I wrote this post the day after the race, but never posted it. I’m not sure why.
Resurrection Pass 50 was my second attempt at a 50 mile race, and I was really feeling hopeful and well prepared. The race starts in Cooper Landing, and follows the trail over the pass to Hope. The trail itself is only 38 miles long, so to make a full 50 miles, at close to the halfway point runners had to go down a side trail (Devil's Pass) for 6 miles, and back up. So this race goes uphill steadily for 16 miles or so, 6 miles downhill, then 6 miles back uphill to the junction, another couple miles to the Resurrection Pass summit, then down, down, down for the last 20 or so miles.
There is not a list of required gear, but to run 50 miles in the mountains unsupported but for one aid station, you sort of have to do a lot of planning, and depending on the weather, take a lot of gear with you.
Cooper Landing is about 3 hours from my house, so I drove to Cooper Landing the night before. I slept in the back of my Jeep Cherokee at the trailhead. I got everything ready to go in my hydration pack before going to sleep, but didn’t actually put it in, because I knew I’d have to get the bladder out in the morning to mix Tailwind in, and it’s harder with stuff in my pack. I made two drop bags. One was for the aid station at Devil’s Pass, allegedly at mile 22, and I put half my food, a baggie of Tailwind, a long sleeved shirt and warm hat, and dry socks in it. The other drop bag was for the finish line in Hope, with a change of dry clothes and another, warmer, hat.
I slept in the car, but didn’t sleep well. I almost bought a sleeping pad when I was at REI, but didn’t. I should have. I woke up at 4:30, and ate a nutrition bar right away. Got dressed, long tights, t-shirt. I wore a hoodie until just before race start to stay warm. I packed my new Goretex rain jacket that I had just bought at REI. Overall, I wound up being pretty happy with my clothing choices. Until I got cold. More on that later.
After I got dressed, I ate 2 packets of oatmeal with hot water from my Jetboil. Cleaned my bowl and spoon, mixed my Tailwind, packed my hydration pack. Bathroom x2. Ready to go.
Just barely light at race start at 6:00 am. I knew I would be slow, so I started at the back, to avoid everyone passing me. Trail started going uphill right away. I hate starting off uphill, but it warms you up fast. I followed my running coach’s advice, and started off what was actually fairly slow, but it felt hard because my body wasn’t really happy to be moving yet. Wound up behind a guy for a while who was speed hiking the race. His walk was a slow run for me. Finally passed him once I was warmed up a little, but he was never more than a few minutes behind me.
The trail wound through the woods and gradually uphill. Somewhere around mile 5, it leveled out a lot, and I started picking up my pace. Between miles 5 and 10 were my fastest miles of the whole race, except I had to stop a couple times to take care of biological needs. The trail itself was well maintained and mostly pretty smooth and runnable.
After about mile 10, it got somewhat steep again. I was glad my coach said to walk a lot in this section, because I did. The climb on this trail is so gradual, though, that it mostly doesn’t look steep. There’s 4900+ feet of elevation gain in this race, but it doesn’t seem like it, until you try to run fast.
There was supposed to be a turnoff for Devil’s Pass at mile 16. The Resurrection Pass trail is only 38 or so miles long, so you have to run about 6 miles down Devil’s Pass and back up to make the full 50 miles. My GPS said I was at 16.96 by the time I hit the turnoff for Devil’s Pass. I thought I would be able to make good time going down Devil’s Pass, but the trail was not nearly as runnable as the Resurrection Pass trail. I probably should have pushed harder through this section, though.
All boulder fields should look like this.
The Devil's Pass trail is rocky, muddy, etc. I found it more difficult to run. There were a few boulder fields, and stream crossings on boulders. The aid station was supposed to be mile 22, but was mile 23.5 according to my GPS, and I took about a 10-12 minute stop. Changed socks, grabbed a snickers, and more fuel, refilled water. My 2L bladder was just about empty. The volunteer didn’t fill it all the way back up, only about ¾, which wound up being not enough water. Left the long sleeved shirt and warm hat in my bag. Maybe a mistake, because I did get cold later. Rang the cowbell to officially reach the checkpoint. Speed hiker guy came into and left aid station a few minutes behind me, then passed me when I stopped to pee. I never saw him again. He finished an hour ahead of me.
Back up Devil’s Pass. I slipped on a stream crossing, got the fresh socks wet, landed on my hands and knees on the rocks, almost face planted in the stream, but caught myself. That sort of hurt. Took a few minutes to shake it off. Stupid Salomon Speedcross trail shoes are great for most things, but really suck on wet rock.
This is where I fell. This was also my last picture, haha.
I was starting to get tired and walked a lot. I ate a Snickers bar, in two halves, half an hour apart. (Much later I wondered if the elevation could have had something to do with how quickly I tired in this race.)
The summit of Res Pass was supposed to be at mile 30, but was at mile 32 by my GPS. Coach said to push hard approaching the summit. I felt like I had no push. Tired, but still mostly enjoying the race. Around mile 30 or 31 the rain started. Just sprinkles at first, then more. By mile 33 or 34, it was pouring. Puddles everywhere. Wet, slippery trail. Wet feet. Then wet legs, wet, cold hands. I had my new Goretex rain jacket, thank goodness, so my core was dry, but I got chilled. The last 20 miles were mostly downhill, and I had planned to try to run them fast, but I was miserable, cold, wet, sore, tired and just creeping along. I kept telling myself to run faster, and I just couldn’t do it. Trail turned into a stream or huge, ankle deep puddles in most places. I wanted the race to be over so bad and I felt like I would never finish. Ate a king sized Nutrageous bar in 3 sections. That was delicious.
I ate either Skratch or Honeystinger chews every 30 minutes religiously, except when I had the candy bars instead. No major stomach issues or intolerance. Got pretty sick of the chews, but not to the point that I couldn’t force myself to eat them.
Ran out of water/Tailwind at what I thought was 3 miles from the finish, but turned out to be 5 miles. Was too cold and too close to want to stop to filter more water, so I just kept going. Tried catching some rain in my hands, but it didn’t work very well.
I think the biggest thing slowing me down was my head. I get into a negative thought cycle when I get tired and/or sore, and let myself focus on all the bad things, and it puts me in a downward spiral. I get discouraged, and lose all my energy and motivation. Somewhere around mile 40 I swore I was never running again. By mile 50 by my GPS, I was convinced I was never going to be able to finish the race, even at a walk.
My GPS said 52.5 when I finally reached the trailhead at about 8:40 PM, to find no finish line. I stood there for a few minutes, wondering if I was done, and the RD finally hopped out of his warm, dry car, and asked if I was finishing. I said, “Am I finished?” I was.
I changed into warm dry clothes, and got a ride back to my car. I heated some water in my Jetboil stove and had some dehydrated pad thai that was delicious, and a Hershey bar with almonds. Crawled into my sleeping bag. Slept terribly, because I couldn’t stretch my legs out all the way in my car, and my legs hurt all night. Was awake by 7 am, and heading home.
My legs hurt really bad all day on Sunday, and I ran my one mile pretty painfully at something like a 16:30 mile. And really, it was more of a shuffle than a run. The next day, they were still really sore, but I felt like I could actually run, slowly, at about a 13:30 pace. By the third day, I was feeling much better and my legs only have a small amount of residual soreness.
I’m really excited to be running this race again this August, and I am hoping I can perform better in the second half than I did last year. I know what to expect, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot about keeping my mind more focused and positive, even when I’m tired. Plus, I’m running it with a friend, Michele, who is always good company and has a sarcastic mouth when she’s struggling, which makes it easier to bear somehow. So we will do fine, I’m sure. LOL.
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