Race Report: Rosaryville Trail 50K 2017
I suppose the Rosaryville Trail 50K is my first real ultra, since my first actual ultra doesn't count.The 50K doesn't feel epic in the way I suspect the 50M will, since it's not that much farther than a marathon, and marathons are relatively easy for me these days. Still, I suffered for this and I'm proud.
I came to this race on a whim. I'd run 5 marathons so far in 2017. I'm well trained and could basically pick up any day and run a marathon. I'd been looking for one in July/August that would work around my work travel schedule, but was coming up blank. There aren't many summer marathons on the east coast. Then on a Wednesday evening, I casually resumed my not-too-serious 50K search and found Rosaryville was happening on the upcoming weekend and only 30 minutes from home. It was a sign! So I signed up.
We are in Washington DC and it's July. It is swampy hot. This particular weekend was in the middle of a nasty heat wave, just to make things more interesting. It was forecast (accurately, it turns out) to be between 95 and 100 degrees with very high humidity on race day (we had 87% humidity according to my weather app). I went and got myself the next-size-up Camelbak so I would not get dehydrated, stocked up on Gu and snacks, and set off.
We showed up at 6:15 am. It was STEAMY. The race is pretty small, but well organized. I left a drop bag with some snacks, sun screen, and body glide. As I said when I started this blog, I'm not really sure on how to deal with the post-26.2 nutrition and other ultra details since I'm a newbie. I did a little reading, but basically, I winged it for this race. I ended up not using this bag at all, but I liked that I could have it.
The race is 3 loops on trails in a park. It starts with a mile downhill on a paved road, and then you enter the woods. Thank god for their dense woods. It was still hot, but it was probably 15 degrees cooler in there than it was in the few open areas we passed through. I wasn't expecting much hilliness because of this from the website:
Oh, I thought. 187 feet over 10 miles. No problem. No, man. That's net change. This damned race was just up and down and up and down. From my analysis and someone else's map, it looks like it's about 800 cumulative feet over 10 miles. That doesn't sound like much, but ugh. It was hilly. Not Mountain Hilly, but not gentle. There weren't a lot of rocks, but there were lots of roots. Runners really had to watch every single step.
And at about 4 miles in, I remembered that I hate trail running. I forget because I never do it, and then I do it and I hate it. I love the effortless feeling of running. I love how well trained my body is for the motion of running. I love turning my mind off and just going. Even when it's hard and I'm tired, my body can do the movement without focus. This, of course, does not work on trails where every step requires focus lest you twist an ankle. I almost snapped mine at one point early in the race when I stepped wrong on something. Thankfully I kept it together, but it was tender the whole rest of the race.
So when we got to the first aid station, I was not in a happy place. Fortunately, at that point we had to do a little 0.2 mile down and back on the road to hit the right total mileage, and that was enough to remind me that I actually did love running.
The second half of the course was about the same. Hilly, traily, not technical but not easy. Despite my irritation at the trails, the race was really well organized. The aid stations were well stocked, the organizers and volunteers were super nice and helpful. They were kind when that's really what I needed.
For me, it went pretty well. I sweat in ways I never have, even with frequent mid-day training in the DC summers. I usually just glisten in the heat, but in this race, sweat was pouring off me. Maybe I was over drinking, maybe it was really just the awful weather, but when the humidity finally won out and it started to pour rain around mile 24, we were all relieved and welcomed it.
I hit the wall pretty hard around mile 20, and walked a lot of 20-23. This was also unusual for me, as I never hit the wall in marathons more than a mile of "ugh. this is hard". Again, I blame the weather. I managed to push through that and for the last loop, I briskly walked the up hills and ran the downhills and the few flat bits. I made it out with no injuries except some nasty raw patches on my shoulder blades where the camelbak was in contact with my bare skin. It's 5 days later and they are still scary looking.
The recovery was also interesting. After a marathon these days, I'm a bit stiff the day-of and then fine the next day. I can run stairs and move around with basically no recovery time. But boy oh boy did I feel this one. I suspect it was the trail component more than the extra distance. I was really sore for 2 days and achy for 2 more. It's now the Friday-after and I just managed my first 1.5 mile run to get moving again.
