Race Report: Youngstown 50k

I entered the Youngstown 50k with no real expectation of time, but I did set goals of having a good consistent run and hoping to have a better run than the winter 50k I ran. The winter 50k yielded an unofficial time of 7:45. I was the very last one to finish running. Not a good feeling.

Having trained appropriately, I was ready to run. One thing I did during training (the week before) was to run most of the course. It was the best thing I did. There were few mysteries to the course, and I knew exactly where the change in directions loops were, and those also were the same spot as the aid station, the covered bridge.

Since I am in Pittsburgh, Youngstown is about an hour or so drive away. Having got up on time, I hopped in the car, and headed to Youngstown. The weather was just about perfect...48 degrees most of the way there. No issues driving and since I had already driving there, finding the park was a piece of cake.

As I got to Mill Creek Park in Youngstown, the parking lot began to fill up with runners, both 50k and 25k runners. The picture at the top of the post is the lake at the start finish line. Just a wonderful park, in Youngstown, Ohio of all places. Not to be expected.

I ran into some fellow ultra runners at the start/finish line, and that made me feel at ease, and I was ready to run. The race director was a very nice man who gave a speech before the beginning of the run and recognized some volunteers that consistently have helped the race.

Fortunately, the park had real bathrooms, so before the start I was able to take care of the important business. I had tweeted there were no porta potties before the race, and that's because there was a real bathroom!!

The course consists of a half clockwise loop, then counter clockwise loops, then clockwise loops around lakes. The route included some roads throughout the park.

Well, before you knew it, the five minute announcement was made and then go - we were off and running. I had planned to use my GPS and HRM through out the run, but about a mile in, my GPS stopped working, so, it was useless at that point. I did however, continue to monitor my heart rate, which was very high at the start, and I was concerned I was running far to hard at the beginning of the race. I let that thought go and continue to run. The first mile or so included a steep metal staircase, again, since I had run the course, it was no big deal.

About 2.5 miles into the run we encountered what the experienced folks from the area called the "monkey trails." These were explained to me that you need all four of your limbs to make it up. They were tough, and thank goodness there was some moisture to make it up the hill, as if it were dry, it would have been a much tougher go up. There was also this silly log right in the middle of the trail we had to navigate over. It wasn't so bad, but you had to make it over it three times throughout the run.

AS you know, what goes up, must come down, there were some very challenging downhills, and I called them the ski slopes, as you hung onto the trees going down and prayed you didn't fall.

I continue to run and felt wonderful. Having made it to the first check point, I recognized a local Pittsburgh runner - made me feel like I was in Pittsburgh running. We chatted about his next race - a 100 miler! I did not spend more than 3 minutes in any aid station stop. Got my bottles filled and had a banana and pretzels and rolled out. The next two counter clockwise loops were relatively uneventful and I was able to maintain a decent pace. I actually was leading a pack of runners for a while, and several passed me up, and I was just fine with that, since I was running my race and not theirs.

When I made it to the 15.8 mile checkpoint, I was still feeling great, but did have to address some small blisters on my feet. They hadn't popped, so I just applied some bodyglide to my feet and continue to run. My feet didn't give me any real issues after.

So, I had another 15.4 miles to go at this point, and that equalled 2 clockwise loops. I was still feeling relatively good and stuck to my plan of no more than 3 minutes in the aid station and to keep moving. I had to again traverse the monkey trails and the ski slopes, and the log. On the first loop, I ran into another Pittsburgher, and this was his run at a distance over 26.2 miles. We struck up a positive conversation and we discussed getting up the hills and maintaining pace. I decided to pass him and continue on. I was making it up the hills well, I felt that it was a sign I could run a bit harder down hill and maintain a pace on the level parts. I stuck to this strategy for the first loop and it worked well.

The second loop was tough but I continued to stick to my strategy of making it up the hills, and then pushing down hill and maintaining a pace on the level parts. 5 hours into the run, I was feeling great!! At 5:23 (I probably hit the rock, because I looked at my watch) I hit a massive rock with my toe. Ouch!! The rock won and I swore up a storm! It hurt, but of course, I continued on! Up the monkey trails, down the slopes and over the log we go!

As I approached the covered bridge for the final time, I knew a PR was well within reach, just had to keep moving, making forward progress with each step. The second part of this loop was the most rocky, so the footing was tricky and you had to make sure you didn't trip or fall. Also, this section had some vertical climbs that you had to walk up and down rocks, so I was careful not to fall, and make my way down safely. About 2 miles left and I took a wrong turn. Since I didn't see any markings to the course, I decided to turn around and that was a smart decision as I should have just stayed straight. I made it back onto the course and continue to the finish line.

As I approached the final road section, I was feeling so good inside, just a solid run, and I was so excited! The organizers of the race had a crew waiting and they started rooting and blew a horn and were very very motivating! Being in Ohio, I had to let them know I was a Steelers fan :)!

I ran into the finish line, with a huge smile on my face - 6:30:37...a huge PR!

Very happy with run, the course, the organizers, the race director, and the people throughout running the race. Even if I hadn't run the PR, I would have been very happy with the run. Just a beautiful park! I plan to make this event a regular on my running calendar!