October 1, 2025 • 66 mins
Laurel Highlands Fall Classic 50k and 50k Relay recap:
Took 1st Overall in both races. Was able to do the relay if I did the first leg. Originally was only doing the relay but decided a couple days before to sign up for the 50k as well.
Finished the 50k in 4:58:14
Ran under my Only Eye Athletics name, our team time was 4:24:25.
Goals for the day were to win the relay 1st and foremost then win the 50k, and then finish under 5 hours, not get hurt. All achieved.
While I burned up some trying get team a good lead may have paid for it later but was absolutely worth it. I lead from the start and never relequinished my 50k lead. I also held the relay lead for team the whole time. Got passed at like like mile 19 in and aid station 62 by relay teams. Even before hitting mile 1 noone was in sight behind me. I was flying and was locked in. Did fall at least 6 times. Blew top of shoe out when I tripped. At relay exchange having to stop to refuel which was my plan beforehand killed momentum cause I had to change some things out i got unlocked in.
Right around mile marker 60 I got light headed, stomach was upset and I was about to pass out. I somehow made it to mile 62 aid station took some ginger ale and immediatly starting puking it up. Spent maybe 5 mins at most there. Took more ginger ale and a tums. I probaly could have been pulled or dropped when 1st came in but when they asked If I needed seat I said no I gotta keep moving. I recovered on trail. Though legs were beat because of stopping to long at aid station somehow managed to stay ahead. I was on a 4:30 pace most of the day and my heart rate was maxed out also most of the day. So body got beat up pretty good. But pulled it off while time was slower then should have been but I'll take it all things taken i to account.
Im still not where I was or can be. But im getting very close to it, and once I get there, im only gonna get better then I ever was. Finally got my head right, figured out what was wrong with my body, started enjoying running again, and training better.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
The Laurel Highlands Fall Classic 50K, both individual and
relay 50K race recaps. I participated in both this
year. Before I go into the details or
anything about my time like that, I want to say
congratulations to everybody whocame, towed the line and
(00:32):
finished the race. Super proud of everybody for
that. This is a trail that's local to
me. It's only 5 minutes away from my
house. The finish line is on mile 70
and I know this course isn't theeasiest course to run.
There's always different variables through the course.
(00:54):
Sometimes it's slick, sometimes it's muddy.
It's rocky all year round temperature wise.
You never know what you're goingto get if it's a dry year, wet
year, whatever. So very proud of everybody who
came and finished the race or even one of the tow the line.
I really love this trail. It's one of my favorite trails,
not just because it's local, just because it's a great asset
(01:18):
to PA and for trail runners in general or anybody who comes and
visits the trail, It's truly a remarkable trail that has a lot
of cool features, some of those which the participants didn't
get to see this past weekend. So yeah, if this was your first
(01:40):
ultra, huge congratulations to you because let's just put it
this way, there's a lot easier 50 KS out there for your first
time, and this is one of the harder ones.
So to finish this for your firstultra is huge.
I also want to say congratulations to all the teams
that came participated as well. I know they really had a good
(02:05):
time racing, running and just enjoying the trail in general.
I think it was really a good year for the race weather wise
and just the way the leaves wereturning on the trail just made
it a really nice special event. This year, not the last year,
(02:25):
wasn't special in the fall, but I don't know this back half the
trail which we ran. This year's more closer to my
heart because that's what I train on more.
So yeah, just holds a special place in my heart.
So I'll just get into my times real quick and then I'll get
(02:46):
into details of the race itself.I finished the 50K individual
part of the race in four hours 58 minutes and 14 seconds.
I led the whole entire race. That was pretty cool.
In the individual part, me and my buddy Herman participated in
(03:11):
two man relay. That was the only option for
this 50K was 2 man team. We finished first overall in
four hours, 24 minutes and 25 seconds.
So that was pretty fun having Buddy Herman join up with me and
doing the relay. Don't get a chance to do too
(03:35):
many relays. So this was a pretty good
opportunity to do that. I'm very happy that he said yes.
So the relays basically broken up and it, as I said, two parts,
first leg which I had to run since I was doing the full event
was like 17 1/2 miles. And then the second leg was
(03:58):
13.4, whatever, whatever the case may be, but it's 17 and 13
and then whatever the tents are on top of that.
And this race this year started it all crap up at Laurel Summit,
you know, like Lynn run, Laurel Summit State Park, like upward.
(04:20):
They basically meet together like Wolf rocks area, if you're
familiar with that, the bog up there, beams rocks, that sort of
area, that sort of Rd. All those three things are right
there connected. And then you finish up here in
Seward at mile 70 where the racestarts is basically couple
(04:42):
tenths from mile marker 39. You see that basically right
away on the trail. There's actually an aid station
for the full 70 right there. The quick portion that we run
down start to race. So yeah, this is like the back
half of the 70 mile trail on itself.
(05:03):
Again, it's 70 miles the whole trail, 70 miles with about what
is it 1100, you know, 11,600 feet in gain.
If you started in Ohio Powell last year, I guess they're going
to mix it up every year. So last year they started at
like Route 31 and ran to Ohio Powell.
So they mixed it up this year and started like Midway and
(05:27):
finishing up and Sword again. I really enjoyed this part of
the trail more because it's morelocal to me and holds that
special place to me since I train on it all the time.
So yeah, getting those little details out of the way.
So little back story, I was looking at this race for a
(05:49):
couple months, but I really never wanted to pull the trigger
because basically this year I haven't trained for anything
really hard. I just, you know, my trainings
been lacking my motivation and stuff like that.
I even dropped out of the 70 in June on the trail just because I
felt like I wasn't ready trying to build myself back up.
So wasn't really planning on doing the 50K the last couple
(06:11):
weeks. My training went pretty well.
So I was like, yeah, we'll take a shot at it if the weather
looks good and I feel like I'm ready the week leading out.
But I still wasn't really sure. And then the past weekend,
Scottdale Fall Festival 5K and 10 Ki just happened to throw out
(06:34):
to my buddy her and I was like, hey, because he was asking me
what I was doing next week and the next couple weeks.
I was like, you know, I thought about doing the 50K relay on the
Lower Holland Tank Control and that caught his interest.
He said he would like to do it. And I was like, oh geez.
I was like, all right, so we're in.
So it's sort of one of those things, I wasn't really sure if
I wanted to do it, but with him saying he wanted to do it, I was
(06:57):
like, all right, we can do 17 miles because my training runs
have been like 20 miles, you know, pretty much every weekend,
Like I do a 20 mile a day. So I know it can at least handle
the mileage, but not necessarilythe hills or the technicality.
But I was pretty confident we'd at least have fun.
And he's never been on the trail.
(07:18):
So the last 13 miles were perfect for him showcasing when
I think are the some of the cooler features of the trail
itself. So that worked out pretty well.
So we signed up actually Monday before the race, Yeah, Monday
before the race. The race was Saturday.
(07:38):
We didn't sign up till Monday. And then I kept looking and I'm
looking and I was like, ah, still not sold out yet.
And I was like, you know what, if I'm going to do 17, I think I
could struggle and finish 31 miles because it's like a 10
hour time later. I was like, ah, it's like that's
like 1/2 an hour. What?
(07:59):
What is that? It's 20, 21 minute pace overall.
I was like, I could at least walk it and get it done.
I was like, all right, we'll sign up and just use it as a
benchmark, see where I'm at for going into the fall, winter
months, see how my training is actually going.
So I pulled the trigger, spent the money, got myself into the
(08:19):
relay and the full 50K. So that's how it started.
And I was looking at the people signed up as there was one of my
friends from Ohio signed up. I really wanted to race him.
He didn't actually end up coming, but I was looking
forward to racing him since I never got that go heads up with
him yet. And there was a couple other
(08:41):
people I thought would be give me a really good race as well.
So I was like, all right, we'll see where I'm at.
There's some good people in there.
I was like, we can see what we do and you know how the day goes
and see how it plays out. All this is the shirt they gave
us this year, by the way, prettycool colored shirts like a
Peach. So felt like my training was
(09:06):
decent enough to survive, but I was at least going to turn and
burn a little bit for the relay portion, get our team ahead a
little bit. At least if I could get our team
ahead, give us a good lead. And that was sort of the main
goal, the main goal. All right.
So the main goals were when the relay, then when the 50K finish
(09:38):
under five hours and not get hurt, actually set up the pace
pro for 4 1/2 hours, which was like a 9 minute flat pace.
I thought that was pretty realistic with this back half of
the course because it's pretty runnable.
At least I feel it's pretty runnable.
(09:58):
There's no real like 5-6, you know, 1000 foot climbs.
The real hard part is the last two to three miles, which is
running down like 1200 feet to gain the last three miles.
So that's it's pretty much the hardest part and the most
technical part of the whole trail.
(10:18):
But I don't know, I thought I could handle it.
I even did a 10 mile training run.
I think it was Wednesday. The other, yeah, I think it was
Wednesday before the race did. Started a mile 70, ran 5 out and
back just as one of those like last little familiarizations
(10:39):
with the trail, getting in some good trail work and get my feet
ready for what was coming on Saturday.
So I probably got about 4/4 and 1/2 hours of sleep Friday night
and Saturday. You know, that's one of my
biggest things I got to work on is actually getting to bed on
(11:01):
time for ultra races, but good enough sleep since it's only
what, a 40 minute drive from my house to the actual start line?
Even though the finish line's only like 5 minutes.
I got picked up my dad so he could bring my vehicle to the
finish line and help me during the race, but I drove out in the
(11:23):
morning. We actually saw a porcupine on
that road top of lower mountain going out to the summit, so it
was pretty cool. We actually got caught behind
the bus, but it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day
at least in the morning before it really got humid, like in the
70s. I think it was like 5055 just
(11:44):
start the race. So we had a good temps for at
least an hour or two as we started.
So I think that really played a factor in how well I did, at
least early on. Actually ate a little, well,
decent sized breakfast for me. Peanut butter Jelly sandwich.
Add some crackers, you know likeyour normal cheese peanut butter
(12:06):
crackers. Then I had a new go bar on the
way. Drink some Powerade as well.
But I had my normal carnation instant breakfast with milk.
Wasn't sure how that was going to go over, but drinking that
like an hour and a half, two hours before the start, I
digested it enough and I think it can give me enough calories
(12:27):
and protein to start to race right.
Enough energy. Even took my beet powder.
Give me yourself a little bit ofboost, get that extra little
oxygen boost in my blood before the race started.
So we pull in, I rush over to the registration real quick to
(12:48):
check in for the morning 'cause you know, the bus was all
loading, so I wanted to beat allof them over there so I didn't
have to stand in line. Then I went back to my car, got
my stuff ready, gave some instructions to my dad, 'cause I
had some gear I wanted to switchout at 271, which is the relay
(13:11):
exchange point for the race. Basically switch out my water
bottles, switch out my hat. Then I was going to dump some
water over my head. I got it, gave him a whole
gallon of water, one of those Arizona ice tea jugs, so I could
just dump it over my head, cleanoff the salt and stuff like that
(13:33):
and some other things as well. I figured if I had a bad day, I
had some pulls there, had my muscle sculpture, couple gels
and stuff like that. Just like little things that are
like refuel. If I needed to be repack my
pack, my waist pack a little bit.
I had stuff there. Yes.
(13:57):
I wore my Saucony Cohesion TRS, which are like a hybrid shoe.
They're good for Rd. like a transition between road and
trail. I know they're on the low end
cheap end of shoes but they workperfect for me with good grip
and they're not too lucky so I can wear them in any conditions.
