Today after running the Scorched Sole 50 mile course (shortened by 4 km for safety reasons) I feel like I fell down into a pit of hell and slowly dug myself out of it and climbed all the way up to heaven, absolutely super duper!
The maps of the courses can be found on thescorchedsole website.
Here's a rough summary of the course. Starting at 530 m elevation, uphill for 4.8 km to elevation of 870 m (Aid Station 1). Then uphill another 4.9 km to elevation of 1225 m (aid station 2). Then 3.2 km along flat old rail bed to aid station 3. Then 6.1 km to elevation of 1760 m (aid station 4, water on the way up full aid on the way back). Then there was a 4 km bit up to the summit of Little White Mountain which was 2171 m (this is the section where a flat 4 km out and back loop was omitted on the Highland trail due to bad snow conditions. Next was a 6.1 km section with some elevation gains but an overall descent down to 1715 m, followed by a 16 km out and back with a loop along a forest service road which went from elevation of 1715 m to 1640 m to 2142 m down to 1472 m and back up to 1615 m. Then we climbed back up Little White Mountain on the other side back up to 2172 m, then 23 km downhill the way we came. So the total distance ended up being 75.2 km (I think).
The maps of the courses can be found on thescorchedsole website.
Here's a rough summary of the course. Starting at 530 m elevation, uphill for 4.8 km to elevation of 870 m (Aid Station 1). Then uphill another 4.9 km to elevation of 1225 m (aid station 2). Then 3.2 km along flat old rail bed to aid station 3. Then 6.1 km to elevation of 1760 m (aid station 4, water on the way up full aid on the way back). Then there was a 4 km bit up to the summit of Little White Mountain which was 2171 m (this is the section where a flat 4 km out and back loop was omitted on the Highland trail due to bad snow conditions. Next was a 6.1 km section with some elevation gains but an overall descent down to 1715 m, followed by a 16 km out and back with a loop along a forest service road which went from elevation of 1715 m to 1640 m to 2142 m down to 1472 m and back up to 1615 m. Then we climbed back up Little White Mountain on the other side back up to 2172 m, then 23 km downhill the way we came. So the total distance ended up being 75.2 km (I think).
I planned on doing lap times on my Garmin for every 10 km section. Except I forgot to start the thing for at least 1 km at the beginning, and I fell twice and both times I fell the power went out on the garmin and funny stuff happened, I ran before the signal came back blah blah... took forever to get signal so my garmin only has 71.2 km on it although the map on my garmin looks the same as the map for the course (except with a few gaps in it).
Start:
Race started at 6 am. Temperature was 10 degrees. 40 runners were lining up for the 50(ish) miler. Some lady named Ellie was in the race, she won, I wonder if she led from start to finish. Does it count as getting chicked if you never got passed if she led the whole time? Saw a few familiar faces from the local running club, chatted with a few other people I've met at Ultras. I was feeling good. I took Friday off of work, slept well on Thursday night (only 5.5 hours of nervous sleep Friday night). Ate well on Thursday and Friday. I felt ready.... for something. I had on my 3 litre water pack which was filled with water with 4 litres worth of powder perpetuem, 1 gu gel, 3 clif shots, 1 clif bar and an eat more in my bag. And I had one water bottle in my hand, really for not other reason than to be able to fill up on runoff water (which is delicious) in between aid stations.
km's 0(ish) - 10 km: All the km's following are what my messed up garmin displayed.
I started out middle of the pack not knowing what to expect out of who was there in terms of how fast everybody would be going out. Actually I think I might have started right at the back. So up Lost lake Trail we go. I think it was good that I started at the back, even though I passed half the feel within the first 2 km, I paced and chatted with a couple different runners at a medium pace which helped me ease my way into the long run. Felt good coming up to the KVR trail (about 10 km) just past aid station 2 in 1:13:42.
km 10-20: From around the second aid station on the KVR, through the third aid station to just past the fourth aid station. At 7 am it was 16 degrees around the start of this section.
