Stalking 50

Good luck Mark!

The only time I fell on a trail run or race was with Chris and KB on a slightly challenging trail, but the funny part is I fell on the flattest/easiest part of the trail. So be careful on every part of the trail.

I remember that!   You bounced right back up, though.  Big difference between that kind of fall which I have often (running too relaxed and distracted after the hard technical stuff is done and catch a root) and the really bad ones that happen on steep nasty descents.  

GOOD LUCK MARK!

Good luck dude! My buddy and I might try to swing by to catch part of the race - I'll keep an eye out for you.

Nick Morris wrote:Good luck, sir!!!  You are definitely ready!!

Thanks, Nick! Getting so I just want/need to GO!!!

Glenn wrote:

Mark B wrote:Easy Run: 2 miles at 4,400 feet 

Weather: Sunny and warm. Gear: Altra Instincts

Last shakeout run, after a four-hour drive to Central Oregon. Easy jogging and walking on dusty trails. 

Now it's all waiting....

 I've been scarce on here of late, but I had to check in before Mt. Hood.  Good luck! And I will definitely swing by next week for the race report!

 Thanks for stopping by, Glenn! I hope I can do justice to all this anticipation.

It's all just A ---> B now!

charles.moman wrote:It's all just A ---> B now!

Well, ACTUALLY, it's getpackeddrinefourhours
dontforgettobuycereal
drivetheresetupredodropbags
makesuretofuandhydrateand.... Etc

Nick Morris wrote:

 Outstanding.

Crater Lake...that's the long way to Mt Hood from your house!  You will drive right by if you haven't already.  Had I realized soon enough I would have invited you for lunch but it sounds like you have a lot on your mind and might not need another distraction.   

I had hoped we would be finished baling and I could run up to Little Crater Lake with the grandkids tomorrow and maybe catch a glimpse of you but we weren't able to finish so I'm stuck on the baler.  Guess I'll have to settle for cheering you on in spirit rather than in person.  Have a great run!

Wow, nice run, Mark - congratulations!!!!!!!!!!  Now rest up and recover, you deserve it!

Race report, race report, race report!!

Great job, Mark!!  Get back to civilization for consuming mass quantities of cow and beer.

Well, let's look at it this way Mark. You stalked 50 and you took 50 ... the hard way! You just kept going when others around you dropped like flies. It was an epic race. The top two men, both from Oregon, smashed the course record. And the women's winner, also from Oregon, set a new course record. You stayed ahead of the guideline cutoff times even though you must have been really feeling it by Red Wolf Pass. Even so, you just kept going. I can't imagine how rubbery your body must have felt as you approached the finish line somewhat north of thirteen hours after you started. But you did it. And in so doing embodied 'relentless forward progress'. Mazel Tov.

Thanks everybody! I've been off the grid since before the race, and I am just going through your comments as I sprawl on the sofa, dreaming of burgers and beer, as I rest and ice a troublemaking ankle. 

I will work up a report soon (it will be long), but I will offer a brief account: beautiful course, gorgeous day, great people. And a whole bunch of things that went wrong that made this adventure far more difficult than I had bargained for. But, thanks in large measure to those great race volunteers, I managed to finish and earn the title of DFL. 

Welcome to the club! Let's make our own secret handshake.

Looking forward to the race report!!

Awesome!

You know it is better to be DFL than DNS or DFD, right???  And also remember, I would have been a DNS or even a DNT (did not train (for 50 miles - are you nuts  ))

Well done!  Also, you're nuts! 

Before I start on race report things, I think I ought to address all your great comments -- including a couple I missed earlier why trying to read the site on my iPhone.

Jim Lentz wrote:Good luck Mark!

The only time I fell on a trail run or race was with Chris and KB on a slightly challenging trail, but the funny part is I fell on the flattest/easiest part of the trail. So be careful on every part of the trail.

Thanks, Jim! Isn't it funny how it's the "easy" parts of a trail that get you? When it's very technical, you can't help but slow down and take care. But let your attention wander on an easier section with only a root or two around and *bam!*

Chris M wrote:I remember that!   You bounced right back up, though.  Big difference between that kind of fall which I have often (running too relaxed and distracted after the hard technical stuff is done and catch a root) and the really bad ones that happen on steep nasty descents.  

GOOD LUCK MARK!

Thanks, Chris! I never fell out there on Saturday, though I did kick enough roots and rocks enough times to pretty seriously complicate my effort.

nkrichards wrote:Crater Lake...that's the long way to Mt Hood from your house!  You will drive right by if you haven't already.  Had I realized soon enough I would have invited you for lunch but it sounds like you have a lot on your mind and might not need another distraction.   

I had hoped we would be finished baling and I could run up to Little Crater Lake with the grandkids tomorrow and maybe catch a glimpse of you but we weren't able to finish so I'm stuck on the baler.  Guess I'll have to settle for cheering you on in spirit rather than in person.  Have a great run!

Yes, Crater Lake! My brother- and sister-in-law agreed to come up in support from California, but they wanted to do something else during their little vacation, and Crater Lake was on their way. I haven't been there in years - and Alita and Alec have never seen it - so it was a good idea. Alec was awestruck when he got his first sight of it, which was very cool.

I thought about you as we drove north past you, Nancy. It'd be fun if we could meet up sometime. Hope the baling went well. It was good weather for it, that's for sure.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Wow, nice run, Mark - congratulations!!!!!!!!!!  Now rest up and recover, you deserve it!

Thanks, Michele! Even days later, wrestling with mixed emotions, I'm still kind of in disbelief that I covered 50 miles in a day.

dot520 wrote:Race report, race report, race report!!