(14:22):
I have Gators on my ultra game. Gators, calf sleeves, ISO chill,
Under Armour shorts then well you could see in the background
there. I want to see which way pitcher
in the backgrounds me from the race on Saturday you can see
what I'm wearing. Got my how to point it out my
(14:43):
ultra Spire waist belt on the four point O my hat, and then
you can see on the right my right hand side the red
wristband for the relay as well.So that's basically what I was
wearing. I had fit aid, the new hydration
stuff that they have just came out in my 1 bottle.
(15:06):
I had water in the other. I had one of those electrolyte
applesauces in my pack. Probably about 6 or 8 handy
wipes, 2 honey Stinger gels, theAckenberry and then I think one
Gu chocolate goo in there as well.
(15:28):
I think they had smelling salts,a couple of plastic bags just to
stash some food and stuff like that later on in the race.
So before when my dad left to get to the start line because he
had to go to the pie shop before, he went actually back to
(15:51):
the finish line to pick up my relay guy, Herman and another
guy, he was taking a 271. So that way they could both
leave their cars at the finish line.
So we did help out some people during the race as well.
See, he didn't stick around to see me start the race that was
going to meet me at 271. So I just took an extra little
(16:18):
like 12 ounce, 16 ounce water bottle with me to the start
line, talked to some people realquick, gave my buddy, I don't
want to say his name, but I toldhim, well, I gave him my hard
speech. I says you have the ability to
finish the race. There's no reason you can't
finish the race. And I was then I was like, I'm
(16:40):
not going to be an asshole, but I'm going to tell you this right
now. I was like, if you don't finish
the race and run all 31 miles, I'm going to come and get you
later in the day and I'm going to make you finish 31 miles
today. And he took out the heart and he
end up finishing. So proud of him for finishing
it. He said he hit my words, stuck
(17:01):
with them all through the day. So that was pretty cool, whether
he didn't want to run more mileage with me later or if he
thought it was being a harder astronaut.
But I think he took it the heartbecause he he knew I believed in
them. So it was pretty cool.
So looking around at the start, I was like all right, trying to
figure out who was who. I wasn't sure who some people
(17:23):
were. So having to do the relay and
the full 50K, my main concern for the day was doing the the
relay itself. So I wanted to turn and burn
with a relay. If I burned up a little bit, so
be it. I just wanted to put us in a
good position to win the relay because looking at the the
(17:48):
people participating in the 50 Ki was like I have a shot at
like top three. I was like, if I have a good
day, maybe I can win it, but I should finish no lower than like
5th or 6th overall if I have a bad day.
But as long as I get out of headand push hard early on, I can
give myself enough of a cushion to relax a little bit later,
(18:11):
take a little bit of a break or pull back a little bit if I
needed to. Plus the first half is harder,
so I knew it would get easier asa day goes on, even though the
legs would be more tired as the day goes on.
That wasn't a concern because again, the 50K relay was what I
was really concerned about. That played a little bit of a
(18:33):
dirty running trick, I guess, since for, since I was doing
both races, I had two bibs. My 50K number was five O 8 and
the relay was 5001. And I wasn't going to put two
different numbers spaced out on my body.
(18:53):
So I actually put the 50K individual behind the relay.
And then I had my wristband hanging out predominantly
because I figured if somebody was going to be asked, if
anybody had asked what am I doing, they would, you know, I
was going to say, hey, I'm doinga relay because again, that was
more of my concern. Little dirty trick, I guess, if
(19:17):
you want to call it that. But hey, whatever.
Like at least hold the wristbandup or say there's my bid.
But you know, doing a relay. So they weren't really concerned
about me. I know they gave some
instructions the beginning of the race.
They said it was going to be a little bit different from the
(19:38):
$70 or the normal 50K. I guess the 50 normal 50K
doesn't really go. Yeah, since the back half
anyway. They said they were using the
parking lots, so the aid stations weren't where they
normally were. It sort of threw me off, but I
just figured it was like the extensions because I know where
the parking lots are, at least for Route 30 or whatever.
(20:04):
I wasn't. I thought I knew which one they
were going to use for Route 271,but I guess I didn't.
So that was kind of weird. So anyway, knowing the trail
pretty good, I wouldn't say likethe back of my hand, but pretty
damn close to the back of my hand.
I figured it gave me a little bit of an advantage at least
(20:24):
early on or some of the bigger borders and you know, rocks are
going to be. I knew what was coming up.
So I figured I can run a little bit harder than other people
that didn't maybe necessarily know the trail that well.
And some of like the weaving in and out of some of the bigger
boulders early on might slow people down and make them lose
(20:45):
momentum. So I figured just turn and burn
right away, which I did. So I guess from the start I just
took off from the gate. Oh, before I forget that extra
water bottle, I said I had actually dumped that over my
head down my shirt. I got some more water dumped
down my shirt in front of my shorts, so I started a little
(21:07):
bit wet so I could stay cooler and run more efficient earlier
on. It's probably why you see in the
picture behind me, I look so sweaty.
Not that I wasn't that sweaty, but it was also because of
water. Then I dumped on me.
I forget what this is. It was probably within the 1st 6
miles maybe. Yeah, roughly the 1st 6 miles or
(21:30):
so. So it was still probably
dripping on me and I stayed wet pretty much the whole day
afterwards because of sweat. But it took off right away,
turning the burden, trying to bank some time.
And I know within a mile, I would say even a half a mile, I
saw nobody behind me. So I was gapping people pretty
(21:52):
good. Starting a pretty good clip
again. I felt pretty good.
I felt actually locked in start of the race.
I didn't, I'm not a big energy drinker anymore, but I did take
about 30%, maybe 50%. My Celsius can just give me a
(22:13):
little bit of a caffeine kick boost to get my body flowing in
the morning. So that might have helped.
Like the first 4 miles I was under 8 minutes, so I was going
pretty good even though my pace pro, I guess the pace pro had me
(22:37):
a little bit under, but whatever, let me go back to lab
viewer. Yeah, so like the first 4 miles
I was under 8 minutes. So I was making pretty good
time. And again, since I know the
trail saved me a lot of time, I don't know how much faster you
can really run that part. Probably knock off another 30
(23:01):
seconds if you really want a redline.
But you know, being that early in the race, you really can't do
that. But again, there was nobody
behind me. I was like, all right, Some of
the longer sections I've looked back just trying to get a little
judgement of it, what's going onbehind me, and I still didn't
see anybody. I was like, all right, it's like
(23:21):
a mile or two. And I was like, I already got
like a good solid minute lead. So I was like, we're just, we're
going to work with that, keep burying people behind you and
not feel pressure because there's nobody insight.
Since there was nobody insight, I don't really feel the pressure
being pushed or being chased. So that was pretty cool.
(23:42):
I didn't have that at all. I would say most of the day,
probably till about 2025 miles, end of the race.
So I was pushing pretty hard, flying pretty good even like
those little uphills, downhills I was tackling pretty good.
(24:03):
I guess I should mention, let's see, I'm using my phone here, my
hand try to get some of the stats I got with my Forerunner.
I know the GPX file said it was nowhere near this, but I got
4003 feet of gain and 54, 13 of descent.
(24:29):
So definitely like 1300 more feet of climbing and I think
like 1700 feet of descent more than what the GPX file says.
And I can play a lot of factors,but I would say my Jeep GPS
watch, my Forerunner was pretty accurate with that.
(24:50):
I was definitely had a high heart rate all day long as well,
actually maxed out. I was in the shit trying to get
stats real quick. I was at 160 beats or more for
(25:13):
like 2 hours of the race and that was pretty much the front
end of the race. So it's definitely redlining
hugely early on in the race. I know my heart rate was like
189 at one point, which is superred line.
I think caffeine really made my heartbeat a lot more than it
(25:35):
normally would because if I'm atlike 170, that's pure like
Sprint speed for me. So not sure how I managed that.
Like 189 Max heart rate. So anyway, I was just flying,
you know, enjoying the trail with the beautiful colors in the
(25:56):
scenery. Again, my legs felt super good.
I was very surprised how good I felt again to like mile 20 or
so. You do the, you know, you run
past like beams, beams, rocks gothrough like the pine section.
(26:20):
And there's a couple little bridges inside that pine
section, which since I'm familiar with, I think I saved a
lot more time and it probably slowed a lot more people down
behind me because you have to make some quick diagonal.
They're not switchbacks, but they're just like quick diagonal
(26:40):
changes and hit the bridges and meet back up with the trail real
quick. So you're going like straight
ahead and you have to make a quick like almost like a 90°
angle a couple times. So it can be confusing.
So it does if you're not familiar with the trail.
It does confuse people, but is what it is.
(27:04):
I know before the first aid station, probably like 1/2 mile,
there's a bunch of people walking and hiking or whatever
with a, with their dog, some noton leashes.
I was like, oh great, came into the first aid station, which is
around 30 parking lot. You actually have to take the
extension to the parking lot. So it's like 3/10 off the trail.
(27:29):
Not huge, but whatever. You know, I came in there
flying. As I said, I was leading the
whole entire individual part of the 50 Ki didn't get passed by
anybody during the race in the 50K, just two people in the
relay later on, but I'll get to that.
So I come into the aid station real quick.
(27:50):
I felt good. I was locked in.
Like I said, I was locked in, you know, got that runner's
high. They're like, what do you need?
I was like watermelon ice and water.
Race director got some ice out for me.
I was having a hard time gettinginto my ice bandana.
Should have just pulled a baggieout there and used to put it in
(28:12):
there but I wasn't thinking so the ice I ended up dropping like
half of it. Grabbed 2 pieces of watermelon.
I refilled my bottles real quick.
It was on my way. I didn't put the fit aid in the
bottle until I was back on the trail trying to save time on the
(28:34):
run. Plus I didn't want nobody to see
me come in and I don't want to see nobody as I was leaving.
So I'm sort of playing that gameas well, you know, just playing
that like mental game. So I actually did that.
I think I might have it might have been like a when I first
(28:57):
turned on to the extension to the parking lot.
I would say I, I, I forget whatever my watch said, but by
the time I went to the aid station, came back out, it was
like 4 between 4:00 and 5:00 minutes time wise.
And nobody else was insight. I didn't pack because you're
(29:19):
going in and coming out the sameway.
So there was nobody at the aid station when I left.
There was nobody coming to the aid station.
So I was like all right, so you at least got like 4 to 5 minutes
right now and you don't see nobody coming behind you says
like you probably have like 5-6 minutes already.
So you probably banked 5 or 6 solid minutes already.
(29:43):
So that was pretty good. Now the times the split times
could be a little bit off because if they don't put them
in right away because I think the split was only like 4
minutes but at that aid station,but I was definitely ahead by a
couple minutes more at that point.
And that just give me a little boost of energy and confidence
(30:05):
right there because I was like, all right, if you got this much
of A lead already, I was like, if you don't do nothing stupid,
just keep pushing it 17 and see where you're at from there.
I don't get cocky or anything like that.
But again, the goal to the firstaid station, not just to turn
and burn and get a nice lead, but just to make it to the aid
(30:27):
station or leave before anybody else could see me who was a
runner coming in. You know, just sort of like one
of those defeating pass Gavin Berry type strategies, if you
want to call it that. Again, so early in the race, a
lot of things could happen. You just never know.
(30:50):
But you just don't want to get too confident or cocky.
So then I took off again. I was like, all right, so now I
got 11 miles to the relay exchange.
