McNaughton Park Trail Runs

One of the risks of posting your goals for a particular event online for all the world to see is that things might not go as planned. That was the case for the McNaughton Park 50 Miler for me. As I said my goal was to finish in around 10 hours. The hills and the mud had different plans for me.

The course is run on a 10 mile loop with plenty of hills and a couple of creek crossings. Somewhere in the first loop the rain started coming down. It never seemed to me that it was raining that bad but what rain there was wreaked havoc on the course. I made it through the first loop as planned - somewhere around 2 hours. Second loop still went fairly well, just over 2 hours again. This took a lot more effort than the first time through with all the slipping and sliding through the mud. I was pretty wiped out after 20 miles. I headed back out for the third loop and was much slower. There was still a lot of mud and standing water on the course and I used whatever steam I had left in me to get through the third loop somewhere around 2:40 or so. I was wiped out at this point.

The course starts out with a short loop for about 1.5 miles that takes you to a meadow back near the start/finish area. At that point I sat down in the grass and decided to quit the race. Going back out from this point meant committing myself to another loop. I sat there until I heard one of the 150 milers (who at that point had decided to drop down to the 100 mile race) say to his wife "I'll see you in about 3.5 miles". That signaled to me that he was going to walk all or most of the loop. I decided to catch up with him and see what we could do. We walked and ran together for the rest of the loop. 40 miles down and I was ready to quit again. My time at 40 miles was about the same as my finish time on my previous 50 miler, and I still had 10 miles to go. I sat down to eat some soup while I contemplated quitting again. I saw some friends who talked me into finishing so I ventured out to trek through the final 10 miles. The trails were much better through the third loop - they dry fairly well so that made the decision easier. I don't think I could have finished if the course stayed as bad as it was for the 2nd and 3rd loops. The hills were treacherous. Getting up and down those steep hills was quite the challenge.

I made my way through the final loop after I hooked up with a group of trail running crazies who I know from other races including Bruce Purdy and his friend Pat. 5 of us crossed the finish line together right around 13:40 or there about.

I got my buckle, ate a burger and headed to the hotel for a shower and a good nights rest.

McNaughton kicked my butt but I will be back to redeem myself.

I'll try to add a report about the 100 and 150 mile races later. I'll also update this post with my official splits and finish time once that gets posted.