Patience, Dot! I'm still processing the experience. I may post some stat-related information, with annotations, before I attempt to get all literary.

ounce wrote:Great job, Mark!!  Get back to civilization for consuming mass quantities of cow and beer.

Thanks, Ounce! It's weird. I'm usually ravenously hungry within a short time of finishing a long run, but not this time. I've been hungry and depleted, but I can't eat or drink much before my tummy starts to complain.

As far as beer goes, well, I've had one. But I still need to christen the pint glass they give you for finishing the race. I haven't had time or been in the mood for it yet.

KBFitz wrote:Well, let's look at it this way Mark. You stalked 50 and you took 50 ... the hard way! You just kept going when others around you dropped like flies. It was an epic race. The top two men, both from Oregon, smashed the course record. And the women's winner, also from Oregon, set a new course record. You stayed ahead of the guideline cutoff times even though you must have been really feeling it by Red Wolf Pass. Even so, you just kept going. I can't imagine how rubbery your body must have felt as you approached the finish line somewhat north of thirteen hours after you started. But you did it. And in so doing embodied 'relentless forward progress'. Mazel Tov.

I see somebody has already been looking at my splits! Yeah, I slowed down a LOT in the second half of the race. A number of things went wrong for me out there - but the worst issue was pain brought on by jamming my foot/ankle on too many roots and rocks.

Except here's the thing: I never felt rubber-legged, or even particularly exhausted. I felt strong (if slow) if I could just bear - or tune out - the the pain signals from my ankles, feet and lower legs. When I got to the end, I still had the strength to sprint the last 50 yards, screaming like I was charging into battle. I surprised the photographer, who missed the shot because I came in too fast. Oopsie!

charles.moman wrote:Welcome to the club! Let's make our own secret handshake.

Can't we make it our own secret limp?

Nick Morris wrote:Looking forward to the race report!!

Soon, at least in part, Nick.

Michael Enright wrote:Awesome!

Thanks, Michael! Like I wrote earlier, I'm still wrapping my brain around this.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:You know it is better to be DFL than DNS or DFD, right???  And also remember, I would have been a DNS or even a DNT (did not train (for 50 miles - are you nuts  ))

DFD - dead, fucking dead? Ha! Awesome!

Yeah, definitely better, Michele.

mul21 wrote:Well done!  Also, you're nuts! 

Nuts? Moi?

And this is a surprise in what way, Jim?

---

Monday update: I didn't sleep much the night after the race - my legs hurt too much to sleep - but the overall pain had eased by midday Sunday. That's the good news. The bad news is that as the overall pain faded, I realized that the pain in my right ankle was getting worse. And it was getting stiff. And swollen. Hard to move my toes, etc. Stairs are unfun. So is driving. It actually hurt more than when I'd broken my foot.

I've been icing, compressing and elevating it, taking 600 mg of ibu every six hours. It was a bit better this morning. I hope it continues to improve, and that it's just bunged up from hours of abuse and not actually, you know, seriously damaged. I do NOT want to be that idiotic runner who shows up at a doctor's office with a post-race injury. (Of course, if it doesn't get significantly better in another day or so, I will see the doc.)

The one small comfort in this is noting how my left ankle is holding up. It's a little sore and swollen, too, but nothing more than that. So I think I can surmise that the 13 hours out there wasn't as much a problem as my right foot's ability to nail roots and rocks with laser-like precision.

More later.

I'm back! I've given my foot another ice bath (every nerve in my foot is going zing! right now) and I've got the ACE bandage back on.

As promised, here are the basic splits:



This was a double out-and-back course. The first turnaround was at 14.2, the start/finish/midpoint was 28.4, the second turnaround was 39.2.

Here is the elevation profile:



My plan was to average about 13/mi for the race, which is about what my time averaged on my long trail runs in Forest Park. That strategy seemed to work well until beyond the halfway point, when it started to heat up and the cumulative damage to my ankles started to really manifest itself. That steep downhill after about Mile 32 was brutal. Going back up it a few hours later was no picnic, either.

One last note on this: I was able to slowly run most of the way back from the final aid station, which was nice.

Just looking at the elevation chart made me hurt:(  I think your pace was awesome! It does llok like the last ten must have been a huge battle.I want strategy details did you run walk? Or just run slow the whole time?Awesome job again.............waiting patiently for that report:shock:  Pictures would be so nice too

amyjoann wrote:Just looking at the elevation chart made me hurt:(  I think your pace was awesome! It does llok like the last ten must have been a huge battle.I want strategy details did you run walk? Or just run slow the whole time?Awesome job again.............waiting patiently for that report:shock:  Pictures would be so nice too

Hi Amy! Thanks for the kind words. My pacing strategy (run flats and downhills, walk hills or whenever my heart rate got too high) was pretty much going according to plan until the last 20 miles or so, when it didn't. But I don't think that was because of the plan. It was because of other factors.

The return trip from Warm Springs (the southernmost point on the course) was tough. Very tough. So tough that...

Oh wait. I don't want to spoil the report.

(Which means I'd better actually start writing it...)

And we are eagerly waiting.......

Congrats on a MAJOR accomplishment 

Now go drink some beer  

Tim C wrote:And we are eagerly waiting.......

Congrats on a MAJOR accomplishment 

Now go drink some beer  

Ew. I don't think my stomach can handle quite that many... But soon, my glass awaits at least one.

In the meantime, two photos:



This photo was taken sometime during the first half of the race. Looking strong and in control. I like it.

Annd....



Moments after the finish, dead f-ing last.

As a photojournalist, I can't help but love this shot. Especially considering the story it tells.

More pix!

My two race souvenirs (no medals in ultras!):

From the race:



And from Alita:



I really like the glass. But I love the rock.