After the Blood Rock 25K trail run last year, my thoughts immediately turned to a 50K...I couldn’t help it. The 25K had gone really well (top 20% of finishers) and the lure of doing a real ultramarathon was in my head. I have never felt the draw to do road marathons, just as I have never been big on road bike century rides. Not my thing.
I set my sights on the Oak Mountain 50K in March. It would be a nice time of year and “only” had 4,300 feet of climbing. I could get that knocked out then get back to riding my bike more! We all know what else came around mid March: COVID. Blah. After training for 4 months, my race got cancelled a week before. I wasn’t surprised so kinda figured I would just run the course solo. Given our lack of knowledge about the virus at that time, I bailed out. Too much uncertainty. I wasn’t too bummed but the goal was still brewing in my head. Gotta get it done. Obsession.
I put training on the shelf and did mostly easy runs all summer and LOTS of walking with Melissa. This became our quarantine habit which has stuck. Grab a couple beers and walk about 3 milly miles in our neighborhood. Where we live is super hilly so we both unintentionally got in better shape! Despite almost no hard running until September I got faster. I got a surprise entry to a half marathon (road) in October and ran a 1:40 with maybe...two tempo runs before the race. I committed to the Blood Rock 50K around July I think. I figured my work schedule would die down by September and I could train hard until December. Nope. Super busy. Melissa also started back work in September as a public school speech therapist and you can imagine how that has gone so far. It’s tough. We still got our beer walks done though. I went ahead and started back on some longer trail runs and some intervals. I’ve also been using Chris Johnson’s Cinder Block Series strength program which I think has improved my efficiency.
Sometime during October I took a really hard fall at Red Mountain during a training run and luckily didn’t break my hip. Hit about an inch below the left greater trochanter (pointy hip bone on side) This hit my training hard though and I knew I wouldn’t be as ready as I wanted for Blood Rock. 2020, right? To summarize, I had great fitness but was undertrained for the race demands.
I backed off on hilly runs and stuff that was hurting the leg but didn’t want to totally bail on the race. Blood Rock is a really hard course and has really generous cutoff times. I think the 55k cutoff is 16 hours! I knew if I had to, I could fast hike it and finish. David Tosch, the race organizer, emailed us about two weeks before the race. Our 50K was now a 55K...climbing was about the same with 8700 vertical feet. From the map I could tell I would get to see some new areas of Oak Mountain so I was cool with it. I made an A, B, and C goal for the race. A was to finish in 9 hours, B was 10, and C was 11. I also made a “just maybe goal” of beating the sun. Likely not in the cards but whatever, ya know? I’m a planner.
We had perfect weather on race day. Low of 38 degrees and a high of maybe 55. It rained ALL day on Friday which worked in our favor with fairly grippy dirt at Oak Mountain. I left a couple drop bags and went to the start. Plenty of folks with masks on but too close together for my taste so I stayed at the edge and made friends with a border collie mix. We hit an easy couple miles then turned into the Backcountry, a very technical and steep part of the course. I think it is great fun and quite the adventure which made time pass quickly. The course was incredibly well marked and in very good condition. I stuck to my fueling plan really well. 200-225 calories per hour and drink Nuun water was wanted. I alternated different food types...gels, bars, potato burritos. Little bit of everything!
I realized about 10 miles in my GPS was short of course mileage by 10-12 percent, same as last year. I also realized my training had come up short. No surprise there. The downhill impact was really hitting me hard and I made a plan to go slower than I wanted on downhills and kinda shuffle run on the flat parts. I was doing well in technical sections which helped keep a decent pace going. We crossed the race start area near the Cabins at 15 miles and I refilled my hydration and food. Kinda wanted to quit but started making deals with myself instead. Just run a few more miles then reassess. I can always walk more. Maybe things will get better. I reminded myself multiple times that things would likely feel worse the further I went and probably really bad at some point but I could take it. As David Goggins says, you gotta keep your Inner Bitch under control. It is always there, always ready to undermine your goals, and very convincing. We all have one. The important thing is to know it is there.
