Drove down Friday morning out of Boulder and reached Pagosa Springs in the late afternoon just in time to see the great views coming down from Wolf Pass. Small town, but I kinda dig it. Cool views of the surrounding mountains where much of the trail would traverse.
Drove to the Start/Finish line to set up camp, which was in the middle of a meadow 15 miles or so out of town. Ate a smallish dinner of ground beef, veggies, a couple clif bars and a few Alaskan Ambers. Probably didn't drink quite enough the night before, but no biggie. Sleep was pretty crappy as expected.
Race time was 6:30am, so after a 5:30 wake-up call in the cold I got my gear ready: hydration backpack, small handheld water bottle, headlamp, course directions, and some emergency snacks. The start was pretty informal - about 70-100 of us huddled around in the dark until a guy yelled out to start. I was pretty excited to get moving and warm up.
The first stretch was relatively flat as we followed the road out of the campsite for around 2 miles. It was cool to see the different groups of runners and all of their gear...there was a pretty even mix of 50k and 50 milers. The trail picked up around 2.5-3 miles and was relatively mellow and untechnical. The first climb was Chris mountain and was essentially a warm up for the day. The lead pack took a wrong turn and ended up docking an extra mile during this part, which became more significant later on in the day. Made it to the first aid station at miles 6-7 feeling great. Ditched my jacket, grabbed a handful of pretzels and banana and rolled out.
The next stretch to aid station #2 at mile 12 was mostly winding downhills and very comfortable. Towards the end of this stretch I realized that we were going out a little fast - hit the 9 mile mark in less than 90 minutes - which was WAY to fast for me, but I was feeling great so just rolled with it.
Around mile 10-11 things started to get real. The primary climb of the race was Horse Mountain, spanning miles 12-18 roughly. I knew this would be the real test going in, so I settled in and got ready to climb. Hit the aid station and grabbed some more snack food, including a few builder bars. Just tried to finish my handheld between each station and save the camel for reserves.
The climb was amazing, but slow. I had read enough before hand to know not to even consider running the climbs, so this was a solid period of 45-60 minutes of hiking. All single track in a dense aspen forest. At some point during the climb I accidentally stopped my GPS, so for the remainder of the race it was around 20 minutes and 1 mile behind. Topped out Horse Mountain to come into a clearing on the summit that overlooked all of the neighboring mountains, which sported an amazing layer of changing leaves and colors. I stopped moving several times to just absorb the view. Really wish I had brought my camera to capture that moment.
I think it was during this section that I made a fueling and hydration mistake. I was so relieved to finish the climb and take in the views that I spaced on continuing to eat and drink. The descent down to the next station was a little rough and my knees were starting to get a little tight, but I held a decent descent rate. I should note though that despite my best efforts to practice downhilling during my training, I seemed significantly slower than everyone else on my descents. It's definitely what sets trail runners apart.
Rolled into aid #3 a little worn out. Down a few PB&Js, more fruit, and some pretzels. At this point my left calf was starting to knot up pretty bad, and I could tell my left side was significantly more fatigued than my right. After leaving the station I downed some macadamias and raisins before trying to get running again.
The next section was the toughest of the race for me, and where I paid dearly for whatever mistakes I had made an hour earlier. My calf was cramping and hurting pretty badly every time I tried to run, so I walked for a decent period, periodically trying to pick things up. I had been taking salt tabs hourly prior to this point, but the cramps were still getting to me. I had anticipated this issue before the race, and the fact that it STILL slowed me down so much was frustrating. After force feeding, taking another salt tab, and chugging water, I adopted a short shuffle stride and was able to make decent gains at a time while waiting for my body to catch up with the nutrition (which it eventually did). Luckily this section of the course was pretty mellow with some flats and downhills...otherwise things may have taken a lot longer.
Eventually my short stride started feeling pretty good and I was back to steady running as I came into aid #4 at mile 23, which was the 50 mile cutoff. That 5 mile section of the course took 76 minutes, but I learned some very valuable lessons from it.
At aid #4 threw back a lot more food (more of the same) and filled my bottle with some electrolyte drink. This would be the longest stretch, so I made sure to load up on water.
It was getting pretty warm at this point, but in general the weather was perfect. The last 10 miles were relatively uneventful but crossed more beautiful terrain, much of which followed a narrow creek. The last section of trail featured a steep climb, which was apparently a new addition to the course this year, taking the course back to the original dirt road that we started on. I was pretty worn out at this point, but most of the cramping and achy issues had just become dull and standard. After a quick 1 mile detour due to some course confusion, I hit the main road and came across the finish at a decent pace.
Final un-official time was 6:30:00. Interestingly enough, the race website had me down as a DNS, which I can assure them is incorrect.
Totally different from my marathon experience, this race was a whole different animal that I truly enjoyed from start to finish. Couldn't have asked for a better course or volunteer crew. Finishing was endlessly more satisfying than the marathon, and I felt like I actually pushed my body past a few points that I usually wouldn't try to.
I try to always include this after every race, so here are some of the lessons that I learned:
- It doesn't always get worse - I had heard this before but never really experienced it myself till the wall at miles 18-23. Just because something hurts doesn't mean it's going to hurt 5 miles from now. Give it some time and things will likely turn around. Good insight for any endurance/selection event.
- Don't space out. Usually I enjoy doing this, but when I zoned out too far and forgot to keep eating/drinking I had to pay for it for the next hour. Enjoy yourself but stay focused.
- Eat early and often.
- Start slow! For fuck's sake, that one should have been obvious.
- The short shuffle stride kinda works.
- Bring a camera. I really wish I had those pictures to relive.
- Respect the downhill. Again, something I should already know.
Overall, awesome experience. As soon as it was over all I wanted was a chance to go for a 50 mile. I understand the addiction, and it is something I plan to keep pursuing in the future. In the meantime, training is going to shift gears a little bit.
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