Buffalo 50 Mile Race, Mar 19th 2016

I have been anticipating this race for 12 months. Ever since finishing it I have been wanting to do it again and could hardly wait. In 2015 I finished in 12:42:51. I thought with the training miles I had completed over the previous 22 weeks, at 50+ miles a week, maxing out at 86 one week and 200+ miles a month and a total of around 1100 in that 22 week period, I should be able to beat my previous time. I set a goal of 11:15:00, almost 90 minutes faster than the previous year. I needed a finishing overall pace of 13:30/mile. This would be a huge accomplishment if I could actually do it. Attempting it would be the only way to find out.

DROP BAGS AND PACK.

I was carrying a hydration pack with me and had debated with only taking a belt but wasn't confident enough to do that. The pack I carried had about 60 oz of Gatorade and ice, which I figured should last me the whole race, and a 21 oz bottle of water to refill at the aid stations. I also had Welsh cakes, fig newtons, gingersnaps and some candies. It was quite heavy. I ended up with 4 drop bags to place at the aid stations. I knew it was way too many but figured its better to have too much than not enough. At the White Rock AS I'd have a pair of Altras, at Elephant Head AS it would be mostly empty to store clothes, at Lower Frary AS would be another pair of Altras in the event I didn't change shoes at White Rock and at the Ranch I had two bottles of Guinness. In all of them I had extra cookies and cadbury mini eggs.

I finished work earlier than normal the night before and crawled into bed around 10:30, the alarms were set for 3:10am. I thought I might get 4 hours sleep. Well, I think I fell asleep pretty fast, but woke up around 12:30 and just couldn't get back to sleep. Finally around 1:30 I got up, made some tea and thought I'd just hang out and relax taking my time doing the things I would be rushing to do at 3:10. A quarter to four I headed out the door to Laura Westerns place. I was getting a ride with them once again this year. Lisa, Catherine and Laura were pretty much ready to go when I got there and we drove the 45 miles to the start area.

THE START

We milled around in the tent catching up with friends we only seem to see at races and other friends we see fairly often in training runs, but never often enough. Our running friends are like family and its always great to see them at these events. Wanderley came in and I helped him with a pair of gaiters I lent him, he was also looking for Susette as he had never met her, but he missed her in the tent by about 2 minutes.

Some of our group before the race.

After a brief talk from Jim and a private presentation of a stroller to Marisa the race started. By the time we got onto the road the trail of lights was already going around the other side of the fence. Marisa was panicking looking for Ruthie. We weren't sure if she was with the group ahead of us or still in the tent. Turned out she was behind us and quickly caught up to Marisa as they came to the turn at the gate. I ran ahead and caught up to Miju and ran with her for a bit, then thought I need to get some time banked so picked up the pace a bit and went ahead. The air was freezing, I think around 32'F. I had a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, wind breaker jacket, hat, gloves and buff. I pulled the buff up to keep the dust out of my lungs and try to keep my face warm. The dust wasn't as bad as the previous year, but you could still see it flashing in the beams of the headlamps.
The first two miles are a climb, not a difficult climb but one that seems to go forever. I was keeping a pretty good pace for me, running in the dark, up a hill. At one point two girls pulled up beside me, they said we know who you are and its like we know you already. It was funny my infamy goes before me. I post way too much on Facebook! One was Karen Bishop, the other Dyanna Wallace. At the crest of the hill, the trail goes along a ridge looking down onto the Mountain View Trail and you could see the lights of some of the 100 mile racers on that trail. Ahead and down into the valley were the 50 mile racers lights. It felt so good to be going downhill and making up some of the time I thought I lost on the climb. I knew going up the trail by the one tree would take some of my banked time but its at least a short climb. I got into the Elephant head aid station about 7:10, 5.8 miles in 1:10 was okay for me. Short visit with Jennilyn and Cherrie, a drink of coke and I headed out to the Elephant head out and back.

ELEPHANT HEAD OUT AND BACK.

Miju

Janet

I left the Elephant Head Aid Station and started down the trail on the 3 mile out and back to the point. At the end we take a sticker and put it on our bibs to prove we were there. It was getting lighter by this time, but still too dark to get decent pictures.

