Bartlett Park Ultra

wow...that's all I can say about that one....this was definitely the hardest 50k I have run....up until this point Swampstomper back in January was the toughest because of how it was just a mud slog but the heat beats out the mud and even elevation gain in races like Stumpjump and Sylamore all day....

The race started great...it was relatively cool for the first lap and I took out with the lead group finishing the first lap in 1:06...I was feeling really good though I wasn't really feeling my premixed drink in my bottle....

I rolled through the aid station at the start\finish without stopping and tossed off one of my bottles as I still had one premixed one....second lap felt pretty good but by the time I got to the 4 mile aid station I was really glad to toss out my Hammer for some gatorade.....finished the second lap pretty strong...my total time was about 2:23 at that point....

From here my race went downhill....I took down some gel and refilled my water bottle at the beginning of lap 3 and about a mile into the lap the gel was not sitting well and I had almost completely drained my water...my pace slowed drastically and I was just hoping to come upon the 4 mile aid station soon I as I was really desperate for water...finally made it to teh 4 mile aid station, slammed a bottle or two of water and then got back on my way....now I was really starting to feel the heat...my pace dropped from running pretty quick miles to barely pushing out a pace that can be defnied as running...I even walked some of it.....felt like the lap was never going to end but finally I came up Mt. Bartlett and knew the end of the lap was in sight...

I was pretty sure I was going to have to sit down and take a break at the start finish line because I was hurting pretty bad....I sat down, ate a gel or so, slammed a few bottles of water and that's when I heard that the two of the 4 or 5 people in front of me had dropped from the race....that gave me a bit of a mental boost so I got back on the course as fast as I could...I think I actually hurt myself when I did this because I was pretty excited and I took out for the first mile at a really fast pace...by the 1 mile marker I was completely out of water....I was able to semi run to about 2 miles and that's when I really fell off...mile 26-28 was perhaps the hardest two mile section I have ever gone through....and I can't say run through cause I surely didn't run it....can't even say I power walked...I literally stumbled....I was extremely light headed and desperate for water at that point and I was having to take a break ever few hundred yards to sit down for a minute or so and get a grip on things....at this point in the race I didn't think I was going to be able to finish.....about a .25 mile or so out from the 4 mile aid station I took a seat right as a gentleman by the name of Darryl Green was coming up on me...i asked him if he had any extra water and he poured some of his camelbak into my bottle, saving me.....he also walked the rest of the way to the aid station with me just to make sure I made it....it's things like these that make trail ultras awesome!......

I got to the aid station at 4 miles and sat down for about 10 minutes...at this point finishing time had gone out the window and I was more concerned with simply being able to finish....I wasn't really wanted to drink any gatorade or take any gels at this point so I knew I needed some calories somehow....in the past I have always avoided this during races but for some reason Coke was sounding really good....I slammed 3 or 4 cups of it and within two minutes I was a completely new person....I was able to actually run the next 2 miles to get back to the aid station at mile 6 where I slammed 3 or 4 more cups of Coke....the last 2 miles I ran at a good pace and even felt like if I had to I could have kept going a little bit....so basically, Coke saved my day...without it, I don't know that I would ever have finished....

ended up finishing in 6:25...definitely not my best time and not near my goal time by any means...but I will take it, as it was a huge relief just to finish this one.....but I don't feel too bad as a guy in the lead pack I was running with has a sub 4 hour 50k PR and he finished over 5....

I am looking forward to the fall!!!...I can't deal with running long in these temps...it just totally drains your body....plan for this week is recovery for a day or two then getting back in it as Stumpjump is just under 2 months out.....

share the road and happy running...