YUTC 50K-revisiting the scene of my first 50K!

On Saturday I ran the YUTC 50K for the second year.  Last year YUTC was my very first 50K.  I was scared and nervous going into that race and not even sure that I would finish.  This year I was calm and ready and running it as a training run for Oil Creek 100K.

JD had planned a DNF because he is coming back from injury and wanted to run the 25K, but there were no spots left so he decided to sign up for the 50K and then just drop after the first loop.  I was really excited that he was going to get to see the course because he didn't get to run it last year.

So big news is that the race went really well for me.  That means that there isn't much to say in this blog post because the race was uneventful.  I was on target with hydration and nutrition.  We had near perfect weather.

Seriously, could you have better 50K weather?

 My training was right where I wanted it to be, and I was mentally on top of it this year.  I should note that I was not tapered for this race at all and was coming into the race on 4 40+ mile weeks so pretty tired legs.

We are hoping to get sponsored by Salomon since we rock their Exo Lab line so well.

We met up with some friends before the race and spent a lot of time talking to folks that we remembered from last year.  Pretty soon the race director said that we would be starting soon, and then we were off down the road. 

General thoughts on the race:  I really enjoy this course.  It's not as hilly as I thought it was last year, but I attribute that to better experience on trails and hillwork.  It still has some challenging sections, and I'm beginning to think the last hill before the Log Cabin is way worse than the Monkey Hills section.  The aid stations were once again amazing.  This race has incredible volunteers and course support.  I also want to thank whoever did the course markings for doing an awesome job on that one tricky turn in the last section.  I missed it last year, but it was so well marked this year that there was no way to miss it.  Shirts were cute, but I wish the women's shirt would have been long sleeve like the men's.  They did give me an option to trade for a men's shirt, but they only had mediums and up which looked too big.  Overall a really nice low key well-supported ultra with some beautiful scenery. Also special thanks to Jeff Musick for the awesome race photos.

Lastly, thanks to the various folks from Oil Creek who encouraged me and ran with me for short bits on the trail, special thanks to my awesome husband who crewed after finishing 25K and got me in and out of Log Cabin quickly everytime, and my terrific coaches, Sandi Nypaver and Sage Canady, for preparing me so well up to this point.  

Just some of the gorgeous views on the course.

Below are my splits/paces with some thoughts and notes.

Log Cabin to Covered Bridge-4 miles:  55:25 (13:45-slightly slower than last year, but I was trying to be conservative)
AS #1: 1:22 (refilled water, grabbed a potato and a few chips)
Bottom Loop #1-4 miles:  55:26 (13:51-again slower than last year but still trying to be conservative)
AS #2:  48 seconds (water refill, Mtn Dew, 2 potatoes)
Bottom Loop #2-4 miles: 59:57 (14:51 but there was at least 3 minutes for a bathroom break in here so not too far off the first time through this loop)
AS #3:  1:01 (water refill, Mtn Dew, 2 potatoes
Covered Bridge to Log Cabin-3.5 miles:  48:21 (13:48 did not get lost because course was marked much better this year!)

Coming in to Covered Bridge

(Official course mileage notes that this section is supposed to be 15.5 miles.  Official check in time for me as 3:42:40 for an average pace of 14:21. 6 minutes faster than last year while running conservative and very even pacing )

AS #4:  1:04 (JD told me that I looked great, and I felt amazing.  Watermelon, oranges, grilled cheese square, water refill)
Log Cabin to Covered Bridge:  1:08:21 (16:04-was struggling a little bit on the last mile in this section-was solidly in the 14-15 min range until the last mile when I choked up a 21 minute mile on the Monkey Hill section, but still beat last year's time)

Getting ready to refill at Log Cabin

AS #5:  1:38 (water refill, Mtn Dew, potatoes)
Covered Bridge to Log Cabin: 56:21 (16:06-still kind of bonking here but trying to pull it together-least favorite section of the course as it is really rooty and rocky and hard to pick up speed if you are on tired legs-right knee also started to really hurt a lot on the hills so I was having trouble pushing off on the uphill and picking my way downhill)
 AS #6:  1:38 (asked for KT tape, no one had any, grilled cheese square, watermelon, oranges, refill water)

(Official course mileage notes that we were now at 23.25 miles cumulative.  Check in time for me was at 5:49:48 for an average cumulative pace of 15:12.  Took me 2:07 to do that loop so I was pretty hopeful that I was going to get in under 8 hours if I stayed consistent)

Log Cabin to Covered Bridge:  1:13:23 (17:16-Monkey Hills just killed me here but I was determined not to walk any of the flats so I hiked the hills and ran the flats.  Knee was still bothering me.)
AS #7:  27 seconds (knew I was cutting it close for a sub-8 finish so really pushed it out of the aid station)
Covered Bridge to Log Cabin:  49:32 (14:09-really powered through this section)

(Official course mileage was 50K-31 miles cumulative.  Official finish time was 7:55:12 for an average cumulative pace of 15:20.  I feel really awesome about this finish! I ran the last loop at almost the same pace as the second loop and felt like I was really consistent throughout.  I also dug deep and got a really strong finish on the last section taking 7 minutes off that section the third time through and running it only 1 minute slower than my first time through.)
26 women started the 50K and 5 DNFd.  I was the 11th women who finished and 62/76 overall finishers.  88 had started the race so there was about a 14% DNF rate. I was also 5/14 in the Master's (40+) Women so I was pretty happy about that.)

Not sure if I'm happier about my time or the piece of pizza that I got as soon as I finished!

 Liking this as a possible outfit for Oil Creek...skirt is in for sure because it performed really well.  The tank has never given me any problems, but I think it didn't work well with the sports bra that I had because I have some really horrifying chafing under one arm so I'll have to go back to the other bra with this tank for one more longish training run to make sure everything is good.  No blisters or major feet issues.  Big toes are a little tender due to tripping around on some of the rocky section of trail, but nothing major.