Sun Mounatin 50 mile

Sun Mountain 50 Mile
June 20th, 2010
Winthrop and Twisp, WA
I haven’t run a 50 mile since my first ultra race in 2008. Since that time I have learned an enormous amount about ultrarunning. I was setting up to run a 50 mile last summer, but started graduate school. This year, I set my goal to run one 50 miler. I choose the Sun Mountain 50 because I ran the 50k last year and enjoyed the terrain. The 50 mile this year allowed a retrace of much of the 50K from 2009 plus added the twist river valley which was different yet amazing. Besides I always like to travel through the North Cascades to Winthrop and spend time in that area.
Annahootz, Anna, and I headed over to Winthrop on a Friday. We camped at the Winthrop KOA and spent Saturday hanging out. Of course we had to stop at the School House Brewery and Pub to have my usual burger and beer on Saturday night. So it was a relaxing and comfortable run up to the Sunday race. This was my first Sunday race and I enjoyed having the Saturday to prep and just relax.
The start for the 50 mile needed to be reached by catching the bus at the start finish line of the 50k and 25K. So it was an early start on the day to catch the bus. This was the first year the 50 mile had been run, so there were a few dozen of us on the bus. These would be the few that took on the challenge of the 50 miles. One of my biggest fears going into this race was the possibility of heat. Well the weather was cloudy and rainy which was a blessing for me. Living in Seattle at the time, I train in ran, I live in rain, and I prefer cool drizzly conditions and that is what we got. At one point during this race the sun did come out and when it did, it made its presence known. It got super hot and you could feel the heat. Anyways back to the 50 miles. Overall it is a really beautiful and challenging run. I would not say it is overly steep or overly technical. The only part I did not like was the few miles on the road.
As far as my run went, I reached my goal of under 10 hours. I ran a respectable 9:30something. The downside is I struggled with the last 5 miles or so, but I finished within my goal. Now I move onto other goals and other things. Next up, I will be participating 24 hour mountain bike race in Wisconsin with a team of 5 friends. Then I am moving back to Alaska!
Gear, Hydration, and Energy:
Asics running short
Headsweats running visor
REI long sleeve running shirt
Montrial Rockridge
Drank one bottle of HEED from Hammer before the race started
Ran with two ultimate direction water bottles. Started with one bottle of water and one bottle of Perpetum form Hammer for the entire race. I also took two Endurance Aminos and two Anti-Fatigue Caps before the race and one of each every hour during the race. Both are Hammer Nutrition products. Somewhere I also mixed in some Edurolytes tabs.
During the race I used Hammer gel Vanilla flavor.
After race drank one bottle of Recoverlyte from Hammer