American River 50 Mile Race Report (Yes, 50 MILES...Running, No really!)

50 miles! I’m a therapist and even I can’t figure out what would possess one to run 50 miles. But I did it! It’s Tuesday, I’m finally coming down off of what I assume was an adrenaline high / sugar rush from the run and the accompanying feeding frenzy that took place a mere two hours after. Once the appetite returned I rewarded myself with large doses of Mexican food followed by Oreo ice cream pie on Saturday night and on Sunday I had one of the largest bowls of half vanilla / half chocolate ice cream sprinkled with both mini and large semi sweet chocolate chips ever recorded. I repeated this feat on Monday evening (and I’m going to repeat again this evening…because I know I can quit whenever I want to…right?). If I ever run a 100-mile race I’m going to have to move up to a larger sized bowl to hold the amount of ice cream necessary to celebrate that feat. I would have gone one larger last night but the next sized bowl up in the kitchen has been deemed the “throw up bowl” by the kids and there’s just not enough Cascade in the world to get out what I’ve seen deposited in that bowl a couple of times over the Grapevine on the way to Disneyland. I’ll never eat nor look at those orange cheesy peanut butter crackers again…yet I digress.

Pre-race

During the week leading up to the race I experienced every kind of emotion that could possibly accompany ones first 50 mile run. There was excitement, nervousness, anger (at having to eat well, especially attending a Sacramento Kings game the Thursday before the race, i.e. NO HOTDOGS) and the constant second guessing of what I would wear, how many gels, salt tabs, carry one water bottle or two, Band-Aids or sports lube, change from road to trail shoes, what time to tell my wife to have the family unit at various points along the way, etc. Not to mention the guilt involved in having my wife drag 4 young kids along to various stops along the race course only to see a salt-encrusted daddy come barreling out of the woods, grab a drink, eat some potatoes and then run off toward the woods for another couple of hours.

You often hear that the night before the night before the race is the key night to get some sleep. I felt so much pressure to sleep Thursday night that, of course, I couldn’t. And then forget about it on Friday night. I eventually fell asleep counting miles in my head only to wake up 3 or 4 times thanks to my plan to over-hydrate in the days leading up to the run. I finally hopped out of bed around 3:45 AM and headed downstairs and watched SportsCenter reruns while doing my best to continue to drink and get something in my stomach before heading out for the race. Other runners seem to enjoy reading what others eat (I know I do) so my morning consisted of a couple of bananas, two chocolate chip granola bars and a bit of a chocolate chip bagel. My friend Jeffery Johnston was running this race, too, as well as every other race he can get in before his “A” race, the Western States 100 in June. Thankfully, his wife Jeanne volunteered to drive us to the starting line so we could have a little extra sleep.

We got to the start around 5:15 and immediately headed to the porta-potty line. The line was long but moved fast. Quick note to self, bring some type of glow stick in the future. The potties were not lit, and let’s just say when you close that door and everything is dark, well, it would just be much better with light.

We headed to the starting line at around 5:45 after posing for pictures from Chuck Godtfredsen. Chuck and his wife Trish run the mile 78 aid station at Western States and Trish was running the race. Chuck probably doesn’t realize this but it’s thanks in part to his aid station that I was toeing the line of AR50 to begin with. Here’s a prime example of being in the right (or some would argue wrong) place at the right time. I was chaperoning a church youth dance, I was a last-minute fill in, and bumped into an old friend, Jerry Medlar. Jerry is retired CHP and was pulling some part-time work at REI in order to get a discount on hiking and camping gear. In the process he took up trail running and after just a few minutes of talking to Jerry I was committed to work the mile 78 aid station at Western States. Jerry hooked me up via email with Chuck and, once at the aid station I met Jeffery, who lives a good 3-wood from my home. Fast forward 6 months and I had run 4 ultra marathons and I was just 15 minutes from the start of my first 50.

The Start

We started the race in the dark at 6 AM. The first 1.5 miles are a loop toward Sacramento, bringing you back around and heading back toward Auburn on the American River bike trail. Now, let me take a step back and say that Jeffery has been preaching to me for weeks that the key for the beginning is to go out slow. He knows I like to run at a decent clip, he knows my road marathon times and he knew that if left unchecked, I’d go out and try to run a PR marathon time on the pavement section (roughly the first 27 miles) and that would surely be my downfall. Jeffery was going to take is really easy as this was simply a training run for him and he had already put in a lot of miles during the week while I had successfully tapered my miles heading into the race. But sensing my eagerness to run, he volunteered to stay with me for a bit, which I was grateful for and we started together.

