2017 Hyner View Trail Challenge 50K

"If you never did you should.   

These things are fun, and fun is good."  

---   Dr. Seuss

The cool and wet start of the 50K.
Photo credit:  David Whitney Potts

 

If you’ve read my previous two race reports (Naked Bavarian and NJ Ultra Festival) you may be wondering why the hell do I run ultras when it seems like I just complain and get disappointed after they’re over. Well, the reason is because sometimes you have a great day where it feels like everything goes right. And when you don't you usually get a great story to tell and you learn something. My day at the Hyner View Trail Challenge 50K was one of those days where everything clicked all day long. When you have a race day like that, it makes you appreciate all of the long hours of training you put in even more and also the subpar race days you struggled to grind through. Although those rough training runs and bad race days provide an opportunity for you to prove your grit and determination, a great race day when everything seems to just fall into place can be much more refreshing and just plain fun.



Somewhere midrace, but I'm not sure where because I think I was smiling the for the entirety of it.
Photo credit:  David Whitney Potts

 

What can I say about this race? I could make this the shortest race report ever and just say that this felt like it may have been the best ultra I’ve run thus far. I felt prepared for it. I felt well rested and healthy leading up to it. I never felt exhausted during it. I experienced no stomach issues or any other unexpected physical pain. I had zero low points from beginning to end. My running felt strong throughout the entire distance and I still had some excess energy at the finish to push at a faster pace for the last couple miles. I could wrap this report up here by saying that this race was probably my best performance at the 50K distance and definitely the one I am most proud of. However, I feel that would be doing a great disservice to the stellar event that is known as the Hyner View Trail Challenge.

 

If you live in the Mid-Atlantic area and have been into trail running and/or ultrarunning for some time, you have probably already heard about the Hyner View Trail Challenge. If not, you may be living

An example of some of the rocky terrain along the course.
Photo credit:  Don Halke

under one of the many rocks that frequent the rocky terrain of the course. This year marked the 11th annual running of the Hyner View Trail Challenge and in those 11 years the PA Trail Dogs (the running group that organizes the race) have earned quite a reputation in the ultrarunning community for putting on an amazing event. Race director Craig Fleming strongly stresses the challenging aspect of the course on the Hyner View Trail Challenge website stating that the “course was not designed for the ‘leisure’ runner or hiker. Nor was it designed so that ‘everyone’ can easily finish”. This description and the reputation of the race strongly attracted me to it. I, like most other ultrarunners I know, enjoy a bit of a challenge. Which would explain why the Hyner View Trail Challenge seems like it’s gotten so dang popular; it was sold out at 1300 runners this year and both distances (25K and 50K) have already sold out for next year. Likely adding to the popularity and the amount of exposure the Hyner View Trail Challenge has experienced in recent years is the fact that it is the first race of the PA Triple Crown Series, a rather newly formed (2016) race series which also includes Worlds End Ultramarathon 100k (June) and Eastern States 100 (August). Because of all the great things I have read and heard about the Hyner and because I am attempting to complete the PA Triple Crown Series this year, I was excited to check out the Hyner course this year and take the first step towards completing the series.



The view from the top of the first climb at Hyner View Overlook.
Photo credit:  David Whitney Potts

 

The Hyner course is technical and challenging, but also offers some breathtaking vistas along the way and beautiful scenery for its entirety. If you live on the East Coast and thought you had to go “out west” to find breathtaking and scenic trail courses with challenging terrain you were right and wrong. You do have to go west, but only as far as central Pennsylvania. Other than at the start and the finish of the course when you follow a short stretch of road to use Hyner Bridge to cross over the Susquehanna River, the rest of the course is basically all single track trail with a few fire roads mixed in. If you like hills, the Hyner course will not disappoint. The 50K course has few flat sections and will treat you to basically five big climbs totalling 7,232 feet of elevation gain (according to my Garmin). The course brings the climbs early as well. Maybe about or a little under two miles from the start we hit the base of the first major climb, lovingly named Humble Hill. This climb is steep and lasts for over a mile before we reached the top and were treated to the beautiful view of the Susquehanna River from the peak of Hyner View. I felt good during this climb and forced myself not to push too hard, accepting my pace based on my effort level rather than aiming to maintain a specific pace. I knew that I still had a good distance to go and a lot of climbing to do after this hill and I did not want to blow up my quads before the finish. What I thought was really awesome about this first climb of the race wasn’t just the view, but the fact that the Hyner View overlook at the peak is highly accessible by road allowing spectators an easy means of access. This allowed for a big group of spectators cheering right at the peak of the first major climb. It was a welcome and motivating sound as I got near the peak to hear all of their support. It also felt like getting completely recharged from their energy after having just spent so much to make the long climb to the top.



The elevation profile according to my Garmin data.

 

An example of where the trail follows the creek.
Photo credit:  Don Halke

An example of where the trail became the creek.
Photo credit:  Don Halke

After some switchbacks, a quick descent, and a small creek crossing the 50K course branches off from the 25K course to cover the extra miles. Shortly after the split is the next big climb. I felt stronger and more confident from the start of this one and decided to push myself a bit more. I guess I had just warmed up a bit to the climbing. Following the peak of this climb was a long downhill that I felt like I was just cruising down effortlessly. After this enjoyable descent, I got into the wet section of the course. It felt like during much of this middle section (maybe from around mile 14 to 23) the course was either crossing a creek or ascending the two next major climbs directly up the creek bed. Let’s just say that my feet were wet for the middle part of the course, which made me so thankful for the terrible, wet conditions of the previous race I had run, the NJ Ultra Festival 50K. I trusted that my feet would hold up and not blister though the wet running conditions just like last time and thankfully they did hold up (thank you Altra Lone Peak 2.5s). Although a major difference between the two experiences was not only how much more positive and stronger I was feeling on this day, but also the fact that the wet trails on the Hyner course had a base of rock rather than the shoe sucking mud I experienced at the Ultra Festival. The way I powered up those two wet and technical climbs without feeling like I was emptying my tank encouraged me to try to push harder as I knew there was only one more major hill to conquer.



