[Day588] double header (Stone Mill 50)

Running races back to back is not uncommon to me. I have done so since the beginning. This past weekend I signed up to do both a 50 miler and a 10K. I chose to run Stone Mill 50 but walk the Bay Bridge 10K. I will leave the Bay Bridge for a later post. It was a good day, but there are just too much to say. I primary focus on running, so Bay Bridge, while was still a running event, came off to be more a social one. If I have time, I will go back and write about it.

TLDR – It was a good weekend and a good race

Stone Mill 50, It was my 4th time running this. If I can have one more finish, I will receive a jacket as a finisher prize. I started running it in 2020, the year I got serious with ultra racings. These are the three previous reports (2020, 2021, 2022). I haven’t reread them, but I guess they are pretty similar. I love this race. I always think it is a hard race before running it, until I run it and after finishing, it does not seem that bad. Each time, I step across the finish line like it was a cake walk.

I have done many harder races than this. This one is not what I should say hard. The cutoffs are generous. However, in my mind I always feel a bit of fear before attempting because of the cold and some creek crossings and the distance. I have to give the distance the respect. The course also has a decent amount of rolling hills. It feels like always an uphill 12-13 hours climb.

We probably had one of the best racing weather this time. It rained two days before, which helped a lot to pack down the leaves. It gave a more solid path to run on. I have been out on the course the last few weekends and running on leaves was a problem for me because they slided around underneath and also they cover over roots and rocks. The rain made the path easier to see. While rocks and roots and a bit of wet did make the course slipery at times, but generally, I think it was better than a totally dry course. The trail though was dry enough to run on. The day as any year started off cold (38F, and lower at some part), but it got up to 60 F, where we could be comfortable in a t-shirt and shorts. I dressed in layers and striped when needed. Some bridges had ice on them from frost. We saw a runner fell after stepping onto a bridge. I had a couple close calls.

We started at 6:00 AM. There was a 5:00 AM start for those who believed they needed an extra hour. Many of those who trained with me took the earlier start. Many also were their first time running a 50 miler. This was the first year I saw those early runners off. I always arrive to the race early but usually I stayed in the car to get ready such as eating and final preparation before going to the start line.

The course is open for 13 hours typically. 14 hours for the earlier start. There were several cutoffs. Generally, we had to maintain a 15-16 min-mile pace to finish by 7 pm. The first three cutoffs required about the same pace. The last cutoff was at 6:40 PM at RT355, and the pacing to reach that was a bit more lenient (20 min pace). Technically, in order to finish within 13 hours, you have to be at the last cutoff by 5:40 pm. But they gave us until 6:40 pm before the aid station closed, so I think that is quite lenient and they would leave to finish line open until everyone arrives, which is about an hour more than the posted time. This year was the current Race Director (Barry) last year, so next year there will be a new director and these cutoffs might change.

Basically if you pass the last checkpoint, the finish line would be kept open until you finish. In a typically year, it means it would stay open until about 8 pm (imagine 15 hours to run this). Usually there were not many people that need that extra hour at the end, since if they could not make the earlier cutoffs, they likely would not have made it to the final one. There was not a person that went over 15 hours.

This might seem counter intuitive of why the cutoffs are longer at the end but I found it was helpful that as long as you are determined to finish, you could and would (at least you don’t have to be stressed with the cutoff of the last 4-8 miles). You just have to at least get to mile 42 in a decent pace of 15.5 min pace.

Cutoffs are not usually my worries. This was my four times running it. So I prepared a pace chart. Not blaming on my pace chart, but this year was my worst performance, coming in at 12:47. My previous times were 12:37, 12:21, and 11:16, with each year being faster than the one before. I was actually expecting to come in under 11 hours this time, but instead was closer to 13 hours.

As to why I was slower? I think mentally, I was not as competitive. Physically, since Grindstone, I have not trained as aggressively as before. The week leading up to the race, I did not run for a full week. It showed. I was tired by 8 miles in. Mentally, I knew I could pull through a 50 miler (and more). Physically, my legs were screaming at me. It was not until after mile 34, I felt the legs finally relaxed and gave in to allow me to run at the pace I wanted. Note, there were significant climbs after this, so on my pace chart it did reflect that I was running faster.

