Race Report: Afton Trail 50k

Well, if last year's edition of the Afton Trail 50k ended with me in the finish chute muttering to myself ("Whew, that was tough! Whew, that was fun!"), it feels fitting to begin the account of this year's race in the same place, back at the finish line. However, two things were different on Saturday:

First, the time on the clock was almost two minutes faster—not a huge improvement when flattened out over 31 miles (~3 seconds faster per mile, if you're wondering), but an improvement nonetheless! Finished in 4:35:31, good enough for 13th overall.

And second—and much more interesting—instead of happily muttering to myself in the finish chute I found myself screaming out in pain while grabbing at my left arm.

Umm . . . ouch!

As pulled out of aid station #5—the last one before the finish—I imagined the last obstacle between me and Afton finish #2 would be the short, steep hill coming out of the Snowshoe trails. It's runnable on the first loop, but doubles in size for the second go-round. However, race director John Storkamp must have assigned a local yellow jacket (or wasp, or hornet, or some other yet-to-be-discovered insect with a stinger) "last obstacle duties" just outside the finish area. I personally think the evil creature made his move a little late if the goal was to stop me from crossing the line, but I admit that his flight path was flawless. He nestled himself just underneath my sleeve, stinging my left shoulder and upper arm five times in as many seconds before fleeing the scene of the crime. Well done. (All is well though—no allergies.)

The race itself was, much like last year, a story of two loops.

Loop 1: Cruising...

Rise and shine!

My strategy coming into the race was to take a shot at 4:20, which I thought might be possible with two loops in ~2:10. I clocked my first loop last year in 2:08, on less training (197 June miles last year vs. 291 June miles this year). So I figured 4:20 was a reasonable goal. In addition to the higher quantity of miles this year (the marathon training helped!), I also think the quality has been better—both in incorporating more speed-work and with specific hill training in the Afton Alps. I even clocked and averaged splits on a few training runs:

I explained all this briefly to Sam just before the start. He thought it was a good plan too:

"Whatever you say, Pops!"

The few minutes before the start are always the most awkward ones on the day . . .

. . . but you gotta love the downhill start!

I got off the start a little faster this year, not so much to save time but to give myself a better chance of finding some similarly-paced friends. Even if the company's bad (which it wasn't!), it's just easier to run with others than solo.

Focused, but taking it easy on the first climb (about a mile in)

Trying to finish off an energy gel before seeing Ashley for the first time
on the course (coming into AS #3, ~7 miles in). I was thrilled at this point in the
race, not only to be running well, but also to have found 4 other guys that I
thought I could hang with for a while. Two of us were downhillers and two of
us were uphillers, so that made for some fun yo-yoing action.

Cruising through the Afton campgrounds (mile 10)

Hitting the long, flat creek path after AS #4. It only stretches for a mile before turning uphill to the "Meat Grinder", but it feels much longer when you've been dancing in the hills all day! The guy in front was my fellow uphiller in the group, and the two guys behind me were the two downhill guys.

Hitting halfway in 2:06! Enjoyed chatting with Jake Hegge for a few minutes on the Snowshoe loop after pulling away from my 3 comrades. Jake's won a few local races and said he'll be at the Voyager 50 mile later this month. He wasn't having his best day and so dropped here at the half. Even though 2:06 was ahead of my 2:10 goal, the effort felt easy--especially through the Snowshoe singletrack with Jake.

All in all, I was really encouraged as I headed off for loop #2 and glanced down at my watch. At 2:06, I was sitting 4 minutes ahead of goal pace, feeling great (probably the best 16 miles of running all year!), and Ashley and Sam were doing a stellar job of crewing.

What could go wrong?

Loop 2: Crashing...

Well, "crashing" might be too strong of a word but it does contrast well with "cruising." Unlike last year where I started to hit a lull right after the halfway mark, I continued to feel good and run well even through 20 miles . . .

With Jake dropping halfway, I immediately started feeling a bit bummed to be
running solo so suddenly. I had hoped to make it back to the creek
path (~mile 26) before making any moves. As I cruised back down the
starting hill, I decided I had two options if I didn't want to run solo: (1) speed
up, or (2) slow down. Since I was feeling okay, I thought increase the effort for
a few minutes and then go to option 2 if no one was in sight . . .

 . . . I ended up spotting someone up ahead after a few minutes and so decided to keep
pushing the effort until I could catch up with him (and especially since miles 18-20
are mostly singletrack--my favorite!). However, just as I began to catch up, my stomach
started feeling . . .  funny. I then immediately backed off the pace and switched over to
water (from Roctane). I also increased the time between gels, from every 30-40 mins to
every hour. I'm guessing it was just too much sugar at once. (I'm coming into AS #3 here
and trying to stay cool in the heat! I had moved into 10th but knew it couldn't
last unless my stomach did.)

Climbing/powerhiking into the campground here . . . I managed to hold it
together relatively well during these middle miles (22-26) but still couldn't
make my stomach happy. Alas! Oh well, one look around the park always
put a smile on my face. Just off to the side here is one of the only extended
sections with pine trees I've found up here near the Twin Cities. Always
reminds me of the goat trails at Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia!

Still having fun!

After catching Ashley again at AS #4 one last time and refueling with water, I headed out along the creek path for the final miles. With a fast finish off the table, and the likelihood of dropping a few more spots in these final miles, I set my gaze on the post-race cheeseburgers and watermelons and tried to cheer as many fellow wanderers toward that glorious end as possible!

Post-race: Celebrating...

Post-race fun in the sun!

The medical guy making sure I didn't die from my finish line attack. Smiles are good.

Jumping in the St. Croix . . . since it's been two years now, I guess I can now say that it's a
post-race tradition! The river is about a mile hike from the finish line, but it never disappoints.

"Dad, can I jump in the river next year?!"

. . . until next year!