One of many creek crossings.
Photo credit:  Don Halke

 

Another aspect of the course design and race planning that I loved was the staggered timing of the starts of the 25K and 50K distances and the locations that were selected on the course for the 50K runners to branch off and rejoin the 25K course. The 50K start time was at 8 AM and the 25K runners started at 9 AM. What was great about this for the 50K runners was that with a cap of 300 runners there was very little bottlenecking near the start where we transitioned from road to trail. I can imagine and I heard from other people that this becomes an issue for the 25K runners as the cap for that distance is 1000 runners. Although the 50K runners get the better end of the deal, the staggered start times improves the situation for everyone as a single start time would force all 1300 runners to become congested at the shift to the trail. The 50K course splits off from the 25K course at about the 5.5 mile mark, makes two big climbs over the course of about 15 miles, and then rejoins the 25K course at about the 21 mile mark. What I thought was great about this was that after running the better part of the the first two thirds of the course alone, suddenly the course felt really crowded. Some people may think this is negative in that a crowded course means their pace will be slowed due to congestion and they may have a valid argument. Personally, I found it super motivating, maybe even exhilarating running past groups of people who were doing the 25K. Granted I wasn’t racing them and I’m sure many of them had every intention of hiking the better part of the 25K from the start, but when you’re constantly passing people for the last quarter of a race it is such a mental boost. Then when you start realizing that you’ve already run farther than the entire distance of their race you start feeling like frickin’ Superman. Not to mention how so many of them were so supportive. It felt like I had a cheering section for the entire last third of the race. I heard more “good job!”s and “nice work!”s in the last ten miles of this race than I did for the entirety of the one and only road marathon I’ve ever run. I really do credit a good part of having a race that I was so proud of to the synergistic effect of the combination of the cheerful support of the 25K runners and the mental and physical boost that resulted from seeing runners in the distance on the trail, catching up to them, and then exchanging encouraging words to one another as I passed. This may come off as sounding a bit egotistical, but this experience reminded me of how amazing the ultrarunning community is and how awesome the people who choose to partake are. We run 30, 50, and 100 miles in a single go. I’ve said it myself and I’ve heard plenty of other people say the same words:  “anyone can do this”. While I still believe this is true, the fact is that most people choose not to even make the attempt.



One of many beautiful views along the course.
Photo credit:  Don Halke

 

There are two small sections towards the end of the course that I feel I would be remiss if I did not mention them. The first being the very top of the final big climb of the course which is the steepest climb I have ever seen during a race. It is lovingly named SOB. It wasn’t a long section of it, but it was as close to requiring hands in contact with the ground to assist your climbing as you can get. Let me put it this way, I took an introductory rock climbing course at Yosemite National Park and some of the “rock climbing” we did was not as steep as SOB. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that I saw one man basically clinging to SOB, full body in contact with the steepest section of the climb, as he was coaxed by several others to push on to the top. The second of the two sections I felt I had to mention was a small but steep and unexpected climb just before seeing the finish line. After cresting SOB, making the descent down the trail, and getting back on pavement to cross the Susquehanna River I was fully expecting to see the finish line right where the start line had been:  on the road entering the Western Clinton Sportmen's Association area. However, that was not the case. The course has you make a quick left off the entrance road back onto a trail. At this point you can hear the cheers at the finish line. Shortly after hitting the trail, there is a short but steep climb that I can only describe as feeling like a kick in the teeth. Then you round a quick corner and the finish line is in sight. It felt like getting sucker punched. My mental state was so positive and my running felt so strong all day that to have to dig deep just to manage a trot across the finish line completely winded was not what I expected. Nonetheless, I was still proud of my run and what a great after party they provided! 

 

A view of the Hyner View Overlook from the camping area.

I feel I’ve talked this race up quite a bit already, but it was a lot of little extras that made it even more

Another view from the camping
area just after sunset.

special. One of those was the camping right at the start/finish area. A huge thank you to the Western Clinton Sportmen's Association for allowing this event to use their land as a camping and staging area. Another was the food at the finish. A local company was grilling chicken and serving it with potato salad and slaw for everyone there. In addition, a local brewery was providing several of their brews to everyone of age. I can attest that the IPA I tried was delicious and refreshing. The ample supply of porta potties was so great that I never saw a line. Even more amazing than the number of porta potties was the quality of the TP. I’ve pooped in my share of porta potties. I’ve also wiped with a lot of different kinds of vegetation in various stages of decay in my day. In some cases I would prefer the vegetation over the excuse for TP that you usually find in porta potties. That was not the case here. The TP in the porta potties at the Hyner was top notch. By all means, it was better than any vegetation that I have ever used to wipe with. But in all seriousness, the one thing that stood out to me more than anything else at the finish area was the number of families that I saw together there. I saw plenty of couples with young kids. I saw families celebrating mom or dad’s finish and husbands and wives awaiting their significant other’s finish. It made me wish that my family had been there to share that experience with me. It also reaffirmed my belief that ultrarunning certainly can be a family affair. And that a future filled with traveling, ultrarunning, and camping with the family seems pretty bright and completely possible.

 

Scott Snell

June 30, 2017

2017 Naked Bavarian

A Muddy and Bloody Run With The Naked Bavarian 40 Miler

The 2017 Naked Bavarian 40 miler marked a bit of a milestone in ultrarunning for me. My second crack at the Naked Bavarian 40 miler was my first time to make a second attempt at an ultramarathon course. I’ve always set goals for myself for every ultramarathon, but with the variation in course difficulties and weather conditions my goals have more or less been guesses of what I think I am capable of achieving. This was the first trail race I was attempting where I had solid data on what I was capable of and my goal was to improve on my performance from the previous year. My finishing time from the previous year was 7:13:14 and I believed that if everything went well on race day I could get to the finish in under 7 hours.

 

2016 Finisher Award!

The Naked Bavarian is a young race with 2015 being the inaugural running of it and this year being only the third running of the event. It is advertised and marketed as a low cost, no frills race. I agree with the first part because at 40 miles for $35 (or about $0.88 per mile) it is the most miles I have

2017 Finisher Award!

ever gotten for my money at any event with an entry fee. The second “no frills” part is a bit debatable. While the swag is not overwhelming, I have received a finishers’ award both years I have run it; in 2016 it was a bottle opener and in 2017 it was a mini glass growler. Additionally, the aid stations are frequent (about every 3.5 miles) and well stocked (no gels, but plenty of other standard ultra aid station foods). The Naked Bavarian, along with at least seven other events, is organized and put on by Uberendurancesports  under the guidance of race director Stephen Weiss. I’ve only run three of his events (Naked Bavarian twice and Blues Cruise once, both of which share the same venue and many of the same trails), but all three have left me impressed and wanting to return for another!

