Wonderful day on the trails today! Gunpowder 50k was my very first ultra back in 2009 and it broke me in for what to expect in future runs - bee stings, rocks, roots and some hills - a near perfect course! So of course it was the same in 20013 - bee stings included.
The race is organized by the Baltimore Road Runners Club and it is a Fat Ass event - very low key, limited aid - but these guys know what runners need so not a thing was lacking. Very well organize! A big thanks to all the volunteers out there today.
The plan wasn't to run this race hard but to get time on my feet for the next few tough ultras coming up. I had the good fortune to run with some great friends both old and new and this helped the miles fly by. The multiple bee swarms also increased my tempo but not enough to avoid being stung. Actually it was wasps which is good and bad - good because they don't die after they sting (I like bees - even waspy ones) but bad because they keep freaking stinging you. Lots of people got stung today I've heard. So aside from the bee interval sprints the pace was steady and not too hard - we took plenty of time for photo ops - bee stings including one action shot of particular stubborn bee who refused to leave Paula's ankle until he had his photo taken. Aside from the bee I took a stump to the head. Actually it was a broken branch under a fallen tree on the trail that caught me on the head. It became a stump after volunteer looked at it and told he thought the stump was still in - that was a little unsettling and I was afraid it would upset my balance - hard to run with a stump hanging from the forehead but I don't think it was actually in there. It did bleed an awful lot though and was tough to beat as a badge of honor. Ultrarunners are definitely a weird breed. The total count between Paul and I was 8 bee stings, two falls, lost toenail and a stump stuck in the head. That more than proves my case in point - we kept running and we kept smiling. It was that kind of day.
I want to mention that I ran with Tailwind as my only fuel and again it worked great. As the effort increases and the races grow longer I will have to experiment with calorie/serving ratio per hour or add in some calories from fruit. It's so much easier though than worrying about my fueling strategy though.
And that's it - Gunpowder 50k 2013 is in the books!
Thanks for reading.
Peace,
Eric
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