Do what you can try to bank somemore time and get our team ahead
as much as as I possibly can. Just, you know, make things
(31:17):
easier for the team in general. And I would say I was on that 4
1/2 pace or under until probably, like I said, till I
started struggling probably about 20 miles into the race
maybe, oh maybe actually 18. But whatever I was, I was
(31:38):
running pretty good. I did walk couple of the little
hills on the first aid station to the relay exchange at 17,
just because I was trying to keep myself fresh and healthy at
my legs, not completely burnt up.
So that way, when the flats are the downhills, I could turn it
(31:58):
back on. I don't want to go too hard and
burn myself out. Then I'll have enough energy to
finish the race or make it to the relay exchange and fall
behind. Yeah, So there was a couple
little hills in there, but stillrunning pretty good.
(32:21):
And my legs felt good and I was still locked in.
I was like, if you can walk in like this all day long, you're
definitely going to finish like 4 1/2 hours easily.
And again, at that point in timeI was confident.
I think the one who I did pee had one pee rake and I did take
my applesauce packet. I think he even took a jail at
(32:45):
some point. One of the honey stingers.
Just trying to keep myself fueled because all I grabbed was
2 pieces of watermelon at that aid station which really isn't
enough food and also I was actually drinking my liquids
earlier in the race than I've ever done before.
(33:05):
Usually I don't even start starttaking a drink to like 6 miles
in or 10 miles into a race, but I actually started at mile one
taking some of that fit aid hydration in and some water.
I took both figured since I had 220 ounce bottles and I was only
how to make it though 6 miles, it wouldn't be that big of an
(33:28):
issue to do that because since Ihad a couple packets of that
hydration refill refill it on me.
So that's what I did. So I was hydrating earlier than
I ever have. So plus the this hydration has
(33:49):
double the potassium and magnesium that I think element
does. It doesn't have as much sodium,
but potassium and magnesium I think really kept me hydrated
and going a lot longer than normal.
So I get to the relay exchange. Well, all right, So the plan was
(34:13):
since my buddy Herman was doing a relay, I told him before I
forget, I was like at mile 10, I'm going to call you.
There's service throughout the whole trail.
There might be like just a couple of tents here or there
when you're in valleys, like earlier in the race if you're
doing the full 70 that you don'thave service.
But once you hit like Route 31, you have service the rest of the
(34:35):
way on the trail. I was like, I'm going to call
you at mile 10 in the race and 15 to give you a heads up to get
ready. So that's what I did.
So I caught him at 15 and I knowthey're all like, oh man, you're
really flying. I was like, yeah, I feel pretty
good. So I was like, just get ready
because I'm coming in hot. So then at 271, if you don't
(35:01):
know the trail, if you keep going on the trail, you actually
crossed Route 271. It's the only highway crossing
in this 50K portion of the race.Now my thinking was when they
said parking lots, you have to go to the parking lots for the
(35:22):
race because usually the Route 271 aid station is directly on
the trail for the 470 Miller. So I was, I was like, oh, that's
where it's going to be, whatever.
That's where I told my dad to actually go, but he figured out
where to go. But I was thinking, is it
actually going to be there? So I guess I really didn't hear
(35:46):
the full instructions or didn't understand them to begin with.
Then as I ran past where the normal 271 eight station is
during the 70, it's like, shit. I was like, all right, so I
guess it's not here. So then we have to go to the
parking lot. So then I saw the sign for the
shelter slash parking and I started going down that way and
(36:07):
I'm like, this doesn't feel right.
I started second guessing right away, maybe like 10 seconds down
on that trail because the first aid station at Route 30, they
actually had flagging for you toturn towards the parking lot
instead of continuing on the trail.
(36:27):
And I was like, they wanted me to go towards the shoulder slash
parking lot area. They would have had flagging.
So I called Herman back up. I was like, I was like, where's
the aid station? I was like, where am I supposed
to go? And I'm like, you got to stay on
the trail and cross the road andthen that parking lot.
So it was the different parking lot than normal 271 trailhead
(36:55):
parking lot. So I was confused there, but it
cost me a minute or so just in confusion.
And then walking back while I'm trying to listen to them explain
what to do. So I crossed the road, get to
the 8th station. As I'm crossing, Herman's
already waiting for me. I I said I give him a band.
I was like, all right, get going.
(37:16):
Like I don't want him sticking around or asking any questions.
I just wanted him to go so we didn't lose any time.
Go up to my dad, switch out my bottles, switched my hats out,
'cause my hat. After a while, you know, you get
sweaty and stuff like that just sort of gets a little funkier.
I wanted something fresher on myhead.
(37:36):
Dumped that whole bucket of gallon of water over my head.
Grabbed a couple gels, my applesauce packet trying to rush
around real quick. I used the muscle sculptor for
maybe like 510 seconds on each leg whatever the aid station.
(37:57):
I think I grabbed 2 pierogies, maybe a couple like peanut
butter pretzels. Watermelon started to take off.
Oh, I grabbed 2 bags of ice thatI made from my dad as well, put
one in my shorts pockets for later and then one in my ice
bandana, which worked perfectly,keep me cooler and I just took
(38:21):
off. But that couple minutes that I
was just switching things out there at that age station, my
legs did sort of get a little bit tired at.
Let me see. Yeah, the first aid station, I
was probably there for like a minute or two because I was like
a 10/30, what you might call it,mile give or take because of the
(38:45):
hills. And then at mile 17, I was like
10 minutes as well. So I probably lost maybe at the
most 2 minutes, but I would say maybe just a minute, minute and
a half there because I was pretty efficient getting in and
getting out. So not terrible time to lose,
(39:07):
but I wasn't sure how much time I actually had bank still, if
that makes sense. So so I'm leaving the aid
station. I wanted to eat that.
There's a couple like perogy little perogies and stuff and
the pretzels and watermelon realquick.
(39:30):
So, so I told because I I didn'tget the water melon from the eat
station. I actually grabbed it from my
dad because I told him to get itready for me.
And I was trying to run and eat and I was like iron, I need to
slow down for a minute and eat this.
So that's why my next two miles were a little bit slower.
They were like 11 and 10 minute pace.
(39:53):
But I also peed and re tied my shoes because they were getting
a little bit loose from being wet and sweaty.
They need to re tied. And then I noticed, Yeah.
The top of my, I think it was myleft hand left shoe, like the
whole top of the toe box just got like blown out.
I could just like lift my toes off and it would like pop out of
(40:13):
it. That would have been for me
tripping like 3 times in that first 17 miles.
I don't know how I didn't get hurt during the race at all.
I tripped probably 6 or 8 times during the whole race.
I know 3 in that first 17 miles,two of those were on like routes
(40:34):
that were like pointed at me. They were like Spears, I guess
if you want to call them. And I hit them and I'll tell you
what I was like, it was like a dead stop.
Even though I was running prettyhard.
It was like a dead stop. Like right now.
I didn't didn't fall, but I couldn't, you know, my foot just
caught them. The weird part was two of those
(40:56):
were like right at turns when I was getting ready to go to the
left, I needed to go to the right.
So it was like something was those roots grabbed me to tell
me I was getting ready to go thewrong way.
So they came in helpful. So anyway, re tie my shoe
started getting going again and after tying my shoe maybe
(41:19):
another half mile, finishing eating out, getting ready to
like get run hard again, somebody comes up from behind
me. I'm like, oh shit.
But luckily it was just a relay guy and I'm watching him like in
my view as I'm running again, it's like, all right, I think my
teammates faster than that, likekind of look like he was moving
(41:39):
pretty good. But I was like, all right, we
got enough lead, but I was kind of worried how fast that guy was
going to run later on since my relay guy didn't know the true.
I didn't know if this guy did. So it would have gave the this
guy who passed me an advantage, but it was still like a good
four to five minute lead I felt we had at the time.
(42:06):
So whatever. My legs were getting a little
bit stiff at this point and I was like, you know, 18 to 20 end
of the race, but still felt pretty good.
Me being stupid. Actually, I think it was more
like, yeah, 1819 and the 20 in to be more accurate because it
(42:29):
was really only like a mile or so from the 8 station 271.
But I forgot to grab a fit aid powder packets, refuel my bottle
and I was like, all right, I'm going to need this hydration
later in the race. Don't use it yet.
Just drink some water and you just had watermelon and stuff
(42:54):
like that. I actually drank a fit aid I
forgot at the 271 real quick. So it's like you shouldn't be
needing too much hydration. You can make it about 5 miles to
the next stage station before you really need like a good
hydration drink. So just sipping on the water and
stuff like that for you not could suffice.
(43:16):
But then around mile marker 60, I remember on the trail, which
was about two miles from the aidstation, my stomach started
turning, got a little light headed, I don't want to say
dizzy, but you know, sick. And then I was also getting
tired as well. I was like, oh, I'm hitting my
(43:38):
low point, Hitting my low point.I was like, I need some more
food in me. I didn't have enough yet.
It's like you just got to make acouple more miles.
But I was, I was, I was getting a little light headed and sick.
It's like, oh, this ain't good. I was like, how you're in the
lead. I was like, ah, you got to
somehow figure this out. And I told my dad I was like,
(44:00):
hey, you got to let me know, Youknow, the next couple people
that come in and call me, he never called me.
But I was like, you got to let me know how much time I have.
So I know how much time I have to play with in case something
happens where I need to, you know, sit down, take a break,
relax for a few minutes to recoup.
I was like, I need that information, you know, just
(44:25):
because I know myself, like, youknow, take like a 5 minute
break, I'll be good. But not knowing what was coming
behind me, I couldn't take that break.
And I was, you know, pushing myself a little bit harder than
looking back that I needed to. But it probably helped me
because otherwise I probably wouldn't have been under that 5
hour mark. I definitely wouldn't have been
under the five hour mark since Ionly had like a minute and a
(44:49):
half the spare. So coming in the gas line aid
station, which is like 22 miles,22 1/2 and then into the race,
so like 8 miles left, it would take seven and a half, 8 miles.
It's in the middle of nowhere. It's where the normal 70 mile
(45:10):
last aid station is. I come in there and I was like,
oh man, I'm just not feeling. And I was like oh this is a
good. I knew I was in like a bad spot.
Got some ginger ale real quick to try to settle my stomach as
soon as I drank it since my stomach just like felt empty.
I go off to the road real quick start to like puking it up.
(45:33):
I was like oh crap. I was like no, no.
And their dog that they had there starts coming over to me.
I'm like, oh, you get away, get away.
Because I was always like pukingon it.
I was like, oh, shit. I was like, this isn't good
because I was getting like way more lightheaded.
Then I walked back over to the aid station, get some more
ginger ale. I forget what all I grabbed
(45:57):
there real quick, but I threw some more watermelon in a bag
and they had some blackberries. Yeah, blackberries.
Put them in my bag, drank some water there, got some more
ginger ale. I don't think I had Coke.
I think I grabbed another jail and they're like, do you need a
(46:21):
seat? I was like, if I sit down, I'm
not going to finish this race. And I was like, I can't.
I got to get going while I was there.
A couple minutes I was there, another relay person came
through and I was like, oh shit.I was like here it comes.
Here comes like the parade of people catching me.
Now, since I slowed down a little bit, since I was doing
(46:44):
like eights, let me see here, yes, pretty much.
I was pretty much doing like eights and then after like well,
18, there were some 10s in thereand then nines.
I even have a 14 and a 1311, a couple 10s.
