Once camp was set up, I grabbed some food. They were serving spaghetti salad, and bread. I met several other races and talked about the course while staying warm around the fire. I must admit I hadn't had this kind of nervous energy before a race since my first Ironman in 2009.
The course at McNaughton consists of a 10 mile loop with 1600 feet of elevation per loop, or 8000 for the full 50 miles. When comparing it to the Lake Clinton run its a similar type of terrian mostly all single track dirt trails but significant steeper on the ascents and descents. I quickly learned that running on terrian like this takes lots of experience which I did not have.
On saturday morning we all gathered for last minute instructions at 5:45 am and the race started propmptly at six just before sunrise. No huge ceremony like Ironman, no telling everyone how great they are going to be today, just a clock turning 6:00 and everyone started.
The first loop started beautifully the sun was slowly coming up, and the trail was dry. The hills were tough but not impossible and the aid stations were well stocked with wonderful volunteers that were willing to prep whatever you wanted. I met and met with several great people along the way. There were two decent size creek crossings. The first once was about 20 - 25 feet across (way to far to jump) and about ankle deep. There was no getting around this guy. The next was much later in the loop and you could hop across some rocks to get across it, but you were still going to get wet either way. Another highlight is rope hill. An assent so steep that there is a rope on the hill to help pull yourself up and even with the rope it was quite a challenge.
Everything was going great until about the last couple miles when the light rain started to fall. A little bit of mud on the trail but no big deal. At the end of that first lap I changed my jacket out for a dry one, switched out the socks refilled the bottle with Accelerade was quickly on my way. Then the rain started to pick up and the mud came. The pace slowed a bit as the mud made the uphills tough and the downhills really difficult. I finally made it around the second lap pulled off the jacket, swtiched to a short sleeve shirt, more accelerated, peanut butter sandwhich and was back on to start lap three.
At the beginning of lap 3 it seemed like the crazy mud wasn't as bad for a while, and then the downpour came. The trail had the consistency of peanut butter with puddles everywhere. Everystep had the goush sound making running very slow. Lucky the new balance minimus sheded the mud very quickly, although they had almost no traction on the descents which send me sliding down some pretty steep hills. About a third of the way around I took a killer fall when the mud decent sent me flying and I landed on some tree roots. Another big challenge was trying to get up rope hill with nothing to grip your feet into except the slick mud. At this point my legs were starting to get tired and I was falling more frequently. When I finally finished that thrid lap I decided that for my personal safety it was a good time to call it quits. After 9 marathons, 3, 30+ mile races, 2 Ironmans, and countless other distances, I earned my first every DNF.
I learned a lot from this race like ...
- Trail running is hard and takes skill.
- Ultrarunners are the toughest athletes on the planet. This stuff makes Ironman look easy.
- A DNF is not the end of the world, but merely a reminder to never give up. There will be other opportunities.
In summary this was a great race. The organization and support were top notch. Great swag, good food, and tons of support. Hmmm now if only they can fix the weather for next year. I will be back some day and I will defeat this course.
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