Coming out of the second aid station I was doing what felt like an easy 5 min/km pace (for reference sake when I run roads, which is rarely, my easy running pace is 4:30 /km). I passed a couple older looking ladies as they stopped to pee in the bushes (I didn't look but I can only assume that's why they stepped to the side). The first three aid stations were nicely stocked with water, gatorade, fig newtons, jujubes, chips cookies and fruit. I would eat a bit, and refill my water bottle. I tried to use my water bottle and my perpetuem so that I could refill the bottle at the aid stations. At km 13ish we started another steep ascent, by this point the runners had spread out quite a but there was one guy close to me ahead. At this point I was alternating run/walking and caught up to him. We ran together for a bit, he was popping his 50 miler cherry also. This section has a 4-5 km stretch that is big boulder filled river runoff, it's my favourite downhill trail to run.... ever... of all time. So running up it brings joyful anticipation to me. The guy I was running with ran into a tree stump straight into his shoulder. He was ok though which was good. I took the lead between the two of us up the river and he dropped back soon. I was just leaving the aid station at 19 k as he was arriving and we chatted about the rest of the ascent up the mountain. The aid station only had unmanned water pumps, which was a slight disappointment but I was glad that I hadn't depended on the assumption that there would be food there and I had a full pack of supplies that would have to last me another 21 km. The last km of this stretch was some heavy mud. My foot would hit, turn, smoosh and leave prints an inch deep. This 10 km stretch was done in 1:20
km 20-30: Ascent of Little white... then descent down to the Canyon Lakes,
At km 20 I had a 3 km ascent up Little White mountain. The trail had lots of snow on it, but there was sections where there was cleared areas from melt and from the runoff clearing the snow. All in all the ascent of Little White was probably 50% 2 foot deep snowpack, 30% river run off (yeah wet), 10% big boulders and 10% mucky trails. the ascent took a long time, I realized that I wasn't going to be breaking any land speed records this run so I decided on power walk strides the whole way up (other than the few flats that I ran). There was two runners ahead of me on the ascent, they were jogging and it looked like it was incredibly painful. They were taking such short hard pounding strides on a super long steep ascent. I passed both of them with distance to spare on the ascent using nothing more than long powerful walking strides. The emergency aid station at the top of the mountain was only ever going to be water jugs with pumps... but they had no pumps in them (at least that I could see) and I wasn't going to try and tip over a 40 pound jugs to fill my bottle. So alas, a half full bottle and a hope that I wold come across a creek soon as I headed into the 30 km loop which was the only part of the course I'd never run on. I had already run on a good 3 km of snow, and now I was going to do another 5 km of snow. Shimmying along the top of a second ridge of the mountain with a cliff on the side while run/sliding on snow is scary... and I'm afraid of heights, but it sure was beautiful. There was some solid downhill here, it was even to the point that they set up two ropes tied to trees for you to use while going down the mountain on the snow. For large chunks of distance I was literally alternating between sliding down the mountain (imagine you have socks on a gym floor) and dropping two feet down through the snow pack. After the snow ended I came to the descent on highland trail down to the Canyon lakes. It was steep, and I wasn't ready to commit to running down the hills hard yet as I still had plenty of running to do. I found a rather large creek, so stopped to eat a bit (one of many eating stops along the way, scenery breaks are so wonderful) and filled my water bottle and drank some wonderfully cold mountain water. Around 28 km I tripped on absolutely nothing and slid, landing on my left shoulder, and face. Somehow I managed to take most of the face shot to the top of my head so my ball cap protected me. But my eye socket was sore for a bit. This lead to the 'THE WALL'. I had trouble restarting for a bit, mucked around with my garmin and was a little disorientated. Time on this portion: around 1:45, by the end of this leg the temperature was 21 degrees and I'd realized that I forgot to sunscreen my neck and only had done my arms.
km 30-40: Forest Service road, with some elevation gain over long distance and then drop over a short distance leading to the aid station where our drop bags were. I hadn't seen a single person since passing the last guy on the ascent of Little White. I was starting to feel a little lonely, the heat was starting to get to me and I was almost out of water. I pushed hard to the aid station. The older man and lady there were super nice (all the volunteers were but these two were extra wonderful). At the aid station I replenished my water pack with 3 litres of perpetuem mix, added the same amount of food I had at the start (I had eaten all of it), filled up my water bottle, ate some fruit, changed my socks and shoes (even though they would be wet again within 15 km it was still nice). The lady decided to tell me that I was 7th place and that the two guys in front of me had left 9 minutes ago and I could catch them. gee thanks lady, I'm taking a turn for the worse mentally right now and you're telling me to go faster, not happening! This stretch was done in 1:16. That felt good to see that time on my watch.