(47:04):
So my pace definitely slowed by a good like 2 minutes per mile
and I knew eventually people were going to start to catch me
if I didn't push myself at that aid station.
I would say it was like 14 minute mile.
(47:26):
So I was probably there like 4 or 5 minutes, 5 minutes probably
at the most. It just it was a bad spot.
Like if somebody would have saidhey, you're done and they would
have pulled me when I first camein there, I would have been all
right with that. Or if I had to drop there, I
(47:47):
would have understand just causehow bad I felt when I first came
into that aid station. But having drinking that ginger
ale and then actually took a Tums and a couple Tums tum thing
there, I think actually that's actually what settled my stomach
and got me back into the game. Or else without those Tums, that
(48:12):
ginger ale right there, I probably would have struggled
and not finished first overall. But from that aid station on,
I'm so familiar with that trail is like as long as I can get on
the trail, I know how to suffer through that and I know what's
coming. So I know how to prepare.
So it was more like a pushing through type deal.
(48:34):
Still not knowing what was goingon behind me.
I did try to look between throughout 271 and that gas line
aid station. I did look at the splits, but it
was a little bit confusing because the times were off.
(48:56):
I think they actually fixed themnow as I'm looking at them, but
at the time they had me passed by 11 people and then I passed
11 people back. So they definitely did fix the
times on the splits, but at the time it was confusing and I was
like, well, I wasn't really sure.
(49:19):
It looked like I had 20 minutes between the two aid stations.
I know one of the guys I was worried about dropped and the
one of the other guys I was worried about was like a solid
half an hour behind me at that last aid station.
So I was like, all right, you'vegot some time to work with.
(49:40):
And it looks like the relayers are the only people you know
close to you right now. I think first thing though was
2nd place. Yeah, she was like 20 minutes,
27 minutes behind me. So just keep, stay on your feet,
just keep running. Just don't have any like 1520
minute miles and you'd be good. So I kept pushing through, kept
(50:05):
looking back at some of the straight stretches, waiting for
somebody to pop into view behindme.
The only people I saw in the trail were hikers.
There's probably 1520 hikers on that section of the trail that
last 7-8 miles. And once I got to that last real
big hill, which I consider the last big climb from the shoulder
(50:28):
area, like right past that last shoulder area as like it's on
now, I was like, this is your race to lose or win.
And it's like you're going to decide what you want to do.
So that I just went forward. It's like you're going to regret
if you don't try. So I just tried the best I could
to the end, even though my legs were getting tired.
(50:53):
I felt as I said a couple more times in between 17 and the
finish line. And the one time I I did lay
down for like 20 seconds from the ground.
I was, I was trying to assess myself as like, are you hurt?
Are you sore? Anything broke.
Like I'm just like I needed a quick, you know, reset on my
body before I got up and startedrunning again.
(51:19):
Luckily nothing was hurt, but I did have this knot in the top of
my right thigh for actually mostof the race, probably after the
first time I tripped. Probably enjoyed that pretty
good. So I dealt with that for
probably 2627 miles of 31 miles of the race and I definitely
(51:44):
feel it a couple days later now still.
Trying to think here any more details.
I guess my legs on the downhill last three miles after the view
of Johnstown really weren't as bad as I thought we're going to
(52:06):
be. Let me see my splits.
Well, like 9441022936. So it's it's probably about
average like a training pace then I run that.
So can't really complain about that at all, especially 31 miles
(52:30):
or 28 miles into the race, that pace, because since it's more
technical and rockier and there's so many routes on that
section, you know, you sort of want to be safe and not get hurt
or trip on that part of the trail and then ruin your race,
especially with the lead. And somewhere in that point, I
think around the view or maybe alittle bit, probably about 1/2
(52:52):
mile before the view, I looked at the splits and it looked like
second place, which was the 1st place female was like 20 minutes
behind me. And I was like, oh God, I was
like, I hope that's right. I was just sort of banking on
that being right at that time. So it did take a little bit more
pressure off me. Then again, wasn't really sure
(53:14):
because some of the splits weren't showing up properly and
there's people said in progress and wasn't sure where some of
the guys exactly were. I thought were like Snoke me
during the race. So I was like you can't
necessarily let off the pedal, but should be able to not stress
(53:37):
it as much. But then just keep looking back
every once in a while and knowing the trail benefit of
being going through the tunnels and stuff like that.
They had the tunnels pretty marked.
Well, marked as well. And I, Yeah.
Or was it? Yeah, I called my dad, told him
(53:59):
I had about 3 miles left at the view, right when I passed the
view, there's actually like 3 hikers.
They probably heard me on the phone.
I was like, hey, I'm just passing the view.
I'll be there there in like 2024minutes, be ready.
And then Herman, my relay guy, about a mile left, he said he
sent me a text message and said hey, we run the relay.
And I was like, hey, I'm about, I'm a mile out.
I was like, I'm coming in. So people ready when I was
(54:22):
coming in. Yeah, so I came in, I kept
looking at my watch those last couple miles.
I was like, well, you definitelyslipped on your pace pro time by
like 26 minutes. I was like, still let's see,
what if we can do it, get under 5 because that was your goal for
the day. And with my training and how
(54:44):
things been going this year, I was like being under 5 hours for
50K the way you've been trainingand not hitting really any
trails, you know, except for here or there.
Like, you know, I said we're in Ohio power a couple times.
You know, I hit the Laura Hollands hiking trail like every
other week for a couple miles, but no real trail work where it
(55:10):
really got too much benefit. It was more of like road and
road hill work than anything this summer.
So to be under 5 is a huge accomplishment.
If I would have been trained up a little bit more or if I didn't
hit that low spot, definitely going to hit that.
I would say like a 440, and thenif I stayed locked in,
(55:32):
definitely 430 pace. I definitely think I could have
hit that. I just never have a good race.
I say that all the time. If you ever hear my recaps from
donor Holland's races, it just seems like I always crapped the
bed. I don't know what it is.
(55:53):
I think it's more of a metal thing, since I know the trail,
it benefits me. No neutral, so I know it's
coming, but I just seems like I never have a good 100% a race,
but I'll take it. I'm very proud of it, my
performance with all things considered.
There's the I don't know if you,I guess I won't.
(56:15):
Yeah, yeah, I guess the trail camera's not showing up.
Oh, there it goes. Sorry about that.
See how I can adjust it. So this is the 50K finisher.
It's pretty cool. They actually had our names all
printed out for that. Actually had like a little
(56:37):
coaster things on the back already.
See, I wrote the time down. That's where that black mark is.
Got the same thing for the relay.
First place, 50K relay. And then yeah, that's what I got
for winning the race. I know I can't lift it up too
good because cameras not showingit too well with the background
(57:04):
picture. If I didn't have the background
picture would show up a lot better.
But those are pretty cool. I always enjoy like wood race
ward. So happy with that.
Have you have the shirt? I'm just like, I might not seem
excited that I'm talking about this now, but I was definitely
(57:27):
riding at runners high after therace because again, I hit all my
goals again, winning the 50K relay outright, winning the 50K
itself outright and leading the whole individual race the whole
time, which is huge. I didn't think that would be
(57:48):
possible, but somehow I managed to pull that off.
Was under 5 hours. It didn't get hurt, just a
little bit sore. I don't know if you could show,
see if my see my toes, these twotoes right there got a little
like blood blisters underneath the skin, but they didn't
(58:09):
really, really turn into blisters.
They just got like bloody probably from just the impact.
So I got lucky that they didn't turn into blisters.
My feet stained good, I would say all race.
They did get a little bit hot towards the end, but I think
it's because just the movement in my shoes from earlier in the
(58:30):
race. But I also put Saudi bridges on
my feet before I left in the morning.
So I think that helped keep my feet dry from like the sweat and
just moisture. I wouldn't say there was much
moisture on the trail, but just in general from like ice
dripping down my ice bandana or me dumping water on myself.
(58:54):
My feet stayed in a hell of a lot better shape than would have
without that salty britches ointment on them.
But I stuck around pretty much to the very end.
I think like 5:00. So I finished at like 12:30.
I didn't leave there till five. Got that cool poured pork
(59:16):
sandwich with Mac and cheese andcoleslaw from that barbecue guy
that they had. It's like 10 something barbecue
place. Got to talk with my buddy for a
while, just hung out. It was just fun watching
everybody talking with people and just enjoying the afternoon,
(59:37):
watching everybody finish and smiling.
Well, not everybody was smiling,but just watching people
accomplishing something so cool and enjoying the trail overall
in general. I mean, even if they had a rough
time out there and they still enjoyed the race and the trail
itself. So that made me happy just
seeing the community come together, you know, waiting on
(01:00:03):
their people finishing. So it was just cool environment
just to hang out, especially on a warm day being a 70 plus
degree day. Usually for the 70 Miller if you
wait at the finish line it gets dark because most people, I
would say 95% of the people don't finish before dark and it
(01:00:23):
gets cold and chilly. Especially if he ran all day.
It did sprinkle a little bit notmuch off got a little mark on my
arm from my MP3 player just run me raw.
Other than that, pretty much came unscathed, which not sure
how I did after falling 6 times.Yeah I'm happy even though my
(01:00:51):
voice, I'm kind of tired actually.
That's why I'm probably ramblingmore than than I normally would,
but very proud of myself, which I don't say often.
Being able to do what I did thisweekend and then, you know,
again, winning the relay. Buddy Herman, my partner for the
(01:01:13):
relay, he said he really enjoyedthe trail.
He said the tunnels were pretty cool.
He just enjoyed the trail overall.
I said it was really well marked.
If you could see. Let me see if I can do this.
See the trees behind me. There's little.
Yeah, there we go. Get this hand up there.
The yellow markings on those trees, this one is a little bit
(01:01:35):
harder to see, probably because it's a little bit darker out,
but when you're running the trail, that's what you look for.
There's yellow markings on the trail the whole way.
As soon as you pass one, you should have one or two more in
your view so they don't have to waste time more money on
flagging because the trail is sowell marked and it's worn enough
(01:01:58):
where you don't have to really worry about where you're going.
But you do go through those big boulder rock gardens, which is
pretty cool. The power line, the view of
Johnstown. And like my buddy Herbs Herman
was saying because he watched myvideos of the trail so he knew
what to expect. He said it was pretty cool to be
(01:02:21):
able to see in from the videos, like where the viewer was and
what to expect, like going through the tunnels because in
the videos, even though it captures it pretty well, like
just seeing it in real life and like full bloom doesn't do it
justice. So that did help him out a lot.
(01:02:41):
And it was just cool that he enjoyed the trail, especially my
favorite sections of the trail, which is last three miles,
right? Other than that, it's pretty
long recap. I don't want to sound too
excited, but I definitely am. As I said, I'm proud of myself.
(01:03:04):
I'm very happy with how I perform and how my body's
reacting to the increased training again.
So this was a very good decision.
I'm glad I decided to do both the relay and the 50K just to
see where I'm at and I think I'mactually ahead of where I
(01:03:27):
thought I was. No, I'm still not where I need
to be or where I want to be, butI'm definitely getting very
close to where I was so can't really complain.
And if you get a chance, check out the race sometime.
Come volunteer. I think every aid station
(01:03:51):
there's people there that knew me were saying my name.
I was so zoned out and just morefocusing on the race.
So I really don't know who everybody was or who the
volunteers were. So I'm sorry I might not have
known who you were or acknowledged you.
I was just trying to get in, getout.
