I’ve waited way too long to start writing this. The race was over 3 weeks ago. I prefer to write about races within a couple days, or a week max, so it’s still fresh in my mind. Anyway, here it goes.

Going into the race, I felt pretty good. I got my stuff all ready the night before. I took three handheld water bottles with dates in a baggie in each pocket. I planned to start with one and swap after each 10 mi lap. I divided the dates up accordingly. Then I was going to drop my bottle for the last 1.1 mi lap.

I got to the park about 50 min before start time. I checked in, used the restroom and went back to my car to stay warm and finish getting ready.

I started a little ways back to try to keep from jack-rabbiting out with the leaders. It worked alright. The first hill starts pretty quickly. I decided that I’d hike the steeper hills to save energy for later. There is about 1700ft gain each loop, and you go around three times. On the first moderately steep hill, my hiking pace was actually just as fast as most of those around me running.

Then came “Oh Lord Hill”, and it’s no joke. It’s not particularly long, but it’s very steep. The first time around wasn’t so bad.

I passed a couple people between the top of the hill and the first aid station. I think one of them was a 20 mi runner, though. At the first aid station I think I was around the top 10, and not too far back.

I pretty much ran alone for the next few miles, though the course has two way traffic in a few places, so I did see people. Then I caught up with a couple more runners on the downhills. It took years, but I finally started loving downhill running over the last year. I can usually make up some time.

I ran with Chris from 7 Hills Running, in Seattle, for the last mile or two of the first lap. We talked a little bit. We came into the start/finish a few minutes before the 5mi and 10 mi runners started. Chris kept going, while I went to my drop bag for a bottle switch, and to drop my hat. I finished the first lap in 1:30. I felt good and was on pace for my reach goal. I was kind of surprised.

The second lap went a lot like the first. I’m not sure I passed any other 50k runners. Going into the next aid station, I saw a few of the same lead guys that I saw the first time around. The aid station is at the end of a short out and back. This time I refilled my water bottle before continuing.

I still felt pretty good for the rest of the second lap. A few 10 mi runners started catching me. It was kind of nice to chat briefly with some of them.

I finished the second lap in 1:35, still well ahead of pace for my primary goal of 5 hours. The sun had come out, and it was supposedly going to warm up a bit. I was sweating in my gloves and long sleeve shirt, even with the sleeve rolled up. So I dropped my gloves and shirt, going shirtless for the third lap.

I still felt pretty good starting the third lap, until I hit the first hill. I didn’t quite bonk, but it wasn’t much better than that. I walked a lot more of the hills, and my running slowed significantly as well.

On the first lap, going up “Oh Lord Hill”, Paul M. Nelson (photographer of the above photo), made a comment something like, “come on, it’s not that steep, you can run it.” My response at the time was that I’d run it on the last lap. That was not happening.

I got to the aid station, refilled my water and asked about salt. They had none. I also drank two little dixie cups of water before heading back out. I don’t know that salt really would have helped anything anyway.

At about the marathon mark, another runner passed me moving pretty well. I was not. It was a very slight downhill. At least I was running instead of walking. I think he was the only 50k runner that passed me after the first lap. He ended up putting about 5 minutes on me by the finish.

I started having a little trouble eating around that point as well. I didn’t really have any GI distress, food just didn’t appeal to me much. I knew I had plenty of energy left from eating before and up to that point during the race to finish. But the little bit of boost shortly after eating might have been nice.

I continued to walk more of the hills and caught myself not starting to run once I got back to relatively flat ground a couple times. I still tried to keep up the pace on the downhills. I was a little slower than earlier, but not too bad.

I finished the third full lap in about 1:56, a big drop in time. I dropped my water bottle, and briefly considered putting my shirt back on before heading back out. It was only another 1.1 mi, and I just wanted to finish.

Leaving the start/finish area for a final time, I picked up the pace slightly. I still walked the couple steeper hills before short loop cuts back around right at the bottom of “Oh Lord Hill.”

I opened up again on the final hill heading into the finish. I think I got close to my early pace going down that hill. It wasn’t nearly as bad, because I knew the finish was so close.

There weren’t many people around the finish. The 5mi and 10 mi races had finished hours earlier, and many of the 20 mi racers had as well.

I sat by my drop bag for a little while, trying to gather myself. I put on my shirt and gloves, and drank some water. I spoke with a couple people briefly. I went to my car to drop off my gear, put on some more clothes and grab a banana. There wasn’t much of anything at the finish area that I could eat. I mistakenly got some electrolyte drink when I tried to get water. I tried a little, but ended up dumping it out.

I would have liked to stick around longer to see more finishers, but I needed some food and to get home to my dogs.

My finishing time was 5:16:31, good for 7th place. While it wasn’t as fast as I wanted, I’m happy with the result and how I did later in the race when I burnt out. I still have a lot to learn about how I should pace myself for these longer races. I did a great job pacing at Bridle Trails, but it had much less elevation gain and was a little shorter.

I saw the eventual winner come by the other way on one of the sections with two way traffic toward the end of my second lap while he was on his third lap. He ended up finishing in 4:17, only a couple minutes off the course record. Chris, who I ran with briefly on the first lap, finished second in 4:38, which was about a perfectly consistent pace from the first lap. He kept it up and I could not.

The biggest lesson I take away from this race is that I still need to build more base to be able to meet many of my long- and ultra-distance goals. I need to build the endurance to maintain the pace required over longer distances. And I need to work on pacing better early in long races. I looked back over my 2015 goals, though, and most of them are for distance and not speed. I do have 1mi and 5k speed goals for the year, but I got very close to them already. None of my other running goals for the year are about speed or time. I haven’t set a time-frame for my long- and ultra-distance time and speed goals yet, so I decided I wouldn’t worry about them until at least 2016.