Woodside Ramble 50k - Race Report

My best race yet! I had so much fun at this event. It was a beautiful course, really well marked, enough technical trail to be fun but not tedious when I got tired, and the volunteers were fantastic. We had perfect weather for it too. Thanks to Inside Trail for a great event. 

Challenging but fun

I mentioned in a previous post that I was setting my 'A' goal at 7:45:00. When I was making up pace charts for my A/B/C goals, I thought 7:45 might be a little generous for an 'A' goal if I wanted to stretch myself. I reset it to 7:30, B at 7:50, and C to finish (C is always to finish). During the race, I realised that I was moving pretty well, and if I didn't blow up that 7:30 was a real possibility. Then I noticed that if I kept up as I was, I could maybe squeeze 7:15, which would be nearly an hour PR. I bargained with myself that if I managed 7:15 I could order my shiny new Lone Peaks. Spoiler: I ordered them this morning :)

Pre-race

As usual, I didn't sleep great the night before. Combination of strange bed, no husband or dog, and flurry of nerves and excitement. The alarm went off at 5.30 and we lay in our beds eating sweet potato with the tv on. After a hot shower, we loaded up and were on our way to Huddart County Park by 6.40am. We hiked up the hill to check in and get our bibs before organizing ourselves.

While making sure we had all our gear, T noticed something was leaking in the back of my truck. Before leaving on Saturday, I had pre-mixed a bladder with tailwind. Something had fallen on my pack and there was enough pressure for enough time that it completely drained. I had a mild panic attack, then reminded myself this is why there are spares. Refill complete, problem over, eat some panda cookies, Cyd's happy again.

Start to Dunlap/King's Mountain (6.4/6.4)

We set off easy, down the hill and along the creek. T and I stayed together for the first four miles, until I was waiting a little more often than I needed to be. Time to go. Right around this point the speedy half marathoners were catching up, and we had to keep yielding trail to them. I have no problem with this if there is space to do so, but pinning myself against the side of the trail is not preferable to them waiting five strides to hit a wider spot (but I get that it's annoying for them having to get around us all too.) Coming into the aid station, we were on a fairly narrow trail with a steady stream of 35k and 50k runners, half marathoners passing from behind, and really fast half marathoners coming back towards us on the out and back course. Crowded but fun. My goal for this segment had been 1:32:xx, and I came into the aid station at 1:30:48. Perfect. I grabbed a cup of water and moved on quickly.

Dunlap/King's Mountain to Bear Gulch (5.7/12.1)
This was a fun rolly section, with some adventuring under and over downed trees, and mostly runnable trail. There was a girl ahead of me that I made it my mission to keep up with her. She could keep it up on the uphills better than I could, but I was faster on the downhill and we were evenly matched on the flat. We were going a little quicker than I might have by myself, but not uncomfortably so, and sustainable. The crowd thinned out quite a bit, and there was only two-way traffic on the latter part of this segment when the 35k's were coming back. My segment goal was 1:22:xx and I hit the aid station in 1:10:30. I was nearly 15 minutes ahead of schedule, but it was still early. Again just a cup of water, and I set off.

Feeling good, running well, and having fun

 Bear Gulch to Bear Gulch (7.9/20)
Bear Gulch was the turn around for the 35k's, so there was a lot less people from this point onwards. Going down the hill into Wunderlich Park had some two way traffic, but once I started the lollipop loop I was on my own. I had a bit of a moment down here going up a more exposed hill. It was warmer, and I was a bit tired, and now by myself. Instead of getting into my head, I went through a checklist of what I might need. Did I need to drink more? Not really. Was I hungry? I hadn't had any snacks yet, so since I was hiking anyway I got a bag of panda cookies from my pack and munched away. Sure enough, I started feeling better. I washed them down with tailwind instead of the plain water I had with me, which was a mistake, but not catastrophic. There was a really fun section that was rolling and runnable through the redwoods. I knew there was a big climb coming, but just put it out of my head and tried to bank some time without pushing too hard and blowing up. The trail was winding a little bit, but I kept getting glances of a runner ahead of me that had left the Bear Gulch aid as I arrived. I never seemed to be getting any closer, but she wasn't pulling away from me. It was good motivation to make me run more of the hill than I might normally have done. I slowly started gaining ground, but it took nearly two miles to catch her. We chatted a minute, but I could see another guy a few turns up from us, so wished her luck and went after him. I caught up and we chatted a bit until we got back to the aid station. I got my pack refilled here, and set off, passing another guy who was lingering. The segment goal had been 1:54:xx, actual time was 1:46:52, and still feeling good.

Getting tired, but still going strong

Bear Gulch to Dunlap/King's Mountain (5.7/25.7)
The next section was heading back the same way we had come. I was kinda thinking maybe I'd like some music, but I was also running well and didn't want to stop to mess with it and realise how tired I was getting. My feet were starting to hurt too (though no blisters at all - yay Feetures and Superiors). Every time I could hear the two guys behind me, it was a reminder that I needed to keep moving. It was getting harder to run the ups, so my rule became that if I could see the top, I had to run it. If I couldn't, I had to pick a spot that I could see, and reassess when I got there if it was time to take a walk break. This system served me well the whole segment. Getting closer to the aid station, I caught up to another runner. He was moving at a good pace for me, so I sat behind for a little while. It didn't take long before I got the itch to pass. My fellow runner didn't seem to want to let me through, so when I saw my chance I shot past and pushed it a little bit to put some distance between us. He was right behind me coming into the aid station, and we both took a minute. Other than a cup of ginger ale I didn't need anything, but my lungs were ready for a breather. I spent a minute or so chatting to the volunteers and the runner I just passed. I realised and said aloud that I was currently almost 25 minutes ahead of my 'A' goal, at which point the volunteers checked I had what I needed and hurried me back out on trail. My segment time goal had been 1:22:xx and it had taken me 1:18:48. My 'A' plan had me arriving at this aid station at 2:10 pm and it was only 1:47. I still felt good, and got moving right away.

Dunlap/King's Mountain to Finish (5.4/31.1)
The guy I had passed was still sticking with me. It seemed he had found a new gear, and having someone to chase was what he had needed. We were heading down some switchbacks and both caught sight of another runner ahead. I'm not sure who started it, but we started pushing each other, the speed creeping up. We were still heading in a generally downhill direction, but now going fast enough that I was breathing hard. We caught up to and hammered past the third runner. We were still at least a couple miles from the finish. I looked down at my watch, which told me were running at 8:30min/mile pace. That's not okay for me, though I'm pretty pleased I was sustaining that for as long as I did, especially 27/28 miles in. My last 5k was a PR at 8:51 pace. I held on for a while, determined not to let him pass me, but I didn't want to crash and burn so near the end. I should have stopped before I did, but at least I made the call before it was too awful. I ended up walking more of the last mile than I wanted to, and probably would have done had I not got caught in a racing mentality when I did. It did, however, significantly improve my time over this section. The goal had been 1:18:xx, I ran it in 1:06:30.

Very happy and tired girls

Every one of my time goals had been beaten on each segment. When I was making my pace charts, I didn't account for elevation. I planned even splits, and figured it would work itself out. I planned on being okay being behind after a more uphill segment, knowing I could probably make it up on a descending segment. My official finish time was 6:53:27. It was fantastic to have beaten my goal by 37 minutes, and huge compared to the 8:11:xx that I ran at Salt Point less than five months ago. I can even walk today, and will be heading out soon for an easy two mile recovery run. T also beat her goal by nearly twenty minutes, so we both had a fabulous day of running. And neither of us fell down!!!