Race Report: GUTS FatAss 50K

I’ve changed.  Flash back to August at the H9 25-miler.  I remember practically shaking in my boots at the prospect of spending an unknown number of hours running 25 miles on trails.  Everyone around me was so casual about it that I had to wonder what was wrong with me for being nervous.  Flash forward to the night before the GUTS FatAss 50K.  I checked the weather report and saw that there was a 30-50% chance of rain every hour of the day.  I was looking at 31 miles of running unfamiliar trails, most likely in the rain, and I wasn’t nervous at all.  I have changed!  I guess now that I’ve done the 50 miler and spent nearly 14 hours on my feet, that fear of the unknown is gone.  If I can do 14 hours, I can run 6-8 hours in my sleep.  What a relief!

I headed to SweetWater Creek State Park on a warm overcast morning with very little trepidation about the distance.  The weather here has been crazy lately bouncing from freezing cold to T-Shirt weather.  Race day was a T-Shirt kind of January day with highs in the mid-50′s predicted.  I wore running pants, a short-sleeved shirt, and a new jacket.  I expected rain but it was going to be warm.  I wanted something lightweight and this Spring jacket (bought on mega-clearance of course) fit the bill.  I knew the course was a loop with aid every 6 miles, but I still wore my huge Nathan Hydration vest rather than carry a handheld.  I carried a handheld for short runs during the summer and it was fine.  I just really hate carrying stuff in my hands and I certainly didn’t want to hold anything for 6-8 hours.

I arrived in just enough time to use the restroom, grab my number, and join the small crowd at the starting line.  I saw so many familiar faces from other races.  I’m not the most outgoing person, but I really appreciate that the ultra community is quite small.  People are more willing to chat at any point of the race.  They remember that you gave them a thumbs up when they were struggling on the trail in a race.  It’s really cool.

I’ve never run at SweetWater before and wasn’t sure of the course so I had no idea of the elevation profile.  I knew the infamous “Top Of The World” and Powerline climbs were excluded from the race so I figured it wouldn’t be that bad.  I was looking at this as a good training run/scouting mission.  I have a couple of races at SweetWater park coming up and I always feels more comfortable having done some running on the actual trail.

The course was 5 6-ish mile loops and this was to be my first time tackling a long loop course.  Loops are good because aid (and bathrooms!) were never going to be too far away.  Loops are bad because I would have 4 opportunities to quit the race before reaching 50K.  Every time I run the Atlanta Track Club’s Resolution Run 10K (which is two 5K loops), I find myself reluctant to go for the second lap and that is only a 3 mile loop!

I viewed the first loop as a chance to learn the lay of the land.  This loop was to be a little longer to allow us to spread out a bit.  I never like the beginning of races because there are just so many people jumbled up together.  I feel (completely self-inflicted) pressure to maintain a certain pace.  I usually don’t fall victim to that pressure and willingly let faster people pass me, but I just find the whole thing a little stressful.  I am more comfortable when things have settled down and everyone has fallen in line.

The weather was warm.  I was ready to remove my very light jacket in favor of short sleeves after a mile.  The course was decent.  There was a little bit of everything on the mostly groomed double-track: dirt trail, rocky gravel road, rooty lakeside running, rushing river running and stair climbing.  There were a couple of hills and a some rolling terrain but nothing awful.  In many ways, I am glad that my first ultra (Duncan Ridge) and ultra-ish (H9) experiences featured the Coosa climb at Vogel State Park.  That climb is so obnoxious that anything else doesn’t seem that bad in comparison.

I finished the first loop in 1:25 and noted the distance as 7.25 miles.  I had decided in advance to better track the time I waste at aid stations because I know this is an area where I need improvement.  I was in and out of the aid station with peanut butter pretzel nuggets (yum!) in hand in 1 minute flat.

The field spread out a lot in the second loop and I enjoyed this lap a lot more.  I was thinking that this loop would be closer to 6 miles in length since the first loop included extra mileage.  No dice.  I circled back to the aid station in 1:22 and 6.9 miles.  I realized that meant the course would be “long” but I didn’t think too much of it at the time.  My aid station stop this lap cost me 4 minutes, but that included a pit stop at the restroom.  I figured I should go then before the issue became pressing.  I was drinking a good bit of water because it was warm outside.  It was perfect running weather (well, a little colder would have been nice) with overcast skies but unseasonably warm for January.

