Thumb Coast 50 - 2024

 

Race: Thumb Coast 50

Date: 4/20/2024

Time: 6:55:28

Place: 3rd male / 4th overall

Pre-Race Conditions:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" - Chinese Proverb

I spent some time trying to find the right quote to use for this race. Nothing was coming that felt just right. Then scrolling Facebook avoiding my last little bit of race prep I saw someone post a fortune cookie fortune with that on it. It’s seems fitting. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. Best to think about it step by step. 

Mile by mile

Aid station to aid station

Start to finish

I’ve had a really good training block and have been feeling really good. My speed last week finished with 2x 1500s at a 6:30 mile pace. I remember turning the corner at the service drive and Farmington road and feeling like it was a comfortable trot. This was 9 miles into the workout too. My basic goal is to do the 50 miles in 7 hours. That’s an overall average of 8:24/mile. If I factor in 20 minutes for aid station stops that changes to an 8:00/mile average running pace. 20 minutes of aid station stops is a bit much. That thinking would build in a decent buffer to be somewhere about 7. Bruce actually said he could see me at 6:40 or 6:50 depending on the weather conditions. 

My running has been strong and my prep for this has been amazing. I’ve actually broken it up and kept myself pretty occupied mentally the last week. That’s prevented me from completely panicking and freaking myself out. I’m actually pretty comfortable right now as I’m laying in bed finishing the last little bit of notes I need to look through. The only wildcard tomorrow is the wind. We will see how that goes. I’m actually a feeling a little off because I’m not in my normal panic cycle. I’m sure tomorrow morning will be a lot of craziness for me to go through. 

Claudia booked an awesome airbnb right on Lake Huron. Me, Claudia, Paula, Matttttyyyyyy, Hannah and Brad are here tonight and tomorrow. It’s only about 7 minutes from the finish which is really nice. I got the upstairs room with all the fish decorations. I feel like I’m in an aquarium. It’s a great group of people and in only the 5 hours I’ve been here we have had a lot of fun. 

Tomorrow we are getting up, doing our last minute prep and then have a 45 minute drive to the start line. We are going to pack 6 people in my jeep. I’ll drive there and then abandon my jeep until we can rescue it after the race or Sunday on our way home. The logistics of point to point races are fun. Tj is coming to crew for me. If all goes well then he shouldn’t have much to do. The best thing is that he will be there with a hypervolt if I need it. That’s really my only worry. I have my nutrition worked out. I’m swapping vests at mile 30 to save on time. Both vests have tailwind, body armor, 2 maple syrups, 2 applesauce, thin mints and a fruit bar. Plus with aid stations every 5 miles I should have plenty of options to fuel constantly. 

I didn’t even bring pants to this race. I’m not repeating the LBL issues where I was over dressed. I’m still a little bummed I didn’t stop and strip to my compression shorts to finish in. That would have really messed with every local who thought the 30s was too cold for a race. I spent most of it overheating. 

Tomorrow will be a fast start to get moving then settle in for the drive. Overall my plan is to be smart at the start and then let Derek beat me up for the last 12 miles. 

The biggest things I’m worried about is being out in front and missing a turn and not having anyone to talk with. Matty is going a little bit slower at the start than I would like. I’m going to do the first few miles with him then split off earlier than I would like. That’s a lot of alone time that I will have to stay positive and focused for. Staying out of my own head has always been a challenge. Focus on my breath tomorrow and take that first step. Then the second step. 

Time to sleep with the fishies and rest for a big day tomorrow. 

Race Recap:

The morning started pretty calm. We had our plan to get up at 4AM and then on the road by 5AM for a 6:38 race start. The plan was for the 6 of us to pile in my Jeep and figure out how to rescue it after the race. 6 in the Jeep is a tight fit. Matty actually rode in the back, Mexican import style. 

We had a fun ride to the start. It was about a 45 minute drive. Nice thing about driving is I got to pick the music. Normally I would have had my headphones on. It was nice to get my playlist. Everyone seemed to like Dolly Partons 9 to 5 when I came on. 

