Well, this was technically my first "ultra" marathon and I must say it was quite fun. Despite my lack of focus during training in the couple of months preceding the race, I put out a decent effort, placing 5th overall. Sure, the field was only 24 heads deep, but those in the top 4 were pretty stout competitors (with many more ultras under their belts than myself). I should also mention that I slept in the back of my wife's Nissan SUV the night before—squeezed between her and a cooler.
The race started at 7am and we headed up a 2.4-mile out-and-back section before hitting the standard marathon course. During this hilly road section, I immediately felt my right outer hamstring cramp up (it had been unusually tight for the last week). This worried me because the rest of the course loops through the high mountains around Silverton and the last thing I would want is to bail on the run at mile 20 deep in the mountains and wait for a support truck to pick me up or something silly like that. But I motored on and decided that if my leg got any worse by the time we reached the marathon section, I'd bail out there and just walk back to our camp spot across the road. The cramp subsided and I continued on with the race, much to my delight.
The next 8 miles was essentially a flat mining road (the whole course was actually an old mining loop) in the 10,000' valley of Silverton. At this point I had put a good gap on the competition behind me and there were 5 runners ahead of me, 4 of which were out of sight. The fifth was only about 50 yards ahead, who I passed four miles into this section. That would be the only person I passed for the remainder of the race.
After the flats, I headed up what would be the long 10-mile big climb of the day (toping out at California Pass at 12,900'). My pace was nice and smooth up this rocky dirt road and I had gapped the runner previously in 5th by about a half of a mile. After about ten minutes, I was alone, climbing through this huge alpine gulch. As I popped a GU, I looked back and noticed a runner right on my tail. This racer seemed to appear out of nowhere and quickly passed me; it was Dakota Jones running the marathon (which started an hour after us) and going for the course record. We exchanged pleasantries and he continued up the climb at a staggering pace.
I hit the pass (mile 20) in 3:50. The final approach to the pass was quite steep, so I power hiked it to conserve energy. During the final climb up the pass, two other marathoners passed me, but I hadn't seen a single 50k-er down valley. Once I crested the pass, I grabbed a slice of PB&J and casually descended to let the cramping in my stomach subside and allow some food to go down. I cruised over the last little 400' climb over Hurricane Pass and mentally prepared for the hammering 11-mile descent. At the pass I noticed my left thumb and left side of my lips were completely numb. Since this was the first time I had ever run with a pack, I figured the shoulder strap was playing funky games with my nerves in my shoulder, so I loosened it and feeling started to come back—weird.
The descent was far more arduous than the climb in my book. The super-rocky, steep trail is unforgiving and seemingly never-ending. Though, much to my delight, my feet were still feeling decent—good thing I had chosen to run the race in a pair of road racing flats, Addidas Mana 5s, rather than my go-to MT110s. I counted the miles, one after the other, under the hot sun of mid-day. I hoped for a much faster pace through this section, but all I could muster were short blasts of 7-minute miles surrounded by high-8s.
Throughout the entire descent to the finish I didn't see a single person behind me, so I essentially coasted across the finish in 5:47. I was hoping to get in somewhere under 5:30, but my sand-bagging on the back stretch prevented it.
I'll be back next year to hopefully snag a podium finish.
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