John Bryan 50K, April 26, 2009

My original intention to have "fun" with this course was left at home yesterday morning. I decided to go all out in a serious training effort to get tired and sick and see how well I could recover. In short, I made things way too difficult on myself.

John Bryan State Park is located just outside of Yellow Springs, Ohio about 30 minutes from Dayton. The park departs from general opinion that western Ohio is flat farmland by showing off beautiful rock faces and waterfalls. Many of the trails are technical, but the course is relatively flat outside of going down into and out of the gorge (2000 feet of elevation change for the entire 50K course).

The course consisted of 2 loops each repeated 4 times. The first loop was approximately 4.25 to 4.5 miles and the second loop was around 3.25 to 3.5 miles. The first loop was run into the gorge along the Little Miami River, following a rock and root infested trail. The trail got progressively more rocky before leaving the gorge and returning back to the central aid station along the rim trail. This trail did have it's technical moments, but the views from atop the gorge were wonderful. It was early enough in the spring season that the trees had yet to grow their leaves. This led to many incredible views. Unfortunately, that also meant little shade from the sun. The second loop was a lollipop trail. It was mostly flat and quite an easy run with few technical tests. The start, finish, and aid station were located at the junction of the two loops, so after each loop you had an opportunity to eat, drink, and access a drop bag.

I started off quick and held close to a 9:00 pace for the first 1/4 of the race. I slowed to 9:30 pace for the second quarter of the race, then crept into the 11's and 12's as the day progressed. The heat became a major factor. It was 62 degrees at the start. By 11PM it was 79, and by noon it had reached 81. This was some serious heat for doing so much cold weather running the past several months. My final 3.5 mile loop was pretty much a disaster, but I finished with a course personal record of 5:22. On face value, my performance was terrible. But in the larger picture of using this race as a training run, I was able to accomplishing everything I set out to do.

This is a great race that is very well managed. My thanks to the volunteers. In the usual ultrarunning tradition, I met several new friends and saw many familiar faces. Definitely a good time.