Catoctin 50K Race Report

The two weeks leading up to the Catoctin 50K were unintentionally tapering weeks. I initially planned to keep training at a relatively high mileage for most of that time and just rest up in the final few days before Catoctin but a busy schedule with various responsibilities kept that from happening. I probably ran around 40 miles those two weeks.

Going into the race I felt pretty good about my fitness. I knew I had done a lot of hill work and enough longer runs that endurance shouldn't be a problem, but of course there is the question of whether or not I could hold up over the rugged ~33 mile course.

Ran morning was uneventful. KS and KB crewed for me and I had a pretty basic plan to take one water bottle at each road crossing since the foretasted high was 81 and it usually even cooler on the mountain. I took half ”super Gatorade" and half water in the bottles and plenty of electrolytes in the pocket. As I started out down from the Team Room the race was relatively uneventful. I ran with three guys who I had picked out already as guys who I knew would be running fast and we set off into the valley. I don't like running downhill behind someone so I slipped around and ran in the lead most of the way to Hamburg with the three closely behind me. I felt very comfortable, and nobody seemed too eager to push the pace so there was plenty of hiking on the uphills.

Ran through Hamburg with a new water bottle and kept the pace relatively relaxed. One of the group who eventually caught up took off at a very fast pace but he said it was because he was only running to the Manor. Sure enough I never saw him again all day. Somewhere before Delaugter the group was only I and eventual winner Jason Lantz. We ran at what felt like a nice pace until the manner in 2:32. Coming out of the manner Jason took off as soon as we got to the top of the steep hill after Catoctin Hollow Rd. I was running pretty well but he was simply blazing and I didn't see him again until the finish. As it turns out he ran a great second half in 3:35, hardly slowing down at all.

Somewhere around Delauter inbound I started to feel my legs getting quite tired, but it was not really until approaching Hamburg that I could feel the wheels really coming off. I was passed about a mile before Hamburg and I was in 3rd at the time. I took 2 water bottles for the first time all day at Hamburg inbound which ended up being a wise decision. As they typically are, those 6 miles were gloriously painful as I forced myself to run all flat and downhill sections and resigned to hiking all uphills but eventually I made it to the finish line in 6:02.

In hindsight if I had ran more conservatively there is probably a good chance I would have gotten second (second ran 5:40) but I went for the win running with Jason for as long as possible while keeping the pace pretty relaxed and in the end I didn't quite have the legs to keep up.

The Steamtown Marathon quickly approaches in early October and then the Stone Mill 50 in mid-November so I am looking forward to a bit of a change in pace in the coming weeks as I do some more road specific training for Steamtown.