Slip slidin’ away

A very brief race report–Free State Trail Runs, April 24, 2009

The Free State Trail Runs were held on April 24, 2010.  The races include a marathon, 40-miler and 100k (62 miles).  All are run at Clinton Lake State Park near Lawrence, KS and all include at least one loop around on the trails there.  The marathon starts with a short (six mile) out and back followed by a loop on the 20 mile trail.  The 40-miler and 100k have two and three loops, respectively.

For me, this event was a follow up to the Brew to Brew event two weekends earlier (see previous post).  I signed up for the 100k, although I’m not sure why.  A 43 mile event followed by a 62 mile event two weeks later was probably a bit aggressive for these aging legs.  As it turned out, this wasn’t really an issue, primarily because I scaled back to the 40 miler.

I ran this event a year ago and had the noteworthy experience of being forced out due to a tornado midway thorough the third loop.  Thus, I got in a 50-miler last year.  Weather again was an issue this year.   After all, it rains in the spring in the Midwest.  After a reasonably dry stretch, heavy rains fell in the middle of the week preceding the Saturday race.  In fact, I was awakened at 1 AM Saturday by heavy rains.  I had considered not even attending if there was a forecast of more heavy rain.  This race wasn’t a huge goal race, just a chance to log some miles on the trails.  But the forecast was for overcast weather with a chance of showers, so I headed off at 5 AM for the hour drive to Clinton Lake.

There was little doubt about the condition of the trails even before the start.  Some areas drained well, and some did not.  With the heavy midweek rains, I knew there would be muddy places.  As it turns out, the mud was probably worse than I expected.  I took my rightful place at the back of the pack, so there were lots of footprints on the trail prior to my first loop.  My recollection of last year was that there were many small muddy areas.  This year, there were many large muddy areas.  Many were 50-100 feet long, seemingly.  Keeping your feet dry was impossible.  Last year’s first loop was in and out in 4:37.  This year, I hit the start/finish area in 4:45 and after a change of socks and some food it was close to 4:55 before I got back out.

The sock change was beneficial, but dry feet were not to be had on this day.  As the second loop started, I hit a muddy spot in the first quarter mile and the dry feeling passed.  Overall, the trails were in notably worse shape on this trip.  After all, the marathoners had also hit the trails since my first loop.  The best description for many sections of the trail:  a bog.  Just a long stretch of soft mud.  I concluded the best approach was, if possible, to simply run through them.  The force of a foot hitting the mud seemed to displace it, with no more damage that easing though.  This approach resulted in my only fall…..while running through a particularly large stretch I caught my right foot on a log and down I went.  A nice chest plant in the soft mud.  Fortunately, there was a stream crossing with knee high water a bit farther ahead, so I cleaned up a bit.

The worst part of the mud was on inclines, either up or down.  It became tiring just navigating these areas.  Annoyingly, a light rain began falling midway through the second loop.  It was light enough not to cause additional woes, other than making some of the better drained areas more slick.  Of a bit more concern was that I was starting to get cold.  A heavy rain could make it uncomfortable. But it quit, and I slipped and slid my way into the start finish at 9:40, for another loop of 4:45.

While I’d planned on doing all three loops, I wasn’t really committed to it.  Completing 62 miles just wasn’t that big of a deal.  If I got back out at 5 PM, it would be 10 PM by the time I finished, meaning a full two hours in the dark, traversing muddy trails.  I’d decided midway through the second loop to drop and head home for some dinner.  Nevertheless, I was somewhat tempted to head back out.  The last part of the loop seemed a bit drier and I felt fine.  It wasn’t a matter of energy…..just desire to face 20 more miles of mud, part of it in the dark.  I turned in my chip and headed for the car.

Random notes. Last year’s times were significantly better, with an in-and-out time of 4:37 and 9:15.  I suspect much of this was due to the trail conditions, but being older and slower can’t be ruled out……I had a nice conversation with Bob Murphy of Omaha, NE for much of the first loop.  Bob had started 15 minutes late, by virtue of not finding the race starting point on time.  We joked about “Murphy’s law,” but it was apparent Bob is a helluva runner.  He’s completed H.U.R.T. multiple times, along with Hardrock and Western States.  I have no doubt he toughed it out for the last loop……Similarly, I ran with a guy from Madison, WI for a while on the second loop.  He and a buddy had road-tripped down and camped prior to the race.

