Blues Cruise 50K

I've always enjoyed distance.  When I turned 19, I ran 19 miles to celebrate.  That was after no more than 10-12 miles ever run at once.  It was tough, but I got through it.  Of course that meant that I had my eye on marathons.  When I found out that people run even farther, I was intrigued and ultimately knew it was what I wanted to do in the long run.

I've come to really enjoy trail running, so running an ultramarathon on trails was just a no brainer.  I signed up for the Blues Cruise 50K in Reading.  I figured it couldn't be that much more difficult than a marathon, because it wasn't much farther.  Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong.  It ended up easily being the most difficult thing I've ever done.

I got to the start pretty early.  I was enjoying seeing all the long haired and bearded guys (although there actually weren't many of them).  That is always what I picture in ultra runners and quite a few of the top national guys do look like that. 

The weather was supposed to be very hot, but it was nice at the start.  It was actually cloudy. I was happy for nice weather.  I was hoping it would stay that way.  I began the race with my singlet.

I had talked to a guy in the bathroom line and he was doing his first ultra too.  He lined up near me at the start, but I think once he realized how fast I am on roads, that he better begin farther back.

I started off nice and easy.  It was a short distance to the trail.  I didn't run this early part before, but I had done a lot of the first half in training.  The first few miles were nice and slow.  I just hung behind people and let them dictate the pace.

There was a group of chatty women ahead of me.  I didn't want to listen to them for mile after mile and they were going kind of slow, so I ran by them when they walked up a hill.  Of course they passed me late in the race.  At least I didn't have to hear them too much.

The early part had some rolling hills, but for the most part it was pretty easy.  My pace was definitely slower than a usual training run, but not by much.  I thought I was holding back pretty well.

It seemed to take some time until the first aid station.  The nice thing about aid stations in that people often spent some time there so it thinned out the busy trail.  After this aid station, I ran a little faster until I caught up to a pack.  Then I just followed behind and let them dictate the pace again.  I was trying to hold back.  The woman in front of me had on Reebok calf sleeves and after a few miles of staring at the ground I got sick of seeing the word "Reebok."

You have to look right at the ground in front of you on a trail if you are following anyone.  Otherwise, you might miss an object and trip.  This almost bit me later on.

I got to the second aid station somewhere around mile 6.  I actually knew this one because I started from there during my race.  By now, I took my shirt off.  I had to carry it in my pants though because my parents weren't at this aid station.  In the first 2 aid stations, I took water only and a couple pretzels.  I figured that I would eat later.  I thought I would be spending a little more time at the aid stations, but that didn't happen in the beginning.

Again, the trail was clear and I ran a little faster.  Again, I caught up to someone.  This time, it was another woman.  I just followed on her heels for a couple miles.  I'm not one to start conversation and after awhile, she finally did.  She said she used to live in Allentown and now works at UPENN and lives in Philly.  Apparently she lives right near Wissahickon.  I'm jealous, since I used to live in Philly and run there a lot.  It is an awesome trail.

She set a good pace.  This was like 4 miles of almost perfectly flat singletrack.  It was awesome.  Even with less effort, the overall pace was dropping and dropping.  A couple other people caught up to us in this stretch.  I wasn't paying attention and tripped really bad.  Amazingly I caught myself and didn't fall.  I have good balance.  The other people were impressed that I didn't land on my face. 

Finally after some time, I decided to pass her and go ahead.  I wanted to run a little fast.  Not long after that, I ran over a footbridge.  I forgot that it rocks back and forth.

We went on the road over the bridge and it was on to the next aid station.  This time, I grabbed some grilled cheese and took my time.  Trying to eat and run was a little tough.

This was the section that I knew would be tough.  It is a pretty big climb.  I hadn't walked much up to this point, but I knew I'd be walking plenty here.  It was tough and then after that climb, there was another challenging uphill.  I was glad that I was over 10 miles by this point.

Someone told the woman in front of me that she was the 10th place woman.  I didn't realize that I was that far to the front of the field.  I passed her going downhill.  This part was fun.  Of course there was another uphill after that.

When we got to the field section, the woman that I was chatting with earlier passed me.  I decided to follow her again.  She's run quite a few ultras and it showed.  She set a nice pace.  She was in her late 40s too.  I was impressed.  I hung with her for a mile or two, but I was starting to slip.

I was feeling it already around miles 11 and 12.  My legs weren't sharp.  I never imagined that I would start losing it this early.  I figured that I'd at least get to 15 or 20 miles before I'd have trouble.  After dropping off from her, I was on my own.

I reached the half marathon point and couldn't believe how beat my legs were.  I saw my dad for the first time at this point.  I told him I was in trouble.  I wasn't even halfway done.  I knew I'd finish, but honestly had no clue how.

I badly miscalculated this back section of the course.  I assumed that it wouldn't be too hard after the big hills, but I was so wrong.  This course was so frustrating.  It seemed like big hill after big hill.  I was just happy to finally get to the halfway point.

I thought I would meet my dad at mile 17, so I focused on getting there.  I don't think he actually met up with me until mile 19.  He had my bag with stuff, but luckily I didn't need it.  I was surprised I didn't chafe much.  I was sweating the whole run, but luckily it was cloudy most of the day.  That was a big plus because we weren't running under trees as often as I thought.

