Whiterock Classic 50k

First race of the year, first race since Leadville. I was a little nervous. It’s been a long off season for me. Struggled with some knee pains post leadville, then some back pains, then piriformis pains (though now I’m starting to think that the piriformis and the back pains are the same thing and I just let the priformis get so bad before that it started to effect my back).

Well, lets get to the guts of this! I was originally planning on cruising down to Huntsville, TX with some fellow TrailHawks for an attempt at a 50 mile race. It wasn’t until Coleen’s FatAss that I found that there is a race in AR that’s only 5 bucks! The race was closer, cheaper (and cheaper hotel) seems like a no brainer! Turns out there was a whole grip of us who were going to this race, which made it ever more fun.

Most of us Hawks before the race

Laurie and I left Lawrence Friday evening to KC to pick up Coleen. Then we raced to Fayetteville, AR to meet up with Debbie, Deb, Stu, Julie and Dave at the Super 8 for a night of sleep before the hour long journey through the Ozarks to the starting point for the race.

This race for me was one of particular interested as a way to measure my recovery. I’ve been struggling with some piriformis injuries as stated previously and I was half expecting to pull out of this race somewhere between the start and the halfway point. I wanted to stay slow and steady. Focus on my fuel and my body and less on my time. Turns out that was the best way to go. Made sure I ate a 2-3 blocks every 2 miles. This was also my first ultra wearing light weight shoes and using only a handheld water bottle. With all this new stuff going on and running with injuries my focus was to make sure all the pieces stayed together and nothing fell apart.

We made it to the first aid station about 5 mile away. I was feeling great! I wanted to run up all the hills but knew I had to hold back and relax. Laurie was there with a fresh water bottle, but it was too early in the race to need a new one so I just said no thanks, and we moved on ahead.  Between the first and second aid stations we had our first down hill section, it was pretty long, but nothing fresh legs couldn’t handle. We cruised down the hill running and jabbering the whole time having a blast.

We made it to the second aid station and I saw one of the greatest things EVER! Blooming bananas! Basically it’s a banana cut in half, partially peeled and then peanut butter is liberally spread on the tip of the banana. At this aid station I switched to a fresh water bottle, replenished my honey stinger chews.

The next section was one of the hardest sections of the race, essentially all up hill to the turn around. There was lots of walking, some running, but we were all in good spirits. There were multiple times the upper section of the hill was equated to Ogg Road. a place I’ve yet to run, but if it’s like what we ran, I’ll have to make some trips to Ogg for some hill climbing practice.

When we finally made it to the gate to the top of Whiterock Mountain, Coleen and I saw the posts that had been chewed up by bears. Apparently Whiterock has a lot of bears, and they like to eat wood. The top was windy and cold! Coleen and I were the first ones up there and we eating cookies while waiting for the others to sign in at the top. Coleen made some awesome vegan cookies and we weren’t allowed to eat them until we made it to the top. Then we took a picture at the top with Roxy. To be honest we took forever at the top of Whiterock. I was getting cold and cranky. I think we spent a total of 11 min up top. Not sure what the issue was there, but I was ready to go, and ready to take Roxy with me for a 10mile doggie jaunt!

Me and the girls at the top!

The way down was fast! That long hill we just ran/walked up we now ran all the way down. Most of the time complaining about how we didn’t think it was so long. We all made it down to the bottom sweet as a nut. At the bottom I swapped out water bottles, grabbed some endurolytes (wish I had my Scaps or Salt Licks, but in a pinch endurolytes will work), ate some more cookies and we were off. Up the hill, and frankly, going up was a nice change of pace from the previous long decent. Coleen and I started to break apart from Deb, Debbie and Julie. We decided it was time for everyone to just kinda get in their groove and go. Coleen and I hammered up the hills with some strong walking. Reminded me of walking with Coleen through the hills at Leadville. She’s always good company to have out in the middle of no where.

Approaching the final aid station I decided to let Roxy off the hook, and she’d ride the rest of the way in the truck. Good thing too cause the poor thing needed help getting in and out of the truck after the race was over! I switched water bottles again, ate some cookies (well tried, I was tired of cookies at this point and ready to be done). Coleen and I surged out of this aid station passing a couple we were tailing for a short while. Eventually we caught up to a local AR runner who was telling us about the bears, Coleen has also loaned him a water bottle, cause he’d left his at the top of Whiterock, and he’d run all the way down with out water. I told Coleen I was gonna chase this guy down, and try to hammer it to the finish. She told me to go! I was off. I made it about a mile, before I started having some pains in my lower back. My first thought was kidneys, and was thinking I’ve not taken nearly enough salt. So I took 2 endurolytes drank some water, arched my back a bit…turned around and there was Coleen, she’d turned on her music and was in zone! I turned back down hill and started running. My feet were starting to hurt, my knees were a little sore, tired of running downhill. I had to focus on being light, being smooth. The harder I ran the more it hurt. I found myself entering a trance of sort. Where each leg just kinda lightly danced on the ground. I could see the cars, I was almost done.

Whiterock was a great race, great people, my kinda place. I can tell that there are going to be some Trailhawk journeys to Arkansas to run in the Ozarks. The trails are hilly…not CO hilly, but long 2-3 mile climbs that don’t take your wind away. Perfect for training the muscles to go up and down and up and down!

Next up, in two weeks, Sylamore 50k.