Sometime around the beginning of April my friend Tyler (of It Pok fame) invited me to join him for a 50km trail run - the Rothrock 50k. Prior to this, my longest race ever was a 25k and my longest run ever was a 19 miler. Both of which were back in my college days. I was hesitant, but I had a decent start to my training season, and needed a concrete race to train towards, so I agreed to do it.

Preparation

By race day I had worked up to about 30 miles per week with only moderate body pain, and he assured me that was enough to finish the race. It is a hilly trail course, so I had no intention to run the entire thing, but rather to hike or walk a lot of it, and just jog the runnable sections.

We got out to PA the night before, attended the opening ceremony, had dinner, and I did a short jog. Then we got to bed early. Before the race started things were going well - good night’s sleep, good breakfast, bathroom trips successfully completed before the race started.

The Race

For the first several miles Tyler and I stuck mostly together. We quickly realized that the terrain was much tougher than we expected. The hills were roughly what we expected, which is to say they were brutal, but the footing was really hard. Roots and rocks everywhere. Not too many runnable sections. There were aid stations ever 3-6 miles, and most of them had lots of food, and other good stuff. A couple were water only. At first I was setting a slightly faster pace than Tyler because his heart rate was unexpectedly high. I was waiting for him at the aid stations, which was good because I definitely liked to take my time resting and cooling down at each station. But after about the third or fourth station, he was starting to feel better and I was getting pretty tired, and he pulled way ahead of me.

At some point there was an aid station that was water only, and I had not remembered that it was water only. Luckily I had some calories in my pack, but it was still a tough break. From there on, I got slower and began to embrace the walking sticks that Tyler had gifted me more and more. My feet got sore, and using the sticks like crutches took some weight off of them. At some point I remembered I had some ibuprofen in my pack, and that helped keep me going.

By the last third I was in survival mode. Running very little, sitting down at aid stations, and just focusing on making from one station to the next because the entirety of th course seemed incomprehensibly long.

Eventually I made it to the very last aid station. When I got there, I was expecting another four miles to the finish, but the signage and all the volunteers assured me it was only 2.5 more miles. That was a huge relief and a breath of fresh air. After sitting for a looong time at that aid station, I got going again, and completed the last 2.5 miles. I even managed to run a decent amount of it because the trail was dirt and gradually downhill, and the last mile or so was on a road.

Finishing felt amazing, and the BBQ sandwiches they had at the end did too. We went back to the hotel, limped through a shower, and went to bed really early. My final time was 11:12, and Tyler’s was 10:20. There was a bell at the finish that you are supposed to ring, but I was so beat, that I didn’t even remember it and somehow walked past without seeing it.

Overall, one of the hardest physical challenges of my life, but well worth it and really fun. Thanks for the invite Tyty.

Following Few Months

After the race, I took an easy week, and then got back to building my mileage.

I worked up to 35 miles per week and stayed there for four straight weeks. This was my highest weekly mileage since at least 2017 or possibly earlier. During that time I had a few long runs 10mi, 11mi, 12mi.

But when I finally decided to up my mileage again, I got injured. I strained my calf (or maybe a nearby tendon) only 23 miles into the week. It remains to be seen whether it is a season ender. I was able to jog the Riverfest 5k on it, but not race hard.