Run for the Toad 50k

On Saturday I ran the Run for the Toad 50k Trail Race.

This year is their 10^th anniversary.

This is one of our bigger trail races. Not too technical, great swag,

well organized, great aid stations and a great meal after.

Entry was set for 1350(1369 officially entered) for the 25 and 50ks combined. 210 ran the 50k, 1022 the 25k and another 136 did the 25k walk.

On Thursday night I received a message from another Runners World BF Forumite looking to FE. So I set up a meeting location and gave a description of what I would be wearing. On Friday night I found out another RWBF forumite would also be meeting us. And I was already meeting with a forumite from the RW Canada Forum. This was turning into a nice little FE.

Friday night, I prepared my gear and had my usual wieners and beans. Didn’t get as much sleep as I would have liked and Saturday up a little later than planned. The usual Chicken Fried Rice for breakfast and hit the road. A quick pit stop on the way for gas, coffee and a bagel and was there about an hour and a half before the race.

Picked up my bib, chip and swag, talked to a few friends and then started getting ready. Checked the meeting area a couple of times, but no sign of the two forumites I was meeting. Did run into the forumite I already knew from the Canada Forum during my walking around.

As it got closer to race time I headed back to the meeting area and hung around with a number of friends from my local group. I was also exchanging greetings with other friends, as well as a couple of members of my running team. After a bit I was approached by one runner who introduced herself as Colleen, ‘coolrunning’ from the forums, shortly after CndRnr from the forums joined us. Both had no trouble finding me. There aren’t too many  runners standing around at races wearing straighjackets. I introduced them to my group as well as the forumite from the Canada Forum and we chatted a bit until it was time for Colleen and myself to head to the start. We were the only ones doing the 50k, the others were doing the 25k and starting 10 minutes later.

I did the 50k here last year and it was rainy, cold and muddy. This year the rain all happened the days before and I was expecting a muddy course, but it actually turned out to be very good, only a couple of muddy spots, easily avoidable. It was still cold though, about 41-42F at the start, not counting windchill. And there was a pretty good wind. I started out in my shorts, RunningFree short sleeve shirt, sleeves, gloves, RunningFree vest, and of course, my straightjacket.

200 meters past the start is the aid station and I dropped my straightjacket with my kit as we passed by.

First couple of loops went pretty good, I dropped my gloves with my kit after the first loop and my sleeves after the second. I was letting Colleen set the pace for the most part, although on a few really good sections I would take the lead and push the pace a little to see how she would respond. Dropping back with her to where she was good. We went through the half ahead of the pace she did the 25k here last year. At the half I took a gel and the aid station worker started to ream me out for taking a break and told me I could eat while running. I’m not sure what Colleen thought of this, until I explained the worker was one of my RunningFree teammates. Colleen expressed surprise at the number of times I and other runners exchanged greetings.

In the third loop, Colleen was feeling the hills in her quads so we cut the pace and did more walking on the hills. We were still doing okay for time, so I didn’t push her too much on the flats.

The fourth loop started out the same as the third, however as we topped a hill at about 3k into the loop, we heard a cry of pain behind us. Another runner just starting up the hill, had both calves cramp up. I called down to ask if she was okay but all she did was reach down and hold her one calve. So I started back down the hill to check on her. Colleen was going to follow me but I told her to go ahead and I would catch up. Didn’t want her doing any extra hills. I got to the other runner, who was still in some pain. I helped massage out the calf and while talking with her found out she hadn’t eaten much and was only drinking water. I got her to take some sodium and when she was able, walked her up the hill. A little bit past, we caught up to Colleen, who had waited for us. We continued to walk together, letting our new friend recover. We ended up walking a lot in this loop as with the longer walk breaks it became harder to get going again, especially on the little rollers. The ladies expressed concern at beating the cutoff, but I told them not to worry and just kept them moving, particularly after the aid stations and hills. We managed some good runs in the last 1.5k and finished with just under 20 minutes to spare before the cutoff. Our new friend met her husband and headed off. Colleen and I grabbed our jackets from the aid station and headed in to get our refreshments.

One of the nice things about this race is that they keep track of who’s out on the course, and when the caterers pack up they box up food for those still out on the course. So Colleen and I got our grilled Chicken, rolls, pasta, warm and cold veggies and pie.

We joined some of my friends for our meal and the end of the awards and some draw prizes. Colleen scored a running toque.

After everything wrapped, we said our goodbyes and headed on our way.

Official results: 7:41:33 gun time, 7:41:12 chip time 143/145. The three of us were the last finishers.

This was one of my better races, for the pleasure in helping a friend finish her first ultra and another friend work through a bad spot and get to the finish.