Through the past, darkly

What a drag it is getting old:  Race report on the Brew to Brew Run, April 11, 2010.

The Brew to Brew has, over the years, become my favorite spring running event.  That’s a title previously held by Boston (run eight times), Big Sur (also eight times) or Boston and Big Sur (four of the eight times).   With that designation, it was very disappointing to perform so poorly and crash so badly.  It is, indeed, a drag getting old.

Brew to Brew is a 43 mile trek that truly has a party atmosphere to it.  After all, it runs from a brewery (Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City) to another brewery (the Free State Brewery in Lawrence, KS).  The event is primarily a relay, with 10 legs.  Awards are given for the best beer-themed team name (this year’s winner was “More Ale Majority”….my all time favorite is “Started Stout and Finished Ale’n”) and beer is served at the beginning–Pale Ale for breakfast, anyone?–and at the end.  Many of the relay teams, equipped with vehicles for transporting team members, were enjoying some brews at all points along the course.  Lou Joline, the race director, has finished the Lean Horse 100 in his 70’s (!) and directs other races such as, “Dude, Where’s the Trail?”  I generally describe it by telling people it’s the only race in which I participate that has an aid station at a pig farm.  It’s just a fun event.

B to B unfortunately falls squarely in my CPA busy season.  Last year (2009) I missed the April 5 running due to work….yes, Sundays are regular workdays at that point in the year.  But in 2010 I managed to keep my head above water and headed into the race in reasonable shape from a workload standpoint.  A series of 70-plus hour workweeks and 14 hour workdays had left me a bit physically fatigued, but I’d always run that way in April.  The weather was great, if a bit warm–sunny and a high forecast in the mid 70s.  Heat was not really a concern…hell, I’d run Javelina a couple of  times and Lean Horse where the temps hit 100.  How hot could it get?

Also unfortunate was the fact I didn’t take a camera.  Never thought of it.  If I had, I would have taken a couple of pics at the start line.  The first is the beer stand, with Boulevard products waiting at pre-dawn 6 AM start.   The other was the…uh….unique hydration system sported by Danny Miller, one of the runners.   It was a Heineken party keg strapped to his back, perfectly consistent with the beer-themed race.  He said he had taken the CO2 device out which helped with the weight.  I didn’t get a chance to talk to him later about the effectiveness, but this capitalist smells a profit opportunity, potential licensing fees notwithstanding.

I felt great at the start, after a glorious seven hours of sleep and completely jacked up on caffeinated coffee.  My wife Kathy was gracious enough to take me to the start, and then to agree to meet me in Lawrence at the end.  She was not terribly talkative at the 5:15 AM departure to the race start, in contrast to my caffeine-induced jabber.  I asked her to meet me in Lawrence at 1:30, seven-and-one-half hours after the start.  I’d run this race in under seven hours three times, with the lone exception being a 7:24 being in a year of 30-mph headwinds the whole trip.  Hell, I should be finished with food and beer in 7 1/2 hours!  This thinking formed the backdrop of my later problems.

The B to B course has been roughly described as one third each trail, paved roads and gravel roads.  The first two legs were primarily trail, although this really means a perfectly manicured running surface along a levee.  Nice and flat, ideal temperatures in the mid-50s, just a great start.  My running strategy for any ultra involves a pre-determined blend of walking and running.  Further, I like to break it down into 10 minute increments.  It just makes the math simpler when the mind gets fuzzy.  I’d opted for a 7 1/2 minute run and 2 1/2 minute walk pace.  While I’d done no real analysis, this sorta seemed like a 10 minute per mile pace, or arrival in Lawrence in 7:10, or at 1:10 PM.  Some food and beer and I’d be ready to go when Kathy arrived.  Right on schedule, I hit the end of the 4.3 mile first leg in 43 minutes, walking breaks and all.  The aid stations in this event are not the smorgasbord found in some ultra events–keep in mind this is primarily a relay event where the participants have cars, food and hydration of various types.  The first aid station was not readily available, so I headed on, glad I had brought a full bottle of Ultra.

I briefly ran with a couple of other geezers at about the eight mile mark.  We had a discussion of the benefits of running and walking.  They were seemingly of the opinion that “real” runners run, and walking was the province of the weak.  I honestly thought that line of thinking went out years ago.  Have they ever run a hundred?  Does everybody run every step of a hundred?  A fifty?  In my mind, walking is a critical way of rationing energy in a long event.

