Bull Run Run 50 Miler

Wow! I can't believe I ran 50 miles.

Friday afternoon, Brian, Sam and Justin met me New Stanton and we drove to Clifton, VA, about a 5 hour drive. Thank goodness for Brian's GPS or we would have been lost.

Arrived a little before the briefing. There were quite a few folks from the Pittsburgh area there. After the briefing, we checked in to the hotel and then out for dinner.

Up at 4:00 am and at the race site by 5:30 am. A lot of folks already there. I was just glad to get this "over with". I had not idea if I could actually do this. My training had been hit or miss over the last few months.

6:30 am the race began. First there is about 3/4 mile loop to break the crowd up before heading into the woods. Once into the woods, it was down hill toward the river and the Blue Bells. Lots of friendly banter going on between folks. Following the trail along the river there were both wide trail and rocky narrow areas. This trail is absolutely beautiful. I pretty much stayed with Brian for the first 6 miles when he started moving ahead. I had just left the first aid station when the leader was coming back to it for the second time. Running up the trail as others were running back was new and interesting. Negotiating who took the dry parts and who took the mud was part of the challenge. Ironically, on one relatively flat section of the trail, I tripped and fell on roots under the leaves. Not once, but twice. Once on the way out and again on the way back. Probably within 25 feet of the same spot. What are the chances of that? I hit fairly hard. Big bruise on shoulder.

Around mile 12, I noticed that my calves were getting very tight. In the rush of the race, I had forgotten to take my electrolyte tablets. Let the cramping begin.
I also noticed that I was getting hot spots from the new trail socks. These were supposed to be very good socks but I was getting blisters already. I was getting worried that I was slowing down too much because so many people were passing me with the tight calves.

Up a 1/2 mile hill to Mile 16 and the starting area, Hemlock, and where we had our drop bags. Thank goodness because I changed socks to REI pair. They were great the rest of the run. No blisters. I also realized that my time into the Hemlock wasn't too bad. I was under a 13 minute pace, so I felt better about how I was doing.

Back out on the trail, the runners had really thinned out. I just kept on moving. Again, being on the trail was really very nice. This was really a beautiful trail system. My focus was just getting from one aid station to the next. I wanted to just get to Wolf Shoals, 26.1 mile point so that I was over half way and into mileage I've never done before. I ran with James for a while, just needing someone to talk with. This was Jame's 10th Bull Run Run. He was 65 years old and didn't look it at all. I asked him a lot of questions. My main concern was whether I was on pace to make the cut offs or not. He seemed to think we were.

After Wolf Shoals, James took off and I could stick with him. At some point, I'm not sure when, I either mis-read my watch or my pace card and I honestly thought that I was going miss the cut-off. At that point, having gone that far, exhausted, and realizing that I wasn't going to make it, I nearly started to cry. How could I have gotten so far behind? I wasn't until a bit later, when I rechecked my watch and pace card, that I realize I was actually an hour ahead of the cut offs. That helped a lot.

From mile 12 to Fountainhead aid station, I was struggling with cramps in my calves. I was taking S-Caps and Gatorade but it didn't seem to help. Arriving into Fountainhead, I was actually pretty excited, having gotten this far, 28 miles. Thank goodness Rick Conroy was there with our drop bags. I asked him for my coconut water to try it out. It was like a shot of adrenalin. While I was still tight, my cramps disappeared for at least the next hour. Really amazing. Was it real or was it the placebo effect, I don't know, but it worked. Rick's other piece of advise was that I needed to pee more frequently. I didn't really feel the need but he suggested that it was part of getting my electrolytes balanced again. So once back in the woods, I forced my self to do that whenever I could.

Again, it was just one aid station to the next. Since they were all around 4-5 miles, it broke the trail into chunks. Above all, I just kept moving. Running when I could, walking when I had to. Just don't stop.

In the Do Loop, it was very nice but not too many others with me. Lots of up and down, small but steep hills. Do Loop in was 32 miles and there were people dropping out there. I just kept moving forward. I don't know at what point it was but I realized I was going to make it, barring any disasters or illness. That again was a huge boost. I was going to make it!

Again, back at Fountainhead, Rick was there and gave me my second coconut water. This time, it didn't seem to help as much. I also put two Nuun tablets in my water bottle, cause I couldn't drink Gatorade any more. Big mistake. The stuff was almost undrinkable. I needed water pretty badly. So I had to slug it out through to the next aid station for water. I traded places with a couple of other runners, back and forth, as we did the last 12 miles. One guy I spent a lot of time with was Keith. He was from the area and ironically, he didn't think the trail was all that good. I told him that he should see what I normally had to run on. This trail was fantastic. Wide, open and relatively smooth. Keith was also running Boston in a week.

Finally, we slugged out the last few miles. The last 5 were definitely the hardest. It just seemed to take forever. Keith kept saying that we missed the turn to the finish and kept telling him it was a few more miles ahead. Finally, we were back to the last 1/2 mile hill up to the finish. It was an unbelievable feeling to have finished this. Brian and Sam were there waiting for me. Met a few of the others I met along the way. I was starting to get chills really bad so I walked back to Brian's car for my phone and dry clothes. I texted everyone that I completed it. What a great feeling. Amazingly, I didn't have one blister, sore knee, ankle or hip. I was still getting cramps but otherwise felt great. Interesting, I noticed that I couldn't stop moving that evening. I had to keep walking or moving around. I don't know if it was the adrenalin or whatever, but I had to keep moving. What an absolutely great event.