On July 3rd, my son Adam and I made our first attempt at running a 50 mile trail ultramarathon. Our race of choice? The Finger Lakes Fifties. It’s run on the trails and dirt roads of the Finger Lakes National Forest in Hector, NY. The trails there are beautiful, though they are rocky, rooty, and deceptively difficult.
We signed up for the race way back in March of this year, and trained for it the best that our health and schedules would allow. Both of us would face training related injuries in this time. Adam and severe shin splints and perhaps a stress fracture in his left shin. I would suffer with groin issues for most of spring with some IT band problems popping in the 2 weeks leading up the race. Nevertheless, we both were excited for the “big dance” and had confidence in our abilities and desire to do the entire thing.
The night before the race we met up with a RWOL forumite named Jeff, his nickname is trailrunnerjeff. We ate dinner at the Market Street Brewing Co. in the Gaffer District of Corning, NY and chatted the entire time. And thanks Jeff - if you hadn’t gotten my head out of my ass I would have showed up late to the race. After dinner we hooked up with my wife’s parents and grandparents to watch the fireworks in Watkins Glen, NY. This is Indy Car weekend and the town is abuzz with race fever – hence the fireworks. Neato.
The morning arrives and we get up, do our things, and get to the forest. We are not there early and had to park nearly half a mile away. Ugh, this would be ugly later. Check-in and packet pickup was a smooth affair. Just after checking in we ran into Ian Golden, the race director of the Virgil Crest 100 and ironman triathlete. He’s a cool guy and one of the experts on the Medved Endurance Project panel. I guess he was at the race to support his buddy Ed Eddington who happens to be his cohort in the VC100. Shortly after this we ran into Shelley, another RWOL forumite and her husband Jim. She’s the RD for Mind The Ducks 12 Hour. We got some last minute pep talking and then it was time to line up for the start of the race and to get last minute instructions.
And then the cowbells!! The race started off with a longish run down a dirt Forest Service service road. Perhaps 2 miles? Finally we get onto the trails and everything feels great. We are running our own pace, the air is cool, and the legs feel fine. Fine until about 6 miles in when the lady in front of us takes a major header. We stop to see if she’s ok and/or needs some help – she is ok and gets right back up on her own and takes off. When we attempt to get going again, my left IT band makes itself known. ARGH!!! All week it had felt fine. I was stretching it out. I was soaking it in the hot tub and icing it at home. I decide that it’s not going to stop me from going on, pop two 200mg ibuprofens, and stretch my legs out a bit. I discover that as long as I’m moving everything is almost ok, so I do just that – keep moving. Aid station stops are painful, but you’ve got to hydrate and eat right?
We managed to keep up a decent pace with a few stops to stretch out the IT band and finished the first loop in about 3:52, our dreams of making the cutoff undiminished at this point in time. At the start/stop area I considered changing shoes and socks but decided to keep going with what I had on at the time. Maybe this was the wrong way to go, but so be it. And now we’re on to our second loop. We pick up the pace a bit so we can put a cushion on our cutoff deadline. By now the temperature is rising quickly and as we run past ponds and through pastures the heat hits us, it’s like running into a curtain. And out in the sun the horseflies and deerflies start to attack us. Somewhere around mile 22 or 23 I realized something, my left IT band feels fine! Woohoo, things were starting to come together. The miles “fly” by and we really enjoy the trails until close to mile 28 when I was shocked to feel my right IT band and groin flare up.
Now I’m limping so badly that my feet start to hurt. I must have changed my stride so radically that I started to get blisters on the bottom of my feet. I’ve NEVER had that happen before and I got pissed off. I think getting pissed off is what kept me from dropping out. We jogged when we could and walked when we had to. My son’s shin splints were acting up so he was mad and limping also. What a pair. We get to the 32 mile point and decide that we’re not going to look like chumps at the finish so we bust out into the fastest run we could muster while keeping good form and then there was the finish. Adam and I crossed the line together for the first time ever in 8:43:xx. We missed the cutoff for starting the third loop by 43 minutes so this was the end of our day.
It wasn’t a complete loss. My son was unable to complete his first attempt at a 50k trail race back in Nov. of 2009 so this was his redemption. And like I said before, this was the first time we’ve ever crossed the line together. For me as a father this was great, something we will both remember. And then it was time to check the carnage. Wow, the blisters on my feet are the size of half dollars. There are lots of little ones on my toes. Unexpectedly, there were no black nails. I kicked lots of roots and rocks and was sure I’d damaged at least a few nails. Nay, not this race. And it felt oh so good to put on fresh socks and a clean shirt.
Not too long after we sit down to eat we see Jeff again! We share how our days went, ate some food, and said goodbye. It was time limp off to the car (remember that ½ mile hike?) and head home for a shower. On the drive home we discuss our day and come to the conclusion that we should focus on shorter trail races during summer and the ultras in the spring and fall. We also decide that we definitely want to challenge another 50 miler soon. Canandaigua Lake 50 here we come!