 

The 2016 Finisher Award!
 

The Naked Bavarian course is basically a 20 mile lollipop route with the loop at the end of the lollipop being about 7 miles and the beginning and the end of the course being a 6.5 miles out and back. The 20 mile runners do the course once and the 40 mile runners run the entire course twice. It is

Just one beautiful view of the area.

held at The Blue Marsh National Recreation Area which is just northwest of Reading, PA. It really is a beautiful venue for a trail race as many sections of the trail run along the lake edge and cross narrow sections of it at several points. Nearly the entire course is on single track trail with the few exceptions (maybe about a mile worth of the 40 mile course) being instances where you run along a road shoulder to cross a road bridge or connect to another trail. I’ve heard the trails for the course described as “beginning trail runner friendly” in regards to the amount of elevation change and technicality. I’d agree with this description, but they are by no means the easiest trails I’ve run. My Garmin and Strava data reported 3610’ and 3027’ of elevation gain respectively for the 40 mile course. So while the course is not a mountain ultra, it is not a flat course with a couple rolling hills either. In regard to the technicality of the trails, I would say the entirety of the course is runnable with the exception of one steep, rocky climb around the 10 mile mark. The only other item of note I would mention about the trails is the steepness of the cupping on the single track through the open grassy sections. When people say technical I think the most common interpretation is lots of exposed rock and roots, these trails have some of that. After running these trails for the third time, I would add excessive cupping to my list of technical aspects of the trail. It may not sound like much, but when the cupping creates a narrow enough channel with steep enough sides that you have to alter your running form and foot placement it is definitely adding a technical factor.

With a sub 7 hour finish as my one and only goal for the race I was confident I could achieve it with the experience I had gained since the previous year. My running of the 2016 Naked Bavarian 40 miler was the first time I had run over a 50k distance. Since then I had finished a 100 miler and a handful of 50 milers. I had become much better at understanding and anticipating the physical and mental obstacles that arise during ultras. I also understood much better what my body’s nutritional needs were and what kind of calories worked best for me. With this experience and the growing knowledge base, I found that I spent far less time at aid stations with every ultra I ran. Based on this alone, I figured that even if I only matched my running pace at the previous Naked Bavarian I could still bring it to under a 7 hour finish due to increased efficiency at the aid stations. Some people may be scoffing at this and saying “ultras are supposed to be fun, you should enjoy the aid stations and socialize a bit”. To which I reply we all choose to run because we chose to run. The motivation for that choice is yours and yours alone. Some people run to win a race. Some run because their friends run. Some run because their doctor told them to. I can’t simplify my motivation for running to a single reason in this race report, but I can say that my motivation for running this particular race for a second consecutive year was to improve my finishing time by at least 13 minutes and 15 seconds.

Flat Scott ready the night before.

Leading up to the run, everything did not play out as I had hoped. Training went well, but in the month before the race I developed a chest cold and was still feeling some symptoms from it as I readied for the run. I knew I could still achieve my goal even with that setback, it may be just a little less comfortable. It was a cold start for the race with the temperature in the low 20s and the anticipated high was only 35°. In the chilly yet fresh morning air we took off from the start on a mostly overcast and breezy day. I watched the lead pack head out from the start/finish area following a short stretch of road towards the trailhead. Probably less than a half mile later upon reaching the trailhead the leaders were out of sight likely maintaining a sub seven minute per mile pace. I was happy just to have them in sight up til the trailhead as my overall target pace was just over ten minutes per mile. With my target pace in mind, I felt good about the first three miles of singletrack leading to the first short stretch of road shoulder running to the first aid station. Even with some hills, I still managed close to nine minute miles for that first stretch.

After that first aid station, the course returns back to singletrack trail. After a little run through the woods, the trail heads out to some open grassland sections. It was in these sections that the trail cupping was the worst. However, this early in the run it didn’t bother me at all. Even though the lingering chest cold was keeping me from feeling 100%, as I was running I was happy and thankful to be out running on trails away from home that I don’t get to visit on a regular basis. After another three miles or so of single track, the trail turns back out onto a road where you hit the next aid station. This is the point of the course where the lollipop loop starts. From there the course follows the road shoulder across another bridge before turning back onto the singletrack. A few miles later just before the ten mile mark the course hits the largest climb, a gain of about 250’ in about a half mile. I remembered it from last year and pushed through it knowing the toughest part of my first lap was over. I hammered the downhill and was surprised and impressed to find that my time for the mile including the biggest climb was under 12 minutes. This was encouraging for me as I made my way through the remainder of the singletrack leading back to the aid station that marked the end of the lollipop loop. These three and a half miles or so of the course are very runnable being pretty much flat and not at all technical. With the extra motivation as a boost and the easy running terrain, I cranked out some of my fastest miles of the day.

 

Sweet Bibs This Year!

I was feeling great from the climb up until about the 17 mile point. For some reason, I just started feeling exhausted at that point. I had mostly just been drinking Gatorade and eating a few M&Ms at aid stations up to this point. I may have had a bit of Coca-Cola by this point, but I made a note to myself to be sure to drink some at every aid station going forward. I struggled a bit finishing up the last section of my first lap and then headed back out for my second lap feeling somewhat defeated. I was ahead of my target pace, but was hurting bad and feeling spent. I was just hoping to complete my second loop without falling behind my target pace for the day. The temperature had risen a few degrees since the start and the trails that were frozen had thawed for the most part and had become a bit sloppy and slick. This was more intimately impressed upon me a few miles into my second lap when I was coming down a short descent and my left foot flew out from under me. I immediately knew there was no avoiding it and I was going down. I hit the muddy slope and went into a bit of a roll. I bounced back up unharmed and continued on wearing a bit of the trail.

And another beautiful view of the area.

Not too long after my fall, I started noticing some blood in the snot that I was wiping from my nose. This continued for a few miles and I thought it might be a very mild nosebleed. I tried pinching my nostrils for a while to stop it, but no luck. This didn’t help my breathing any either. It was so minor and not getting worse so I soldiered on looking forward to the big climb of the course because I knew that marked the halfway point of the course. After finishing the climb I was excited for the fast, easy miles that followed. Unfortunately, this time through that section they did not seem anywhere near as easy and they were definitely not as fast. I think it was somewhere in this section that I realized that my “nosebleed” wasn’t a nosebleed at all. The edges of my nostrils had just been rubbed raw from my gloves wiping away snot. The little bit of blood seeping from the raw sections was mixing with my snot making my gloves look far bloodier than they were snotty. It was also around this time that I hacked up a monster loogie. As I went to launch it to my side, it had a weak ejection and as the phlegm went airborne it never totally detached from my mouth. The phlegm strand went to the side and floated for a bit until I caught it with my arm and chest. I didn’t care too much at this point (30 some miles in) so I just rubbed it into my muddy jacket with my bloody gloves.

