Dogwood Canyon 50k Race Report

Short versionStart, creek crossing, creek crossing x7 (I think), hills, hills, hills (they go on for a while), Sunny pasture 3mi loop, hills, hills, hills (just reverse the earlier ones), creek crossingx7 (I think) Finish! Missed official cutoff, but finished my first 50k is 9:42:18!!! I just kept following the mantra….


Long version (take a break and have a beer, it’s going to be a long one)The trip started with my friend Lisa and her partner Dave picking me up Friday evening as we had planned to get an early start and break the drive up by staying at their lake house around Warsaw, MO. We stopped off for dinner a Pizza hut and headed about another 30min to the house and turned in early. It was so incredibly quiet and peaceful and I had a solid 11 or so hours of sleep! I swear I could’ve slept endlessly in that quiet! Woke up the next morning and we worked around the yard doing some fall maintenance raking some leaves, showered and headed towards Dogwood Canyon around 11.30am. The great company and peace and quiet was really helpful to keep my mind calm.



We stopped off at Dairy Queen and after a lunch of Chicken strips, fries and Mocha Moolatte headed towards Springfield, MO. Dave needed a handheld, so we decided to make a small detour to the first Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, MO. It’s a outdoor person’s jackpot! They even have camo hydration packs and handhelds. Dave decided on sticking with the handheld. Saw the craziest giant fish in there!!













Onto packet pickup and Dogwood Canyon. We got in around 5.30pm and picked up our packets. Awesome New balance tech t-shirt, Love it! All sorted out, we headed towards Kimberling Inn and straight next door to dinner at Nicols at the Pier with an awesome view of Table Rock Lake. Dinner was a delicious salad, almond crusted chicken with an Amaretto sauce, green beans and baked potato…yep plenty of carbs and protein as well.



They must have had a bass fishing tourney, as the Inn parking lot was a definitely boat heavy.


Off to bed early after setting up all my gear for the next day.


Another solid 7-8hrs of sleep and I was up, showered and ready to do this! We pulled into Dogwood Canyon around 7.20am and there were plenty of cars already. We got stuff ready, grabbed a few pictures and headed towards the start.
Lisa, Dave and I before heading into the start area.


We had a troop of Trail Nerds and Mud Babes at Dogwood that morning. Kansas City Trail runners represent!


After a few instructions, which I barely heard, I was on my way into my first 50k! Dave and I decided to stick together at the start. We were at the back at the pack and we were ok with that. The first 2 or so miles were filled with creek crossings. I lost count at 6 I think. After the 2nd one or so, I just dove in and decided, hey at least it will keep my feet cool .
Once the creek crossings were mostly done, we started the climbs right at the start past the first 2 miles. To be honest, with the exception of when the 50k’ers split off into a 3mile loop in the exposed sun pretty much the rest of it was all crazy monster climbs and downhill running. Check out the Elevation off my Garmin!



The course was basically an out and back for the 50k. After the creek crossings, we started climbing around the 3mi mark. I kept power walking up the hills as fast as I could, run downhill and on flat..which flat were pretty much a few yards for the most part, or at least it felt like it. I felt much better on food and stomach issues when compared with Free State Marathon exactly 6 months ago. I kept a regime of 2 salt caps every 45mins, Honey Stinger Gel or chews every hour, unless I happen to hit an aid station in that time at which time, I pretty much ate anything from gummy bears, peanut butter crackers, M&Ms, sport beans and of course the most awesome boiled potato with salt along with a steady liquid intake of PowerAde and coke! Yep kept that food and fluid intake up pretty well, almost felt a little piggy..LoL!  I was not about to let lack of nutrition be an issue as that would have been a huge problem when trying to deal with these hills, which were challenging enough on their own. Just some of the views of the trails and hills I went through. Amazing views!















The trails were a lot of logging roads and were tons of rocks and gravel..oh and the giant snake skin added in for good measure The rocks really beat up my feet and made the down hills run/slides pretty interesting! I can totally feel the quads working hard.
















