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Catoctin 50k Trail Run 2000 Race Report

Catoctin 50k Trail Run - Race Report
Saturday, August 12, 2000
Clear Goals Re-clarified

My goal this year was a PR at a November road marathon.  I put ultras out of
my mind early on because proper ultra training is too time-consuming given
extra personal stuff going on this year.  But then in May I thought it would
be fun to run a summer trail 50k, the Catoctin 50k Trail Run in Frederick,
Maryland.  Doing a tough trail run wouldn't preclude a fast fall marathon
and wouldn't take huge amounts of training.  Plus it's close to home so I
could train on the course.

The Catoctin 50k is not to be taken lightly.  During the 11 weeks prior to
the race I logged 400 training miles, about 36 miles per week.  While not
optimum, this proved satisfactory for the Catoctin 50k, especially since a
couple long runs (4-6 hrs) took place on the course itself.  After not
completing an ultra in nearly two years, I had visions of updating my Bio
with something other than a new favorite shoe.

Race Directors Kevin & Mary Sayers put on a great race.  For $15 you get all
you need:  a well organized race, well-stocked aid stations with incredibly
helpful and jovial volunteers, and access to trails with serious attitude.
For an extra fee you can buy a t-shirt of legendary quality, style, and
humor.  Time passed, race day arrived, and the weather was picnic perfect.
I loaded up the pack with 100 oz of water, some electrolytes, three Clif
bars, a change of socks, and some pouches of Clip.  After a light-hearted
but long-winded pre-race briefing we embarked on the Paved Trail, a new
300-yard section of parking lot added in to get the course up to 31 miles
and spread out the runners before the single track trail began.  We would
see no more pavement until the finish line.

You have mixed emotions about the first two miles of the course.  On the one
hand, it's downhill and effortless, if a little rocky.  On the other hand,
this being an out and back course you've got to climb this merciless hill at
the end.  So I cruise through my favorite section, Spud Run, and I'm
chugging along about an hour into the race, all by myself.  Suddenly I hear
someone making up serious ground on me.  Then he passes me like I'm standing
still.  Is he foolishly sprinting mile 5 of a 50k or what?  Then another
fast guy passes me, and another.  Ah-ha!  The lead pack got off trail
somewhere and found their way back to the course.

This is a course that really punishes the heads-down runner.  Every
intersection is a crap shoot in terms of which branch to take.  In fact, the
better looking trail is usually wrong.  You simply must evaluate and find
the blue blaze every time there is a decision, and often the blazes are
faint or hidden by leaves.  But watch your step when searching for those
blazes or you'll dirt dive, and you don't want to do that on those downhill
sections of embedded sideways razor rock.  Survival on the Catoctin Trail is
a delicate balance between route-finding and rock-finding.

I reach Hamburg Road, the first aid station, in 1:25, five minutes ahead of
schedule.  [I had worked this aid station in the 1999 race.  Let me just
echo what others have pointed out, that spending a day working a race is
longer and harder than running the race, and about equally rewarding.]  Six
miles into the race and my 100 oz of water is almost gone.  I'm a sweat hog.
  I quickly tank up and go.  Run three miles through the Pond District to
Delauter aid station in a smoking 35 minutes.  Nine miles down and six to go
til the turnaround.  This is a long six miles with plenty of chances to get
off trail, notably the choice of going right on Frog Lane or left on Toad
Stretch.  RD Kevin Sayers demands runners know their amphibians.  After Toad
Stretch comes Rick's Overlook, showcasing North Frederick from above.  Kevin
was there with camera and a poster that said "This is a great race" and
wanted us to remember that always.  The final two miles of the out section
are downhill on Slug Hill, pounding your quads and again psyching you out
for the return trip.

If you're planning to run Catoctin as your first trail ultra, a good way to
predict how long you'll be out there is to double your most recent road
marathon time.  This might be a slight exaggeration but not by much; I bet a
lot of first timers are surprised by the time-on-the-feet factor of a rocky
hilly trail 50k.  The prestigious finishers award, a superbly hand-crafted,
laminated, tri-color, wallet-size card states:  "Proud survivor of the
hilly, rocky, gnarly, no frills, rough 'n tumble Catoctin 50K."  This is a
fairly accurate description of the race; however, a slogan can't capture the
fact that even though it is an out and back course with the same starting
and ending point and identical trails each way, the return trip is much
farther!  In fact, at the halfway point, runners must read a poster and
recite it to an aid station captain to prove having gone the full distance.
The poster said, "Half the distance to go; two-thirds the effort to go."
Amen.

The turnaround area is fun.  You wade 25 feet across a rushing stream where
you might as well forget trying to keep the feet dry.  Just stomp through
the cool clear water, rinse the mud off your shoes, and don't worry about
wet feet.  In fact, dry rock hopping is much slower and more dangerous.

I reach the turnaround in 3:30, realizing I have a pretty good shot at
beating my Plan B goal of 8 hours.  My best case scenario was a 7:45 and
Plan C was an arbitrary 8:23.  It's now 11:30am.  As the sun creeps higher
in the sky the temperature climbs to the low 80s but the humidity stays
tolerable.  This would have been an entirely different race if normal
mid-Atlantic August weather had materialized -- 90' with high humidity takes
away the will to move.

I find that I can run all but the steepest hills on the way back.  Eight
hours is looking really good.  In fact, 7:45 isn't out of the question.  I'm
cruising along in a good rhythm, hurdling blowdowns, spotting blue trail
blazes and reveling in those mini triumphs ("still on course!").  I might
have even made 7:45 but for three things.  First, a two-minute pit stop to
commune with nature.  Second, a tumbling spill downhill that got me good and
dirty, but not bloody.  Third, confronted by an ambiguous course marking I
guessed wrong and lost about four minutes.  But that's the nature of the
beast - if you want orange traffic cones and police manning intersections,
this is not the race.  Take heart anyway - most everyone loses their way at
least once so it's fair.

I ran, walked, hiked, surveyed, climbed, and ran some more, way past my
training-run threshold of pain to cross the finish line in 7:47.  It was one
of those special days where everything went my way and I don't second-guess
anything.  My wife and baby showed up just before I arrived and greeted me.
The RD, who knows how slow I am, was pleasantly surprised at my decent
finish.

I slept 12 straight hours after the race and awoke with very sore quads and
the crazy notion that I might parlay this little personal victory into a
strong showing at JFK 50 in November instead of concentrating on a marathon
PR.  The ultra bug doesn't stop with just one bite.

Tom
---
Tom Midlam
Germantown, Maryland
tom_midlam@hotmail.com