This brief encounter marked the start of my downhill turn, although I didn’t realize it til much later.  One of the guys had a Garmin, and pointed out we were not on a 10 minute/mile pace, more like a 10:30 pace.  At this pace I would complete the event in 7:30+, in perfect weather?  This couldn’t be.  I clearly needed to pick up the pace.

It is, of course, one thing to pick up the pace in a 5k or 10k.  “Picking up the pace” in an ultra should be done only when you are certain of your conditioning, and only very judiciously. In addition to picking up the pace a bit, I also decided to change to an 8-2 run/walk ratio, reducing the walking time from by 30 seconds per 10 minute increment. As it was, we hit the end of leg two, 9.2 miles total, in about 97 minutes.  Clearly behind pace, but determined to move quicker.   Lesson: listening to your body and feeling the pace that is comfortable and sustainable should be the key to a long event.  That was reinforced today.

Photo-op number three missed was the display on the back of a the shirt worn by a KU chemical engineering group that had a relay team.  I ran briefly with a couple of young ladies with the group.   The top of the display read, “We love” and below was one of those molecules with (I think) C₂H₅OH all nicely configured.  I asked what it was and was informed it was the chemical symbol for ethanol.  The message, “We love alcohol,” they sheepishly informed me.  Just being nerdy, they said.  I thought it was pretty clever…..for engineers, that is.

Legs three through five slogged along.  Probably my least favorite, they are the most urban, heading though Edwardsville and Bonner Springs.  A lane closure in Bonner made things a bit tight.  At the end of leg five we were at about 22 miles, or about halfway.  For some reason, I couldn’t remember the mileage and didn’t notice the sign, so I was fuzzy on the distance to date.  The weather was good, I was feeling OK and headed into the more rural sections of the course.

Along with leg six came more hilly sections of the course.  I labored up the long hill beginning this section, then eased down the long decline to the pig farm aid station.  There was no mileage sign there (total turned out to be 25.1 miles, just short of marathon distance).  It was about here I started noticing that it was getting warm.  No breeze at all.  I had the first sense it could be a tough finish.  Leg seven contains another oddity of the course….a road that ends where a bridge is out.  Been out for years.  Volunteers operate a small boat that takes the runner the 30 feet or so across the river.

With leg eight came more hills (seemingly) and more heat.  At the end of this leg I was moving slowly, lamenting the earlier decision to “pick up the pace.”  I had the good sense to pour some water on my head at the end of this leg, at 34.9 miles.  I didn’t have the sense to fill my spare bottle with water to continue this throughout leg nine.

The last aid station came at mile 38.9.  Fortunately, it was here that the KC Trail Nerds set up an aid station each year.  Good ultra supplies, but most importantly there was ice.  I filled both bottles with ice water and headed off down the soft levee path.

Many times runners will talk about the “horse smelling the barn,” i.e., sensing the end of the race and getting a second wind.  In other cases, the phrases “death march,” or “survivor’s shuffle” are more applicable.  My finish definitely would be described with one of the latter terms.  I was just so damned hot.  Even a bottle of ice water on my head provided only temporary relief.  There were (briefly) times I thought I might end up in the medical tent.  And, to add insult to injury, the course was about .3 miles longer this year, due to road construction at the traditional finish point.

But finish I did, and made my way to Liberty Hall, adjacent to the Free State Brewery.  A very festive place packed with runners (mostly relay teams) enjoying food and beer.  I slumped in my chair and nibbled some jambalaya.  Finish time was 7:33, good for 13th out of 41 finishers.

With a rough finish like this, I prefer to suffer in solitude.  Instead, Kathy arrived just on time and asked the rhetorical question, “Do you ever wonder why you do this to yourself?  Spend all day doing this and end up feeling like you do?”  A perfectly logical question with no real good answer.  Other than, “next year will be better.”

In hindsight, I realize several things.  Don’t push the pace, take what your body and conditioning will give you.  The overheating in mid-70’s temps were, I believe, a direct result of bad pace and an elevated heart rate.  And just because you ran sub-7 a few years ago doesn’t mean you can do it now.  Indeed, what a drag it is getting old.