Dave made me go ahead around the 4.5mi mark I think, so I kept moving. I caught up with two ladies Erika and Robyn doing the 25k. They were from the area and we chatted for a little while. Erika told Robyn and me to go ahead, so we went through to the next aid station and I kept moving ahead. From there on it was pretty much me by myself with the occasional chat with aid station personnel. At one point, you head into a 5mi loop of hills and each time you pass by a race marker, I noticed a 50k marker pointing in the opposite direction. Translation..coming back I’d have to do all these backwards I tried not to think about and just focused on trying to get to next aid station. After a series of up hills and downhill I headed into an aid station which then opened the course into a paved section.












It was at this point that I started seeing runners coming back toward the finish. I crossed Wael, who encouraged me and told me to just keep moving.We also crossed into Arkansas and back into Missouri in here.















Paved section ends and back into the hills!! Trust me the hills are a bit of a blur, but I think this is the point at which we headed into a crazy what seemed like a mile plus long incline. I crossed Matty, Brian B. and Hayley at this point. Thanks guys for your motivation! It meant so much!! Matty and Brian said I was looking good although I felt like I was barely moving! Brian turned around and walked up a few paces with me and told me what was coming up ahead. He let me know that the drop bags were ahead and to make sure I refilled my hydration pack as I’d be heading into a 3mi loop where I’d be exposed to the sun to make sure I had water and food in me. Thank goodness for him giving me a heads up, as I did not realize that I was almost out of water. THANKS Brian!! I refilled the pack, grabbed some salted potatoes and crackers and headed into the sun. There was no-one else except for me, the cows on the pasture and no shade! I hit a pretty steep downhill which was loose gravel. I went for it yelling ‘Oh Crap’ (well not quite those words) as as was flying down. About to the end of the hill I suddenly felt my ankle turn. I came to the end of the descent and started to panic a little as this was around the halfway point and the last thing I needed was a wonky ankle with these hills. I started walking a lot in this 3mi loop as the sun was starting to beat down and I was mentally starting to get down. I just kept thinking of how far I had to go and the hills I had to go back into and it took a lot out of me. I had sent my hubby and my friend Beka a text while at the aid station before the loop started and somewhere at this point got service again and got their replies and they both had words of encouragement which helped me stay motivated. Hell its not like I could stop here anyway right?! So I kept on moving….
This was the halfway point!













I just refocused and concentrated on getting back to the aid station again. Once I got there I grabbed more Honey Stinger Gels, took some Advil as a precaution for my ankle, thanked the volunteers and kept moving. They also told me Dave had entered into the loop, so I was happy to hear that. Lisa would have turned here to head towards the 25k finish as they did not do the 3mi loop, so tried sent her a text to let her know where I was and see if she had heard from Dave.
Next up was the downhill part of the crazy hill I climbed to get here. I knew I was the second to last 50k’er, but given that there were under 50 people signed up for this and only 12 women, I did not care! I just wanted to keep moving and finish!

Back into the paved sections and I could tell my walk breaks were getting a little longer now, but I really concentrated on walking faster. All the downhills were catching up and my quads were sore and glutes were tight, but constant forward motion was the name of the game. It’s amazing how much the mind can counteract the body when it just wants to stop!! Off the paved section meant I was headed back to the 5mi loop with the hills again! Uggghhhh . I definitely did not want to deal with it, but deal with it I had to! At one point, I grabbed a pretty decent sized branch that had fallen off a tree and used that like a walking pole to help myself moving up! Hip Flexors, calves, and Quads were screaming now! I could feel a tinge of calf cramps off and on, but made sure I stayed on track with my salt to keep those at bay.There was a lot of cursing and yelling at those hills and total frustration, but I knew I was closer to the end now and I just had to make it one hill at a time no matter what! Some point in here I crossed the 26.2mi distance and just realized this was the longest run I’ve ever done and I have now crossed over to Ultra distance (dark)side!! I was never so happy to see the and aid station as I was to see the guys at the finish of that 5mi loop. They told me I had about 3miles to go and no more hills! All I cared about was NO MORE HILLS!!!

