Rocky Raccoon 50 Mile Trail Race Recap

Fifty miles. My biggest worry was that I had no idea how my body would feel after that many miles. Would old injuries flare up? Would completely new injuries develop? Would my body just break down? This was completely new territory for me.

A friend told me that the Rocky Raccoon Trail Race was the "Superbowl of trail races" down here. That description turned out to be totally spot on. The park was jammed pack full of cars. We had to walk over a quarter mile just to get to the starting line. It is really a neat sight seeing hundreds of runners dashing into to the dark woods just before dawn breaks. The 50 mile route consisted of three 16.67 mile loops. The first loop felt great. My legs were felt fresh and I had limited the amount of stumbles. I was a little concerned that I had taken it a bit too fast. I was on pace to finish in under eleven hours, well below my conservative expectation of a fourteen hour finish. I knew that I couldn't keep this up if I were to have anything left in the tank at the end. By the middle of the second loop, I started to feel it set in. I was feeling the fatigue and was having a harder time on the climbs. I probably fell behind on hydration and salt because I felt both hamstrings threatening to cramp. I ended up walking a lot in the back half of that second loop. This is when I started to feel discouraged. I couldn't run very far without feeling the discomfort and that frustrated me. Between miles 23 through 33, I felt so beat up. The self-doubt started to set in. I hadn't felt this frustrated and angry during a race since my very first marathon. I had serious thoughts of throwing in the towel as soon as I finished up that second loop. I just didn't think I had another seventeen miles in me. Lucky for me, a friend of mine caught up to me and kept me moving. After eight miles with him, I was renewed. My outlook changed entirely and I was back in this thing. I found a second wind and had that moment. The moment you realize you're okay and that you have the fortitude to keep moving. The best way I can describe it is that is is like receiving running grace. You feel that you can't fail because something greater is in your corner. That's what I felt all the way through to the finish. I had been on my feet from sunrise to sunset and I was finally done.

It wasn't that long ago that I thought doing anything over a marathon's distance was completely inconceivable or at the very least reserved for the most extreme distance running elites. Certainly, it couldn't be for someone like me, a slightly above middle-of-the-pack marathoner. And still, in the last ten months I have completed three ultra marathons. All on trails, all ultras distances. I remember when I thought the natural progression for me as a runner was to learn how to swim and get into triathlons. Forget triathlons, I think I'm an ultra marathoner now.

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