Red Hot 55K, Luckily Not so Hot.

Last Saturday I made my ultra debut at the Red Hot 55K in Moab.  Since moving to Boulder in 2005, I have transitioned away from road racing to jumping into a bunch of different events.  While training alot on trails the first two years in Boulder, I focused on racing Berlin and Chicago Marathons.  But with so much going on around me here in Colorado, it was easy to try new things.  I have done a bunch of Stroke n Stride events which eventually led me to finishing a few triathlons including the Boulder Half-Ironman in 2012.  I thought it would be fun to do a 100 mile bike race that took me up Lefthand Canyon twice.  I love doing the Nighthawk Snowshoe Series at Eldora and recently finished the 30K Sourdough Trail Snowshoe Race.  And I have done a bunch of trail racing, including Imogene Pass Run, Pike's Peak Ascent and Jungfrau Marathon.

All that left, of course, was one thing to do, Ultras.  While many of the events I raced took me over 4 and half hours to complete, I had not actually ran a race over a marathon.  Last year I had planned on doing an ultra, but groin sprain resulting from skiing or snowshoeing plagued me off and on for much of the year.

This year I have been healthy.  And since I didn't get a ski pass this year, I have gotten in alot more running this winter.  That being said, not enough 2 to 3 hour long runs to feel completely comfortable with the 55K distance (34 miles).  Still, I was done procrastinating.  Time to step up and see how things go.

So on Friday morning, I joined a few friends and drove to Moab.  Even leaving Boulder at 11 am still didn't guarantee we would miss ski traffic.  As it was President's Day weekend, there was quite a few folks who had skipped out on Friday and were headed to the mountains.  It was slow going thru the tunnel, but once pass Copper, had the highway to ourselves.

Rolled into Moab around 5ish and stopped at Eddie McStiff's to pick up packets.  The line was out the door.  I loved most everything about this race, but if there was one thing they could do better, it was the packet pick up.  It was slow.  Process could be better, but on the plus side, you could have a beer while waiting in line.  They also specifically stated there would be no race day pick up, hence why I took a day off work to show up in Moab by 7pm.  Lo and behold, there was race day pick up.   I think this sets bad precedent.  Do you believe what is on the website.  Should I expect other races who say there is no race day pick up to have race day pick up?  Not a big thing, just a little nitpicking.

The bigger problem was with my procrastination.  Since I wasn't leaving Boulder right away Friday morning, I didn't pack Thursday night.  I had to rack my current homebrew from the primary to the secondary and didn't feel like packing.  So Friday morning, when I go to pack, I can't find my arm warmers or my GPS watch.  I thought I had left my watch at work and didn't want to drive over there to pick it up.   As for the arm warmers, until I clean my room, I don't know where they are.  Well, come Saturday morning, I began fretting about not having the arm warmers.  It would be chilly at the start, around freezing.  But with a high predicted of 65, I didn't want to go with a long sleeve shirt underneath my singlet. Turns out the arm wamers weren't needed.  The GPS watch was the vital thing missing. 



View Larger Map


Race started at 8am, with temps in the 30's.  Overcast sky.  Race started with a mile climb.  This was perfect as I would take it real easy.  And I did.  The course is fantastic.  With great views throughout.  The first views coming at the top of this first climb.

The first mile climbed a few hundred feet.  I am in the middle of the pic on the right side of the road as you look down.

The descent began my first mistake.  I began to cruise a bit to fast.  I caught up to my friend Greg Lackey, who I drove out to the race with and began to run with him.  We ended up passing Kerrie Bruxvoort around 2 - 2.5 miles.  This was a mistake.  When possible run with the elite women.  They know what they are doing.  Then I passed another guy I have raced a bunch on the snowshoes, Neeraj.  Chatted a few minutes and kept on going.  He said I would do well.  I replied that he likely would pass me back later.  This ended up being true.  Why I didn't settle in with this group is a mystery.

The course during the early miles.

After about 7 miles, I realized hanging with Greg was not a good idea, and I was going a bit too quick.  I let him pull away (which was easy to do, during the climb from 8 to 10 miles) and found myself pretty much all alone.  Kerrie passed me around 10 miles.  I already felt that I was going a bit too hard and didn't really try to stay with her.  Instead, I got into a nice groove from 10 to 17 miles. 

