Running from an Angel Marathon and 50 Mile Ultra races

Last weekend I went to Las Vegas and ran the 50 mile Running from an Angel Ultra Race. Here's a race report I wrote and sent to the folks who belong to Run Locomotion:

Last Friday, Joe Larsen, Larry Emery, Carl Tippets, Shay Johansen and I drove to Las Vegas to run the Running from an Angel Marathon and 50 Mile Ultra races. Shay is a friend of Joe and Carl. While he’s not a runner (yet), he proved to be one heck of a good walker in the marathon. We met at Joe’s house at 1 PM, made a quick Joe stop at the Draper Fajolis for lunch and safely arrived in Las Vegas about 7 pm. A six hour drive to Vegas could only mean Carl was driving. After a quick stop at the expo, we made the mandatory Joe stop at Fajolis for pasta.

By the time we got to Vegas, the wind was blowing and it was raining. We spent the night with Joe’s brother Ezra and his wife. The Larsen family is amazing. Five strange men show up at the door and within minutes they’ve made them feel like one of the clan. Graciousness exemplified. We got up about 4:30 and headed to Boulder for the race. The talk was about how hard and wet the wind blew all night. The races start and finish at the Boulder Beach Recreation Site and are all out and back on pavement that stays within the Lake Meade National Recreation Area. The 50 miler has 4277 feet of elevation gain and loss and the marathon has 2450 feet of gain and loss. During the 50 mile race briefing, Tina, the RD, said we’d either be going up or going down, don’t expect too many flat stretches. Truer words have never been spoken. While none of the hills had names like “chin scraper”, we certainly saw some ups and downs that day. By the time the 50 mile race started at 6 AM, the rain had mostly stopped, but the wind continued out of the south.

At 6 AM we bid Shay farewell and headed east along the edge of Lake Meade. While the RD recommended flashlights, we all survived the first 45 minutes of darkness. I really didn’t have too many goals for this race, other than to be upright and moving forward at the finish line. It would have been nice to run a Western States qualifier (50 miles in 11 hours) and have that out of the way, but after a year of injuries I didn’t want to push too hard or too fast. At 10 miles, we took a hard right and headed almost directly into the wind. Once we made the turn, It also seemed like we had longer and steeper ups and shorter downs. The course obviously had gotten a little tougher. The first 13 miles were pretty uneventful. Joe, Larry, Carl and I ran together and enjoyed discussions on a myriad of topics. The wind remained fairly strong (20 mph or so). At some point, Carl and I moved a little ahead of Joe and Larry. The race let us have one drop bag at mile 18 which you hit again at mile 32. Carl’s was loaded with Ensure. He later said that coming into this aide station, he was at one of his lower points in the entire race. We dropped our jackets, Carl had an Ensure and I took one and added it to a bottle of water and sipped at it for the next nine miles (old Davy Crockett trick).

By mile 22, we were moving fast enough that an 11 hour WS qualifier became a much better possibility. To make it, I decided I needed to step up the pace a bit and make the 25 mile turn around in 5 hours. We kicked in a higher gear and made the half way point in 4 hours and 50 minutes. Dang, now we didn’t have an excuse for not running a qualifier, hope it doesn’t hurt.

Mile 25 to 38 seemed to go by fairly fast. Carl and I ran together and seemed to feed off each other. When I’d hit a bit of a splat, I’d tuck in behind him and run his pace. Likewise, he took advantage of my pace a time or two. By noon, the wind picked up, but until mile 40 it was at our back most of the time. A few short stretches gave us a preview of what lie ahead. Coming down a steep hill at about mile 38, my right quad started to cramp. It took me a couple of miles to walk it out, but no major damage had been done. I encouraged Carl to leave me. Realistically, he had a great shot at breaking 10 hours, but not walking with me.

We turned the corner at 40 miles and eight hours and five minutes. For the next, mostly downhill, mile the wind was at our back. Images of 10 hours were again dancing in my head. Silly boy.

With nine miles to go, we moved directly into the wind. Within a mile or two, I was completely beat and ready to quit. At about this point, Carl yelled at me over the roar of the wind to look behind me. Low and behold, Joe was alive and well and right on our tail. The reunion with Joe picked up my spirits a tad and I decided I could gut it out to the finish line. At some point, Joe had become separated from Larry. Joe kept trying to tell us something about a porta potty and an ambulance, but I was a bit too muddled to follow his story. Coming into the last aid station at four miles, I’d made up my mind to refuel, refocus and get this thing done. We talked to the woman filling water bottles, grabbed a GU and started out. I tried to run, but glanced to my left and noticed the porta potty had been blown down. Seeing the blue palace on its side COMPLETELY broke my spirits. I returned to the death shuffle. At about the three mile point, I realized I’d started to weave and seemed to be falling asleep on my feet. It scared me enough I reached into my pocket, took my last two S-Caps, slapped my face and decided I was going to either finish running or they’d haul me out in the ambulance. I finished. It was fun.

Shay completed his first marathon. He walked the entire course and averaged just under 4 miles an hour. Even without the hills, wind and temperature, he had a heck of a good race. He’s registered for the Red Hot 50K in Moab next month. Joe spent the trip home Sunday trying to convince him to get a Wasatch entry mailed Monday. While he’s a heck of a walker, he’s also a good guy to have on a road trip. I enjoyed his company and hope to see more of him in the future.

RESULTS: This race was unique. Five of us started and all five ran PRs in far less than ideal conditions. This race exemplified that, “It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun.” Under ideal weather conditions, this is not a terribly tough course. However, with the wind and cold it certainly was a challenge. If you like a few hills, I’d highly recommend this race. If you don’t want to take a chance with the weather, they run it’s sister race, Running with the Devil on 28 June. Should be a little warmer.

What worked/didn’t work: There’s a saying among ultra runners that we’re an experiment of one. What works for me, might not work for you. In shorter races, like this, I like to try new strategies or techniques. Diluted Ensure at mile 18 was a new tactic. It seemed to keep me going for a longer period of time, but I had that nasty, pasty taste of Ensure in my mouth for the nine miles it took to drink it. Might work better with a second bottle of water to help wash it down. UnderArmour underwear were a big hit. A good coating of A&D Ointment and a new pair of shorts eliminated all chaffing, grating and grinding problems. This one’s a keeper.

Road Food. The highlight of any trip to a race is a chance to hopefully enjoy different eateries. Since we had a little extra time on race morning, we stopped at the AM/PM on the corner of Rainbow and something for a cup of coffee. While getting my coffee, I noticed they had a impressive grilled meat selection. The verdict is still out on the Jumbo, Spicy Hotdog, with ranch dressing, I had for breakfast on the way to the race. It didn’t seem to hurt my race, but I’m not sure how much it helped. After the race and a quick shower, we went to the Mandalay Bay buffet. I’m a big fan of undercooked beef (need protein to rebuild muscles) following a long race and Joe, Shay, and Larry E. are seafood eaters. The buffet met most expectations.