Blues Cruise 50K

Sunday, Oct 7, 2007

Near-record temperatures (85 degrees, one degree shy of a record) and a record field of 105 marked my entry in the Blues Cruise 50K at Blue Marsh Lake near Reading PA on Sunday.

Sandy and I arrive on Saturday, visit some antique shops, grab lunch at Stoudt's brewery and restaurant (sausage with red cabbage, sauerkraut and potato salad for me), then check into our hotel, the Abraham Lincoln in downtown Reading. The historic hotel is notable as the place where John Phillips Sousa died in 1932. Saturday night we dine (pizza and Caesar salad) at a cafe and sports bar that is packed with Phillies fans there to watch the Phillies take on the Rockies.

Sunday dawns sunny and we check out of the hotel and drive the 15 minutes or so to the lake. It is run by the Army Corps of Engineers as a recreation area, and the staging area for the race is at a pavilion with nice views of the lake. Registration is fast and easy and there are 105 runners ready to face the challenge, but the weather will take its toll and only 89 will finish. It is an out and back race and the runners will reach each of the four aid stations twice, once out and once on the way back. I arrange a drop bag for aid station 4/5.

The report is from aid station to aid station, and as in all ultra races, mileage to aid stations is approximate.

To Station #1/8 (about mile 4): From Last to Fast

I start at the back of the pack for the 830 start and am briefly last as we pass a gate from the park road from the pavilion to the trail. It's easy running, as the multiuse trail is gently rolling, and mostly single track, with glimpses of the lake thru the trees. There are already some boats on the lake. I pass some runners, walk up a short but steep hill, and mostly walk down the back side of the hill, making a mental note that it won't be fun on the return. I get to the first aid station in 38 minutes, a pace that is way too fast, but I feel OK.

To Station #2/7 (mile 7): Oktoberfest

Same kind of pace on this section. More gently rolling track with nice lake views. 'Helga,' the St. Pauli Girl, greets us as we come into the aid station, offering 'water and Gatorade' I correct her: "its 'wasser und bier'" I say. I down a Succeed!, figuring this is no day to be engaging in another one of my 'unintended hydration experiments'. Time for the segment: 35 minutes. I know I'm courting trouble, but can't help myself.

To Station #3/6 (mile 10): Getting Boring

More easy track on this section. A blue jay escorts me along one stretch where the trail goes thru a wooded area. I run a bit with Gary from New Paltz, NY, who ran the race last year. We talk about the respective merits of carrying bottles or camelbacks (he is using one) and I comment about how the path and scenery are getting a bit boring. He assures me that it will change once we cross over to the other side of the lake. Soon we do cross a bridge carrying a two lane road over the lake and turn up a path into the woods to aid station #3. It's taken 38 minutes to get here, and my ET for 10 miles is 1:52, a pace under 12 minutes a mile. I rationalize the insane pace as time in the bank.

To Station #4/5 (mile 13): Up and Down to Margaritaville

Not long after leaving the aid station the trail turns steeply uphill and there is a long climb up to the top. But what goes goes up must go down, and there is some nice runnable downhill on the other side. Then up and down a less steep hill, along a small stretch of asphalt road closed to vehicles, and across a field in the sun, then along the edge of a corn field. About 2:23 into the race I encounter the leaders, already on the way back. They have covered 19 or 20 miles to my 11 or 12.

To the Turnaround: (mile 15.5)

Aid station #4 has a Margaritaville theme, with Jimmy Buffet on the boombox, large stuffed pink flamingos decorating the aid station canopy, volunteers wearing colored paper leis, and Gatorade in plastic margarita glasses. I take another Succeed! tablet. It took 50 minutes to get here from aid station #3. I don't linger long, and run on the next 2.5 miles or so to the turnaround, reaching it in 25 minutes, for a first half split of 3:07. I'm still feeling good and now harboring visions of a sub-7 hour finish.

Station #5 (mile 18): Return to Margaritaville

Heading back and can guage how many people are behind me. I return in 22 minutes, so my first leg back is a negative split! Whoa, I think, this is crazy. At the station, I get my drop bag, and take my time changing my socks and shirt, and using my towel to rinse some of the sweat off. I put some Blue Goo from a free sample on an area that is feeling a bit chafed. It stings a bit, but I figure it will help.

