Muddy Toad 50k

On Oct 2/10 I ran the 50k Run for the Toad Trail race.

Short version: I finished in a time of 5:53:51, a PB for 50k by 22.5 min.

Long version: I was going in to this race on rested(?) legs. I had done a marathon (my fastest one so far this year) the Sunday before (not my first back to back weekend either), but hadn’t run a lot during the week due to work commitments.

I pack up most of my gear the night before and was up really early on Saturday morning. Breakfast, finish throwing the last of my gear together and on the road.

I arrived at the race site,  2.5 hrs before race start and got a parking spot close to the race start and expo. Picked up my packet and chip and the Saucony sport bag they give instead of a shirt.

Grabbed a cup of coffee and a donut from the refreshments provided and wandered through the expo, looking around for familiar faces for a little while, until I finally met up with a friend, Lori, who was doing her first ultra.

Talked with Lori until it was time to get ready. We dropped our gear off at the bag drop at the aid station, made our porta-potty visits and then joined the crowd at the start line. There were 141 registered entrants for the 50k, and another 1214 registered for the 25k run/walk.

Lori was surprised at how far back I lined up, but I like to start behind (force myself to start slower) besides I knew there would be a big log jam before 1k on the first single track uphill.

9:30 and we’re off. It took me 2.5 min before I crossed the start line and an extra 3 to work through the 1^st k. After that I settled into a nice pace and was steadily moving up through the pack.

It was a cool morning with a light drizzle and I felt pretty good, making it through the first loop of 4 in a time that would beat my previous 50k PB by over an hour.

The second loop the drizzle turned to a steady light rain and I was still on pace for smashing my PB.

At the end of the second loop, I stopped briefly to switch out water bottles and fuel when I got lapped by the lead runner. A young lady from the mountains of Alberta, who apparently has no problems running the rolling hills of Ontario.

My third loop was about 15 minutes slower than my previous two. The trails were getting pretty chewed up and slick with the rain and the 1000+ runners going through. It was getting difficult to even power walk up the hills and if I was to run down the downhills like I did in the first loop I would be off the trails and into the woods more often than not. (Why do they always put a sharp turn at the bottom of every steep downhill?).

I was lapped by two other front runners during this loop and just managed to get through the loop in front of the 4^th place runner.

Another quick stop at the aid station, change the water bottles, more fuel and into the final loop. The rain turned back into a drizzle for this loop, but it was still coming off the trees pretty steady and the damage was already done to the trails. Another 8 minutes slower on this loop. Some of the trails were so slick that you couldn’t run a straight line. You would start on one side and be on the other side before you knew it. Other places the mud tried to suck off your shoes.

And the final big hill, which is a biatch to run in good conditions, I managed to walk up very slowly and off to the side in the brush.

I crossed the finish line in a time of 5:53:51, a PB by 22.5 minutes. 48/90 finishers. Very happy with those results, considering the conditions.

Met up with one of my friends, who had done the 25k, chatted for a bit, grabbed some food – they did up grilled chicken, hot and cold veggies for the runners –  and sat in my car with the heater going in an attempt to warm up.

After warming up a bit, I went and talked to the race announcer, who had mentioned a cut off time earlier (there had been no mention on the website). Earlier I had check with the timers, so I knew Lori would be coming in after that cutoff. Talking with the announcer, he told me they had extended the cutoff due to conditions, but I knew it would still be close.

A short bit later, I headed back down the trail to meet Lori, asking if they could try to wait until we came back in. I went back a k to the top of the last killer hill, where I waited and cheered other runners to the top (watching some of them make more than one attempt to get up the hill). Shortly after Lori came along, and after watching the previous runners, I could direct her to the easiest route up. From there we walk/ran the last k in to the finish, where she crossed the line running.

After that, I made sure Lori got some food, even though she didn’t want it. We chatted for a while and finally headed our separate ways.

For me a good day