It was during the last ten miles of the run that I probably felt about the crappiest I have ever felt during any run, ultra distances and shorter. Maybe it was because I had been struggling for the last 20 miles or so and during that time I was trying to use the mental trick of bargaining with myself by telling myself how good I’ll feel and what a motivational boost I’ll get knowing I just have to make it back to the start after the halfway point of the second lap. Maybe I had banked on that so much and

promised it to myself so hard that when that boost in motivation never materialized it was far more crushing than if I had just planned on suffering for the remainder of the run. At points, especially in the grassy areas open to the sun, I found myself so tempted to just hop off the trail and lay down and rest for awhile. I really wanted to stop running and just lay down. The grass hummocks looked so comfortable and inviting in the warm sun. I fought the temptations off by thinking about how much more awful I would feel as I was lying there and watching a line of runners that look much fresher than me pass by. Not that I was worried about where I was going to place at the finish, it was just the mental aspect of being passed and how that can affect your motivation to push on. Whether you’re towards the front, in the middle pack, or somewhere at the back, if you already feel like crap watching someone who looks like they’re still on fresh legs pass you and disappear ahead of you on the trail usually doesn’t improve your mental state. At least not for me. Maybe it was because this low surprised me so much that it seemed so bad. I thought this is my second time here; the first time was smooth so this one will be too. Surprise! I got the toughest mental and physical struggle I have ever felt at a race. Another reason this bonk and mental struggle surprised me so much was that I was ahead of my goal pace time the entire run. If I had fallen behind my target pace and my motivation crashed as a result that would be understandable, but that wasn’t the case. I stayed ahead of my target time the entire race; I just felt totally spent doing it. Feeling mentally and physically drained, I willed myself on past the last aid station and to within three miles of the finish.

I finally broke out of the funk I had been in when I could hear the music and smell the food at the start/finish area. I tried to smile for the photographer as I crossed the finish line with a time of 6:54:11. I should have been pumped since I beat my time goal, but as much as I struggled to get through the second half of the race I wasn’t feeling that excited about it. I was just glad it was over

See that smile

and I got through it. Writing the previous paragraph is the deepest I have analyzed the entire experience. As much as it sucked, I am thankful for the experience. It helped reinforce my resolve and determination to not give up even when things aren’t going well. It strengthened my belief that as long as I continue to push myself through hard times, I don’t give up, and I keep making progress towards my goals that they can be achieved. I’ve watched, read, and listened to plenty of videos, race reports, and interviews about terrible bonk stories and mental struggles during ultras. All the while, I wondered why I had never experienced anything as bad as these stories. Well, after two years of ultrarunning and with this most recent ultra experience, I think I can finally relate a bit more with these stories of ultra calamities. Feeling more humbled than I had ever felt at the finish of an ultra, I recovered a bit next to a fire at the finish area. Once my stomach began to feel more settled and my head felt less loopy I grabbed a plate of the post race fare that seems to be the standard at Uberendurancesports events:  German bratswurst with sauerkraut. It tasted like success and it was delicious!

Scott Snell
March 26, 2017

 

2016 Navesink Challenge 15K

Author's Note (2/26/17):  Since posting I have been asked by several individuals how the crossfitters did. I debated whether to include the crossfit gyms' results compared to mine in this race report prior to publishing. I had decided that I wanted to close it out without it feeling like I was disparaging the performance of the crossfitters. I figured if anyone really wanted to know they would look up the full results, but they asked and so I shall deliver (full results). To quickly summarize, the fastest runner registered to a crossfit gym's team had a finishing time of 1:09:06.34.

I am confessing before even writing this race report that one of the motivating factors for me even registering for this race was to outrun crossfitters participating in it. I have nothing against crossfit or those that practice crossfit. I simply wanted to test myself against crossfitters in what I consider to be a mid-distance race. Since I have been focused on ultrarunning and endurance racing, I really did not consider myself trained for a 15K. Personally, and this is open to debate, I would in most ways consider an athlete who trains for 50 milers to be a practitioner of a different sport than an athlete who specializes in running 5Ks. Likewise, I would argue that crossfitters train for a sport other than running. So, after seeing some Facebook posts from crossfit gyms who were building up a bit of a competition between themselves about running this 15K, I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to test myself at a shorter distance against other athletes who do not specialize in those distances. Honestly, I saw it as an amature versus amature event. Me on one side and all the crossfitters on the other. I knew none of us would be near the winner at the finish. Let the marathoners and and half marathoners win this, I was here to test myself against the crossfitters. The second strongest motivating factor for me to do this race was simply the convenience of it. The race takes place at Bodman Park in central NJ, which is a short drive from my wife’s parents’ house. Which meant that we may even have a babysitter and we may even be able to participate in the same race.

Crafting a time goal was a harder task for this race than previous races. Reason being that my goal was to run it as fast as possible. With the given distance I had very little recent experience so I had few to no results to use to formulate a goal. Since my goal was “as fast as possible", it really became a question of where is the line between possible and impossible for my current fitness level and ability? I figured that the best way to determine this was to do speedwork trials and see where I stood.

I wasn’t extremely familiar with the course, but I knew it was an out and back with a small lollipop at

About 1 mile in and feeling fine!

the end composed of a mix of paved and gravel road with some elevation change. I wasn’t too concerned with the elevation changes given that the trail races I had been focused on had a far greater amount of elevation change. However, I was also aware of how much of an elevation change can have on the difficulty of a course and how much that can affect pace. Taking all of these factors into consideration, I settled on an 8 min./mile pace. Shortly after that decision and doing some speedwork, I realized that shooting for an 8 min./mile pace probably wouldn’t be enough to produce my goal of “as fast as possible”, therefore, I changed my goal time to a 7 min./mile pace for finishing time of 1:05:12.