Station #6 (mile 21): Great Balls of Fire

It doesn't talke long for the stinging to dissapate and a burning sensation to begin. It isn't enough that the sun is now high enough in the sky so that there are no oblique shadows along the fields, but the accursed Goo is generating its own heat. I'm now fading fast, especially on the shadeless segments of the course. The short asphalt road seems to go on forever. Worse still, I've just about finished the Gatorade in my bottle, and I start to ration it out to myself. The climb back up the hill is energy-sapping and I can barely take half steps going up. I think I'm starting to feel light-headed, but I quiz myself on the date, who is president, etc., to see if I'm losing it. I pass my test, but as I near the summit I'm about ready to quit. But it's an ultra, I'm in the middle of the woods and you can't just step on the curb and call it a day. A couple come up behind me, we chat a bit, I find some reserves and can begin running again on the downhill and I run on ahead of them. It takes 61 minutes to make it to the aid station, and my bottle is empty. I toss it to one of the volunteers as I arrive, plunk down in a chair and drink Coke, water and another Coke, and eat some Pringles. The couple, which actually turns out to be a trio, arrive, and the guy, who is wearing a H3 shirt, is greeted with a beer which he proceeds to drink. I grab my refilled bottle and head out again.

Station #7 (mile 24): Team Bond

I cross the bridge to the other side of the lake, but have to stop to shake some small pebbles out of my shoe. The trio catch up to me, ask if I'm OK, and go on. I had felt a blister developing omn my left heel miles back, and I feel it burst. It's a little painful but not bad. Soon I catch them and we chat, the guy telling me about some adventure race he took part in that involved canoeing, running, swimming, etc, all with a partner. We are soon leapfrogging, as they run steady, but I'm running and walking, falling behind with walking and catching them, and occasionally passing, when running. It becomes a bit much for me to keep on, and they urge me to stick with them - we can 'team bond' they say. It takes 46 minutes to do this segment.

Station # 8 (mile 27): Walking on Empty

I'm only 15 seconds or so behind "Team Bond" as I have begun to refer to them getting to the aid station and they have a cheering section waiting for them. Two people have signs that read 'Katie' and 'Rocks,' and then the person flips the 'Rocks' sign over so it reads 'Sucks." They stop to pose for pictures with friends holding another sign that reads "While you run 31 miles, we drink beer.' 'Helga' has traded her costume for a T-shirt, but is still wearing her blond, pig-tails to the sides wig. I leave the aid station and intend to mostly walk the rest of the way in. Strangely enough, I'm entirely alone on the trail with the exception of two women running together who passs me. I try to run a bit with them but quickly realize that is insanity, and drop back to a walk.

To the Finish (mile 31): Lost!

It takes 48 minutes to get to the first aid station from Oktoberfest. ET is 6:05 so I know I'm feel totally out of energy and mostly reduced to walking. I have fleeting thoughts that maybe I can still get in under 7 hours, but as soon as I set out I banish the thought. Reaching the small hill that I have to get up, I struggle and have to stop every few steps to regain my energy. Once in a while I find some energy on gentle downhills or level sections and run a bit. Finally I come to the T in the path that will lead up to the finish. There is a sign on the right that says 'to Day Use Area.' Ahh, I think, that's where we started. I turn right. After a while I notice the lack of orange ribbons that mark the course, but I'm on a wide path, and it looks familiar, so I go on. Finally, I stop. Maybe it's been 8-10 minutes. Maybe more. Maybe less. I've been going long enough that I should have gotten to the park road. I turn around and when I get back to the T, I notice all the orange ribbons to the left, indicating the right direction. Somehow I never looked that way the first time. I trudge along that direction, and as I come off the path and onto the park road a woman running overtakes me. She gives me energy, and I begin running with her, to finish in 7:25, 82/89. It takes 81 minutes to finish a section I ran in 38 minutes at the beginning of the day. Not an inspiring way to finish, but it was a finish, without injury and a finishers medal is hung around my neck as I enter the finishers chute. A wonderful training run for JFK six weeks from now.

Aftermath

There are hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill at the end, as well as shoofly pie and plenty of cold beverages.

Checking a map later, I realize that my wrong turn put me on a loop that had I continued for a couple hundred more yards, I would have regained the trail with no shortening of distance.

(correlates: SconesAndCrumpets, SemioticArsenal, CertainExpression, ...)