2016 HURL Elkhorn 50K

First Mountain Trail Race

 

After looking at dozens of 50K trail races out West and passing on many either because of cutoff times, excessive vertical gain, or altitude, I found the HURL Elkhorn 50K. With a generous 15 hour limit, less than 8000 ft of vertical gain and loss, and a maximum altitude of less than 8000 ft, this seemed like the perfect race to get my feet wet racing in the mountains. Apparently I will literally get my feet wet, since there are several creek crossings and I assume no foot bridges. Its location is also ideal because it's only a short drive from the vicinity of Helena up to Glacier National Park. I've wanted to return there for more hiking ever since my first visit back in 1998.

Having committed to this race, it remained to be seen how well I'd be able to prepare for it since I wouldn't be able to train at altitude and I knew of no nearby parks or trail that even began to approach the 1,000 to 2,000 ft hills I would have to traverse. At best it seemed I would have to run multiple hill repeats, preferably on Mt Joy and Mt Misery at Valley Forge National Park. Even so that gave me only 750 of gain and loss for every four mile loop. I've been able to get some training runs there and also several shorter trail races, but it remains to be seen whether that will be enough to get me to the first check point with a cutoff time and still have sufficient energy to finish under 15 hours. With trying to include more hills in my training, I've neglected or at least reduced the length and number of long runs in my training.

It's now less than 10 days to the race and the recent heat wave along with a week long malaise when I did not run at all, leaves my preparation a bit questionable. Maybe I needed that time off though running at least a few miles on a few days would have been preferable to not running at all. The only aspect of recent training that has gone well are my interval workouts. The latest and last full interval workout before the race had me running 6 x 600m at the fastest pace I've run them all year. I'm hoping and planning to get one more long run in before the race. Whether I'll try to make that a hill run as well depends on whether I get any break in the heat wave.

I'm making final preparations for the trip and still can't make up my mind about buying a hydration vest or something to carry extra water and a rain jacket. I keep going over the course map and description afraid I'm going to get lost. When I registered for the race the main factor was the generous 15 hour cutoff. It wasn't until much later that I noticed the rating difficulty was 4/5. The Hyner Challenge was only 3/3, so now I'm really concerned about the difficulty. The Google map of the course says the average grade is 8% and the maximum is 40% with 82% of the course runnable.

Race day is almost here. I flew into Great Falls and drove down to Helena. My friend Mike picked me up at the hotel to drive out for packet pick up and the pre-race dinner. The RD, Steve, went over the courses and gave instructions after dinner. Somewhat to my surprised I won a very nice handmade ceramic bowl for coming the farthest for the 50K race. I'm a little more confident about not getting lost after Steve's talk, but the vertical gain is going to be a challenge coupled with the cutoff time at the Tepee Creek aid station. Steve challenged the field to find a harder 50 Mile race anywhere.

I got a ride to the start this morning with some other 50K runners, which simplified the parking. The sky is overcast which reduces the possibility of high temps and direct sun being a factor. Unfortunately it also brings a possibility of rain and possibly even thunder storms. It's cool enough that I kept my jacket on as long as possible.

As usual everyone was reluctant to step up to the starting line. Once the race started I waited to the side until most of the field had passed before moving onto the trail. Whether it was taking off two days for rest or the altitude, my legs felt a little tired at the beginning. The pace was probably just a tad too fast also. We were on single track very quickly,so I slowed down and where convenient stepped aside when someone wanted to pass, though there weren't that many behind me. The first two miles or so were very runnable so I walked only on some of the short uphills. I could see only one runner ahead of me. I caught up right about the time we reached the first creek crossing. I was hoping not to get my feet wet, but there was no way to avoid it. There's a little more up and down over the next couple miles, but nothing big as I pull into the first aid station at about mile 4.3. At first I thought all they had were gels and I don't use them; just the thought of them unsettles my stomach. When I asked if they had anything else, they produced a can of Pringles, so I grabbed a handfull to take with me and topped off my water bottles.

The first of the big climbs began as I left the aid station, so I walked, ate, and drank as I began my climb. It took forever to chew and swallow the Pringles, an indication that hydration could be an issue and I would need to be sure I drank frequently. Between my water belt and hydration vest I was carrying 44 ounces which should last me the 8 miles to the next aid station. The first climb is about 500 ft and doesn't feel too bad. Then we dip down a couple hundred feet before beginning a sustained climb of about 1300 ft. The grade isn't too bad and I'm still moving well considering the altitude compounding the effort of the climb. By the time I reach the top of that climb and get another brief respite I'm starting to feel the effort. I'm still running the downhills easily and do get a drop of several hundred feet again before the final climb before the descent to the Tepee Creek aid station. That final climb of about 800 ft also finally did me in. When I reached the peak I had also reached my limits. I had just finished a total climb of around 2600 ft over the last 6 miles. Even with 2 miles or so downhill I had reached a stage where I was walking, sometimes very slowly. By now the 23K runners, who had started an hour after me, were passing me. Several stopped to ask if I was okay and offered to let the aid station volunteers know I was having trouble when I said I was hurting. At the pace I was going downhill it was obvious I was not going to make the 7:00 cutoff time at the Elk Park aid station, so it made no sense even trying to cover the additional uphill 4 miles from Tepee Creek to there. I was very happy to see one of the volunteers come back for me on a mountain bike. One of the 23K runners had given me an energy bar but I gladly accepted another from the volunteer. At least I did have enough water.

I finally walked into the aid station at Tepee Creek and formally acknowledged that I was dropping after 4:52. Doing a quick calculation I would have had to run the next 4 miles gaining another 2400 ft in 2:08 to make the cutoff, then still have enough energy to run 16 miles more to finish. That was not within the realm of possibility. So I sat at the aid station for 10-15 minutes resting, eating, and drinking before continuing to the finish by following the last 2.5 miles or so of the 23K course. The aid station had radioed ahead that I was coming so I could be properly recorded as a DNF when I checked in.

Several runners and volunteers commented that I should be proud of what I had accomplished. I was of course disappointed that I had prepared well enough to finish, but I ran stronger than I had at either the Hyner Challenge 25K or running With the Devil, so I could see that I was getting better, just not quite ready for this much altitude and elevation gain. I gave it everything I could and that's all I could ask of myself, no regrets at all in my decision to stop when I did.