Headlands 50 Mile Race Report

Course: Headlands 50 Mile race course
Distance: 50 miles
Start Time: 7 a.m.
Duration: 13 hours, 3o minutes
Weather: Just beautiful!!! Started off cool, and every time it started to get hot, the clouds would roll in and kept it just lovely the entire race!
Nutrition: water, Accelerade, Gu Chomps, Accel gels, Thermolytes, chicken broth, Coke, fritos, other assorted aid station food

Most of my race reports tend toward the epic, but I think I’m going to keep this one a bit shorter. First, I’m writing this nearly a month after the race, so I’m sure much has been forgotten. And second, I ran this same race last year, so there’s not as much that I need to preserve in order to remember it for future races. But it was an incredible experience, and I don’t want it to go completely unnoted.

I was excited going into the race, although my strategy had changed in the weeks leading up to it. My training had been derailed due to illness and personal circumstances, and I didn’t feel as well trained as I’d hoped to be. The Headlands race course had changed from the one I did last year (my first 50 mile finish!), and there was about 25% more climb and descent over the same distance, which made me a little bit nervous. I decided to treat this as more of a training run than a race, in preparation for some even more challenging races coming up later this fall. This took some of the pressure off for me, and made me feel more excited and less anxious.

It was nice and cool the morning of the race, and I enjoyed the pre-race time catching up with friends and meeting some new ones. We took off right at 7 a.m., heading up along the paved road – in the opposite direction from the way I finished the race last year. On that very first climb Brice and I started walking/running together, and we would end up doing the entire 50 miles together. It made for a completely unique experience, and his company got me through some really tough sections of the race. I might have finished on my own, but I wouldn’t have done nearly as well without him.

The first loop went really well. I felt strong on the uphills, and really enjoyed the new sections of course. The climbs were steeper, but I didn’t have a problem. The downhills, however, were not going as well as I’d have liked. Going into Tennessee Valley, they were steeper and more technical than last year, and my feet (and thus my ankles) just didn’t feel stable in my road shoes. As a result, I found myself putting the brakes on far more than I wanted to. This really worked my quads a lot harder than I’d have liked, and contributed to some real problems later in the race. I found myself wishing I had on trail shoes. Road shoes were perfect last year, but they really were a mistake in this year’s race.

Even when I got tired, the views were enough to keep me inspired during the first 25 miles … especially when we got to the spectacular views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. The new sections of trail afforded a lot more of these views, and made the tougher course that much more enjoyable. Even so, by the time we finished the first loop, my quads were starting to hurt pretty badly. I was happy with the time though … under 6 hours for the first 25 miles. At this rate, I had a shot at beating my time from last year’s race, even thought the course was harder.

Brice and I regrouped at the start/finish line, and then headed out the way we’d come in. The 50 mile course consisted of two 25 miles loops, run in opposite directions. It made it easy to deal with drop bags and so forth, and meant that even going over the same trail was a new experience when doing it in the other direction. I also looked forward to finishing the race the same way I had last year.

I felt all right for the first 10 miles of the loop. I was tired, but Brice had given me some Aleve to help my legs, and I now had my iPod to provide a little musical motivation. After the Conzelman aid station at mile 30, there was short steep climb, and then a 2.5+ mile downhill all the way into Rodeo Valley. It’s such a fantastic, long, gradual downhill … there was no way to stop myself from running all the way into the aid station. Unfortunately, this was the death knell for my quads and prompted the worst section of the race for me. Somewhere around mile 35, I started cramping worse than I ever have before. It started in my quads, but eventually the cramping was in my shins, my abs, my shoulder, and my upper back as well. I have never experienced this kind of pain during a run. I honestly didn’t know how I was going to finish the race in this much agony.

This is where having a friend along really saved me. Having company kept me from spiraling down even further, and kept me at least power walking into the Tennessee Valley aid station. I was resigned to walking in the rest of the race … 12 more miles from the aid station. I wasn’t going to beat last year’s time, but I still had plenty of time to beat the 15 hour cutoff. I refueled from my drop bag, and then headed over to the table. One of the volunteers was heating up some chicken noodle soup, and as I looked at it, I just knew that I needed some of that chicken broth. This wouldn’t be a big deal except that I’m a vegetarian and don’t eat chicken anymore. But I just knew that my body had to have some of that. The volunteer did manage to give me broth and noodles only, so there weren’t any actual chicken pieces. But it was so good, it just didn’t matter to me at that point. My body was in serious trouble, and I had to give it what it needed.

