Old Gabe 50k race

With an 8 week internship in Bozeman for the summer, I knew I’d be running on the trails in the bridger range outside of town quite a bit.  Therefore it was kind of a no-brainer to sign up for old gabe.  Plus, it encompasses most of the things I love about running – steep (11,000 vertical), exclusively singletrack, and through beautiful terrain.  On top of all that, it’s a refreshingly low key race environment and one of the most affordable races around ($50 for 50k).  All in all, highly recommended.

After a quick check-in and warmup, we were off, a combined group of nearly 100 runners for both the 25k and 50k.  It was a little strange in the initial mix-up for the few minutes of passing and getting passed, not knowing whether your fellow runners were in it for the long haul (50k) or doing the 25.  I tried to ignore it and just stick to a fairly easy pace for the initial 4mile climb.  I topped out feeling great and dropped into the snow and mud of the N facing terrain of the bostwicks.  Two muddy descents and 2 short climbs put me atop truman gulch where a newly re-routed trail apparently added a half-mile to the course (each way) which I cruised down to the truman aid station (9mi).

looking N at the course across the bostwicks a week before the race on an excellent saddle
peak to baldy mountain loop from middle cottonwood

A few minutes shy of 2 hours, I was right where I wanted to be and scarfed down some food and refilled water before starting the long climb back up Truman.  It was fun to see and cheer on fellow runners on the out-and-back format.  I set a goal of passing 5 people on this 5mile climb and succeeded, passing my 6^th on the snow just before the top with a big smile on my face, thoroughly enjoying the steep climbs and beautiful morning thus far.  I tried to cruise the big 4mile descent back to middle cottonwood without beating up the legs too much.

Jeffrey was hanging out (having done the 25k) and was nice enough to refill my bottles (thanks!) as I ate some food.  I soon exited, feeling great and ready to tackle the latter “half” of the course (the sypes portion is a few miles shorter than the truman “half”).  The sun was glaring and the heat would clearly be a factor for the remainder of the race.  I soaked my buff at the creek crossing for sypes (and all future creeks) to try to combat the heat.  I set a goal of catching 3 people on the sypes climb but only managed to reel-in and pass 2 runners before making the 3mile descent to the sypes aid (25mi).  I was feeling okay, positioned slightly behind 2 runners and anxious to give chase.  In retrospect I should have eaten more here but exited quickly. 

upper middle cottonwood drainage from the highpoint of the course (same vantage point as the prior photo)

The legs were feeling heavy on the climb back up sypes and I had to walk a good bit of runnable terrain but was otherwise moving well (I passed one runner on this climb but was unable to catch christi richards who would go on to beat the women's course record).   At the sypes/foothill junction as the trail turned downhill and with about 4miles to go, I tried to really pick up the pace but out-of-the-blue, my right hamstring cramped severely, forcing me to drop to the trail on all fours in agony.  I was able to slowly stretch and walk it off but despite the downhill grade, running wasn’t happening and I scampered along as best I could.  The final climb of the course soon began (I call it heartbreak hill), and I was moving well til my quads began to cramp, again forcing me to stretch and really slow the pace.  I couldn’t help but frequently glance at my watch, knowing my sub 7-hour goal was quickly slipping away with this new stretch and hobble pace.  I eventually crested the top of the climb, leaving a little over 2 miles of downhill trail to the finish.  The cramping only allowed walking for a few minutes but finally resided to a point where I was able to run at a moderate pace the last 1.5 miles to the finish.  Done in 7:06 for 7^th place. 

Rose: beautiful morning and pure enjoyment of the truman “half” of the course

Thorn: 2miles of major cramping and hobbling along near the end

Bud: I’d considered the HURL elkhorn 50miler in august but am excited to instead be focusing on my endless list of mountain adventures for the remainder of the summer before toeing the line at the RUT 50k in September

Thoughts: I was disappointed to have not broken 7 hours and the rough 2miles of cramping near the end but otherwise I had a great race.  Hanging out at the finish chatting with the 6 prior finishers and race directors was fun and a great example of how friendly and low-key this race is.  Don’t skimp on fueling, particularly in the last quarter of a race.