GRASSLANDS 50 MILE TRAIL RUN... RACE REPORT

I knew that when I stepped out of my car when I arrived at the race site and had my shoes completely fill with wet cold mud, this day was going to be a beatdown! With that, here is how the day went...

Actually, when I awoke to howling wind, thunder and pelting rain is when I knew it was going to be a pretty crappy day. The day before the race, 70+ degrees, sunny, with a slight breeze. Race morning, 31 degrees, 25-30mph sustained winds with 40-50mph gusts and raining. By the time the race started, the rain had turned into sleet, by the time I left the race site, it had turned to snow. The trails in this area are usually compacted dirt and or sand, on race morning, due to the torrential downpour early in the morning, had turned into a mudpit. My buddy Dave and I drove up to the race together and we got a late start. Actually we finally got on the trail 15 minutes after the race started, which in a 50 miler, is not that big of a deal. After checking in, pinning on my bib and putting on my Camelbak, I headed out onto the mud slopfest. Within .25 miles my shoes had again filled with mud AGAIN, and after trying to navigate around the standing pools of water, I finally just said "Forget It" and started running right through the middle of them. It was a good idea until I saw a couple people LITERALLY lose their shoe in the mud! Then I stayed off to the side. Everyone was miserable, it was tough to run for any decent clip of time as you would slip and lose your footing on almost every step. This was not just mud, this was clay mud, the kind that sucks your foot down when you plant, and made it so hard to run, and if you did, you would have to pull up 3-4 times harder than a normal run, and that would probably explain why it feels like I ran 100 miles yesterday!

After my gloves were soaked through with water (Which didn't take long), I pulled out some hand warmers and made a decision I was going to drop out of the race when I got to the end of the loop at about mile 20. Everyone was miserable, and to give you an idea of how bad this day was, the LEADER crossed the 10 mile mark in 2:45:00... (Less than 3.5 mph) The rules state you have to complete your 3rd loop by 5:00pm which is 10 hours from race start at about mile 42. There is NO WAY ANYONE would finish and hit the cut off, and as of yet, have not  seen any results saying that anyone finished! If anyone did, they are truly my hero... The craziest part was about 12 miles in, we had to cross a VERY steep ravine twice. The hills were about 35% grade. 2 different times I saw people almost make it to the top only to slip and slide all the way down  the hill while taking several people out with them. I chose to crawl up on my hands and knees and made it up safely without incident, it was like something out of boot camp or a reality show! I was thankful to reach the Start / Finish line, and was even happier to see that my buddy Dave chose the same option as me!!! The race director was at that aid station and we talked about dropping out... Even he said, if it were any other  day, I would try to convince you to keep going, I told him that if it were any other day, I would not need convincing, nor would I consider dropping. To make the cutoff, I would have to run 22 miles in under 5 hours, there was no way, especially considering the Race Director said the last 2 loops were muddier than the 1st!!!

Anyways, it was a good experience, and I am glad I got out there and gave it a shot, but there was no beating mother nature yesterday. I luckily avoided blisters, which is incredible for running 20 miles in completely soaked shoes and socks, however I will probably lose 2 toenails as a result of my exploits yesterday. I will probably try this race again next year, but as for this year, a big fat Did Not  Finish (DNF), and one that I am really not upset about. Thanks for reading and until my next adventure, take care...

20 miles in mud! Good grief!  You're amazing Dan. Thanks for sharing your exploits!

Wow, good decision.  Sounds like it was pretty terrible.  Maybe you need to look for a nice easy road race now.
Rob

I've heard of those... The thing is, I am a lil peaved about the cir****tances and now possibly have my eyes on another 50 miler called Hells Hills near Austin, TX in a couple weeks.... Decisions Decisions Decisions....

Hells Hills? Sounds like cake...right up your alley!

 Ah, I told you that you'd do another race before June.

Duane

hardcore man... i'm impressed as hell with you making it out of your car on a day like that let alone running 20 miles in ****  hardcore.

The funniest part was the parking volunteers who had snow gear and parkas on... As I approach them and roll down my window to get parking instructions and get completely soaked with rain, he points his flashlight in the car and says "ya'll running today?" I said yeah, he said "God bless you"....LOLOL, perhaps he had seen the trail conditions prior. He then instructed me to not park too far off the road, as I would either get stuck or my car could potentially slide off the side of the hill if the mud got much worse...

I was just not anyones day.  Sounds like you put it a good effort and produced great results under opressive conditions.

Scott