I made my way down and started retracing my steps back through those same creek crossings! The water felt so wonderful, especially as I knew each crossing was one wet step towards the finish line. I knew I would be about 10mins behind the cut off even though I was trying to make my legs run as fast as I could. I was a little disappointed, but tried to tell myself despite the cut-off time, I would still finish!! I made one turn and through the windy paved road, I could see the finish line! Then I started hearing the cowbell and voices yelling out my name! It was such an awesome moment! I turned to cross over that last bridge and saw Lisa, Sophia, Hayley and Brian right there and as cheesy as this is going to sound, I was trying real hard to not tear up! I did it!! I finished my first 50k!

Time was 9:42:18 according to Garmin. While I did miss the cut-off, this is a finish for sure! Lots of people were saying that this was a tough course and while I may have cursed the crap out of those hills, I’m pretty thrilled to have finished a tough course for my first one!

I crossed the finish and immediately Lisa came over to make sure to get me what I needed and they all made me go sit in the creek to cool off my legs. Oh My a cold creek never felt so incredible!



Thank you so much to Lisa, Sophia, Hayley and Brian for cheering me in! Pretty sure I babbled a lot right after that..it was just kind of of a blur as I realized what I actually did! I finally got cleaned up and said bye to Brian and Hayley as they made their trek to KC and waited for Dave to come in. Once he was in, we cleaned up said Goodbye to Sophia and we made our way back to KC and hit home around 11pm.
Its been about 48hrs post race now and while I’m sore as hell, I’ve had time to digest  it! The support I’ve had from by Hubby is amazing. He is my voice of reason and will always keep me in check to make sure I’m doing things right and keeping my life in balance! I know he was there with me in spirit, even if he was physically unable to be there! He was having the Open house and opening of their Indoor Soccer facility of what he’s been working so hard for the past few months. I’m so proud of him and all the hard work he did! It was an awesome weekend for the two of us! Love you Babe!

A Huge Thank you to my Hubby and Beka who kept motivating me through some timely texts. The support I’ve had through the training from all the Mud Babes and Trail Nerds has been incredible. Their adventures motivate me and helped me a see a side of running I would have never considered otherwise! You guys are Awesome! I know I could not have gotten here without all your help and support! I’ve got say thanks to Tony D. He was the first person to ever mention trail running to me and get me going down this road! Mud Babe Allison for all the great yoga sessions ‘cos I know they were key in keeping my flexible and loose!
Giant Thank You to Lisa and Dave! I could not have done this without you. You were super awesome to share their car, house and resources with me and Lisa…you are so awesome!! Crazy hugs! Could you have imagined that I’d be here..I still remember those first few steps on the trail with you and Rachael during hot 2010 summer and thinking no way I’d get this!! Who would have known!

Its sinking in…I’ve just stepped into the Ultra Running world! A few years ago, I would have never foreseen a Marathon let along an Ultra- Marathon. Looking back on my training for this race which I admit was less than great, I realized that while you can put in as much training as you can ultra distances take so much more than just physical training. Trust me this is not me saying that any race requires less mental motivation, as they all require that critical component. But when you are out literally in the middle of a pasture and you have no-one else except for a bunch of cows staring down at you, it’s easy to give up and get down on yourself and the mental strength is what keeps you going. Thank You Mom for giving me that trait! I told myself short of a major injury out on the course nothing would stop me from finishing and so giddily happy to report, nothing did !

50k Baby!!! Guess I can call myself an UltraMarathoner now right?!! Possibilities are Endless!! 



Update as of 10/26/11: Just got official results which puts me at 9:40:15. I was the only one in my age group. I was the last of only 13 women to finish the race and I while I may be at the back...I FINISHED!!!