Date: Wed, 08 Apr 1998 20:18:12 -0700 From: Ron Adams Subject: American River 50 Report (XP) American River 50 Endurance Run Sacramento to Auburn California Saturday April 4th, 1998 Executive Version My first American River 50 and an enjoyable run on what turned out to be a perfect weather day, with great support and lots of company (535 of my best trail running buddies). I had a steady run with no really bad patches and finished running strongly LongWinded Version (Mainly the highlights) -Caught a flight from the sunny Pacific NorthWest to arrive in rainy California (Is something wrong with this picture ?) -I had worried on the list about taking Karl's Kaps through US customs. It wouldn't have mattered, since the customs officer just couldn't get past the concept that anybody could actually run 50 miles, and then when confronted with my Western States buckle, just shrugged his shoulders and waved us through. -visited with Pete Petri (and wife Carmen) the night before, and he generously shared some of his Succeed! caps (plus one extra for good measure) -during the race I ran into a runner who was in some trouble with cramping. I shared my "extra" cap with him and he later thanked me and said it made the difference. So, thanks Pete for that extra cap ... somebody else got the benefit, so your generosity did double duty :-)) -The weather was cool (high about 55 to 60 and sunny, although it had rained the day before (and the night before) so the route was wet and quite muddy on some parts of the trails The Start - RD Delmar Fralick opened with a word of prayer and included a request for good weather. The man upstairs was definitely listening, because the rain stopped and before many miles were past the sun came out. I even got a bit of sunburn -Starting Humour - Delmar Fralick at the start had some great bags of GU and threw them out into the crowd of runners. Some runners even threw the GU back at him. A good old fashioned Ultra style food fight :-) -The American River bike trail was different than I expected. From everything that I had heard, I expected it to be boring and barren, but in fact at this time of year, it was green and in the early morning coolness and freshness, I found it to be a pleasant run route. -It was fast. Most of the splits came by quicker than I expected, and I was aware of the warnings not to go out too fast. After 10 miles or so, I was slowing down and was being steadily and constantly passed, although I felt comfortable with my pace. -the American River Parkway is one big park with lots of easy crew access, so my ever supportive wife Cathy was a regular at each aid station ready with extra fuel (GU, sportsdrink) -Somewhere between Negro Bar and Beal's Point I started to feel the weariness, although by this point I was no longer being passed (other than the usual leapfrog with the same people) Beal's Point was quite windy, but since most of the trail was sheltered, wind was not an issue. Tropical John had his aid station team fitted out in Hawaiian shirts and true enough there was salt. Gene T was there to greet me (and 500 other souls), but it was probably a tough aid station to work due to the cold wind . -I ran with some others on the next stretch and that helped pull me along, although I was tired at Granite Bay and for about a mile afterwards. The trail was not as rugged as I expected since it was sort of like running through rolling lightly forested meadows. -About a mile after Granite Bay, I started to feel good and really enjoyed the trail (much of it seemed to be downhill where I can really motor) The mud was tolerable, but caution was necessary in order to not go for a tumble. The terrain was getting more scenic and interesting along here. -I later hit a rough patch from Horseshoe Bar to Manhattan Bar or at least it seemed tough, but my splits didn't seem to suffer. This section of trail had WS trail markers with every half mile marked The marking was not for AR purposes, but was a useful gauge to judge progress and pace. After Manhattan Bar, the scener became more rugged and more what I had expected it to look like. I started to feel pretty good and I started to be able to smell the barn, so I was pressing the pace, cause I got it in my head that although breaking 9 hours might not be possible, but I would give it my best shot. Most of the aid stations seemed to come sooner than I expected, but it took much longer than expected to get from Manhattan Bar to Last Gasp. I had joked that I would start my sprint when I saw Barry Fisher. (Note - this year Barry was aid station captain at Last Gasp) After I started the climb (at the river) I made a point of doing my last GU, and downing my water. When I did see Barry, I shook his hand, promised to send him an e-mail and ran right through his aid station =:-^0 I tried to run everything from the river up, and after passing Barry I didn't walk more than 150 yards to the top. I remembered a friend's comment about how rewarding it was to pass people on that hill. He was right !! It's also rewarding to finish a race strongly and to leave that as your finishing memory. Of course, If it had been 90 deg, it would have been a different experience. Finish - I saw Delmar, thanked him for the great race, ate hot soup, watched some of my trail friends finish and then headed off for my "date" with a bottle of Tecnu. BTW - there was "lots" of poison oak on some sections of the trail, but not as much as I had feared. Thanks to all you folks on the list for the pre-race advice. I did bring my Tecnu, I did scrub down afterwards and I don't have any poison oak symptoms (I also tried to avoid brushing against it during the race) and ... the Polar Fleece Vest is superb! I've worn it every day since :-) Cheers Ron Adams on the banks of the Capilano River North Vancouver, British Columbia capilano@ibm.net or rmadams@wimsey.com AR50 98 WS98 IMC98