Vulture Bait 50K Trail Race

Did the Vulture Bait 50K Trail Race in London today. Managed a 5:52 finish 2:42/3:10 split.

Day started early, as is usual on race day I woke up before the alarm around 04:00. I was out of the house at 4:40. Two Tims stops enroute, Everything Bagel/OJ/Large Coffee then an hour later Large Coffee/Oatmeal Cookie...that was it for breakfast!

Arrived in London at 07:20. Picked up my race kit and then prepared for the chilly start at 3C. Decided on shorts, long sleeve running shirt, shell, buff and gloves. Kept warm inside by the fire! Talked to a fellow wearing a camera on his hat , it was his first Ultra and he was going to tape the whole run! Talked to the Women from the 5K aid station at Dirty Girls and her boyfriend Mark! Talk to a few others and then we were off to the start.

The OUSer events are pretty casual, it was hard to hear the starter but everyone knew when it was time to go. My first lap was an absolute blast , i meet some great folks and had awesome conversations! When I run my brain is in a different place, names often escape me ... I wish I could remember! All the chat did cause me to fall three times in the first 25K loop. I was only about 4K in when I took my first tumble, three Judges scored me a 9.0! I am pretty good at the shoulder drop and roll! After the race was over I learned that there wasn't a 50k participant that didn't go down at least once. Near the end of the first loop I witnessed a Women do a rather hard face plant , she was OK but it was really scary to watch. The problem that caused so many to go down was due to exposed roots that were covered with leaves. The trail at Fanshawe are heavily used by Mountain Bikes and Hikers and the soil is really compacted around the roots. You had to watch so intently that a momentary laps spelled disaster, too bad because the Fall Colours and the Lake were beautiful!

At the end of 25K I was beginning to feel it in my legs, a wee bit tight! My right leg was beginning to cramp. A similar problem caused me to walk the last 3K of a recent 30K LSD Run...I was worried! I wanted to take a quick pit stop but I decided to do it at the 30K aid station... figured that all those happy folks that finished the 25K would be a little hard on my pshcy! So off I went , still averaging around a 6:15 pace .... a 5 hour finsih was OUT , I was thinking maybe 5:30 .... took a few minutes at the 30K aid station. Up to this point I had been having Head every 5K , a couple of cookies , a package of sport beans and some coke and water. After 30K I did a Gel with Caffeine , I was really starting to feel fatigued and slowed to a 6:30 pace but was still running! All was reasonable well until I took my first spill of the second loop at 36K , the effort to save myself directed so much blood to already tired muscles that I blacked out for a brief moment. From this moment on it was a different race! Made it to the 42K aid station with many walking breaks! The volunteers were great ... they proclaimed " You have just run a Marathon" and asked me if there was" anything they could", I responded "You could call me a cab" ... we all had a good chuckle and off I went for the last 8K. I managed to pick it up a bit at this point, I should have jelled or did beans but I just had no desire ... I was still drinking Heed! 5:30 was out ...5:45 was still a maybe! This section of the trail had allot of mountain bikers , folks hiking and later on dog walkers. Most of the bikers were awesome and move to the side until I was by.... the odd one made me get off the trail while flying by at 20Kmh or more. Same thing with the walkers and hikers most moved off but I had to run around many. If they only knew what a mess my head was and how uncoordinated I was and how fatigued I was the may have been a little more understanding! I know we all share the trails but it was a bit frustrating , even dangerous! At 47K I looked and it was 5:33 ... 3K to go, now I was thinking keep it under 6 hours .... I yelled out loud " I CAN DO THIS " ZOOM off I went. At 49K there was a bunch of folks on the trail , HI .. HI ... Thanks ( Some were very supportive) and them BAM down I went for tumble #5 ... again a brief lapse of concentration!

I was never so happy to finish, broke 6 hours , Garmin said 5:52 . I sat on a picnic table for a few minutes and had some water , I was SO glad to be done but very satisfied with my performance at my second Ultra. I haven't been running much the past two weeks, the biggest part of my taper was a 1 week booze fest in Punta Cana . I tried to run but it was too HOT and well I was too %$%^$ !!!! I returned last Sunday and didn't drink the whole week , ate great and got lots of sleep.... some taper!

Missed most of the awards , I was so cold and was busy putting on layers. Felt sore everywhere and was having a tough time moving. Tips of my fingers were numb for about an hour. Managed a bit of soup and a kind sole gave me a cooler and then I made my way home. Not the end of the story....

Almost got toasted by a women in a mini van just north of London on highway 23. She drifted over the center line by about 2 feet... I could clearly see her Blackberry on the top of her steering wheel ...both thumbs a flying away while texting !!!!! In Palmerston a fellow coming the other way made a long 45 degree turn right across my path . I came to a complete stop inches from his rear quarter panel ... I think he was blinded by the Sun.

