What are the odds that I get rained on twice within a week while racing in Utah? Pretty slim in September, but there you go. When we drove up the day before to the start of the Baby Bear 50k, east of Preston, Idaho, it was scorching hot and dusty dry. What a difference a day can make. The next morning, it had cooled off nicely, and storm clouds lurked. The forecast talked about a "chance" of showers. The dark sky said otherwise.
This 50k was a beast, with over 6000 feet of climbing. Most of that came in the first third of the route. It was a small field of 13 runners, and with no official anyone at the start line in the dark, we started off as we felt like it. Up a steep hill that continued steeply for a long ways. I had downloaded the route on my watch, but pushed the wrong setting so the map never showed up. The flags were very intermittent, and it took a wrong turn for me to learn that blue and white flags meant I was going the wrong way. In fact I didn't know that I was off the route until I randomly stumbled back onto the flags by following the golden rule: "If in doubt of the route, go uphill". I watched the flags more carefully the rest of the race.
The sky was more than threatening an hour later, it was downright raining. All I had brought was a Pertex windbreaker, which I put on over my pack, and it managed to keep the worst of the weather at bay. It wasn't cold at all, just "not hot" in the way that a summer rainstorm in the desert can be. The showers came and went, finally going for good at about the first aid station at 11 miles. Two brothers offered to cook me up some eggs and pancakes, but my stomach told me that just a couple of chocolate covered raisins would be plenty.
I left the aid station for the middle third of the race, which meandered along a ridgeline west of Big Bear Lake, at about 9000 feet elevation. The lake was too far away to see, but that didn't make the views any less nice. The rain moved on, but left patches of fog and clouds and it was nice and cool, making running along the trail enjoyable.
What wasn't nice at all was some IT Band pain in my knee, making it hurt to run downhill which is usually my favorite part of the day. It was manageable for a while, but by the second aid station I wasn't terribly happy. This one was an unmanned tent, with water and some snacks and a sign-in board. The couple in front of me had been ahead of me a minute or two for 10 miles, but my knee wouldn't let me catch them.
The last section of the race was a last steep uphill and then a dive back down to the finish. At the trail junction, there was a sign warning to avoid this steep section if the trails were wet. That was all the motivation I needed to take the ATV road back down. I wouldn't be the only one making that choice, so it was ok. The gravel road was longer than the trail, but all downhill. I supposed it evened out in the end.
All I knew was that I was limp-running the last 8 miles. By then it was pretty hot and I rationed my water, running out with a mile or so to go. I should have been at least 30 minutes faster, which is how much time I lost to the woman who won. I finished 6th overall. My award was a smoked trout which I'm sure will be very tasty!
I would then spend the next week stretching, foam rolling, strengthening, and massaging the areas that affected my IT Band. Time would tell if that would be enough to change anything, as I had another 50k coming up the next Saturday!
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