Blues Cruise 50K Race Report

I wasn't sure whether I would be able to make this race. The previous week I was suffering from quite a bad chest infection, picked up on my way home from Greece. My voice was hoarse and I was short of breath. I was worried I might have swine flu. Finally, the day before the race, I went to see a doctor. I was told to take some Tylenol and get some rest. I took the lack of concern from my doctor as an encouraging sign and started preparing for the race for the following day.

The race was set in Amish country, in the rolling hills of southeastern Pennsylvania. This is the furthest I have ever driven to and from a race in a single day, at close to 260 miles round trip. It was an important part of my training for the JFK 50 miler in November, since at 5 miles longer than the marathon it gave me an opportunity to run the longest distance I needed for my training program. It was also a trail run, which would be good practice for the first 16 miles of the JFK race which takes place on the Appalachian trail.

The race was hosted by the Pagoda Racers and their website claimed it was suitable to introduce newcomers to the world of ultra trail running with a course that was "very runnable but challenging enough to make it interesting to everybody". I later found the first part of this statement to be a lie. Here is the elevation profile for the race:

While the race did not have huge climbs, there was a lot of up and down for most of the trail, which ran through woods and fields. Furthermore, at mile 10 (and again at mile 20 - the course was an out and back) was Skislope Hill: 300 ft of elevation gain in less than half a mile. The trail was covered in tree roots and stones. I tripped and fell several times on the roots, as did most people I spoke to. Fortunately I was carrying hand held water bottles in both hands, which were very useful for cushioning my falls.

The aid stations, at every 3-4 miles, were very well stocked with Heed (my favorite Gatorade-like drink), chocolate goodies and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (very yummy). At one aid station they were grilling beef burgers. Towards the end of the race I was given cold wet towels that were placed on my head and back to cool me in down in the heat.

I spent the first half of the race running in groups of 3 or 4 people, which I found to be very pleasant and social. We referred to each other by the states we had traveled from. I was New York, and spent quite a bit of time running with West Virginia and Massachusetts. I ran the second half of the race on my own, when most of the field had become very spread out. At one point I realized I had lost the trail when I ended up at the shore of a lake with nowhere to go, necessitating retracing my steps a half mile. I didn't really hit the wall like I usually do during a marathon. I think the enforced walking breaks during the very hilly sections and my overall very slow pace as a result of running on trails helped conserve my energy. I actually felt better at the end of the race than I usually do in a marathon. I finished in a fairly slow 6 hours 21 minutes. I was happy with this time given the terrain and the fact that this was my first trail race.

Trail running is very different from road running and for me requires some new running skills. The race seemed more social than the marathons I have run in, and the beauty of the countryside helped keep my mind off the difficulties of running the course. I could definitely become hooked, and will be looking to do some more trail races in the future.