Saturday, March 5th, 2016
Sonoita, Arizona
7,000 ft. of vertical gain
Written by Stephen Woodall
50 Miles…It was an exciting challenge that alternated between daunting and exhilarating. I was definitely a bit nervous about running my first 50 miler at the Old Pueblo 50 having had VERY little training coming into the event because of a knee issue which cropped up last Fall right before the Colossal Vail 50K. I was finally able to get in a few long runs before the race though, including the Antelope Canyon 55K and a training run on the Old Pueblo course which consisted of one 26 mile loop. This training run more than anything was crucial to enabling me to feel comfortable with the event. Knowing the terrain, route, and difficulty of the course gave me the mental edge I needed to overcome my lack of training volume.
The race started off with an EARLY wake up for the drive down to Sonoita in the Santa Rita Mountains. Angela accompanied me on the drive down and was going to crew for me the entire day, while my mom was scheduled to arrive before I hit the second aid station and hang out for at least a part of the event. There were no complications on the journey and we arrived with plenty of time to get checked in at the start/finish line at Kentucky Camp. The atmosphere even early in the morning was great, a very low key, local “family style” event. With somewhere around 94 registrants it’s not a large race. Bob Bachani took over the helm as the RD just a couple months before the event. Bob worked feverishly to get a revised course approved after a mining company disallowed crossing of their property which the course had previously used & the past RD handed over the reigns to him. Supported by a great crew of local runners, Bob managed to put together a fantastic event. This revisded course seemingly was touted as slightly more difficult than past iterations.
Before I knew it the race was underway! Kentucky Camp sits at the bottom of a little gulch and the course starts off almost immediately with a climb out and up an approximately 15% grade dirt road. Having been to the training run I knew there would be plenty of time to run later and that I should be conservative by walking most of the steep uphill grades. This strategy served me well all day, choosing to powerhike most of the ups and try to run the flats & downs. With more training in my legs I could have definitely run more of the course but my goal was simply to finish in one piece. I found myself surprisingly calm at the start and struck up a few conversations with fellow runners before getting into my own groove. Even with just powerhiking the ups I found myself reaching the first aid station at Melendrez Pass ahead of schedule. This was a bit surprising honestly and I was trying to evaluate if I had gone out too hard or was just feeling good. Immediately leaving Melendrez the course climbs up the steepest slope of the day to the high point of the course. Even in my wildest dreams I couldn’t imagine running this section. Just the walk was tiresome on this section of overgrown Arizona Trail. The views were dynamite though and before long the uphill gave way to rolling ups and downs. As the course transitioned back to jeep roads I realized quickly that my climbing ability left a lot to be desired. I’d get passed by people on these steeper grades and then pass most of the people back on the downhills, running just comfortably. I made a mental note to work diligently on my climbing when I could get back to training again.
I breezed into the second aid station well ahead of my projected time. In fact, Angela had literally just arrived, thinking she was quite early, only to see me show up almost immediately. My mom had planned to see me at this point but hadn’t shown up yet due to my early arrival, so off I went up Gardner Canyon Road and it’s seemingly endless minor ascent. This road just goes on for quite a ways and looks pretty tame, but the gentle uphill is deceiving. At the training run I ran much of this road but mentally had made a note to simply powerhike this section during the race, even on the first loop. Sure I got passed by a few people during this section but not too many and many of them I could see walking up ahead in sections too. I was doing my best to stick to the game plan, knowing it was a long race and my fitness was questionable for this race with my extremely limited training. I rolled into the third aid station without incident other than some minor foot pain. I made the right call then to switch out my shoes from the Hoka Stinsons to the Challenger ATRs. This particular pair of Stinsons I started with had often not felt quite as comfortable and I didn’t need to deal with any additional complications. By this point the weather had heated up considerably and unfortunately it turned out to be pretty warm day for this time of year, even at an elevation of between 5,000 – 6,500 feet. One lesson learned on the fly here was to cool myself down with ice & water whenever possible. My mom had turned up at this aid station too and seemed excited to be out at her first ultra.
