Race Report - 2022 Lost Falls 50K

 Well, this one was a doozie. First challenge was just making it to the start line. Severe winter weather was forecast with up to two inches of snow and icy roads. So my better half and I made the spontaneous decision to head to Desoto State Park in Fort Payne, Alabama, the location of the Lost Falls 50K, the night prior to the race to avoid getting caught in treacherous road conditions on race morning at 5AM. This plan worked out perfectly and even allowed us to sleep in, a little.

We made the short 5 min drive from our campground to the race start an hour ahead of the 8AM start time, but apparently everyone else got there even earlier, so we ended up with a short hike to the actual start line. Normally, that wouldn't really matter at all, but when it's 20 degrees with a felt 9 degrees due to the windchill, then it does matter. This cold snap also had me changing my usual running kit to something much warmer.

The field of 50 or so runners took their time getting ready to line up at the start, trying to stay warm as long as possible, well at least I was:-) This was the second running of the event and I also my second time running it. Last year, it ended up being an extremely hot day and the course was a bit long as well. This year, organizers promised a course closer to 50K and the temps, while extremely cold, would eventually feel pretty good for a day of running. The course is fairly non-technical with very little elevation across single track and forest service roads.

I figured I may have a decent day as long as I settled into a pace that I could sustain all day. It just so happened that that pace put me in second place for the first third of the race, until, well, until the craziness started. Fairly early on, I was missing some reassurance markers after trail intersections, but I followed my instinct to stay straight whenever there weren't any markers in sight in any direction. I recognized some of the course from the previous year, but specific turns in the course were generally difficult to remember after just one running. 

Clearly, my memory combined with a series of unfortunate events (ie. volunteer not knowing the exact turn, fellow runners not familiar with the course, hidden course flagging identifying a 180 degree turn) led to the biggest error of the day, a 3 mile off course excursion that kind of turned my race and that of the 4 runners behind me upside down. We had been in a chase pack of 5 and had completely lost sight of the front runner a couple of miles earlier. Once the volunteer got to us and had us back track to get back on the course, we had a giant deficit over the remaining field of runners. 

All hopes of making the podium had been dashed, but I was ok with it (after a bit of frustration). At the end of the day, i needed 31 miles to meet my weekly training goal and any extra miles would be miles I wouldn't have to run on Sunday. In fact, I turned to trying to chase down as many runners as possible, Ragnar relay race style:-) The only difference, I really had no idea whether a runner was running the 50K or the half marathon. By the time the half marathon course deviated from the 50K course, the field had spread out significantly and I was no longer seeing fellow runners at regular intervals. However, I did continue to pass a runner here or there, which felt reassuring in regards to being on course. I remembered the back half of the course fairly well, so when we once again ended up at a confusing intersection, I knew which way to go. Flags were pointing in all directions in this instance, so I relied on my memory from the previous year, remembering that this was the out and back section of the course.

At this point, it was only me and one other runner and we chose to follow the flagging on our right at the intersection. Unfortunately, just a quarter mile down the service road, I became uneasy. There were absolutely no flags on this section, so I made the decision to turn around to head into the other direction at the intersection. Once we got there, the race director had arrived to give us an update and to reassuringly point us in the right direction. With approx. 7 miles to go, we didn't get lost from here on out. However, I was sure other runners had passed us once again while we were on that final additional detour. At this point, it was a crapshoot to know where we were in the field.

I decided to at least finish strong. I knew I'd get the full 31 miles, while most other runners only ended up with 27 or fewer miles. Why? Well that's the really crazy part. Apparently, and for some still unknown reason, a couple of rangers decided to remove an entire aid station along with almost all of the flagging on that out and back section. As a result, nearly all runners skipped that entire section causing them to end up seriously short in mileage. I still hope to get the full story to this inexplicable situation at some point. With all that said, I was quite surprised when my wife informed me (confirmed by official results:-) that I actually finished third overall, even with those extra miles.

All in all, it was another great day on the trails. I did want to take a moment and mention that I hold no ill will whatsoever towards the awesome race crew. They had to deal with a whole lot of unforeseen circumstances and to their credit, they made things right by contacting everyone that afternoon and offering all 50K runners a free entry to a future race of their choosing. Well done, guys.

Race Report - 2021 Lost Falls 50K

 

The Lost Falls 50K at Desoto State Park in Ft. Payne, AL was an inaugural event put on by Running Lane, a local Huntsville running event and coaching outfit. It was my first local ultra of the year after traveling to Moab, Utah in February. While I had started a new training cycle in mid January, I was still in the midst of my base building according to the MAF method following a strict low heart rate training zone protocol for every single training run while slowly building up my weekly milage. While I had tried to keep my heart rate low at the event in Moab, the Lost Falls race was going to be the first event of the year where I would not worry about anything other than running a steady race pace. 

I figured if I could finish the race in under 5:30 hours then it would have been a success. After all, I had only run low HR miles without any hard efforts, so this would be a real test of my early training so far. I lined up with the rest of the 50K runners and at 8AM sharp, we were off. I had made the 1:30 hour drive from Huntsville at 5:30AM, so I had a full hour to get my kit ready, so by the time we went off, I was rearing to go.

I settled into an easy pace right from the start and lost contact with the front of the pack very quickly. Just as well, it allowed me to run my own pace. But that comfort quickly changed to discomfort as I realized that my new untested(!) pack had already started to rub my right collarbone. It is a fantastic pack, BUT unfortunately, I had ordered it too large. As a result, I had to cinch it extremely right, which in turn caused the shoulder straps to sit too close to my neck cutting into my collarbone. This presented a fun little puzzle as I relied on my own nutrition rather than any aid station supplies due to my WFPB diet and I had to figure out how to carry at least a minimum of supplies...and my GoPro. 

I wrapped the buff I had used as a mask at the start around my wrist and shoved 3 Spring energy gels in there. I took two small ziplocks with my Silver Star Nutrition drink mix and put them in the back pocket of my shorts. that left my left hand free for my soft flask and my right hand for my GoPro. Unfortunately, I realized that I left my salt only after I dropped off my pack at the 8 mile aid station. So now I was left with only half of my nutrition and zero salt. This was gonna be type A kinda fun:-)

I accepted my fate pretty quickly. This was just part of my buildup for a huge summer of racing and things are sometimes out of your control. The quicker you accept it, the sooner you can move on and make room for problems you actually can solve. I kept listening as my watch indicated each mile with a beep, but I never checked my pace until I got about halfway though the race. My watch showed 2:33 hours which put my right on track for my race day goal. As I continued to move, my pace slowed and I decided to set another goal. Even if I continued to slow, I would attempt to run the entire race, i.e. no walking at all other then when refilling my water bottle at an aid station. 

I was stoked to manage to run until mile 31, when the race finish still wasn't in sight, but my quads finally started to cramp. I kept moving with the knowledge that I had at least manage to cover the advertised distance of 50K without walking. I crossed the finish line in 5:34 hours and called the day a success. I overcame some challenges, I was close to my minimum goal time and I managed to meet a secondary goal I set mid race. The summer race training buildup continues...