I felt great going into the third loop which was unexpected.  I was worried that loops might be boring but the terrain was varied enough that I didn’t hate the experience.  At this point, the course felt like an old friend and I knew exactly how I wanted to tackle certain parts.  That makes for efficient running which is always a good thing.  I started to anticipate a really good race and hope for a 7:15-ish hour and change finish.  I didn’t really have time goals going in but this seemed like a time that could make me proud.  I finished Mystery Mountain Marathon in 6:33 so completing a nearly 35 mile race only 45 minutes slower would be awesome.

Just when things seemed to be going well they turned to crap.  In spite of wearing a huge 2L hydration pack on my back, I didn’t give much consideration to the need to refill said pack.  I was drinking a lot more water due to the warmer temperatures and didn’t consider that I should refill earlier.  3.5 miles into the third loop I tried to draw water and the flow was slow.  A half mile later, I had the sinking realization that the flow wasn’t slow – the well was dry.  I was out of water on a warm day and I’m the type of person who needs to drink a lot.  I felt so dumb.  Really, really stupid.

I instantly started to try to formulate a damage control plan.  I knew I had to slow down the pace a bit to conserve energy.  I also decided to stop fueling since all of the stuff I had on me like Shot Bloks, Sports Beans, and GU require water to work properly and I feared an upset stomach.  I had recently taken an S-Cap due to the warmer temps and I figured I was covered as far as salt.  I planned to hold off on taking another one for a while since I would be dehydrated when I made it back to the aid station.  I don’t know if this was the smartest plan, but I went with my instincts and training runs are to be used as a learning experience, right?

No water for you!

I was running along a rooty lake path when I realized I was out of water.  The terrain there was a bit wet, rocky and slippery so slowing down didn’t piss me off because I could barely run anyway.  What pissed me off was running alongside a rushing river with a bone-dry throat knowing I couldn’t get any water.  I was also annoyed because I found the last 3 miles not as runnable as the preceding miles.  There was a big staircase to climb and some hills.  These miles would take some time to complete.   I estimated that I was going to face 45 minutes without water.  Ugh!

That was a hard 45 minutes and it did indeed take me about that long to complete the loop.  I felt fine physically except for a dry mouth, but I was so stressed out about the rest of the race.  Every time another runner passed me on the loop, I wanted to jack them for their water bottle to try and “save” my race.  It is really hard to catch up on hydration and fueling once you get behind.  I was also aware that in the process of getting on top of both variables, I was going to feel really crappy.  I was so angry at myself for stupidly putting myself in this position.

The third loop had taken me 1:34 to complete which is way, way off from the other loops.  I was so relieved to get something to drink that I didn’t care.  Upon my arrival at the aid station, I knocked back two cups of PowerAde in short order.  I stayed at the station for 4 minutes getting my pack refilled, drinking some fluid, and stocking up on food.  I walked away from the aid station with a belly full of drink and a handful of pretzels to munch.

I didn’t feel so great when I pull away from the aid station.  I was tired and my stomach wasn’t settled.  I broke out my ginger candies which are supposed to help reduce nausea.  I was walking and it was so hard to muster up the energy to run even though the course was flat and runnable at that point.  I forced myself to do intervals of 1 min walking and 1 min running and that worked for a while.  I still felt like crap and that minute of running felt like 10 minutes.  I vowed to keep moving though, even if I had to walk.  I knew the bad time would pass once I got my body back into balance.

I spotted the long-haired running man, Aaron, and his girlfriend ahead of me.  They were running strong and left me in the dust.  I didn’t even try to keep up.  It was taking way longer than I imagined to feel good again.  I had only covered 2.5 miles of the loop and I was still moving painfully slowly and feeling yucky.  I started to seriously entertain thoughts of not completing the whole 50K at this point.  The course was long.  Once I completed the 4th loop, I would have covered 28 miles.  Was I really in the mood for another 7 miles?

