Foothills Frenzy 50k

The race went well...for about 22 miles. After that it was all downhill (literally and figuratively). The 31.7 mile course has about 5700 feet of elevation gain and loss and about 4000 of it was done by mile 11.5. It is very steep up the hill and for the most part a gradual downhill.


I decided to run to my HR and just see how the time came out. The mile I was happiest with was mile 11 with 750 feet of gain in 16:45 and it was all walking! Anyway, when I got to the ridge road at mile 11.5 there was a short out and back from an aid station run by our friend Mike Blessing. Mike was kind enough to set me and Mark Hutchinson up with some refreshment. Mark and I tore out of the 13.5 mile stop and headed down the hill.

I was at mile 18 in 3 hours and 8 minutes, which included nearly all the climbing. Then it took me 2 hours and 43 minutes to go 13.7 miles and it was nearly all downhill. At mile 22 I tried jumping over a metal bar used to keep motorcycles off the trail. I consequently tripped and the first thing to hit the ground way my eye. Then palms, shoulder, knees..... Luckily I wasn't wearing my sunglasses because who knows what would have happened to my eyes when I hit. I was bleeding from every spot that hit the ground. They wanted to check me out but I kept moving anyway. There were a lot of people there to witness my stupidity too because they were waiting to cheer in their family member!

Anyway, long story short I felt pretty bad the last half. Every step of the day was hurting my left foot. I mentioned it to Mark and he said I should go get it checked out. I told him it just felt like a bruise and he told me he had the same thing last fall and it turned out to be a stress fracture in the same spot as I have. (left foot, second toe, third digit) It doesn't always hurt because you have the other toes and parts of your foot to compensate until you really push it.

So, I spent the morning at the doc's office getting x-rays, waiting to hear back. I am hoping I hear nothing but thought it would be best to have it checked. I hurt it at my race in September but thought it was just sore from taking a pounding for 100 miles.

UPDATE: I am fine, need to stop boobing, and get back to kickin’ butt! X-rays negative……

I finished in 5 hours and 51 minutes, 9 minutes better than my goal. I wanted to be walking at the end but wanted to meet my goal even more. My wife did the 50k with me and she finished as well, this was her first finish and I was super proud of her. In fact I had more fun sitting in the parking lot cheering other people in than I did running. It might have helped that I was drinking a beer at that point too!

Happy trails.