Rocky 50 Race Recap

It’s been a month since Rocky 50.  For various reasons it has taken that long to get this post finished.  I started writing it, then got distracted, the edited it some, then went on spring break, then came home, wrote/edited some more.  I knew I’d get it eventually.  I could have scrapped it entirely but it was a great race and I haven’t written here in a while so I thought a race recap would be fun.

The Course

The race was a 25-mile course which we ran twice.  Entirely located inside Huntsville State Park, it was a very squiggly T-Shape with lots of roots, pine needles, and some 4×4 access roads thrown in for good measure.

Oh, and mud.  Quite a bit of mud.

To most people, it would seem flat but to everyone living in Houston it’s considered quite hilly.  The hills are short, most of them less than 25 feet but there’s quite a few of them – very little of the course was actually flat.

I’ve run in Huntsville State Park several times before so I was familiar with the trails and the terrain.  I knew exactly what to expect, which was very helpful.

There were four aid stations and each had names: Nature Center, Gate, Damnation and Farside. There was also one at the start/finish line.

The Running Experience

Tejas Trails is the production company for this race.  It was very well organized and each aid station, with the exception of Farside, was well stocked with a variety of both hot and cold food.  PB&J, chips, trail mix, ramen, chicken broth, quesadillas, bacon, and breakfast tacos.

Farside had water and gels only, I’m assuming due to accessibility issues.  This was mentioned on the race info emailed to the runners. 

Race Strategy

This was my third 50-mile race, but the first I ran alone.  I ran the previous two with other people which slowed my pace somewhat, so it was the first chance I had to really see what I could do at that distance.

I didn’t really go in with any specific race strategy, but I did have a basic idea of what I wanted to do.

The plan was to run the first three miles to warm up, then for the remainder of the first loop walk all the uphills and rooty areas where the footing was poor, and run everything that was downhill or easy.  After I reached the halfway point, run as much as possible. Ideally, I’d negative split. 

Oh, and eat as much as I could. Eat. Eat. And eat some more. At every single aid station. Eat.

That’s exactly what I did. And it worked out quite well. 

I had just run another 50-miler in Big Bend three weeks prior and I knew I wasn’t fully recovered.  I didn’t really train for either race.  So, I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome, to say the least.

The Race

It was super cold, in the upper-30s, and it didn’t really warm up at all.  The race started when it was still dark outside and as I was running I kept seeing snow flurries in the light of my headlamp, which I thought was fun.

The first lap was pretty uneventful.  I wasn’t running with anyone so I made a few new friends that first loop, occasionally chatting as people passed me and I passed other runners.

Around mile 15, I started having a little nagging tickle on my left knee.  Not pain but I could feel a tendon rubbing back and forth on one of my knee bones, just to the outside of and below my knee.  It never hurt but the sensation freaked me out a bit.  I attributed it to a tight hip muscle so at every aid station while I was eating I did a modified single leg squat with my left leg crossed over my right knee to stretch out my hip.

It seemed to work and after every stretching session, the sensation went away, though it came back after a couple of miles each time.

This went on for the first 30 miles.  At the first aid station on the second loop, I stopped and used a picnic table to give my hip a proper stretch.  I spent at least five minutes working out the tightness.  After that, the popping sensation was gone.  It did come back in the last couple of miles but by that time I didn’t care.

Around mile 12, I started to feel a little fatigue in my legs from the downhill running so I switched things up a bit.  Remembering my downhill running experience from Boston and how tough downhill running can be on your quads, I decided to switch things up by running the uphills and walking the downhills instead to give my quads a break. From then on, at every segment between aid stations, I alternated running vs. walking the downhill sections. 

Hallucinations

It was sometime around mile 35 when I started seeing the animals.  That’s right.  Animals.  My focus was on the ground in front, but in my periphery, I kept seeing things that resembled farm animals.

I’d never hallucinated before but I knew it was a common occurance in Ultras.  So, I wasn’t exactly shocked when I started seeing things that weren’t actually there.   The first one was a white sheep with a big, fluffy wool coat and black face.   And the conversation that took place in my head when I saw it was rather entertaining.

Me: Look there’s a sheep.
Me: A sheep? Cool! Where??
Me: Right there, about 20 yards off the trail. Right by that log.
Me: Wow! That’s neat! I love sheep!
Me: Wait, why are the sheep in the forest? Sheep don’t live in the forest…

It was at that point when I looked up from the ground and directly at the “sheep” that I realized it wasn’t there.

By mile 40, they weren’t just sheep.  I saw a cow, several chickens, and even a bear.  Every one of them as clear as day.  Every one of them disappeared when I looked directly at them.  Every one of them, a figment of my imagination.

That last 10 miles, I saw them every mile or so and toward the end, I started ignoring them.  Kinda like how John Nash ignored his imaginary friends at the end of A Beautiful Mind.

The farm animals were enough to keep me relatively entertained for most of the second loop.  

I was supposed to call my husband to come to pick me up at mile 40, but at mile 39 my phone died, which was highly unfortunate.  At mile 42, a very helpful volunteer at the aid station sent him a text message from her phone on my behalf.  He should have had enough time to get there to see me finish.  The keyword being “should.”

I was surprised by how well I felt those last 10 miles.  My energy level was awesome.  My legs felt a bit stiff but on the whole not bad.  My mood was good.  The last mile, I developed a pretty serious cramp in my right calf.  I’d run a little, then stop to stretch. Run a little, then stretch. Repeat until the finish line came into view, then the adrenaline kicked in and the cramp went away entirely.

Official time: 11:15.01. Since I thought 12 hours was a reasonable finish time going in, I was very happy with 11:15.  If you want to see the data/splits, etc here is the link to the Garmin data.

When I crossed the finish line, I was disappointed that my family wasn’t there.  I really wanted the kids to see me finish.  The phone battery mishap and my faster-than-expected pace didn’t give them enough time to get there.  They were getting out of the truck in the parking lot as I crossed the finish line, and missed it by just a couple of minutes.

I didn’t get my negative split.  Though overall, I ran more the second loop than the first, I spent more time at the aid stations during the second loop and the second half of the second loop, my pace slowed significantly due to fatigue.

This is the only picture I have of me from the race; it was taken about three minutes after I crossed the finish line, still standing in the finish chute.  The lady with me is a dear friend who ran her first 50 that day and beat me handily.  She’s awesome like that!

Once I found my family and we got in the truck, Evelyn gifted me with this little note she wrote on the drive up there.  I love that she thinks I’m “crassy.”

Recovery

The day after the race my right calf was TIGHT and SORE from the calf cramp, but other than that recovery went well.  Just two days after, I ran 5 miles with no problem and 9 days later, I did 10 miles with nothing more than a little lingering fatigue in my legs.

This experience was the easiest, and the most pleasant 50-miler I’ve done so far and it leaves me hopeful that I have longer races in my future…whatever that future may be.  I’m going to mull on that for a while but I’ve got some plans.  I’ll keep those to myself for now though.