Once we got to the park in Harbor Beach the fun really started. We had about 40 minutes to the start. TJ had beat us there by about 5 minutes. He walked over to my Jeep to talk over what the plan was while I finished getting ready. I packed a bag for him with some extra gear and gave him my pit kit just in case I needed something. We got squared away and with about 10 minutes before the start we headed to the corral to see if I could link up TJ and Derek. I called Bruce and then we went to find him. 

I lined up at the start line with a few minutes left before time to go. I saw Kristen, Mike, Marvin, Stephanie and a bunch of others. As I was standing there getting my watch ready Nicole Monette said hi to me. We chatted for a few seconds about me chasing her all over the course. She crushed it in 6:25. 

The race started and I was running with Carrie right off the line. She was doing the relay so going out at a decent pace. After maybe a quarter mile Marvin caught up with us. He was doing the relay too. We were together until about mile 2 where I backed off a bit to settle in. Right about then I saw that  Matty and Alex were only about 100’ behind me. We started yelling at each other and I slowed down to pace with them for a bit. Matty was way ahead of the pace he was thinking about starting at. We ran together for a while. He always makes the miles go by faster. 

I stopped about mile 4.5 to pee and they kept going. That’s when Kurt ran up. I didn’t recognize him at first. Once we started running again I realized who he was. Unfortunately he doesn’t sound like he’ll be doing swampfoot again. It always amazing to me how much I’m recognized at races. I always remember everyone but never really recognize them. Especially during the race when race brain kicks in. We ran for a few miles together. We had caught back up to Matty about mile 5 as we went by the aid station together. 

A few miles after that we split again. That was about mile 9. Right before we turned north. I had started running with Travis. He was with us in the pack. He was another one doing the relay and picking up his pace as he was getting closer to the exchange. He dropped off for his exchange and his next guy Mike took off. I thought he was going to blow me out of the water. After about a mile he slowed down and I caught up to him. We ran mostly together until the next exchange. 

At the third aid station I stopped to take my aminos. I put them in a small 6oz soft flask in my pack. Just add water, shake and shoot. It worked really well. A lot better than carrying little bottles or relying on a crew. I think this is where I saw Bruce. He was just getting out of the car when he saw me go by. 

I kept heading north with that annoying crosswind. It didn’t feel like it was bothering me. Maybe keeping me a little bit cool. It wasn’t until later I realized what it was doing. 

I made it to the lighthouse aid station at mile 20. We were now catching the group of people doing the ruck. They started 2 hours before us. It was going to be a long day for them. It was a weird aid station with a cone we had to run around. It wasn’t marked well. Luckily a volunteer was there making it really clear what to do. TJ got me what I needed. I told him to have the hypervolt ready. He did and worked on my leg a little bit. That strong crosswind was pushing us to the right for so long we had to fight to go left. It took its toll on my hip. I hadn’t realized it. At the same point there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. Now I could only take some caffeine and Tylenol to manage it. 

As I was leaving the out and back to the lighthouse I saw Matty and Alex make the turn. We yelled at each other a bit. I was a little surprised that they were only about 4 minutes back. I had figured that they would have slowed and settled in by then. The course was so flat that they kept a good pace. This was the section Bruce was worried about. I caught up to another relay runner and paced with him for a while. At mile 22.5 ish Bruce was there offering twizlers and Olipop. I skipped the Olipop but went for the a few twizlers. Note: if you’re going to give someone licorice in a race make sure not to leave it in your cold truck all night. They were hard to eat. I had to take small bites and chew a lot. It actually probably helped because my mind was focused on not choking on the candy. Not on the conditions or how I was feeling. 

Lesson learned from group run. Twizlers are hard to eat cold while running. You could choke. Luckily I made that mistake before. 

