The Haliburton OUS race is a must do if your run Trails in Southern Ontario. The event takes place in the Haliburton Forest
http://www.haliburtonforest.com/index.html, bordered by Algonquin Park to the North. The race is legendary for its rugged terrain , natural beauty and wild life!
There was a 26K , 50K , 50 Mile and 100 Mile events. I tossed around the idea of doing the 80K but decided to do the 50K instead. I am comfortable with this distance and wanted to add a bit of speed to the run before I started going longer. I looked at results ahead of race to get a feel for the course. Most years anything under 6 hours would get you a top 10 finish. My best day prediction would be around 5hrs30min.
The race starts at 6:00 am so I had no choice but to drive the 280km the night before. The trip took about 3hrs30min arriving at 10:30 PM. I wasn't sure where to go but when I pulled into the parking lot there was about 20 cars with foggy windows , I knew I was in the right place! I was driving my Durango so I had lots of room , I had an air mattress and sleeping bag and was able to fully stretch out. After a quick snack I crawled in around 11:00 for a short sleep , alarm was set for 4am. When woke up I had a couple of Oatmeal to Go Bars , OJ and a Yogurt. Picked up my Race Kit and Coffee at 5:00 am then it was time to get ready!
At 5:40 the Bagpipes started calling everyone to the pre race activities. There was a role call for the 100 milers , a prayer and then we all walked a couple of hundred meters to the start / finish. It was still dark at 6:00 am and we were off. First 30 minutes were on a gravel road so I decided not to use a light , many were. Bumped into lots of folks that I know at the start , wished Stephan and Kinga Miklos good luck with there 100 Mile Race and caught up with Kevin from London doing the 50 miler. My strategy was to go out at a reasonable pace and then pick it up later, running with someone going longer kept me from going too fast. I chatted with Kevin for the better part of an hour then I picked it up a bit. About 10K in I bumped into the legendary Doug Barber , ran with him for a bit until we met up with Ron Gehl. At round the 20K mark heading for the 50K turnaround I started to pick up the pace a , ran some of my fastest Ks between the 20 and 30K marks. Nearing 30K it started to cramp just a touch so I downed some Electrolyte Replacement pills and it seemed to work. I slowed it down a bit after 30k but I was still running everything with the exception of the steeper climbs. I held a pretty constant pace through through 40K and wasn't feeling too bad. Did a GU2O at 40K to beef up the electrolyte's. The stomach felt a bit queasy and I was starting to dehydrate . I was trying to keep the fluid intake up but I really didn't feel like drinking any more! Past the 40K mark I was beginning to really fatigue but managed to keep pace. The last 7K was on a gravel road and I kept thinking about how I could pick it up a bit at the end! Last 5k on the trail were 7:00, 8:06, 8:09, 7:30, and 8:06. When I hit the road I was able to pick it up, last 7K were 6:27, 5:38, 6:07, 6:54, 6:22, 7:12 (big hill) and the last K was the fastest but I forgot to turn my Garmin off for nearly 2 minutes while I was on all fours being sick!
I always judge my race on how many folks I pass vs how many people pass me in the last half! From about 25 to 40K I passed a few but no one went by me. With about 10K to go I was passed by two runners, one who was just edging me out and then another who blew by me stating he got lost and added 6 miles to his run ... he was really fast. In the last K I gave up another 2 positions...I was giving it my all trying to keep up with these guys but it just wasn't there!!!!! After the race I learned that the guys that passed me in the last K were doing the 26K race .... d'oh!
My Garmin data said I covered 47.79km +2877/-2879m with a total time of 5:36:52 , minus the 1min43sec that I forgot to turn the Garmin off it put me in at 5:34:53. I haven't got my official time or position yet but it should be close to my estimated Garmin time.
Offical reults ...I will post them when I get them!
Garmin data.....