(01:04:11):
I wasn't trying to be rude. I was just more early on trying
to stay locked in and get back out to the race more than
anything. But I appreciate the effort of
all the 8 stations, the race itself, like the race directors,
I think it went pretty smoothly.And again, all the people that
(01:04:32):
came and crewed, the relay people, the individuals, just
the family members in general, just watching throughout the day
or just spectators in general. And then the hikers on the trail
being respectful and stepping off when I came through.
Thank you for that. I'm a DC and R everybody
(01:04:56):
involved. I think the race, as I said,
went pretty well. But if before I sign off, I do
have a playlist and the whole lower Highlands hike and trail
broken up in four mile sections.So if anybody's ever interested,
check them out. Even the connectors from like
the parking lots, I have those as well.
(01:05:20):
Just a very helpful tool. So if you ever want to do the
race, it's good to get a visualization.
So because that's about it was pretty good recap, I think good
enough details or information, but who knows.
Could I have acted more excited during this recap?
(01:05:41):
Probably. But it is getting kind of late
at night and I need you to get to bed.
So whatever, got it done.
The Laurel Highlands Fall Classic 50K, both individual and
relay 50K race recaps. I participated in both this
year. Before I go into the details or
anything about my time like that, I want to say
congratulations to everybody whocame, towed the line and
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finished the race. Super proud of everybody for
that. This is a trail that's local to
me. It's only 5 minutes away from my
house. The finish line is on mile 70
and I know this course isn't theeasiest course to run.
There's always different variables through the course.
(00:54):
Sometimes it's slick, sometimes it's muddy.
It's rocky all year round temperature wise.
You never know what you're goingto get if it's a dry year, wet
year, whatever. So very proud of everybody who
came and finished the race or even one of the tow the line.
I really love this trail. It's one of my favorite trails,
not just because it's local, just because it's a great asset
(01:18):
to PA and for trail runners in general or anybody who comes and
visits the trail, It's truly a remarkable trail that has a lot
of cool features, some of those which the participants didn't
get to see this past weekend. So yeah, if this was your first
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ultra, huge congratulations to you because let's just put it
this way, there's a lot easier 50 KS out there for your first
time, and this is one of the harder ones.
So to finish this for your firstultra is huge.
I also want to say congratulations to all the teams
that came participated as well. I know they really had a good
(02:05):
time racing, running and just enjoying the trail in general.
I think it was really a good year for the race weather wise
and just the way the leaves wereturning on the trail just made
it a really nice special event. This year, not the last year,
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wasn't special in the fall, but I don't know this back half the
trail which we ran. This year's more closer to my
heart because that's what I train on more.
So yeah, just holds a special place in my heart.
So I'll just get into my times real quick and then I'll get
(02:46):
into details of the race itself.I finished the 50K individual
part of the race in four hours 58 minutes and 14 seconds.
I led the whole entire race. That was pretty cool.
In the individual part, me and my buddy Herman participated in
(03:11):
two man relay. That was the only option for
this 50K was 2 man team. We finished first overall in
four hours, 24 minutes and 25 seconds.
So that was pretty fun having Buddy Herman join up with me and
doing the relay. Don't get a chance to do too
(03:35):
many relays. So this was a pretty good
opportunity to do that. I'm very happy that he said yes.
So the relays basically broken up and it, as I said, two parts,
first leg which I had to run since I was doing the full event
was like 17 1/2 miles. And then the second leg was
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13.4, whatever, whatever the case may be, but it's 17 and 13
and then whatever the tents are on top of that.
And this race this year started it all crap up at Laurel Summit,
you know, like Lynn run, Laurel Summit State Park, like upward.
(04:20):
They basically meet together like Wolf rocks area, if you're
familiar with that, the bog up there, beams rocks, that sort of
area, that sort of Rd. All those three things are right
there connected. And then you finish up here in
Seward at mile 70 where the racestarts is basically couple
(04:42):
tenths from mile marker 39. You see that basically right
away on the trail. There's actually an aid station
for the full 70 right there. The quick portion that we run
down start to race. So yeah, this is like the back
half of the 70 mile trail on itself.
(05:03):
Again, it's 70 miles the whole trail, 70 miles with about what
is it 1100, you know, 11,600 feet in gain.
If you started in Ohio Powell last year, I guess they're going
to mix it up every year. So last year they started at
like Route 31 and ran to Ohio Powell.
So they mixed it up this year and started like Midway and
(05:27):
finishing up and Sword again. I really enjoyed this part of
the trail more because it's morelocal to me and holds that
special place to me since I train on it all the time.
So yeah, getting those little details out of the way.
So little back story, I was looking at this race for a
(05:49):
couple months, but I really never wanted to pull the trigger
because basically this year I haven't trained for anything
really hard. I just, you know, my trainings
been lacking my motivation and stuff like that.
I even dropped out of the 70 in June on the trail just because I
felt like I wasn't ready trying to build myself back up.
So wasn't really planning on doing the 50K the last couple
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weeks. My training went pretty well.
So I was like, yeah, we'll take a shot at it if the weather
looks good and I feel like I'm ready the week leading out.
But I still wasn't really sure. And then the past weekend,
Scottdale Fall Festival 5K and 10 Ki just happened to throw out
(06:34):
to my buddy her and I was like, hey, because he was asking me
what I was doing next week and the next couple weeks.
I was like, you know, I thought about doing the 50K relay on the
Lower Holland Tank Control and that caught his interest.
He said he would like to do it. And I was like, oh geez.
I was like, all right, so we're in.
So it's sort of one of those things, I wasn't really sure if
I wanted to do it, but with him saying he wanted to do it, I was
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like, all right, we can do 17 miles because my training runs
have been like 20 miles, you know, pretty much every weekend,
Like I do a 20 mile a day. So I know it can at least handle
the mileage, but not necessarilythe hills or the technicality.
But I was pretty confident we'd at least have fun.
And he's never been on the trail.
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So the last 13 miles were perfect for him showcasing when
I think are the some of the cooler features of the trail
itself. So that worked out pretty well.
So we signed up actually Monday before the race, Yeah, Monday
before the race. The race was Saturday.
(07:38):
We didn't sign up till Monday. And then I kept looking and I'm
looking and I was like, ah, still not sold out yet.
And I was like, you know what, if I'm going to do 17, I think I
could struggle and finish 31 miles because it's like a 10
hour time later. I was like, ah, it's like that's
like 1/2 an hour. What?
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What is that? It's 20, 21 minute pace overall.
I was like, I could at least walk it and get it done.
I was like, all right, we'll sign up and just use it as a
benchmark, see where I'm at for going into the fall, winter
months, see how my training is actually going.
So I pulled the trigger, spent the money, got myself into the
(08:19):
relay and the full 50K. So that's how it started.
And I was looking at the people signed up as there was one of my
friends from Ohio signed up. I really wanted to race him.
He didn't actually end up coming, but I was looking
forward to racing him since I never got that go heads up with
him yet. And there was a couple other
(08:41):
people I thought would be give me a really good race as well.
So I was like, all right, we'll see where I'm at.
There's some good people in there.
I was like, we can see what we do and you know how the day goes
and see how it plays out. All this is the shirt they gave
us this year, by the way, prettycool colored shirts like a
Peach. So felt like my training was
(09:06):
decent enough to survive, but I was at least going to turn and
burn a little bit for the relay portion, get our team ahead a
little bit. At least if I could get our team
ahead, give us a good lead. And that was sort of the main
goal, the main goal. All right.
So the main goals were when the relay, then when the 50K finish
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under five hours and not get hurt, actually set up the pace
pro for 4 1/2 hours, which was like a 9 minute flat pace.
I thought that was pretty realistic with this back half of
the course because it's pretty runnable.
At least I feel it's pretty runnable.
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There's no real like 5-6, you know, 1000 foot climbs.
The real hard part is the last two to three miles, which is
running down like 1200 feet to gain the last three miles.
So that's it's pretty much the hardest part and the most
technical part of the whole trail.
(10:18):
But I don't know, I thought I could handle it.
I even did a 10 mile training run.
I think it was Wednesday. The other, yeah, I think it was
Wednesday before the race did. Started a mile 70, ran 5 out and
back just as one of those like last little familiarizations
(10:39):
with the trail, getting in some good trail work and get my feet
ready for what was coming on Saturday.
So I probably got about 4/4 and 1/2 hours of sleep Friday night
and Saturday. You know, that's one of my
biggest things I got to work on is actually getting to bed on
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time for ultra races, but good enough sleep since it's only
what, a 40 minute drive from my house to the actual start line?
Even though the finish line's only like 5 minutes.
I got picked up my dad so he could bring my vehicle to the
finish line and help me during the race, but I drove out in the
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morning. We actually saw a porcupine on
that road top of lower mountain going out to the summit, so it
was pretty cool. We actually got caught behind
the bus, but it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day
at least in the morning before it really got humid, like in the
70s. I think it was like 5055 just
(11:44):
start the race. So we had a good temps for at
least an hour or two as we started.
So I think that really played a factor in how well I did, at
least early on. Actually ate a little, well,
decent sized breakfast for me. Peanut butter Jelly sandwich.
Add some crackers, you know likeyour normal cheese peanut butter
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crackers. Then I had a new go bar on the
way. Drink some Powerade as well.
But I had my normal carnation instant breakfast with milk.
Wasn't sure how that was going to go over, but drinking that
like an hour and a half, two hours before the start, I
digested it enough and I think it can give me enough calories
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and protein to start to race right.
Enough energy. Even took my beet powder.
Give me yourself a little bit ofboost, get that extra little
oxygen boost in my blood before the race started.
So we pull in, I rush over to the registration real quick to
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check in for the morning 'cause you know, the bus was all
loading, so I wanted to beat allof them over there so I didn't
have to stand in line. Then I went back to my car, got
my stuff ready, gave some instructions to my dad, 'cause I
had some gear I wanted to switchout at 271, which is the relay
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exchange point for the race. Basically switch out my water
bottles, switch out my hat. Then I was going to dump some
water over my head. I got it, gave him a whole
gallon of water, one of those Arizona ice tea jugs, so I could
just dump it over my head, cleanoff the salt and stuff like that
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and some other things as well. I figured if I had a bad day, I
had some pulls there, had my muscle sculpture, couple gels
and stuff like that. Just like little things that are
like refuel. If I needed to be repack my
pack, my waist pack a little bit.
I had stuff there. Yes.
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I wore my Saucony Cohesion TRS, which are like a hybrid shoe.
They're good for Rd. like a transition between road and
trail. I know they're on the low end
cheap end of shoes but they workperfect for me with good grip
and they're not too lucky so I can wear them in any conditions.
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I have Gators on my ultra game. Gators, calf sleeves, ISO chill,
Under Armour shorts then well you could see in the background
there. I want to see which way pitcher
in the backgrounds me from the race on Saturday you can see
what I'm wearing. Got my how to point it out my
(14:43):
ultra Spire waist belt on the four point O my hat, and then
you can see on the right my right hand side the red
wristband for the relay as well.So that's basically what I was
wearing. I had fit aid, the new hydration
stuff that they have just came out in my 1 bottle.
(15:06):
I had water in the other. I had one of those electrolyte
applesauces in my pack. Probably about 6 or 8 handy
wipes, 2 honey Stinger gels, theAckenberry and then I think one
Gu chocolate goo in there as well.
(15:28):
I think they had smelling salts,a couple of plastic bags just to
stash some food and stuff like that later on in the race.