Shortly after that we made a right turn onto a busier road, Kurt caught back up and we got to talking again. We cruised through that windy busy road and made the left turn south. It was a nice relief from the wind. We didn’t know what was yet to come. Kurt and I talked about how we were doing. He said he hadn’t been training much and fully expected to fall off this pace at some point.  We were together right until the mile 25 sign. That’s where I settled in a little faster and we split up. Before we did, I made a joke about only being another half mile before I got my pacer. The next turn after the relay exchange took us right into the wind. It was tough. I maintained a good pace seeing a couple other 50 milers in front of me. There was one hill, calling anything on this course a hill is a stretch by any imagination, that I decided to save myself and hike up while gettign a drink. Cresting the hill we made another right turn. We actually got a tailwind here for the first and only time. It was short lived for only about half a mile. I did pass the 2 other 50 miler runners here. I was feeling ok and could see them hurting. I took this as a good sign. The runners in front of me were starting to fall off. They most likely went out fast and dumb. It was now starting to hit them. My biggest fear was me being stupid and pushing too hard and me crashing at the end. 

This is where things went a little sideways. Bruce kept saying miles 22/23 were going to be the tough ones. It wasn't that bad so I thought we were ok. 27-35 were the worst. The race plan said to worry about it a little but that it would be covered with some protection. Man did I read that wrong. 

I turned to head west about 50 yards behind the runner in front of me. That turn west opened us up to a direct headwind. It was rough. I managed to catch up to the runner in front of me. We were together for a few seconds before I pulled ahead. He had his crew meeting him on street corners. The first time they got out a chair for him. I know I didn’t sit down the whole race. I don’t think I ever wanted to. 

After I gained a little bit on him and saw the trees way out in front of me never getting closer. It was like a horror movie. Or running on the Clinton River path. No matter how much you run or how fast you go it never felt like moving. I was actually starting to get warm now. The next aid station was at mile 30. This is also where our drop bags were. My plan was to drop the vest I had on. Swap for my second vest and get moving. I thought losing the windbreaker was a good idea. I had though to take my gloves out of the first vest and take them with me. I forgot to do that in the hurry. TJ and Derek were at the aid station. They helped me get swapped out. Derek had the hypervolt and ran out of hands so he handed it to someone standing right next to him. It was still on and a little funny to see someone try to hold it from the top. I asked TJ to grab my sunglasses. The wind was killing my eyes too. At the start of the race I figured that the sun was going to be behind me all day. I wouldn’t need sunglasses and kept them in my bag of spare gear. I don’t factor the wind. 

Sunglasses on. Windbreaker off. New vest. Fitaid in hand. Oh! And thin mints too. I headed back into the wind. The other runner had passed me. He wasn’t stopping at aid stations. He was only using his crew. I starting catching up to him. My plan was to just slowly overtake him and then put some distance between us. Right before I caught up he went over to meet his crew at a corner. I took this opportunity to pick up a little bit and make a big gap. My paces had slowed from high 7s to low 8s into the high 8s and low 9s with the wind. I was still trying to be smart but at the same time keep a decent effort. I could start to see the trees up ahead. Not many runners in my sight. I hit the protection of some tree cover. The wind didn’t die completely. It was definitely less. At that same time I passed the turn around for the 50k. I was starting to what mentally fatigued from what was just over an hour running into the wind. Seeing the other runners and some crowd was a huge boost. It gave me the opportunity to tell some jokes and not completely focus on what was hurting. The road was in the trees more like a Sunday long run. Still some wind. A lot more manageable. I tried to figure out where I was in relation to the 50k runners. I was passing everyone in front of me pretty easy. 

I was able to pick up the pace and settle in a bit more. Looking at my watch I was still on pace for a sub 7 hour. I knew I was getting close to seeing Derek. Joking with Kurt about him being a half marathon away felt like an eternity ago. I noticed his run from like a half mile away. Derek was there running towards me. Finally some help. He stopped and waits for me for the 200 meter gap between us. He took off and I went with him. He set a pretty aggressive pace. After about a mile I asked him to reign it in a little bit. I was still a little beat up from the wind. He pulled back slightly for about half a mile. That’s all the recovery I needed before settling in and only focused on running. Derek did the thinking.  

