Prairie Spirit Trails 50 mi & 50k

Got my fix,

I knew from the first time I saw the trail, if I ever wanted to run a long one this would be the place.  Well I never imagined it would be so soon. It happened, that the first time I saw Prairie Spirit Trails was while I was volunteering with the Trail Nerds. Bad Ben Holmes, RD of the Trail Nerds asked if I would like to help out at the PST 100 & 50 mile race they were going to run in March of this year. Ben said that as a newbie to the sport of trail running it would be great to see how long distance runners manage themselves, to endure such a distance race.  I thought, great, I’ll jump in and get some good “hands on training” from the ones actually running the race. It was a great time and as many of you know it was a race of a lifetime for most if not all runners, crew & volunteers.

I had the opportunity to meet some new folks at the 100 miler in March; some of whom I still am in contact with. One in particular was Mark Berry from Nebraska. Mark was one of the front runners in the 100 mile race and I was able to witness him and others as they made their way thru our aid station in Welda. I watched him and others as they ate dressed and undressed at our station. All the while I am making mental note of the things they are doing so I might learn all I can.

 As the days and months ticked off I had some correspondence with Mark from time to time as we continued to share running interests. I had run a few races this year and decided that I would run the Flatrock 25k and then make Prairie Spirit my first 50k.  Sounded like a plan … at least that was what I thought. Then on or about the 7^th of October I got this message from Mark saying….” hey Bob, looks like you should be running the 50 miler instead of the 50k, I think you’re ready for it” Mark said. At first I thought wow, what a compliment from Mark, but then I got to thinking, I have never ran any further than 26 miles.  I guess all I needed was to hear someone say “you can do it” because, I gave it a little more thought and I said “Hell yes” if Mark wants me to run with him I’ll be honored, and will be able to witness technique from a seasoned runner. It’s now so close to the race day that any last minute thoughts of how I should train, are out the window. I figured that I had run a lot of hills up here in Wyco and it should be cool, so I started planning my nutrition.

It worked out that I volunteered at the Heartland 100 soon after that decision and got to see Mark one more time before our race. It was good timing also to see more of these crazy people putting themselves thru self educed pain and suffering for a buckle. It worked out that day at Heartland that Ryan Knapp was putting in some time with us at the aid station, ( he was the best), before he went on to pace a runner.  While we were there I watched Ryan get some nutrition ready for his runner and it looked like a product I read about a couple weeks before the race so I asked him.  Ryan what is that?  “It’s Generation UCAN”.  Ryan explained to me the benefits and I was again intrigued.  I now had the last piece of the puzzle for me to go to Prairie Spirit and run with Mark.

Race day had arrived and my son Matt had said that he would run the last leg of the race with me as my pacer. It would be his longest distance also to date. Matt had only run, one other trail race in his life, and that was Flatrock 25k with me a couple weeks prior. So I was going from 26 miles to 50 miles and Matt was going from 15 miles to 23 miles.

Now the race:  The horn sounded and Eric sent us on our way.  The way was a little different than what I expected but it was not a big deal, just a little out and back before we ran south towards Garnett. Mark and I were side by side running and talking and getting to know each other a little bit better as we exchanged stories of family and self. That is one of the things I like most about running with someone is the talking, and how it helps time fly. Talking also is the perfect barometer for pace. Mark had the pace down to a weird science, that is walking running pace, and we were knocking out the miles as we headed south.  The temperature was perfect for both of us since we don’t like heat.  The course is very straight and smooth, which is something I am not familiar with running at Wyco, but it was a pleasant change.  The race jitters were gone and I seemed to be feeling good, and not slowing us down at this point. We reached the first manned aid station and I grabbed some more water and Heed and we were on our way.  I had learned from doing the aid stations in the past that S-caps were great for leg cramps, and I had started to feel the need for some already.  Fortunately I had put some in my vest and started to pop a few.  I was thinking that if my legs cramp up on me this early I’ll suck at this and that can’t happen today.

 I think it was somewhere around mile 18 that Mark made mention that his legs were trashed.  I thought oh no… I hope this is just a little bump in the road. The thing we both now realized was that running a 50 miler two weeks after a sub 24 hour 100 miler might be something that, one should not do. That is exactly what Mark had done.  I know that Mark had made some last minute changes in his schedule to run both races and most likely never really gave it any deep thought as to the amount of demand he was putting on his body in such a short time. Mark loves this stuff and really puts his whole heart into it; I wanted the pain to go away for him.  As we proceeded to the next station Mark was very upbeat but still in a state of disbelief about his legs not being there when he wanted them the most. We had for the most part, stayed on course with our routine of running and walking, to keep close to our pace. I know now as we are running that I find myself just in front of Mark as he deals with the legs that are “trashed”.

