I first ran the Bridle Trails 50K in January of 2005. It was only my second ultramarathon, so my approach was somewhat casual, and communication between myself and my crew (my wife) was suboptimal. After the first of six five-mile laps, I lost some time removing my wind pants while my wife scolded me for having worn this extra layer over my shorts. After the second lap, I expected her to hand me a flashlight (the race starts at 3 PM), but she was nowhere to be seen, having left with race director Scott McCoubrey to hang glowsticks along the course. Mishaps aside, I ran the first three laps while chatting with Brian Morrison and Jim Kerby, who gave us periodic updates on the Seahawks game to which he was listening. I eventually outdueled Brian, 3:40:24 to 3:41:07, with both of us eclipsing William Emerson’s course record (3:44:28) from the previous year.
Last year, I skipped Bridle Trails because I was preparing for a road 100K and didn’t want to risk injuring myself while trying to run fast in the dark. Phil Kochik won in 3:50:58, an amazing time considering the horribly rainy and muddy conditions that afternoon.
This year, I decided to run once it became clear that both the course conditions and my left Achilles tendon would allow me to take a shot at my course record. The trail wasn’t muddy at all; in fact, due to the cold temperatures this week, it was frozen solid, which wasn’t a problem except for a few patches of ice here and there. And the thin layer of snow on the ground reflected light remarkably well, improving the visibility quite a bit.
My preparation and attitude were also conducive to running fast. For starters, I wore “Runderwear” under my shorts this time and carried a flashlight with me from the beginning. My overall plan was to run a Dan Salazar first half and a Greg Crowther second half, meaning that I hoped to post some fast splits in the daylight and then finish strongly and steadily.
I followed the 50K relay leader through a 33-minute first lap, then logged splits of 32:00 and 32:30 on my own. Darkness descended during the fourth lap, but I managed to clock another 32:30. At this point, a new record was well in hand, and the main challenge remaining was to see if I could break 3:20. In the end, it was close, but laps of 34:30 and 35:10 brought me to the finish in 3:19:40. It was very satisfying to slice so much time off of the record, and I also snuck under Uli and Trish Steidl’s pairs relay record of 3:19:54, though I doubt I’ll get credit for that even if I argue that I was “paired” with myself.
The next items on my running agenda: (1) give my Achilles a couple days (or more, if necessary) to recover; (2) decide which races to do during the next few months.
My Track Record 
Leave a reply to Jem Cancel reply