So I listened to Jeffery, I even embraced what he was saying and the two of us hit mile 1 at just over 11 minutes. Keep in mind that when I run by myself my “natural” pace is around a 7:20 give or take, but it felt great, nice and easy. The crowd was thick with nearly 500 runners at the start so in reality it was hard to go much faster unless you were one of the speedsters and you jumped out ahead of the pack. We quickly ran into Bill Carr. Bill was running his first 50 as well and he was decked out in gadgets from head to toe. iPod, Garmin, he was well prepared to use whatever technology he could to help him make it through the race (which he successfully did in 10:12:43!).

Shortly after seeing Bill, I glanced over and saw someone that looked very much like Snow White. This was Sacramento’s own Becky Johnson Sabin. I met Becky briefly at a training run a couple of months ago but I was dealing with some toe issues and I didn’t pay much attention to anyone. On the Runner’s World Trail Runner message boards everyone exchanged what they would be wearing in hopes of getting to know some folks from the board and many said to just look for Snow White and that’d be Becky. Great description! We chatted briefly and last I saw her she was trying to find a “ladies tree.”

We then caught up to Trish and spent a mile or two running with her. I quickly learned that all runners are motivated by different means. When we hit the 5 mile mark I shouted out “1/10^th of the way there!” To which Trish said, “Don’t tell me that! Let me know when we’re half way there.” I get that. On my first ultra with Jeffery, the Lake of the Sky 50k I called out when we were at the 1 mile mark and he was nice enough to tell me that he didn’t need that much information.

Jeffery and I had the legs on cruise and it really felt great. We were consistently running a 9:40’ish pace. When we run in the mornings we usually find ourselves comfortably around an 8 minute pace when together and we’re not paying attention to anything, just talking and running, so while considerably slower, it felt great.

I will admit that I was on world record pace in one category up to this point…pit stops. There are porta-potties along the way, even public restrooms at some of the stops along the course, but there are large bushes and trees everywhere and runners are very gracious in doing their part to keep the foliage watered. And much to my wife’s surprise, we’re not talking just the men! Nature calls the women, too, and while I’ve heard a few say that they would never go in public like that (namely my wife), I’ve heard others utter the phrase “there’s no shame on the trail.” Heading into the first aid station I, personally, was up to 5 pit stops. Well off my personal best of 11 at the Helen Klein 50k last November, but the day was very young and I had drunk a lot of fluids the past 72 hours.

We hit the Watt Avenue Aid station, 5.9 miles, at just over an hour so we were starting to make up a little bit of time but still going nice and easy. Watt offered just water and I made the mistake of having my bottle of Heed sports drink (described by one forum writer as pancake batter) topped off with what tasted like hose water. Not great, but the next aid station was only 3 miles away.

Watt to William Pond (9.4 miles)

Not much to report during these three miles as the course looks the same, we kept the same pace and the race is early. When someone would pass I’d yell my customary “he’s going for the win!” And when we saw a female pulled over in the bushes Jeffery would yell “is that poison oak?” This kept us amused for a couple of miles until we hit the aid station where I felt the need to start eating. I grabbed some pretzels (very dry) and potatoes and salt, eyed the brownies and gummy bears but couldn’t pull it off at what was now essentially 7:30 AM despite having run almost 10 miles.

William Pond to Sunrise (15.6 miles)

Much of the same views, a few more trees, same jokes (unfortunately) but the scenery did start to change as it appeared two training groups were out in force running the opposite direction of the race. There were a bunch of folks wearing shirts with the word AIM on them, the “I” looking like a runner and then a lot of Team in Training people running the bike path, too. Both groups were great, a lot of “You’re looking good!” or “Way to go!” I kept wanting to yell out, “we have 35 miles left, I’m not going to be looking so good in a bit!”

I carried a cell phone with me and I was actually able to call my wife when I was at the half marathon mark and let her know that I was a little bit behind my anticipated pace but that a) it was by choice and b) that I felt great. Jeffery called his wife shortly after I did and in honor of Dean Karnazes he held the phone up to his ear while we were running and ordered a pizza much to the delight of the group of Team in Training folks running the other way.

At the aid station Jeffery said it was time to split, i.e. he needed to find a bathroom. I volunteered to wait around for him but he sent me on. It was a good test early to keep an easy pace. At first I sped up a bit but then decided to stay with the plan and run nice and easy.