Believe it or not I made it home ... after 2+ hours in the car I had a tough time getting out. Slowly made it to the house , grabbed a glass of water and some Advil and jumped in the Hot Tub for 2 hours. I fell good now but I am sure my legs will remind me of what I did when I wake up tomorrow.

Notes from a couple of days after the race ...

1) I am sore , my wife has been laughing at me ... I now know what old age feels like! This was my second crack at the Ultra, both times 24 hours after the race I got a rash like a Sun Burn. When ever I am fevered I get the same rash , guess its got something to do with a raised core temp... weird!

2)Put some names to the faces ....

Before the race I meet Mark Coates from London. He told me that he hadn't been doing much running but had done 100 milers and other long events. We ran a similar pace and crossed paths from time to time. At the 30K Aid Station it was warm and I was tying my coat off, he offered to have his girlfriend take it back to the start if I wanted to drop it. I almost took him up but I thought what if I need it ..... 6K later the sun was gone , I was taking walking breaks and was Frozen. I would have been miserable without it!

Early in the race I ran with I think Bebrah Berman from Thornhill ( excuse me if I am wrong). We had a great chat about our teenage childeren, running and lots of other stuff. At the end of my first loop she high fived me as I headed out for the second loop!

Meet Nathalie Georgh from Owen Sound , briefly chatted ! Nice to meet other from the Grey/Bruce area.

Ran with Steve Beach from Richmond Hill off and on up to about the 35K mark, this is where I dropped off ... last I saw of Steve. He was telling me about his training . He said he does back to back 4 or 5 hour runs weekly. He was a real distance runner , he has done the 100 mile races! We talked about everything from Running to Family to Work .... you name it.

Results.....