There were only about 5 miles left from this aid station to Kentucky Camp. One crucial thing I learned from the training run was that the loop style course could easily make it difficult for people to leave Kentucky Camp after the first 26 miles. I told Angela to kick me out ASAP back onto the course as I didn’t want to succumb to the temptation to linger and possibly not go back out for loop two. This strategy worked fairly well, except that I forgot to get some ice & water poured on me to cool off. Ultimately I learned that a lot of folks did in fact drop at the halfway point since it was a pretty grueling course. This was not surprising to me as we talked at length about this while finishing up that training run. There were times I wondered if I would be able to head back out myself because that training run was quite a challenge.
While I did leave Kentucky Camp fairly quickly I also found myself slogging through a very exposed section of course, heading uphill, and starting to feel very overheated. This was also the longest stretch of the course without an aid station. Melendrez Pass aid station loomed about 9 miles away and fortunately I did plan ahead to bring some extra water. There were multiple stretches, especially during miles 29-33 that I found myself sitting down in the shade, trying to collect myself enough to keep moving forward. This, I thought to myself, was one of those rough patches I had heard discussed on numerous podcasts I’d been listening to lately. Thankfully I did move on each time I sat down and worked my way eventually to the Melendrez aid. There I sat for about 25 minutes, trying to cool down and feel up to continuing on. There were fantastic volunteers here who took great care of me. At one point a female volunteer said I should get checked out by medical to see if I could continue. I knew I wanted to continue and politely declined, deciding then to get up and back out on the course. What immediately lay ahead, as I mentioned before, was one of the worst climbs of the course. Thankfully I ascended it without too much difficulty and at the top of the climb actually felt quite good. It was like a switch had been flipped and I was back to running strong. It’s amazing how much things can turn around in such a short period of time.
That section from Kentucky Camp to Melendrez was the crux of my run and the rest was just about getting to the finish line. After overcoming that rough spot I knew I’d make it in. The only question that remained was how quickly would I finish. Really I didn’t care too much what my time was since I had no expectations going into this particular event. Seeing Angela and my mom at the next couple of aid stations continued to give me a boost as they worked diligently to get me what I needed and back out there on the course. Just their energy and excitement really helped elevate my experience. They also passed along that quite a few people had dropped, which while unfortunate, did boost my spirits that even with so little training I had persevered. Leaving the last aid station with just another 5 miles left felt fantastic. I had been leapfrogging with another runner named Jason for awhile. He had much more strength on the steep inclines while I clearly had more speed on the runnable sections. I had passed him coming into the aid station and he took off just about the same time as me upon leaving. I knew though there was one more sizable climb where he’d likely get the better of me again. Sure enough he zipped by me (I again vowed to work on my hill climbing) and for a time I wasn’t sure if I’d catch back up or not. At this point in time the sun was setting and I was traversing a slightly rocky, downhill jeep road when I came back up to him. He also hadn’t been able to get much training in and we both encouraged each other along, feeling good that we would finish where many others hadn’t been able to on this day.
We turned back onto the final singletrack section that was primarily downhill and, while it wasn’t really important to race it in, I knew I had the speed to easily get to the finish ahead of him. On this final stretch some volunteers had decided to run backwards from Kentucky Camp to the last aid station. Upon seeing me they said there was another runner just up ahead. With only about 1.5 miles left I wasn’t sure if I’d even see this person but it actually didn’t take long before I saw her up ahead. She was definitely gutting it out and surely would finish but didn’t look like it was at all comfortable. I eased around her and “charged” for the finish. It was exhilarating to come up the final ascent into Kentucky Camp, people cheering me on towards the finish. I could see Angela & my mom both waiting for me as I gave a good last push across the line. The voice of Bob Bachani yelling out “That’s what I’m talking about” chorused through the night air and I had done it! I crossed the line in 13 hours, 20 minutes and 59 seconds officially. I finished in 30th place of 52 finishers, out of approximately 90 something entrants. Bob was there to greet me and seemed genuinely excited for my finish which added to the accomplishment. I couldn’t have been more happy to have shared the experience with Angela & my mom. They really kept me motivated and provided a lift each time I saw them. While I’m 100% sure better times will await me in the future, this might be one of my best moments in running, even well into the future. The mental toughness it took to get to the finish line really made me proud of myself. The fact that I hadn’t been able to train sufficiently for the race honestly made it that much sweeter. This certainly won’t be my last 50 miler but it will be a memorable one.