Ruthie and Marisa

Laura and Catherine

On the way out we get to see those who are faster than us, Eric Nelson, Monte, Jade, and then I ran into Susette and Wanderley, he had finally found her. Then after a quick hello to Randi just before the end of the trail I arrived at the box with the stickers. I attached the sticker and headed back towards the Elephant head aid station clambering over the rocky area before getting to the packed dirt trail. I had realized by this time I had forgotten to stash my headlamp into the drop bag. On the way back I crossed paths with Miju, she looked strong and wasn't that far behind me, Janet,(she had taken a tumble and had sore ribs), Ruthie, Marisa, Laura and Catherine. I'm sure there were others.

SPLIT ROCK TRAIL WITH DREADED SWITCH BACKS

I arrived at the EHAS, found my drop bag and stuck my headlamp in it. I had thought I would dump my jacket and warmer clothes by now but it was still cold and I kept them all on. Without getting any coke or food I took off down the trail for the loop which included the switchbacks. Its a beautiful smooth downhill for about a mile and a half.

Randi and Teresa on switchbacks

A gorgeous view of the lake and mountains in the distance, and you can see runners winding their way along the trail ahead of you. But this is just a tease, once you cross an area which looks like an old reef, its that climb you just dropped down, its long, steep and horrid. In the switch back area you can see people power hiking above you and could probably throw stones and hit them they are so close, but easily a quarter of a mile away sticking with the trail. Its very tempting to go straight up the brush and leave the trail, but I didn't.

 I kept seeing a lot of Randi from here on. I kept trying to catch up to her and sometimes I'd make good progress, but other times she seemed to add to the distance. Once the climb was done, its a rolling trail for about a mile or so until we return to the EHAS. Again I didn't stop for drinks or food, I was still cold so didn't leave any clothes either. We were about 14 miles into the race by this time, and 2:55 in elapsed time. I was at a 12:25/m pace which made me very happy. For the first 14 miles I had banked more than 14 minutes in time on my expected finish pace/time.

Robin

Randi was just ahead of me and just as we got to the downhill stretch at one tree I passed her and flew down the hill past a lot of 50k races climbing up the hill. At the bottom of this we turn right and then its a climb of about 200' elevation gain. I saw Robin coming towards me, she was running the 50k race and they started a few hours after us. She said she didn't recognize me as she's quite short sighted. After a quick hug we were going our separate directions. Randi once again caught up to me, she is incredible on the hills. I also got a picture of Melissa Schmidt climbing the same hill but she was doing the 100 mile race. She would have been at around mile 65 by this time.
At this time I finally felt like I was warming up. Off came my jacket and I tied it around my waist.

STRETCH TO WHITE ROCK

Carl Tippets and the finish area

Once at the top, we headed north, me once again trying to catch up to Randi and her friend Teresa. I never did catch them on this stretch of rolling easy trail heading west which then goes north to the drop into White Rock Aid Station. Along this stretch I saw another older guy running the race, I slowly caught up to him and ended up passing him on one stretch, but not long after he passed me, then on a slight hill I passed him again. Later I found out his name was Carl Tippets and he was 63 years old.
We passed the park bench at the fork which we had run past in the dark three and a half hours previously and he hit that downhill like a rolling stone. There was no way I could keep up with him on the downhill. With him increasing the distance between us, I started thinking about my feet which were getting pretty sore.
As I got close to the aid station I saw Randi on the other side of the fence, she had spent no time at the station it seemed. But I wanted to switch out my shoes, the Asics were getting very painful. I had decided to use my Asics Fuji racer trail shoes for the initial 19 miles and then switch to a more cushiony Altra Olympus at that point. I had struggled with this decision for days but went with it. The Asics are a much lighter shoe and I thought that would help with my speed while I was still fresh. I still don't know if that was the right decision though. I stopped and took off the Injini socks and put some nice clean soft Asics socks and Altra Olympus 1.5 Trail shoes. The Injini socks had been awful on the first two miles in the race. The right one felt like it had bunched up at the base of the toes. They must have fixed themselves though as I didn't have a problem with them in later miles. I stashed the old shoes, socks and my jacket in the drop bag and put the Altras on,  I couldn't believe the difference in feel, it was like floating on clouds and I was in heaven. Because of my stop I didn't think I'd see Randi again unless she stopped at some point but I bounced down the gravel road in my wonderfully soft shoes.