Vulture Bait Trail Race London Ontario Saturday October 18, 2008 50K
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1 35 Adam Hill 3:42:36 HM1-49 1/32 1 4:28 Orillia
2 54 Alistair Munro 4:00:13 HM1-49 2/32 2 4:49 Toronto
3 74 Paul Trebilcock 4:03:56 HM1-49 3/32 3 4:53 Hamilton
4 81 Dave Champion 4:06:28 HM1-49 4/32 4 4:56 Kitchener
5 1 George Aitkin 4:12:27 HM50+ 1/17 5 5:03 Cambridge
6 7 Shayna Boland 4:14:49 HF1-49 1/21 1 5:06 London
7 59 Keith Peters 4:18:06 HM1-49 5/32 6 5:10 St.catharines
8 28 Harper Forbes 4:20:53 HM1-49 6/32 7 5:14 Guelph
9 60 Tanya Porcellato 4:22:31 HF1-49 2/21 2 5:16 Guelph
10 37 Ian Hobler 4:26:26 HM1-49 7/32 8 5:20 Ottawa
11 14 Paul Chenery 4:30:58 HM50+ 2/17 9 5:26 Toronto
12 79 Sharon Zelinski 4:35:02 HF1-49 3/21 3 5:31 Toronto
13 76 Mark Wells 4:37:49 HM1-49 8/32 10 5:34 Ancaster
14 65 Brian Robertson 4:45:22 HM1-49 9/32 11 5:43 Port Hope
15 29 Thomas Gantert 4:46:07 HM1-49 10/32 12 5:44 London
16 12 Patrick Campbell 4:52:51 HM1-49 11/32 13 5:52 Waterdown
17 80 Christine Bush 4:52:59 HF1-49 4/21 4 5:52 Montreal
18 47 Brian Lauzon 4:55:46 HM1-49 12/32 14 5:55 Peterborough
19 18 David Collins 4:57:46 HM50+ 3/17 15 5:58 Burlington
20 6 George Biondic 4:58:33 HM50+ 4/17 16 5:59 Newmarket
21 57 Roger Parsons 4:59:17 HM50+ 5/17 17 6:00 St Jacobs
22 53 Jim Morrison 5:01:41 HM1-49 13/32 18 6:03 Thornhill
23 21 Jeff Cooper 5:02:34 HM50+ 6/17 19 6:04 Toronto
24 50 Cameron Lutley 5:05:28 HM1-49 14/32 20 6:07 Toronto
25 31 Brett Goodwin 5:08:33 HM1-49 15/32 21 6:11 Kingston
26 46 Christina Laflamme 5:08:58 HF1-49 5/21 5 6:11 Toronto
27 82 Carla Arnold 5:09:30 HF1-49 6/21 6 6:12 Mississauga
28 69 Bruce Smith 5:14:17 HM1-49 16/32 22 6:18 Burlington
29 27 Gary Edwards 5:15:58 HM1-49 17/32 23 6:20 Brantford
30 11 Steve Burrows 5:17:23 HM50+ 7/17 24 6:21 Orillia
31 75 John Turner 5:18:34 HM1-49 18/32 25 6:23 Burlington
32 2 Doug Barber 5:26:08 HM50+ 8/17 26 6:32 Owen Sound
33 5 Terri Biloski 5:26:25 HF1-49 7/21 7 6:32 St. Thomas
34 78 Brad Wolf 5:26:46 HM1-49 19/32 27 6:33 Beaconsfield
35 9 Pierre Bolduc 5:26:46 HM50+ 9/17 28 6:33 Pierrefonds
36 43 Dennis Keener 5:27:29 HM50+ 10/17 29 6:33 Lake Orion
37 20 Iris Cooper 5:27:38 HF1-49 8/21 8 6:34 Toronto
38 73 Vernon Taylor 5:29:15 HM1-49 20/32 30 6:36 London
39 36 Maryka Hladki 5:31:20 HF1-49 9/21 9 6:38 Newmarket
40 32 Rob Gryfe 5:32:04 HM1-49 21/32 31 6:39 Toronto
41 68 Tammy Sieminowski 5:32:06 HF1-49 10/21 10 6:39 Toronto
42 8 Lajos Boldizsar 5:32:48 HM1-49 22/32 32 6:40 Tillsonburg
43 77 Scott Whynot 5:35:02 HM1-49 23/32 33 6:43 Barrie
44 13 Vincent Charbonneau 5:38:02 HM1-49 24/32 34 6:46 Burlington
45 4 Russell Bilodeau 5:38:37 HM50+ 11/17 35 6:47 Oakville
46 3 Steve Beach 5:38:48 HM50+ 12/17 36 6:47 Richmond Hill
47 71 Jill Suzanne Sparks 5:40:01 HF1-49 11/21 11 6:49 Bowmanville
48 44 Bernadette Kennedy 5:40:07 HF1-49 12/21 12 6:49 Toronto
49 30 Jim Glen 5:40:16 HM1-49 25/32 37 6:49 Hamilton
50 56 Howard Parker 5:41:54 HM50+ 13/17 38 6:51 Scarborough
51 63 Frank Reddon 5:42:17 HM1-49 26/32 39 6:51 Fort Erie
52 48 Pat Leggatt 5:42:42 HF1-49 13/21 13 6:52 London
53 33 Sally Heath 5:43:20 HF1-49 14/21 14 6:52 Waterloo
54 45 Katherine Kontio 5:46:19 HF1-49 15/21 15 6:56 Richmond Hill
55 24 Greg D'cruz 5:50:00 HM1-49 27/32 40 7:00 Ajax
56 38 Ronald Irwin 5:52:50 HM1-49 28/32 41 7:04 Durham
57 67 Adi Shnall 6:06:01 HF1-49 16/21 16 7:20 Thornhill
58 15 Amie Chong 6:10:03 HF1-49 17/21 17 7:25 Oakville
59 17 Mark Coates 6:12:49 HM1-49 29/32 42 7:28 London
60 49 Stephen Longhurst 6:13:03 HM1-49 30/32 43 7:28 Mississauga
61 25 Jim Delaney 6:19:27 HM50+ 14/17 44 7:36 Guelph
62 61 Kristine Raymond 6:22:57 HF50+ 1/2 18 7:40 Orillia
63 23 Christina Dabrowski 6:24:26 HF1-49 18/21 19 7:42
64 72 Matthew Swadley 6:24:26 HM1-49 31/32 45 7:42 Oakville
65 41 Gailanne Joachim 6:28:13 HF1-49 19/21 20 7:46 Mississauga
66 19 Chantal Cook 6:29:41 HF1-49 20/21 21 7:48 Beaconsfield
67 51 Hans Maier 6:35:21 HM50+ 15/17 46 7:55 Markham
68 22 Wendy Cormier 6:46:52 HF1-49 21/21 22 8:09 Brantford
69 62 Paul Raymond 6:53:57 HM50+ 16/17 47 8:17 Orillia
70 42 Gary Johnson 6:56:27 HM50+ 17/17 48 8:20 Oakville
71 52 Helen Malmberg 6:57:36 HF50+ 2/2 23 8:22 Toronto
72 58 Tim Pearce 7:01:08 HM1-49 32/32 49 8:26 Toronto
DQ 34 Paul Hennick 2:22:03 DQ 2:51 Toronto

As you can see I was 56th out of 72. Normally I would be a little bummed about that but it really didn't bother me in the least! I was the newbie running with a field of very accomplished runners. I truly was a privilege to be able to run with these folks.