Brice and I headed back out and started the hike to Muir Beach. Thankfully, I still felt fine on the climbs. I joked that I was going to have to call myself an “ultrawalker” instead of an “ultrarunner”. But when we got to the long downhill into the aid station, I decided to test my legs to see if I could run at all. Much to my surprise and relief, my legs were tired and sore but the cramping was gone. I ran (albeit slowly) all the way into the aid station. Realizing I was over the slump revived my spirits in addition to my body. I knew I was still pretty worn out, but I was determined to keep going as quickly as I could.

The climb out of Muir Beach was where I had so much trouble last year. The climb got very steep and I had real trouble breathing. This time I just tucked in and took it nice and easy, trying to keep up a steady pace but really focusing on my breathing. Everything went great and I let out a giant WHOOP when I got to the apex of the climb. Now I knew there was nothing stopping me!

Back to Tennessee Valley, and I was able to run in a good portion of the rolling section just before the aid station. A little more chicken broth for good measure, and then Brice and I took off on the last section to the finish. There was another steep climb along here, but I knew after the Muir Beach climb that I was fine. I was going to finish later than last year, but I was going to get it done. And just like last year, when I hit the pavement that signified the final two miles of the race, all thoughts of pain just went away. The sun was setting, but I knew that if I just kept running, I could get across the finish line before dark.

Brice was with me the whole way, and we just kept running as we watched the spectacular sunset over the water. As we hit the parking lot, we linked arms and crossed the finish line in exactly 13 hours, 30 minutes. It was the hardest race I had ever done, and I was so grateful to have gotten it finished.

As always, everything didn’t go quite according to plan, but in the end I still got a finish I can be proud of. Some things worked, others definitely didn’t. So here are the Lessons Learned …

What goes up must come down

• I was so worried about the 10,000 feet of climb in this race that I didn’t really consider the 10,000 feet of descent that would go along with it. The uphills turned out to be fine. I got tired sure, but I managed all the uphill without incident, even the climbs that caused me problems last year. But my quads got trashed on the downhills, and while I managed to recover somewhat, it definitely hurt my race. I spent months this spring and summer rehabbing from a sprained ankle, which meant babying the downhills all that time in my training. As a result my quads just weren’t prepared for all that descent.
  

The right shoes can make all the difference

• This is true in life and true in running. Road shoes were perfect for last year. But this year’s course had steeper climbs with more rocks, and my road shoes just didn’t cut it. I had to take it much easier on the downhills than I would have liked, which not only sucked out of the fun of running downhill, it also just wore out my quads. I should have put a pair of trail shoes in a drop bag, just in case.
  

My body knows what it needs

• When I came in to the aid station at Tennessee Valley at mile 38, I took one look at the chicken broth and knew that was what I wanted. As a vegetarian I don’t eat chicken, but this was special circumstances. I was hydrated and had been taking plenty of salt and electrolytes, so I don’t really know what was wrong, but the chicken broth fixed it. The cramping went away and I was actually able to run some during the last 12 miles. There’s no way that would have happened unless I had given my body the one thing I knew I needed to have.
  

Nutrition is the key

• I worked so hard this summer to create a nutrition plan I could stick to for the duration of an ultramarathon. Historically, nutrition has not always been a strong point with me. I practiced with different foods during my long runs, found what worked for me, and I followed my plan exactly during the race, all the way across the finish line. It didn’t keep the race from being hard, but it made a HUGE difference in my post-race recovery. I didn’t have the blood sugar crash I’m so used to after races. I didn’t get the mental fog; I didn’t get the horrible chills. I felt better than I ever have in the hours immediately following the race, and I know that it was because I kept taking in calories for the entire race and after I crossed the finish line.

Lots of things went right in this race, and as always, some things went wrong. I had a great first loop, and still managed to keep going on the second loop even when the wheels came off. It wasn’t quite what I’d hoped for, but all in all, I consider this one a success.