WHITE ROCK TO THE MOUNTAIN VIEW TRAIL

Passing the finish area. 30 miles to go.

Off I went east on the road, past the finish line which I probably wouldn't see again for 7 hours. I was looking to see if Danny W. was visible, He had been hoping to finish his 100 mile race by 10am. It was right on this time when I passed through. Later I found out he had finished 5 minutes before that. I turned from scanning the finish area and who do I see but Heather MacFarland! A site for sore eyes. Its so nice to see a familiar friendly face when you are getting tired. She encouraged me as I started the climb up the hill over to the Mountainview Trail.


Karen Bishop and me.

My MP3 player went dead at this point and I hooked up a battery to get it charged to continue listening to music and just about went the wrong way down the road but another runner hollered at me and I corrected that before I ran more than I needed too. I crossed the paved road and then its a steep downhill grade along the fence and then left at the bottom and about a mile north to the MV Aid Station. As I started along this stretch I heard someone yelling my name coming my direction, it could only be Susette! I asked her if she saw Ryan at the Ranch to let him know I'm about 2 miles behind her. About another half mile and I passed Wanderley. I gave him the same message to tell Ryan I was about a mile behind him. He said, Oh you'll catch me by the ranch. I didn't think so! Carl Tippets also saw me as he was running south in the opposite direction and yelled, Hurry Up! I need my pacer! 

Off to my left were a small group of buffalo resting and grazing in the dry grass in the distance. A nice safe distance which I was happy with.

At the MVAS it turned out Royce was helping. I used the toilets, grabbed some coke, a boiled potato and salt and then I was surprised to see Randi. She had changed her shoes at this aid station, allowing me to catch up. Randi, Teresa and I had a picture taken by Randi's mom and then I took off south. No time to waste! They didn't waste time either as they were right behind me.

SOUTH ON MOUNTAIN VIEW TRAIL

I think Heather was happy to see me again :)

I saw lots of Randi, Teresa, and Annie MacDonald on the trail heading south, we took turns leap frogging around each other with me mostly pulling up the rear.

There were also two girls dressed in red and white who looked like Waldo, cutest outfits ever. I passed them a few times and they'd pass me, we did this for miles as we approached Garr Ranch and they helped my pace quite a bit along with Randi and the others. Later I found out their names were Kaylee and Heather.
We came across one buffalo that was quite close to the trail. It didn't have much interest in us other than watching us as we went by.

The Waldo girls

 I left the trail to try to get a picture of it with Randi and a girl name Annie MacDonald in the foreground.
The trail crosses the road about a mile before the Lower Frary AS and I saw a familiar face in the distance. Heather MacFarland again! I got a few pictures of her and also Zac Marion was in one of them running towards me. It turned out he won the race in just over 7 hours.

LOWER FRARY AID STATION

Nicole and me.

Is this the finish?

I ran up to the Aid Station, they had cow bells ringing and I hollered out, IS THIS THE FINISH? I wasted some time trying to find my drop bag, but once I did I stuffed my long sleeved shirt into it. I had removed it a few miles back as it was now warm enough for just a t-shirt. It never did get warm enough to go without a shirt like last year. I grabbed a coke and downed it, then a boiled potato and headed down the trail while still eating the potato. As I left I saw Randi siting in a chair with someone massaging her. After a few miles the trail once again crosses the road onto the east side and I saw a car sitting on the side of the road, as I approached I realized it was Nicole, Janets daughter, she was going to be pacing her mom from the ranch. She knew Janet had fallen, but said she was doing okay which was great to hear. We got a picture together and I started off. I almost went running down the road instead of back onto the trail on the other side of the road. Watch where you're going dummy. It was on this stretch I passed Jarrod Garr. He was doing the 100 mile race for a second attempt at it. I had a brief word with him and he seemed to be doing okay. I thought we'd catch up with him again when going north later on. It wasn't long before I passed Jade again, he looked like he was out for an afternoon 3 mile run but he would have been at his mile 37 or so. Then Monte passed and he also looked great. Another guy came towards me, I have no idea who he was but he looked pretty worn out. I could see from his bib he was doing the 100 and I hollered at him. Would you do it again? He slowly shook his head and said, never.

