Greenland Trail 50K

May 1, 2010

Greenland Open Space

31 miles/50K

Goal: 6 -6.5 hours

Actual: 5:43:34

11:04 min/mile

First Ultra of the Season

The night before the race, I went to the Colorado Running Company for packet pick up. This, I must say, was the most low key packet pick up ever. Also, no goodie bag! What?! No free stuff? You heard it here. I can't say anything about the race director; however, the sponsors need to step it up a bit! It was here though that I got confirmation that the course would stay the same, no change in distance for those who complained about a lack of porta potties on the course. Thank goodness. A debate was carried out on Facebook about whether or not to change the course; I weighed in that ultra runners are not that modest and let's keep the true distance. I'm so very glad they did.

After deciding what to wear, what to eat, how to carry my electrolyte tablets and finding a screwdriver small enough to fit in the zipped pocket of my water bottle holder (to dig the mud out of my shoes), I was ready and went to bed at 10pm.

After I got up, from 6 am to 7:15 am in the morning, I continually checked the weather. The forecast for Saturday during the week predicted gloom and despair - rain, snow, cool temperatures (meaning low 30s guys), and since it's Greenland, wind. However, this morning the forecast at wunderground.com (best I found) had winds between 5 -7 mph; temps in the mid 30s for the start warming up to the mid 40s by afternoon and only a 30% chance of Thunderstorms. Wow; what great news!

Rick and Jess had a softball tournament in Denver and the race officials asked runners to carpool; therefore, I asked Zach, one of the cadets we host, to drive me to the start and then come back 6 1/2 hours later to pick me up. No problem said he. What a nice boy, I mean man, he is! My goal for this race was to finish between 6 hours and 6.5 hours.

Zach slept in and I eventually ran downstairs to pound on the door. It's amazing how fast young men can get ready in the morning. We were out of the house 5 minutes later.

Greenland is only 9 miles down the freeway from where I live so I really had plenty of time to get there and go to the restroom and then hit the start all before 8am. No sense in standing around in the freezing cold unless you absolutely have no choice, especially when you are dressed in shorts, a T-shirt (my Vegas marathon tech shirt), arm warmers, and a hat. I did tie my yellow shell around my waist in case of rain or snow.

Zach dropped me off and I quickly got in the shortest porta pottie line and waited to purge one last time before the start. Once at the start, I quickly drank a small red bull - never have used them before but since I was gonna be out all day, I didn't think a little more energy could hurt. I wish I knew I could have a drop bag at the turn around, I would have packed another and taken it after lap two.

The start was very informal. Runners for the 8 mile, 25K and 50K milled about together and then, bang! The gun went off and so were we.

The first part of the race was packed with runners for all the events and slow which was just great for me. It prevented me from going out too fast and burning unnecessary energy on the first lap. While cruising along with the other runners, I heard a couple talking about Leadville to my left so I struck up a conversation with them. It turns out the John and Ana were from Houston, in Denver for a conference this weekend, and decided to run Greenland for a training run for Leadville. Nice! I asked if they had run it in the past; nope, not yet. John was actually going to run it and Ana was training as his pacer. So we talked about what to expect and how much fun I had pacing. What great people.

We talked a bit more on the 3.5 mile stretch of road before turning off the dirt road and onto the trail that went up the hill to begin the gradual progress up the two hills and eventually back toward the start/finish line. Somewhere around there, they slipped behind me as I continued up.

This first loop I felt great. I really wanted to run and did run more than I had when I trained on this trail last month. I mentally told myself to conserve and purposefully began powerhiking up the hill, even though I knew I could run it. Can't forget I'm going to do this loop four times today. Up through to the top I felt great and then after the second rise in the hill, the long downward portion began. I let myself go and stretched my legs. It felt so good, the change in the gait and the downward run. I love running downhill. I like stretching the legs, and leaning into the hill to get the most speed I can. It's the only time I truly feel fast.

Once around the last little rise, I could see the turn around point. Unbeknownst to me, we did not immediately loop back at the "Y" but ran toward the finish line and then turned around to retrace our path about 2-3 tenths until we began the loop proper. It's all about getting the mileage in somehow. It was nice running down and seeing the 8 milers heading for the finish. The aid station volunteers at the turn around were great; they refilled my bottle for me and that was it!

