The plan was to pace my self at about 10 MM for the first 19 miles, through the climbs and descents. I knew the rest of the race was fairly flat so I planned to crank it up over the last 30 miles and drop to a 9MM pace so I could finish at about a 9;30MM pace which would translate to a sub 8 hr day.
The first 19 went exactly as planned, and when I hit the East side I was at 9:58MM. The next 11 miles would be a tailwind, so I figured I better drop below the 9MM because I would be battling that same wind coming back.
I was doing okay until about mile 29-30. It was getting hard to hold that pace even with the tailwind.
I staggered into the mile 34 aid station (the turn around) in a very very dark place. All the volunteers were having a big ol party that looked a heck of lot funner than what I was doing.
I spent a little to long at the turn-around, and lost some serious time I would never make back up.
Pushing out of the turn -around, I still was in that dark space. I kinda resigned myself to the fact that that is probably where I would spend the rest of the run.
But something happened about mile 38 that I can't explain. My legs just seemed happier as long as they were turning over, so I didn't really spend any time walking from there to the end (except for a little 300 yd climb).
From mile 45-47 I had dropped to an 8:30MM, but then I hit the technical section that was so rocky it was impossible to keep that pace, even though I felt ok.
Out of the Rocky section and toward the finish I felt good. Crossed the line feeling very good about how the day ended (I was concerned at mile 33 that I was so miserable I would never want to do this again). Very happy to have pulled out of that black hole I seemed to have been in.
My nutrition seemed pretty good. By chance I bought two Almond Butter packets at striders during packet pick-up, and it was a nice change from the gu. The expresso almond butter was perfect.
At mile 42 I had a little encounter with a buffalo. From about 200 yds away I could see it meandering closer and closer to the trail. As I approached the buffalo I could see he was more interested in eating so I kept my eyes on the trail, while keeping him in my peripherals. As I passed by I came within 12-15 ft. As I passed by he wandered closer to the trail, until he was right there. I was in the clear, but I wondered about the runners who were back behind me.
The 50 Miler proved to be a lot more difficult than I had given in credit for. I've got that under my belt now, so I have the race and volunteer requirements to sign up for the Bear 100. Of course, the way I feel right now I'm not falling over myself to get signed up. I need to let the memory of the pain of this one fad a bit.


Definitely do some longer training runs. I don't think I needed to a complete 50 in training, but I think a 38 miler could've prepared me a little better for that low spot.