One guy that I talked to was struggling too.  A lot of people were walking a lot, so that made continuing on much easier.  Misery loves company.  The guy that I was talking to said he thought he was in good shape and that he had run quite a few 50 milers that were easier than this course.

The puzzling thing is that he often walked flats and ran some of the short hills.  At one point, it was kind of annoying because he'd run a very short distance, then walk a short distance and then repeat the pattern.  Basically, since everyone was going so slow, you'd run when the person in front of you ran and walk when they walked.  The guy behind me was doing the same.  Every now and then someone would fly by, but not too often.

Finally the guy got a phone call and was walking for some time.  Me and the guy behind me passed him.  I didn't see him again.  I saw my dad again and told him that it was going awful, but I would finish.  I just ran when I could and walked if I couldn't.

Getting to 20 miles was a big plus.  I thought about starting my second watch at mile 21, so that I'd only have 10 miles left.  However, I was talking at the time and not paying attention.  Therefore, I didn't change watches until mile 22.  That meant 9 miles left to go.  That seemed overwhelming, but at least I was in single digits.

This back part of the course was pretty remote.  The aid stations there were awesome, they were just quite far apart.  I ate an orange had some soup and drank a couple cups of coke too.  The volunteers always took my bottle right from me and filled it.  It was definitely different than road race aid stations.

This course was so brutal.  I actually started to kind of feel good around mile 25.  However, every time I would try to run, I'd come to a hill and have to walk again.  That was probably the most frustrating thing about the course.  Most of the runnable section was the beginning of the race.  Maybe it is better next year when they run the course in the other direction.

I arrived at the last aid station and took my time.  I was walking a lot anyway.  I ate a pierogi and talked with my dad.  I told him that I'd finish, but I'd be going slow.

The course description said this section was very flat and runnable, but of course it wasn't.  I walked and walked and walked some more.  I was just glad to get past 26.2 miles (my longest run distance ever).  I ran here and there, but this was still a lot of uphill.  When the course went back to dirt trail, it wasn't much better.

Around mile 28, I finally was able to do some running.  This guy passed me and I decided to follow him.  It was great to have a pacer on this relatively easy section.  I ran over half a mile straight.  That was rare in the second half of the race.  Finally, I walked at a hill and he took off.

I was glad to have some things to think about when I got to these tough patches.  I thought about my surgery and all the tough post surgery months when I couldn't get out of bed.  My friend Flo struggled with a tough Spartan race last week, but completed the race.  That helped inspire me to keep going too.  I'm glad that she had shared that.

The sun was out by this time and that kind of sucked.  It still wasn't as hot as I thought it might be today.  Going around the dam was tough with no shade and some hills.  Then the trail when onto a road and uphill.  There was no way I was going to run on pavement this late, so I ended up walking about half a mile to a mile.  When the road finally ended, it was a gravel uphill trail.  No way I was running up that either.

I now had about 2 miles left.  Actually, based on what the aid stations were calling themselves, it seemed like the run would be half a mile short.  That was fine with me.  One thing I do is that no matter what mile I'm at, I round down how far I have to go.  So when it I get to 1.97 miles to go for example, I just tell myself only 1 more mile to go (even though it is much more than that).

Most of this final 5K was walking.  I actually tried to run for short stretches, but had to stop because my right calf was close to cramping up.  There were some hills anyway, so I just walked a lot.  A lot of people were passing me toward the end.  They often asked if I was okay.  I said I was, but I was just slow.

When I had a mile left, the section was runnable, so I decided to give it another try.  This time, I did the ultra shuffle.  I barely picked up my feet.  A guy told me that there was only about 500 yards until the finish, so I just kept running.

It wasn't long and we were on to the park road.  I could finally see the finish area.  That was huge.  With the near cramping, I didn't think that I would be able to run this much, but I managed to do so.  I ran through the finish line and it was a huge relief.  I had to stand a long time to avoid cramps.

That still didn't work though.  I cramped up twice in the car ride hope and once as I was writing this.  It could be an interesting night.  At least I didn't chafe much.

It is great that I can now finally call myself an ultrarunner.  The race didn't go as planned and it was frustrating to have to walk so much, but at least I finished it.  I battled and battled and battled.  This was the most I've ever been challenged before.  It was probably 10X harder than a marathon.  Hopefully they will get at least a little easier.

I was considering running a 50 miler in the late fall or early winter.  After this race, that is out the window.  I'll at least wait until spring before doing that.  I definitely need a lot more long runs under my belt.

I noticed that my trail shoes have a hole above one the toes now.  I guess it is time for some new shoes.  I've only been running in cheap outlet store trails shoes.  Since I'm on trails so much, I should probably get some good shoes now.


I doubt I will do anything tomorrow.  I'm not sure though.  My legs don't seem too bad other than the sore muscles that cramped.  I'd like to get back to running later in the week.  That all depends how I recover.  I'm hoping the softness of trail will help me recover more than road running would.

30.63 miles - 6:32:52 (12: 49 pace)