I woke up at 7:30am, threw some stuffs in a bag, and drove off for Roots Rock 50K that was supposed to start at 8:30am. I arrived at the gate #6 of Port Gamble forest trail at 8:22am after making 2 hasty wrong turns.
Worst of all, I recognized that four 10 oz water flasks for my hydration belt were still in the refrigerator at home. I had only “belt” for 50K ultra where the separation of the aid stations was about 8.5 miles. Fortunately I found a Gatorade bottle rolling around in my car. I really appreciated my son, Eric, who didn’t dispose his finished drink bottle appropriately. With everything put together and a hand-held water bottle in my hand, I made the start of the race with no time to spare.
There was a nice 25Km loop with a good combination of single tracks, dirt roads, rolling hills, and moderate climbs/falls. The markings with white flours and pink/red tapes were very clear so that there was no chance to make wrong turns in the course.
My first 1~2 mi was for a warm up period with some stretches while running. The trail condition was really good and the weather was just perfect for a long run in the forest. It took several miles to get familiar with the trail running since I had not run a trail for a while. I tried not to push myself too hard in the first loop, since I was not in a good shape to set a time goal or to seek a PR. I was really happy to get back in the trail and run for a long shot after having a busy summer for several projects/travels for work and a family vacation to Korea. I finished the first loop at 2:42 with 4~5 25Kers right behind me.
After refilling my hand-held bottle and stuffing in some foods, I took off for the second loop. For about 2 miles into the second loop, I still felt very good and wanted to push myself for a couple more miles and see how I was going to feel. Amazingly I was able to manage 11:00/mi pace for the first 4 miles of up hills in the second loop and decided to keep pushing. I passed an elite runner, Matt Hagen, at about mile 20 and then Maniac #3, Tony Phillippi, at about mile 24. It is always nice to pass someone in the 2nd half of the race, but passing those good runners was especially nicer. Sorry Matt and tp. The finish time was 5:36 and some seconds. Burger and beer were awesome (my favorite) combination of the finish line treat.