So before when my dad left to get to the start line because he
had to go to the pie shop before, he went actually back to
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the finish line to pick up my relay guy, Herman and another
guy, he was taking a 271. So that way they could both
leave their cars at the finish line.
So we did help out some people during the race as well.
See, he didn't stick around to see me start the race that was
going to meet me at 271. So I just took an extra little
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like 12 ounce, 16 ounce water bottle with me to the start
line, talked to some people realquick, gave my buddy, I don't
want to say his name, but I toldhim, well, I gave him my hard
speech. I says you have the ability to
finish the race. There's no reason you can't
finish the race. And I was then I was like, I'm
(16:40):
not going to be an asshole, but I'm going to tell you this right
now. I was like, if you don't finish
the race and run all 31 miles, I'm going to come and get you
later in the day and I'm going to make you finish 31 miles
today. And he took out the heart and he
end up finishing. So proud of him for finishing
it. He said he hit my words, stuck
(17:01):
with them all through the day. So that was pretty cool, whether
he didn't want to run more mileage with me later or if he
thought it was being a harder astronaut.
But I think he took it the heartbecause he he knew I believed in
them. So it was pretty cool.
So looking around at the start, I was like all right, trying to
figure out who was who. I wasn't sure who some people
(17:23):
were. So having to do the relay and
the full 50K, my main concern for the day was doing the the
relay itself. So I wanted to turn and burn
with a relay. If I burned up a little bit, so
be it. I just wanted to put us in a
good position to win the relay because looking at the the
(17:48):
people participating in the 50 Ki was like I have a shot at
like top three. I was like, if I have a good
day, maybe I can win it, but I should finish no lower than like
5th or 6th overall if I have a bad day.
But as long as I get out of headand push hard early on, I can
give myself enough of a cushion to relax a little bit later,
(18:11):
take a little bit of a break or pull back a little bit if I
needed to. Plus the first half is harder,
so I knew it would get easier asa day goes on, even though the
legs would be more tired as the day goes on.
That wasn't a concern because again, the 50K relay was what I
was really concerned about. That played a little bit of a
(18:33):
dirty running trick, I guess, since for, since I was doing
both races, I had two bibs. My 50K number was five O 8 and
the relay was 5001. And I wasn't going to put two
different numbers spaced out on my body.
(18:53):
So I actually put the 50K individual behind the relay.
And then I had my wristband hanging out predominantly
because I figured if somebody was going to be asked, if
anybody had asked what am I doing, they would, you know, I
was going to say, hey, I'm doinga relay because again, that was
more of my concern. Little dirty trick, I guess, if
(19:17):
you want to call it that. But hey, whatever.
Like at least hold the wristbandup or say there's my bid.
But you know, doing a relay. So they weren't really concerned
about me. I know they gave some
instructions the beginning of the race.
They said it was going to be a little bit different from the
(19:38):
$70 or the normal 50K. I guess the 50 normal 50K
doesn't really go. Yeah, since the back half
anyway. They said they were using the
parking lots, so the aid stations weren't where they
normally were. It sort of threw me off, but I
just figured it was like the extensions because I know where
the parking lots are, at least for Route 30 or whatever.
(20:04):
I wasn't. I thought I knew which one they
were going to use for Route 271,but I guess I didn't.
So that was kind of weird. So anyway, knowing the trail
pretty good, I wouldn't say likethe back of my hand, but pretty
damn close to the back of my hand.
I figured it gave me a little bit of an advantage at least
(20:24):
early on or some of the bigger borders and you know, rocks are
going to be. I knew what was coming up.
So I figured I can run a little bit harder than other people
that didn't maybe necessarily know the trail that well.
And some of like the weaving in and out of some of the bigger
boulders early on might slow people down and make them lose
(20:45):
momentum. So I figured just turn and burn
right away, which I did. So I guess from the start I just
took off from the gate. Oh, before I forget that extra
water bottle, I said I had actually dumped that over my
head down my shirt. I got some more water dumped
down my shirt in front of my shorts, so I started a little
(21:07):
bit wet so I could stay cooler and run more efficient earlier
on. It's probably why you see in the
picture behind me, I look so sweaty.
Not that I wasn't that sweaty, but it was also because of
water. Then I dumped on me.
I forget what this is. It was probably within the 1st 6
miles maybe. Yeah, roughly the 1st 6 miles or
(21:30):
so. So it was still probably
dripping on me and I stayed wet pretty much the whole day
afterwards because of sweat. But it took off right away,
turning the burden, trying to bank some time.
And I know within a mile, I would say even a half a mile, I
saw nobody behind me. So I was gapping people pretty
(21:52):
good. Starting a pretty good clip
again. I felt pretty good.
I felt actually locked in start of the race.
I didn't, I'm not a big energy drinker anymore, but I did take
about 30%, maybe 50%. My Celsius can just give me a
(22:13):
little bit of a caffeine kick boost to get my body flowing in
the morning. So that might have helped.
Like the first 4 miles I was under 8 minutes, so I was going
pretty good even though my pace pro, I guess the pace pro had me
(22:37):
a little bit under, but whatever, let me go back to lab
viewer. Yeah, so like the first 4 miles
I was under 8 minutes. So I was making pretty good
time. And again, since I know the
trail saved me a lot of time, I don't know how much faster you
can really run that part. Probably knock off another 30
(23:01):
seconds if you really want a redline.
But you know, being that early in the race, you really can't do
that. But again, there was nobody
behind me. I was like, all right, Some of
the longer sections I've looked back just trying to get a little
judgement of it, what's going onbehind me, and I still didn't
see anybody. I was like, all right, it's like
(23:21):
a mile or two. And I was like, I already got
like a good solid minute lead. So I was like, we're just, we're
going to work with that, keep burying people behind you and
not feel pressure because there's nobody insight.
Since there was nobody insight, I don't really feel the pressure
being pushed or being chased. So that was pretty cool.
(23:42):
I didn't have that at all. I would say most of the day,
probably till about 2025 miles, end of the race.
So I was pushing pretty hard, flying pretty good even like
those little uphills, downhills I was tackling pretty good.
(24:03):
I guess I should mention, let's see, I'm using my phone here, my
hand try to get some of the stats I got with my Forerunner.
I know the GPX file said it was nowhere near this, but I got
4003 feet of gain and 54, 13 of descent.
(24:29):
So definitely like 1300 more feet of climbing and I think
like 1700 feet of descent more than what the GPX file says.
And I can play a lot of factors,but I would say my Jeep GPS
watch, my Forerunner was pretty accurate with that.
(24:50):
I was definitely had a high heart rate all day long as well,
actually maxed out. I was in the shit trying to get
stats real quick. I was at 160 beats or more for
(25:13):
like 2 hours of the race and that was pretty much the front
end of the race. So it's definitely redlining
hugely early on in the race. I know my heart rate was like
189 at one point, which is superred line.
I think caffeine really made my heartbeat a lot more than it
(25:35):
normally would because if I'm atlike 170, that's pure like
Sprint speed for me. So not sure how I managed that.
Like 189 Max heart rate. So anyway, I was just flying,
you know, enjoying the trail with the beautiful colors in the
(25:56):
scenery. Again, my legs felt super good.
I was very surprised how good I felt again to like mile 20 or
so. You do the, you know, you run
past like beams, beams, rocks gothrough like the pine section.
(26:20):
And there's a couple little bridges inside that pine
section, which since I'm familiar with, I think I saved a
lot more time and it probably slowed a lot more people down
behind me because you have to make some quick diagonal.
They're not switchbacks, but they're just like quick diagonal
(26:40):
changes and hit the bridges and meet back up with the trail real
quick. So you're going like straight
ahead and you have to make a quick like almost like a 90°
angle a couple times. So it can be confusing.
So it does if you're not familiar with the trail.
It does confuse people, but is what it is.
(27:04):
I know before the first aid station, probably like 1/2 mile,
there's a bunch of people walking and hiking or whatever
with a, with their dog, some noton leashes.
I was like, oh great, came into the first aid station, which is
around 30 parking lot. You actually have to take the
extension to the parking lot. So it's like 3/10 off the trail.
(27:29):
Not huge, but whatever. You know, I came in there
flying. As I said, I was leading the
whole entire individual part of the 50 Ki didn't get passed by
anybody during the race in the 50K, just two people in the
relay later on, but I'll get to that.
So I come into the aid station real quick.
(27:50):
I felt good. I was locked in.
Like I said, I was locked in, you know, got that runner's
high. They're like, what do you need?
I was like watermelon ice and water.
Race director got some ice out for me.
I was having a hard time gettinginto my ice bandana.
Should have just pulled a baggieout there and used to put it in
(28:12):
there but I wasn't thinking so the ice I ended up dropping like
half of it. Grabbed 2 pieces of watermelon.
I refilled my bottles real quick.
It was on my way. I didn't put the fit aid in the
bottle until I was back on the trail trying to save time on the
(28:34):
run. Plus I didn't want nobody to see
me come in and I don't want to see nobody as I was leaving.
So I'm sort of playing that gameas well, you know, just playing
that like mental game. So I actually did that.
I think I might have it might have been like a when I first
(28:57):
turned on to the extension to the parking lot.
I would say I, I, I forget whatever my watch said, but by
the time I went to the aid station, came back out, it was
like 4 between 4:00 and 5:00 minutes time wise.
And nobody else was insight. I didn't pack because you're
(29:19):
going in and coming out the sameway.
So there was nobody at the aid station when I left.
There was nobody coming to the aid station.
So I was like all right, so you at least got like 4 to 5 minutes
right now and you don't see nobody coming behind you says
like you probably have like 5-6 minutes already.
So you probably banked 5 or 6 solid minutes already.
(29:43):
So that was pretty good. Now the times the split times
could be a little bit off because if they don't put them
in right away because I think the split was only like 4
minutes but at that aid station,but I was definitely ahead by a
couple minutes more at that point.
And that just give me a little boost of energy and confidence
(30:05):
right there because I was like, all right, if you got this much
of A lead already, I was like, if you don't do nothing stupid,
just keep pushing it 17 and see where you're at from there.
I don't get cocky or anything like that.
But again, the goal to the firstaid station, not just to turn
and burn and get a nice lead, but just to make it to the aid
(30:27):
station or leave before anybody else could see me who was a
runner coming in. You know, just sort of like one
of those defeating pass Gavin Berry type strategies, if you
want to call it that. Again, so early in the race, a
lot of things could happen. You just never know.
(30:50):
But you just don't want to get too confident or cocky.
So then I took off again. I was like, all right, so now I
got 11 miles to the relay exchange.
Do what you can try to bank somemore time and get our team ahead
as much as as I possibly can. Just, you know, make things
(31:17):
easier for the team in general. And I would say I was on that 4
1/2 pace or under until probably, like I said, till I
started struggling probably about 20 miles into the race
maybe, oh maybe actually 18. But whatever I was, I was
(31:38):
running pretty good. I did walk couple of the little
hills on the first aid station to the relay exchange at 17,
just because I was trying to keep myself fresh and healthy at
my legs, not completely burnt up.
So that way, when the flats are the downhills, I could turn it
(31:58):
back on. I don't want to go too hard and
burn myself out. Then I'll have enough energy to
finish the race or make it to the relay exchange and fall
behind. Yeah, So there was a couple
little hills in there, but stillrunning pretty good.
(32:21):
And my legs felt good and I was still locked in.
I was like, if you can walk in like this all day long, you're
definitely going to finish like 4 1/2 hours easily.
And again, at that point in timeI was confident.
