Ultra Kraut Running

AKA "a 50K run with a Taco Challenge chaser". I signed up for this one pretty last minute, 4 days before the race. My training schedule called for 80 miles for the week, so I figured this would be a fun way to accrue some of those miles. Actually, I knew this would be a fun way to do so. After all, this would be my sixth time running this event. My goals this year were much less ambitions than last year, when I got lucky to walk away with the win for the 50 mile event.

The weather forecast for race weekend turned nasty just 3 days out, so I started to scramble to front load the week to try to get the majority of my weekly training mileage ahead of race day, just in case the race got cancelled or delayed due to severe weather.

On Thursday I scrolled across a post on Facebook challenging fellow Delano Park racers to part take in the Taco Challenge, conceived by local ultrarunner and rock painter extraordinaire Youngsu Hoy. Participants would have to eat a Taco of their choice followed by running a mile, rinse, repeat five times. Upon completion,  finishers would get an awesome hand painted rock. Good enough reason and motivation for this guy to jump in on the action. 

My plan was simple, run a 50K at a decent pace, then do the Taco Challenge for good measure. My wife was kind enough to get some vegan tacos for me from Taco Bell on her way to Delano Park to join me for a couple of miles, so I could complete the Taco Challenge. By the time she arrived, I was just heading out for the final lap of my 50K goal. I had started off the day and my first few one mile laps at a 9 min per mile pace chatting and catching up with other runners and friends I hadn't seen in quite a while. After the first few laps, I continued to lower the pace ever so slightly to inch closer to a 8 min per mile pace.

The plan worked as I managed to run my second fastest 50K ever. I used a total of 5 prepared bottles of fluids and 5 gels. During the Taco challenge, I did chug a few small cups of Coke.

However, once I completed the 50K, I was ready to take it easy for the remaining miles. My goal was 30-40 miles for the day, so when my wife came out to join me to walk a few miles (she hasn't been able to run due to injury), it was a very welcome change of pace. We logged another 8 miles before I finally called it a day at 39 miles. And the best part, we managed to beat the worst of the storms. My fellow runners who stayed out there for the full 12 hours were not as lucky. In fact, the race had to be suspended for about 45 minutes while lightning and severe weather hovered above the race course.

Big thanks to Jon Elmore and his awesome crew of volunteers. This race is as much a social event and hangout to catch up with your running family as it is a top notch ultra running event. State records are surely going to continue to fall as this race continues to be a local favorite year after year.

I was lucky to be able to attend the race as my work had me for meetings in both Switzerland and Spain, so I was able to hop on a direct round trip flight from Barcelona to Gran Canaria for the weekend. I managed to reserve a room in Las Palmas, the largest city on the island and the location for the race start of the TransGrancanaria 128K, which would make race day logistics fairly simple. I split the room with friend of mine from Germany, who had signed up to run the 64K race. 

I didn't reserve a rental car as I did not believe I would need it for my stay, but other than that, all travel plans had been prearranged. I was ready to go out there and participate in another fantastic adventure...or so I thought.

As I was sitting on the plane on the tarmac in Barcelona waiting for our flight to take off, I scrolled the TransGrancanaria website for some last minute info. As I came across the start list, I searched for my name. To my surprise, my name did not come up. WTF!!! How was thins possible? I had registered and my name had been on the initial list, so why had it been removed? There I was sitting on a plane about to take off on a 3 hour flight not knowing whether I was even going to be running this race. What a bummer. Most anxious flight I had ever been on.

Upon landing, I went straight to baggage claim to get my bags before even trying to figure out what to do. I'd have to take a bus or taxi to the race expo and HQ , which was at the other end of the island, so I could see if there was any hope at all of me running the race the next evening. As I was waiting for my bags, a fellow runner I had met at Barcelona airport joined me. I explained my dilemma. After locating my runner file online on my mobile phone, it became evident that either my registration fee did not get registered or my medical certificate did not get processed properly. I'm not sure of the mistake was on my end or not, but I do know I never received any further messages after finding my name in the original list of starters. Regardless, I had to try to get back into the race. As luck would have it, my new Spanish friend not only had a rental car offering to take me to race HQ and assisting as interpreter, he also happened to be a medical doctor and offered to sign a medical waiver for me, if necessary. Wow, pretty lucky how some things work out sometimes. Now we just had to hope that the race staff was willing to work with me as well. 

After a 30 minute drive, we arrived at the race expo and quickly notified a staff member of my problem. Jesus, who also happened to be a fellow 2018 UTMB finisher, explained the problem to the race staff and they were quick to assure me that I would be able to race. I just had to pay the regular race fee and they would get me a new bib and race packet. Phew! I really dodged a major bullet there and I cannot thank the helpful race staff enough. They truly went beyond what I could have expected. All was well now and I could focus on enjoying myself as I got ready for the race.