Summary: a nice race with nice people. Well-stocked and supportive. Not at all crowded. If you like trails, I recommend it. Me, I'm looking at mostly road ultras going forward.
I came to this race on a whim. I'd run 5 marathons so far in 2017. I'm well trained and could basically pick up any day and run a marathon. I'd been looking for one in July/August that would work around my work travel schedule, but was coming up blank. There aren't many summer marathons on the east coast. Then on a Wednesday evening, I casually resumed my not-too-serious 50K search and found Rosaryville was happening on the upcoming weekend and only 30 minutes from home. It was a sign! So I signed up.
We are in Washington DC and it's July. It is swampy hot. This particular weekend was in the middle of a nasty heat wave, just to make things more interesting. It was forecast (accurately, it turns out) to be between 95 and 100 degrees with very high humidity on race day (we had 87% humidity according to my weather app). I went and got myself the next-size-up Camelbak so I would not get dehydrated, stocked up on Gu and snacks, and set off.
We showed up at 6:15 am. It was STEAMY. The race is pretty small, but well organized. I left a drop bag with some snacks, sun screen, and body glide. As I said when I started this blog, I'm not really sure on how to deal with the post-26.2 nutrition and other ultra details since I'm a newbie. I did a little reading, but basically, I winged it for this race. I ended up not using this bag at all, but I liked that I could have it.
The race is 3 loops on trails in a park. It starts with a mile downhill on a paved road, and then you enter the woods. Thank god for their dense woods. It was still hot, but it was probably 15 degrees cooler in there than it was in the few open areas we passed through. I wasn't expecting much hilliness because of this from the website:
This is a damned lie
Oh, I thought. 187 feet over 10 miles. No problem. No, man. That's net change. This damned race was just up and down and up and down. From my analysis and someone else's map, it looks like it's about 800 cumulative feet over 10 miles. That doesn't sound like much, but ugh. It was hilly. Not Mountain Hilly, but not gentle. There weren't a lot of rocks, but there were lots of roots. Runners really had to watch every single step.
And at about 4 miles in, I remembered that I hate trail running. I forget because I never do it, and then I do it and I hate it. I love the effortless feeling of running. I love how well trained my body is for the motion of running. I love turning my mind off and just going. Even when it's hard and I'm tired, my body can do the movement without focus. This, of course, does not work on trails where every step requires focus lest you twist an ankle. I almost snapped mine at one point early in the race when I stepped wrong on something. Thankfully I kept it together, but it was tender the whole rest of the race.
So when we got to the first aid station, I was not in a happy place. Fortunately, at that point we had to do a little 0.2 mile down and back on the road to hit the right total mileage, and that was enough to remind me that I actually did love running.
The second half of the course was about the same. Hilly, traily, not technical but not easy. Despite my irritation at the trails, the race was really well organized. The aid stations were well stocked, the organizers and volunteers were super nice and helpful. They were kind when that's really what I needed.
For me, it went pretty well. I sweat in ways I never have, even with frequent mid-day training in the DC summers. I usually just glisten in the heat, but in this race, sweat was pouring off me. Maybe I was over drinking, maybe it was really just the awful weather, but when the humidity finally won out and it started to pour rain around mile 24, we were all relieved and welcomed it.
I hit the wall pretty hard around mile 20, and walked a lot of 20-23. This was also unusual for me, as I never hit the wall in marathons more than a mile of "ugh. this is hard". Again, I blame the weather. I managed to push through that and for the last loop, I briskly walked the up hills and ran the downhills and the few flat bits. I made it out with no injuries except some nasty raw patches on my shoulder blades where the camelbak was in contact with my bare skin. It's 5 days later and they are still scary looking.
The recovery was also interesting. After a marathon these days, I'm a bit stiff the day-of and then fine the next day. I can run stairs and move around with basically no recovery time. But boy oh boy did I feel this one. I suspect it was the trail component more than the extra distance. I was really sore for 2 days and achy for 2 more. It's now the Friday-after and I just managed my first 1.5 mile run to get moving again.
Summary: a nice race with nice people. Well-stocked and supportive. Not at all crowded. If you like trails, I recommend it. Me, I'm looking at mostly road ultras going forward.
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