Race Report - Bimbler's Bluff 50K

This was my first race longer than a marathon. Technically, anything longer than 26.2 miles is called an ultra marathon but in my book ultras don't start till 50 miles. That was my thinking before the race.

I drove up to Guilford, CT on Saturday afternoon and stayed over at an old buddy's house - Rob Cohen and his beautiful wife Chrissy, who are the proprietors of Cohen's Bagels. Sunday morning I had a bowl of oatmeal with maple syrup and bananas and a cup of coffee. The race started at 8am and I got there about 7am, as this type of race was an unknown to me. I signed up for this race thinking I could cruise an easy 31 mile jog in maybe 6 hours or so - even on zero training. I clearly had NO idea what I was getting into.

As I milled around the start I checked out the other runners and what gear they were using. I had nothing. One dude asked me "you just gonna run with nothing, no food, no water?" I told him this was my first time and wanted to come in naked and learn my lessons the hard way. There were 5 aid stations, usually 6 to 8 miles apart. I thought that was a stretch I could make easily with no aid. Let me explain why that was stupid...

The race started and after a short lap of a soccer field we were on the trail. The trails were riddled with rocks from the size of a can of soup to a 1 liter soda. These were loose rocks and mixed in with leaf cover so you really had to pay attention to where you took your next step. It was like running through a bed of hot coals, jumping back and forth to get that foot hold you spotted. If you can imagine, between the concentration required to pick a path and the agility to spring around like that - it was incredibly tiring. I realized within the first 30 minutes that I was in way over my head on this one.

About 10 miles into it, we hit the Bluff. The Bluff is a ridge line along a high cliff with incredible views of the area, especially in the prime fall foliage right now. It was a steep, hand over foot, climb to get up to the ridge line with sections that were even difficult to walk up. It seemed like we were constantly going uphill and I was quickly becoming spent. So the reason is was stupid not to bring at least a water bottle was, even if an aid station was only 6 miles away - it would take 1.5 hours to get to it. 2 hours to reach the ones 8 miles apart. That's a long time to go without any fluids or calories.

So lack of conditioning and dehydration completely kicked my butt. I walked most of the last 2 hours of the race and even that was taxing. I am well aware now that trail running is NOTHING like road running, it is 15x more difficult. You use so many little stabilizing muscles to keep from falling and to land your footings, muscles and tendons you don't use when running road. Even if I was in good road running shape this race would have destroyed me. It is a superior workout and I would like to do more trail running to get better at it. It is definitely a skill that needs to be practiced.

Out of 101 people who started the race, 88 finished. I was finisher #81 in 8:32:15. It was an incredibly long, hard day and I got the punishment I deserved for not training. While walking to work today from the Port Authority I had to stop and rest against the side of a building. My legs are screaming. I won't take any pain killers though...I earned this pain...and I plan to savor it all week long.

Next stop - 60K in Central Park in November!