Sunrise to the Nimbus Dam Overlook (19 miles)

For the next 3 or so miles I was left to my own accord. I had my iPod and thought about tuning out for a bit but I knew that the music would make me want to go faster. I was also thoroughly enjoying the day, the weather was great, the legs felt good and there was plenty to see. I will say that I’m growing to be less and less a fan of the bikers along the trail. Despite the 500 + runners on the course, not including the Team in Training or AIM folks as well as a lot of casual runners AND the signs stating that a race was going on I was still told by a couple of bikers to get to one side or the other of the bike trail (never consistent, I now have no clue what side I’m supposed to run on). I had to come to a stop at one point as a biker played a bit of chicken with me and, had I not been in my “happy place” I think I would have been a bit more rattled, i.e. thrown my water bottle at him. And I’ll stop without drawing this out too long but not ALL bikers need the skin tight clothes with the logos on them. A) we know you’re not sponsored and b) they’re waaay too tight!

Overlook to Negro Bar (23.5 miles)

To get to the 19 mile aid station you jump off the bike trail and make a hard left up a steep, short hill. I have to admit just stepping onto the trail for the first time was exciting. I’m still a road guy at heart but the dirt, the differing footing; I was looking forward to the change of scenery.

At the aid station one of the volunteers yelled, “Only a 50k to go!” I guess that was meant to motivate? That freaked me out a bit. I ate the potatoes, some bananas; watermelon downed a Gu and was off. Again, for the fuel junkies I had planned on consuming a Gu gel every 5 miles (worked great through about 35 miles) and a salt tablet every hour). The trail turned steeply downhill and I was brought back to the reality of my glass ankles and overall wimpyness on downhill trails. I immediately panicked at the first tiny missed step but remembered I had run an entire 50k all on trails a mere two weeks earlier without turning my ankle once. I did get passed on this section and I wondered again how the elite folk just barrel down these hills with no worries whatsoever?

We stayed on dirt, but it turned into a dirt road for a mile or so, nothing technical, and there were plenty of people around, a lot of camaraderie and I wish I was better at names. I ran for a bit with Lisa, a woman Jeffery and I ran with for a couple of miles at Rucky Chucky. She ran Western States last year and I believe is gearing up for a repeat performance. She called out to a lady, I can’t even begin to remember her name, but she was introduced as someone who runs “a hundred miler every month!” Amazing! Crazy? Both?

Negro Bar to Beal’s Point (27.4 miles)

I can’t lie, I don’t remember the Negro Bar aid station. I was starting to focus on seeing my family at Beal’s Point, mile 27.4. I called my wife about 30 minutes from Beal’s while running a slow uphill and heard a story about losing her keys, running behind, but the kids were being great, they were excited and that was all that mattered. Again, Happy Place! I chatted with a guy who ran AR50 in the rain last year and we talked a bit about the weather, what the last 20 miles look like and then he dropped back and I just starting thinking about seeing the family unit. Another pit stop along the way. Number 7 and I could tell this wasn’t going to be a record day. The body was starting to hang onto whatever water it could wondering what in the heck was I doing to it!?

I’ll be the first to admit I was beginning to feel the miles heading into the marathon mark. I’m a road runner, not as in the “chased by a coyote” kind but in the sense that if you combine my 5 ultra marathons with my training runs on trails I’m probably still well under 20 runs on dirt. Don’t get me wrong, I love the trails! If I had it my way I’d stay on the trails from this day forward, but my hometown of Lincoln is flat and trail-less. Before homes were built in Sun City Lincoln, which finally gave me hills to run, I used to joke that my hill training consisted of the 3-floor outdoor stairwell at the medical plaza and the trail was the patch of grass from the side walk to the stair well. So with that said, here I was approaching the marathon mile mark at what would equate to my slowest marathon of my life, right around 4:30, but I new that was what I NEEDED to do in order to make it through 50 miles.

I couldn’t wait to see my family at Beal’s Point and as they came into view I noticed that they were all wearing red? I was adorned myself in my lucky red race shirt (which may soon need to be retired) as well as a red, Halo headband (very effective for keeping the sweat out of ones eyes, Halo, sponsor me, c’mon now, literally tens of people just learned about your product!). As I grew closer my kids ran out to meet me and show me their shirts. My wife had them all, as well as her, outfitted in red “Overbay Crew” shirts with the phrase “Just Keep Running, Just Keep Running” on the back, a play on the movie Finding Nemo and Doree’s charge to “Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming.” It was great, my kids were excited, my wife was excited, I was super charged.

I planted myself in one of Jeffery’s wife’s chairs (thanks Jeanne!) and my kids attended to me, giving me my 2^nd water bottle, I’d need to carry two the remaining 23 miles thanks to the heat and the fact that I had been sweating like crazy (and still popping electrolyte tabs every hour). My wife moved the timing chip from my road shoes to my trail shoes, my kids were hustling about and I was wiping down my legs with the pre-Poison Oak wipes from Tech-Nu (got them at Zombie Runner along with a bunch of other stuff for the race) as the trail portion was supposedly covered in the stuff.

