2015 Afton Trail Run 50k Race Report
Date: 7/4/15
Weight on Race Day: 181 lbs.
Finish Time: 5 hours, 15 minutes
Placing: 33rd of 169 finishers
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| Heading down the trail, Jeremy in tow |
there was something particular about Afton 50k, 2014. It was the first race where I was no longer just running to finish the race, but rather to achieve an improved time. It was my second attempt at the 50k distance on a trail, and I achieved an improvement over my first (Chippewa 50k, 2014) by 20 minutes. Last year’s race also fell on my birthday, which made it a very memorable and fun day. This year’s race fell on July 4
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| Passing thru the 1/2 way checkpoint |
Isabel and I started off our weekend on Thursday night by
heading down to the small town of Afton, where she was nice enough to reserve a
room for my birthday weekend (my birthday is 7/5). The Afton House Inn is the oldest
inn in Minnesota, and has a great vintage feel to it. Nestled about 100 yards
from the St. Croix, it was the perfect place to enjoy the weekend. On Friday,
7/3, we started our day with breakfast at a local café, followed by a five mile
hike on the Afton 50k course. I have always said in the past that I love not
knowing what a course will bring until I’m running it, but I honestly felt
knowing the course helped me run a smart race on Saturday. Our little hiking review on Friday helped me refresh my memory of the course.
We started our Saturday morning at 4:30am, getting to the
race start line for packet pickup at 5:15am. The race kicked off in traditional
John Storkamp (the race director) fashion, with him making a few pre-race announcements
and counting down 3..2..1.. from the top of an aluminum ladder. The Afton
course loop has possibly the most exhilarating start of any of the trail ultra’s
I’ve done. It starts off with a good chunk of
downhill, plunging to the base of the big hills that make up the Afton State
Park and Afton Ski Resort. It is the only start I know of that you can clock
your fastest mile of the race in the first stretch without making a horrible
mistake and setting yourself up to burn out. The rush of the hills doesn’t last
long, though. The course quickly gets into it’s element with just as long of an
uphill stretch leading into the third mile. After cresting the hill and leading
runners through the first of four prairie sections, my least favorite parts of
the course, it drops runners down the first of many fast and somewhat technical
downhills. These downhills are a trademark of this course, as they are steep
enough to take the life out of your quads, but not so steep that you can’t run
them at a good clip. They are littered with rocks, roots, ruts and all kinds of
goodies that certainly don’t give you much time to think about how much your
quads hurt in the later stages of the race. From this point the course repeats much of
the same – fast runnable trail, steep uphill climbs, equally steep fast
downhills, with one hill that really stands out called “The Meat Grinder” The “Meat
Grinder” is ~1 mi of climbing of varying inclines that peak with what I’d guess
is around a 15-18% grade. The course does have several flat sections per loop (the 50k runs the loop twice),
the first about a mile in length, the second about 1.5 miles in length. I had
several goals in my mind going into the race this year. The first was to come
in at or less than 5:30, the second was to run smart - running fast downhills
and taking it easy on the uphills, the final was to run every inch of the two
flat sections along the St. Croix River banks. I accomplished all three, but was most proud of the fast running clip I was able to achieve on both the first and second loops on the flat river bank sections.
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| Jeremy and I after the race |
My first loop I ran a good deal of with my good friend and
co-worker, Jeremy Eckert (a Senior Trainer w/ 3CLICK Mobile Fitness), and a woman who would turn out to win one of the
divisions in the female race. I came in from my first loop in about 2:25,
averaging 9:20/mile, a bit fast for my goal, but I was feeling very good. Looking
back, I’m glad I ran the first loop fast while the sun was low, as the heat
took a good deal out of me later in the race. The second loop went very smooth,
all things considered. I started the loop strong, before having my biggest low
of the race between miles 22-26. Even during my low point, I was able keep a relatively
consistent pace and continue running strong. Not once did I need to stop to
walk a section that should be runable. At about mile 22, when I was starting
to feel a little rough, I flipped on my iPod to help distract me from the
grind. The music helped a great deal in keeping me moving. After about mile 29,
I got a huge rush, knowing how close I was to the finish. My last couple miles were
among my strongest and I crossed the line feeling great.
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| Elevation Chart for Afton 50k (www.aftontrailrun.com, 2015) |
Being able to do events like this is a dream come true for me. As a guy who came from a very out of shape childhood and adolescence, it feels truly surreal to be able to achieve goals like I did at the Afton 50k this past Saturday.
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| Crossing the finish line |
I want to extend a huge thanks to the awesome volunteers at
the race as well as everyone who came out to support me and Jeremy; Isabel,
Tony and Tonya Villano.
Nutrition: I completely lived on HEED sports drink, a few
cups of ginger ale and electrolyte caps for this entire race. I never felt
sick, and was able to keep my energy up. Very happy with how HEED works for me.
Equipment:
- New Balance Fresh Foam Zante Shoes
- Brooks shorts, no idea what model, got them cheap at Marshall's
- Injinji toe socks (not even one blister!)
- Vaniply anti-chafe ointment on my underarms and on my feet, worked awesome!
- Orange Hat (very important for holding cold water filled sponges on your head when it gets hot)
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| Post Race Pic w/ Isabel |
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