50K Conquered!

“I’m not ready for this.”

That’s what I kept thinking leading up to the Mount Hood 50K. I bailed twenty miles into the Smith Rock 50K a couple months earlier due to calf cramping that kept locking my legs up. I hadn’t done any marathon length runs since then - my longest run was a 20 miler out in the Indian Heaven Wilderness.

Unlike Smith Rock, this race was on terrain I had trained on. I had run part of the route around Timothy Lake during the Timberline Half Marathon. The route was shady and largely on the PCT. While I had never run this particular part of the PCT, I had run other parts of it in the area. That bolstered my confidence a bit.

There were six aid stations and the weather was cool, so I decided to run with just a handheld and ditch my pack, relying on the food (mostly M&Ms, Pringles and Coke) and water at the stations. I don’t really like to run with a pack when I don’t have to. It’s just additional weight, and while chafing hasn’t been an issue with my current pack, the possibility is always there.

The start time was 8 AM, so I woke up at 5, put on my running clothes, my calf sleeves and my shoes, had a light breakfast of Greek yogurt and oatmeal, packed a gym bag with another set of clothes to change into post-race and was on the road by 5:45. The skies were mostly overcast on the way out to Timothy Lake, and the morning temperatures were in the 50s. You couldn’t really ask for better running weather!

Photo by Paul Nelson Photography

I got to the Clackamas Ranger Station around 7:20. I picked up my bib – number 66! - , did a few lunges and hip swings to warm up, hit the port-a-potty and sipped on a Viso sports drink. I felt relaxed, not at all jittery like I usually do before races. I knew I was undertrained for this, so I decided to just enjoy the experience and not worry about my time. I’d be happy with a finish.

We started promptly at 8 AM. We were pretty bunched up on the trail leading down from the ranger station to the lake, and the runners kicked up quite the cloud of trail dust. My energy and spirits felt high. I focused on reining my pace in. I often go out the gate too fast and end up paying for it later in a long race.

We turned north at the lake and hugged its east side for a few miles. I was still relaxed and found a group of guys whose pace I liked, so I hung with them for a while. This was where I had my first fall. I pitched forward, caught myself on my hands and pushed myself back up. The guy behind me commented that I could probably have passed that off as a spontaneous push up.  Everyone was chatty, and we discussed the Smith Rock race. Quite a few had done the 15 miler there, but I was the only one in the group to attempt the 50K. This was the first 50K most of them had attempted.

I pulled ahead of the group as we turned onto the PCT to head north. This section was pretty steadily uphill with only a couple of relatively steep portions. There were plenty of rocks and tree roots to navigate, but I did well on the uphill and flew by a lot of the other runners, many of whom decided to walk the steeper sections. Running hills is a big part of my training and these hills were pretty minor compared to some of the monstrous climbs I had done in the Gorge.

Photo by Paul Nelson Photography

The sun was coming out between the clouds now and we were treated to some amazing views of Mt Hood off to the north as we approached the turnaround point on the PCT. The lead runners began to come down, so I knew the turnaround couldn’t be too far off. I had found another group whose pace I liked, so I followed them up to the aid station at the turnaround. I stopped briefly to grab some food and refill my handheld with water then headed back down the PCT.

The downhill felt good, and I checked my watch to find that I was on pace to finish in less than five hours! This was where I took my second spill while distracted by a particularly gorgeous view of the mountain. There was no damage but a minor scrape to the knee, thankfully.  After a couple miles, though, I felt the familiar twinge in my calves that always precedes the debilitating cramps that I’ve been fighting the past year. Shortly thereafter, the cramping started.

I was determined to not let this stop me again! I slowed down, I walked, but I kept moving. It hurt, and there were a couple times that my legs locked up so badly that I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to move them. But I fought, and continued moving, knowing that I couldn’t get my five hour time at this pace. “It doesn’t matter,” I told myself, “Just finish the damned race!”

I found that I could actually run slowly and pain-free through the flat sections, but the down hills triggered the cramps. I ran where I could and walked where I had to. By the time I made my way to the last aid station on the PCT, I knew I looked bedraggled. I got some more food, filled up my water and continued on to the lake.

Photo by Paul Nelson Photography

It was a pretty pleasant section heading south along the west side of the lake with another spectacular view of the mountain. I was able to manage a slow jog pretty consistently. The weather was warming up, but it wasn’t uncomfortable yet. Another runner, whom I’d been far ahead of at the turnaround, caught up to me and noticed I was limping a bit. He asked if I was OK, and we got into a conversation. Turns out he was from my home state of Illinois, so we chatted for a while – distance runners are a chatty bunch! I think it helped me get my mind off my calves so that I was able to run again the last mile or so.

It felt like a long mile. I’d run this before at the Timberline Half Marathon, so I recognized landmarks. When I finally could hear people at the finish, I upped my pace to something a little more respectable for the last ¼ mile or so.

I crossed the finish line, collected my finisher’s beer glass and didn’t even look at the clock. Later I found I had finished in 6:09:51. Not a great time, but considering that I wasn’t very well trained, I was glad to finish without the calf cramps bringing me to a grinding halt like they had at Smith Rock. The time went by amazingly quickly – it certainly helps to run in a beautiful place.

In retrospect, this would have been a better first 50K for me than Smith Rock. The elevation gain was significantly less and the environment – cool, shady with rock and tree-root studded trails – was similar to my training grounds in Portland’s Forest Park and the Columbia River Gorge. I felt very at ease running this route, which I can’t say about the dry, exposed, desert-like environment at Smith Rock.

There are more 50Ks in my future, but I promised myself that I would take the next year off from the long distance races. I’ve done two marathons, a 50K attempt and this 50K in less than a year, and I’m feeling a little burnt out. I’m going to re-focus on running speed at shorter distances, weight training, do some bicycling and take up another sport, maybe rowing or swimming. I have a goal to climb Mount Hood next year as well.

I also need to figure out if there’s some way to fix my calf issues. Water and salt have no effect, and medical research indicates that dehydration and lack of electrolytes don’t cause cramping anyway. I’ve tried stretching, with no real gains. The next thing will be focused strengthening on my calves, especially since I won’t be doing a lot of long runs to stress the muscles even more.

I will still need a bit of a trail running fix, even during this “down time.” I’ll continue doing 20ish mile trail runs about once a month, partially to not totally lose all the endurance I’ve built up, but also because there is definitely something relaxing and magical about running in the wild and beautiful places of the Pacific Northwest.

 

Photo by Paul Nelson Photography