Subject: Race report: Dances With Dirt'99 50km Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 15:00:15 -0500 (EST) From: Todd Veldhuizen Sunday was my first ultra: the Dances With Dirt 50 km trail run "in and around the bowels of Hell, Michigan". Yes, there really *is* a Hell, Michigan. There is a 50 mile ultra, 100 km relay, and 14 mile "flirt with dirt" held concurrently. Altogether there were some 700 runners, most of these (~80%) relay runners. So sometimes the ultras got secondary treatment (e.g. the course maps mailed out before the race were marked with the relay course, not the ultra course which was slightly different). The course was out-and-back, with aid stations every 3-5 miles. These aid stations were also relay exchange points, which had to be car accessible, so it made it easy for Lindsay, my better half and crew for the day, to meet up with me. The course and start times were arranged so the ultra runners went through the aid stations well before the relays, and there were special "ultra only" tables at some stations with pretzels, m&ms, fruit, powergel, powerbars, coke, etc. The other nice feature of the out-and-back, shared course was it made for good spectating -- I got to see the lead 50k runners coming back while I was outbound, saw the lead relay runners while I was on the return leg, got passed by the lead 50 miler on the return leg (a 51 yr fellow who zipped past me convincingly) and still got back to the start early enough for a front-row seat as the first 50 milers and relay teams finished! I had heard from other listers about problems with course markings and aid at DWD in past years. The RDs are aware of the course marker problems-- the local residents who hike on the trails pull down the ribbons, and this year even a park ranger de-marked a section of trail (despite the race having the correct permits). This year they vowed, "You will not get lost!!!". There were volunteers running each section of the course in the morning, fixing any downed markers, and during they race they had people on call to swoop in and repost missing markers. Despite this, there was one section with missing markers on the outbound leg. Luckily the trail was straightforward (no turnoffs) and there were occasional shreds of trail marker left. By the time I came through this section on the return leg, the markers had magically reappeared. For the super-paranoid, the RDs provided detailed lists of gps waypoints. I didn't see *anyone* carrying a gps. There was much trash talk from the organizers about how rough the trail was, with legs named "psycho" and "the beast". My favourite was the description of the first relay leg: Muck, Swamp, Water, Moderate Hills, Skin Abrasions, Crying Potential; wear clothes you can throw out; hint: boat traffic has right-of-way. It turned out that the 50k relay skipped all the tough legs. There were no stream or swamp crossings. There was one hilly leg, but that was it. It was a puppy dog of a trail -- often in better shape than the trails I train on! This was my first ultra, and even my first marathon distance. I'd built up my long runs to 35 km, so I was reasonably sure I'd be able to finish. I'd predicted a finish somewhere between 5-7 hours, depending on how good I felt. I crossed the finish at 5:50, so things did fall apart a little bit, but not catastrophically. The start was in a campground, and there was a short distance along road before the trail began. At the trailhead there was a comical funnel effect: everyone had been running 8 abreast, and now we had to get into single file. So everyone stood around politely in a big clump waiting their turn to get on the trail. Finally we were off! The first half of the race went quickly. I started at an easy pace to warm up, then picked up a little, walking up the hills and running everything else, averaging a 9.5 minute/mile pace. I was carrying a 2-bottle fanny pack and munched my way through a PBJ sandwich and a Cliff bar on the early legs. I was feeling really good, and had to force myself to take short walking breaks every 20 minutes or so. Things went well until near the turnaround, when I started to feel nauseous. I'm still not sure what caused it, but my suspicion is the fanny pack, which I wore tightly to keep from flopping around. I ate similar food and ran at a similar pace & distance in training with no nausea, but didn't wear a fanny pack. I also hadn't peed yet, which was odd considering it was a cool day (mid 70s F) and I had taken in about 2.5 L of Succeed! ultra and 2 electrolyte caps. A pee check revealed dehydration. Argh! One of those deceptively cool days, I was sweating more than I was taking in water. Dumb newbie mistake. I hobbled through the last bit as best I could, cheering the lead 50k'ers who flew by looking entirely too energetic. I reached the turnaround aid station at about 2:40. I took another electrolyte cap and lingered there for about 5 minutes, drinking as much water as I could. I went through my drop bag but nothing looked appealing. The peanut butter + banana sandwich I had packed didn't even look like food. I did down a powergel though. Off I went on the return leg, now with my fanny pack slung over my shoulder to relieve pressure on my abdomen. The water sloshing around in my gut quickly triggered an "episode" after which I felt much better. I thought I was having hallucinations on the return leg. I kept hearing an aid station ahead, but every time I turned a corner it would be nowhere in sight. After five minutes of this (and starting to get concerned) I came around a bend and found a large group of kids hiking the trail. Their leaders thoughtfully had them walking in single file on the edge of the trail to make room for runners, and they were noisily encouraging everyone who came through. Mystery solved: a roving cheering section. The temptation to walk became pretty strong, especially with my stomach acting up. Strangely, I felt even crummier if I stopped running -- at least when running I was distracted with foot plants and avoiding poison ivy. So I ran far more than I initially thought I could. At an aid station I left the fanny pack with my crew-guy extraordinaire and sucked back some powergel and an electrolyte cap. I didn't care much for gel before this race, but I have new respect for it. I could keep it down and it gave me a nice kick. For a while I ran with a single water bottle carried in my hand, but eventually ditched that too (and just drank at the aid stations). At the last aid station I even had a cup of coke (which I never drink even when NOT racing, but having read of its mysterious properties and being in trouble anyway I was curious to try it). I crossed the finish in 5:50, a solid mid-pack finish. I really dropped my pace in the second half. In spite of the nausea I was pleased with the result for a first 50k. I even got a cap for an age-group 1st (there were only 2 runners in my age group). And it was a great learning experience. So all in all, a good race, some organizational hiccups but a big improvement over the reports I had about last year's. The volunteers and aid stations were terrific. The next day I sent out an application for my second ultra: the Owen-Putnam State Forest 50k, just down the road in Spencer, IN. -- Todd Veldhuizen tveldhui@acm.org Indiana Univ. Comp. Sci. http://extreme.indiana.edu/~tveldhui/