km 40-50: Uphill on the FSR for a few km, back to the canyon lakes trail, then to the ridge of the mountain before Little White. Definitely the hardest part of the course. Went from 1450 m or so, up to around 2000 m in 10 km. After seeing no one but two aid station volunteers I saw the first racers I'd seen in over 25 km. I saw what I imagine would end up to be the last 4 finishers as they were coming into the loop while I was leaving. I waved, clapped and said good job. At this time I was starting to feel a little loopy from the heat at the when I saw the other runners and it felt like I had come up against 'THE PIT" (the wall version 2). I jogged my way through it, but boy did I take a hit mentally. I got back to the Highland trail to begin the ascent back up Little White and didn't do anything faster than a speed walk the whole way to the summit. In the last 5 km of this section I stopped 5 times, these were the only times I completely stopped moving other than to open my bag for food (which I would eat while moving) or at aid stations. I had a long stretch where I was suffering mentally, but at this point the comment the lady at the last aid station made to me about being in 7th place kept me going. I was so proud to be in 7th place, amongst a group of runners who many of them have done these distances multiple times, and I was ahead on what I thought was a really hard course. I know every race is nothing but a race against yourself, but I was just using the fact I was in 7th place to self talk myself into thinking that it was ok to struggle because the fact that there were so many good runners behind me must have meant that it was a really hard race, so struggling was acceptable. So I pushed through. But there was still worse to come as this was only how I was feeling during the part of this section that was dirt trails. There was a 3 km ascent that was snow covered. Insanely hard! I had just self talked my way out of my little 'pit' only to come across snow that I had to climb up where I couldn't take more than a few steps without sinking in as it was now up to 25 degrees and it was getting softer. I lost all forward momentum and it turned into a step at a time affair. And then came the two rope sections. The first climb they had put a rope on was not so bad, it was just a short rope, but still difficult. A km later I got to the second rope, the climb was even more vertical, and even more loose snow, and the rope was a good 40-50 feet long. 3 of the 5 stops I mentioned happened on this rope, I was mentally frozen. I literally started screaming. Yelling nonsense like GRRRR, and other beastly sounds to motivate myself, pounded my chest a few times and finally pushed on through "THE ABYSS" with renewed vigour. At the end of the section the snow started to recede and I got to scale some large boulders, the summit was near. This section took over 2 hours.
km 50 -60: Just before the summit, past the 4th aid station and down the river runoff:
I made the top! I got some food out and slowly walked along my way as I enjoyed the view. It is just beyond words the beauty of being on the top of a mountain and being able to see the entire valley in a 360 degree view. Headed down the mountain with unbounded excitement that I was on my way to the finish, only 23 km to go! the 3 km down the mountain, and the 1 km of mud weren't as fast as they could have been but I wanted to make sure I came down the mountain safe. Aid station 4 was now fully stocked, stopped and got some food. The guys offered me a hot dog... seemed like a strange offer, I can't imagine any runner being able to have that feel good in their stomach. They told me I was now behind the runner ahead of me by only 9 minutues. I told them I didn't care as I just wanted to finish my own race. But I'm not sure if that didn't affect me more. As I then hit the downhills that include the river runoff with massive boulders at full speed. Perhaps I was subconcsciously inspired to catch the guy, or perhaps its just that this is my favourite stretch of trails to run ever that made me run full steam ahead, but I busted out. My legs were feeling good, I was feeling on a high and I was pumping out 5:15 min/km splashing through the river in not very safe footing.... I damn well love that bit, nice wet feeling to cool down, covered from the sun with the trees. Best 6 km stretch of trail EVER! I then got to aid station 3 and they told me that I was 3 minutes behind the guy. Holy gees I made up 6 minutes in 6 kms. I'm guessing he took the section of treacherous a whole lot more carefully than I do.... but reckless abandon is far more fun. Then came flat on the Kettle Valley Railway bed. And I could see the guy in front of me.
km 60 - finish: more failing of the garmin, descent down to the finish.
The second aid station is at the KVR trailhead to the Lost Lake trail. The guy in front of me left a minute before I got there and I only spent a minute there. I felt like I could catch him. I ran fast as I could at that point. I was running consistent 4:30 min/km until 1 km before the last aid station... and then proceeded to trip, land hard on my knee, muck up my garmin and it hurt. I got up, but I was limping. I think I was running too fast for my energy levels. I must have limped my way for a good 6 minutes before trying to fix my garmin (not sure why, didn't really matter, I was a little disorientated a bit). Then I started jogging to the aid station where I cleaned up the cut on my elbow. Then had a nice run in for the last 4.8 km, nice 5 min/km pace.
Finish:
finished in 10:05:09. 7th place.
I chatted with the guy that finished just ahead of me, he ended up 6 minutes or so in front. Apparently he looked back when he was at the bottom of descending Little White the second time and he saw me coming down, and he could see me several other times. So he felt me coming up, but he had a darn good kick at the end.
It turns out he is from Kelowna as well, so I just missed out on top local finisher which would have been kinda neat.
I brought along a 6 pack of beer, I only had 1 and shared the rest. Damn it tasted good after the race. There was hot dogs and such after the race. Stayed around and chatted with some of the other finishers. The guy that finished in 9th place was talking about the Death Race with me. He did legs 3,4,5 last year which was the same distance as we did today and he says that today was more difficult which was interesting. The guy thaht finished 6th place will be running the Death Race also. And then the 5th place finisher said that he had tried the Death Race twice now but didn't make the cut off on both times. It was an interesting conversation. Still feel like I'm preparing for the unknown with the Death Race though.
All in all, it was one fantastic day. The race course was awfully sadistically planned, and I'm awfully masochistic for appreciating that.
Keep on Running
Nazzer
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