Jesus and I checked out the race expo for a while, but other than a coffee mug, I didn't splurge on any additional swag. I did, however, manage to get a pic with US elite runner and fellow Altra fan Hayden Hawks, who had just finished an interview and was one of the favorites to take the overall win on the men's side. After getting back to the car and quickly prepping both a drop bag for the 85km aid station and a finish line bag with some warm clothes, Jesus and I headed to Las Palmas, where I was staying in a hotel and he had rented an AirBNB nearby.

It was nearly 9PM now, so I checked into my hotel very quickly before finding a local vegan restaurant a mere 5 minute walk from my hotel. Score! After a rough start, this weekend was just getting better and better.

I was back in the hotel and ready to turn in for the night before my buddy Oliver arrived from Germany. He'd taken a direct flight from Hamburg and was registered to run the 64k race, which started at the halfway point of my race exactly 10 hours after our 11PM Friday night race start. Such a late race start meant that I would already be tired and ready to go to sleep before the race ever even started. Well, I'm always ready to face new and unknown challenges.

The next day (race morning), Oliver and I headed out to find ourselves a spot that serves some healthy food options on the beach. Earlier in the day, he had gone to pick up his race packet while I checked out my race start area for the first time. The race start is located at Playa De Las Canteras, a famous beach and promenade in Las Palmas. Oliver and I found a great smoothie and wraps restaurant right across from the beach, where we could relax, refuel and people watch all at the same time. The temps were in the 90s, so after we finished our early lunch, I headed back to the hotel to try to rest ahead of an early dinner and the actual race start at 11PM.

I tried to take an actual nap, it just never happened and before I knew it, it was time to grab a light dinner to allow myself to digest the food ahead of the race start. I convinced Oliver to eat at the same vegan place I had discovered the night before. After a quick bite, we headed back to the hotel and while Oliver rested, I got my race kit ready. I was getting excited to get out there and discover the island on foot along with 800 other runners. I met up with Jesus to walk to the race start about 45 minutes early. The beach and promenade were packed with runners and spectators and music was blasting on loudspeakers. There were life performers and a DJ was working the crowd. The excitement was building. The atmosphere was very similar to UTMB as runners lined up behind the starting line, the elite coral in the front and the remaining runners behind. 

Even the global ultra running community seems small after you've traveled to a few races. I ran into multiple friends at the race start. There was race photographer extraordinaire Ian Corless, whom I'd met at the Everest Trail Race in 2017, there was Denys Tkalich from Ukraine, whom I'd met at the Ultra-Trail Barcelona 100K race in 2016 and who'd been on the island vacationing with his family. He and I along with a couple of other runners had gotten hopelessly lost during the race in Barcelona, which made for quite the adventure and as a result, had stayed in touch. Finally, I got to meet some of the Altra team in Spain and Europe, who were extremely kind in offering their support during my race and stay in Gran Canaria. Thankfully, I never did require outside assistance other than my drop and finish line bags.

The race started at 11PM sharp. Just before, we were treated to a live rendition of the Anthem of the Canary Islands followed by a pre-race message getting runners hyped for what lay ahead. The actual race got kicked off by large fireworks over the beach and the ocean.

We had to cover the first 3 miles of the race on the actual beach before entering some natural rocky canals leading us out of the city and into the mountains. The race course and terrain stayed very technical for most of the race. I started out at a fairly conservative pace and felt pretty good through the night. With that many runners around you, it can often be challenging to run your own race and pace. As such, you must be willing to pass runners or get passed whenever your pace is jeopardized. Otherwise, your own race plan will no longer be your own as you end up running someone else's race.

I settled into my own race very quickly. Checking the splits following the race, it shows that I ran a very steady and even race when compared to other competitors, slowly gaining in position without losing many spots. The only split were I lost a few positions was at kilometer 85, where I spent more than 45 minutes to retape my feet and change socks and shoes and to refuel.

In truth, I knew the heat would get to me, if I did not dial back my effort considerably throughout the day. Even so, I still started to struggle a bit with nutrition. I never felt dehydrated, but I did run out of water after reaching the top of Roque Nublo. Luckily, one of the trail heads along the course featured a mobile kiosk offering ice cold drinks and icecream to weary hikers. I'd never been so happy to be required to carry emergency cash as part of the mandatory kit. I purchased a large bottle of water along with a can of ice cold Coke. It was heavenly. I refilled my bottles and shared the remaining water with runners following on the trail behind me.

For nutrition, I had been carrying 10 gels. They should get me to the halfway point, where I would switch to other snacks and solid aid station foods only. That plan worked, but because some aid stations only carried water and no electrolyte or carb drinks, I believe I still ended up calorie deficient. To address it, I started to take more and more time in aid stations starting at the halfway point to try to regain those calories lost.