We cruised from there. There were a bunch of 50k runners we were passing for a while. It was good energy and took my mind of my discomfort. The next few miles flew by until we hit the aid station about mile 40. I resupplied quick and saw the hummus pitas. I know I needed to get some more fuel in. I was doing good on the liquid calories and some syrups. I needed something more. I was a little nervous with the hummus on my stomach. It was possibly the best thing I’ve ever eaten. At least until I do the next race. After this aid station we hit the unimproved road. This was the section I was looking forward too. 40 miles of this was on roads. The trail is my home. I knew anyone who didn’t know about this section or wasn’t comfortable on trail would fall apart here. This was my time to pick up and have fun. We did. The pace picked up. I was comfortably pushing my limits. I knew I only had about 10 miles left. We passed a few more people. I think they were mostly 50k runners. Maybe 1 or 2 of the 50 milers. At this point I figured I was near the front of the pack. I didn’t care much. I was running my race. That’s what’s always worked well for me. 

Either I have to run my race or make someone else run my race to watch them fall apart. Making someone run my race worked really well years ago at Carpe. The second half marathon of the day I forced the winner to run every uphill and by the end he was destroyed and I close the gap. I was power hiking up and catching him on the downhill and flats. There wasn’t a lot of people around to beat up on so we just ran. 

The next aid station was quick. They didn’t have coke. Just Vernors. Which is good but I wanted the caffeine. I was out of salt stick caffeine at this point. I only had Tylenol left. At least that was numbing the discomfort from my hip. More time on the unimproved road to the last aid station at mile 46. That would only be 4 miles from the finish. It seemed kind of odd to put an aid station so late but I took the opportunity to meet TJ one last time. He knew I wanted some more caffeine. Unfortunately he couldn’t find them in my kit so he just gave me some nicotine gum. TJ said that I was in 3rd place. I was pretty happy with that and confident. Right up until a 50 miler came and passed me while I was snacking. He didn’t stop at the aid station. I didn’t really rush to get back moving. I was feeling pretty good so I figured I could tough it out and push if needed. Plus I had Derek. The other runner was alone. Mentally I had the edge. 

3rd place now had about a 20-30 second lead on me leaving that last aid station. We started at a pretty quick pace. It wasn’t long before we started to close the gap. Derek looked over at me and asked how I wanted to beat him. It only took a few strides before I told him that I wanted to catch him on the trail and beat him on the road. The last 4 miles was 2 miles of the unimproved road and 2 miles of pavement. I didn’t want to try to pass on the trail and then risk tripping or some fluke thing happening. Derek took the lead to set the pace. I just followed as he called out trip hazards. The gap was closing. As we hit the road I was shoulder to shoulder with 3rd place. I think he figured out I was a 50 miler and that I was trying to beat him. When we hit the road we pushed the pace a little bit. 3rd place hung on for about 6 strides before falling off. We opened up a gap and Derek told me that I need to push. We had him but to guarantee the place I would need at least 15 seconds in case he was in the back of the pack for the chip time. We kept moving. I don’t even remember if there was wind. Those last 2 miles were taking its toll. I just thought about it as one of Bruce’s speed workouts. It started with 3200 meters to the finish. I was just counting down. 3000, 2400, 2000, 1600. Took Derek a second to figure out what I was calling out. All those distances were manageable. It only got better the smaller the number. 

With about 800 meters left (half mile) we could see the last street crossing and the entrance to the park. Almost home. We dipped into the park picking up the pace. At that point I had no idea where the finish was and just was pushing to get there as fast as I could. We just followed the course. Then as we were about halfway from the entrance to the beach and I saw my mom and her animal Summer. Summer took a few seconds before she recognized me. At this point I forgot about all the discomfort and pain. I just ran. The finish line was actually on the beach. 100’ of sand. We made that last little turn and I picked up even more way into that low 7 minute mile pace. 

Done. I finished and locked up 3rd place. First thing I did was to stop my watch. Like any obsessive runner would do. Then looked over and hugged Derek. He was pretty much holding me up. I told him thank you and how much I appreciated him being there. After a good minute I left go and tried to figure out where I could go to sit down. I made it to the pavilion and died at the picnic table. I laid there for a few minutes to catch my breath and relax. And eat pizza. My dad was there. I don’t remember anything else for like 10 minutes. When I got up TJ and Derek were gone. TJ had went to drop him off back up the course to find Todd and run him in. 

