I feel so tired after running Bimbler Bluff 50k, an accidental 14th state completion.
About this time last year, I reached a point when I did not know what to do because of a free weekend, I decided to look for a nearby state where I had not run before to run a marathon. I went to Atlantic City. I thought that was a long drive, but this year the drive was almost twice as long, 7 hours.
Last year, I was walking by myself along the boardwalk. Shops closed early. A major casino had gone out of business and no other business had taken its place. It was dark and gloomy for a big section. I was thinking, I should not be there, but walking and hearing the ocean was quite relaxing.
This year, it was a long drive from afternoon to night time. The drive was meh, uneventful. I got used to the droning noise of the engine. I had a friend coming along. We chatted all the way though I don’t remember what we talked about. Probably our discussion centered around running.
At Atlantic City last year, I ran one of my fastest time, a little over 4:20. Note this time. I might get back to this, because, I needed that time as a qualifier for a race, I was going to sign up. This year though, at Connecticut, I ran a 8:16. It is on trail. They can’t be compared with one another, but I am significantly slower.
At the present, is a time of peace. A calm before a storm, I think. I had a feeling I wish I could cross off a state or two in this waiting period, kind of time between some big races. I wanted to run in all 50 states. Last year I had reached 10th states. This year, I made some progress of getting to 14th, unexpectedly. I only planned for running in two new states, Texas. I attempted for Ohio and North Carolina too (but they were ultras, not that it matters).
So by some coincident, I went to Idaho the week before and this week, I decided to go to Connecticut. To me it seems accidental, but my friend Caroline, pointed out everything is planned by heavenly father.
Actually I did not really have any feeling for this race. My usual way of signing up a race is search for that feeling that draws me to a race. Bimbler Bluff did not have that attraction. Not saying the race was not great, it was. It fits me well because I love the hard trail races.
I want my 50 states completion to be purely of marathons. Bimbler is a 50K, which is close enough but it is not the marathons of my first love, you know those that are pompous and have crowd cheering at every mile.
As mentioned in a previous post, I came to it because a friend kind of wanted me to go, first to run Nipmuck and then this Bimbler. I did not get in at Nipmuck, because the registration had passed before I realized. I felt I do have to go for Bimbler.
Anyway, I did not have a great feeling about the race. The only redemptive point is the race had a 10 hour cut-off. This is insane for a 50k. I knew I was in for some fun (hard) racing. I love hard races.
Second redemptive point is the race price was quite low. You know now marathons are 100 to 200 mullars. This even with my late signup was only 65 mullars, which was like a local 10k pricing. I like cheap races.
I had nothing to do for the weekend. My friend was going to run this race too. If not for her, I likely would not drive 6-7 hours to Connecticut. It was the farest I ever driven, besides Toronto, which for that trip I actually spent a night at Niagara Falls and we made multiple stops. This trip to Connecticut was one straight shot.
We started late for our trip because I had a training run in the morning. On Saturday, I was preparing for Stone Mill 50. I ran 20 miles. It was a “hard” run. It was supposed to be easy but I had not been on running trail for some time so my legs were not used to it. Afterward, I was feeling it.
Looking back, I probably should not have run a 20 mile before a hard race.
We got to Connecticut about 10 pm. Only thing left was to sleep. The next day, we got up by 5. We left the hotel by 6. Race didn’t start until 8, but usually I wanted to get to race early. My friend wanted to run in the early start (7 am) for the full 10 hour.
I watched her went off and went back to the car to prepare for mine. I slept with the clothes I was going to race in, a typical thing for me to do, so no change needed. I made minor adjustments. Ate breakfast. Since the weather should be warmer, I decided to run in t-shirt and shorts but brought along a long sleeves tied around my waist, just in case, since when I looked around everyone was mostly bundled up in couple layers. I felt I should do what the locals were doing. The temperature was supposed to be staying steady at 50F. The morning was 45-48 ish, and was a bit nippy cold. I was bundling up in layers too during the pre-race hours. This was the second time running the cold this season (Idaho, the week before, was my first cold running).
The crowd of runners was of a decent size for a 50k. I think we had maybe 75 people. We received the briefing from the race director. I had it twice, since I attended the 7 o’clock one earlier. People were introduced. We went over a few gotchas of the course. The trails were well marked but my friend who had done it 7 times said turns can easily be missed. I paid attention. I did not have much time to study the course before hand. I could not get my hand on a trail map of the place, but I did look at the Google map. I had a general idea of the direction we were running, but I couldn’t run it without trail markings. Normally for a race especially trail races, I want to know the course well enough, I could run it with my eyes close.
I have done enough trail races to know how to stay on the course. I did get lost once due to talking with another runner, but the turn was marked. It was my own fault for missing the turn. Some said they had 36 miles at the finish. We had 33 miles (I know GPS watches are not accurate, but I felt the course was a bit long). I don’t mind, trail races generally run long (and never measured to be an exact distance).
The first 4 miles went by fast. I was not as strong as my usual self and even quarter mile in, I already dropped to the back of the pack. There were maybe 3-4 runners behind me.
I stayed with a woman, but soon she dropped behind. A guy and another lady passed her. I followed.
By mile 4, only Jessica was with me. I did not know her name at the time. We did not talk during the first couple hours, maybe until past noon (4 hours into the race). This was pretty strange, but I tried to be strange too, by refusing to talk. In fact no one really talked. I was able to have a few words with another woman who commented when I walked on the up hills. She was asking if that is how to do it. She said this was her first time on the trail. However, she was strong and passed me and I did not see her again. Only Jessica was still around.