I cruised through the turnaround and headed out for the second loop. I quickly looked at my watch and saw that I completed that loop, plus the start, in 1:22 hours. Doing higher math in my head was still achievable and I guestimated that I would be in again around 2:44. On the way down the spur, I saw John and Ana and we waved and shouted greetings to each other as we passed - me out of the aid station, John and Ana into it.

The second loop was uneventful and I powerhiked more of the inclines. I still felt great; my hydration was doing well, I was eating a gel blast every 30 minutes and taking an electrolyte tablet every hour. However, the urge to pee was calling me and, as one of those who said porta potties were not necessary, a tree needed to be found pretty quickly. Unfortunately the trail is barren until the very top part of the hills and there you can find some scrub oak.

At the top of the first hill, I pulled over and relieved myself pretty poorly. I had to grab a handful of snow and wipe my legs down before jumping back onto the trail. Which reminds me, the trail was actually in pretty great shape. The massive snow storm the week before had only trace remnants at the very top. I believe three or four places you had to run across snow. The first loop was nice; however, the next three, that snow got packed down and became worse and worse to run on. Overall though, I can't complain - the snow also smoothed out the bike ruts and hoof prints that hurt my feet in the past.

Back to the run. After my pit stop, I crested the last hill and once again, took advantage of the downhill portions; just loving it. Along this back stretch, I met someone walking the course backward offering pretzels. Yes! I would love some! I was disappointed that neither aid station had pretzels, just chips and m&ms. I can't do chocolate; but, I did take a handful of chips at the aid station before the climb began. The salt tasted good; however, a little greasy for me. I had trained with pretzels.

Coming into the turn around point I still felt pretty good. I had a hot spot on my left heel because my shoe was a little loose so I bent down and retied my shoe before heading back out. That was the only significant stop, besides the pit stop behind the scrub oak, all day. With my shoe tied tighter, I picked up my bottle and began the journey out for the third loop. A little further down the way than last loop, I spotted John and Ana. They looked very strong and still had smiles on their faces as we passed. My time was right on my earlier questimate. I came in around 2:45 and hoped to get back around in 4:10 hours total.

This third loop, I mentally told myself, needed to be my slowest. I wanted to make sure I had enough fuel in the tank to continue the run. I was finally feeling tired; but the combination of water and electrolytes was doing the trick. However, it would also be this lap that things changed. On this lap, it began snowing.

Fortunately, the snow shower came and went pretty quickly. I just untied my jacket and put it on until it stopped snowing and the wind died down again. That was around 21.5 miles. Once again, I spied the pretzel angel, still walking the course; however, this time I said no, I had just had a handful of chips going out of the second aid station.

During this lap, I also met another runner who kept passing me on the uphill sections just for me to retake him on the downhills. We did this on the second lap with me cruising into the turnaround, only for him to catch me on the road. This lap he caught me further up the hill and we chatted a bit as he continued on up past me. However, once again, as I hit the downhill section, I let my legs go and I passed him. I was very happy I still had the ability to lean downhill and enjoy the run.

It was also on this lap that my stomach decided it did not want anymore gel blasts, or anything for that matter. I put a gel blast in my mouth when I hit the side of the hill before the turnaround and I didn't feel so good. My stomach said, I don't think so to my preferred fuel option so I powerhiked a bit more. Once at the turnaround, I had my bottle filled and walked out still trying to swallow the gel blast I had in my mouth. No go, I finally had to spit it out.

Now I was a little worried. I still had a whole lap to go and had not had a gel blast for over an hour already. I mentally reviewed what I had eaten, if I had enough or not. I decided to try my nutrigrain bar tucked in the back pocket of my shorts. I forced myself to eat half of it a tiny bit at a time and barely felt like it was going to stay down. Thank goodness I put a piece of candied ginger in my water bottle pocket. I dug it out and nibbled on it. Almost immediately, I felt better. That was the good news. The bad news was the thought of anything else made me want to throw up. However, nothing I haven't dealt with in the past so let's just go and get this last lap over with.

