it said that since you cannot store these calories as fast as you eat them during an ultra, it cannot be turned to fat. Good excuse right? I had several samples of cantaloupe, sweet melon, and honeydew. Then I bought and ate two apple fritters, a chocolate chip cookie, a granola bar, a banana and a little bit of dried fruit. Some of this was as we walked and ran over the next mile, but it felt GREAT to eat some real food instead of Gels, Shot Blocks, and Sport Beans. This is where the cashier gave me the "are you a whacko?" look.

At Szalay's it was clear to Tony that he would have to skip a small trail section a few miles later, leave us, and run harder pace wise to get home for a commitment he made to his wife. We all understood and supported this, but of course were sad to lose him for our remaining miles. In the end, I really would always rather run with someone who would put his family in front of his running buddies. I have refused or shortened more than one run in my short running career to be with my daughters, and never regretted it.

Right after Szalay's we are soon crossing the Covered Bridge (as long as you don't miss a turn and run off the cliff - there was a sneaky area in the weeds that more than one of us almost ran off a 10-12 foot drop.) This a fairly iconic point in the valley and marks the beginning of a several mile long stretch of road running on the course.

At the completion of this road portion on Ira Road, we entered the Buckeye Trail and Tony turned left with a kick and headed his own way. We stopped once in the woods at a trail juncture to assess orientation and then again at the picnic area where the Buckeye Trail and Deer Run trail coincide we must have spent 10 minutes or so making sure we left the aid station area on the correct trail. I say this to remind myself (and Kim, Rob, and Josh) how much time on the clock was given over to orientation. Race day will be in and out of there in a minute or so.

We cross Bath Road once on Deer Run trail, run along Yellow Creek for awhile, and then when we hit Bath Road again, we run a short distance to the towpath and down to Botzam trail head where we had parked Josh's car with supplies. Here we ate, drank, refilled bottles, fixed feet (Kim and Josh still recovering from Mohican) and I changed socks and shoes as well as wiping off my feet and re-lubing them. Again, chunks of time that will be shorter come race day.

Back down the towpath we cross the only section of the race course I have issue with, the infamous "Poop Loop." There is a half mile section here (feels like 3 miles) where you run past the local wastewater treatment plant (i.e. shit factory) and it is just disgusting. I wish the race organizers had found another way down the valley at this point, and I predict more than one complaint at the air quality some 93 miles into the race.

More mindless towpath and we arrive at Memorial Parkway aid station (95.8 miles in) and turn left onto roads connecting up to the Chuckery Area of the Cascade Valley metropark. Nice shaded single track takes you through here, past the landmark "Signal Tree" and up to Highbridge trail where you pass under the bridge connecting Cuyahoga Falls and Akron (State St./Main St.) A little way down this trail which borders the Cuyahoga River and you hit Front Street. Left and then 1/8 mile later right into the beautfiul (thought probably precarious at 98+miles) Glen's Trail. Make it through here and up to Front Street again, and we were within sight of the finish line.

We stopped long enough for a few "finish line" photos but then moved right on again to run the last two miles to my house from here. The phrase Roy Heger taught me "Beware the chair" today became "Beware the fountain." We all just wanted to get done.

Notice all the salt and stuff caked on my shirt from sweating all day. This is the visual of why we take electrolyte replacement drinks, pills, etc. Without replacing all that lost salt (electrolytes) our stomachs cannot properly absorb the water we drink to rehydrate, and we can get really out of whack in terms of body chemistry.

The last two miles to my house were pretty sedate, until I suggested about 1/2 mile out, that I was going to run really hard the last 1/10th of a mile to see what it felt like. I didn't want my friends to think I was being showy, but I DID want to see how my body would respond to a sprint after 39 or more miles. Josh and Rob (that reads testosterone) were crazy enough to join me, and we all sprinted to my driveway very hard. It felt wonderful to know I still had that after all that time on my feet.

Now comes the surprise! Even though I had told my wife we would be home much earlier (I had forgotten the run home from the finish line, AND not accounted for any sidetrips, etc) she had lunch/dinner waiting for us all. Pasta salad, cheese, fresh cut watermelon, grapes, etc. etc. We were ALL so grateful to have food ready to eat at this point. I now owe her some shopping time this week I guess. (I wonder if she will let me run laps around the mall while she shops....)

Total GPS mileage: 38.28
Total estimated mileage due to loss of signal, etc: 39-40 (we will say 39 to be conservative)
Total time on feet: 10 hrs 56 min 47 sec. (includes ALL stops, photos, fruit stand, etc. never stopped the clock)
Total training value of weekend: Immense (probably more than I can figure)
Total of fun and friendship enjoyed: Immeasurable.

Thanks go to Josh for dreaming this up, and Kim, Tony, and Rob for being crazy enough to invite themselves along! I just made the maps. Photo enhanced blog version at www.fitfromfat.blogspot.com.