GARR RANCH AID STATION

As I previously said, I put two bottles of Guinness in the drop bag for the Garr Ranch aid station which is mile 33 in the race. I figured it might be nice to have a beer about then. Ryan my pacer said he'd get them and put them in his cooler while he waited for me. I was still running an overall average pace of 12:45 at the Garr Ranch and didn't want to spend too much time there.  On my watch I had two paces in one of the screens. The total overall pace and the current lap pace. I found that if I kept an eye on the latter and anytime I hit 13:00 for that mile I'd speed up until it was in the lower 12:00/mile range, then I could take a walk break and let it climb again. I was making fairly consistent time this way. I was also starting to realize I may even break 11 hours in my finish time.
I got to the aid station almost exactly at 1pm, 25 minutes ahead of my target time for that point in the race and didn't feel like drinking the Guinness at all. I just didn't think it would sit well with my stomach.  So Ryan left them in his truck and another guy drove it north to the finish for him. Saw Wanderley posing for a picture at the portapottie, the Waldo girls came into the aid station, Randi and the others also arrived there.
At this point I had unplugged my earplugs and even though the mp3 player played until the end of the race I didn't listen to music for the final 17 miles.

GOING NORTH ON THE MOUNTAINVIEW

Miju when we thought she was quitting

I headed north, knowing I only had 17 miles to go, just over a 25k race to do and I would be done. I wanted to keep with the pace I had been doing so I took off before Ryan was ready, he went to his truck to get his pack and within a half a mile he caught up to me. He was going to pace me for those final miles and help me when I was at my worst, hopefully prod me into running more than crawling. I explained to him what I had been doing with my pace and we continued to do that going north on the Mountainview Trail. I also told him I think I may break into a finish time that would have 10 in the beginning of it. This really gave me motivation to push.

Janet actually had a lot more energy left

We soon came across Miju who was really struggling with issues. She was adamant she was quitting the race at the next aid station. I told her, go to the station, rest for awhile, get cleaned up and see how you feel. She had lots of time before the 4pm cut off at the Lower Frary Aid station. I really thought she was done though and told Ryan at least she will have done a 50k distance or more.

I was happy to see Marisa happy!

Laura and Catherine

We passed other friends heading to the ranch, Janet was looking strong, but faked a worn out look. Marisa was happier than a lark which was awesome to see. I wondered if she would be hating life and me by this time, she was getting to a distance she had never run before. One girl moaned to us I think I'm last but we assured her there were others behind her. Laura and Catherine were steadily pounding the trail and still looking good and strong. As we headed north we passed people going south, plus now and then passed people as they were running out of steam going north with us. I finally got a glimpse of Carl Tippets once again and we edged our way closer to him, finally passing him at one point. I visited with him and he kept up with us for a number of miles using us as his pacer. Having the advantage of Ryan pulling me along was showing the benefits as we passed runner after runner.

Ryan!

We went through the Lower Frary aid station as quickly as possible. I filled my water bottle for the first time in the race which told me I wasn't drinking enough. I wasn't feeling the weight of the gaitorade, but I didn't think I had drunk enough of it either. I looked over the food to see what jumped out at me and I saw they had hotdogs in buns, I thought I have to have one of those which I did. It hit the spot! Washed it down with some coke, used some of my new supply of water to wash some ketchup off my hands and we were already on the trail once again.
I was telling Ryan we had been pretty close to one buffalo near the trail and before long we came across one that was within 25' of us. Way. Too. Close. We walked by it as it stared and I whispered, nice buffalo, nice buffalo, plus I tried to get a picture of it. If it killed me, I'd have the evidence.

Ryan and his pet buffalo

Earl? Is that you?

Slowly the miles clicked by. We knocked off the miles by figuring the race distances we still needed to go, a half mile more and we just have to do a half marathon, we only now have to do a 10k, etc.
We finally got to the fence, which is around mile 43.5 and hiked up the hill to the road. That hurt the legs, its a short hill, but oh so cruel at that point in the race.
As we ran/walked the gravel road Ryan could see others in the distance and wanted to make a challenge of catching and passing them. He had way more energy than I did but I played along as best I could. Slowly every now and then we'd pass someone. Sometimes it would turn out to be a person in the 100 mile race, other times a fellow 50 miler. We never did see Jarrod Garr, I'm thinking he may have been at the Lower Frary Aid station when we went through it.

