Excellent race today. Net net I beat my desired time, shaved off 27 minutes from last year, and I felt great when I finished. Huge win for me. We camped this year at Dead Swede campground (love the name), which is about 10 miles from Burgess Junction. When my friend picked me up at 6:30 it was 26 degrees. Yikes. I brought tights and other long sleeve stuff as I was pretty worried. By the time we got to the starting line the car said 41 degrees, so my worry lessened. I decided to start just like last year, with arm sleeves and thin gloves. Also wore headband, short sleeve tech shirt, calf compression sleeves, and wool socks. I've rarely worn my water belt lately but the last time I did it rubbed my hips so I decided to not risk it and I wore my Nathan hydration pack. A bit much for a 50K, but it wears well on me. I put in 40 oz of Heed at the start. At my drop bag (14 miles) I had a handheld I would add to the mix filled only with water. The hydration plan worked to perfection. Nutrition plan was a gel or other food every 45 minutes and 3 Endurolyte capsules every hour. I changed that to take 2 capsules every time I took food. I also had 4 gels with caffeine, two with 25 mg, two with 50 mg. I used the smaller ones before big hills and the big ones the last 6 miles. Worked well. Started off at 7500 feet heading up the gnarliest hill of the race, 530 feet in 1 mile. Ran what I could, walked when needed, mostly following the lead of people in front of me. I felt pretty strong and was probably in the top 20 or so. Climbed up to 8500 feet with a few dips in there, then dropped 1800 feet in 3 miles. Realized I hadn't tied my shoes tight enough and was starting to feel a hot spot. Didn't stop to tie my shoes but should have (finally did a few miles later on the uphill). Hit Cow Camp aid station and ate a strip of bacon as I hadn't done that last year as I didn't think 6 miles qualified as a bacon run. It was good. Started climbing and was in the same strung out pack of 4 until the next aid station. Along this stretch I passed Davy Crockett and thankfully recognized him. Walked with him for a few minutes, and he was doing well at mile 80 and was having a good race. That was fun to finally meet him. Last mile to the aid station (and drop bag) was 437 feet of up. I ran more of the hill than last year, which was a goal. A lady in a long sleeved red shirt ahead of me "pulled" me up the hill. She was tough. Slowly jogged into the aid station, which was a small win as most people walked the entire last mile. I stayed way too long as the watch shows I spent 12 minutes there. Yikes. Felt more like 5 or 6. I changed shirt (tank top), socks, shoes, put on moleskin to cover my developing blisters on the inside of my heels, filled the handheld water bottle and put 20 oz of Heed in the hydration pack. The moleskin took forever as I couldn't get the paper backing off what I had with me, so I used what the station had. It worked well but I wasted 2-3 minutes on just that. By the time I got out of there I had seen my group of people all take off. I caught two of them before the end, but it took a while. Next time need to be quicker out of there. Took off up a road for a mile, climbing 337 feet. Walked a bit but mostly ran, passing quite a few people who had passed me during the stop, people I'd never seen as I'd been towards the front. Hit a single track for a bit, but it was just a way to get to another forest service road. Ran on that for a few miles and just like last year this was the longest part of the run. Boring, blah, blah. Ran in the mid to high 9s those 3 miles but I know I could've been around 9:00. Took my first caffeine gel in here to kick me up and it seemed to work. Finally hit single track again and my spirits lifted. Ran along a side hill, passing quite a few (100 milers were in here quite a bit now), and hit another hill, one of the last. A half mile after the top was another aid station and grabbed some Pepsi, pineapple, and 3 mini candy bars. Yum. Passing lots of 30K walkers now, which continued the rest of the way. A pain on single track but they were very nice and quickly moved. A mile or so after the aid station we hit the toughest uphill of our course. It's straight up for 1/2 mile or so and steep enough that I had to stop twice to catch my breath even though I was only walking. Finally hit a sideways trail and walked that to the top. This is now Tongue River Canyon, the reason that the race started (someone wanted to dam the canyon and they thought let's have people run the canyon to see how pretty it is), and 6 miles and 3400 feet later I would be at the bottom. My shoes weren't tight enough so I sat down and tied them tighter. Amazing how long that takes when you see the people you'd just passed now pass by again. I started downhill. A few really steep sections then following a cow trail on mostly flat pastures, then down, then sidehills, then down, but mostly down, down, down, down. A few miles into the canyon I passed the lady in red who pulled me up the first hill, and told her how much she'd helped me and to follow along. She didn't but only finished 6 minutes behind me. I finally got to the aid station that seemed as if it would never come, and refilled water bottle, drank some mountain dew and ate half a banana and was off. I forgot about the hills after this station as I thought the hills were done. Not big ones, but big enough. Next four miles had ups of 102, 42, and 78. It was actually refreshing to use different muscles. Finally hit the last major aid station, Marathon, at 26 miles. Refilled water bottle, grabbed a little food, and was off on the long boring part. Only a regular road the last 5 miles, and no shade after the first mile. Thankfully we had a steady headwind which kept me cool, especially with a wet singlet in front and back. By now I'd taken off my hat as it was making me hot and I kept my head wet frequently. This is a tough stretch. I did much better than last year, I think only walking 3-4 times for short stretches, and keeping under 11 minutes per mile. I knew that if I could be around 10 minutes that I would beat 6 hours. At the top of the canyon I thought I might hit 5:30 but I underestimated how slowly I could run on the steep downhill. It was mostly a 10:30 per mile on the steep parts as I had to put on the brakes most of the way. I need to figure out how to run faster downhill. Anyhow, I was doing okay but not great, passing a lot of walkers. Only two people passed me in these miles, but of course one was in my age group, just like last year. My 3 boys rode their bikes and found me with two miles to go and it was awesome. Also awesome was the girls on bikes who gave out Otter Pops with 3 miles to go. Fantastic. Hit the last aid station, topped up the water, and was off. I had caught up to the guy who passed me but he didn't stop and finished 30 seconds ahead of me. Without having water I'm sure I wouldn't have been that close behind him, so I'm fine with that. I saw my wife and daughter with 1/2 mile to go and that was a lot of fun. My wife ran along for a bit then traded my oldest for his bike and he ran with me the last quarter mile while she biked ahead to take pictures. All four kids crossed the line with me, 3 on their bikes and one running. Lots of fun. I felt great on the finish and could've kept going (but glad I didn't have to). On finishing, I was very happy with my race. I came under the time I wanted, I felt really strong, nothing hurt (for hours after I had zero pain with no medications at all), and I was with my family. We hung out at the park for 3-4 hours, but this year we were set up with a shelter, chairs, and some food. Next year we'll bring the cooler. As we were sitting there I saw a guy carrying a bag with Rob Rohde written on it. I called his name and sure enough it was Rob. He had to drop out of the 50 miler at mile 25, but his wife rocked her 30K. It was fun to meet yet another FRBer, so two in one weekend. After finally getting my drop bag returned we headed back up the mountain and camped again, then headed home Sunday morning. Fantastic weekend in the Bighorn mountains. Ready for DesNews (when I can walk again). Thanks for reading. You must have been really bored.... :) http://connect.garmin.com/activity/328999969
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