Rocky Raccoon 50 Mile Trail Run

Last year I ran the RR50 for the first time.  I had just completed my second marathon and I wanted to try out an ultra.  I completed it in 11:04 and I was in way over my head.  I had never run farther than 26.2 miles and I had not done any trail running.  I got through it, but it kicked my butt.

Yesterday I ran it again.  I had set the bar (low) and I knew what I was up against.  I'm in better shape this time around and I had done some trail races in the last few months.  My goal was to actually race it this time and try to come in under 10 hours.

Rocky Raccoon is an incredible 50- and 100-mile trail race that Joe Prusaitis puts on every February at Huntsville State Park.  The location is outstanding for an ultra because it is a relatively fast course, it's fun, and Joe has a reputation for running an organized event.  Most importantly, it's close to my home!  It turns out that the 2010 race was the biggest ever and for the first time in the history of the race, Joe put an entry cap at 750 entrants.  Luckily, he came in about 50 short, so he was able to stick to his philosophy of accessibility to anyone at any time even up to race morning.  Who knows what will happen next year?

My education about ultramarathons has improved considerably over the last year.  This allowed me to fully appreciate the range of people running in this event.  You had everyone from first-time ultra runners to relative newbies like myself to veterans to established world-class badasses all running shoulder to shoulder.  As I write this the following morning, there are still people out there slogging away at the 100.  More power to them!  I saw Vermont Trail 100 shirts.  I saw several Western States bottle holders.  I even saw a couple of Badwater shirts.  One guy I talked to had just ran the HURT 100 just three weeks ago.  Needless to say, I was in good company.

Since Huntsville is only an hour and a half from my house, I decided to spend the night in my own bed and just drive up for the 7:00 start time.  I believe this is the way to go and I plan to do this from now on.  My wife crewed for me and so did my father.  In fact, my father volunteered the event for the second year in a row.  I am lucky to have such a crew who is willing to spend the entire day hanging around while I'm off running.  I probably only saw them for a total of six minutes during the race.

Speaking of which, let's get to the race.  We got there at a little after 6:00AM and the 100-milers had already started on their way.  I had plenty of time to pick up my packet and ready myself.  Luckily I didn't have to prepare and leave a drop bag since my wife could just bring me whatever I needed from the car.  It was 37 degrees before the sun came up and the high was expected in the mid 50's with 0% chance of rain and sunny.  Perfect running weather!  I got ready and milled around with my father and my wife in the starting area and then all of a sudden everyone took off.  I guess it's time to run, so off I went.

The 50-mile run is a 3-loop course of 16.67 miles.  If I was able to keep to my schedule, each lap would take me roughly 3:20 to complete.  For the first lap, I wore a sleeveless compression shirt with a long-sleeve loose running shirt over it.  I wore running shorts and two sets of socks--Injinji toe socks under Thorlo mini-crew socks.  This turned out to be a great idea for my toes, which tend to get cold easily.  It would have been nice to have had some gloves.  My fingers got numb pretty quick and stayed that way for nearly the whole first loop.

It was pre-dawn when we started, but there was enough light to see without a headlamp and the sun came up within half an hour or so of starting.  My single biggest fear was going out too fast.  I have a bad habit of doing that and I wanted to keep myself in check.  I needed to hold 12-minute miles on average so I wanted to make a point to not go below 11-minute miles and certainly never below 10-minute miles.  On the whole, I was able to keep to this plan.  Ideally I also wanted to keep my heart rate below 150 as much as possible.

Running for 10 hours can be boring, so I looked for someone who was running about my pace that I could talk to.  I ended up coming across a man and a woman from San Antonio.  They were both Ironman triathlon veterans, but this was their first ultra and they were chatty so I stuck with them for the first lap.  I got to overhear conversations among the runners about doing the Leadville Trail 100 as well as Christopher MacDougall's book, Born to Run.  In fact, I have to wonder if his recent best-selling book glorifying ultramarathons had anything to do with the spike in registration this year.  Marathon entry numbers have been high for about a decade as the average Joe decides to get off the couch and take up the challenge of a distance race, even if only once ever.  Some people think that among those who have run a marathon, the ultra distance is going to increase in popularity as well.  I suppose I'm one of the guys who falls into that category.  One year does not a trend make and only time will tell if this theory is correct.

My diet would be a bit of a new frontier for me too.  Because I am on a 100% plant-based diet right now, I had to be particularly careful about what I ate.  At the same time, I didn't want to deny my body necessary calories and fuel for this endurance race.  I like Hammer gels because they are less processed than some and the carbs are long-chain maltodextrin, which breaks down over time.  Hammer is the gel I swear by and it didn't let me down.  Also, an old cyclict trick is to bring salted boiled potatoes on long rides.  It seemed like a good plan, so my wife made up three zip-locks of boiled Greek lemon potatoes and put extra salt on them.  I snacked on them as I ran and they hit the spot.  In fact, all I consumed during the race was Hammer gel, my wife's awesome potatoes, and a few handfuls of pretzels.  I probably had the equivalent of a full banana throughout the race as well to replenish my potassium.  I also downed four Hammer Endurolyte caps during the race.  I never felt like fuel was an issue for me.

The first loop ended just after 10:00AM and my time was 3:15.  I was right on schedule and feeling good.  After the sun came up, the compression shirt and long sleeve got a bit warm, so I changed into a short-sleeve running shirt.  Also, the bite valve on my Nathan backpack's water bladder was giving me problems so I ditched it at the turnaround and just ran with the backpack to hold necessary supplies.  This would be a chance I was taking as the only water I would get would be at the aid stations that were spaced four miles apart on average.  I would just need to drink up and be very conscious of my body's hydration situation.