It is nearly impossible to carry enough vegan calories when traveling to far away races and I've had more than one bad experience when trying to sustain my energy levels on fruit and gels alone. Therefore, I decided to allow for a more accommodating vegetarian diet during big races way from home. It is the only way tog et enough calories in some of these events and it removes another stress factor. I ended up eating lots of pasta and even some amazing vegetarian paella that had been cooked at one of the aid stations. While this extra time in aid stations did cost me my goal time, it did ensure that I actual reached the finish line.

While I had hoped to make up some time on the downhills on the final third of the course, the steepness and technicality of the terrain prevented that entirely. However, the views provided all the reward I needed in exchange for the pain the descends caused my legs. The climbing proved much easier than the descending, which is a problem when you're trying to make up time on the descents. Thankfully, I was moving fast enough to complete the last major technical descend in the daylight. I wasn't so lucky for the final challenge of the race, an extremely rocky 5 kilometer river bed section that provided no discernible trail, but only large river rocks to hop across. I could literally hear runners crying in dismay as we continued to be lead in and out of the river bed on our ay closer to the finish.

The final stretch to the finish had us entering a manmade canal for most of the final 4k to avoid the busy streets of Maspalomas as we made our way to the finish line in front of ExpoMeloneras. When I finally crossed the finish line, 23 and a half hours had passed and the winner had been relaxing for over 10 hours. I guess I just got to enjoy the course more than he did:-) Mile for mile, this was one of the hardest races I've ever done. In fact, I still cannot think of any race that was harder. Do put this race on your bucket list, but be ready for a challenge. I promise, it will be worth it.

As mentioned, the race consists of two loops with a short challenging lollipop loop basically sandwiched between the two loops for 31 miles and nearly 6000' in total vertical gain. Overall, the course is very runnable with only a couple of short technical sections. I chose to run the downhills fairly aggressive while holding back about 20% and run all uphills that weren't too steep.

My nutrition plan consisted of one gel per hour and at one bottle of fluids (both electrolytes and calories) between each aid station except the first one. The plan worked out extremely well. My "start slow and see what happens" strategy worked out extremely well as well. By the first third of the race, I had caught up to the fifth and fourth overall runner, who self-admittedly had started out too fast. Once I came past the start/finish area to start my second and final loop, a volunteer informed me that I was less than a minute behind the runner in third overall. One mile later, I passed him as he had decided to take a walk break. I pushed until he was out of sight before settling into my comfortable pace again.

I was now running in third place. I figured Brandon and Justyna would be miles ahead by now and as I was able to confirm after the race, there were indeed way ahead of me. While I have the tendency to get too comfortable when no other runners are around, I did still had the goal of breaking 5 hours, so I continued to keep my cadence up. To my surprise, I caught up to Brandon with about 5 miles to go, but only because he had been walking due to an injury. I checked in with him before continuing in. Thankfully, he was able to finish by walking it in. I was lucky, but thankful to take the overall win for the men, while Justyna crushed it taking the overall win by a large margin and setting a new overall and women's course record.

My training for the US Grand Slam of Ultrarunning continues, hopefully with the same steady results and improvements in endurance necessary to make it through this summer. Thanks to Will Rodgers, RunningLane and the entire crew of volunteers that took such great care of us runners. Lake Guntersville State Park is a great venue for a 50K trail event.

This isn't really a gear review, per se. Instead, it is more of a "DIY" article. With much of the United States under snow and ice advisories, it may be a good time to share some thoughts and tips on how to allow yourself to still run outside even when the ground is covered in snow and/or ice. Sure, you've got the layers worked out, you have your gloves and beanie to protect your hands and head, your buff to protect your neck and face, a long sleeve shirt and jacket to protect your core and your tights that you only pull out only when the temps dip into the single digits, but what about your footing? How do you make sure you stay upright and not slip and break a hip? Hopefully, this short "How To" will help you with that as well.

Certainly, you could just go online or find your local retailer to purchase a set of those fancy traction devices. There are Kathoola Microspikes and Nanospikes, Yaktrax Pro and Run, Stabilicers, and so on. They are all great and provide a solid solution for different surfaces and conditions. The Kathoola devices work great on trails while the Yaktrax devices are great for roads. However, if you live in the regions that barely see any snow and ice, it is often hard to justify such a purchase. After all, you may never need them or only once or twice a year. However, there is a much cheaper and just as effective solution out there for all of us. First, go to your shoe closet and find an old pair of runners, trail shoes or road shoes will do. Second, you will need a traction device. This is where your local hardware store comes in. They all carry what are called sheet metal screws. They are available for very little money, just make sure they aren't very long. You must also make sure that your outer and midsoles are deep enough to take the full length of the screws once you screw them into the bottom of your old shoes. However, before you proceed, be sure to lay out and arrange the screw pattern for your traction shoes. Avoid placing them in the center of your shoes as that may prove uncomfortable when you step or jump on hard surfaces. Be sure to have traction near your "landing spots", both on your heels for walking and on your forefoot for running. The exact pattern is entirely up to you and nothing keeps you from rearranging the screws once you've been out there to test them.