I tried to run away from Jessica and I thought I succeeded in getting away from her a few times, but every time I turned around she was still there.
I got to mile 9, she was right on my heels. We made a big climb to the bluff. The scenery was impressive. I caught up to two other runners and passed them finally. Then I tried to catch a seemily father daughter team. We yo-yo passing and leapfrogging for a few miles and then finally Jessica and I were able to passing them for good.
The race at this point was getting interesting (fun). The first few miles were technical but we were stronger at the time and because of the crowd we went slowly, but now, it was quite runable without the crowd in front of me and trail also became a bit more challenging, but runable.
So Jessica and I were flying down hills and running up smaller hills. I leapt over blowdowns and rocks, startled some runners. I had too much fun. Soon though, my energy was drained by the time afternoon came about.
This section was Jessica stumping ground and she said she ran these sections a lot because she lives nearby. She said it is easy for her to zone out because she got into a habit to running only certain trails during training.
We paid extra attention because the course would go off on various side trails and then weaved back on the main trails. We kind of run in a zig-zag in and out on the main trail, and thus we had to be extra careful. We tried to suppress our tendency to stay on the main trail, which was the wrong way. We had to overcome our internal auto-pilot mode. Jessica at this point passed me and led the way.
We got to mile 18. I finally chatted a bit with Jessica. She had done a 100 mile before. She is recovering from an injury about four weeks ago. She said she had a boot on but took it off for this race. I was thinking, oh no. She hoped to use this race as a qualifier for some other ultras, such as one in Zion NP. The course was less marked in this section. The RD sent out an email post race apologizing, since he marked this section. However, we believe it was course vandalism (someone removed the course markings).
During this time, I missed a turn (the marker was on my side) while talking with Jessica. Jessica rolled her right ankle about this time too. Due to the distraction, we both missed a turn.
We backtracked and found the house where the Race Director warned us about the owner used to pull off our trail markers in past races. I know now I we are more than halfway to the finish. We marched on.
We arrived to the Renee aid station, a little after (maybe 45 mins later). I had my water filled. I ate whatever was available on the table. Food choice was good and plenty. There were enough choices. The most unusual was banana on bread (like baguette). It was interesting. It was like a banaba split. I wolfed it down.
We were now at mile 22. I thought we had 8 miles left. I put in all my effort to pass Jessica and ran to the finish. She told me to go ahead. I felt a bit sad leaving her since she had been with me for 6-7 hours. Normally, in other races, I usually would stay with the person who had been with me. Not today. I was concerned about my other friend Caroline, who started the race ahead of me, but I never saw her on the course. It meant either she had gotten off course or quit or she was really still ahead of me. I needed to finish early to know.
Most of this last section was easy to run. We were on a long jeep road, a double track trail. There were some long climbs. I ran until my feet were tired. I passed a few runners who walked. I wanted to walk as well, but I wanted to finish by 4. I had not reached the last aid station. My goal was to get there by 3:45. Someone then told me we had 5 more miles. I doubted, because I believed I had only 2-3 miles left.
I finally reached the last station about 3:45 pm. The crowd told me I had 2.3 miles left. I caught up two more runners. These people were running it like me. I did not stay at the station long, but only enough to pick up an Oreo cookie and went back out. With only 2 miles left, I did not need anything substantial. They offered to refill my water, I declined. I actually wanted to empty all my water to lighten the pack.
The trail at times became rocky. My feet were heavy. The lady I passed caught back up to me. She was too fast for me to stay with. Then another guy also caught up to me. He followed closely behind. Soon I let up and let him passed me too. I ran at every moment I could. Then I heard cheering and knew we had arrived at the finish.
Jessica came in maybe 15 mins after me. I saw a few more people whom I passed earlier came in. At 5 ish, 5:20, the Race Director came to me said he had to cut my friend who was still on the course and had not arrived at the last aid station. The cut-off there was supposed to be 5 pm. I said I would go to pick her up there.
I found my friend, who soon appeared from the trail. I almost decided to go back in to seek for her but fear that the course markings were already been removed by the sweeper and I would get lost, as night was approaching.
She was in good spirit. I knew she had a tough day. People told me the early starters had more miles, 36 ish, due to running the wrong branch on one of the loops. We (based on Jessica’s watch) had 33 miles. We too, added extra miles for missing a turn. Personally, even without getting lost, I believe the course was a bit longer than 31 miles.
Conclusion: I like the race. It ran like Catoctin, a race I DNF’d in the summer, but this was a bit easier. We had more time at Bimbler. Catoctin was too tight with the cut offs. I believe it was 8 hours. Here at Bimbler, we had 10 hours. I ran it in 8:16. I probably could have done it under 8.
Looking back, if I did not do the training run on Saturday, I would have done a bit better. I felt I needed the double day long run for some future races. This race, Bimbler had everything for a good training. It was a good training to test all the system (hydration, endurance, fast run, climbing, technical rocky section, water crossing, muddy trail). It was the work.
After this race, I will have the Marine Corps Marathon this following weekend. After that is Eastern Divide 50k and the same day pacing my friend at Rim to River 100, which will be a 80 mile day for me. It is probably my toughest day. Soon, I have Philadephia marathon in November and Devil Dog 100 in December. It was the reason why I needed a double hard run to prepare for the upcoming races.
We drove back the same day. I had work the next day. Yes, the lack of sleep took a toll. My legs were a bit beaten up. My left foot hurt for some reason, probably from being over used. I took the week easy for it to heal.
There is nothing much to add. I guess it was a good time with running with my friend. The day was fine.
In awe 