I changed. Got my 3rd place trophy and a picture with Paula on the podium. She got 2nd overall female in the 50k. 

I got into my dads jeep to stay warm while waiting for Matty to finish.  It wasn’t too long before he came running up. He got first place really old guy aka grand master. 

Overall a good day for everyone on a challenging day. I did 6:55:28. Under my goal of 7 hours and a podium. It would have been probably closer to 6:45 if the wind was less. 

I have 3 black toenails. I never get those. The worst was the dry eye from the wind. Once I stopped my sight got cloudy. Running straight into the wind for over an hour caused some temporary issues. Claudia had the same thing. It was a bit freaky to see everything like it was foggy. Luckily it went away after a couple hours. 

After a shower and food we went back to the finish to see Kirsten, Matt and Todd. Brad and I left when they headed back to the house and went to the last aid station to look for Blake and Al. I had expected them at any point.  We waited for over an hour before i finally told Brad to head back for dinner and I would get a ride back with Denice. I gave up waiting and walked up the trail about a mile before I found them. Al was beat up but still moving. Blake was in a world of hurt. His right hip was completely locked up. I was walking faster than him at this point. I asked him all the important questions about eating, what hurt and what pain killers he had taken. I told him once we got to the aid station we would take care of him. We got there and immediately went to work. 4 Tylenol, 2 caffeine salt tabs, a pb&j sandwich and I hit him with the hypervolt. After 5 minutes of major discomfort from the gun I told him to get his phone with some music and kicked him in the ass to get going. They actually took off at a jog. They completed the last 4 miles in about or just under an hour. A great day for both of them. 

The Bad:

The bad moments in this race had to do with my lack of confidence and patience. 

I did do pretty well out there keeping restraint and not going too fast. There a bunch of time I was pushing and should have been a little slower to save for that wind. It worked out for me. I keep wondering if a little more restraint early on would have saved me a few minutes later. 

The Good:

Best thing that happened was feeling so good the morning of the race and at the start line. 

Most of my races I get so worked up and nervous about. I’m sure it impacts how well I do. This weekend I was pretty relaxed and calm. I slept well the night before the race. When I woke up I was in a good mood playing music and not worried. That definitely helped me. 

Moral of the Story:

Trust in your training. Trust in yourself. 

Everything seemed to work well for me. I had set what I though would be a slightly ambitious goal.  Cutting 57 minutes off my 50 miler time was a lot. That would equate to a 8:24/mile average the whole race. My math said that I really needed to be closer to 8:00/mile to factor in a few minutes at each aid station with some buffer. 

I knew it would be comfortably hard. Factor in the wind it was a great race. I hit my goal, hit the podium and wasn’t too beat up at the finish. 

Best Moment:

Easily the best moment was overtaking the guy in 3rd and getting my podium spot. 

We put the hammer down and were running a low 7 minute mile pace at the end of a 50 miler. It’s great confidence to be able to have that pace. 

Worst Moment:

The worst moments of the whole race was miles 27 through 35. There was that hellacious headwind that was unending. It was a tough section that hurt a lot of runners. 

I got kinda low there and was worried about my time instead of just grinding. 

Funniest Moment:

This race was a lot of alone time. The only really funny moments I can think of is in the first few miles. Matty and Alex caught up to me as I was settling in. 

Then the jokes and screwing around started. Unfortunately it was short lived as I split up and stuck to my plan. 

Map:

Results: 

https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/153577#resultSetId-450304;perpage:100

Gear:

• Blue Topo Magnifly 

• Pink Feetures socks

• Fabletics shorts

• Runderware compression shorts

• Long sleeve shirt

• Windbreaker 

• Solomon adv skin 5 vest (x2)

• Blender sunglasses 

• Buffs (x2)

Nutrition:

• Kion EAAs

• Applesauce 

• Maple Syrup

• Tailwind

• Thin mints 

• Coke

• Salt stick caffeine 

• Tylenol

• Nicotine gum 

• Tortilla with hummus