I didn't see John and Ana this time and was sad I missed them. I looked at my Garmin and thought about my progress. I decided if worse came to worse, I could power hike the last lap and still make my 6.5 hour self-imposed goal. Nah, that wouldn't be right. I purposefully conserved energy for this lap. I needed to use that energy. On the other hand, this was a training run - a fact I had to continually remind myself of during this race - and no need to blow anything out today. Yeah, right.

So out I went, further down the course, trying to decide what to do. Here I must add I also tried to pass a female runner in front of me but she would not move over. I thought to myself, fine, I'll pull back and give you plenty of room rather than wasting energy over this rise just to get in front of you. She was the type of runner who ran uphill and then walked once she crested the rise. I'm the opposite. She sped ahead, or I pulled back, and distance was achieved to my satisfaction.

The Gods were with me! The pretzel angel was still on the course and still had some with her! I took a large handful, knowing if all else failed, I could eat pretzels, and tucked them into my shorts pocket. Nibbling on a couple, I made it down the dirt road and up to the beginning of the hill.

After the last aid station, as I began the climb for the fourth and final (thank God) time, I looked at my Garmin. I wanted to know what my 25 mile time was to compare it to Collegiate Peaks last year. At the 25 mile point it beeped and low and behold, I ran 25 miles in 4:37 hours today as opposed to 4:45 hours exactly one year ago. Yeah! I was so excited, I began the mind game. Okay, so now you know you only have six miles left. Yes, yes! So, how fast can you do it? 12 minute miles? Oh, that sounds pretty tough, I don't know. Listen, if you average 12 min miles, you'll be really close to 6 hours. Really? Yes! Wow; but I have this hill that goes on forever. Yes, but you have the downhill afterwards, remember? You're right! Let's do it! And so I did.

So that was my goal; to powerhike as fast as I could, run all the downhills, not puke, and grind out the last semi-straight away into the finish in a 12 min mile pace. Whew. The hill took it's toll on me; however, it did with everyone. I passed a runner who had passed me on the road portion before the climb. Great, now keep it going. My runner who passed me on the hills all day, finally caught me again just as we were finishing the last hill - he told me he was really tired and I felt sorry for him knowing I was going to run down past him in just a few minutes.

And best of all, running down the back portion of the hill, I caught the runner who wouldn't move over! So I had her behind me and that was a really good motivator to keep pushing. I tried another gel blast with about three miles left and spit it out almost immediately - my stomach revolted in a big way. So I took the last tiny bit of ginger I had and put it in my mouth to suck on for as long as it would last.

Coming around the side of the hill for the last time and seeing the long rolling trail to the finish was great. I wasn't running as much of this stretch as I had in the three previous loops but I was still moving fairly well. I power hiked each little incline to give my stomach a rest and then tightened up and pushed into a run when I could.

Just passed the former turn around, as I continued to the finish, I heard someone say my name. It was Tracey! She came out to cheer me on and caught me as I ran in the last half mile. She asked how I felt: stomach iffy and tired, but that's all I replied. It was so great to see her and that made me run the final stretch in even stronger.

Coming into the finish, I was so pleased to see the time - 5:43:34! I did not look at my Garmin after the 25 mile point other than to check my pace. I get so focused on one part of the watch, I don't even see the other displays. I just couldn't let that pace slip above 12 min/mile. When I started paying attention, my pace was 11:10. When I finished, it was 11:04 ... yeehaw! I ran the last six miles faster than I thought possible!

Oh boy! I felt great! My legs were tired, my stomach didn't want anything and I was pretty sure I had a blister on my heel from my loose shoe; but other than that and walking like a duck after the finish, I felt pretty good. I tried to eat a plain bagel and was only able to get a few nibbles down. Zach had told me he would be back around 2pm and just wait for me to come, little did I know, I would be the one waiting! However, those 15 minutes were great to just stretch and talk to Tracey and the other runners.

Once Zach got there, we waited a bit more to see if John and Ana were close. In the meantime, the race results were printed. I came in 6th in my age group (40-49) and 55th overall (out of 116 finishers). I was pleased and very happy I ran the race I wanted to run.

I told Tracey thanks, pulled myself into the truck and told Zach once home, I wasn't going to do anything else except soak in the tub and that's exactly what I did!