I hit what I believe was mid-way point around 2:20. 8:15 mile pace.  In reality, that was 30-45 seconds per mile than I really should have run.  A GPS watch would have been good here.  While I was running relaxed and easy, I haven't done too many long runs lately, so I can't really feel the difference between 8:15 and 9:00 mile pace.  And because the first half the race was relatively easy terrain and good trails (mostly 4x4 dirt/sand roads), it was easy to be running 8 minute pace and it feel easy.  At halfway I was probably 25-30th place.

The 2nd half the race gets interesting.  It has a fairly good climb.  It has lots of slickrock.  It has lots of route finding.  It also has some fantastic views. 

Things were going well.  The clouds had not cleared.  It appeared that the forecast would be incorrect.  It was going to stay overcast.  Temps, I don't think, ever really even got into the 50s.  The big climb from 18 to 22.5 miles introduced the slickrock portion of the race.  It was here I started to power walk for the first time in the race.  A few folks passed me in the climb, but when I topped out, I didn't feel to bad.

The next 7 miles would feel endless.  I was beginning to feel tired.  I knew that my training was good for about 26 miles and I was coming up on that.  The slickrock on the descents was starting to take a toll on my legs.  Route finding always meant you had to be paying attention, couldn't just zone out.  With little around, the race director had to tie pink ribbons on whatever was available.  Be it a rock placed in the middle of the slickrock, or on a small bush, which if the wind blew the ribbon into the bush, it made it impossible to see.  (Especially those of us who are red/green colorblind).

Give you an idea of the desolation that one felt on the slickrock portions.

At one point, there were 2 people about 20 to 30 yards ahead of me.  We were climbing a small hill.  As they went over the rise at the top, they disappeared from view.  When I crested, I looked around and they were no where to be seen. Having followed them the past 15 minutes or so, I hadn't really been paying attention for the flagging.  So I spent a few moments off course, trying to figure out where to go.  I never could understand how I wasn't able to see those two runners.

Trail, We don't need no stinkin trail.  Route finding thru the slickrock sections required paying constant attention.

It was during this section of the course that I got passed by bunches of folks, including Neeraj.  I couldn't respond.  I wasn't able to really let loose on the downhills.  I just wanted off the slickrock.  There was a sign for the last aid station 1 mile out from it.  This was the first time in the race I was out of water and had no gels.  It was the only time I felt close to bonking.  The mile seemed endless.

I had run the last 5 miles of the course when I was in Moab over Thanksgiving.  Once I got to the aid station, I knew what was coming. We were pretty much done with the slickrock and would be back on 4x4 dirt/sand roads.  Knowing this section helped me believe I could keep running to the finish.  It was here where for the first time I walked on something that wasn't an uphill.  But these were short walks, maybe 50 meters.  And only a couple of times.  I was happy I never raised the white flag and surrendered.  I kept on plugging along.  And while I was tired and slow, it didn't materialize into a full on death march.

The finish felt great.  I made a good push at the end.  I was tired, but not destroyed.  I ran 5:32. Finished 77th out of 301. My second half took 3:10.  Looking at the pace it is obvious the first half was a little too fast.  I ran 8:15 mile pace the first half and 11:10 pace the 2nd.  My overall pace was 9:45.  If I had backed off 30 to 45 seconds per mile the first half, I really think I could have kept 9:15-9:30 for the 2nd half.  Which would have put me in close to under 5 hours, which was sort of a goal of mine.  I also would have finished about 30 spots higher.  This was the main lesson learned from my first 55K.

Positives from the race:
1)  I do believe my nutrition was on.  The overcast skies really helped as I didn't have to worry to much about dehydration and salt intake.  It was perfect weather for this race.

2) While I was a little quick, I think with a few more long runs, that early pace may not have been all that bad.

3)  February 15th and I just ran 34 miles.  At no point in my life would I have consider myself in shape to run 34 miles in mid-February.  Usually after November, I am deep in beer drinking and skiing shape not running shape.

4)  I recovered quickly.  The achilles were tight Sunday morning, but a day walking around Arches National Park (worked out well that it was free National Park weekend) helped them release.  By Sunday evening I was walking normally.  By Wednesday I was racing again at the Nighthawks series.

5)  I am looking forward to my next 50K.

This was also my debut as an Ambassador for the Boulder Track Club MUT (Mountain/Ultra/Trail) Team.  I did get quite a few compliments on the singlet.  Looking forward to representing BTC this year.

Pictures from Myke Hermsmeyer  and Derrick Lytle


Click on the picture below to see my pictures from Arches National Park, as we hiked around the day after the race.

Arches National Park