I think the one who I did pee had one pee rake and I did take
my applesauce packet. I think he even took a jail at
(32:45):
some point. One of the honey stingers.
Just trying to keep myself fueled because all I grabbed was
2 pieces of watermelon at that aid station which really isn't
enough food and also I was actually drinking my liquids
earlier in the race than I've ever done before.
(33:05):
Usually I don't even start starttaking a drink to like 6 miles
in or 10 miles into a race, but I actually started at mile one
taking some of that fit aid hydration in and some water.
I took both figured since I had 220 ounce bottles and I was only
how to make it though 6 miles, it wouldn't be that big of an
(33:28):
issue to do that because since Ihad a couple packets of that
hydration refill refill it on me.
So that's what I did. So I was hydrating earlier than
I ever have. So plus the this hydration has
(33:49):
double the potassium and magnesium that I think element
does. It doesn't have as much sodium,
but potassium and magnesium I think really kept me hydrated
and going a lot longer than normal.
So I get to the relay exchange. Well, all right, So the plan was
(34:13):
since my buddy Herman was doing a relay, I told him before I
forget, I was like at mile 10, I'm going to call you.
There's service throughout the whole trail.
There might be like just a couple of tents here or there
when you're in valleys, like earlier in the race if you're
doing the full 70 that you don'thave service.
But once you hit like Route 31, you have service the rest of the
(34:35):
way on the trail. I was like, I'm going to call
you at mile 10 in the race and 15 to give you a heads up to get
ready. So that's what I did.
So I caught him at 15 and I knowthey're all like, oh man, you're
really flying. I was like, yeah, I feel pretty
good. So I was like, just get ready
because I'm coming in hot. So then at 271, if you don't
(35:01):
know the trail, if you keep going on the trail, you actually
crossed Route 271. It's the only highway crossing
in this 50K portion of the race.Now my thinking was when they
said parking lots, you have to go to the parking lots for the
(35:22):
race because usually the Route 271 aid station is directly on
the trail for the 470 Miller. So I was, I was like, oh, that's
where it's going to be, whatever.
That's where I told my dad to actually go, but he figured out
where to go. But I was thinking, is it
actually going to be there? So I guess I really didn't hear
(35:46):
the full instructions or didn't understand them to begin with.
Then as I ran past where the normal 271 eight station is
during the 70, it's like, shit. I was like, all right, so I
guess it's not here. So then we have to go to the
parking lot. So then I saw the sign for the
shelter slash parking and I started going down that way and
(36:07):
I'm like, this doesn't feel right.
I started second guessing right away, maybe like 10 seconds down
on that trail because the first aid station at Route 30, they
actually had flagging for you toturn towards the parking lot
instead of continuing on the trail.
(36:27):
And I was like, they wanted me to go towards the shoulder slash
parking lot area. They would have had flagging.
So I called Herman back up. I was like, I was like, where's
the aid station? I was like, where am I supposed
to go? And I'm like, you got to stay on
the trail and cross the road andthen that parking lot.
So it was the different parking lot than normal 271 trailhead
(36:55):
parking lot. So I was confused there, but it
cost me a minute or so just in confusion.
And then walking back while I'm trying to listen to them explain
what to do. So I crossed the road, get to
the 8th station. As I'm crossing, Herman's
already waiting for me. I I said I give him a band.
I was like, all right, get going.
(37:16):
Like I don't want him sticking around or asking any questions.
I just wanted him to go so we didn't lose any time.
Go up to my dad, switch out my bottles, switched my hats out,
'cause my hat. After a while, you know, you get
sweaty and stuff like that just sort of gets a little funkier.
I wanted something fresher on myhead.
(37:36):
Dumped that whole bucket of gallon of water over my head.
Grabbed a couple gels, my applesauce packet trying to rush
around real quick. I used the muscle sculptor for
maybe like 510 seconds on each leg whatever the aid station.
(37:57):
I think I grabbed 2 pierogies, maybe a couple like peanut
butter pretzels. Watermelon started to take off.
Oh, I grabbed 2 bags of ice thatI made from my dad as well, put
one in my shorts pockets for later and then one in my ice
bandana, which worked perfectly,keep me cooler and I just took
(38:21):
off. But that couple minutes that I
was just switching things out there at that age station, my
legs did sort of get a little bit tired at.
Let me see. Yeah, the first aid station, I
was probably there for like a minute or two because I was like
a 10/30, what you might call it,mile give or take because of the
(38:45):
hills. And then at mile 17, I was like
10 minutes as well. So I probably lost maybe at the
most 2 minutes, but I would say maybe just a minute, minute and
a half there because I was pretty efficient getting in and
getting out. So not terrible time to lose,
(39:07):
but I wasn't sure how much time I actually had bank still, if
that makes sense. So so I'm leaving the aid
station. I wanted to eat that.
There's a couple like perogy little perogies and stuff and
the pretzels and watermelon realquick.
(39:30):
So, so I told because I I didn'tget the water melon from the eat
station. I actually grabbed it from my
dad because I told him to get itready for me.
And I was trying to run and eat and I was like iron, I need to
slow down for a minute and eat this.
So that's why my next two miles were a little bit slower.
They were like 11 and 10 minute pace.
(39:53):
But I also peed and re tied my shoes because they were getting
a little bit loose from being wet and sweaty.
They need to re tied. And then I noticed, Yeah.
The top of my, I think it was myleft hand left shoe, like the
whole top of the toe box just got like blown out.
I could just like lift my toes off and it would like pop out of
(40:13):
it. That would have been for me
tripping like 3 times in that first 17 miles.
I don't know how I didn't get hurt during the race at all.
I tripped probably 6 or 8 times during the whole race.
I know 3 in that first 17 miles,two of those were on like routes
(40:34):
that were like pointed at me. They were like Spears, I guess
if you want to call them. And I hit them and I'll tell you
what I was like, it was like a dead stop.
Even though I was running prettyhard.
It was like a dead stop. Like right now.
I didn't didn't fall, but I couldn't, you know, my foot just
caught them. The weird part was two of those
(40:56):
were like right at turns when I was getting ready to go to the
left, I needed to go to the right.
So it was like something was those roots grabbed me to tell
me I was getting ready to go thewrong way.
So they came in helpful. So anyway, re tie my shoe
started getting going again and after tying my shoe maybe
(41:19):
another half mile, finishing eating out, getting ready to
like get run hard again, somebody comes up from behind
me. I'm like, oh shit.
But luckily it was just a relay guy and I'm watching him like in
my view as I'm running again, it's like, all right, I think my
teammates faster than that, likekind of look like he was moving
(41:39):
pretty good. But I was like, all right, we
got enough lead, but I was kind of worried how fast that guy was
going to run later on since my relay guy didn't know the true.
I didn't know if this guy did. So it would have gave the this
guy who passed me an advantage, but it was still like a good
four to five minute lead I felt we had at the time.
(42:06):
So whatever. My legs were getting a little
bit stiff at this point and I was like, you know, 18 to 20 end
of the race, but still felt pretty good.
Me being stupid. Actually, I think it was more
like, yeah, 1819 and the 20 in to be more accurate because it
(42:29):
was really only like a mile or so from the 8 station 271.
But I forgot to grab a fit aid powder packets, refuel my bottle
and I was like, all right, I'm going to need this hydration
later in the race. Don't use it yet.
Just drink some water and you just had watermelon and stuff
(42:54):
like that. I actually drank a fit aid I
forgot at the 271 real quick. So it's like you shouldn't be
needing too much hydration. You can make it about 5 miles to
the next stage station before you really need like a good
hydration drink. So just sipping on the water and
stuff like that for you not could suffice.
(43:16):
But then around mile marker 60, I remember on the trail, which
was about two miles from the aidstation, my stomach started
turning, got a little light headed, I don't want to say
dizzy, but you know, sick. And then I was also getting
tired as well. I was like, oh, I'm hitting my
(43:38):
low point, Hitting my low point.I was like, I need some more
food in me. I didn't have enough yet.
It's like you just got to make acouple more miles.
But I was, I was, I was getting a little light headed and sick.
It's like, oh, this ain't good. I was like, how you're in the
lead. I was like, ah, you got to
somehow figure this out. And I told my dad I was like,
(44:00):
hey, you got to let me know, Youknow, the next couple people
that come in and call me, he never called me.
But I was like, you got to let me know how much time I have.
So I know how much time I have to play with in case something
happens where I need to, you know, sit down, take a break,
relax for a few minutes to recoup.
I was like, I need that information, you know, just
(44:25):
because I know myself, like, youknow, take like a 5 minute
break, I'll be good. But not knowing what was coming
behind me, I couldn't take that break.
And I was, you know, pushing myself a little bit harder than
looking back that I needed to. But it probably helped me
because otherwise I probably wouldn't have been under that 5
hour mark. I definitely wouldn't have been
under the five hour mark since Ionly had like a minute and a
(44:49):
half the spare. So coming in the gas line aid
station, which is like 22 miles,22 1/2 and then into the race,
so like 8 miles left, it would take seven and a half, 8 miles.
It's in the middle of nowhere. It's where the normal 70 mile
(45:10):
last aid station is. I come in there and I was like,
oh man, I'm just not feeling. And I was like oh this is a
good. I knew I was in like a bad spot.
Got some ginger ale real quick to try to settle my stomach as
soon as I drank it since my stomach just like felt empty.
I go off to the road real quick start to like puking it up.
(45:33):
I was like oh crap. I was like no, no.
And their dog that they had there starts coming over to me.
I'm like, oh, you get away, get away.
Because I was always like pukingon it.
I was like, oh, shit. I was like, this isn't good
because I was getting like way more lightheaded.
Then I walked back over to the aid station, get some more
ginger ale. I forget what all I grabbed
(45:57):
there real quick, but I threw some more watermelon in a bag
and they had some blackberries. Yeah, blackberries.
Put them in my bag, drank some water there, got some more
ginger ale. I don't think I had Coke.
I think I grabbed another jail and they're like, do you need a
(46:21):
seat? I was like, if I sit down, I'm
not going to finish this race. And I was like, I can't.
I got to get going while I was there.
A couple minutes I was there, another relay person came
through and I was like, oh shit.I was like here it comes.
Here comes like the parade of people catching me.
Now, since I slowed down a little bit, since I was doing
(46:44):
like eights, let me see here, yes, pretty much.
I was pretty much doing like eights and then after like well,
18, there were some 10s in thereand then nines.
I even have a 14 and a 1311, a couple 10s.
(47:04):
So my pace definitely slowed by a good like 2 minutes per mile
and I knew eventually people were going to start to catch me
if I didn't push myself at that aid station.
I would say it was like 14 minute mile.
(47:26):
So I was probably there like 4 or 5 minutes, 5 minutes probably
at the most. It just it was a bad spot.
Like if somebody would have saidhey, you're done and they would
have pulled me when I first camein there, I would have been all
right with that. Or if I had to drop there, I
(47:47):
would have understand just causehow bad I felt when I first came
into that aid station. But having drinking that ginger
ale and then actually took a Tums and a couple Tums tum thing
there, I think actually that's actually what settled my stomach
and got me back into the game. Or else without those Tums, that
(48:12):
ginger ale right there, I probably would have struggled
and not finished first overall. But from that aid station on,
I'm so familiar with that trail is like as long as I can get on
the trail, I know how to suffer through that and I know what's
coming. So I know how to prepare.
So it was more like a pushing through type deal.
(48:34):
Still not knowing what was goingon behind me.
