First 50k from a non-runner’s perspective

I’m not sure what possessed me to sign up for the Bluff. It could have been working the aid station at Renee’s Way last year and seeing how happy the runners were as they arrived, some were delusional, bloody, or their face caked in salt, but everyone looked like they were enjoying it. More likely, it was the encouragement from the Bimblers on our regular 3-5 mile runs (Iggy, Twink, Lost, Where’s Margot, and others). On our occasional longer runs of 8-10 miles, I felt pretty good. So in my mind, if I could run a third of the distance, I could handle a full 50k. I should say that previous to this year’s bluff, my longest run was 14 miles at Pisgah.

I outfitted myself with the plushest Hokas I could find to combat a bad hip and bunch of other aches and pains. I wish I could have trimmed down a bit – but a long Columbus Day weekend on the Cape (Sour Cream Doughnuts, salt water taffy) nixed that idea. I planned on taking it easy and just enjoying the entire day out in the woods.

The race started out great; I was near the back of the pack, right where I thought I’d be. I settled into a 14 min mile pace and found myself with 2 other runners as we crossed RT 80 and headed towards Hart road. We walked up the small hills and ran everything else. At Hart road, I filled up my bladder and continued on.

As we progressed east on the dirt road, at about mile 7 someone passed me running pretty fast. A bit later I saw that he was walking – even though the road was flat. It took a minute or two before I caught up to him (he’s a fast walker!). At first I wasn’t sure that he was in the race, he had a large camel back with a jacket tucked in the straps, and long running pants. We began to chat and Roy tells me he’s doing a (2 & 2), two minutes running and two minutes walking. That sounded like heaven to me, so I settled into that all the way up the stick with him. Roy was telling me stories of the many 100 mile races he’s completed with this strategy, so I felt pretty good that he knew what he was doing. We saw Spuds and his dog near broomstick ledges (he’s was everywhere that day). The ledges were great – a nice break from the dirt roads.

Roy and I made it to the Bluff aid station, no major issues. Feeling a bit tired but not bad. I heard Roy ask how many people behind us – and they said about 10. This is where all the fun started. At the top of the bluff my legs started to cramp a bit. I was able to work through it with a bit of salt I had in a baggie. We saw the photographer ahead and tried to make it look like we were running as we passed. There were a couple of good inclines along the ridge (oh yeah the view was awesome!) and then it settled into a nice runnable trail.

So we’re plodding along back behind the bluff and we get to the western most part of the course and start going down a GIANT hill. We’re both so happy to be going downhill; we convinced ourselves that Blue Blazes on the trees meant we were on-course. Well, we came out on a paved road right off RT 17. Though we were lost, we were both in surprisingly good spirits. We knew at worse, we would have to climb back up that giant hill and try to find the trial again. After a bit of unclear thinking and checking my iPhone, Roy suggested we go back up and find the trail. So back up the long hill we go. Best we can guess is we went off course 3-4 miles (not too bad for a 50k). Finally we see “Mississippi” in a bright red shirt on a different trail through the woods to our left. We yell to him, but he can’t hear us. So we bush crash through the woods to pick up his trail. We met up with Mississippi at the Braemore aid station. The grilled cheese was soo good – I should have had two!

Leaving Braemore, I texted Twink and told her we’d be there in a bit. I heard that this section seems long to everyone – but it was mostly runnable and not too bad for me. It must have been the 2 on, 2 off that kept me feeling good. Somewhere on this section I got a stinging feeling on my left foot. It got progressively worse, so I stopped and took off my sock – some sort of green bug had bitten or stung me – weird. Seeing Coan pond was a huge relief. What an uplifting feeling running into an aid station with cow bells and familiar faces cheering for you. It somehow washes away all the pain. The soup and the aid here was fantastic! I remember being in awe last year of the runners leaving a 22 mile aid station with 10+ more to go. I thought they were crazy. But now that it was me – I felt surprisingly positive; 10 miles didn’t seem like a big deal at this point.

We walked up the hill out of the aid station to the cheers of the volunteers. It didn’t matter at all that we were in last place at this point. I was just happy to still be moving on. Lots of downhill helped in this section. Roy was constantly asking – are you drinking, are you eating? I’m sick of gels – I went through at least 8 of them. We started to think about the last cut-off time at rt. 80. We had to make mile 30 (mile 34 for us) by 5:00 or we’d be disqualified. We calculated our arrival at around 4:45 – plenty of time. We made the last cut-off by 9 minutes. Finally, I knew I was going to finish.

The last 2.5 miles through the Timberlands was not a problem – I’ve heard this from past runners as well. Somehow, you just get it done (maybe it was the Heady Toppers I had on ice waiting me, and now a couple for Roy as well). There weren’t too many people left at the finish, just the important ones. Thanks to all of the volunteers, and of course to Jerry and Kerry for putting on such an amazing race!

–Wheels