Sticks and Stones 50K Trail Race - October 7, 2017

 Well it was hot ,   sort of crazy hot for October.  Usually this time of year I am writing race reports about being overdressed or freezing but not this long Thanksgiving weekend ....  started at 18C and ended at 26C super humid but there was one savings grace and that was the wind at times! 

  The race started at 9:00 am ... latest one this year!   Was up 30 minutes before the alarm at 5am which bought me 30 minutes in the Hot Tub with my morning Java!   It was a little under a 2 hour drive to the Christie Lake conservation area with a brief stop at the Tims in Durham for what has become my traditionalist race day breakfast a Bacon /  English Muffin / Egg,  Hash Brown and an Orange Juice.

 The race was done on a  5 km loop around Christie Lake.    No need to carry water so I was travelling light.  The race plan was simple and that was every even loop I grab a water and 0.5 L water in a handheld ... repeat ,  repeat ,  repeat and repeat ,  race done.   Because it was so warm on the laps that I was not carrying water I grabbed it at the 2 aid stations on the loop and I also upped the S Caps as needed.   The loop was pretty easy running...too easy!  It kind of reminded me of the CTC course at Shades Mills.  Ran into trouble on the 50Ker there being the first hot run of the season so that was in the back of my mind throughout this race .... " No Death March".    As much as I like looping I found this one to be rather momentous.  It was probably just me not really being into it that day with so many other things that I wanted to do over the weekend.   Ran and chatted with Robin for the first few loops it was nice to chat away the first bunch of Ks.    I was through the half way point in 2hrs53mins or so and had by eyes on a sub 6 hour run.    The course was a wee bit long probably around 2 K longer but unfortunately they always tack the extra Ks at the end of the race LOL!    Everything was working pretty well through 7 laps then I really started to fatigue there is no doubt the conditions were starting to catch up with me.  I was a wee bit dehydrated which was no surprise I just couldn't get any more fluids in and had to gear it back a bit.     There was never a " Death March " but I did extend out the walks after the few walking hills and from time to time I walked where is was super hot  but only for a few minutes at a time.   

Wrapped it up in 6hrs24min50sec finishing 20th out of the 56 folks who laced up.   It felt like a bit of a blow out for me but when I compare my results to the others its was really and OK day... not great ,  not bad bit somewhere in between.    

Up next in two weeks its my second crack at The Bad Thing...I have some getting even to do! 

A few race pictures .....