The UltraRunning link for the U.S.

Berryman Trail 50 Miler 2000 Report: Gary Fuerst

Berryman Trail 50 miler  -  May 27, 2000

Did everyone have a great time or what!  Thank you Kevin and all of the
volunteers.  I'm already looking forward to next year.

It re-enforces my commitment to ultrarunning when the conditions turn from
bad to worse and everyone shows up!  As Mark and I drove down highway 21 in
the pre-race darkness, the rain was coming from the sky in buckets.  Casey
Coen was following us in her car, using my truck as a highway water wedge.
We laughed about how this would be another memorable event.  I like
memorable events.

Even in the rain, it took just under an hour and 30 minutes to go from I-270
& highway 21 to the Berryman campground pavilion, which was the race
start/finish area.  The rain kept coming down.  It looked like an all-day
rain.

The race headquarters was calm and relatively still.  The RD and other
volunteers had camped overnight and had everything all set-up and ready to
go.  The 50-mile event started right on time.

The last time I ran the Berryman trail was almost 3 years ago.  I remember a
nice 24 mile loop trail with one get-your-feet-wet creek crossing (at the
Brazil campground).  How would this single-track trail handle lots of water?
The answer is extremely well.  Yes, there were a lot of puddles on the trail
(which I initially wasted energy trying to skip around), but almost no mud.
And the small streams had enough water in them that a runner might get a
foot wet.  But hey, it really didn't matter, it was raining.  No matter what
you did your feet were going to get wet and stay wet.  It was just a matter
of time.

Within a couple of miles, Mark and I pulled away from the other runners.  My
plan was to run the first loop fairly hard, the sun was due out and then the
temperature (forecasted to be 85) with high humidity would slow me down.
Cover as many miles in the rain as possible was my game plan.  Now
Mark.....well he always hammers.

The four manned aid stations were great, more than enough goodies for
anyone.  Everyone was friendly and helpful.  The two unmanned water drops
were needed and strategically placed.  Kevin had even thought of having some
horseback riders offer me cold beer instead of lukewarm water at the Hammon
water drop on the second loop.  Boy, was that tempting.

The trail was about as I remember not too many rocks and a lot of rolling
hills.  The hills were runnable on the first loop.  The second loop they got
steeper and became walkers.  However, they were longer than I remember,
longer than say the Quivering Quads trails.  All in all, a very beautiful
trail and a great place for a trail run.

I finished the first loop in 4:14.  Mark was just leaving the start/finish
area for his second loop.  My legs and feet were feeling tired but OK, no
blisters but a little cramping.  Was my plan working?  I thought so, but it
didn't matter, it was too late to change.

The rain was still occasionally coming down as I started the second loop,
but it would soon stop and the sun tried to pop its head out.  The air was
saturated with moisture.  Although a 5 hour second loop seemed like a worthy
goal it was not to be.  Between the raising temperature, the very high
humidity and my heavy wet shoes, I crawled around the second loop to finish
in a very satisfying time of 9:47.

Heavy wet shoes!  Let me digress (remember i'm an engineer).  After getting
home, I decide to weight those suckers.  Each shoe and sock combo weighed
15.5 oz. dry (size 11-11.5 shoe with ultimax sock).  But soaked with water,
they weighed 8 oz. more, i.e. 23.5 oz. each.  On a 50 mile run with an
average stride of 1 yard, you'll pick your feet up 88,000 times.   Add 1/2
lb. to each of those and you'll pick up an additional 22 tons of weight due
to those heavy wet shoes!  Yipes!

Back to finishing the report.

It was a super SLUG event.  One which all of us SLUGs can be proud to be
connected with.  Kevin et al thought of everything.  The shirts were
especially nice, real keepers.  The Berryman trail is a jewel of a trail, as
Rob Apple said, "a real find".  Check your calendar for next year and come
rain or shine.  Forget Ice Age, this trail is much nicer.

Congrats to all of the finishers.
Thanks again to all of the people who made it a memorable event.

I like memorable events,
Gary Fuerst