I was big on pace chart this time, since I have been pacing other people recently in their races and pace chart is one of the needed tools to accurately pacing someone. I wanted to have better gauge of my pace through various aid stations and it also would give me an assurance how much time and what pace I needed to run to finish. Previously in my other runs I do these kinds of rough calculations in my head. But this year, I created a spreadsheet that takes the mental load off me. I still do mental maths, but not too many at the same time. The interesting take away was the last cutoff would give runner enough time to finish. In previous years, I was always stressed out about the 7 pm finish, but not this year. Knowledge is power!

I was targeting to run around 15 min mile pace. I hit this target. In the beginning I was a bit ahead of pace, running near 13 min (the time including spending at aid stations).

I also was running by feel, which mean if I don’t feel well, I don’t push myself to run harder. There were several times I intentionally slowed down for others. I paced with several runners through the course, otherwise, I could have done maybe 30 minutes faster if that was not the case.

The first couple miles, I ran with my recently found pacer (Wayne) who paced me at Grindstone, and also my to-be pacer at the upcoming Devil Dog in a couple weeks. However, his pace was too fast for me in this race to keep up, so I dialed back. Soon I found a woman who gave me a decent pace (#104). We were running around 13-14 min mile pace. It was slightly slower than I want but since the race was still early, it did not matter. It was good that I don’t go out too fast.

I was with her for about 6 miles until we reached Seneca State Park (Clopper Lake). There I met Lee and Christen. We were still maintaining a 14 min pace. #104 passed us. I stayed with Christen, but she became slower still became she frequently needed to use the bathroom break. Lee pressed on ahead and was out of sight and never seen again. I tried to pace Christen to Riffleford (mile 12). Christen had her crew there, however, she was a few minutes slower in coming out from the aid station. I waited for her at a road crossing about a mile away while chatting to a volunteer. We then ran down the road segment together (RT 28). We had a good pace of even (9 min according to Christen’s watch). It think it was more like an 11 min pace. The road segment allowed us to catch back up on the time lost at the previous aid station. However the road was short, and lasted about 2.5 miles.

We entered the Muddy Branch. This was a segment I did not train on this year because either I was away for Hayden Lake or was at Guilford, Connecticut. It felt long and not too familiar to me. Christen’s pace was alright, it was not fast or slow. We were passing people. Normally, here was when I would really run fast. Today I was with Christen. She was slightly slower. I promised her we would get to Pennyfield (mile 24) before noon. It was 10 am and we had 8 miles to go. Usually my goal was to arrive at Pennyfield by 11:30 or earlier. I could run a marathon under 5 hours and Pennyfield is about a marathon distance. Today, we only had to keep a 15 min pace to get there.

Pennyfield was our first cutoff (at 12:30). My goal was to be there by noon based on the average pace required to finish the race before 7 pm. So 12:30 cutoff time was a more generous time. I told Christen we should leave Pennyfield by 12:00. My pace chart was based on time leaving an aid station and not on arrival time. So any time spent at an aid station, had to be earned.

About couple miles before reaching Pennyfield, Christen took a fall and landed on her nose. She was a bit shaken up and also she had a slight cramp in one of her legs. Her speed suffered a bit. I went on ahead and ran with Sophia (who was passing us at the time), while she called her husband.

But all three of us reached Pennyfield at about the same time. It think at 11:50. Christen had her crew to take care of her. I helped myself first with water, refilled my pack and got various food to eat. Also a volunteer (Mike) told me that my friend “Daniel” (David) already passed by the station. All this time I thought David was behind me. This news kind of shock me that he was ahead. It meant my pace was slower than I thought (at least slower than David and last year).

It was not that it would matter much. Everyone runs their own race (pace). But I would like to catch up to David somehow. I figured (or guessed) that David had a mile on me, so if I run a minute faster at each mile, I would catch up to him about 15 miles later. We were at mile 24, so I would imagine catching up at mile 39 – ish (just before the Riffleford AS, which was at mile 42). I caught up to him at mile 44.

Sophia was a lady we were chasing early of the day. She was initially ahead, but Christen and I caught up to her at the Muddy Branch and she then followed closely behind, but passed us at Quince Orchard Aid Station, while Christen was using the restroom, then we passed her again near Pennyfield. Just maybe five minutes before Christen fell, I happened to turned around and saw Sophia falling, so I went back to help her up. Not long later, Christen fell too in the front.