With a solid goal in mind and the intention of going all out for the entire 9.3 miles, I arrived at the event about 45 minutes before the start time. For about the last two weeks before the race I had developed a bit of a chest cold and was battling it as best I could so it would not worsen come race day. I had managed to talk my wife into running this race even though she had not done much running since her first marathon about two months earlier. We got our bibs and swag: a pretty sweet neon orange long sleeve shirt, trial size deodorant sticks, and some Advil cold medicine (I know, strange but good for me). We were ready to run with the exception of making a final pit stop at the porta potties. I realize that the last minute bathroom visit is pretty much a race ritual for most runners, but with this race it was of particular concern for me. Reason being that the distance was shorter and the pace was, hopefully, going to be faster than what I had been accustomed to. Usually for an ultra event I expect to stop at some point to discharge some type of excrement. With this 15K distance I didn’t want to stop at all. In fact, I planned on not even taking any hydration during the race to avoid slowing down to grab a cup and drinking the contents.

So, this all leads to my only minor complaint about the event:  the limited number of porta potties. Long story short, there weren’t enough porta potties for the number of runners trying to use them in that last half hour before the start time. With the start time getting ever closer the lines were getting longer. Soon a hedgerow beyond a parking area became a popular spot and the lines began to disappear. Using the hedgerow option, I and many other runners were ready to race.

My wife and I grabbed spots near the starting line. After some short pre race announcements and a quick countdown, the race was on. I went out hard and faster than my goal pace trying to keep the leaders in sight for as long as possible. The course starts in the park and follows a short path out of the park onto a paved road. The paved section starts out relatively flat, but before the end of the second mile you are well into the biggest and longest climb of the course. Following this the course turns onto a gravel road at around 2.65 miles. There is a short climb left after hitting the gravel and although this felt like the steepest part of the climb, my Garmin data shows differently. After descending the majority of the elevation on the gravel, the course turns back onto paved road at the 3.25 mile mark. Getting over the hills and the elevation change in itself wasn’t so much of a challenge when compared to the elevation profiles of recent races I had run (my Garmin recorded a total of 576’ while Strava called it 533' of elevation gain for the entire course). However, trying to maintain a 7 min./mile pace while climbing them was quite a task for me. I felt like I was pushing to the max on the way out and questioning how I would be able to match this pace on my way back when I would have to run this climb again in reverse direction. With that bit of trepidation gnawing at me, I hammered down the backside of the hill. The course follows the paved road for about a mile until you make a small loop which forms the lollipop of the course layout.

Reaching the halfway point of any race is a bit of a turning point, whether it’s a 15K or a 50 miler. I did a quick assessment as I started the route back. I felt like I had been pushing hard since the start without totally red lining. I thought I had enough left in the tank to match the pace I had done on the way out for my return trip. My cold and congestion didn’t feel like they were affecting me too much. All in all, I was pretty much right where I wanted to be. With this positive outlook, I was pushing to get some faster miles in before hitting the hilly section of the course again. At this time I passed my wife who was on her way out to the turnaround. We exchanged encouragement which gave me a little bit of a boost to tackle the hills harder on my way back.



Around mile 7, near the end
of the unpaved section.

Once I hit the gravel road, I looked at my watch less and ran based more on feel. I pushed to the point where I felt like I was suffering, but could maintain the pace. I diverted my attention away from the pain by enjoying the scenery. The tree lined gravel roads may not have been trails (my favorite for running on), but they were about as similar as a road can be without being a trail. The hilly gravel roads stretched through heavily forested areas, giving the course a bit of a trail course feel and providing plenty of beautiful scenery. Given the time of year (late November), the majority of the leaves had already dropped. However, a good portion of the trees were made up of oak species. The majority of the always stubborn oak leaves still refused to drop from their limbs providing a reminder of the just passed beauty of the fall foliage colors.

With my mind wandering the majority of the time while running through the forested section, I was back on the paved road before I knew it. This was basically the home stretch, so I tried to refocus on pushing myself to the red line. I did a pretty good job of this until I came upon an unofficial pop up aid station where a guy was handing out cups of Heineken and Guinness. I had stuck to my hydration plan of no hydration up to this point, but when I heard Heineken with only maybe a mile to go I slowed down enough to grab a cup and down it. It was hard to say no as this was the first road race I had ever done where alcohol was offered during it. With a bit of Heineken gurgling in my belly, I pounded the pavement until re entering the park.

After re entering the park, the finish line was less than a half mile away, but a little (about 0.25 miles) past where the start line had been. In this extra little stretch through the park there is an extremely short section of trail, maybe five paces or so if memory serves. Being primarily a trail runner, I’m pretty accustomed to uneven terrain with plenty of roots and rocks to trip on. With this background, I found it kinda cute how they had marked all of the exposed roots on this trail section with flourescent marking paint. Getting a little chuckle from this, I cheerfully crossed the finish line at 1:06:19.75 a little more than a minute over my goal, but feeling like I had raced the best 15K I was capable of at the time. Was I disappointed I didn’t hit my target time? Yes, but at the same time I wanted to do my fastest time possible. If I had hit my target time, that would have meant that my goal time was not my fastest possible. I would rather set a difficult goal for myself and fail to reach it rather than delude myself with meaningless accomplishments by setting easily attainable goals. As Dean Karnazes said

The finish line!

“Unless you're pushing yourself, you're not living to the fullest. You can't be afraid to fail, unless you fail, you haven't pushed hard enough". With this quote in mind, I was pleased with the finish and my effort. I was also extra pleased upon reaching the finish because I had the opportunity to cheer my wife into the finish, which doesn’t happen very often just because she doesn’t race very often.

The finish celebration was festive with a pretty impressive spread of the standard race finish fare, but also had some pretty delicious grilled chicken soup. Although this was more than I expect at a standard race finish, it was the after party at a nearby Elks Lodge that blew me away. Between the one free draft beer per runner (that’s two for me since my wife didn’t want hers) and the baskets of Shipwreck Rum airliner bottles that were up for grabs, the pain from the run disappeared quickly. Add to the free flowing alcohol the live music and the full buffet of hot food, coffee, and cookies and I concluded that this was the most pampered race finish party I had ever attended. I realize that this is rather juxtaposed to most ultrarunning events, but so is running a 15K. Sometimes it’s fun to mix things up and get out of your comfort zone. Additionally, it’s also fun to be able to include your wife in the hobby that you are most passionate about and enjoy it together.

