febapple frozen 50k race report

At mile 21. One more 10M loop to go.

Today I was meant to be running the Ugly Mudder 7.5M trail race in Reading. After waking up and barely being able to move I realized that I am neither Dean Karnazes nor Marshall Ulrich and would not be able to run the race today. I'm really bummed, but life goes on (or, to be grammatically correct, wouldn't that phrase have to be "but onwards life goes"?...I digress.).


So I decided I would revisit the Febapple Frozen 50K that I ran yesterday. 


Woke up early (5AM) to get out of the city and to Maplewood, NJ for the 7AM start. My lovely wife also work up early to come with me. What a lady! 


Because I woke up so early and had to get to the race, I didn't have time to eat anything. I thought that may go to my disadvantage, but it actually worked out well. I had a gel and a banana before the start and felt fine throughout the race.


The race was on the trails of the South Mountain Reserve in Maplewood, NJ. The 50K was run on a 10M loop (plus a short 1M out and back at the beginning). I didn't think I would like the idea of a loop, but I ended up really enjoying it, especially during the final loop as I knew what kind of terrain was coming up.


It was a really windy day in the Northeast, so I had to battle some pretty strong (and cold!) winds at some points during the race, but for the most part it wasn't too windy as the trees and mountains kept the wind from really picking up. It snowed lightly at some points, but overall it was a really nice day to run: not too cold and not too warm.


The first two loops weren't bad at all. I felt relatively fresh and was able to run most of the uphills as well as the downhills. I started getting pretty wiped out at around mile 25, but since I knew what type of terrain was upcoming and since I knew there was only 6 miles left, I kept pushing.


Overall the race was pretty good. The trail was a good mix of wide, rolling sections, technical uphill and downhill sections, and a few pretty big climbs. Normal fair for a trail race in the Northeast. It had rained the night before, so there were some pretty muddy sections of the course. The rain also caused some confusion as the course was marked with flour the night before the race. It was a bit frustrating at some points because it was hard to figure out the markings. I much prefer races that use flour AND flags to mark the course. It's much easier to find your way with flags than with wet flour that has been mostly washed away over night.


The aid stations were well stocked with various snacks, water, cola, and Hammer gels and drinks. The race t-shirt is a nice, long-sleeved tech shirt, but there was no finisher's medal or prize. A bit disappointing (even if it is vain).


All in all, it was a pretty good race. I still enjoyed the NorthFace 50k at Bear Mountain and the Blues Cruise 50k more, but I'm glad I did this race. It beat me up, but it served it's purpose to get me closer to my 50 Miler that I'm doing in May.


Keep running!