I asked my wife if she would put sunscreen on my bald head. She lathered me up, but before doing so said she needed to wipe off the sweat, salt and bugs! She looked around and all she could see to wipe off my head was one of the socks I had just changed from, a sock with 27.4 miles of use on it I might add. She wiped me off and then covered me in sunscreen. I took almost 10 minutes at this stop but it was great and well worth it. Hopefully the kids will remember. As I was leaving Jeffery was just arriving, I wished him well, he looked great, and I was off. I saw Nancy Warren waiting for her pacer right before the food table and she was excited as she always is and had some great words of encouragement.

Beal’s to Granite Bay (31.5 miles)

The first mile and a half out of Beal’s is on a flat, dirt levee. I was still energized from the pit stop and I found this section to be almost enjoyable. You could see a long way in front of you and behind and I saw various runners, some already struggling, others now running with their pacers looking fresh. We then started to get into some rolling hills and I was able to finally test the theory that had been proposed to me over and over the past few weeks, that after 27 miles or so on pavement, the rolling hills of the trails would actually feel good. I was truly starting to believe that was more of a mental game to keep you going, like having more kids gets easier, but the truth of the matter is it did feel good! I was able to cruise, put myself a bit on auto pilot and Just Keep Running, Just Keep Running. Man was that stuck in my head! Far better, I must admit, than “My Sharona” which got lodged in my head my first marathon…all 4 hours worth!

I had a funny friend sighting here. I was coming through the aid station, bananas in hand, when I recognized a little girl climbing on a rock. I said, “is your name Gabi?” It was the daughter of a friend of mine from grad school. I looked around with her nowhere to be found but did see someone close by who happened to be my friend’s mom and the wife of uber-ultra runner Tom Zinkle. Dr. Zinkle and I have run a few races together but I don’t realize this until the following day when the race results are posted.

Granite Bay to Buzzard’s Cove (34.5 miles)

I realize that by now the only one reading this is probably me, during my 2^nd read for editing purposes. I recently talked about a “bowel” of ice cream in a report instead of a bowl so I can’t be trusted. Still hard to get the mental image out of my mind. So I’ll try to get to the finish of this report as quickly as I was trying to get to the finish of the race at this point as well.

The longest I had ever run was roughly 35 miles, Lake of the Sky 50k (and some change) when I got lost and added a couple or three miles. So mentally I had been looking forward to assessing myself at mile 35 throughout the day. I had heard that from Granite Bay to Buzzard’s wasn’t a particularly fun part of the trail. Plenty of uphill. That was true, but this is where I really started to feel like I was slipping into auto-pilot. Run the flats and downs and the small up hills and power walk the big hills. I actually passed a few folks and make it to Buzzard’s cove feeling pretty darned good. I realize a time of day, or overall time of my running would be great at this point, but my Garmin just shows my miles per minute, and those aren’t so impressive. I’d have to add to give you a time and that’s not going to happen either. Let’s say it was hours!

What was impressive was the offer of an ice cream cone at Buzzard’s Cove! My friend Derek Semanski, a Western States finisher and darned fine race report writer himself was there to offer some congrats. I first turned down the ice cream, not quite sure why? But I’m glad I eventually grabbed it as it was really, really good and definitely hit the spot. As a matter of fact, I had a really good last 12 miles. I didn’t think about it until now, but ice cream truly is my power food! Forget this tapering off of the stuff before my next race!

Buzzard’s Cove to Horseshoe Bar (38.1 miles)

I can’t lie, I’m drawing a complete blank on this section of the race. I remember passing the 35 and 36 mile marks and thinking I was impressed that the calves were doing fine. Actually I know at some point I felt really hot and I toyed with the idea of obsessing about heat stroke but it was probably at Horseshoe Bar that I asked for ice in my water bottles (along with Gu2O) and that really hit the spot.

Horseshoe Bar to Rattlesnake Bar (39.9)

The map said 39.9 miles at Rattlesnake. Leaving Horseshoe Bar my math put Rattlesnake at 40.7 (which turned out to be correct). At first I was really bummed about the extra .8 of a mile as the Overbay Crew was to meet me at Rattlesnake, but then I realized that just put me that much closer to the finish when I saw them. As I came down the trail and heard the cowbells that accompany most of the aid stations I realized that not only was I past 40 miles…40 MILES!!! But that I felt good! The kids were great, they were excited. My youngest Jake and Jeffery’s son Jason had toys scattered everywhere. My 6-year-old showed me her rock collection, I saw pine cones and suddenly my wife said, “I’ll walk with you to the aid station.” I said, “I can take a few minutes again with the…”

“I’ll walk with you!” she insisted.