I did try to look between throughout 271 and that gas line
aid station. I did look at the splits, but it
was a little bit confusing because the times were off.
(48:56):
I think they actually fixed themnow as I'm looking at them, but
at the time they had me passed by 11 people and then I passed
11 people back. So they definitely did fix the
times on the splits, but at the time it was confusing and I was
like, well, I wasn't really sure.
(49:19):
It looked like I had 20 minutes between the two aid stations.
I know one of the guys I was worried about dropped and the
one of the other guys I was worried about was like a solid
half an hour behind me at that last aid station.
So I was like, all right, you'vegot some time to work with.
(49:40):
And it looks like the relayers are the only people you know
close to you right now. I think first thing though was
2nd place. Yeah, she was like 20 minutes,
27 minutes behind me. So just keep, stay on your feet,
just keep running. Just don't have any like 1520
minute miles and you'd be good. So I kept pushing through, kept
(50:05):
looking back at some of the straight stretches, waiting for
somebody to pop into view behindme.
The only people I saw in the trail were hikers.
There's probably 1520 hikers on that section of the trail that
last 7-8 miles. And once I got to that last real
big hill, which I consider the last big climb from the shoulder
(50:28):
area, like right past that last shoulder area as like it's on
now, I was like, this is your race to lose or win.
And it's like you're going to decide what you want to do.
So that I just went forward. It's like you're going to regret
if you don't try. So I just tried the best I could
to the end, even though my legs were getting tired.
(50:53):
I felt as I said a couple more times in between 17 and the
finish line. And the one time I I did lay
down for like 20 seconds from the ground.
I was, I was trying to assess myself as like, are you hurt?
Are you sore? Anything broke.
Like I'm just like I needed a quick, you know, reset on my
body before I got up and startedrunning again.
(51:19):
Luckily nothing was hurt, but I did have this knot in the top of
my right thigh for actually mostof the race, probably after the
first time I tripped. Probably enjoyed that pretty
good. So I dealt with that for
probably 2627 miles of 31 miles of the race and I definitely
(51:44):
feel it a couple days later now still.
Trying to think here any more details.
I guess my legs on the downhill last three miles after the view
of Johnstown really weren't as bad as I thought we're going to
(52:06):
be. Let me see my splits.
Well, like 9441022936. So it's it's probably about
average like a training pace then I run that.
So can't really complain about that at all, especially 31 miles
(52:30):
or 28 miles into the race, that pace, because since it's more
technical and rockier and there's so many routes on that
section, you know, you sort of want to be safe and not get hurt
or trip on that part of the trail and then ruin your race,
especially with the lead. And somewhere in that point, I
think around the view or maybe alittle bit, probably about 1/2
(52:52):
mile before the view, I looked at the splits and it looked like
second place, which was the 1st place female was like 20 minutes
behind me. And I was like, oh God, I was
like, I hope that's right. I was just sort of banking on
that being right at that time. So it did take a little bit more
pressure off me. Then again, wasn't really sure
(53:14):
because some of the splits weren't showing up properly and
there's people said in progress and wasn't sure where some of
the guys exactly were. I thought were like Snoke me
during the race. So I was like you can't
necessarily let off the pedal, but should be able to not stress
(53:37):
it as much. But then just keep looking back
every once in a while and knowing the trail benefit of
being going through the tunnels and stuff like that.
They had the tunnels pretty marked.
Well, marked as well. And I, Yeah.
Or was it? Yeah, I called my dad, told him
(53:59):
I had about 3 miles left at the view, right when I passed the
view, there's actually like 3 hikers.
They probably heard me on the phone.
I was like, hey, I'm just passing the view.
I'll be there there in like 2024minutes, be ready.
And then Herman, my relay guy, about a mile left, he said he
sent me a text message and said hey, we run the relay.
And I was like, hey, I'm about, I'm a mile out.
I was like, I'm coming in. So people ready when I was
(54:22):
coming in. Yeah, so I came in, I kept
looking at my watch those last couple miles.
I was like, well, you definitelyslipped on your pace pro time by
like 26 minutes. I was like, still let's see,
what if we can do it, get under 5 because that was your goal for
the day. And with my training and how
(54:44):
things been going this year, I was like being under 5 hours for
50K the way you've been trainingand not hitting really any
trails, you know, except for here or there.
Like, you know, I said we're in Ohio power a couple times.
You know, I hit the Laura Hollands hiking trail like every
other week for a couple miles, but no real trail work where it
(55:10):
really got too much benefit. It was more of like road and
road hill work than anything this summer.
So to be under 5 is a huge accomplishment.
If I would have been trained up a little bit more or if I didn't
hit that low spot, definitely going to hit that.
I would say like a 440, and thenif I stayed locked in,
(55:32):
definitely 430 pace. I definitely think I could have
hit that. I just never have a good race.
I say that all the time. If you ever hear my recaps from
donor Holland's races, it just seems like I always crapped the
bed. I don't know what it is.
(55:53):
I think it's more of a metal thing, since I know the trail,
it benefits me. No neutral, so I know it's
coming, but I just seems like I never have a good 100% a race,
but I'll take it. I'm very proud of it, my
performance with all things considered.
There's the I don't know if you,I guess I won't.
(56:15):
Yeah, yeah, I guess the trail camera's not showing up.
Oh, there it goes. Sorry about that.
See how I can adjust it. So this is the 50K finisher.
It's pretty cool. They actually had our names all
printed out for that. Actually had like a little
(56:37):
coaster things on the back already.
See, I wrote the time down. That's where that black mark is.
Got the same thing for the relay.
First place, 50K relay. And then yeah, that's what I got
for winning the race. I know I can't lift it up too
good because cameras not showingit too well with the background
(57:04):
picture. If I didn't have the background
picture would show up a lot better.
But those are pretty cool. I always enjoy like wood race
ward. So happy with that.
Have you have the shirt? I'm just like, I might not seem
excited that I'm talking about this now, but I was definitely
(57:27):
riding at runners high after therace because again, I hit all my
goals again, winning the 50K relay outright, winning the 50K
itself outright and leading the whole individual race the whole
time, which is huge. I didn't think that would be
(57:48):
possible, but somehow I managed to pull that off.
Was under 5 hours. It didn't get hurt, just a
little bit sore. I don't know if you could show,
see if my see my toes, these twotoes right there got a little
like blood blisters underneath the skin, but they didn't
(58:09):
really, really turn into blisters.
They just got like bloody probably from just the impact.
So I got lucky that they didn't turn into blisters.
My feet stained good, I would say all race.
They did get a little bit hot towards the end, but I think
it's because just the movement in my shoes from earlier in the
(58:30):
race. But I also put Saudi bridges on
my feet before I left in the morning.
So I think that helped keep my feet dry from like the sweat and
just moisture. I wouldn't say there was much
moisture on the trail, but just in general from like ice
dripping down my ice bandana or me dumping water on myself.
(58:54):
My feet stayed in a hell of a lot better shape than would have
without that salty britches ointment on them.
But I stuck around pretty much to the very end.
I think like 5:00. So I finished at like 12:30.
I didn't leave there till five. Got that cool poured pork
(59:16):
sandwich with Mac and cheese andcoleslaw from that barbecue guy
that they had. It's like 10 something barbecue
place. Got to talk with my buddy for a
while, just hung out. It was just fun watching
everybody talking with people and just enjoying the afternoon,
(59:37):
watching everybody finish and smiling.
Well, not everybody was smiling,but just watching people
accomplishing something so cool and enjoying the trail overall
in general. I mean, even if they had a rough
time out there and they still enjoyed the race and the trail
itself. So that made me happy just
seeing the community come together, you know, waiting on
(01:00:03):
their people finishing. So it was just cool environment
just to hang out, especially on a warm day being a 70 plus
degree day. Usually for the 70 Miller if you
wait at the finish line it gets dark because most people, I
would say 95% of the people don't finish before dark and it
(01:00:23):
gets cold and chilly. Especially if he ran all day.
It did sprinkle a little bit notmuch off got a little mark on my
arm from my MP3 player just run me raw.
Other than that, pretty much came unscathed, which not sure
how I did after falling 6 times.Yeah I'm happy even though my
(01:00:51):
voice, I'm kind of tired actually.
That's why I'm probably ramblingmore than than I normally would,
but very proud of myself, which I don't say often.
Being able to do what I did thisweekend and then, you know,
again, winning the relay. Buddy Herman, my partner for the
(01:01:13):
relay, he said he really enjoyedthe trail.
He said the tunnels were pretty cool.
He just enjoyed the trail overall.
I said it was really well marked.
If you could see. Let me see if I can do this.
See the trees behind me. There's little.
Yeah, there we go. Get this hand up there.
The yellow markings on those trees, this one is a little bit
(01:01:35):
harder to see, probably because it's a little bit darker out,
but when you're running the trail, that's what you look for.
There's yellow markings on the trail the whole way.
As soon as you pass one, you should have one or two more in
your view so they don't have to waste time more money on
flagging because the trail is sowell marked and it's worn enough
(01:01:58):
where you don't have to really worry about where you're going.
But you do go through those big boulder rock gardens, which is
pretty cool. The power line, the view of
Johnstown. And like my buddy Herbs Herman
was saying because he watched myvideos of the trail so he knew
what to expect. He said it was pretty cool to be
(01:02:21):
able to see in from the videos, like where the viewer was and
what to expect, like going through the tunnels because in
the videos, even though it captures it pretty well, like
just seeing it in real life and like full bloom doesn't do it
justice. So that did help him out a lot.
(01:02:41):
And it was just cool that he enjoyed the trail, especially my
favorite sections of the trail, which is last three miles,
right? Other than that, it's pretty
long recap. I don't want to sound too
excited, but I definitely am. As I said, I'm proud of myself.
(01:03:04):
I'm very happy with how I perform and how my body's
reacting to the increased training again.
So this was a very good decision.
I'm glad I decided to do both the relay and the 50K just to
see where I'm at and I think I'mactually ahead of where I
(01:03:27):
thought I was. No, I'm still not where I need
to be or where I want to be, butI'm definitely getting very
close to where I was so can't really complain.
And if you get a chance, check out the race sometime.
Come volunteer. I think every aid station
(01:03:51):
there's people there that knew me were saying my name.
I was so zoned out and just morefocusing on the race.
So I really don't know who everybody was or who the
volunteers were. So I'm sorry I might not have
known who you were or acknowledged you.
I was just trying to get in, getout.
(01:04:11):
I wasn't trying to be rude. I was just more early on trying
to stay locked in and get back out to the race more than
anything. But I appreciate the effort of
all the 8 stations, the race itself, like the race directors,
I think it went pretty smoothly.And again, all the people that
(01:04:32):
came and crewed, the relay people, the individuals, just
the family members in general, just watching throughout the day
or just spectators in general. And then the hikers on the trail
being respectful and stepping off when I came through.
Thank you for that. I'm a DC and R everybody
(01:04:56):
involved. I think the race, as I said,
went pretty well. But if before I sign off, I do
have a playlist and the whole lower Highlands hike and trail
broken up in four mile sections.So if anybody's ever interested,
check them out. Even the connectors from like
the parking lots, I have those as well.
(01:05:20):
Just a very helpful tool. So if you ever want to do the
race, it's good to get a visualization.
So because that's about it was pretty good recap, I think good
enough details or information, but who knows.
Could I have acted more excited during this recap?
(01:05:41):
Probably. But it is getting kind of late
at night and I need you to get to bed.
So whatever, got it done.
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