From the Cabins, we headed through some boring horse trails near the Group Camp road. I mentioned to a guy nearby I had never been on this hill. “I have” he said slowly then added “last night.” He was one of the 100 milers. I told him I wouldn’t ask how it was going as I figured I already knew. He laughed and we both kept moving. The climb up the Yellow White connector was really tough and steep. We cut right on the Red Road then down Green Trail which is one of the hardest descents in the park. Straight down the damn mountain. I knew at this point I had spent most of my Descending Budget and needed to be careful. Don’t fall. Don’t push it. I saw fellow cyclists Mark Cook earlier on the Group Camp Road and Mike Lackey up on Red Road which boosted my spirits some. I made it to the Terrace Drive aid station at mile 22.3 and realized I was actually still doing pretty well pace wise. My stomach felt good too. Some things were bad and some were good. I kept moving.
Even if shit went south, I could walk back to the finish and be done in around 10 hours. More self bargaining here. I can walk as much as I want. It will be okay. I headed up Johnson’s Mountain and called Melissa to let here know where I was. From here, the course went into some fresh cut singletrack that led to the High Hampton neighborhood on the South Side of the park. Eventually, we cut left straight up the steepest powerline trail I have ever seen. A surprise one could call it. Just a real nice surprise.
This meandered up to the Park Road then headed up to Peavine Falls Aid station, the last one of the race! I was still running as much as I could at this point but my arms felt weird. Crampy. I have had this happen once during a mountain bike race and it is not good. Basically, brachioradialis cramps from holding my arms in a running position more than I was used to I guess. Maybe some dehydration too? Maybe all the impact? I quickly figured out I could hook my thumbs in the lower strap of my hydration pack to support them. I am sure I looked ridiculous but I could still jog this way on the road headed to Peavine Aid at mile 27.5. Peavine was nice. Too nice. Lots of food choices. Lots of reasons to stay awhile. Maybe even find a comfy chair.
I asked for a dill pickle then left.
This led into the “other” Backcountry section. It was kinda similar to hiking trails at Mt. Cheaha and I really enjoyed it. Big, rocky slabs but not much roots or loose dirt. I was still feeling really good on uphills and able to push at what I would guess a Zone 3 type pace. Legs felt strong uphill too. My goals at this point were “Don’t Fall” and “Don’t Get Lost”. I could finish if I didn’t screw up. The pickle helped my T Rex arm situation some but really everything just hurt at this point. Legs, ribs, all of it. Some of this section runs on a ridge parallel to the Blue Trail but higher elevation. Beautiful time of day also around 3-4 PM. I fell into the same pace as a lady nearby (Tori I think) so we stuck together. She was running more than me so I just tagged along and picked up my pace a bit. I had plenty of alone time by this point, so it was nice to have a friend to chat with. We had one small scare, thinking we got off course, but quickly realized all was fine.
We cut left on the Orange Connector, which eventually leads to Shackleford Point and the long, technical downhill to Maggie’s Glen. Pretty close to finishing at this point, so I just kept running. I had honestly planned on fast hiking the last 5-6 miles but after realizing I could still run I kept it up. I felt pretty elated from Maggie’s Glen to the finish and we were both able to run at probably a 9 minute pace after being out for a long time. The finish time was 8 hours and 44 minutes, right before sunset! The feeling of relief that came with being done was incredible. Not just the race, but the whole year of ups and downs in preparing. I really had to pull out every mental trick in my bag to get this done and glad it is over! The day was every bit beautiful as it was brutal, but I was aware of that when I signed up. Yet again, Tosch and his crew did an incredible job with the race. I feel pretty beat up the day after the race and looking forward to a few weeks off.
But for real, how hard is Blood Rock? I would say definitely harder than a technical 100 mile mountain bike race but easier than a 24 hour solo mountain bike race. Probably harder than Dirty Kanza 200. Real hard. Truly a race worthy of its reputation and I now understand why folks say, “Don’t do Blood Rock as your first ultra…”