I kissed the kids and made my way to the table. My wife said, “you like challenges, right?” She knows me well. “Jeffery told Jeanne that he was going to catch you on the trails.” I kissed my wife, snagged a little bit of fruit and left the aid station with a new purpose. Yes, I knew Jeffery was out for a training run but at 40 miles I’ll take any motivation I can! Plus we bet breakfast on this race long ago (Jeffery, you remember that bet?). We had discussed earlier that if indeed he caught me and I was dragging he had full permission to literally kick me in my rear end as hard as he could. So I had my wife’s enthusiasm, breakfast and a kick to my posterior, as well as the fact that I was 4/5 of the way through my first 50 to get me going!

Rattlesnake Bar to Manhattan Bar (43.2)

I felt really good and I ran with a bit of purpose to the Manhattan Bar aid station. I met with Jeffery and another friend and Western States finisher Theo Wirth Thursday before the race for sushi. Talk about ego, I thought they just wanted to get together to talk me through the race…turns out it was Theo’s birthday and I was just the tag-a-long…a little bit embarrassing when that all came into focus. But both Theo and Jeffery said that this section until the hill at the end was very runable if you were smart early on. I felt that I had been smart so I kept running (Just Keep Running, Just Keep Running!).

Manhattan Bar aid station was there before I knew it; I was less than 7 miles from the finish! I particularly enjoyed the washtub full of ice water and sponges. That felt great on my bald, overheated head. I was tired of eating, tired of gels but excited about where I was on the course and how I felt.

Manhattan Bar to Last Gasp (47.6 miles)

I attached myself to the heels of a couple of runners led by Sandy Hatcher, her pacer and a couple of others. I met Sandy just before the race. She had actually paced Jeffery at AR50 a couple of times years ago. I just followed them and we all settled into a nice rhythm all the way to the start of the 3 mile climb to the finish. I actually like uphill, much better than downhill. I run downhills either too gingerly or completely out of control (on pavement) with my feet slapping away like I’m wearing clown shoes. So I was excited for the last 3 miles. I started to run slowly and hit the Last Gasp aid station on about cloud 6 or 7, definitely on my way to could 9. I topped off the bottles and kept on moving up the hill.

Here was where I finally started seeing some of the “running dead” I had heard about. There were some folks that were done; others seemed to be floating to the top with excitement to almost be done. I got chatty and started playing the role of cheerleader. Some liked it, some just stared straight ahead. There were signs marking 2 miles to go, then 1 mile to go! You could see the top of the tent for the finish with about .8 miles left. I was ecstatic! As I started up the final small hill to the parking lot of the overlook Theo yelled, “Tony!” The smile started and I knew I was going to finish this baby feeling great! I came around the corner, cow bells ringing, people clapping, I feel the emotions welling up and then there they were, the Overbay Crew going nuts! Two friends from my neighborhood, Staci and Melinda, surprised me by being there at the finish. My kids started running in with me, I was yelling and going crazy and then I crossed, threw my hands in the air, it was done! 50 MILES! WHOHOO! 9 hours 48 minutes and 41 seconds. I’ll take it!

I was handed my finishers jacket and made my way back to the family for congrats all around. One of the guys who has really kept me prepared, VeLoyce from the Monsters of Massage was there for a high five. I felt great. I saw another new running friend, James Barstad, he finished 30 seconds in front of me and we exchanged congratulations. Jeffery finished about 22 minutes later feeling great as well.

I learned after that my wife missed the photo op at the end thanks to my 6-year-old swallowing a Life Saver whole. My 8-year-old tripped when she started running to the finish alongside my 4-year-old and 10-year-old. So I only had a couple of kids cross, one with a skinned knee and one saying she could feel the Life Saver in her back! Still, good times!

Epilogue

What a great day! What an accomplishment and yes, I want to do it again. I wouldn’t have changed a thing and there’s plenty of room for improvement. Thanks to my family for the support, what a great crew! And thanks to all the volunteers who work to put on such an incredibly organized event. Big congrats to my virtual friend Lon Freeman for his 3^rd place finish and for getting an automatic entry for Western States. There’s my pick for the win.

It’s Tuesday evening and I feel great. The soreness is mostly gone from my legs, I was able to do the elliptical Monday and this morning and I even ran a bit today and it felt good! Next up, possibly the SLC marathon in two weeks. We’ll see how the legs hold up. Two 50k’s and one 50 miler in 4 weeks…who do I think I am, Scott Dunlap!?