Buckeye Trail 50K

Sat. July 14, 2007
Sorry for the delay, here's my BT50K Post.....

I had one of those night where I didn't sleep but I was well rested. I got to Pine Grove a little after 6am. The first thing that caught my one was the Men's bathroom had a line. Only one reason for a line there...The stall with the paper. After getting my bib number pinned to my shirt, getting my shoes and socks on, I was ready to go. I mingled the parking lot with fellow bloggers E-speed, Sensationally Red, Maria, and Brett. I spotted a blogger that I've only seen pictures of KIM. Kim came up to volunteer at an Aid Station. She just ran Mahican 100 miler and will be pacing Mike Keller for his Burning River 100. We talked for a few minutes then Josh (another blogger from Cincinnati) shows up, Josh is running the race. Again another person I've only met in blogland.

After mingling and saying, "Hello", "Hi", "Ready to Go?"...I got my place. I'm running with Brett & Nick the training coach from the VR Training Group. We got a place somewhere in the middle of the pack. It was very loud, I was trying to listen to the very important announcements over all the pre-race chatter. I was scanning the crowd looking for Melissa & Beth (Two runners from the Sat AM group) They had to use the facilities and started at the back of the pack. Both are running their first 50K. If you remember from previous blogs I talked Brett into running his first 50K. Although it was quit noisy for the announcements I did get to hear Mr. Rucci say, "Gentlemen Start your Engines!"...or something like that may he said, "GO!!" We where off and running right at 7am on the dot. We picked up another runner from the Sat AM Group Runs, Nick (Now we have two Nicks running with us this will be fun trying to talk to the both of them).


My goal was to stick with Brett to help him run a good 50K. Brett was pumped full of Adrenalin ready to run and so was I. There was no leader or pacer of our pack we were just all running taking turns running in front. Coach Nick, Nick & Brett all had the GPS monitors. I kept checking our pace & mileage to make sure we were not running to fast. I also kept asking Brett if he was comfortable with the pace. We were averaging a 11.30 pace. At times we were at a 10 min. mile pace. we were all doing quit well. The weather was nice and cool; the trails were dry and some spots dust. Great running weather. The Roots, Rocks, Fallen Trees, and Hills were all place just right...Good Job Vince.

Nick & I started talking about what time we would finish, we all want to run 7-7.5 hours. I didn't want to run to fast, from our previous training runs I know running to fast will come back to haunt me.

I stuck with Brett and the two Nicks ran together. We got to our first aid station at Snowville, but didn't need anything. Our water was fine, we had gels; we decided to keep running and stop at Boston Store Aid Station. We were still running at a good clip, 11.5 min. miles maybe a little faster at times. Brett & I caught up to Nick & Nick, we all ran together from Columbia Rd. through Blue Hen Falls trail. When we got to Boston Store we re-fuel. I got PBJ, and topped off my water. I was set to go again. Kim was at the aid station cheering me on. There was a small crowd of people clapping and cheering. It ready feels good to have people cheering when your out there running. Even though I didn't know the people cheering, it gave me a boost of energy I can't explain.

Next stop Pine Lane. OK this is the section of trail we've been training the most on. We've ran this at night, in the morning, in the rain. I've ran it in 90 degree heat. We know this section trail very well. We were all running at a good pace, again I wanted to check on Brett to make sure he was doing OK. He wasn't. I hexed him... I asked if his stomach was OK. He slowed down to deal with some of his stomach issues, I was a little ahead of him but not by much. I turned to ask if OK. He stopped and said to go head he'll be with me in a minute. At that point I know he was going to have issues. I ran a slower pace for a while to see if he was going to catch up to me. At this point I thought Brett was just going to run a slow pace to finish the race. When I didn't see him for a while I picked up my pace to catch the two Nicks. Brett made it to Boston Store to end the race. I felt bad knowing I talked Brett into running a 50K. He only been running for seven months.

I caught the Nicks; told Coach Nick Brett wasn't feeling well, then we started to talk pace and time again. Coach Nick said if we keep our pace we could crush 7 hours and roll in at 6.5 hours "6.5HOURS!! I was floored. After hearing this I didn't have any bad feelings about Brett anymore. I began to feel very selfish think about the only person running with me....ME! (SORRY BRETT). I would have be happy with 7.5 or 7.25. This got my blood moving. I was so excited when he said that. This was a feeling I can't explain. We back to the Boston Store re-fueled (Just water for me) I was munching on my Clif bars and gels on the trails. Oh but I did drink Coca~Cola. Once back on Buckeye Trail, we had that big hill that is so fun to run down. I was getting tired but managed to power walk up the hill. Once we got to Blue Hen I ran what Vince & Wild Bill refers to as a "suicide run", run as fast as you can down hill. This is where I left the Nicks behind. I kept looking back to see if they were going to catch up. No sign of them. I kept running my pace and found another running, Dave, he ran some BT50K training runs with us a few week ago. We stuck together motivating each other to keep running. At this point my legs where screaming. My IT band kicking me in the ass. I wasn't going to let pain get in the way of my 6.5 hour finish time. Dave had a GPS. "Dave what's our pace, How many miles left." We calculated we were going to finish in 6:10. I was on cloud nine. Trying to figure out how I was running so well. Why is my 50k time an hour and twenty minutes less? When we were run the Bridal Trail, just pasted the stables, Vince was running towards us. "Where's Nick?" He Asked. "He's way back there." Vince said if we kept running we could have a 6 hour finish. We started to run hard again. Then I looked at my watch, we are not going to make 6 hour. We slowed down to our 12 min. mile pace. We got to the driveway I was running slow but it was the fastest I could get my body to run. I could heard e-speed yelling & cheering, but I could see her. She was inside the pavilion. I'm looking around for my wife & kids, they had signs made for me("Run Daddy Run" and "My Daddy Runs With Knives & Fire"). They were pulling in the parking lot when I crossed the finish line. I was so happy; it's so far the best race, the best run ever. Now time to eat!!! 6:09:45 official time.

Melissa & Beth Racing to the finish

Here's media leak...Melissa & Beth's a moment after the race, a photo that should have not been publicized.

Here's Coach Nick running to his finish followed by the Buckeye Trail Troll.