We finally reach the turnaround and get some much needed fuel and water, some pictures and I meet up with Matt, my son and my wife Cathy.  Mark’s wife is there too. I tried to figure out how long it will take us to get back to Ottawa so my wife could meet us.  I figured that it would be considerably slower than coming down so I said 4 ½ hours to 5 hours.  Little did I know we would beat those times going back and Cathy would not be there when we arrive.  We got everything we wanted and said good bye and we were off.  We had not gone 50 feet and Mark was not with us.  I thought oh shit, slow down Bob; you started out way to fast.  But as we looked back Mark said, “Don’t worry about me, you guys just go, I’ll be ok, legs are slow now”. First thing I thought was he will catch up and it will be all good, but as we continued to run I saw that it was not going to happen today. Just that short time at the aid station made my feet really hurt.  I was thinking that if they keep up I will have to really slow down myself.  But as we clicked off the miles the foot pain seemed to subside.  I figure now that it must have just been from standing around and once I got going again it was all good. Matt was now wearing my Garmin and directing me when to run and walk, it was a little uncomfortable without Mark now. I had really wanted for Mark to get to know my son during this run but that was not in the cards today. And besides that I would not even be running this race if it were not for Mark.  He was the one that encouraged me to do this, and it sucked, him not being with us.  So now it is all in our hands to get this race done.  The first thing Matt tells me is that he thought I would be wore out when I made it to the turn, and he was surprised to see that I was in decent shape and not complaining yet.

 We kept doing the things that Mark had told me about running a race like this and the miles started to tick off.  As we made it thru the aid stations we passed a couple people and that was kind of crazy. Matt had brought his little speaker for his I pod and we were now jamming to some music.  I remember complaing about the music because he downloaded the music that was not from the original artist and it did not sound the same; Matt said,” To bad, it’s cheaper that way”.  Matt started doing something that was driving me crazy and I told him to stop telling me how many miles we had run.  I really just wanted to know certain things, and I would ask for information when I wanted it. Boy I sound like a real prick don’t I?  I do remember though when he told me we only had 13 miles to go and that was just a little half Mary… and I thought oh, that isn’t anything, just 13 miles, we do that all day. We then made it to the last aid station and Justin was there.  I knew we had this thing beat by now and felt pretty good.  My legs were tight but not cramping up on me.  I never sat down at any of the aid stations and I did not want to start now.  Justin said hey Bob you guys want a shot? I thought well, he just ran a 100 miler and maybe it will be like a pain reliever and I said why not.  Matt and I had the single shot of Bourbon and we are on our way once again. My son Matt was really enjoying being the watch keeper and directing me when to run I think, but got a little upset with me when I asked for longer walk beaks.  I was now really looking forward to the end and I started to ask how many more miles?  Matt then said about 2 more now; I said you mean I just ran 48 miles? He said yep.  It was about that time that I looked up and could see the “Loves” tower.  That single beacon in the horizon was all it took for me to say… “We got this thing beat Matt”.  I felt great now; we were going to run a little bit faster as I had some renewed strength.  We made it under the I-35 Bridge and made the last turn up toward Celebration hall.  I could hear the horns and cow bells ringing as we turned on to the last drive. With much pleasure I ran thru the finish line to be greeted by Eric and a handful of onlookers and supporters. I had told my wife we would be back later and she was still out in town but that was my fault and I don’t blame her.  We got some pictures taken had some water, chili, a cold beer, and waited for Mark to come in.  I was worried about him since we had not seen him for so long.  I did end up seeing his wife and she insured me that he was fine and was about to come in any minute.  Not long after that we rang the bells for Mark and greeted him as he crossed the finish line. I remember him saying, “That sucked”.  I was so glad to see he made it.

At the end of the day I was glad that Mark had pushed me to step up to the 50 miler and running the first part with him and the last part with Matt must have been how it was meant to be.  I will accept that fate and learn from all we endured that day. The distance to me was just right, to test my body and mind, hell maybe someday I’ll tackle a 100 miler who knows.

Thanks to everyone there, in whatever role you found yourself in, I enjoyed it all.

Nutrition:

Breakfast;   “breakfast on the go” nuts and oatmeal mix

1 cup of coffee.

2 servings of Generation UCAN Pomegranate & Blueberry mix, with water.

During the race;

5, S-caps, 40 oz’s of Heed, 40 oz of water,

 2 gels, 1 banana,

 1 Pro Bar peanut butter chocolate chip flavor.

 2 servings of Generation UCAN Pomegranate & Blueberry mix, with water

1 small single shot of Bourbon.