BRIDGER BAY AID STATION

Down the hill into
Bridger Bay AS

At the station we tried to be as quick as possible and again got the edge on a few others who probably spent a bit more time than they should have. It was great seeing Christy and getting a hug from her. A coke, couple of orange slices and we were off. Even though you're not really racing others, its nice to pass a few people in the process. At least better than being passed by others!

BUFFALO POINT

The trail wound its way through a mess of large rocks which you had to watch each step you took otherwise it was so easy to do a face plant into the next rock in your way. I was calculating times and told ryan if we do the next 3 miles at an 18 minute pace I can still beat the 11:00:00 hour finish time, he said, you can do better than that and we kept pushing. Mile 45 and mile 48 were close to a 12:00 mile which totally surprised me when I saw it later on.

FINAL TWO MILES

Still trying to stay ahead of the younger guy

I have competition, even
though he doesn't know it!

Around mile 48, I was dead, and struggling to keep running without taking walking breaks. It was at this point I was being trailed by a guy who was a lot younger than me and looked a lot fresher. I wondered where had had been all day. I kept ahead of him, but this part of the trail is very rocky and windy, so anytime it was clear I'd try to pull to the side to allow him to pass but he didn't. So I figured I'd do what I could to stay ahead of him. By now my legs were done and Ryan must have known this, he tempted me with, "I'll buy you a Guinness if you can run without walking the rest of the way to the finish" I replied, "I'll buy my own Guinness". He laughed and reminded me they were locked up in his truck. I pushed hard trying to keep running without taking a walk break and I'm thinking to myself, what if he doesn't let me have them, in my tiredness I was getting stupider. While I was having this debate in my head on whether Ryan was serious or not I realized I didn't hear the other runners footsteps behind me any longer, so figured he must have started walking. Anyway, this new worry of mine kept me going until we got off the trail onto the road and I couldn't keep running any longer, I figured forget the beer, I'm walking. It was at this moment the young guy went flying by me. I don't know where he found the energy but he had it and there was no way I could do the same. It was a slight hill going east and it was good to take a break. We then turned right onto a straight gravel road where I could see some runners way ahead of us. That section of road seemed to go forever. I could see the young guy way ahead of us by now. I'd run when I could, and walk when I couldn't run. With Ryan's help I ran more than I walked.
After what seemed like ages we finally got to the end of that stretch and made the turn east. We could see the people and the tent knowing it was almost over with once more. I tried not to walk the rest of that bit but I think I did walk for a second or two then would attempt to run but did run up to the final turn and into the chute at the finish. I stopped my watch and realized I had beaten my previous time by almost 2 hours. I never dreamed that would happen.


THE FINISH

The final turn!

The official finish time was 10:43:53, 1 hour and 59 minutes faster than last year. Overall average pace was 12:52/mile. I knocked off 35 seconds off my target pace per mile and did each mile at least 2 minutes and 24 seconds faster than last year. That's an incredible jump. But I believe the combination of lots of miles in training and having the best pacer is what did it. Thank you Ryan.

I noticed my watch was showing 49.75 miles so of course even though I'm dead, I had to go for a quarter mile run to make sure my watch shows 50 on it, Ryan grac
iously accompanied me in my moment of OCD. We also used this time to grab the Guinness.

From then on, we just tried to stay warm as the temperature was dropping. It was fun seeing friends finish such a huge accomplishment and I got an incredible surprise when I went to get some pictures of people coming up the hill to the finish line and saw Miju coming our way. I had only just told someone that she pulled out of the race and she totally proved me wrong. Totally in awe that she finished.

I think I influenced at least 7 people that I can think of to sign up for this 50 mile race and I believe every one of them was happy to get this accomplishment. Some of them are already talking about next year! Randi, Janet, Ruthie, Catherine, Marisa, Miju, Wanderley, were there any others?

A deal I made with myself was if I did well in this race I'd plan on doing the 100 mile race next year. Before the day was over I knew that I'd be attempting it in 2017 without a doubt.

Looking back on the race, next time I wouldn't carry a pack, but would depend more on the aid stations and the drop bags for my supplies. I would use my Nathan V-belt with two bottles and 3 pockets.

 Now to work on getting others to sign up with me for the 100 mile race next year...

I was amazed Miju made it!