Not only am I running slow, but I’m also posting slow, too.
I was the founding Race Director of the Dahlgren Heritage Rail Trail 50 km in 2009. Being an ultrarunner, I wanted to give back to the ultra community.
In late 2008, owners opened the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail to the public. The trail is 15.7 miles long. Initially, the eastern portion of the trail was rough, with some sections not passable.
We used Caledon State Park as the start/finish venue for the first four years and could only go to milepost 14.5 on the trail. By 2013, volunteers cleared the section between milepost 14.5 and the eastern trail terminus. Starting that year, we started in the Route 605 parking lot and trailhead. The course went from milepost 0.0 to just past milepost 15.5 and back.
In 2014, we were fortunate enough to have two great runners setting the male course record of 3:10:26 and the female record of 3:39:26. These were the fastest 50 km times in the United States on a trail-only course in 2014.
The 2020 edition was the last race I managed before retirement. We were in a COVID-restricted environment. But, we were able to execute a safe in-person race.
Now that I’m retired, I registered for the 2021 DHRT 50km. On the July 4th weekend, I ran two good races, a 5km on Saturday and a 5 Mile on Sunday. About 2 miles into my run on July 5, I started getting a run-stopping pain in my right groin muscle.
For the past 4 1/2 weeks, I did more walking than running. I have not run for more than 6 minutes without walking. I was able to stretch, and strength train each day.
My goal was to finish the 50km in 8 hours. Through 2019, that was the race time limit. On Friday, I found out race organizers extended the time limit to 9 hours, 4 hours for the first 15.5 miles, and 5 hours to finish.
I still wanted to stay under 8 hours. My pace plan was to use my watch’s countdown timer for 7-minute intervals. I tried to run to each 1/2 milepost and then walk until the timer beeped.
The weather on race morning was 66 degrees with a dew point of 65 and a 30 to 60% chance of rain starting at 11 am. These were excellent conditions.
I wore my Nike Pegasus 37 trail shoes, shorts over compression shorts, a red FARC singlet, and a single bottle belt. I took a bottle of UCAN, drinking 1/4 bottle every mile.
I was able to pick up a fresh bottle at Mile 8, 15.5, and 23 and topped off my bottle with water at every other aid station.
I decided to attach deer flypaper to my hat. In past races, most wearers of deer flypaper finished without catching anything.
When the gun went off, my legs were feeling good. It may have been the trail shoes or running on dirt. I was not getting the tugging that has hampered me for the past month.
I didn’t see milepost .5 and kept running through the first 7-minute interval. I felt OK, so I continued to run until milepost 1, in 11:19, about 2 minutes faster than expected.
I adapted my walk pattern and plan after 1 mile. I changed to a 2-minute walk every 1/2 mile.
My walking cadence is between 120 and 130 steps per minute. I counted 120 right footsteps per walk break. I know doing math while running is on the negative side of the brain.
With the 7 minute plan, I was expecting 55 minutes between every aid station. They are about 4 miles apart, give or take a 1/2 mile. 55 minutes gets a 7:20 finish, and 50 minutes nets to a 6:40 finish.
My outbound intervals were 49:23 to Comorn, 50:36 to Indiantown, 57:32 to Panorama, and 35:50 to Wal-Mart. Much better than expected for the first half of 3:11. I tried to remember my 50km PR.
Was it 6:20 or 6:40? Those times were from 2003, on very hilly courses. Could today be an actual PR day?
Outbound around 8:30 am, I could hear light rain hitting the canopy. I did not feel anything. When I got to Panorama, I could tell how hard it had been raining with the wetness on the road.
On my return trip after crossing Owens Road, I commented to a young lady running near me, “if I didn’t see the wet roads, I wouldn’t know it was raining.” The first clap of thunder hit about a minute later
I did a 36:42 return to Panorama, which included missing milepost 13.5 for some extra running. Things started turning bad on the way to Indiantown.
Heavy rain started making it through the canopy, and large puddles were forming on the trail. I started tasting water run-off from my hat and face. It was rather salty. Either I need to wash my hat more often, or I was sweating off a lot of salt.
Just after milepost 12, I started seeing light streaks on the trail in front of me. It appeared that there might have been a vehicle behind me with their lights on. I thought I saw my shadow in the beam. This illusion may have been the water on the trees or just light rocks on this section of the trail. Or maybe a brain whatever?
Just before milepost 11, I started getting digestive issues. Fortunately, I knew Indiantown had a porta pot. Could I hold on for 3 miles? The digestive issues didn’t force me to walk until about milepost 9, and I could take care of the issue at Indiantown. My time for the segment was 65:07, including the porta pot time. I’m still looking at a finish time in the 6:40 to 6:50 range.
The rain continued for the remainder of the race. There were a few claps of thunder without aid station volunteers taking shelter. I knew the milepost locations for the next eight miles and was able to keep up the walk 2 minutes at after 1/2 mile pattern, knowing it was only a little further to the next milepost.
I’ve always run between the rails in the section around milepost .5. I walked the route between the rails and then ran the remainder of the race on the way back. My time to Comorn was 59:03, and to the finish, 54:26 for a finish time of 6:46:53.
My return run was 24 minutes slower than outbound. It may have been the puddles and mud covering the trail, or I just ran slower.
My 50km PR is 6:42:47 from September 2003. The Dahlgren Trail is a fast 50 km. Even though this was not a PR, it was a CPR. I finished the third male of five between 60 and 69.
I caught one deer fly on my paper and only remembered one fly buzzing me around milepost 7. While running this trail solo, I have many deer flies near me. Perhaps all of the runners on the trail spread out the fly population. I could forgo deer flypaper in future race years.
Post-race, there were burgers, chips, cookies, soda, and beer. I didn’t eat much but appreciated the beer and burger.
Thanks to Arsenal Events for managing this race and the Friends of the Dahlgren Trail for staffing the aid stations and road crossing.
Lastly, the trail’s liability insurance premium has skyrocketed from prior years’. The race has its liability policy. So, this should not impact the trail’s price. The Friends of the DHRT is a 501(c)3 non-profit. You can make donations at www.dahlgrentrail.org.