 

Scott Snell

February 14, 2017

How to Turn a Routine Run Into a Marshmello Run

It wasn't an amazing run for the distance or difficulty,

but it did inspire the above meme and this blog post...

So this weekend started like most others: cooking breakfast for the kids, my wife is prepping for work, playing with the kids (Hot Wheels, Nerf gun wars, and Lego building), and I’m thinking about when I will be able to get out to get some miles in. My wife is working a split shift today, so I know I have a small window when running is even an opportunity. Call it serendipity, call it fate, call it whatever you want but at some point this morning Marshmello turned what I had expected to be a standard neighborhood road run into something more memorable (and worth writing a blog post about).

Recently my two and four year old sons have taken to watching Marshmello videos on youtube. I had noticed them watching these videos once before this morning, but didn’t give it much attention. Today, however, I ended up watching several videos for entire songs with my two year old. At some point during this time, I started thinking to myself that these videos are entertaining and this music is pretty good and could be pretty awesome to run with. Well, with that thought I decided I would take Marshmello with me to liven up my standard neighborhood running route I had planned to get in during the break between my wife’s work shifts. In some sense, it made it a new and fresh experience.

Here is one of my top favorites from Marshmello, "Summer".

Let me backup a quick second here. Marshmello is an electronic dance music producer and DJ. He definitely doesn’t specialize in my standard style of music that I listen to running or not. Anyhow, even though I usually don’t run with music altogether, I decided while watching these videos with my two year old son that I was going to listen to this music during my run today. Even stranger was the fact that as I was getting my stuff together and tying up my Altras with the Marshmello videos playing in the background my wife commented to me about how it would make pretty good music to run to!?! “Weird, I thought the same thing”, I said as I was just finishing setting up the Marshmello playlist on Spotify.

Here is another one of my top choices, "Alone".

With that, I was out the door and embarking on my first ever run synced to electronic dance music. For the most part, I am not a super emotional person. I tend to hide my emotions more readily than put them on display for all to see. Furthermore, I don’t buy into much spiritual stuff about “sending good vibes” and feeling people’s energy, not that I don’t see the value of support from others or self confidence. However, even with my rather cynical mindset I found this run to be more emotionally charged and filled with more out of the ordinary thoughts than my standard run of the same route. 

It started off like most other runs along my standard neighborhood route; the sidewalk and road cracks here and there, the resident turkey there. Maybe there was a bit more “pep in my step” due to the fast tempo in my earbuds that I wasn’t accustomed to, but otherwise it felt like a standard run. It wasn't until about five miles, the halfway point of my run, that I started feeling that this music was altering my thoughts and emotions during my run. I began thinking about appreciating our surroundings. Since I prefer trail running over road running, the fact that this thought popped in my head during my standard neighborhood road run route surprised me.

I looked at the houses and appreciated the architecture and the work that went into the design of them. How can one say that architecture isn’t an art in itself? For that matter, what about the landscaping? I appreciated the materials that went into the building of those homes: the years and labor hours that were spent on the research, development, and production of those materials. I thought about the chemists that were involved in the development of the paints, siding, shingles, and insulation in every home on the street I was running along. I admired the structural and environmental engineers that designed and finalized all of the minute details of the working parts of the home and macro impacts of the development itself. I thought of the foresters and mill workers that made the lumber and the drivers that transported those materials from the forest to the mill to the building sites. I thought of the landscape architects that designed the layouts of the yards with the trees and shrubs. That led me to appreciate the nurseries and their employees that produced the plants. Additionally, it led to the appreciation of the landscape companies and their workers for installing the shrubs, trees, and turf.

That last paragraph may sound like nothing but an unadulterated praise of capitalism, but it is in fact just my reiteration of thoughts during this run of my recognition of the worth of individuals’ contributions to a shared project. Whether it had been building homes, growing corn, or launching a satellite into orbit; I believe that in my state of mind I would have seen the beauty in the orchestration of any of them and appreciated them all equally. Basically, the point of this entire writing is to encourage the appreciation of your surroundings.
I’ll be the first to admit that I usually don’t appreciate my environment when I do my standard neighborhood runs. I typically view it as a convenient way to get some miles in. After this morning’s run though, I appreciated my standard running route in a way that I had not before. It really opened my eyes to how much a run can be influenced by altering one small aspect of it, such as auditory input. It amazed me that I had not been so aware of this fact earlier. I’ve run the same routes multiple times many times with mixed results. Sometimes it’s the weather that changes or just my attitude. Sometimes I’m too hungry or my stomach feels too full. Whatever the variable is that you choose, there is some impact from said variable on how your run turns out. The key is to realize that YOUR run is being impacted by these inputs. Once this is realized and accepted, one can run through and minimize the impacts of perceived negative inputs on their running regime. Additionally, one can breathe new life into old and boring running routines. Change your music, add music, run hungry, run full, run topless, push a stuffed armadillo in a stroller. The point is to change up your routine if the routine of it has begun to impact your motivation. It isn’t the activity of running that has become boring or routine to you, it is your perception of it.

Scott Snell
January 15, 2017

2016 Wildcat Ridge Romp

Author’s Note:  This race report was written in January about five months following the event. I’ve done my best to recall the events as accurately as possible. I have made sure to note anywhere there was any uncertainty in my recollection of said events.

The Wildcat Ridge Romp is a multi distance (10 mile, 20 mile, 50k, 50 mile, 100 k) event organized and managed by the NJ Trail Series group. It takes place at the Wildcat Ridge Wildlife Management Area in northern New Jersey typically in mid August when it is nice and warm; I’ll elaborate on the heat for the event this year a little later. All distances for the event are run by repeating a 10 mile loop as many times as necessary to finish a runner’s chosen distance. The course is primarily single track trail with a few short sections of ATV trail, paved road, and fire road mixed in. The trail is pretty technical in my opinion with some semi treacherous rocky sections and enough elevation change to keep it interesting even if it was completely smooth runnable trail. My Garmin data showed a little under 1000’ of elevation gain per loop with 4702’ at the end of the 50 miler. The one creek crossing at around the six mile mark of the loop offered a solid bridge so wet feet due to creek crossings were not an issue. Unfortunately, due to other reasons wet feet would not be avoided altogether.