I spotted Jenn around this time.  We end up doing a lot of the same races and Jenn is usually about 15 minutes ahead of me.  I often use her as my “rabbit” because if I run into her that means I’m probably going a little too fast.  If I was dragging and had managed to catch up to her she must have been having issues too.  We ran together for a while because our paces were pretty evenly matched.  We were both taking a wait and see approach to completing the next loop.  She eventually ran ahead and I didn’t see her again.

It took way longer than I thought it would to start to feel better again in spite of my efforts to refuel and rehydrate.  I could only manage to walk/jog the first 3.5 miles of the loop.  I finally started to feel better 4 miles in.  Ironically enough, things started to turn around for me in the same spot near the river where they fell apart in the first place!   I was excited to feel up to running again but I also had it in the back of my mind that maybe it just wasn’t my day for this race.  My mental willpower was shot and I didn’t think it was coming back.  If the course were really 31 miles, I could have sucked it up.  However, I just didn’t feel like doing another 7 miles.  I was 90% resolved to bail after 4 loops at that point.

I was mad at myself for messing for making a stupid mistake, but I really didn’t feel all that bad about possibly bailing early.  I’ve already run a 50K and a 50 miler.  I have nothing left to prove to myself.  I decided right then and there to call it a day at the aid station and enjoy the rest of the loop knowing that I was home free.

I totally missed this building set right in the water on every loop but my last.

I ran on but slowed the pace enough to enjoy the scenery.  I stopped and took pictures.  I smiled and encouraged the other runners I saw heading out for another loop.  I hit the marathon distance at 5:45 and I celebrated the fact that I covered the distance nearly 45 minutes faster than I had at Mystery Mountain back in October.  I started to feel great even though I reminded myself that I could always reconsider at the aid station.

As I was covering the final portion of the last mile to the aid station, it started to rain – hard.  That did it for me.  I was 100% done with this.  Seven more miles in the rain?  If it had been raining at the beginning my attitude would have been different, but I was in no mood for a downpour at this point.  No thanks!  My final time for the 4 loops was 6:16:57.  The last loop took me 1:54 to complete.  I told you it sucked compared to the other loops!

I chatted for a minute with familiar faces from other races, Dan and Jason.  Then I went into the group shelter to warm up and choke down some chili.  I’m never really hungry after very long races, but refueling in that 30-60 minute window following such an effort is critical to recovery, so I try to eat a little something.  It was nice to have an absolute feast available after the race even though I wasn’t hungry.  GUTS was having a chili cook-off contest so food was plentiful.  The vegetarian chili and the chicken chili that I sampled were both very good!

Every training run or race is a learning experience and I’m glad I made a dumb mistake during this run instead of a more crucial run.  I will definitely be more aware of my hydration situation going forward.  This is the second time that I allowed this to happen.  It is better to stop and go through the hassle of taking off my vest than to rush off from the aid station nearly empty.  I wish my hydration vest had an easy way to gauge fullness but since it doesn’t I’ll have to be smarter about such things.

I also learned that I should probably avoid loop courses for critical races.  I don’t feel bad at all about not going out for that 5th loop.  However, I don’t like having the option to quit so readily available.  You can always quit a trail race at any aid station, but there is something more sobering about having to wait for a volunteer to give you a ride of shame back to the start.  I remember having to make this choice at the H9 with 10K remaining.  Knowing that I’d have to be assisted back was a big factor in not quitting that race.

Even with the self-inflicted issues I experienced during this race, I managed to not come in DFL compared to my peers!  That’s an absolute win.  Of the 16 racers who completed 4 loops, I was #7.  I’m a mid-packer once again.  Finally!

Even though I didn’t complete the race and “Half-Assed” it, I had a great day of running.  I felt really strong during the first few loops.  I saw so many familiar faces and met some cool new people – some who were doing this race as their first ultra.  I got to run in a new park and get a small taste of what’s to come in the SweetWater 50K (crossing that raging river – eek!).  I can’t really ask for anything more.

And that’s the story of my first DNF.