A quick spray of sunblock and I was out for loop two.  I didn't know whether my running friends had left before me or after me, but I suspected they were ahead of me since I spent probably four minutes at the turnaround aid station.  I wanted to catch them so I picked up the pace just a little bit.  It turns out they were not ahead of me and I only saw them much later in the day running the opposite direction as I passed.  I did, however, run into Shannon Farar-Griefer, who was running the 100 here for her 5th time.  She had a rough morning, taking a spill in the dark and fracturing two of her fingers.  She was still at it though.  Shannon is an interesting character and I've read about her.  I was hoping I'd run into her and I was fortunate to strike up a conversation and spend about ten minutes running with her.  She's from California and she's the first (only?) woman to double Badwater.  That is to say she ran the race from Badwater to the Mt. Whitney portal, then she summited Mt. Whitney.  Then she ran the whole thing in reverse.  Incredible!  I'm glad I got to meet her.  We ran together for a while and talked and they she slowed down to wait for a friend she feared she had left behind so I went on ahead.

Loop two was kind of a mellow loop.  It's where you are covering ground you've already seen and yet you know there's still most of the race ahead of you.  It can be a challenge to keep your spirits up on loop 2.  A little over halfway through it, I realized my feet were less comfortable.  I think the swelling from four hours of running was not compatible with the two sets of socks I had on.  I resolved to run to the next park bench and then remove the Injinjis and just run in my Thorlo running socks.  Once I took care of that, my feet were much happier.  I don't really remember a whole lot more from the second lap.  It was pretty unremarkable and I ran it by myself.  I let my mind zone out for a lot of it.  Just as well, I suppose.  I remember looking down at my GPS at one point and realizing I "only" had a marathon left to run.

As the turnaround point approached for loop three, I tried to think of what I wanted to change.  I had things set just about the way I wanted them, so I resolved to try to spend very little time in the aid station thinking about the final loop.  Much better to just get out there and get moving and so I did.  I was still all smiles, but you can see the fatigue in my eyes.  As I finished loop two, there was a guy charging in behind me.  I'm pretty sure he was finishing his third loop and he was still looking strong.  Impressive!

Loop two finished in 6:25.  I was still on pace, but I was really starting to feel it in my legs.  It wasn't even so much the miles, as the hours.  After another application of sunscreen, a few cups of water, a bit of banana, and a kiss goodbye, I took off for my third and final loop--the loop of truth.

The third loop was less fun mostly because I felt like a slave to my GPS.  I kept nervously glancing down at the pace to make sure it never got to 12:00 minutes per mile.  Most of the third loop stayed in the 11:50/mile range, which was a little too close for comfort.  About halfway through the third loop, while crossing the dam, I overtook Tammy Massie. I had seen her at last year's race, but didn't get to talk to her.  Tammy is a character.  The best way to describe her is to say she's a free spirit.  She wrapped her water bottle belt in blue sparkly fabric and ran with a bright pink top and a pink flower lei.  She made a joke as I ran by and we struck up a conversation.  It turns out she was also running the 50 and trying to finish under ten hours for a new personal record, so I ran with her for the rest of the race.  She was unfailingly positive and had words of motivation for every single person we passed on the trail.  Everyone seemed to know her by name too.  She's a bit of a fixture at Rocky Raccoon having run it several times.  She told me this is her 11th 50-miler and she is training for her third 100-mile run coming up soon.  Go Tammy.

I was pretty run down by that point, but we decided to walk all the hills (some of which really weren't that much of an incline) and run (shuffle) the flats and downhills.  I called ahead to my wife, who met me at the last aid station 4.5 miles from the finish with my Houston Dynamo shirt.  That's the shirt I always wear when I cross the finish line of a big event.  Those last 4.5 miles were tough going, but the clock seemed to be ever so slightly in our favor and when we turned the last corner, we knew we had it in the bag.  Unofficial finishing time: 9:50:09.  Here's the story as my Garmin Forerunner 310xt tells it.  The best victories are the ones you were not quite sure you could achieve.

After getting my medal, having some water, and finally sitting down, I took stock of my surroundings.  Plenty of 100-milers were at the aid station between loops three and four of their five-loop course.  people were digging out their headlamps because it would be well after dark by the time they returned.  More power to em but I cannot imagine going out again for two more loops.  It was hard enough seeing 50-milers heading out for loop three when we were within a mile or two of the finish.  We told them "good job" but in my heart, I was thinking about how glad I was that I was not in their shoes at that moment.

Sitting down felt good and this year I actually knew what changes my body would go through within minutes of finishing so it didn't freak me out like it did last year.  Here's how it works:  First you feel tired but happy to be done, so it's not so bad.  Then you sit down and you're ok for a minute or two.  Then your body starts to cool off and the body shakes begin.  You feel fine, but you're shivering uncontrollably.  You don't get any appetite for a good ten minutes after the race ends and then it all hits you at once and you become ravenous.  Then a low-grade fever kicks in and you sit there miserable for the 90-minute car ride home before just wanting to crawl under a blanket and hibernate.

Not this year!  As soon as I was done, I threw on sweat pants and my race hoodie.  I popped a couple of Tylenol and had the food ready for when the hunger hit.  I still got the shakes, but it was no big deal.  The real highlight of the trip--and this is a gem--is the ride home.  Check it out!

We put an air mattress in the back of the SUV and loaded it with pillows and blankets.  This was seriously first class.  I wouldn't have minded if the trip home took two hours.  The added bonus was that my wife had a comfy place to take naps during the day while I was out on the trails.

I mentioned earlier that my father volunteered to work the turnaround station.  My wife helped out as bit as well.  When I finished my first lap, they were both there with water jugs refilling bottles and packs for the runners  Throughout the day, my father had an opportunity to hear some of the "tall tales" of ultra-running legend and he got some fun photos too.