2007 Prickly Pear 50K

It has been a few years since I’ve made the trip down to San Antonio for the Prickly Pear, and this would be my first 50K there. I had run the 10 miler a couple of times. The race originally drew me because it had a Clydesdale category. At the time, I had never run on trails before and they seemed so difficult yet fun. It was actually this little race that got me to looking for trails around Austin to run. After a few years of trail and ultra running, it is odd how the perspective changes.

I thought hard about how fast I should try to run this race. This distance has always been a bit of a problem for me. After running a 5:31 in my first attempt at Palo Duro, I had always seemed to struggle finding my pace. A 6:01 at Bandera remained my second best time for 50K despite being able to run the distance in less time in training and even at the beginning of longer races. If nothing else, I wanted to be under 6 hours. And I felt a new PR was possible. But I was also haunted by a 50K disaster a few years ago at Rocky Hill Ranch. I knew I was in condition to run close to 5 hours. But I managed to follow a perfectly paced 2:30 first lap with a death march 3:32 second lap.

At the start of the race, it was 49 degrees and dark. The daylight savings time change had to get me one more time. But for me, darkness seems to have it’s own pace. From the start I just ran. By the time the sun rose, I was moving comfortably. If I wanted to hold back and assure myself of going under six hours, it was time to reign in a bit. On the other hand, I was sure I could go 20 at a 10 mpm pace. So I decided to let it go for 20 and see what the last lap would bring.

As I rolled through the first lap, I was amazed how easy the course seemed. It didn’t seem like this a few years ago, but at the time I trained on roads. I did have a bit of déjà vu as I hit the port-a-john at the 7-mile aid station. The last thing I wanted was to repeat my experience at Rocky Raccoon, but it was the last stop I would have to make. The last two miles of the loop were the only ones where the terrain became more difficult. There were a couple of places I would walk uphill and a couple of creek crossings. But overall, I was still rolling well, and hit the end of the loop and my drop bag at about 1:39.

I slammed most of my shake and took off for my second loop. I don’t waste time in aid stations or with drop bags, and this was my first stop other than having my bottle filled. The 10 miler had started 1.5 hours after the 50K. It didn’t take very long to catch and pass the first couple of stragglers. Then a couple of more. Soon I had passed 10, and I had a new game. How many of the 10 milers could I pass this loop? What had been a few stragglers mostly walking soon became long trains of runners. I was often stuck behind slow runners waiting for room to pass or going a bit off trail to get around. As I walked up the biggest hill, I was passed back by a few, but my aggressive downhill style would put me right back in front of them. By the time they split off for the finish and I headed out the out-and-back for my drop back, I had passed 102 runners. I was going to miss them. And I had gone an entire lap ignoring my pace.

I knew I would be struggling the last lap. My usual ultra run includes walk breaks. This time, I had mostly avoided walking. Only up a couple of steep hills in the last mile of the loop had I really walked. And also every 20 minutes I would walk a little to take in some fuel. Somehow, the second loop had been faster than the first. If I could pull that off one more time, it wasn’t a sub-six. It wasn’t even a new PR. I could actually go under 5 hours for a 50K. Time to see how much heart was left.

The loneliness of the last loop felt odd after passing so many people during the second one. I would go back and forth with one guy before finally leaving him behind on a long downhill. One guy did come flying past me like he had really held back the first couple of loops. And I would make my way past a few guys eventually. But it was mostly just me and dreams of the five-hour mark.

The course did have mile markers. They had been mostly entertaining during the first couple of laps as I had noticed my pace but not adjusted it. Now they were telling me a story I didn’t really like. Although I wasn’t walking, I was not able to keep the pace below the 10 mpm level. As I pushed myself through the later miles, I watched that 5 hour goal slowly slip away. I passed the marathon mark near 4:08 or 4:10, filled the bottle one last time at the 5-mile station, and set myself to grind out the last few miles regardless of the result.

In the end, 5:03:51 is all I could squeeze out. But considering what I had hoped for, I was ecstatic. And now, I’m more tired than I remember being. Plans were to run the 50 miler at Rocky Hill Ranch next month. I think I could do well, but I’m so tired I may want a longer mental break.