Rocky Raccoon 50-Miler Splits

One of the things that I wanted to do was to record the time in and out of every aid station; however, I messed up on the very first one!

If it had been cooler, I would have run a lot more in the second and third loops. However, I know of my limitations with the heat and humidity. If I would have tried to run more in the second loop, I would have completely spent myself for the third loop. The biggest surprise was how it didn't get too much cooler on the third loop.

Loop 1
Lodge to Dam Road - 49:29.37
Dam Road to Far Side - 37:29.18
Far Side to Dam Road - 37:39.23
Dam Road to 174 - 59:23.98
174 to Lodge - 39:12.25
Total = 3:43:14.01

Loop 2
Lodge to Dam Road - 57:05.56 (Burned a little time at the end of the first loop)
Dam Road to Far Side - 45:03.36 (Started to walk here with temps rising)
Far Side to Ram Road - 46:43.03
Dam Road to 174 - 1:13:26 (Ran some as there was downhill to the bridges)
174 to Lodge - 44:32.08 (Ran a majority of the last mile back to the Lodge)
Total = 8:10:04 (Cumulative)

Change of Socks and Shoes - 17:13.02 (Waverly peeled them off and put vaseline and both feet as well as socks and shoes back on; Visited with Karen as well for a little bit.)

Loop 3
Lodge to Dam Road - 1:02:04
Dam Road to Far Side - 55:28.00 (Walked slower with Becky, who was trying to see if she could avoid dropping with a bad set of blisters on her right foot)
Far Side to Dam Road - 56:51.12 (Ditto on the return. She would drop with 7.2 miles to go.)
Dam Road to 174 - 1:28:48
174 to Lodge - 55:52.74
Final = 13:46:21

To her credit, Becky was at the finish line waiting for me to make it in (and in addition to another friend that she had out on the course.) She later had this to say in an e-mail: "You maintained constant forward motion and in an endurance run like Rocky that is what it takes. Continuing to put one foot in front of the other is the order of the day."

Regarding her decision to drop: "Believe making the decision to turn in my chip was not easy but in the long run I know it was the right thing to do. If the next section of the course would not have been the rutty, rooty 4.42 mile stretch, I would have gone on VERY SLOWLY because I had enough "pop" in my legs to get me the end. But knowing I couldn't bear enough weight on my right foot to help balance myself and step over/around the roots was the clincher. The possibility of causing a potentially severe injury from tripping and falling on a root would have been more devastating."

In some post-race analysis that I shared with somebody from Austin that I know, I made this comment: "The only plan that I had for the run was to go from aid station-to-aid station. There were five for each loop. 15 in all, of course. The longest leg was 4.3 miles, three legs were 2.9 and the last was 3.6. It was basically to run a 5K or so fifteen (15) times.

"I made two wise decisions. To run with my friend as long as I could. I had to back off based on the heat and the humidity. The second was to dial it back as a result of those two things."

I took time out to introduce myself to Joe Prusaitis, the race director, and thank him for having a 50-mile event that didn't have a time limit to be able to see if I could at least cover the distance. I still am extremely appreciative about that. (I wonder if there has been anybody that has done the 50-miler beyond the 12-hour time limit and then came back and finished the 100-miler another year .... Hmmmm.)