Ken Blake
Race report 2nd Annual IMTR September 29, 2007 By Ken Blake
I had prepared for this 50 mile race partially by training running numerous trails with hills in the Great Smokies near my home. Last February I had run my 1st ultra The Mt. Mitchell Challenge in North Carolina (a 40 miler) and soon after decided I would make the IMTR my 1st 50.
The cool temperature (about 45 degrees) at the starting line was perfect for me as I jogged the flat cinder trail chatting with other runners and warming up for what lay ahead. I had decided in advance that I would attempt to run as much of the course as possible, including the up-hill portions. I had felt like I was catching a cold a few days leading up to the race and although I mostly felt fine, I was not sure if this was a good idea in a slightly weakened state.
At the 1st aid station my time was about 40 minutes and although I felt fresh for the first climb at Straight Branch, I knew I had to slow it down a bit (no problem with the steep climb.) Everything was going great. The sunlight began to glisten through the trees. Beautiful and scenic! I kept running, re-filling my one bottle at FSR 90, and munching on a Larabar. As the sun rose more, the light flashing through the trees made seeing the trail clearly tricky. I tried wearing sunglasses for a while, but glasses on or off it was still difficult. The trail was filled with loose rock and acorns in some spots ( running on acorns is like running on marbles I soon found out!) I ran through some areas where yellow jackets were flying around my path. They never bothered me but I sped up a little through these areas just to keep away from them.
At Skulls Gap (mile 16) I re-filled my bottle with Succeed. I quickly got into my drop bag and changed my sox---ahh what a fresh feeling as small pebbles had worked their way into my discarded ones. I grabbed my home-made liquid lunch (a concoction of oatmeal, ground flaxseeds, wheat-germ, vanilla, carob powder, and rice milk which I had blended that morning and prepped into a water bottle. In less than 2 minutes I was running again and feeling great. Then began the steep fire-road climb up and over to Hurricane Gap, I passed a few runners who were walking this section. A while later my mind was wandering on a semi-technical trail section and I fell forward on to my knees and hands at about mile 27.This woke me up as I was now bleeding from both knees and the palms of my hands. I was lucky as I very easily could have hit my head, but did not. I also could have had my water bottle go flying off into the woods or down a steep hill where it would have been difficult to retrieve (I was not using a hand strap.) I got up and realized that my knees although bloody did not hurt very much and I continued at a nice pace.
I cleaned up with some wipes at the Rowland Creek aid station while my bottle was filled. Not that I really cared what place I was in but found out I was in 12th place at this point. Eric’s wife told me the most technical section of trail running was coming up and boy was she right. After the next Hurricane Gap aid station I finally had to do some walking on the up-hill section following.
After finally reaching the aid station at Skulls Gap again, I grabbed another of my liquid meal concoctions, while my bottle was filled with Succeed. A mile down the trail, I started to get a little nauseous, but kept drinking my meal and sports drink as I ran slowly hoping the sick feeling would pass. Well it got worse and I slowed to a walk for about 1-1 ½ miles. I ran out of drink and stopped sweating. My arms and head felt a little numb. I think I was getting de-hydrated. The sick feeling passed (along with about 6 or 7 runners) about a mile from FSR 90. For some reason I started sweating again even though I had been out of drink for 30-45 min. I actually started an easy jog and started feeling pretty great, and even better when I finally reached the FSR 90 aid station. I drank 2 cups of cool water ---Ahhhh! And re-filled my bottle with Succeed. I jogged on, and I’m really glad that that self serve water station was there about half way between FSR 90 and the finish as I ran out of drink again. Looking back I probably should have carried 2 bottles for the race, or at least packed some extra in my drop bag for the hotter part of the day. The descent back into Damascus was brutal. I kept tripping as I was getting pretty tired, and was concentrating at hard as I could on trying to not fall again.
Normally I rarely run on pavement, but when I finally hit the black-top and then cinder trail for the final stretch to the gazebo, I was elated! I started running as fast as I could (probably a 5:45 mi. pace) I passed one runner and got some cheers from some bicyclers on the bridge. The gazebo was now in sight and I ran to the finish happily hearing the clapping and cheers of other runners and volunteers. I felt great!! 9 hours 47 minutes and 15 seconds.
I was pleased with my time as I figured it would take me 9-11 hours. After hanging around the finishing area for a while, I went back to my rental and took and ice bath, got cleaned up and went back for the awards ceremony. What a day I will never forget! My first 50. I came through it intact, and want to do it again. Eric was a great director; I must have seen him on the trail, around aid stations, or in- between at least 5 or 6 times, a very hands on man. I was especially touched at the end when he talked about all the training that goes into a run like this and how much hard work it takes to get to this level. I truly appreciate the behind the scenes stuff he and the volunteers did to make this a great race!
Final position 17th place
Energy gels consumed- 8 (one every 45 min-1 hour )
Electrolyte tabs- 6 (one every 90-120 minutes)
Food pre-race morning: 1 20oz. bottle of blended oatmeal, flax seeds, rice milk, vanilla, wheat germ, and banana.
Food during race: 2 20 oz. bottles of above (minus banana) 2 ½ chocolate Larabars, 1 handful of potato chips, 1 handful of M&Ms, 2 crème sandwich cookies.
Recovery: The two days after the race I did an easy jog of 1 mile and stretched a bunch each day. At this point I was sore all over but not really in a great deal of pain. No running on day 3 and 4, more stretching. No sore-ness at this point, just tired legs. Days 5-9 easy jogs of 5K, 8K, 10K, 10K. I seem to be recovering well and feeling great. I will continue slow, easy runs for a while.