Antelope Canyon 50 Mile Race Report

So how do you know if you should sit out a race when you are injured?  That question once again became my focal point for the last 2 weeks.  The obvious answer is no, you should NOT race while injured.  That is just stupid.  Or is it???

I have been notoriously plagued with IT band pain during the winter months.  Some years I get lucky and escape and other years it hits me pretty bad.  I have run races when I was injured and had them not go so well (Bear100 in 2012, Logan Peak Run in 2014 (Mono, not really an injury) etc.  Was this race going to be one of those?...

I thought I was doing good this year until my last long run in preparation for this race, I was suddenly limping and in serious pain 17 miles into a 30 miler.  Luckily I was able to cut the run short and hitchhike my way back to my ride.  I think that saved me from further damage.  The following 2 weeks were spent doing strengthening exercises and not very many actual running miles.  It would sort of feel OK, then wham, another setback.  

So, seriously who in their right mind would still run a 50 mile race with that looming over you? 

Yep,... I would...and did...

Hey, but I took precautions.  I preemptively taped my quad just above my knee so that my IT band was constricted and wouldn't have very much motion across the outside of the knee.  It looked goofy but it matched my goofy shoes.  Yep, I also wore Hokas.  Aren't they supposed to help?  At least they were cushioned.  I was applying wintercrest balm every chance I got.  And I had some Tylenol in-case things started to hurt.  What could possibly go wrong?

Uh, apparently there is a LOT of sand on the course.  I figured there would be but, come on!  30 miles of deep, soft, squishy, sand.  10 miles of uneven slick rock?  Those are two of the things you should avoid when you have IT Band pain.

(case in point: view up the trail from Horseshoe Bend Aid Station. Photo by Bethany Draper Photography).

Hotel was booked, the family was itching to get out of town, I had a day off of work (a rare event lately), we are going...

And it all turned out awesome!!

We got to do some exploring on Friday and Sunday mixed in with the travel days.  The family got to sight see a bit and play in the sand for hours.  The poor maid at the Hotel had to love cleaning out our room.  The floor was covered in sand.  Sorry about that.

 (The flocking of cameras at Horseshoe Bend at sunset. Can't complain though, being that we were one of them. Photo by Bethany Draper Photography.)

(A View of the Colorado River running through the canyons just out of the Glen Canyon Dam. And our son refusing to stay out of the shot. Photo by Bethany Draper Photography)

The race...

My plan was to use my Heart Rate Monitor to gage my effort and keep things in check.  I nearly succeeded in keeping it right where I wanted for the first 30 miles.  I did cheat a bit and push the pace a bit too much here and there but overall it was a huge success doing that strategy.  That meant I lost track of the lead runners pretty early on but still ended up near the front of the race by mile 20.  It was tough because the 100 milers started with the 50 milers and so you really couldn't tell who was in which race.  And then we started to catch 55K runners who were ahead of us on the course because they didn't run the first 15 miles.  Anyway, it was impossible to tell where you were until later in the day when you could get reports on your position.  That actually helped my strategy of not racing until the final 10 mile loop.  Ignorance is bliss.  I made sure to spend my time taking lots of lousy iphone pictures to document my day.

The course is summed up like this.  4 separate slot canyons of various distances.  1/4 mile to 1.5 miles long.  Long Long LONG desert traverses either on ATV trails of sand or off trail.  Some slick rock with sweet views of the Colorado River.  Finished with 10ish miles around Page on a plateau rim trail with nice views and even more important, packed runnable trails.  The slot canyons were the highlights with the stuff in the middle mostly a huge pain the rear (i.e. deep sand near junkyards and power lines).  The best part though was realizing that the course was a bit short.  It was really 47 miles rather than 50.  Who's gonna complain about that?

Picture of the sandy course (by Cody)

So, back to the action on the course.  The first few hours were spent chatting and sightseeing and stopping for pit stops (3).  I was pretty annoyed at one point when I noticed people were missing a junction to drop into a slot canyon and were running on the rim.  I was enjoying the trail at the bottom but it was a good quarter mile or more longer than the route others took above me.  That meant I had to re-pass whole groups of people who cut the trail short.  Oh well, their loss, it was a cool slot canyon.  Plus it was early and I wasn't supposed to be racing yet anyways.  

I was happy to see my awesome crew at Horseshoe Bend Aid station at mile 20.5.  They were happy to see that I was feeling good and my leg was cooperating so far.  I stopped to dump sand out of my right shoe since my big toe was hurting and I thought it was the sand's fault.  It turns out it was hitting the front of the shoe.  Stupid Hoka's.

Cody Coming in to Horseshoe Bend the first time. (Photo by Bethany Draper Photography)

Let's play spot the runner. There is at least one in the following three shots.

Scenery coming out of Horseshoe Bend Aid for the first time. (Photos by Bethany Draper Photography)

The next section of trail was my favorite of all day long.  Even though it was the slowest.  Rough, uneven slick rock followed by a sweet slot canyon (Water Holes Canyon) that ended up being my favorite to run through.

 Coming in to Horseshoe Bend Aid for the second time. (Photo by Bethany Draper Photography)

This section was murder for the big toe though and by the time I made it back to Horseshoe Bend Aid for the second time I was ready for a shoe change.  On went the Altra Superior 2.0's.  Time to start racing.  Leg pain is manageable (3/10 on the pain scale).  Energy is high.  Time to pick it up a bit.  

Photos of my secret weapon (my crew)

Pictures of Waterhole Canyon (by Cody)

I got a report I was in 2nd place with the 3rd place guy (Sean Meissner) coming into the aid as I was leaving.  Ahh, the competitive juices were flowing now...  16 miles to go.  Another boring desert traverse to Page and up to the Page Rim Trail for the big loop around the city.  Quick stop at the Page Rim Aid (thanks to my rock star crew) and the chase was on.

Page Rim Trail coming out of the Page Rim Aid Station. (Photo by Bethany Draper Photography) 

Page Rim Aid Station. (Photo by Bethany Draper Photography. again.)

1st place is 2 mins up on me I was told.  Time to put the hammer down.  I was loving my Superiors on this packed dirt trail.  They were made for this stuff.  It took a hard 5 miles to finally catch the guy (Andy Pearson) after having him in sight for most of those 5 miles.  He was matching my speed even with me pushing hard.  Oh man, this is getting good.  

The final aid station put us virtually neck and neck.  Unfortunately, he now knew he was being hunted.  6 miles to the finish and the race was on!

Cody running in to Lake Powell Aid Station. (Photo by...you guessed it, Bethany Draper Photography)

Well, at least the race was on for about 3 of those miles before I bonked and ran out of steam.  I knew I had pushed my body to my limit and I had nothing left.  He easily pulled away and put 4 mins on me over the final 3 miles as I tried to basically just stay on my feet.  I gave it a shot, but he was stronger on that day.  Game over.

One last look at the Colorado before we head out of town. (Photo by Bethany Draper Photography)

I am very happy with my 2nd place especially knowing that my leg could have kept me from finishing, let alone giving me the chance to make a race out of it.  So, once again I am unsure how to advise people whether to race or not with an injury.  Common sense says you shouldn't race, but I suppose you never know what can happen, good or bad.  In this case, it turned out great!  Now to get it healed up and ready for the next adventure.

Results posted here

Strava track here