10 Mile Course Map

Following finishing my first 50 miler (North Face Endurance Challenge at Bear Mountain, NY) recovery went well and faster than expected so I returned to my normal non-training routine of running. It was mid May and I was feeling confident and motivated, but had no other races lined up for the remainder of the year. The North Face 50 miler was intended to be the running pinnacle of the year for me in 2016, but returning to running afterwards left me looking for a new challenge. Since my first attempt at a 50 miler went better than expected, I thought attempting another and improving my time at the same distance would be an achievable goal to work towards. I especially thought it was a doable goal because I wasn’t aiming for a massive improvement. My finishing time at the North Face 50 miler was 9:04:29. I was hoping to improve my 50 miler time to under 9 hours. My thinking was that if I could find a similar 50 miler, shaving five minutes off of my time wouldn’t be that much more incredibly difficult. If I hadn’t had to stop to clear my colon at the NF 50 miler, I would have already been under 9 hours. In my mind, I was literally one poo away from my goal.

I decided on the 50 mile option of the Wildcat Ridge Romp with about two and a half months of time to train. It seemed to be the perfect attempt for me to improve my 50 miler time since it was described as having similar terrain and almost identical elevation gain. The NF 50 course had just under 7000’ of elevation gain according to my Garmin data while the Wildcat Ridge Romp course elevation profile showed 7223’ of elevation gain for the 50 mile course. I followed the same training plan I had for the NF 50 miler which was based off of the Ultraladies 50 mile training plan (http://www.trailrunevents.com/ul/schedule-50m.asp). The training seemed to go just as well in preparation for the Wildcat Ridge Romp as it had for the NF 50 miler. Everything seemed to be going as planned for me to achieve my goal:  similar course difficulty, almost identical training, and a great outlook going into the race. I was extremely confident up until about a week before the race when I started checking the weather reports.

50 Mile Elevation Profile

Hourly weather data

The 2016 Wildcat Ridge Romp took place on August 13th which happened to be a particularly warm day. As I had mentioned earlier, the heat would become a factor especially going into the later part of the day. At 6 AM at the start of the race the temperature was 73.4°F. It would eventually climb to a high of 95°F with a heat index of 109.7°F according to Weather Underground’s historical weather data. Even knowing the heat would play a role in the race, I still felt good about my goal at the start of the day.

I planned to run this race at a steady pace. For me that meant averaging 1 h:48 min. per 10 mile

An example of how some of the ATV trails looked

loop. A friend (I’ll refer to him as RP going forward) of mine had registered for this race as well so we took off at the front of the pack from the start and ran the first loop together. Throughout the entirety of the day, weather was a factor and from the starting line to the actual start of the trail was no exception. It was hot and humid, even at the 6 AM start. While the heat and mugginess this early made things uncomfortable, the absolute worst effect of the weather this early in the day was the amount of dew everything was covered in. The race starts in a small parking lot and then follows less than a quarter mile stretch of grassy area along a road before turning onto a gravel road that takes you to the trail. It was during this short grassy stretch at the start that the dew had the biggest impact, soaking the shoes and socks of all the runners. Once on the trail, the dew continued to keep our shoes and socks wet. Because much of the course follows ATV trails, they are not maintained to the same pristine conditions you may expect for most hiking trails. Sections of the trail stretched through non-forested open areas. Through these sections much of the vegetation on the trail edges was 2-5 feet tall, heavy with dew, and leaning hard onto the path. Running these sections kept me pretty much soaked from the waist down.

The first four miles of the loop to the first aid station were a mix of these sections of wooded trail and

View from the pond edge

open stretches. There were no significant climbs up to this point, just a lot of short climbs and quick descents. At around the three mile mark (not positive about this location) there is what looked to be a great overlook site, but upon our first passing it was too dark to see much. RP and I refilled our water bottles and moved through the first aid station quickly. The first mile after felt about the same as the first four miles with a short stretch where we ran along a pond edge for a nice change of scenery. It was right around the five mile mark where we hit what seemed to me as the most significant and technical climb of the course. Not that it was the longest climb of the course, but probably the steepest and most rocky.



View from overlook

Miles six and seven were a bit more technical than the first five with much more exposed rock sections and a long (about a mile) descent with a couple pretty steep sections that were a little gnarly. The long descent was followed by a long climb of about a mile and a half. This section of trail felt different to me as well as it carved its way through continuous forest passing large boulders and keeping me alert as a few more technical sections required a little rock hopping. At about the six mile mark the course reaches the lowest elevation and crosses a bridge over a small creek. After the creek crossing the course hops onto a stone road that begins climbing alongside the creek. About three quarters of a mile later the road leads you to what appears to be a very aged stone structure. At this point the course leads you to a short climb behind the stone building and out of the woods to a steep climb up a grassy embankment to a paved road. We then followed the road (Split Rock Rd.) across a large dam which held the water supply that was feeding the creek adjacent to the road we had just climbed. Just on the other side of the dam at mile seven was an unmanned water station thankfully. Seeing all that water and having a nearly empty bottle was mentally draining in some way. We filled our bottles quickly, dumped a little water on our heads (we were only about 1:20 from the start, but the heat was already affecting us), and continued our run.

The next couple miles were similar to the early miles of the loop with a mix of wooded and open sections, although I’d say this later section was composed of more open than wooded. At least it felt that way with the sun out as it seemed shade was hard to come by and the sun was already feeling warm during the second half of our first loop. At the 8.5 mile mark the course passed by the mile four aid station again and then followed another rock road for about a mile on a gradual descent until spilling out into a neighborhood on paved roads. After about a quarter mile run on the neighborhood blacktop roads, the course hopped back on the trail for a very short stretch before dumping us back to the initial gravel road that led back to the start/finish area.

We checked into the start/finish area at about 1 hour and 50 minutes, just a couple minutes slow to meet my target time. At this point that time split was a confidence booster because I felt like I hadn’t started pushing myself too hard or nearing that exhaustion line anywhere during the first loop. RP and I filled our bottles with some Gatorade and took in some calories before heading back out. Since the start/finish area was the only fully stocked aid station, I was relying on GoGos applesauce squeeze pouches as my only source of calories between 10 mile loops. Each pouch was 3.2 oz and 60 calories. I ate three during the first loop and took three more before heading back out for loop number two. If all things went perfectly, this may have been a fine nutritional plan:  180 supplemental applesauce calories during each 10 mile, sub 2 hour loop and primary refueling at the completion of each loop at the main aid station. Unfortunately, not everything went perfectly. As the day went on and the heat started to wear on me I began slowing down. This meant longer stretches of energy exertion with fewer calories consumed. Although I wouldn’t say that nutrition was the largest contributing factor to my ailing performance throughout the day, I would say it could have been adding to an already troubled situation.