Sophia explained she torned her ACL couple years ago and this morning while crossing one of icy bridges, she kind of tweaked it again. It was hurting. She had both her knees taped up. She was thinking of quitting at Pennyfield. Her boyfriend Keith is the famous runner who had run this race every year (14 times), who happened to run 70 miles one year after taking a wrong turn and still managed to finish in time.

I kind of convince her she still had time to finish the race based on her current pace. And she was not walking but running at the time, so there should not be an issue of making the cutoff. Again, because I had my pace chart, I knew exactly how much time we had and what effort needed to arrive.

I told her she needed to get out of the Pennyfield station fairly quickly. She had blister on one of her toes and she planned to pop it at the aid station. Gretchen, one of volunteers helped her with the antiseptic. I helped her with her shoes. She brought an extra pair at Pennyfield, so in my mind she was not so new to ultra running (though she said, this is her first 50 miler). My presence seemed to help Sophia and there was no more talks of quiting.

We left Pennyfield together exactly at noon. Christen was not around at the time, so we did not wait for her. Later Christen said she left couple minutes behind us at 12:02. I paced Sophia with running and I think we were hitting about a 12 minutes pace. It was a bit too much and Sophia was getting out of breath. She asked if we could walk. I agreed. So we did run/walk. Usually our walk was less than 30 seconds and our run was about 4-5 minutes. I told her to aim for running every 100 yards or so. We reached Stone Mill ahead of schedule, with an average pace of 13.1, which was quite good. We were 40 minutes before the cutoff. Sophia told me her pacer would meet her at Stone Mill. I did not plan to pace her beyond the Stone Mill aid station.

I did not stay too long at the Stone Mill Station. There were a lot of food available here. They were all good to eat. I took a chicken noodle soup here, because that was the easiest to swallow and I mixed in with some advocado and rice before heading off. Christen was fast in getting out. She actually caught up to Sophia and I, but Sophia went to talk to her crew and new pacer, so Christen and I left the station together without waiting around for Sophia. Also we caught up to #104.

We ran maybe half a mile to a mile up the road before making the turn to the Seneca Creek Greenway. Because Christen did not have much sleep the night before, she explained she would be extremely tired and having hard time focusing. Her pace slowed significantly once we hit the trail. I decided not to wait for her. We discussed this couple hours beforehand, saying I would take off once I passed the Stone Mill Aid Station. It was not like I suddenly dumped her.

I passed a few other runners as I climbed up, though not as many as in previous years. This was where I shined because of the hills and because of the endurance aspect, I felt I was stronger than others at later stage in the race.

I felt finally I could run the race at my own pace. My feet were tired but I tried running whenever I could. This year, Gretchen was not at the Berryville Road (side trail) with her wagon and private aid station. I reached Rt 28 West Aid Station by 2:25, way ahead of the 3:10 cut-off. There were a lot of people here.

Ben, one of race directors of Rock and the Knob race, was there to cheer me. I have seen him in couple of my other races (such as MMT). I think he has moved back to the area. The aid station here was just as good as any other. I tried to keep my time short and headed back out. A runner recognized me (I think was Carl from Ashburn). He decided to drop from the race. I sat with him a bit. At the time my calves were tingling, almost hurting but not. After resting a bit, I headed back out.

I followed a woman out. She was moving fast (or faster than me). I thought there might be some epic battle between me and her for the next four miles. I stayed on her for about a mile until we reached a mill, and there she let me pass. I did not see her again. She was one of the heavier runners and I was surprised she could run as well as I was. I felt I was half her size.

There were not many other runners on this trail at this time. In prior years, here was when I would be passing a lot of runners. I passed a guy, I didn’t know his name (could be Rob or Dan), but I remember him from a training run. Soon afterward, I reached the Germantown Rd Aid Station. This was a fun one. The pie and some adult beverage gave me a boost. I know I would reach Riffleford on time.

