- August 23, 2014- Devil Mountain 50 Mile, 6th Place, 10:12:27
After grabbing a Growler at
the local brewery to add to my collection, I checked in for the race as
it was raining the evening prior. I quickly setup camp and anchored in
for the night. I was already loving this style of race where many if not
most were actually camping where even at SJS and CPTR almost no one
camped. Devil Mountain has a 50K loop option and a lolly pop stem option
that breaks off at 24 miles for the 50 Milers to do an out and back
stretch to finish the same course from that point. The trick is to not
woos out at 50K knowing it would be a few short miles to the car. As the
gun went off, I took it very easy the first few miles down the road and
up the first climb. It is hard when you don't know who is out for 50k
and who is 50 mile. You just have to run your own race. Settling in
after the first long slow climb, there was a quick road descent where I
was hitting 7 Min pace on a few miles before the next steep climb where I
caught the 2 guys in front of me after losing them before the descent
as I had to take care of some stomach issues. Halfway into the climb I
had both of them and once they were out of sight, I stopped running up
hill. I wanted to look strong on the pass for strategy and then let down
when they wern't watching. After this second steep climb that one of
the Barkely course designers came up with, I was feeling good and still
seeing folks ahead that I was reeling in. I looked back to find the 2
guys I passed right on my tail and actually passing me just before the
24 mile bail point for 50k. I was hoping they would turn and neither one
did. They blew right through the aid and went for the 50 mile. My shoes
didn't feel right here so I took a couple of extra minutes for the
swap. I put on the other pair and set out. From here, it was hot and the
course was marked way less. It was route finding and fun as elevation
dropped greatly. Somewhere in here, I finally turned on some tunes to
try and hide being tired from myself. Many times, I wondered if I was
even on route. Especially when it dropped into a field with no trail or
sign of a trail. I just kept running hoping to see another pink tag and
trying to follow grass that appeared trampled. Shortly after the river
crossing, it was straight up hill. I was actually able to run most of
this section until I ran out of water. After my bladder incident at SJS,
I was experimenting with bottles here. I had one in each hand. One at
24oz and one at 16 oz. I rationed properly although it was hot and ran
out exactly at 8 miles, but where was the aid station. It was nowhere in
sight. Less than half a mile later, there it was and I saw folks ahead.
It was only a few miles out and back to the turn around from there and
there was still no one coming the other way. OMG, I can't believe I am
this close to the front. This aid station I discovered Oranges. They are
magic food when you are depleted. I dropped one of my bottles here and
took off for the turnaround feeling better than good. About a mile up, I
saw the leader trotting along looking very effortless. There was no way
I was going to catch up 3-5 miles over the next 15. About a mile from
the turn around, I passed the two guys in front of me and realized I was
less than half a mile behind the two in front of them. A male and
female who were in second and third place. This means at this point, I
was actually third place male and 4th overall and I was gunning for
second with them so close. I made the unique turnaround where you tear a
page out of a book as proof you made it (old school baby).
Until next time...
See you at the top!