Sheet Metal Screws

Hopefully, this little article has provided some useful info. If nothing else, it's another tool to get you outside this winter. Feel free to comment with similar ideas or other comments.

If you're a Huntsville local, chances are you first learned about the sport of ultrarunning in connection with the Mountain Mist 50K. As one of the oldest ultramarathons in the Southeastern United States and now in its 25th year, the Mountain Mist is still considered one of the toughest by many. It may not have the most vert, but every year trail runners are humbled when they attempt to finish this race.

Every year, a slew of new Mountain Misters take off at the start gun at paces that resemble that of a 5K road race and this year as no different. That usually comes back to bite them, maybe not after 17 miles, the unofficial halfway point of the race, when they ran past or jump over the red gate at the Fearn Street crossing, but certainly at mile 23ish, when they start their climb up Waterline Trail. And if they still aren't humbled, they certainly will be by the time they make their way up Crybaby Hill or the final climb to the top of Rest Shelter. Hey, I'm not judging, it took me multiple times to figure out that even though the first half is actually very runnable, it still has nearly 2000ft of vert over 17 miles, which makes the second "half" or remaining 14 miles and 2000ft of vert over 2 major climbs even more challenging, if you failed to hold back a little on the front end.

Luckily, It only took me 5 finishes to learn to latch on to "the" veteran of this race, let's call him DeWayne, who is like the metronome of the Mountain Mist. If you want to see what consistent pacing looks like, just watch DeWayne. He's not only one of the fastest runners ever to run the Mountain Mist (9 wins speak for themselves), he also one of the smartest. Oh yeah, he also makes for great conversation on the trails.

While many of us get humbled by this race, we come back over and over and over again and it's not just for the coveted 10 time finisher jacket, it much deeper than that. It's a family reunion, but not just for local runners, it's a reunion of runners from around the Southeast. I spend more time catching up with runners before and after the race than I actually do running the race. That is not an exaggeration. It is the reason this is my favorite race year after year. It is also the most important race for me. Whether I have trained for it nor not, I never ever not put it all out there. There is nothing more fun than to race your friends whom you usually train with the rest of the year.

This year marked my ninth start and finish and while it was fun, it is never easy. In December, I had some grand ambitions of trying to run a personal best. This goal did not change until the weekend before the race, when I bruised a rib during a trail run and woke up with a head cold the following day. Not a great omen for a PR attempt. Feeling sluggish all week, I finally admitted to myself that a PR was out of the question. I entered race weekend with a slightly adjusted goal still ready to run as hard as possible. The plan was to save some on the front half to see how I would have some left in the tank in the latter part of the race to push the pace. I am happy to report that plan worked out for the most part, anyway.

After some start line banter and the loud bang of the start signal, we were off. Having run this race 8 times, you kind of fall in with the same group of runners year after year. This year was no different. Even though DeWayne was running with a torn meniscus, he still set the perfect pace. The first few miles went by fairly quickly and were rather uneventful. I tried to make sure not to raise my heart rate too much too early. That also meant hiking rather than running some of the stepper sections of the hills.

I cruised into the 17 mile aid station at red gate feeling pretty good and still on target to hit my A goal for the day. The tried and true formula requires you to double your red gate split to come up with your approximate finishing time. If you end up much slower than that, then you most definitely started the race too fast.

I was still running by feel. In fact, I checked my time for the first time at red gate AS. I continued to drink a bottle of fluids in between aid stations and take one gel every 45 minutes. I chased that with a couple of SCaps every hour, which kept me fueled evenly and cramp free all day. My pace would fluctuate only very lightly. I would zone out and slow my pace, mostly on the High Trail and Bluffline Trail sections. Eventually, I would snap out of it and pick it back up again. By the time I reached the top of Waterline trail, I started the smell the barn. Another 10K and this thing would be done. I had some renewed energy coming through the Trough Springs AS, but that slowly started to fizzle as I made my way down Natural Well Trail. By the time I reached "slush mile" or the bottom of McKay Hollow Trail, I was ready to be done. One more slow climb up Rest Shelter and all that was left was a 1.7 mile flat stretch to the finish.

I declined the beer and chili at the final AS and tried my best to sustain a decent pace. When I finally crossed the finish line, I had reached my A goal and was another step closer to my 10 time finisher jacket. I spent the next 3 hours reminiscing about the day with my trail family. I am already looking forward to 2020 and my 10th finish.