Riffleford mile 42 (or 41.5 depending who you ask) is I believe the true cutoff for this race. I arrived at 4:25 pm, pretty much on pace. You have to reach here by 5:10. Which means a 15.9 min pace for the 6AM starters or 17.3 min pace for the 5AM. The reason why this was the “real” cutoff is if you reach this station by 5:10, you could move at an easier pace for the final cutoff at 6:40 at RT355, and there is no more cutoff for the finish line. Runners had only needed to maintain a 20 min pace to get to RT355. 20 min pace is a walking pace for most of us trail runners.

At Riffleford, I met so many friends. Riffleford was in charge by people of my running club (Virginia Happy Trail people) I met Annie, Sue, Crystal, and another woman I forgot her name, (probably Grace). Soon too I caught up to David. I didn’t catch up to David until after leaving the Aid Station and outside the Seneca Park. I walked with David maybe over a mile or so. Night was coming. We had our headlamps on. David asked me to go on ahead. I reached the RT355 somewhat 20 minutes behind schedule at 5:45 PM, probably, I was more tired than I thought. Billy C was there to greet me. He had been at various aid stations. He was supporting his friends who came down from Frederick to run this race. Night was getting colder. I took a vegetable soup to go. It was a good thing I packed a jacket (and gloves) at Riffleford aid station. I put on my jacket.

The final climbs to the finish line was in the dark. I passed a gentleman (Mike or Michael), he later was awarded as being the last official finisher of Stone Mill (under 13 hours and starting at 6:00 am). For those who ran enough ultras, would know the DFL award (dead freakin last; some races would use a different accronym to avoid profanity, but it symbolizes the persistency to hang on to be the very last finisher.)

I then was alone for quite a time. I felt I could run and press the hills. My legs no longer seemed tired. I felt I was flying. My goal was to catch another runner before me because I renember from a prior year, the next person might be 20 minutes away. That I how I came across Sue. She did not have her headlamp. I think it died. She had one tiniest lamp on. It was part of her hat and could barely generate enough light.

As I passed her I was thinking, if the person does not have a lamp, I would stay and walk with the person. But because I saw the person had on some kind of light, I did not stop but was going to pass quickly. Her light was like one of those Christmas tree lights for decorative only and not for illumination. It think you could hardly see the trail with those. As I was passing, she called out my name. Is that you, she said. Well, I was intrigue, I did not know (recognize) her yet she knew my name. It meant she was one of those who did the training runs with me. She indeed was from Frederick, one of Billy’s friends. She said, she might not have introduced herself before (Sue), I knew who she was. We did run together in the last training run. With light from my headlamps, she began running the last few miles. We were moving at a 13 minute pace. Her watch had died but I knew exactly where we were. We had about a mile of trail left. I could hear cars from the Watkins Mill Rd. We ran the last mile on the pavement and finished together. Her friends were waiting for her at the finish. I got recognitions and hugs from helping her.

I stayed to wait for David. Alex (also a friend) already arrived before me. Alex and David ran with me last year and this year we decided to do the same. Alex finished an hour ahead. David did not come in until about half an hour later. In the interim, I saw many people I met on the trail coming in. It was joyous because all of them were people I met during training and here they came in.

For many this was their first 50 miler. Sophia came in. I did not see Christen. I believe she must have dropped. I would like to know though at which aid station. I was thinking, likely at Riffleford. She should have no problem meeting RT 28 cutoff. #104 came in, either must have come in as I was leaving or after I left. It was reassuring when I checked the results, she made it. Her pace must have slowed significantly but she made it.

Why was this race special? I guess as I run more, people started to recognize me. This was a race where several of our running clubs gathered (Baltimore, DC, Frederick, Virginia Happy Trail and West Virginia). Some big name local runners join us, like Carl B. and Michael W. I recognized the 2nd, 3rd and 6th place finishers.

The truth is after a year, I probably would not remember any of these people. I reread my previous year report, I was scratching my head, who was Dan and who was Jeremy. However, I still remember vaguely the moment I had fun out on the trails.

My two day-to-day running friends, David and Alex also joined me on the run. We carpooled together. David originally was not going to run but he signed up the day before the race. Wayne also is my friend but he left after he finished and we did not get to celebrate together. Wayne finished like two hours before me. John and Charleen were volunteering at an aid station. I was happy to see them. My finish time was not as good as prior years but I think I had one of the best time just seeing people and helping them during the race. Even without seeing friends, I would still enjoy spending time on the trails. I use races also as a training run, because it beats of doing it on my own.