I headed back out with RP for our second lap with the plan to try to push this lap a little harder than the first. I figured if I was going to meet my goal I didn’t want to have to make up time on my final lap during the hottest part of the day. I realized after a few miles that RP wasn’t with me anymore. We had chatted during the first lap about running together and splitting up. We even joked about whether we would hold hands at the finish as we shared first place. We knew what each other’s goals were so I wasn’t completely surprised to find myself alone. During the remainder of this lap the heat continued wear on me. Although the dew was long gone, I was still drenched from a steady flow of sweat. I almost stopped at the creek crossing during this lap to dunk my head and cool off, but I knew the water aid station was just ahead and somewhat reluctantly passed on the opportunity. I finished up my second lap and checked into the start/finish area at about 3:50, even further behind my target time after trying to push myself harder during that second lap to make up the couple minutes that I needed. It was at this point that I started doubting the feasibility of making my goal of a sub 9 hour finish.



Map of the dam crossing

It was at some point during my third lap that I started coming to terms with not achieving my main intention of the race. The heat was getting more and more oppressive with every lap. My water bottle was either empty or nearly empty every time I reached an aid station. It had been about five hours since the start of the race and I don’t think I had urinated once. I tried to pick up my pace during this lap, but my body just wouldn’t respond how I wanted it to. I continued to fall further off of my target pace. Most people recommend having tiered goals going into a race. I didn’t do that because I was so sure I’d be able to hit my A goal of a sub 9 hour finish. It was looking more and more like that wasn’t going to happen. I decided I would make up a secondary goal on the fly to stay motivated. I was in the lead since RP had fallen back during the second lap, so what better goal to stay motivated to the finish but to hang on to the lead? So finishing in first became my tier B goal. During this lap I stopped at the creek crossing and dunked my head and soaked my shirt in the cool water. I was so happy I did because at the next water station there was only enough water left to fill my bottle (20 oz.) about halfway.

I’m not certain, but I believe it was during this lap that a group of a few runners that must have finished a shorter distance race were parked at the point on the course where you exit the trail and head into the neighborhood. They must have been waiting for runners to cheer on because when they saw me approach the cranked up the stereo playing “I Would Walk 500 Miles” by the Proclaimers and hopped out of the car cheering. The song choice made me chuckle and cheered me up a bit for the last of the lap.

I rolled into the start/finish area a little past the six hour mark, so much for those sub two hour laps. I was feeling overheated and dehydrated. I also had the feeling that I was fighting a losing battle with my A goal steadily getting farther out of reach. Although feeling a bit trashed mentally and physically, I went through the aid station quickly to try to finish what was beginning to feel like a suffer fest as

Trail following the creek to the dam crossing

quickly as possible. It was during this fourth lap that I started wondering how RP was doing and regretting pushing harder during that second lap. I thought that maybe if I had just kept pace with him at least I would have had some company in this misery. And misery it was. I had never felt so dehydrated or overheated. I realized at a couple points during this lap that my head had stopped sweating as my hair was dry. I felt like I had to urinate, but only a dark brownish yellow dribble came out. When I reached the creek crossing during this lap, I took some extra time to soak and cool down. I found a low rock at the creek edge and hung from it with my waist up submerged in the cool flowing water. After a couple minutes I grudgingly pulled myself out of the water and trudged up the rock road climb. It was a blessing I pushed myself to move when I did at that point because as I was arriving at the aid station on the other side of the dam a volunteer was about to leave the unmanned aid station without any water. I was beyond happy that I got there before she had left and when she offered me ice I profusely expressed my love for her. I got a full, iced water bottle, a hat full of ice, and a far improved mood and was on my way to wrap up lap four. It was towards the end of this lap that one house in the neighborhood section of the course had put out a sign proclaiming “Way To Go Wildcat Runners! Heat Index:  109.7°F”. Thankfully, they also put out a garden sprinkler for runners to cool off in.

I returned to the start/finish area at about the 8.5 hour mark. At this point I was almost relieved that my goal time was a lost cause. I also had plenty of distractions away from those negative thoughts. RP was back at the start/finish area. By this time he had called it quits after three laps. His girlfriend and father were there as were my wife, our two boys, and her mom. I felt like I had a full crew there to patch me up and get me back out for my final lap. I put on clean dry socks and swapped out my soggy Sauconys for Altra Superiors. While doing this, RP’s dad handed me a Sierra Nevada IPA. A cold IPA never tasted so good. While getting the IPA and some calories down, I found out that of the 30 or so runners that started the 50 miler only myself and one other runner were still on the course. I guess this made my B goal more attainable as I only had to stay in front of one other runner. With that confidence booster, dry feet, and a little alcohol in my system I headed out in good spirits for my final lap.

As happy as I was heading out for the final lap, it wasn’t long before the sun and heat reminded me how tough that fourth lap had been. Soon after leaving the start/finish area, my main motivation was the creek. All I cared about was getting to the creek and laying down in the water. The miles were slow, but once I got to the creek it was bliss. I laid face down in the water until I started wondering what a passerby might think if they saw me. I was sure they would assume I was a corpse. With that thought I pulled myself out and moved on. Within minutes, the relief of the water was replaced with the dense heat and humidity of the day. I passed through the unmanned empty water station trying not to think about how there was once a water station there. I rolled through the neighborhood one more time and got a final soak in the garden hose before making it to the finish to be greeted by my friends and family.

I finished with an official time of 10:55:02 which was good enough for first place this year. As happy as I was with the results and my effort, I would be lying if I didn’t admit it was somewhat bittersweet for several reasons (I think my face at the finish kinda shows these emotions). First and most importantly, my finishing time was nowhere near my target A goal time of nine hours. Second was the fact that it felt like I got first place (my made on the fly B goal) by default. The majority of the 50 mile runners had stopped at three laps and taken a 50 k finish time. Now whether you believe that race directors should allow runners to drop down to shorter distance finishes or if you believe that runners who don’t finish the distance they registered for should be recorded as DNFs is a separate although somewhat related issue. No matter how it was handled at this race, I still would have felt like I got first place somewhat by default. I most likely was not the fastest distance runner that started the 50 miler that day. However, only myself and one other runner were stubborn enough to finish the full distance given the torturous conditions.

Scott Snell
January 3, 2017